YET ANOTHER NEW FEATURE!!!!

YES!!! In my attempt to increase my readership (striving for that 4th reader) I have added a new fun informative feature: The Poll!
Yes the poll..............and with this one, no one will be calling you at dinner time to solicit your information. You can finish your meal in peace. (Unless of course, you are like this household and there is a constant ongoing pre/post hockey playoff analysis being hashed and rehashed with varying degrees of passion).

It can be located at the upper left-hand corner. It is anonymous.........even I can't tell who voted so you can vote in complete anonymity.

Vote away!

The Elusive Floor 9

So yesterday, armed with applications, documents and photos, I set off to Passport Canada to renew our passports. I also brought numerous maps, internet driving directions, and a list of emergency contact numbers. Any errand that takes me more than 5 kilometres out of my normal comfort zone has me thinking 'Road Trip' and thus requires 'Journey' like preparations. Cell phone battery charged: check. Water and snacks: check. Extra tube of lipstick: Check.

I arrived at Passport Canada with surprising ease and found a free parking spot conveniently close to the entrance. Upon entering the building I asked one of several security guards for directions to Passport Canada. After following a series of hallways and stairs to a lower level I arrived in a very small room with an even smaller line-up accessorized by yet another guard yelling repeatedly for us to all have our documents -In Your Hands And Ready TO GO---(I bet his first job was at the PNE: Programs! Get your Programs! Win a House! Win a Car!). In a manner of mere moments I was standing in front of a wicket having my documentation examined by a Passport official. She gave me a number and directed me to the elevators and Floor Number 9.

Off I went back up the stairs, down the hallways and past the security guards and into one of the many elevators. Pushed the Number 9 button.
Nothing.
Pushed again.
Still nothing.
Pushed repeatedly slightly more urgently. Nothing.
Notice the emergency button. Idly wonder what Jack Bauer would do.
Think of cell phone in purse. Am glad I have chosen today to wear new underwear. Am constructing plan when elevator suddenly lurches to the fourth floor. Person enters, leaves on the second floor, and now the button for the 11th floor lights up. Onward and upward.
Once alone again in this malfunctioning death trap I push 9 again.
NOTHING.
After a few moments, it hums along to the eighth floor where I exit figuring I will take the stairs to reach my destination.
NO access to stairs. None. Nada. Nil. (Would love to know what Health Canada: Heart and Stroke Foundation would have to say about this. Plus it was Earth Day only a mere day earlier.) Resignedly I reenter the elevator and delusionally think that maybe now it will work.
Nope.

As I begin to mentally construct my possible last voice mail message to Bruno (....chicken thawing in fridge, load of laundry left in washer, and stash of old $2 bills hidden) the L button lights up and I am headed for the lobby where I plan to exit and try another elevator. Doors open and before I can charge out, a young family that I recognized from the previous line-up is being heralded in by a security guard who begins to question me. He orders me to show him my Passport Canada number. Out of the corner of my eye I can see the parents move protectively in front of their children. Triumphantly I flash my number. I am allowed to remain on the elevator and the guard unlocks a switch and we are headed to the Elusive Floor 9.
Apparently this floor is OUT-OF-BOUNDS to all unauthorized people and requires the involvement of a security guard to arrive there. News Flash to Passport Canada: You need to notify the public of this little detail.

Finally I reach Floor Number 9 and am directed to a seat until my number is called. Relieved to be neither crawling through an elevator shaft nor lying at the bottom of said shaft in a crumbled heap, I enthusiastically settle myself in one of many empty chairs. I reach for my supply bag. Yes, supply bag. For, notwithstanding authorized elevator trips, I have come prepared. Water. Fruit. Granola bar. Book. Hand held Tetris game. IPod. Bring on the line-ups for I am ready!!!! While deciding which distraction to chose first, my number is called. Yes, just that quickly! The pleasant government official processes my paperwork quickly and tells me that it is a very quiet day.
My suggestion is they check the elevators: I am certain they will discover dozens of people futility attempting to reach Floor Number 9.

Reduce, Recycle, Reuse

So, did you all participate in Earth Day? Personally I am more apt to participate in a Mental Health Day but I digress. I threw only empty eco-friendly plastic recyclables (number threes) at the door-to-door salespeople banging on my door, and suggested to my customers at work that they reduce paper use by not returning their wrong-sized garments and instead recycling them by donating them to a charity. Unfortunately my manager threatened that I can be replaced .....which isn't even one of the 3 R's. But it doesn't matter, with Earth Day in mind I sold him a package of socks that had been returned. Ergo: REUSE. My day was complete.

....and now this important message from Cathy-Emily......

Enough with the irreverence of Santa's reindeer, the Seven Dwarfs, and Lindsey Lohan; time to move on to something much more serious and meaningful: the Provincial Election. Hahahahahahahah! No, Just Kidding! Something even more dear to the heart of the average British Columbian: the Vancouver Canuck's skate through the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Four straight baby! FOUR STRAIGHT! Last night's win over St. Louis has even the most disgruntled fan jumping back on the bandwagon, waving his flag (circa 1994) and chanting 'Bobby-Lin"-------you have to forgive him, he indulged in a bit too much celebratory brew and hopefully will shout "Bobby-Lou" next game day.

ARE YOU GUYS EXCITED OR WHAT??????

Thought For the Day

WHO WOULD WIN IN A FIGHT?:

Jason Bourne or Jack Bauer?

Ironman or Batman?

Lindsey Lohan or Paris Hilton?

RE: The Answers

I enjoyed reading all your emails with the answers. I will be mailing/dropping off your prizes shortly.

Weekend Tasks

1. Name all seven dwarfs.

2. Find out if it should be dwarves instead of dwarfs.

3. Done that? Okay now name all eight of Santa's original reindeer. And no, Rudolph is not one of them.

4. And finally, name all six Brady Bunch kids. Bonus points if you can recall the names of the parents and their maid.

A SLICE

One Word: Effervescence. Say it. Say it again. Isn't it a fun word to say? Effervescence. I recently read it off the label of a wine bottle. As the level of wine became lower in the bottle, it became even more to say.

ef⋅fer⋅vesce

  –verb (used without object), -vesced, -vesc⋅ing.

1.	to give off bubbles of gas, as fermenting liquors.

2.	to issue forth in bubbles.

3.	to show enthusiasm, excitement, liveliness, etc.: The parents effervesced with pride over their new baby.

Effervescence. Just verbalizing the word makes my mouth feel all bubbly and enthusiastic.