Awesome

I was watching a show the other day where a guy was talking about a website he started called 1000awesomethings.com      He said he did it because at the time he was going through a rough patch and had to remind himself of lifes little pleasures.  Oddly enough, his site then became a book called the "Book of Awesome".  At times I too find myself bitching about all the little things that pick my arse, but in the end its much more beneficial to think of those awesome things that make us smile.  Here are a few of mine in no particular order:

• Hitting the row of traffic lights just right so you don't have to stop at any of them
• Enjoying the look on Chad's face when a cheezy 80's song comes on the radio and I turn it up
• The smell of wet concrete in a parkade
• Finding the perfect "full of seeds" soft oatmeal cookie
• Sleeping in on a rainy morning with the one you love and a cat
• Nim's Island - who wouldn't want to live there!?
• Putting ketchup on things - mmm 
• Laughing when you dad gets a birthday card with a picture of a toilet on it and he thinks its a bumble bee?  (did I mention he was getting older ; )
• Being surprised when a movie you weren't expecting to be good is awesome!
• Watching Obama diss Donald Trump and Fox News
• The bowl of chocolate covered raisins a co-worker keeps in her office

In your Face book

Social Media.  Such an odd world we live in nowadays.  I see lots of great uses of social media and I see more that make me give my head a shake.  A few of my friends have their facebook pages, they share some pics of themselves and their kids, they are careful about their security settings and overall enjoy it's use.

On the flip side, many users are more concerned about quantity than quality.  OMFG...I have 400 "friends"!  They spend a great deal of time crafting their persona online so they look cool, hot, witty, tough, rich, whatever.  Many people have lost their sense of appropriateness.  Yes, it's your page so you can put whatever you want on it, BUT, if you open it up to the world, then you get what you get!  

Today on the news a young man was crying because he was high fiving the recent riots in Vancouver and making "witty" remarks about how Vancouver needed a facelift anyway.  On the same site he had information about his employer.  Well, next thing you know the construction company where he worked starting getting many many emails about these remarks.  So what did the company do?  They fired his ass the next day!  They didn't want the association and bad publicity this dumb dood brought. 

On the news he was crying and saying that it was intended for his friends and they would have understood that he was joking and was not really like that.  Well then if that was the intent, you failed horribly, because guess what....all those people going to your site are not your "friends"! 

People judge people all the time, and social media is just one more way it can be done.  Most people that I know that conduct job interviews now check Facebook to look up the candidates before the interview.  I have worked with people that call in sick to work and then post on Facebook or twitter that they are out shopping or something.  People get so desperate for attention that they start to make really bad decisions.  So whether you are a 15 year old teenager trying to fit in or Anthony Weiner trying to share your "junk" with the world, be careful out there! 

It all becomes permanent record so choose your audience wisely. 

Washing Your Salami in my Fountain?

Well today I had an unexpected discovery.  I was putzing around in the backyard as usual, checking out how all of the plants had fared from the cold weather.  We have a fountain in the back that I have to clean out once in a while as often pine needles and stuff will blow in after a wind storm.

I look in and see the typical debree, but notice something different at the bottom of the fountain.  Three large objects.  I reach in and grab the light object with my hand and pull it up.  Ewwww...it is all slimey and squishy.  I take a closer look at it..."Is this cheese??"  WTF?  So I toss it to the side as it feels nasty in my hand.

Now I really take a look at the other two objects at the bottom.  I reluctantly pull one up and take a look.  "Is that a slice of salami?".  It IS salami!  I reach down and take out a second healthy sized piece.

Well, I can honestly say this was not my average gardening day.  How did cheese and salami get into our backyard fountain?  Was the local squirrel having a pizza party?  Were the neighbors getting drunk by their firepit and playing toss the salami?  I saw a giant raven the other day at the front fountain with something large in his mouth "washing" it over the water.   Maybe it was his salami?

So that was my exciting day of gardening : )