One step forward, one step back.

This week has been saturated with municipality.

Our own dear Edmonton announced earlier in the week that it was thinking of delaying the opening of the south LRT stations to save themselves a measly $4 or 5 million bucks. My exemplary boyfriend decided to respond to the call of civic duty and write a little letter to the city outlining some of his thoughts on the matter. It was a good letter. I hoped that someone would take notice.

So, it was with this news in mind that I went over to my parents' house for dinner the next night. When I got there, I noticed a rather large set of wicked-witch-of-the-west legs sans the ruby slippers being featured on the front page of the journal. As I picked it up to read the story, my mom filled me in on what she thought was a ridiculous and terrible thing that was going to happen at the new Southgate LRT station. This ridiculous and terrible thing was, in fact, the city's awesome 1% to public art policy gone awfully wrong: a set of GIANT feet and legs set next to the new LRT station.


She was practically livid, which set me laughing pretty hard and telling her that it wasn't so bad because they could use them as a sort of landmark. "Hang a larry at the first intersection after the big legs and follow it around to Malmo Road..."

Her livid-ness (lividity?) drove her to write a missive to the mayor, which was then published in the Journal this week!

More than anything, I was awestruck by the decision to construct giant legs lopped off at the knees at Southgate LRT stop, and it got me thinking about public art. I was trying to think of what I would actually like them to put in that spot.

The first thing that came to mind was Chicago's Cloud Gate, which is beautiful and incredible and really considers the space around it. Google image search it. It is amazing. But I don't know if an LRT stop at Southgate merits such an awesome piece.

I think what irks me is that when I think about the big legs and clogs they are going to put in as public art, I feel fairly certain that they came to the decision via the following dialogue.

Person #1: Hey, we need to get some public art
Person #2: Right, I forgot about that whole 1% thing
Person #3: Hmmm, well, let's just get something really big
Person #1: Okay, like what?
Person #3: Doesn't matter, just make sure it's big
Person #2: Hey, do you guys want to come over tonight and watch "The Wizard of Oz"?

That's my prediction on how they came up with it.

Oh, Edmonton.

The good news is that Joel got a response from a city councillor who says he doesn't think they are going to delay them after all. One step forward, into a future filled with mosaic-tiled clog feet and striped stockings.

A Vicious Act

Joel's labmate Janet made him a big foam fish out of upholstery foam as a gift. He plans to hang it above his desk in the lab. It's all complete, except that Janet didn't have time to get eyes for the fish, so Joel said that he would take care of it. This is what led he and I to drag our sorry strep-throat butts out of bed on Sunday and down to Michael's at South Edmonton Common to buy some eyes.

After much searching, all we could find were googly eyes. We scoured the creepy doll-making aisle, with all of its iron on faces and bags of curly hair, but to no avail. As we were getting ready to give up, I came up with the brilliant plan of going to Value Village and buying a stuffed animal to harvest the eyes from. Joel reluctantly agreed and we headed to the nearest VV. The foam fish is actually huge, so we needed some pretty big eyes to complete it. The only stuffed animal we could find with the right kind of eyes that were big enough was a soft, plushy hippopotamus with a hippo baby clinging to its side.



Joel absolutely could not bear the thought of viciously tearing the eyes out of a momma hippo, so I volunteered, on the condition that I would blog about it and force him to look at the pictures.


I was quite surprised about how bad I actually felt when I started the operation. I mean, it was just a stuffed animal, but the eyes looking at me were so disturbing.

It didn't help much that the intact baby was looking at me with imploring, beady little eyes as it clung to its mother's side.

The result of the operation is below. Further cleanup to follow, and perhaps a picture of the completed foam fish.
Conclusion: eye removal from stuffed animals is not for the faint of heart.

Can anyone guess where I went on vacation?

Keeping them on probation

Well, folks, it's been 16 days since my last post, as Natasha so kindly pointed out. I guess it's not so fun to blog when things are kind of crappy. It hasn't been my best few weeks, but there have been good times through it all. In short, the verdict is still out on the new job. I don't want to say a whole lot more because:

1) I have probably complained to you personally about it already,
2) I want to try to keep a good attitude, and
3) I don't want to be one of those people who gets fired over what they post on their blog. Or maybe I do, because the one I am thinking of actually became a famous blogger as a result. Anyone read Dooce?

On a more fun note, my lovely friend and former roommate Lisa was in town for the weekend, and it was a weekend filled with, well, girls. In the best way. We went for breakfast at the Sugarbowl, talked for hours, saw the Sex and the City movie again, snuck ridiculous amounts of food into the movie with us (including Megan's Heineken complete with a swirly straw), learned the meaning of some raunchy urban expressions from Lisa, played rock band, and drank tea with Tim Tams.

I have also been talking lots with Marney over lunches at work about her upcoming wedding, which has been lots of fun. And I get to make buttons for it, which is so exciting! I will post some of them on here when they are finished.

I am about to go clean out the third bedroom in preparation for the lovely Jamie to move in this weekend! But before I do, I would like to leave you with this lovely image courtesy of Natasha:

Dream House, Almost

Design*Sponge is my favourite blog (other than ones that my friendly friends write). And my most-visited website, after email and google and fb and such. I like the internet, but I am not as 'good' at it as mr. jk is. I run out of websites to check really fast, or just can't find ones that keep my interest. However, D*S definitely delivers on that point.

Every week the blog does a sneak peek of a different house or apartment or studio space and while there are usually random things in each sneak peek that I like they aren't usually exactly my tastes. Of course, that is not that surprising since we are all different people (r. dieter original), but today, someone who is not me came up with something alarmingly close to my ideal.

Photo borrowed from www.designspongeonline.com

More photos of my almost dream home can be found right here. I love the farmhouse charm and that it achieves it without being too kitschy. Of course there are a few things I would do a bit different, but not many, actually.

Three more cheers for D*S, and a touch of jealousy that I am not a design blogger.

Likes, Dislikes

Likes: Riding my bike and eating a fudgescicle at the same time.

Dislikes: Starting new jobs.

It's not that it's bad, it's just new, and disorganized, and I miss my old friends down on 124th Street. Also I have to dress nicer.

I always go through this when I start a new job, so stay tuned for a cheerier update in the coming weeks.

What to do with free time

Fact: I seem to have some extra time on my hands for the next two weeks. I can't express via blog how excited I am about this fact, but, as a start, here are some of the things I have done since Friday afternoon.

1. Went out for 50% off martinis at Vintage Lounge on 124 Street. Proceeded to drink three martinis in less than one hour. Er, had a good time. Then went for dinner and continued to have a good time.
2. Got caught in two rainstorms: one alone, and one with a friend. Both enjoyable.
3. Had an amazing waffle brunch followed by a blood donation that was completed in record time (5 minutes flat)!
4. Got a haircut. A substantial haircut.
5. Booked flights to Halifax for September. Holla!
6. Went to the artery to see Illfit Outfit and D.B. Buxton Revue play shows. But mostly to see Jenni play the drums. Pop Pop Pop!
   
7. Saw the "Body Worlds" exhibit and followed it up with a hearty brunch (Joel: "The muscles look like beef jerky...I'm getting really hungry.")
8. Yardwork, visited brother, visited newphew and sister in law, visited parents, cleaned house, called sister, called Lisa DeMoor, visited with Kerry, watched lots and lots of Sex and the City online.
9. Got my very own library card and used it to check out books on eastern Canada.
10. Did some sewing.
11. Bought some drinking glasses that I definitely don't need, but that were begging me to buy them. You will understand if you see them.
    

Background to fact: The reason I have extra time on my hands is that I GOT A NEW JOB!

Explanation: Up until this past month, I had only ever dreamed that I could get someone else to look for a job on my behalf, but approximately three weeks ago, that dream became a reality. I contacted a staffing agency that my friend Marney had recently found a good job through. I thought it was at least worth a shot, so I sent my resume and an email explaining what I was doing in my current job and the type of job that I was hoping to find. I said I wanted something more creative and that would be based in some sort of communications field.

The woman in charge of permanent and executive placements responded right away with a job that she thought I might be interested in. Fast forward through the usual job interview angst and the existential crises that tend to go along with them, toss in a few new outfits for good measure, and the outcome is a brand new job.

There is no way that I would have been offered an interview for this position if I had applied through the ad in the Journal or something, but since I had her to vouch for me, they invited me for an interview. Apparently the other candidates they we talking to had extensive communications/PR experience and/or schooling. But I guess I was able to convince them that my experiences fit together in a way that would work for this type of job because I was offered a position as a Public Relations Coordinator. It looks challenging and, even better, really fun. It's in the communications department, and will involve lots of writing, editing, media relations, advertising coordination, conference materials publishing, and other fun things. Aside from being an awesome job, it has some definite perks including kickass vacation time, among other desireables.

So, these past two weeks have been a real flurry of wrapping things up at my current job. It hasn't really hit me that I won't be going back there. My excitement kind of just pushed me through the last two weeks, but when I slow down a little, I feel a bit sad about leaving the friends I made at Komex. I don't think I'm just being dramatic when I say that I'm not sure I will ever have work friends quite like the ones I met there. Part of me is glad that it took me so long to find the right job because it gave those friendships more time to solidify. I will miss our daily chats dearly.

So, that's me. And now I have two weeks between jobs. Yahoo!