just testing

I just discovered I can change the width of my blogs, which means I won't have to always adjust youtube video width. This is a test post to fix it. ...But great songs too. ;-)


One of the comments on youtube: "oh my gawd.. i can relate to this song.. being a IBO born and raised in America. when i lived in my true home for 3 years (Nigeria) surving there was tough but western union saved my life at times.. this song is the story of my life."

Vacation 2010 - The Historic Moment

Earlier this week the City of Richmond, BC, was voting on whether to ban the sale of dogs in pet stores. My mother wanted to go, just to make sure the room was filled with supporters, so I went with her. Some guy gave us little signs to wear (Adopt, Don't Shop), and the room was super packed. We listened to a couple hours worth of people defending either side. The people on the pro-ban side brought some very interesting and effective stats and proof that pet stores often get animals from puppy mills. The councilors voted unanimously for the ban, the first city in Canada (see the article excerpts below.)

I forgot to bring the boys for this historic moment, so my mum, brother and I staged a Dramatic Recreation in front of City Hall.

Richmond city council voted unanimously on Monday night to draft a bylaw amendment that would ban the sale of dogs in pet stores, in what the B.C. SPCA is calling a "landmark move against puppy mills."
While several U.S. cities already have such a ban in place, it is the first time a decision of the kind has been made in Canada.
"The City of Richmond showed such leadership being the first in Canada," said Lorie Chortyk, general manager of community relations for the B.C. SPCA. "We're really hoping that this is something other municipalities will see as the progressive way to go."
...

Bryson said U.S. taxpayers spend about $2 billion each year to house and euthanize unwanted animals.
American cities with full bans on live animal sales in pet stores include Hermosa Beach, South Lake Tahoe and West Hollywood in California; Fort Lauderdale, Coral Gables, Lauderdale Lakes, Flagler Beach, North Bay Village and Opa-Locka in Florida; and Austin, Texas.
Albuquerque, N.M., imposed a ban on the retail sale of all companion animals in 2006. Since then, animal adoptions have increased by 23 per cent and euthanasia at city shelters has decreased by 35 per cent, said Bryson.   (Vancouver Sun)

Vacation 2010 - Aberdeen Center and other things

The Brother visits my hotel one day. We sit and gossip with the boys.

 Usually each visit I go to one beach-walk with my mum and the Brat Pack, and act as official photographer. Ahh! Papparazzi!

Cool Rock 

Fast Eddie with his aardvark tongue.

 

Sassy, watching over the crew. 

Foster dog: Quinby, Quincy or Q B. 

Foster 2: Baby Cyrus.

They all try to fit on her lap.

 On the last day the boys and I made an outing to Daiso, to get some bentos.

Then we had a bad lunch in the food court. 

 This is the view from the Aberdeen Center's food court.

This store specializes in real looking miniature things.

 And finally, near one entrance to the mall there's a market, with vegetables, meat etc. Keep in mind, this is a fancy looking mall, with a water fountain show that keeps time with bad Muzak. Richmond is largely Asian, which makes it a mysterious and interesting place.

And everyone has a cell phone, so it was hard to find a pay phone to get a cab ride back to my mum's! But I eventually found one, and here we wait for our ride.

And then we took the red-eye home. Here the boys were singing: "Another suitcase in another haaall..." I think they'd had enough of traveling.

my life in swedish conspicuous consumption

We have to buy a new couch, cause the frame on the old one is broken. The old one was the cheapest Ikea couch I could find, that was high off the ground for Mr Pee-pee (so he'd piss on the easily-washable legs and not the fabric). But it's been over a year since he passed away, so we can move up to something a little more stable. ...But still Ikea. ...I prefer to not worry about furniture fitting through the door.

I want a sofa bed. And it has to be tall enough that my legs are at about a 90 degree angle, so it won't trigger headaches.

Since this is a big piece of furniture, I have to carefully pick the colour, cause it's my big chance to have something jazzy--like red!

But then I'd like to get a couple end tables to match...

I love this end table...

 ...but I think I'll save $60 and just settle on this. It'll be covered in crap anyway.

Maybe a new poster too, I've had my old ones a long time.



The rest of my furniture is all inherited, and is fake wood, so it has to match that. And maybe match the curtains I bought and never put up, though... new curtains are pretty cheap.

cheap ikea curtain:


uncheap but lurvly ikea curtain:



Since we're going tomorrow, I'm sitting up thinking about this. Hmmm. Hmmmm...

It's a bit sad to buy all your furniture at one store, but without (a) a car, and (b) enough passion for decor that I'd want to spend time running around in my car looking for treasures... Ikea it is.

Nano nano

I have some last vacation photos to post, but I've been mostly sleeping since getting back, mixed in with a bit of groceries and husband-movie-watching. And keeping Minion off Haley's back-ness.

I'm getting excited about Nanowrimo. I just officially joined and updated my author page.

Here's the off-the-cuff cover image I created.

Til now I could only picture a white blonde girl in the title role, because she's supposed to be a Paris Hilton esque Dumb Blonde (on the surface), but those pink and green borders remind me of Nicki Minaj, who might play Idiot Socialite really well, too. Hmm...

Here's the exerpt I put on the site for the moment, from last year's nano--which was the first 50 000 words of my novel. (I'm going to do another 50 000 this year.)

“I don’t regret my choice,” Jenny said melodramatically. “I made great music in the 70s. But don’t think I didn’t suffer too.”
“Suffered your way through the bed of every rock act,” Lank snapped. “Kris Kristofferson, Mick Jagger, Lindsay Buckingham, Cat Stevens, Rod Stewart—”
“Don’t forget the actors,” West said. “Jack Nicholson, Dustin Hoffman, Robert De Niro, Malcolm McDowell, Gene Hackman—”
“Oh Gene Hackman!” Hallow turned to Jenny. “He’s good in everything he does.”
"Don't I know!"