Sometimes my blog just writes itself. So here's the FUNNY story I promised everyone.

Yesterday morning as I was getting ready for work, I checked my email as I usually do. And, as I often do, I had an email from a good friend back in Canadialand. They'd remembered that my other website, jenniferfarwell.com, had a section of links that they were looking for, so clicked through from the link on my jennalala.com navigation bar to go to the site.

They were met with this:

Yes, my friends, Health Canada is blocking my website. So what's this "questionable subject matter" of which they speak? I had to do a bit of poking around my site and my old blog archives (most of my archives dating back to 2003 are housed over there), but I think I have some answers.

Top five reasons jenniferfarwell.com is considered "questionable subject matter" by a Canadian federal government department:

1. As a former public servant who's now a willing and active participant in Canada's "Brain Drain," I'm clearly a bad influence on, well... anyone north of the 49th parallel. Particularly at the beginning of March when Canadians -- especially those in Ottawa and other parts of Ontario -- are so sick of winter that they'd do almost anything to leave it behind. LET'S NOT GIVE THEM IDEAS.


2. Related to #1, my bio page begins with the declaration "Dream big." It was a little too much for the Web filter to take.


3. Years ago, I once made very brief and vague mention of the "Unnamed and Totally Random Content Management System," which was a project of this department from way back when. Someone saw this post and figured out what it was in reference to. My website was probably deemed a public health and safety concern when they found this person curled up in the fetal position on the floor of their cube.


4. Someone finally caught on that I've been making fun of Ben Mulroney for years.


5. I often reference or link to Rick Mercer, who just this week wrote about the Harper government, tax credits for Canadian movies and TV shows, and censorship of the arts. Coincidence? Absolutely. But I had to include that somehow because you need to read this post, it's hilarious, and I'm sure it's not a huge hit with the federal government. Just like my website isn't a hit with the Web filter of a federal government department.

Given all of this, I'm sure it's only a matter of time before jennalala.com also goes down in a ball of Web filtering flames. To which I say, bring it. In a way, I'm kind of honored to be among the few, the proud... the government-censored. It's kind of like being almost famous.