It occurred to me the other day that there are very few things a person actually has to know, and way too much that they don’t need to know. The only two things that I really ever need to know are where I put my glasses and where my car keys are. Everything else is just too much information. Not that I’m promoting not knowing other stuff, it’s just that I don’t need to have it inside my head all at the same time. That’s what my computer and Google are for. If I do need to know something for just a moment, I can Google it and then tell Doug “see, I’m right” and then let it go.
What I don’t need to know is that some guy in the lower mainland has a bullet riddled gangster body in his fridge and he wants the police to give him money for it. Why this bit of information was on the front page of the newspaper is beyond me. Kudos to him for creative entrepreneurial skills, but really, the stench???? Why didn’t he put it in the freezer? He also said that if the police didn’t give him money he would just burn the body. Another lesson learned – never limit your target market to just one small percentile of the population. Like I said, there are some things I just don’t need to know.
Like when my kids tell me about stuff that they used to do behind my back when they were teenagers – I really don’t need to know any of that. They don’t know it, but they are still groundable….I just have to figure out how to make it stick....
Monday, September 8, 2008
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
If I've been to the PNE, then it's the end of summer
I absolutely love the PNE (Pacific National Exhibition - as opposed to the CNE - Canadian National Exhibition that is located in Toronto which some people (obviously those that haven't been to the west coast) still believe is the centre of the world).
We would drive to Vancouver from Prince George (10 hours, in a vehicle, before they invented portable DVD players) before crossing the Port Mann bridge that told us we had arrived - at which time I turned off the radio, told the kids to NOT say a word, and proceeded to get lost on the way to my mother's apartment (and yes, I have absolutely no sense of direction even though I had been going there for years, and that is another story). Once there the car would be parked and we would walk or take the bus to wherever we were going because there was NO possible way anyone can drive and find their way around the city (I do ok now because I've lived here for 14 years).
We would go to the beach, go shopping at Pacific Centre Mall but the highlight, always, was going to the PNE. In those days it was a real carnival atmosphere and we loved it. The kids would hand over their tickets to the grubby carnie workers and ride every ride they could. We'd eat greasy hamburgers, mini donuts, cotton candy and drink lemonade. It was summer bliss! We'd stumble back on the bus around midnight and arrive back at my mom's, three kids on a sugar high and her in a high-rise apartment!
And now the best part of summer? Going to the PNE with the grandkids (who make the trek down from Prince George, 10 hours, in a vehicle with a built-in DVD player). They are real troupers who can eat everything, ride every ride, see every show and stumble home around midnight - just the way I like it!
And yes, the adult kids still tag along - but we leave Doug at home. He just doesn't feel the magic the way that we feel it....
We would drive to Vancouver from Prince George (10 hours, in a vehicle, before they invented portable DVD players) before crossing the Port Mann bridge that told us we had arrived - at which time I turned off the radio, told the kids to NOT say a word, and proceeded to get lost on the way to my mother's apartment (and yes, I have absolutely no sense of direction even though I had been going there for years, and that is another story). Once there the car would be parked and we would walk or take the bus to wherever we were going because there was NO possible way anyone can drive and find their way around the city (I do ok now because I've lived here for 14 years).
We would go to the beach, go shopping at Pacific Centre Mall but the highlight, always, was going to the PNE. In those days it was a real carnival atmosphere and we loved it. The kids would hand over their tickets to the grubby carnie workers and ride every ride they could. We'd eat greasy hamburgers, mini donuts, cotton candy and drink lemonade. It was summer bliss! We'd stumble back on the bus around midnight and arrive back at my mom's, three kids on a sugar high and her in a high-rise apartment!
And now the best part of summer? Going to the PNE with the grandkids (who make the trek down from Prince George, 10 hours, in a vehicle with a built-in DVD player). They are real troupers who can eat everything, ride every ride, see every show and stumble home around midnight - just the way I like it!
And yes, the adult kids still tag along - but we leave Doug at home. He just doesn't feel the magic the way that we feel it....
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