Perplexed.

I've started to use my gmail account a lot more in the last few weeks, as it hooks up with the iPhone quite nicely. I got my gmail account way back when it was still beta, and you had to know someone who could forward you an invitation to open an account. As a result, I have an account that's firstname.lastname@gmail.com. I know it's mine because I successfully use the password to get into the account, and most of the mail is something I want or have signed up for.

I've recently discovered that someone in Seattle has been giving out that address as their own - I get party invitations, messages from friends iPhones, school notifcations, etc. that belong to the other person. Most of the time, I'm nice and just send back a "this isn't the correct email" note, but after sending several of those, I asked the sender of today's email (a school notification) to let the person know that the email that they've been giving out isn't in fact their email.

I don't really understand this - gmail does require you to type in your email each time you log in, so hopefully over time, you become familiar with it. And if you give out an email that goes to someone else, you should realize that you're probably not going to get the party invites, school notices and friends emails that you actually want. I do hope the person figures out their actual email soon, and starts giving that out to friends and family.

I just don't get....

On one of the boards I read, there's a person selling ear wires, which are the part of an earing that you put into your ear, and from which beads or charms dangle from. They are usually made from silver, or coated in gold, or something which doesn't usually react with skin.

Only she's making them from copper and brass, both of which react with many people's skin. And she's proud of the fact that they are copper and brass, which "aren't usually available", according to her. I kind of get the fact that some people might want hand-made ear wires, but I don't get why you'd want them in a metal that will turn your skin black....

too cool.....

It's darn cold here - a high of -23, a low of -30. At these temperatures, it doesn't really matter if it's Celsius or Fahrenheit. It's still cold.

And yet, while I was in the parking lot today, waiting for my own car to warm up, the car that had pulled in next to me had the sunroof partially open. I guess it's worth it to look cool, even when it's this cold.

My Rant of the Day

I've noticed the following disclaimer show up on my bottled water within the last couple of weeks:

"Not a significant source of saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol, fibre, sugars, vitamin A, vitamin C or iron"

It's water - just plain water.... how much fat did you expect to be in there?

Adventures in Travel

I've been traveling a lot lately - mostly for work, but occasionally a fun trip as well. Because it's been mostly for work, I've been flying by myself a lot lately. I'm the kind of person who likes to settle into their seat, pop in my earphones and open a good book, and hope that the distractions make the journey go a lot faster. I've been constantly amazed by the people who want to chat during the flight - event when it's clearly not wanted or welcome. I mean - if the person you're trying to talk to is not responding, especially if they have earphones on, don't you get the message pretty quickly that they don't want to chat? Or if they appear more interested in the book in front of you than in the conversation, isn't that time to give up?

I'm not sure what the reason behind this recent phenomenon is - flights now have 24 channels of TV or several options of entertainment. What ever the cause, I'm hoping that the next flight, I'll just be left in peace.

So I'm at the hockey game...

I'm at the hockey game last night and my buddy and I are sitting next to a family of four - mom, dad and two kids. All is good until the second intermission, when mom starts to pull out her expense report, and proceeds to fill in the details. The guy I was with and I were both completely aghast - It's *Friday* night, you have tickets to a professional sporting event, you're spending quality time with your family and you have some need to do paperwork in the middle of it? I know people in this city love to claim to be "busy", but I think doing your expense report at the hockey game takes that to new lows.

In other news, I love the new non-smoking bylaw here. We're likely one of the last cities in North America to go smoke free, and last night was the first time I've been to a bar since the non-smoking bylaw was passed. It's fantastic! I love coming home and not needing a shower because I smell like the inside of an ashtray. I can actually enjoy a pint with friends now.