today's supper at work

Avocado with Mrs Dash and flax oil for omega 3s.
Stuffed mushrooms.
Apricot.

I could have had some homemade low fat brownie cookies, but I ate them for breakfast.
I could have had a banana muffin but I ate it for breakfast.

popper break

I happened upon this cartoon site, through the network-ahj that is Facebook. They're pretty durn funny. But now I have to get back to Popper.

Britney?

I just watched the beginning of the MTV Video Music Awards, which opened with Britney. Wow, that was... wow... one of the worst performances I've ever seen. It was like she didn't know why she'd even bothered to roll out of bed this morning.

The CTV review, the first I could find, agrees--so it wasn't all in my mind: "She lazily walked through her dance moves with little enthusiasm. It appeared she had forgotten the entire art of lip-synching."

That poor girl needs to find a new profession.

Sarah Silverman is hosting and, at least in the first couple minutes, she seemed as unfunny as usual.

Pavarotti! Oh la!

Ohhh... le Pavarotti. I got goosebumps and almost Burst Into Dramatic Tears when Charlie Rose played a clip of him singing Nessun Dorma the other night. What a voice. Always stick around for the last high note of this piece... Pavarotti makes it seem like a walk in the park.

Ads - is it just me?

I was just skimming a NYT article about--what will happen if we all start using applications that block ads on web sites. Because ad revenue is what makes so much of the internet free, right? And I've often wondered this about tv too, what with the Tivo Revolution on its way. Already there's lots of product placement in the film world, and even more aggressive than that - the Absolut Vodka storyline on Sex and the City was actually a paid advertisement. They paid to have a storyline based on their product.

But what I've long wondered about too is how influential tv and internet and magazine ads really are. I would love to see some studies on this. I've OCCASIONALLY seen a product and thought "dude totally!" like the Bounce sheets that repel lint (cats!) or the odor fighting garbage bags. I often don't buy the product anyway, because it's too expensive; and I don't set out to find it. But if I'm in the store and see it, I'll be all "ooh there's that Bounce stuff!" (I did actually buy the Bounce. It does work.)

These cases are few and far between. Am I in the minority on this? I need to sit down one evening, record all the ads I see, and if I've ever bought these products because I saw them on tv. Usually I try new things out just because I see them in the store.

This even applies to ads I love. I love those Malibu ads, but never buy it. Bicks pickles, but I would buy generic.

Internet ads, even less. The only time I click on them is to get a handle on a site's philosophy ( is it conservative, hippie dippy, liberal, etc.)

Is it just me? Maybe advertizers are worrying for nothing.

Sing to Rule the World!

I read a fun article in Real Simple today - Gail Blanke "Find Your Song (and sing it)."

"I wondered where you get that kind of conviction, that you're exactly the right person to take the room, get the part, knock 'em dead? I bet it's from the music. ... We all need a song."

She believes that everyone needs a theme song, a pep-me-up, for those times when you're about to do something that makes you nervous. Or she counseled a 40 year old exec whose boss had told him to work on his communication skills: he recalled when he used to play soccer, he would sing "My Sharona" in his head on the way onto the pitch, to get in his super-star mode; she told him--well you have to do the same thing before you go meet a client! "Roger came out of himself; he became a motivator. He energized his clients, and they loved it."

I used to have my I-am-nervous theme song, but I'd forgotten til I read this article. I think it started in grade 11 when I was leaving my driving lesson. Going to my driving lessons made me queasy, and leaving them, I felt like an idiot. And I recall walking down St. John's singing to myself "I Have Confidence" from The Sound of Music.

After that, I used to sing it all the time in nervous situations. It's a great song because it's long, with lots of lyrics, so remembering it all keeps my brain occupied. And I love the way it starts with Nerves, builds into Confidence, builds into Bursting Confidence, has one last moment of Nerves ("oh help!") and then ends on one last blustery I'm-gonna-fake-it-if-it-kills-me note. I mustn't forget this again... it will come in handy for teaching.

"Somehow I will impress them
I will be firm but kind
And all those children
--Heaven bless them--
they will look up to me
And mind me!"

I guess you could have a few sub-songs for specific situations. Blanke has a client who chose a specific song for dating, after her marriage ended. When I'm on my way to an exam I sing "funky fresh dressed to impress - ready to party" by Missy Elliott.

;-)

If you have a power-song, you should Commentify me. If not... well, you should get one.

Alexa.com! Where all the cool stats go!

Ho ho, I love my new toy!

I think I found alexa.com once before and then forgot about it. (And if you're on firefox, you can add it to your list of search sites. Do it! Do it! SO much fun.)

Look at Yahoo and Hotmail battling it out, and then Gmail's swift climb to join the ranks! (Though Gmail, Google, Blogger all give the same line--so I guess these represent the companies at large.)

Or let's see what happens to facebook and myspace this year. Myspace is still ahead, but look at that little facebook rocketing upwards!

Of course, youtube is leaving them all in the dust...

Hmm Fox looks less popular than I would have supposed. I guess Fox newsies prefer the channel to the web site. (And everyone prefers... youtube!)