Interesting!

The restaurant we went to last night gave me a black dinner napkin because I was wearing dark clothing. I'm trying to figure out if it was a stylistic decision to continue to use white cotton napkins (and providing an alternative) even though they knew that they were leaving lint on the patrons as opposed to just going with linen napkins. What was it about the cotton napkins that they wanted to keep? And the black napkins weren't cotton so the fabric couldn't have been that important.
Anyway, it was the first time that I'd been to a restaurant with napkin options.

TIFF 2012

I'm trying to figure out my ticket selection for this year's festival. The process is a little different in that we don't have to fill out a booklet and keep our fingers crossed that our 'box' is drawn first. Instead, I was randomly assigned a timeslot to make my selection and it's first come first serve from that point.
I don't remember what my first round of cuts from going through the list of films resulted in, but I've narrowed it down to my final 28 films. I'd usually want to cut it down to about 15-20 before making a spreadsheet of the films to see what overlaps (thereby cutting out some possibilities), but I'm having trouble cutting down from where I am. I usually have a couple films that are on my 'must see' list, but this year, either nothing's blowing me away, or everything on my shortlist sounds awesome.
I will be seeing at least 8 films this year.

High Speed Video of Flipping Cats

Cats are awesome. Well actually, all animals are awesome. I used to do similar 'experiments' with my cat, but I don't have the science knowledge to explain all of the cool things that she could do. I didn't have to have any special knowledge to know that my cat was a princess. An awesome princess.

Huh?

Was I supposed to be flattered when the saleslady asked me if the shoes that I wanted to try on were for my school uniform? Or was it some sort of dig at my taste in footwear?

wallpaper.com and blah

I'm not sure why I didn't have website for Wallpaper* Magazine bookmarked prior to last week. I'm really enjoying what it has to offer.

And vaguely related, why am I posting so much today? Procrastinating on the thesis? Eek. The past two weeks have been good. I'm getting into a groove but my fingers aren't going as fast as I would like them to. Or maybe I should be concerned that's I'm only a third through the themes for my Findings chapter and I'm at about 100 pages. I'm in for a bumpy ride. My thesis is going to be a great doorstopper.

Camping

I've never been camping before. I mean, in the woods. Prior to the age of 22, I don't think I'd slept in a tent. Actually, I might have once when I was a kid. I remember crayons melting in the front pocket of my red backpack from sitting in the sun too long while I was at a day-camp. But I'm not entirely sure if we had a special event where we'd stayed over. Maybe not.
I've been to two cottages in my life. One involved sleeping in a tent in the yard (it was for an initiation), and the other, I slept in a king-sized bed. I think that cottage was nicer than a lot of houses.
The sleepover camps that I've been to (all school-related) involved me sleeping in a bed in cabins. Not terribly rustic.
Growing up, camping just wasn't something that our family did. I don't think that my parents had anything against camping, it just wasn't part of their repertoire of things to do.
I imagined camping to be something where you're in the middle of nowhere, with no electricity nor running water. And you definitely don't have a toilet. Especially not a porcelain kind. I've since learned that there are different types of campgrounds and ways to camp, but I'm not chomping at the bit to go. That's not entirely true, I do want to give it a go, but I just don't know how I feel about having the first time I go be really, I don't know, authentic?
I'm not a total princess. Seriously, I'm not. In fact, I guess I have gone camping before. I slept in a tent (although I did not put it up) in the deserts of Tunisia. And the toilet facilities were "behind that sand dune over there". We did have a roll of toilet paper, but that's it. Actually, I've camped a couple times on my extravagant adventures abroad. I camped in Kenya too.
But camping in Northern Ontario or anywhere else in Canada, I have yet to do. I'd like to!
Oh right, the reason why I wrote this post in the first place - I read this article. I found it amusing, entertaining and brought up some interesting issues about society.

Hotel --> condo = auction

I had wanted to go to the Four Seasons Hotel auction a couple month ago, but I didn't end up having time to check it out. Now, yet another 'famous' hotel in the city is closing to make way for condos and they're going through the same process. The Sutton Place Hotel is auctioning off many of their items for charity and is currently ongoing.
I'm not sure if I would buy anything, but I think it would be interesting to see what kinds of things that a hotel needs to get rid of and the prices that they are going for. Maybe I'll be able to find some time in the next couple of days to take a look.

Just a guess

I'm thinking that the lady that I saw on the bus this morning wearing all-black might work at Burberry. I mean, I was also wearing an all-black outfit (shocker!), but my outfit didn't consist of Burberry wellies, a Burberry blazer, a Burberry purse, and a Burberry coin purse. I mean, I can't be entirely sure because she wasn't carrying a Burberry umbrella and her black sequined scrunchie (that's right, I said scrunchie) most definitely wasn't from Burberry, but the rest of her outfit looked very Burberry boutique salesperson-esque (I wonder what word they use to refer to themselves in Burberry-land).

Olympic 2012 Doodles

The doodles for the 2012 Olympics have been great. I mean, the doodles are always great, but I've enjoyed the interactive ones from these past couple of days. They remind me of the Olympic Decathlon game that my brother and I used to play on the Apple 2E. Classic.

Fruits and veg garden

I'm a city girl. I've visited a couple farms and gardens on field trips, and I've stayed with a couple people who grow fruits/veg in their gardens. I have seen some fruit/veg on my travels in their natural habitat too, but for the most part, my conception of where fruits and veg come from is the (super)market. Obviously, I know that they were grown somewhere first, but I can't imagine how most of them grow.

Recently, my dad's taken up a hobby of growing random fruits and veg in their backyard. I know that my parents grew some things in the first home that I lived in, but I don't have many memories of it. A couple years ago, my dad started growing tomatoes (cherry and heirloom) and it was pretty awesome. Two years ago he added some winter melon to the mix and that was cool because I had never seen a vegetable that grows on a vine go from seedling to harvest.
Last year, my dad went even more intense. There were tomatoes, bitter melon (testing out a new vine veg), snow peas, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, and grapes. The tomatoes, bitter melon and snow peas were successful. The strawberries less so, but I've heard that they take a little bit more expertise. The other berries and the grapes - nada. But it was an experiment and fun for my dad to tinker around, so it was worth it.

This year, my dad moves some of the plants around, being strategic and hoping that the new placement would help (especially with the strawberries). The tomatoes are starting to do their thing. The snow peas are duds this year but the duds from last year returned from a vengeance! All of the pictures from this post are from this year. The raspberries were small, but there were a good number and the blackberries have really come to life!

It's, again, been really interesting to watch them grow and to hear from my dad about how he's tinkered around with them. I'm looking forward to seeing how the grapes are going to develop because, as you can see from the picture, it looks promising. The new 'melon' of choice is actually cucumbers and zucchini...along with bitter melon again (blech). My dad had planted them pretty late in the season so he wasn't sure if anything would come of them. When I was there snapping pictures, I saw this wee thing (below), but I didn't know what it would become. Now, a couple weeks later, I've found out that they're pickling cucumbers. And just like the winter melon, the prickles on the outside come right off when they're ripe. Plants are awesome, aren't they?
Way to protect themselves from predators! Anyway, I think the zucchini are trying to grow as well, but they probably weren't planted in the best location. They're shaded by the leaves and vines of the cucumbers and bitter melon that are growing up the lattice in front of them. I think my dad assumed that zucchini would grow a similar way. Oops.
But that's the thing, although it's great that my parents can eat the fruit and veg that my dad's growing, it's more
of a fun hobby and learning activity. My dad and his gardens are proof that there is such thing as lifelong learners and that you can always pick and choose something new to learn about.
Also amazing is the fact that my dad has built planters and various structures in their backyard for all of these 'experiments'. And they look incredible! I'm lucky enough to have a custom-made deck and planters at my place too!

10 Videos To Get You Fired Up for the Olympics

I feel like I'm missing the Olympics. I don't have a TV and I've made a conscious decision not to have a live stream going on my computer. I don't even know what happened in the opening ceremonies other than the fact that the Queen made a cameo in a 007 thing and Mr. Bean did something with an orchestra (factoid: Mr. Bean is completely lost on folks who are visually impaired. Think about it, everything he does is physical. He hardly ever talks and for the most part no one does in his sketches. There's a ton a laugh tracks in there, but that's not what the visually impaired need.).
Anyway, I will linger by a TV when I walk by somewhere showing the Olympics, but I do not watch it at work nor at home. I'm hoping that as a result, I'm probably a lot more productive, but I do feel like I'm missing out on some great things.
But I guess you're always missing out on great things in life. I'm just consciously aware of the fact that I'm missing the Olympics.
Ramble over.
Here's a nice series of video related to the Games and/or sports.

Bloody sponsors

I get that without them, the Olympics might not even happen, but it irks me to no end that these companies are letting prime seats go to waste when there are avid fans who pay big bucks for worse seats and/or can't even get tickets. I saw it first hand in Torino. Before than, I really was naive enough to not realize that that's how the world worked. My earlier post from those games and even notes from that post actually showed that I thought that people just didn't buy tickets. Little did I know. Sigh. It was quite upsetting to me and it seems as though things won't be changing anytime soon.

Sherry Turkle: Connected, but alone?

Sherry Turkle says everything that I've been thinking these past couple of years as technology innovations have become mainstream. Sure, I deeply respect the benefits of these technologies, but the issues that Ms. Turkle shares really concern me. As someone who is actively bucking these technologies, I thought I was alone in my thoughts. And as someone in a field that is really advocating for pushing forward with these advances (although, I would think that most fields engage in these innovations), I feel conflicted. By no means do I think these advances should be banished from our existence, but I'm uneasy about how it will change our society. As an individual who is sentimental and appreciative of our past and certain values and norms, maybe I'm flawed to not just accept an inevitable shift. I know I can be resistant to change, and I can't help but be reminded of the words of educational theorist Paulo Freire, "Change is difficult, but possible", but these words were written to refer to a positive change. Do the benefits of these advances outweigh the drawbacks? I'm not sure.
Having watched the video, my tension with the matter has not been resolved, but I am glad that the debate is out there. I didn't think it was.

(Thanks b, for passing this along.)
A related post.

Oh wow...

"Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana." 

I came across this saying today.
It just clicked. I kid you not.
Boy am I slow. To give me a little bit of credit, I haven't heard someone say this (or read it somewhere) in years. Decades, even.
Ha ha ha ha ha...I'm so glad that I can laugh at myself. Sometimes I take myself way too seriously. Luckily, this was a LOL moment.
And for that grand breakthrough in understanding, I deserve a weekend. If only I could finish this assignment and those conference proposals...I give myself 2 hours before I call it quits for the week.

Play Me, I'm Yours

I've seen a couple around the city...have you?
What a wonderful idea!

A nice find

I'm a snob. I can admit it.
So, after being spoiled in Europe with yummy crepes (mostly, courtesy of Bach & Buck) I came back to Toronto, not really wanting to 'risk' eating crepes here. I just figure that my standards are so ridiculously high, that nothing here in the city will compare. And I don't want to ruin the awesomeness that I know crepes are.
Today, I needed to grab something quick to eat and the most convenient thing in the area was a crepe place. I thought, well, I can't be a snob forever (or more importantly, starve...I was really hungry), so I gave it a go.
While I was looking at the menu and waiting for the person in front of me to complete his order, I realized that they were speaking French to one another. Real French. Super French, French. I figured this guy must be a regular, or a friend, or a tourist. The menu was in English, the drink menu that was written on the mirror was in English. Every other customer eating and chatting with their friends, seated in the restaurant were speaking in English. I did notice, however, Frenchie items on the shelf as part of the decor (e.g., a macaron box from Laduree, a shopper from Hermes, a canister from Mariage Freres, un petit pot de la Fleur de Sel). I was intrigued. How would the serveuse address me?
"Bonjour!"
"Ah, oui? Vraiment? On parle en Francais?"
"Uh..."
Quickly, I realise that this is the real deal. I am absolutely giddy but try to remain cool (as if our initial exchange didn't blow my cover!). I place my order, and wait, gobsmacked. I think this can be my happy place when I need a little 'home away from home'.
I'm flattered that the serveuse continues to carry on speaking to me in French. Honoured, actually.
I'm already dreaming about coming back to make this place a regular haunt. It's small, and the menu's not that extensive, but I could make it work. I will make it work.
The only problem is...the crepe wasn't that great...

A woman's woes

I'm not really sure how to process these two articles from The Atlantic. Separately, and in relation to one another.

The Mini-Golf Open

As per usual, this is all kind of awesome.

Spoiled Rotten - Why do kids rule the roost?

This article was mentioned in class last week. It raises a lot of issues to ponder and reflect upon our experiences and practices based on our society, culture, and generation.
One idea that I enjoy is that we should set high expectations for our students (I know the article is about children and focusing on parenting behaviours, but actually, you can apply it to almost any context you want). I haven't, however, read anything about when it gets taken too far and too much pressure is put on the student to achieve at a level that may not be realistic. Now, is that because I have an (incorrect) impression that individuals have a pre-determined potential? Or at what point can the teacher say, "Don't worry, you tried your best", without turning into a "spoiling" behaviour?
That's what I love about teaching (and parenting and coaching and mentoring and managing and..). It's so complex.

Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity

I watch this video a couple times each year and every time I watch it, I feel like I get something that I didn't previously get. It's an awesome talk on so many levels.