Garbage

Last week was Spring Clean up - that's where you can put all sorts of crap at the end of your driveway and the city hauls it away for no extra cost. After living here for several years, I am still amazed at how much junk people can accumulate in a year. And also, I ponder the types of things that people throw away.

When I was a kid, we treasured all our possessions and treated them well. Games had all the pieces, records weren't scratched, Lego's and Barbie shoes were rarely lost. But now, at the end of many driveways site large collections of children's ruined bicycles, fallen apart furniture and giant stuffed animals. What happens to these large stuffed animals? I guess the biggest problem is that they are too big for the washer and therefore difficult to clean - but how dirty do they get? I don't think one of my stuffed animals was ever thrown away, except maybe the really old ones that were filled with sawdust (back in the day) and either the dog got to it, or a mouse did a number on it when it was in a box in storage.

But also interesting to me is what's left a week later. There are restrictions to the type of items left on the street (such as old wood) and the amount - some people had heaps that spanned 10' across and 8' high. There seems to be a couple houses on each street that has debris left over. But the debris piles have not been cleaned up. They sit. And kids muck about in them and spread more debris. The weekend's passed but no one removed it. Not even for Mother's Day. It's just left to sit at the end of the driveway. I guess these people are too lazy - perhaps they figure they did all the work to haul it to the end of the driveway that their job is done. Meanwhile their neighbours have to endure the mess. What an eyesore! It's very disappointing that they don't care that their crap is piled in front of their house for 2 weeks (or more, God forbid). I wonder how long it'll take, I'll let you know when the three houses on my street have cleaned up.

Also, while walking the dog this morning, I came across fresh graffiti on a fence next to a park. The word? "Ass Monkey". If you'd like to be enlightened in slang, here are some definitions. And this is how you can use the word in a sentence: Hey neighbour, don't be an ass monkey and clean up your garbage.

A Sprinkle a Day

When I was growing up, there was a commercial for talcum powder, it showed 4 people crammed into a car, carpooling to work with cranky faces (like they smelled something bad) then the jingle:

A sprinkle a day, helps keep the odor away

Have you had your sprinkle today?

I don’t recall seeing a talcum powder advertisement on TV for many years. Why? Have we changed the frequency of our showers, or have our soaps gotten better? Do we not carpool anymore? Is there no money in the product to advertise? And at the time, the ad seemed to be geared towards men.

The product still exists and in fact, still uses the same slogan. I guess some products just don’t need to be advertised anymore. However, a quick look at their website indicates the product is now geared mainly towards women with feminine scents and sparkles added to the talcum. Perhaps now instead of being aimed at the busy working man, it’s aimed at the mommies who don’t have time to shower as the website includes hints like sprinkling it in your hair, or applying it to areas where sand sticks on your body (are you at the beach enough to let that bother you?); and sprinkling it on your sleepwear helps you with a peaceful sleep.

So, sales must be good enough to forego advertisting, I’m not looking in the right places or I’ve seen the ads and just don’t remember.

Have you had your sprinkle today?

P.S. - If you want some fun, read their FAQ page... "how do I open the bottle" is really a question! Do people really frequently ask that question? Really now!

Where are all the snow shovels?

Today, the city of Vancouver is crippled by up to 30 cm of snow (or more). While at work, I tuned into the News Radio station which had a call-in show about snow clearing. They discussed that the lack of snow clearing on sidewalks and driveways, the fines that can be issued (up to a $100 in some parts of the country) and the responsibility of businesses to clear walkways and parking lots, etc. To defend small property owners and small businesses one caller said he had walked to the hardware store to buy a snow shovel but they were sold out - so what could he do?

But every year, I hear people whining about snow shovels and complaining when stores sell out of them. So where do they all go? Do we have so many new people from warm climates moving here every winter that they are surprised we have snow? At my house, we have two snow shovels, and we've had them for over ten years.

Is there some secret place that has all the single socks and all the snow shovels?

America is Burning

Apparently due to the high rate of foreclosures in certain areas of the United States, it has been speculated that some people are setting fire to their own homes (read this); if this is true, these are very sad times.

People are so distraught, they can willingly set fire to their home because "if they can't have it, no one can". Is this the new way of filing bankruptcy? And do they remove all their personal items first? You know, I can barely discard items I have inherited from others - I just couldn't imagine getting into such a state that I could burn my own house.

For years, TV channels such as HGTV and the DIY Network have produced home makeover shows, I wonder when we'll start seeing "the how-to's of fire restoration"?

And is it worth it? Will the insurance money really make all the difference? I guess for some it will and since insurance pays first and investigates later, one could take the money and run.

But this is such an extremely selfish act - putting neighbouring homeowners at risk, unnecessarily straining the fire department and it's resources, damaging city property, polluting the environment - all for one person or family to take the easy way out of debt.

And how soon will it be before TV dramas about arson (and insurance) investigators take over the medical and paranormal dramas?

Forget about the wildfires in California or Texas - America is burning one house at a time.

The Secret?

This was first posted on my other blog on April 18, 2007. I wanted to include it here, approximately one year after The Secret's North American release in hopes that those who have listened or watched can update me and share their thoughts:

Dear Oprah,

Now that it's been 3 months since you showed the world The Secret, how's it going?

After millions of copies have been sold, and millions of people testifying to its greatness, tell me - how many people have been promoted? Has the sale of luxury cars and homes increased exponentially? Has the divorce rate dropped? How many home businesses were started? And, has there been a dramatic increase in tourism?

What? I don't understand. But all these people had to do was buy the book or DVD and think about what they wanted and because of the Law of Attraction, they'd get what they wanted. It happened to the people you showed. You even devoted 2 full episodes to The Secret.

But did you think that people would buy into your endorsement and The Secret and that they would quit their cancer treatment to heal themselves? It happened. And you had to do another show to clarify your opinion of The Secret. You were very supportive in the first two shows, but by the third show, you said it was "just a tool". How does that make your viewers feel?

First, it was the greatest thing since sliced bread and then you said, "I want to say it's a tool. It is not the answer to everything. It is not the answer to atrocities or every tragedy. It is just one law. Not the only law. And certainly, certainly, certainly not a get-rich-quick scheme. The law of attraction is a tool that can help you decide what you want your life to be, and then begin to help you focus on making the best choices through action to create that life."

Don't you feel that you mislead your viewers just a tad way back in January? Sure you can change your mind, but you influenced millions of people to spend the money on the book or DVD, and now, you're not as supportive. And the book is still on the best seller lists.

It was because of this subject, that I stopped being a viewer. I am using those weekday hours more productively, and that is my secret.

~~~~~~~

I have heard some interesting stories from people who bought the program and I am curious to hear more from you, would you please share with your results?

What is 'scary'?

While I was eating my lunch today, I was reading an article about the Vancouver-based sportswear company Oqoqo which is an offspring of the well-known company, lululemon. The article says the company stuffs a 'corporate manifesto' into each shopper's bag to encourage them with phrases such as "do one thing a day that scares you". Now how exactly does one go about that? Saying no to your boss? Stepping out in traffic? Running that extra 1/2 mile despite thinking you might be having a heart attack? Talking to a stranger?

Many scary things are scary for a reason - because they are unsafe or just not a wise thing to do. Walking up to strangers in Vancouver is not only scary, it can be stupid too. Never backing up your computer is very scary (among a whole bunch of other things). And can a person really keep up performing scary things on a daily basis? What scary things should you be doing on a daily basis?

Now I realize this was just a light hearted comment which perhaps the majority of shoppers ignore, but how do we know what advice to follow and what we shouldn't? And do people care when they find out the person giving them their advice has fallen too? Take Dr. Phil for example, allegedly he's on the brink of getting fired for visiting (or perhaps, ambushing) Britney Spears in the hospital. If he is fired, will people burn all his books and stop watching his re-runs, would they feel hurt or even betrayed? Or do people just move on and forget because as fast as some things come into our lives, even faster they are forgotten or replaced?

Perhaps just believing everything you see on TV each day would satisfy 'doing one thing a day that scares you". Could it really be as simple as that?