Packing for the Great White North

As you may remember, my daughter  graduated college last June and has since moved to Toronto to carve out a life for herself. After a wee bit of homesickness (which she alleviated in part by getting a dog)

she is now doing very well. So we have planned a trip to visit her on her birthday in a few weeks.

Now, I usually wait to pack until the last minute, but I figure what with it being a foreign country and all I had better make a list of things to take, because who knows what they have in Canada? So here is my list so far.

Brand new undies for the border crossing strip search.

American to Canadian dictionary

Rolls of pennies to make up for the one cent difference in the exchange rate.

Parka, boots, scarf, mittens, long johns, electric socks, Chap Stick

'Curling for Dummies'

American bacon

All my Neil Young and Bryan Adams cd's.

My 'Annotated Guide to Canadian Prime Ministers' coffee table pop-up book.

Moose repellant


Plus, I'll have to practice saying, "It really sucks they're not playing hockey yet," with a straight face. 

If you have any suggestion, I'd be glad to hear them.

Blogapalooza 2011

Today I discovered, via the Facebook post of a denizen of Toronto and probable future family member (this is shaping up to be a grammatically torturous sentence but I'm going to keep going), that November is National Blog Posting Month, aka NaBloPoMo. It's a sister to NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), and NaPoWriMo (National Poetry Writing Month). During November, bloggers are encouraged to produce a post a day, every day.

This leaves several areas writing still without their own month.We are yet to see:
NaTechWriMo--(National Technical Writers Month). Daily task: translate from Taiwanese to English one manual on assembling a swingset.

NaRaSpoWriMo--(National Radio Spot Writing Month). Daily task: write one 30 second commercial for a local car dealer that does NOT include the words big, giant, deal, low, money down, lease, APR or the name of any make of car.

NaInfWriMo--(National Infomercial Writing Month). Daily task: Try to sell us something using words that sound great when shouted repeatedly.

NaTOSWriMO--(National Terms of Service Writing Month). Daily task:  Write 40 pages of legalese in 2 point font size, followed by a click box that says 'I Agree.'

NaChaSignLiYoSeAtMufShoWriMo--(National Changeable Sign Like You See at Muffler Shops Writing Month). Daily task: One message that is short enough to make us want to read it, but long enough to make reading it dangerous. 

NaMenBorSpecWriMo--(National Menu Board Specials Writing Month). Daily task: Try to make a new way to say 'Yesterday's stuff chopped up and put into a nice sauce.'


So I'm on board for this whole blog-a-day thing. I expect some posts to be brilliant, and some to be drivel (isn't that the usual ratio anyway?), but they'll be here, even on Thanksgiving (which my Canadian friend doesn't have to worry about).

See you tomorrow.

A few words about the Olympics

Just a few words on the Olympics.

First, I hate when the Olympics ends. When the IOC guy says, "I now declare this Olympics closed, and call upon the athletes of the world to meet again in four years in (insert city here)" I feel real sadness. I invest a lot of emotion into the successes and failures of a bunch of people I don't normally even know exist, and I genuinely miss that involvement. Plus, now we're stuck watching the rest of the closing ceremonies.

I will be happy, though, to get my evenings back. And all those hours spent watching curling.

Curling. How is it I missed this sport for all these years? Official description of curling: slide a hefty stone over some ice and try to be closest to the center of a circle. Some helpers will use a broom to (wait, don't fall asleep I'm almost done) guide the stone until it stops. What curling actually is: a game of complex strategy that even after a hundred hours of watching on TV with knowledgeable commentators, you will not understand, but which you will not be able to tear yourself away from due to amazing shotmaking and unbelievable drama. Yes, I love curling. I think one person described why it's kind of caught on. It seems like something anyone can do. I even looked up local curling clubs. There is one in South Euclid but I really have no intention of trying it. I have a lot on my plate, and who needs to spend money on the latest in Norwegian curling pants? I think I'll remain content to be a spectator.

Anthems. I love 'The Star Spangled Banner.' It's the most rousing anthem I've ever heard. It's distinct and energetic and it's a great song, even though more than half of Americans cannot sing it over it's full range without going into falsetto or just mouthing the high parts. But at the end of the men's curling finals, when the game was pretty much in hand, the crowd of about 5,000 spontaneously burst into 'O, Canada,' and it was beautiful. I cannot imagine a U.S crowd bursting into 'The Star Spangled Banner.' And for a few minutes I felt envious that we didn't have an anthem that was so lovely and so easy to just start singing as 'O, Canada.' then I remembered we do. We have two actually. 'God bless America' and 'America (the Beautiful).' Either of those would be perfect for an impromptu serenade. Both are lovely and both are easily sung by all but the worst of us. I prefer 'America' personally, and some have suggested that we make that our national anthem but I don't agree. Our current anthem, despite its unsingability, and despite the fact that it's written in waltz time, is perfect. If you cannot sing it, then just mouth the words like most of the rest of us.