Occasional musings from a Left-coast Canadian ExPat in Oxford.
I have had so many thoughts about this assinine “Meternity” idea-slash-book (go ahead, google it. I’ll wait.) that came out ages and ages ago. I finally have a few minutes (FINALLY) to commit those thoughts to pixels. Maternity (or parental) leave is not for mothers (or parents). It’s for babies. It is not an employment … Continue reading MeTernity
In all the ways people can be a competent business grownup (h/t Darren), I think the most abused are communication channels. It’s like we haven’t gotten over the fact that there are Magic! Machines! that we communicate through, and we let our amazement at technology take up the parts of our brain we would otherwise … Continue reading How to be a Business Grownup: Rules for Autoresponders
England is a really buggy place. I was surprised at first, but considering the humidity, it’s not really all that shocking. There’s an amazing assortment of creepy crawlies here, 98.5% of which I am totally OK with. Except all of them seem to want to be in my house. In everyone’s house, really. And who … Continue reading Can we talk about the SPIDERS!?
Did you know Anti-social means something entirely different here? I much prefer the UK definition. Here, anti-social behaviour is something that actively goes against society. Something that disturbs the peace, and negatively affects the neighbourhood. Noise complaints, public drunkenness, vandalism – anything that blights the quality of individual and community life. I’ve been trying hard … Continue reading Anti-Social
Over the weekend, Neil and I headed to the Summertown Farmer’s Market. Partly to check out what was on offer, and partly to partake in a (delicious!) pulled pork sandwich from Shredded Meat Co. who are setting up shop there each weekend this summer. The market was lovely, and most businesses along the strip where … Continue reading A funny thing happened on the way from the Farmer’s Market
Everyone loves the Reasons my Son is Crying tumblr. Everyone, except me. I am not usually such a curmudgeon about such things. I am the first to admit that kids, especially kids around 2-years-old (like the one in the tumblr seems to be), are hilarious, illogical, pains in the arse. My favourite episode of Isaac’s … Continue reading ‘Reasons my Son is Crying’ makes me want to cry a little.
Moms of all stripes are up in arms, as usual, this week thanks to a feature article in the Atlantic (and responses to it) trying to tackle the latest chapter in the war-on-moms-slash-work-life-balance-myth. The latest can of gas being thrown on the fire being the assertion that it’s anti-feminist to be a Stay-at-Home-Mom. The rant … Continue reading Work-It
Apparently this guy REALLY doesn’t want to get some of our work emails. And yet can’t find the unsubscribe button: Subject: SPAM EMAILS REMOVE ME FROM YOUR FUCKING SPAM EMAILS! STOP SENDING ME THIS SHIT! [redacted], LUTCF [redacted] and Associates www.[redacted].com 317-[XXX-XXXX] 317-[XXX-XXXX] fax Faith, Hope and Charity. Yah, read that last line of his … Continue reading Faith, Hope and Charity
An update for those playing along at home. Reader’s Digest version: Things are much, much better. The dog’s infection has cleared up with antibiotics and some antiseptic soap treatments, so she’s much happier. She can be left without the cone and should be 100% once the course of drugs are finished. Neil got the results … Continue reading Out the Other Side
Well okay then. It’s been a less than auspicious start to 2010 for the House of Watkii. I spent the beginning of December nursing Neil with the flu, then spent the last 10 days of 2009 terribly ill myself (too ill to eat more than 1/2 plate of Christmas dinner – tragedy!), finally feeling better … Continue reading Oh, so it’s going to be like that, is it.
… I do not think it means what you think it means! I’m talking about Sustainability. The latest in a long series of buzzwords that’s been appropriated to make people feel better about their choices – not the first, and certainly not the last. But definitely the one I find most annoying right now. sus·tain·a·ble … Continue reading You Keep Using that Word
Darren posted today about trying to understand the HST. Personally, I’m not really one to get all up in arms over new taxes, and like him, I’m really just trying to understand what’s going on. I am concerned, though, about the tax’s impact on the new housing market – it sounds like new homes that … Continue reading Het up over the HST
One of the pet peeves I had while I was looking for cleanse info/reviews was finding people saying “oh hey I’m starting this cleanse” and that was the last thing they had to say about it. For future googlers, I’m halfway through this godforsaken Wild Rose D-Tox cleanse. Here’s how it’s going: I certainly experienced … Continue reading Half-Clean
A few years ago I volunteered with Junior Achievement BC, leading the A Business of Our Own program for a grade 6 class. One of the units in the program is to guide the students through thinking about how to market the class business (in this case, chocolate sales to fund their class trip) and … Continue reading I want a hippopotamus!
With the changing of the seasons, changing levels of exercise (now that I’m biking to work again almost daily) and a lapse into eating garbage and drinking too much beer & wine (the sunshine turns me into a serious boozehound), sleep, once again, eludes me. I can’t quite remember the last time I fell asleep … Continue reading Alarming