Things I'm Looking For

1. A potter for my basil plant that looks like a giant coffee cup.  Plain white, no designs, looks sleek and chic for the kitchen.  Not girly.
2. Splatter guard for pans when I've put in too much oil.
3. Fly swatters.
4. Cool-looking plungers x 3.
5. A luxury RV that uses rain water to replenish the water supply, runs on solar power, electricity (from braking) and methane.

Today's (June 30 2010) Globe and Mail Social Studies column says this:

Your powerhouse

“The human body may be a biological powerhouse, but how much of its energy do we flush down the toilet – literally?” Duncan Graham-Rowe writes for Wired magazine (British edition). “According to Virginia Gardiner, 32, an engineer at Imperial College London, it makes more sense to recycle our dark matter than dispose of it. To prove her point she has created a flushless toilet designed to harness this energy.” The LooWatt system produces methane, which is burned for electricity. “Your annual deposits could produce enough energy to light a 60-watt bulb for 10 hours,” she says.

So it's only a matter of time before I have an RV that can run on anything but gasoline.

The characters around here

Bryan and Elisa, mid-30s, Deb's hubby's best friend and wife.  Which makes them couple friends.

While Bryan and Elisa are the best thing to have come from the same small town suburban purgatory which Deb now finds herself in, the ironic thing is that Bryan and Elisa escaped months after Deb and Hubby's initial move-in, and now live in Toronto.  In this sitcom, they're the perfect secondary characters, because they truly do "give explanations of the hero, the hero's world, and have scenes where the hero is allowed to express thoughts, desires, goals, plans and values."

Bryan has been Hubby's best friend since age 11, and married  Elisa several years ago.  Deb and Hubby remember when Bryan was single, and think that Elisa is a perfect match for him. Bryan sometimes provides history, context, and background for Deb, which is immensely helpful in figuring out the World of Hubby.


Of all the characters on the show, Deb and Hubby prefer to travel with Bryan and Elisa the most, which makes for great episodes* since Deb is so admittedly weird.  B and E are well-traveled, adventurous, food and wine lovers, university-educated professionals, and good conversationalists, but most of all, easygoing, which is a stark contrast to Deb's uptightness and creative type/professional writer-explained OCD tendencies.  Deb appreciates that B and E (E especially) are really supportive of her career and never make her feel bad for her quirks (like frequent visits to the bathroom and late night crankiness).  They also act as culinary guinea pigs, and Deb is occasionally unsure if they're just being super polite about ugly food.


* in the case where these characters are used in a sitcom
__________________



In this past weekend's episode: 

Deb and Hubby met up with B and E at Bryan's parents' cottage which has been in the family for a number of years.  This is Hubby's favourite northern location, and looks forward to visiting whenever invited.  This is probably his twelfth time, and Deb's second.  Hubby is so excited about visiting the cottage, that last year, he (and Deb) drove 3 hours to the cottage, back 3 hours to attend an inflexible appointment, and 3 hours to drive back to the cottage.  (Then 3 hours back home.)

It's a beautiful location, backed by the lake, with two bunkhouses, gorgeous deck and an outdoor hot tub.  If push came to shove, the cottage could accommodate 11 with an RV parked in front.


This episode (Season 2, episode 16) is lighthearted with a playful tone.  Deb is on a quest to replace a missing earring from a set bought from a beachfront jewelry shop.  Hubby debates whether a dog is in their future while he plays with Bryan's family's dogs.  Deb reveals a little more detail as to why she hates her 10-minutes-from-farm-land purgatory, and figures out why she loves, not hates, cottage country, since cottage country is quite similar to her town which she despises.  Hubby inadvertently gloats about getting one bug bite, while Deb deals with her fear of bug bites (because on her, they flatten out and form shapes like Germany).  Deb enjoys the time with B and E, Bryan's parents, uncle and aunt, and tries to figure out the factors which make Bryan's family dynamics an ideal in-law situation.

New Experience: Being a Panelist

I'd love to put credits in here with actual full names, but because I'd like to avoid Google picking up links to names in my blog (where I tell you all sorts of inside information about being a kooky freelancer), I'm unfortunately only going to use first names. 

So I got to be a panelist on Monday night for the very first time!

I must say that the whole experience of being a panelist was quite exciting from start to finish.  A few weeks ago, I received a well-timed email from WIFT-T (Women in Film and Television - Toronto).  Heather was writing to invite me to be part of a panel that my good friend Sasha was moderating and for which she had recommended me.  Sasha is the Supervising Producer at marble, and technically, my boss' boss (?) for the online/interactive side of Taste Buds (that kids' cooking show I've been working on).  It was extra exciting because there were members of so many different cool industry organizations in the audience, and I counted six people who I already knew.  (I totally remember when I wouldn't have known anybody.)

Basically, my role on the panel was to highlight the differences between writing for TV and writing for online (of the same brand).  

Overall, it was a great experience and I had a lot of fun, and if there's a next time, I totally learnt what I should and shouldn't do.  Unfortunately, I can't help my voice squeaking at points because when I do any sort of public speaking, my mouth usually goes dry.  And then I'm always afraid of drinking the big glass of water in front of me because I'll look like I'm shaking for nervousness, when it's really that I'm more nervous about knocking it over by accident.  I know, priorities, really.

Truthfully, I was hoping to be more funny than (just) informative, and luckily, it appears as if I was both.  Lots of people came up to me afterward, to ask questions, introduce themselves, and to thank me for being part of the panel.  A lady who I might make another professional best friend said that I was eloquent; my friend John said that it was good, and that everyone had the same "huh?" reaction when this one lady asked her question in a rather bitchy way.  I had a really nice but brief conversation with Tom the Animation Executive Producer afterwards too!

Tom:  You were very good.

Deb:  Thanks!  You're very funny!

Tom:  YOU'RE very funny!  You nailed all your jokes.

Deb:  Thanks!

I actually pitched him a show when I first got out of school.  So in total, I think I've spent about 3.5 minutes ever talking to Tom.

My Facebook status update that night was:

had a good run with tonight's panel.  People laughed at my jokes ... hope I did marble proud?

and Sasha wrote back with:

judging by all the creatives in the room hunting you down at the end of the session, i'd say you did good :) you rep'd marble and your sheep 'interstitial' (fussy crowd) well :)

I love my sheep sketch.  Check it out at www.tastebudstv.com in the Video/Food Hints section.  In fact, while you're there, check out the rest of the site which got me a spot as a panelist!

And guess what?  Hubby came to the event too, even though he usually hates these networking things.  He had a great time and said he had fun because of the conversations he got to have (because convergent media was actually relevant for him).  So I took him out for a sushi dinner afterward.  :-)  A good night for both of us.

Whoa .... earthquake!

Here's the dilemma: it's almost an hour after the mini-earthquake, and I still haven't quite gotten back to work.  I think it's because part of me is still freaking out that I'm working from home by myself and had no idea what that was.  It sort of makes me want to work in an office.  Sort of.  In an office, other people can assure you that you're not crazy when something like an earthquake happens.  Luckily for me, all the social networking outlets (MSN, Facebook, Twitter) did that virtually for me.  And boy am I kind of glad I know that it was an earthquake, otherwise I'd be shaking my fists at the neighbours and at places where I thought there were poltergeists.


While there are cons of working at home, such as ... 
1) regular interaction with people is usually limited to persons who are 2-dimensional and scripted and/or reading from teleprompters
2) you could die by yourself and nobody will find you until 10 hours later
3)  you don't leave the house for days at a time if you don't go running or something, or you know, have kids
 
... the pros are as follows:


- nobody knows how often you really go to the bathroom (people in one writers' room must know I have a small bladder by now because I was drinking all this water before the wedding to lose weight)


- nobody knows how much you really snack (although I think I also may have given myself away at the last two writers' rooms)

- there is no getting stuck in subway crises, traffic, or having to smell people on public transit every day

- you save a bundle on laundry because you don't sweat into normal clothing unless you wear workout clothing and go straight to working out at the end of your day


- you choose your own hours ... for the most part

- the likelihood of your house getting robbed is significantly lower because you can call 911 while wielding a bat and staring down a robber as s/he is in the process of breaking and entering

- you can take a nap when you feel like it (I always like saying this one because I identify with preschoolers.  Yeah ... naps make the world go round.)


- you can like people a whole lot more when you don't see them every day because certain people have gross habits like flossing their teeth in front of you, leaving you souvenirs (both tangible and intangible) in the unisex bathroom, slurping coffee and chewing gum really loudly


Oh hey, I don't have it so bad.  And if nobody found me until 10 hours later ... well, you just chalk that up to fate.

Forrest Gump: I just felt like running

Okay, well, I felt like walking, not running.

After not having left the house in two days, I decided that I needed a little fresh air, and just didn't feel like doing any ab crunches, since I'm a little dubious about the cleanliness of the basement carpet.  And I wasn't really keen on vacuuming.

People out here usually say hello when they cross paths while walking, but I just wasn't in the mood, especially when people seem to stare before the opportunity presents itself.  Even the cats, raccoons and skunks seem to stare.


So I walked, and walked, and walked ... for 7 kilometres.   It was about an hour and half with the scenery consisting of factories, car dealerships, houses, banks, a tiny strip plaza, and giant mansions.   I landed up at this little park that has big rocks to sit on that overlooks the lake.  Across the way, you see the glimmering, shiny, glamorous lights of ... factories.

The park itself is somewhat idyllic, except for the idiot couple who came along with their annoying laughs.  The nice thing about Toronto is that people speak so many different languages, you can tune out what they say.  In this case, it was inane drunken chatter.  I miss you, diversity.


Exhausted, mosquito-bitten and grumpy, I didn't walk home and I called hubby to come and get me.  The nice thing about the iPhone is that you can pinpoint your location and email it.

Commuting - a walk in my shoes

While the last post was a little more rambly, here is COMMUTING from my point of view.  

I tried doing a flow chart just to illustrate what I think about when making the trek to Toronto, but I'm not good at those.  So here goes.

Getting to Toronto ...

• What time do you have to be there?
• What will traffic be like?
• Which stop do you have to get off at?  
• Will the train stop there at that time of day?
• Will you be at a convenient enough location to walk to the next destination?
• Will the train be convenient when coming home?
• Circumstances that equal an automatic decision to drive:  uptown, late night return home, running late 
• Where will you park?  
• What route will you take?
• What will hubby have for dinner if I'm not here to cook?
• How many people/friends am I seeing that day?
• Can I see more than two?
• What kind of shoes do I wear that will be appropriate for walking a short/medium/long distance since I'll be walking quite far away from the car?
• What am I taking with me?  Is it heavy that I need the car?
• Should I stay over at my parents' place?
• What am I doing the next day?
• Should I schedule things back to back so I cut down on the commuting altogether?

Yeah.  Lame.

I used to just hop on the TTC and go.  It's not a big deal getting to Toronto, but this is just to show that it's comparably more arduous than when I actually lived there.  I used to hate when it took an hour, hour plus, to get anywhere significant, but now it kind of takes an equal amount of time when I'm the car.

On the plus side, I'm becoming a much better driver with so much practice.

This whole post centres around my adventures of commuting

Wow, I hadn't realized it's been almost a week since my last post.  Lots of things have actually been going on.  I just skimmed this whole post, and it's a lot of rambling diary-type stuff, so you know, you don't have to read this one.



Okay, well, thanks for reading.

Wednesday
Wednesday was my sister's birthday, so I took her out for lunch.  After that, my good friend Nat treated me to the AGO where we walked around and dreamed of having offices with a solarium-like design.

I found a new parking lot that I really like, despite it smelling like pee.  It's the type where you put in your credit card and only pay for the time that you're there, rather than worrying about what time you might possibly leave, and then overpaying.  If it's one of those lots where you have to predict the time you'll stay, I always overpay for parking, just because I worry about walking too far away and then not making it back in time to prevent a ticket.

So Wednesday night was the first time where I can say that traffic actually caused a good result.  I looked up my route home (Google maps app) and saw that it would take me three times as long to get there with traffic.  Booooooooooooo.  So I called my friend Sasha for a Foodie Call for dinner and luckily, she didn't have plans because I hate eating by myself.  I highly recommend the CN rolls at Sushi Time because I think avocado and salmon make the perfect sushi.  I really dislike cucumbers.  I've tried to get along with them, but we're still on the outs.

After dinner, I took Sasha home and got to my own home in record time.  Hooray - that was a very smart choice on my part, and plus, hubby finished the cabbage rolls so there was no more of having to suffer through that.

Friday
I decided to take the train in so I could make my morning meeting at 9:30 a.m.  Rather than sitting through traffic, I thought I'd be smart, and luckily, my best friend Cris had the day off, and we went for an Indian lunch buffet at Little India on Queen Street.  I'd say it was good, but I still much prefer dinner at Kama on King across from Roy Thompson Hall.  MuchMusic was setting up for the MuchMusic Video Awards and you could see the pandemonium of blocking off streets.

Saturday
Hubby and I had a wonderful SaturDATE, to which I'd been looking forward ALL WEEK.  He made brunch for us, I packed snacks, then we took the train in.  We realized that is the first time that we've ever taken the train together in four years.  So we can honestly say that we were glad not to have driven in, since there are multiple streets blocked off with cement blocks and tall fences because of the G20.  And that is why I'm playing hermit this week and getting lots of work done on www.TasteBudsTV.com Season 3.  Check it out here.  Traffic was TERRIBLE, all backed up, streets closed ... hubby said he honestly would have turned around and that would have been the end of the SaturDATE.

The first stop on SaturDATE was the Design Exchange, a centre dedicated to industrial and contemporary design.  With $10 admission each, it was about a dollar a minute to see what was perhaps the tiniest exhibits I've ever seen where you had to pay for admission.  ANYWAY ... we'll chalk it up to making a donation.  But hubby enjoyed it because he likes industrial design, and we'll go see the next exhibit I'm sure.

Next stop on SaturDATE was St. Lawrence Market.  Unfortunately, I had allotted about an hour and a half for the Design Exchange, so everything moved up.  We bought some lovely Camembert, a hunk of turkey kolbasa and a baguette which, in addition to pear, made wonderful sandwiches for our picnic at Harbourfront.  Full and happy, we walked along the lake to watch the boats and peruse the outdoor market.  Hubby now knows about the once hourly trains because we missed two and thus killed two hours by walking around and around.  But SaturDATE was great overall.  The rain started just as we got back to the car, and neither of us were hungry until about 9 p.m.  That happens when you have that much cheese.  I'm kind of surprised that I didn't have nightmares, but I think mostly happens to me when I eat cheese JUST before going to bed.  Weird.  Dairy-induced nightmares ... well, I am partially lactose-intolerant.

Sunday
Sunday was spent doing lots of driving.  I met up with some friends on the way to see my parents.  Short and sweet visit.   Also had a lovely time with my parents, sister and brother-in-law since my mom went all out and made ribs, lasagna, and Chinese noodle stir-fry for my sister.  My salad was a big hit with my sister and mom wanting the leftovers.  Spinach, blueberries, goat cheese, toasted almond slivers and blueberry balsamic vinegar.  I ended up leaving late, and unfortunately, the highway was closed down to ONLY the left lane for a big chunk of my drive home.  Boooooooooo.  Hubby and I both hate it when there are lane closures but nobody's working.  At least I saw people with hard hats and trucks.  If there hadn't been any, I would have been ultra pissed.

Monday
Land of the Hermit.  Yup.  Hearing the neighbours' air conditioner every 30 minutes, hearing Motorcycle Man idling.