First of all, I’m not even technically Canadian. I’ve lived here since I was three and am a Permanent Resident/Legal Alien/Landed Immigrant. The shopping might be far superior south of the border and they have Trader Joe’s and 99% of my family but Canada is my home and, in my opinon, a far superior place to live. But the biggest way in which the U.S. has Canada beat is in the celebration of July 4th. Independence Day is serious stuff in the States. Everyone has traditions and plans and they do it up right. BBQ, red, blue and white, singing the national anthem, fireworks, family and picnics. It FEELS like a different day, like a special day. And it is.

In Canada, we have Canada Day (try saying it 5 times fast. Now try after a few drinks) on July 1st. We have fireworks. And there are parades and concerts and lots of people do fun stuff. But everyone doesn’t. To most people, it’s a day off work and those darn kids set off firecrakers at night. I grew up in Ottawa which is a great place to be on the 1st and I recommend it to anyone who has yet to experience it. Most of downtown is closed to traffic (something Toronto might consider) and the whole city seems come together. When I was a kid, we used to bike around all day, visiting the various parks with activities such as rope climbing, face painting, craft making and much more. They have educational booths set up and cultural experiences and it’s hot and it’s sticky and crowded and fantastic. At night, we’d grab blankets and drive out to the river, park a million miles away (perhaps we should have just walked from the start? Gas was cheaper back then), trudge in and watch the fireworks.

When I was a teenager, Canada Day meant gathering with my friends at Major’s Hill Park, drinking (sorry, Mom) and generally having a good time. The bars were packed, the buses were free after 10 p.m. (another something Toronto might consider) and it was awesome.

Why am I regailing you of tales from my youth? Because Canada Day falls on a Tuesday this year and some people think it would be a great idea to make it a floating holiday, like Victoria Day (which is always the third Monday of May, so at least it’s consistent). This would mean that we would celebrate Canada Day on the Monday or Friday (depending on which was closer to the day) instead of on the 1st. To this I say “WHAT!?” How is that patriotic? On Breakfast Television this morning I was shocked to hear that Kevin Frankish was in favour of this, trying to sell it. I’ve always liked Kevin but was less than impressed with him and all the moronic viewers who wrote or called in to support him. Just imagine: every year we’d have to CHECK when Canada Day was.

Yes, it is annoying to have to work one day then have one day off but it’s CANADA DAY for chrissakes. It’s July 1st. We are supposed to be celebrating the day that marks the start of this country as we enjoy it today. It’s about the DAY not the long weekend. The reason I brought up the States in this post is that they would NEVER consider making the 4th a “floating holiday.” Why is that? Why the difference? Is it because the U.S. has been around longer? Because they have more people? Regardless of the reason, it’s a fact: July 4th is a bigger deal than the 1st and that is sad. 

To be fair, since I’ve lived in Toronto I haven’t taken part in “official” Canada Day festivities (except fireworks at Ashbrides Bay a few times) but we go to my boyfriend’s cousin’s for a BBQ and it’s become tradition. When I have kids, I hope to instill in them some pride in the day and start traditions they will remember, as my parents did.

So get out there tomorrow and celebrate Canada and how lucky you are to live here. Celebrate for all the people in the world who don’t enjoy a free and independent country, who don’t even know what that feels like. 

Happy Canada Day!

I’ve been known to be a contrarian. For some reason I like to go against the grain, just for the sake of being contrary. So when I was thinking about Earth Hour and what I really thought of it and considered writing it down, I made myself take a step back and let the thoughts percolate for a couple of days before I committed a long cynical rant to the internet. But after letting it fester a couple of days, my opinions haven’t changed. And after hearing what other’s thought on the radio, or reading what they thought online, I realized I’m not alone on this. I think Earth Hour is a crock.

It made a whole lot of people feel good to participate and allowed a whole lot more to be snide towards people who chose not to take part. It put a lot of pressure on businesses to “do the right thing” by turning off office tower lights and the ones who didn’t were shunned and booed. But did it have any kind of lasting effect? I’m fairly sure office towers were alight last night and will be bright tonight and tomorrow and so on. Lights were blazing again in homes last night, will be tonight and tomorrow (you get the picture). Offices should be turning off their lights on their own. They shouldn’t do it simply to succumb to PR pressure from the World Wildlife Fund. People should be careful about their electricity consumption all the time, not just for one measly hour because the media and your neighbours tell you to.

I do my best to only have the light on in the room I’m currently in. It’s not always easy and I do forget, but I do my best and I’m usually pretty good about it. We recycle A LOT. We have a blue bin for paper, a blue bin for everything else and a green bin for organics. There are a lot of people out there who do far more for the environment than I. There are far more people out there who do far less. Will those people step up and starting monitoring their electricity consumption now? A couple might, maybe for a little while. But not because they have chosen to; because they feel pressured to. And while some might argue that it doesn’t matter how they get there, so long as they do, I would argue that people who do things out of pressure and not willful desire, will not do so for long.

I have a friend who was very eager to take part in Earth Hour. She was going to go down to the concert in Nathan Philips Square and be all involved and take a stand and all that good stuff. And she did do that all that. She also left her computer on while she was downtown and drove a Jeep down there instead of taking public transit. I would venture a guess that she wasn’t alone. To me, those people missed the whole point. They heard “turn out the lights” but didn’t factor in the effect leaving home electronics on and driving has on the environment. We still have a long way to go.

Yes, Earth Hour bought some awareness to the cause, which is always a good thing. But at the end of day when the lights were back on and the city was buzzing with neon signs, did anything really come of it?

Apologies for being AWOL lately- thing have been busy! Summer is notoriously slow in the PR world- not so this year! I think I’ve been going non-stop since fall. But that’s not what I wanted to talk about today. Nope, today I want to know where you do your best thinking. You know, the place or time of day that you collect your thoughts, think up new ideas and solutions to problems, take account of what needs to get done and how you could have handled a situation differently.

For me, that place is on the treadmill. I can’t read on the treadmill as I run at a good pace and my gym doesn’t have TVs, so it’s just me, some music and my thoughts. I go to the gym in the evening and this is the time I use to figure out what I need to get done the next day, what I forgot to do that day, what I can do to improve on a project and what new ideas I can bring to the table. I don’t necessarily cover all that ground in one workout, but I have found that some of my best ideas have come to me during a run and some tasks that might have fallen through the cracks get remembered in that time too!

This isn’t a new concept for me either- in university, working out was an integral part of exam prep. I would compile detailed notes that I needed to learn, colour code them, staple them together or put them in a duotang of some kind and bring them onto the elliptical machine with me. The things I read through on the machine seemed to stick with me. My mind was clear, it was 30 minutes devoted entirely to memorization without anything there to distract me, such as MSN, TV, etc. When I started running, the same concept seemed to apply, only without the notes. I remember the things I have reminded myself to do on the treadmill the next day when I get into the office. I can’t tell you what I ate for dinner last night half the time, but I know that yesterday on the treadmill I had 5 things I wanted to take care of first thing Monday morning and they’ve all been done.

So, where do you come up with the good stuff? What’s your thinking place?

P.S. Sorry for the cheesy title. I couldn’t resist;)

Ok this post has been brewing for awhile and I’m listening to CFRB talk about it for the second time in 2 weeks and here is my confession: I don’t do Facebook. Never will.

It’s a form of social media so I figure bloggers will have an opinion about it and here’s mine.

High school was fine. I didn’t hate it, I had some good times, I made great friends. In fact, my closest friends are from those years. But I’m in touch with everyone I need to be. If I’ve lost touch, well, what can I say? I don’t miss you! If we weren’t friends then, why do we want to pretend to care about each other now, just because of this site? This site IS high school. How many friends do you have? Are people writing on your wall? Are you dating someone? Not married yet? Do you have a good job?

All my friends are on Facebook. All. of. them. Seriously. My boyfriend is on it. His friends are all on it. I hear people talking about it at the grocery store, on the bus, in Tim Hortons. I must be the only 25 year old in the city, maybe even in the country, who wants nothing watsoever to do with it.

If you want to get in touch with me, my email address hasn’t changed in 10 years. My cell phone number has been the same since 2001 and if you really want to find me, my parents have had the same phone number since I was 4 and learned the thing. If you google me, you can find my work email, work phone number and this blog. I don’t need another way to be found. Period.

Are you on Facebook? Why?

I was planning to write this on Friday, but I took the day off instead. So, here is my rant. Valentine’s Day. I HATE it. I don’t do it. Now before you go thinking I’m some bitter single gal who got her heart broken on February 14th, let me set the record straight: I’ve been with my boyfriend for 4 years (eek!). We have never celebrated Valentine’s Day. I hated it when I was single and I never saw the point when I was in a relationship. The way I see it, why do you need a day to tell the people you love how you feel? Why can’t you say it on March 18th? Or September 27th? You can, and you do. So why do women (yes, it’s generally my gender who is the guilty party) think if they don’t hear it on Valentine’s Day it’s not for real? If anything, I think it means less on Valentine’s Day. That day, the guy is saying it because he feels like he has to say it or else his wife/girlfriend will go hormonal on him and accuse him of not being able to express his feelings. Chill, ladies!

Now, my boyfriend isn’t big on the flowers. That’s ok. Because when I do get flowers, I know it’s because he really wanted to do something nice for me (or he did something really really wrong) and not because society has told him that on Valentine’s Day, he needs to buy me flowers. I don’t need a dozen overpriced red roses and a box of chocolates to be sure of how he feels. And I’m willing to bet that most of you women feel the same way. So why do you do it? Why demand affection for that one day? Why place so much emphasis and so much of your relationship on how he deals with Valentine’s Day? If he’s only nice to you that day, do you really want him around on the 13th or 15th? Want a reason to have a romantic dinner? A sexy bubblebath? Buy lingerie and chocolate? I can think of dozens that are just about my relationship, not how everyone else thinks my relationship should be.

I feel bad that when my boyfriend tells his female co-workers that I don’t like Valentine’s Day and that we don’t do it, they jump down his throat and tell him I really DO want Valentine’s Day and try to make him feel like the worst boyfriend in the world. Ladies? I really don’t want Valentine’s Day. He knows me well; we agree on this, let him be!

Valentine’s Day is a pure consumer “holiday.” I worked at Hallmark for several years and it’s big around there. And you should have seen the number of poor men coming in the evening of Feb 14th terrified to go home without a stuffed bear and a card. Are you kidding me!? Do me a favour- on your way home tonight, count the number of men carrying a bouquet of flowers. Do it again on Wednesday. It’s a fun little game. But odds are that the one guy you see carrying those flowers tonight put a lot more thought into it than all the lemmings buying flowers for three times as much two days later.

[/rant]

Yes, it’s very cool. Yes, it’s very pretty. Yes, it’s like nothing we’ve ever seen. But I couldn’t want one less. And I’m probably one of the only people in the world saying that today. If you haven’t guessed, I’m talking about Apple’s new iPhone. I don’t do Apple. And before you ask, yes, I’ve tried it. I’ve used a Mac desktop, I’ve tried out the laptop. I’ve played with the old iPod and I’ve listened to a Nano. And yes, they are all very pretty. But you’ll never see me buying them. And here’s why:

First, they are SO overhyped. One of my favorite games to play on my way home is to count the iPods. Yesterday I counted 10 in my section of the subway car. That’s a lot of people who bought the product for the name, if you ask me. Because there are a lot of other great players out there, ones that get better reviews and last longer. But they’re not called iPod’s. So they don’t sell as well. I’m one of those people who hate to have something that everyone has, just to be in on the fad. That’s one of my reason’s for not buying into the craze.

The next is their advertising campaign. I haven’t done any studies or research on this, but I’d venture a guess that word of mouth was the way Apple products got so big. They have the pictures of the people with the white headphones and the flashy commercials, but that’s about it. There wasn’t any major PR pushes involved. People talk, and they talked about Apple. Since we’re on the commercials, let’s discuss what is the reason that sealed the deal on my never buying Apple. The Mac/PC guy commercials. If you can’t sell your product on its own merit, without putting down your competitor, I ain’t buying it. I’ve talked about this before, so I won’t go into a rant, but Pepsi is the worst for doing this and Apple isn’t far behind on my list.

Apple products are expensive. Like ridiculously expensive. Especially since most people I know who have iPods have problems with them- from software, to mechanical etc. They aren’t the most durable things in the world. I have a Creative MuVo (which I can’t find a picture of because I’ve had it for too long) and I love it. It was around $100, it has a SD card slot for extra memory, a stopwatch, FM radio and it’s REALLY easy to use. It lives in the bottom of my gym bag. It gets tossed around, dropped, hit off stuff and stepped on and it just keeps ticking. I would break an iPod in about 2 days, I’m so hard on my players. I need something that I don’t have to handle with kid gloves out of fear I’ll hurt my precious player.

I could go on and on about how you have to buy special products for Apple, you have to use iTunes, etc. But I think you get the picture. So no, I won’t be investing in an iPhone. Who’s with me?? Anyone? Anyone?

Well now you know something new about me: yep, I’m American. Technically, that is. I carry a US passport, but I’ve lived in Canada since I was 3. I’m a permanent resident and culturally, I’m certainly more Canadian that American. I didn’t vote for Bush (I like to make that clear). Even though I grew up here, my American mother did not and she always made Thanksgiving dinner at the American time and it’s one of the few times that she still gets homesick after living here for 22 years (almost to the day). Canadians don’t do Thanksgiving like Americans do and it’s a shame. I’m not sure why it is, but there is a hige discrepency in how we celebrate the day up North in October and how our US counterparts ring in the holiday season. In any case, I thought that in honour of my citizenship, I would list 10 things I’m thankful for. I think this is something we should all do more often and so I offer this space to leave comments of what you are thankful for in your life. Happy Thanksgiving!

1) My parents - I have 4 parents and I couldn’t ask for more supportive ones.
2) My relationship with my mother- it wasn’t always cheery, but the important thing is that we got here and for that, I’m thankful.
3) My job - not everyone has a job that they enjoy and that challenges them. I feel very fortunate that I found one so early in my working life.
4) My girls - I have fabulous girlfriends. We don’t all talk or see each other as often as we’d like, but when we do it’s like we just saw each other and I know they are there for me whenever I need them. 
5) My health - self-explanatory.
6) My boyfriend - Not only is he caring and supportive, he makes me laugh every day.
7) My education - not only that I have access to an education in this country, but that my parents were kind and generous enough to pay for it (I think they see it as insurance that I will care for them in the future)
My sisters - there is a huge age gap (17 and 14 years older) so we never had that sibling rivalry stuff and now they’re just extra people/mom-like people that I can count on
9) Beautiful, crisp fall days like today.
And last (and it’s the one most people won’t understand)
10) That I was one of the people fortunate enough to have Judy in my life, even if her’s ended far too soon.

Wow, that was harder than I thought it would be. Over to you- what are you thankful for?

Teeter totters have all but dissapeared from parks and playgrounds these days- at least the ones I remember that went up high and actually needed to be weighed down to work. (Nowadays they have the ones on the spring that don’t so much go up and down as much as jiggle you at one height). As a shy only child, teeter totters were a source of frustration. I always wanted to go on them, but unless I made a friend at the park (a daunting task), or brought a friend along, I was outta luck. Teeter totters don’t work with Mom on one end and a five year old on the other. I just stayed in the air. I think they should bring these back; they are very representative of life.

Too much weight on one end causes the other to fly out of reach. Too little weight and the other end crashes to the ground. Balance is key. You can see where I’m going with this: the work-life balance. A delicate structure, that one. Spend too much time on your work and your social life will become out of reach; too much fun and time spent on the social end and you have no job. Neither are good. I find that I’m often struggling with this and I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one. We PR folk are challenged in balancing our lives. We don’t have the luxury 9-5 jobs. We’re technically on-call all the time. Our work can usually be brought home. Deadline and precision are paramount. I don’t know what it’s like on the corporate side- I imagine it’s very similar. But I do know a lot of people who don’t understand the hours. “You don’t get home till almost 7 most days?” “What work do you have to do all weekend?” “You were at work until after 10!? What were you doing all day that you had to stay so late?” These are just some of the comments I’ve heard. Don’t misunderstand me though- I would much rather have a job I enjoy and that challenges me than a dull, routine job that gets me home at 5:15 every night.

I figure that it really isn’t that bad at this point and that it will only get worse. I don’t have kids. I’m pretty young, so I have more energy now than I will 20+ years down the road. My evening activities tend to rotate between the gym and TV and working at the ACC. And it is exhausting. I don’t know how my colleagues with young children manage, to be honest. Knowing I can sleep most of Saturday is what gives me that extra push throughout the week- from what I understand about children, they don’t understand things such as “Mommy is going to sleep until noon.” I figure it’s best to get my rest now!

So my question to you is how do YOU find the balance? What can I do to keep the ends of the teeter totter within range? Because I have to say, that social side is slowly climbing towards the sky and I don’t want to lose my grip on it. Nothing good can come of lack of balance, not in work or play.

Well….like I did not feel guilty enough!!! I just read the transcript of Dr. Laura Schlessinger on Larry King Live. Dr. Laura is a radio show host and author. Larry King was interviewing her about her new book (which I guess I am now  inadvertently advertising) “The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands”. Dr. Laura also refers to herself as a recovered feminist. In a nut shell Dr. Laura in all her wisdom says women are messing up their kids by working! That there is never a good reason for a women to work - even single moms! She suggests single moms move in with your parents so they can work nights while their kids sleep. How dare she! Trust me lady if I could I would stay home with my kids! Technically I could but we would have to stop living in the neighbourhood we live in, get rid of our cottage and my daughter would not go to gymnastics or swimming and certainly not skiing lessons. So where do you make the sacrifice…should I work so that my children can have a “good life” or do I sell it all and stay home? Dr. Laura was lucky enough to work at night…not many PR jobs have a night shift (24 hrs. sometimes!)

I am constantly dealing with guilt and trying to find the balance - which I am sure you are familiar with my previous rants…but PLEASE help me don’t make me feel even worse or selfish…you should read what she says about how you should treat your husbands!

This last month I have been coming to terms with leaving my kids at home five days a week. Each night I race home to get maximum time with them before bed time and all weekend I dread Sunday nights! I do nothing for myself anymore. I gave up my Pilates membership, I don’t do my usual 40 minute walk with my friend Amy and I certainly don’t entertain the idea of going out to a movie or drinks with friends after work. Let me state that I gladly make these sacrifices. I love being with my kids. I realize that time goes by so quickly and before I can turn around my girls will be irritated by the site of me (teenagers!). I am trying, like many parents to hold on to this time and wonder constantly if I am making right or wrong decisions and how will this impact their lives and my career. I know I am not alone as I get feedback from some of you who read this blog as well as from my friends who are also struggling with the working mom guilt.

I am constantly conflicted…maybe I should stop moaning and suck-it-up but on the other hand when I read this “stuff” by Dr. Laura I cannot help but run the working mom guilt around in my brain again!! Some one give us a break…we are not bad parents just because we want to or have to work, we do not love our kids any less or are selfish and materialistic…we work! It is that simple really.

One more thing…what kind of role models are we for our daughters if we are constantly fighting with each other about who is the better mom? This is an entirely different post…which I will get to once I cool off.

We have been all abuzz around here as we had Shel Isreal come to visit this week. This, it seems, was the best part of the week. Joe, our boss, was busy getting Shel to Third Mondays, third Tuesdays, lunch and breakfast meetings, from Ottawa to Toronto and several other venues. All things being equal, the two of them held up quite well for all that meeting and greeting. It was terrific to have the opportunity to introduce Shel to some clients and business associates. Many of them knew or had heard of blogs and podcasts but had never had someone take the time to talk about the “why” of social media. Thanks Shel.

The other half of my week seemed to be sucked into the vortex of other things, some of which are just unfair and sad. One of our colleagues sent us the news that her mom had died, surrounded by family, at home. Breast Cancer. GRR. And worse, that same day I was told that a neighbour is now in palliative care. I need to see her, now. Breast Cancer. GRR.

October is Breast cancer month. I’m going to figure out something I can do and I think it may involve sending money and cheering on participants in the CIBC Run for the Cure.

Which  also reminds me that the fact that a major Canadian bank has put its name on this run is a statement about the power of  passionate people to change the way we look at things. Less than 20 years ago getting people to talk about breast cancer was akin to having them discuss their pornography collection. Whispers and coded words. Thank heavens we are able to discuss a deadly disease in the language and tone it requires! Breast Cancer. GRR.