The death of high end sneaker shops

This makes me sad. I think sneaker shops are super cool and every so often I want a pair of cool looking kicks. I don't think that they'd go with anything in my wardrobe, but they look so cool. I'm sure if I tried, I could rock the look.

Photos that changed the world

Here's a TED talk given by Jonathan Klein (Getty Images) about the impact of photos. I thought it was an effective talk. Concise and impactful with a clear message behind it.
I wonder if I can improve my presentation skills by watching good presentations?
Some people may not want to see some of the pictures used in the talk, so proceed with caution.

Top Chef Masters

Many TV shows are nearing the end of their seasons. I'm running out of things to watch. One that's still airing is Top Chef Masters 2. And Susur Lee's going to be on soon. Go Canada!

Perfect Cons?

I've been looking for the perfect pair of Converse shoes for quite some time now. It seems like I get on kicks to find the perfect ________. And when I get into the zone, I will go almost everywhere to find that elusive perfect thing. I'm convinced that I'll never find my perfect notebook and will probably end up buying something just so that I can start writing everything that needs to be written.
Of course, most of the time I don't know what the perfect _______ is in my head. I have a little bit of an inkling what I'm looking for, but until I see it, I can't give a full description of it.
Anyway, back to the Cons. I've been looking for a pair of Converse shoes. I found a pretty perfect pain in Manhattan, but didn't buy them at the time and of course haven't been able to find a similar pair (or better) since.
Maybe this is my chance at perfection?
Knowing me, I'll just end up not ever owning a pair of Cons, or buying the most generic pair in the world.

Time goes by...so slowly...

It's 10pm and I've been trying to kill time for the past two hours. Surprisingly, I'm exhausted and completely ready for bed...but I still have another two hours to go before I can take off the brown goopey stuff on my ankle.
I've read, I've streamed videos, I've surfed all of my regular websites. I've got a headache. I want to go to bed, but I can't fall asleep or else the brown goopey stuff will burn through my skin.
I haven't wanted to go to bed this early in awhile.
I should be excited that I'm actually tired and willing to go to bed at a decent hour, but I can't even take advantage of my exhaustion. I have until midnight before I can hit the hay.
This sucks.

Lulu's not as popular as I thought!

In a weird twist of events, in the past couple of weeks I've worn my lululemon pants more often than I would like to admit. Sure, I understand that they're comfy, blah blah blah, but they're still sweatpants and if you watch What Not To Wear, you'll know that it's possible to find fashionable clothes that are comfortable too.
Anyway, during this lulu-wearing stint, I've had so many people (strangers, acquaintances and friends alike) helpfully point out that I have a sticker stuck to the back of my leg. Up until this point, I thought everyone and their pint-sized yappy dogs knew about lulu. I'm happy that I was wrong.

31 cent ice cream

It's for a good cause, so it's worth the caloric intake.

Les secrets du sac

I happened to walk by the Chanel boutique on Bloor Street West and noticed that the touring exhibit about the making of their iconic 2.55 bags was in town. I prepared myself to be ignored (am I so clearly not a Chanel customer that every single time I enter, the staff ignore me?) and walked into the store.
On the main floor, I drooled all over their bags. There are some styles that I really don't like, but this time there were lots to swoon over. My eye, however, was drawn to one of the customers who was dressed incredibly schleppy. Rumpled, oversized no-name t-shirt matched with sad looking gym shorts. Juxtaposed with this look was his Chanel backpack and the limited edition Chanel bicycle. Da-amn!
I made my way up to the second floor and noticed a display set up outlining the process of making the 2.55. After wandering through the gorgeous clothing (if I wasn't so messy, I would love to own the white tweed jacket and linen pants...oh wait, I also need a gazillion dollars) I went back to the display and learn more about the making of this bag. There was a Chanel representative from Paris on hand (actually, there were a bunch milling around the store) to talk me through the process. The display included tactile representations as well as video vignettes. It was simple, clean and clearly produced.
I have never wanted to own Chanel more now than I have before.
The amount of detail and thought that has gone into the creation of this bag is incredible. Mlle Chanel included so many different references and ideas into her purse that she thought ladies would love. The 'Mona Lisa smile' poche on the back, the reflection of the smile in one of the pockets in the main compartment, the secret note letters poche hidden in the interior, the perfect alignment of the hardware, stitching, logo and quilting, the adjustable woven chain/leather strap...the list goes on.
The ambassadrice was dressed impeccably. I was jealous of her perfectly fitting jacket and appreciated the delicate chain hem to ensure that the jacket hangs perfectly. All of the French reps were dressed just that much better than the Toronto crew. Pretty easy task given the basic uniform of the regular sales team.
The boutique was closing up for 'by invitation only' viewing of the exhibit as I was on my way out. Boy oh boy were those folks dressed to the nines. Jea-lous.

Mmmmm, poutine

Ha ha ha ha ha.

Vintage Club Monaco

Club Monaco brought back their Crest Sweatshirts a little while back and although I've moved on from sweats, the hoodie is incredibly enticing. I've given away all of my sweatshirts, which is fine because I'm not interested in wearing an extra large anymore. Oh, the 90s.
The company has also created Sigg bottles emblazoned with the crest. Kind of wonderful, but I don't think I'll get one.
As the press release says, it's truly a symbol of Canadian childhood.

A different kind of rowdy crowd

For two and a half years, I had to deal with sloppy drunks in my building. It was terribly annoying. Today is the Blue Jays home opener and the streets are rampant with sports enthusiasts and mischief makers. I haven't watched baseball since the early 90s when they were superstars.
Anyway, I'm tempted to eat street meat for dinner.

Darn hipsters

I can't believe this happened just for some silly clothing at American Apparel. At least Toronto hipsters are more civilized.

Do The Math!

An initiative by The Stop. Written up here.
Take a look.

some sort of payoff

I spend a lot of time in a skating rink. This time, it came in handy.
After not getting my ankle checked out properly (well, I did have two doctors with me when I injured myself and I did go to an herbal specialist soon afterwards for the brown, smelly goopey stuff), I decided to take advantage of the athletic, medical specialist on site and got a thorough inspection of my ankle.
Not the best news. I mean, I kind of knew what to expect, but to hear that I really had to take it easy means that I'm outright defying someone's recommendations.
Anyway, I sprained it badly. Second degree. Hurt my second and third ligament, but I didn't fracture anything. Phew. I rolled my ankle to the outside badly enough though, that I bruised my ankle bone on in inside part of my foot. Bone on bone contact. Nice.
Minimum of 6 weeks.
That's a long time.

Random thoughts

- I'm looking for an 8.5x11inch, spiral bound, lined, non-Dollar Store looking notebook. This seems to be an impossible task. I have gone to big box office supply stores, specialty art stores, chic stationary stores...to no available. There are two main reasons why I think I'm having problems. The first is that I'm picky. The second is that all of the nice things come from Europe, so they're all A4 sized. I'm stumped as to where next to search.

- I saw a homeless man at the women's fragrance counter at a department store in a big shopping complex freshening up. I wondered if he was choosy in the type of perfume he spritzed with.

Looking for a home

Not me. As you know, I just got one.
The Toronto Humane Society is having a big adoption blitz this weekend and they've got a lot of cuties available to be loved and cared for.
I'm not ready to have a pet myself, but hopefully there are many people out there who are!

Wheee!

There's a pancake looking cloud hovering outside of my window. So this cloud is at an altitude of, umm, the 29th floor. I haven't been in (I'm not counting general fog) or above a cloud in many years. Tee hee. This is cool.

Noooooooooo!!!

My guess is that Survivor is going to be a lot less interesting after this past episode.

Porter isn't perfect

I was reminded of a major flaw in Porter's shiny exterior. Luggage takes way too long to come to carousel at the Island Airport.
YOW has a Porter lounge at Gate 18. It's a mini version of the one at the Island Airport and of course, it's lovely.
It was a beautiful weekend in Ottawa. +20degrees. And I was in a cold arena from dawn until dusk.
Oh, and I know that slow luggage has nothing to do with Porter itself. The Island Airport personnel need to step up their game, or I need to go the carry-on only, route.

Porter really is quite lovely

I'm sitting in the new and improved terminal/lounge of Porter and it really is quite impressive. It's a proper terminal, spacious, clean, modern, sleek...everything that you'd expect from Porter. All of the same goodies in the lounge, of course I'm taking advantage of the computer terminals and I'm sipping a complimentary tea. I'm not a National Post reader, however, so that's a bust, but I think I'm being a little bit too picky.
Regardless, I'm terribly impressed.
Well done, Porter. Well done.