Kyle's right. They are Evil.

Kyle and I bought really good travel mugs, which I try to bring with me whenever I meet someone for coffee. Last week at Starbucks, I handed the woman at the till my travel mug and ordered a drink. Then, like a good customer, I walked to the bar to wait quietly for my coffee. I watched in stunned silence as the barrista made my drink in a cardboard cup, poured the drink from disposable cup into my travel mug, and tossed the cup in the garbage.

I understand that she probably wants to make sure I get the same amount of drink as I ordered. But it's a Starbucks mug, which I figure must be a standard size. Or maybe she was confused and didn't notice the mug until after she started making my drink.

Regardless of the reason, I was a bit irritated. The sad thing is that my irritation wasn't because of the environmental impact of such waste. It was because of my deep love of disposable coffee cups. When I drink from a cardboard cup, I savour the warm feeling of heat transfering from the drink to my hands. I relish the rough texture of the paper. I delight in the colourful cheer of left-over Christmas cups. For me, the cardboard cup is a big part of the experience of going out for a five-dollar coffee.

It was all I could do to not launch myself over the counter, intercept the cup before it hit the garbage can, and fill it again with my lactaid latte. Instead, I watched in slow-motion horror as that beautiful cup sailed through the air, ricocheted off the side of the giant garbage can and fell on top of a cold pile of coffee grounds.

All that beauty... wasted.

Why Starbucks, why!? I try to do the right thing by bringing my own cup and you just taunt me!

ps. For fun, you coffee drinkers should check out the Oracle of Starbucks.

Wardrobe Dysfunction

I'm going to a bar downtown tonight to see a show. I'm excited about seeing the band and I'm pumped to hang out with some friends who are in town for the holidays.

On Friday I was out for lunch with these same friends, worrying aloud about what I should wear to the show. My anxiety stems from the fact that I'm just not cool enough for indie shows (or any other shows) and neither is my wardrobe.

To illustrate my lack of coolness, I told the girls about the time a bunch of kids from my bible school drove up to Edmonton to watch Grandmaster Flash dj. Not knowing that Grandmaster Flash was playing a rave, I put on my "coolest" sweater, which I had picked up from Value Village. The sweater was chocolate brown with a small gold lion embroidered on the chest.

At the rave, I felt okay in my brown sweater amidst all of the kids with their loofahs, glow sticks, soothers, and neon spandex dresses. And then I went to the bathroom. While I waited in line, one of the tiny raver girls asked me if I was a security guard. A security guard. That's how cool I was in my awesome brown sweater.

So tonight I'm heading downtown wearing jeans and my current coolest shirt. I have a good feeling about this one. But then again, I also felt pretty hot in my security guard sweater so it's hard to know how things will turn out.

Christmas 2007

We had a fantastic couple of weeks cruising around the province enjoying the generous hospitality of friends and family. In Camrose we got to visit some of our dear friends and meet Soren, a fantastic new addition to our family.

Aside from the arrival of a beautiful new baby, there was another Christmas miracle. Every year, my family practices the British tradition opening of Christmas crackers before dinner. For the first time ever, Amisha received a paper Christmas crown in her cracker that was big enough to fit over her massive head. She was so excited that she kept it in her pocket and brought it out periodically over the holidays.

Another highlight of our holiday was Murray's Ho Ho Hold the Turkey event, which Amisha has accurately described on her blog while skillfully mocking our host. I think this is my favourite party ever, not only because of the delicious forno pizza but because of Murray's mad dancing skills.
Click on the photo to check out the intensity on his face. He wasn't messing around...










The night before we left Grande Prairie I laid awake in my bed, overflowing with thankfulness for a holiday filled with the sweetness of new life, connection, good food, and laughter.

Happy 2008!

Oh Christmas Tree!

Last summer, my sister Amisha advised me that we needed to cut the spruce tree that was trying to grow its way through the front of our house. In a stroke of brilliance, I decided to wait until December to cut it own. That way, I could get my yard work done and not have to pay for a Christmas tree.

So a few weeks ago I decided it was time to get out and do a little Christmas yard work. I grabbed some mittens and a saw and got down to work. After I sawed/kicked the tree down, our roommate Alanna helped me drag it into the house while our neighbour laughed at us.

It even came pre-decorated with lots of dried leaves, a tin yogurt lid and some construction tape. Ours might not be the most shapely Christmas tree but I think it's gorgeous. Of all the unruly trees I've cut down in our yard, it's by far my favourite. I'll even miss it come January.

When Kyle puts away the groceries

I'm not sure what his logic was here. Maybe alphabetical order - panty liners, pasta...

TV for blind people

Tonight Kyle's Christmas wish came true... our TV finally broke. A month ago the sound went really strange and he fixed it by rigging something up through the VCR. This evening, our TV has inexplicably started broadcasting voice-over services for the visually impaired. On every station, the same woman's voice describes the action on screen.

"Homer opens the door, crosses the room and looks in Maggie's crib. Homer runs across the hall to Lisa's room."

At first I thought this new "feature" might make TV watching even easier than it already is. You know, sometimes I just can't keep up with the fast-paced action on the screen or don't want to put in the effort of keeping my eyes focused. But instead of improving my television experience, the voice-over lady has ruined it. Having her describe everything happening on screen is incredibly irritating when you're not visually impaired. And because we did nothing to activate the voice over, we are absolutely baffled as to how to turn it off.

The power of the mind

This morning, just after I woke up, I was standing in the bathroom with the door open. All of the sudden I thought, "Hm...maybe I should make a cup of tea."

The thought was weird because I never drink tea in the morning and I was incredibly thirsty for a cold glass of water.

As I shuffled down the hallway, I heard an odd noise. A boiling noise. I walked into the kitchen to see that our insanely crappy electric kettle (which is supposed to shut off automatically) was going full boil. Its white plastic outside was quite hot and feeling a bit soft. Quickly, I came to realize that the kettle had been boiling for over an hour while I slept.

Thanks brain, for alerting me to the possibility of "tea", rather than "kitchen fire".