October 18, 2009

"You belong with me-ee-eeeee"... ah, actually, no you don't.

I'm sure if Silicon Valley radio (the land of keeping the greatest hits of 1997-2001 alive) has added it to heavy rotation, then most of you reading have heard Taylor Swift's latest single, "You Belong With Me," at least once in your radio, TV, or Internet travels as of late. Me? I heard it three times in less than an hour yesterday, driving from Sunnyvale to north San Jose and back while running some weekend errands. That's probably because I was station-surfing, but I digress.

I should start this off by saying I have not a single thing against the song or the artist. It's a catchy cross-over song, well-suited for mainstream Top 40 radio. It was more a sudden pondering of the lyrics, as I am prone to do while driving down the 101, and the realization that there are probably a lot of girls out there who relate to this song. Which, when you think about it, is exactly the problem.

A little advice to the "everygirl" protagonist: trust me babe, he most definitely does not belong with you. This is the problem that plagues a good many girls in teenagehood and in their 20s -- if I said I was never one of them, I'd be a damn liar. So here are some of the key rebuttals for any girl who ever finds herself in that mindset -- and funny, when did my blog become a dating advice column?

If he's a friend, and he hasn't tripped all over himself to be with you -- he won't. And you, "everygirl," deserve someone worthy of being on the receiving end of your time, presence, and smile. Ask any guy friend you know -- I'd say with the 1% exception case that needs to be allowed for, any guy knows if they're attracted to a girl, and how much, pretty much instantly. And believe me when I say that if he wants to date you, he will move mountains. So don't hang around waiting for him to wake up and discover he belongs with you. He doesn't, plain and simple. Do yourself a favor and hang out with other people, ease up on the contact, and find some new routines. Then, sit back and watch what happens.

If the common case (and I stay this from both personal study, along with the study of a good number of female friends and their relationships), he'll suddenly discover he wants your time, all right. Why? Because you're the good, faithful, "will always be there" girl, and you've suddenly gone and changed the game. You're not there, and wait -- how did that happen? So when he's suddenly showing interest, don't fall for it. All roads lead to that interest being lost the second things return to the previous version of normal (you being the good, faithful, "will always be there" girl). Just consider him schooled for any other girl in the future, congratulate yourself, and move on.

Same goes for the on-again, off-again boy, who is never just a friend. I'm not saying burn bridges, I'm just saying remove the expectations or the idea that it would ever evolve into anything more, and re-immerse yourself in the freedom of zest for life and dating. Then write a song about it, to help the poor souls who relate to the "you belong with me" wistfulness. Stay out of that trap, "everygirl" protagonist. Lose the longing, and turn up the smile!

posted by Jenn-a-lala | 05:40 PM | TrackBack (0) |
Filed under: Blah Blah Blah | Bookmark this at del.icio.us

October 11, 2009

Nothin' like a writing routine

When I decided (several years ago) to drop the daily web development part of my career, to focus solely on writing, the decision was made so I could eventually tackle the one main goal I've held throughout most of my life: to write and publish books.

If you've been following me on Twitter, or here on my blog (on those occasions when I update this blog, which is when I'm not book-writing, writing for work, or writing for the Yahoo! Store Blog at work), you'll know that I've been working on a book for the last couple of months. Things are going really well. So well, in fact, that I've just given myself a new daily responsibility: to write at least 1,000 words of my book each and every day. It's like my own version of NaNoWriMo or NaBloPoMo.

So follow along with me, here, or on Twitter, as I tackle this great goal. The pre-New-Year's resolution is to have a draft finished before the end of 2009. Between that, work, and life, I think I can safely say things are busy.

posted by Jenn-a-lala | 01:14 PM | TrackBack (0) |
Filed under: Blah Blah Blah | Bookmark this at del.icio.us

September 13, 2009

A very rare morning

Picture it: yesterday morning, 4 a.m. CRAAAAAACK-BOOOOOOOM! I bolt awake, and Pico barks. I smile. Sounds like thunder, I think, and close my eyes again. Then I remember where I am, and my eyes fly open again, as I strain to listen. If it's thunder, I think, there will be another rumble. Right?

Fifteen minutes pass, and nothing. I think I see a flash behind my closed blinds, but can't be sure. There's no rain, and in the 2 years and 3 1/2 months I've lived in Silicon Valley, I'd never heard thunder. Next thoughts: Did something happen at the airport? Or over at the NASA center?

Around 4:40 a.m., I hear it again. And this time, I definitely see lightning. Welcome to the first thunderstorm I've seen since moving to California. Yes, seriously. It was different from Ottawa and Thunder Bay thunderstorms, though, in that it did not include a torrential downpour, or at least not where I was. Still, it felt like a special present from nature, just for me. I've been wishing I could watch and hear a thunderstorm for months and months now, because although I don't miss anything to do with winter, or anything to do with the unstable weather systems and tornado watches that are summer in Ontario, I've really missed thunderstorms. It was a very happy early morning.

Moral of the story: when you wish long and hard enough, anything really is possible... ;)

posted by Jenn-a-lala | 12:48 PM | TrackBack (0) |
Filed under: Blah Blah Blah | Bookmark this at del.icio.us

August 19, 2009

Updates from my iPhone: Wednesday night edition

I'm a little concerned that Air Supply is apparently still together and playing in Santa Clara. Don't be jealous.

That scintillating piece of news aside, I just wanted to explain the current state of the photo gallery, which is back (kind of). Due to a wardrobe gallery version malfunction with a PHP upgrade, my previous gallery went where all good, non-upgraded galleries go to die. That's my fault for not updating the gallery version, and I'll take full responsibility! Having lacked the time to play with something new I'm trying out, though, the new gallery isn't yet wrapped in my site template, and currently contains only new photos and some old faves. I'll get it fully integrated soon.

Time to get some sleep!

posted by Jenn-a-lala | 11:51 PM | TrackBack (0) |
Filed under: Blah Blah Blah | Bookmark this at del.icio.us

June 25, 2009

When you think about it this way...

Lunch time, and I'm watching my Facebook feed. Summer brings out lots of random weather reports, from all parts of the US and my former country of residence, Canada. It reminds me of one of the questions I sometimes get about having moved to California – usually along the lines of "aren't you afraid of earthquakes?" Well, the fact that Ottawa also had earthquakes aside, given that I've now had over two years free of blizzards, ice storms, freezing rain, whiteouts, sub-zero temperatures, humidity, tornado watches and warnings, and Stephen Harper (okay, all of the party leaders, let's be fair)... my answer would have to be "no." :) Seriously, by comparison, eastern Ontario is training grounds for Survivor. I'm including the politicians in that statement.

If you have a couple of minutes, check out this video on Gizmodo. I was at Ellin and Jer's last night, and Jer showed it to me. As Gizmodo's Adam Frucci explains, "This installation shows all of Lufthansa's flights at once, all projected in 3D on a 180-degree, 46-foot-wide screen. And damn is it cool." Seriously COOL.

posted by Jenn-a-lala | 12:42 PM | TrackBack (0) |
Filed under: Blah Blah Blah | Check This Out | Bookmark this at del.icio.us

June 21, 2009

Texts and Facebook comments from this weekend, June 19-21 edition

Compiled with care, and completely lacking any context!

"My thoughts exactly. Oh f****** well." (Manda, to me)

"Seriously, that's 5 times since Thursday. It is time for the pool. And my vitamin water may have more than vitamins. Vitamin water cosmopolitan, anyone?" (Me, to Manda)

"At the spa and thought of you – saw a towel that said don't drink and dial – even had a pic of a cell phone and a drink with the circle/no sign around it." (Steph, to me)

"I haven't told anyone off in a text in a long time!!!! ;)" (Me, to Steph)

"Or we should go to a spa in Vegas." (Me, to Steph)

"But where is Rolling Stone based? ;-)"
"I think NY but they have to have offices in LA."
"Ok. Cuz I have seen what the east coast does to you." (Manda, me, Manda)

"Musos are prob all very very similar at a cellular level."
"And by cellular level, you mean they're insane, right?" (Not telling, to protect the guilty!)

"Forget the po-po, call a fireman. Better wheels." (Me, to Manda)

posted by Jenn-a-lala | 01:38 PM | TrackBack (0) |
Filed under: Blah Blah Blah | Bookmark this at del.icio.us

June 09, 2009

Tuesday night in Twitter land

My Twitter feed, as I watched the Game 6 of the Stanley Cup finals in action:

- [jennalala] is watchin' some hockey, like a good Canadian ex-pat. C'mon, Detroit, tie this game and force it into triple overtime. Good Tuesday TV!

- Um NO. I said DETROIT tie the game, not Pittsburgh get another goal. GAH.

- YEAAAAAAHHHHHH... one more, baby! One more! (Okay, two more, but one more to get this into OT!)

- Hells to the yes, POWER PLAY

- Hells to the double yes, another power play.

After which point, all went eerily silent on the subject of hockey. It was a little less painful to shift the focus to:

- #squarespace ... secretly a superhero?

When Game 6 hands you lemons, switch gears and go after a free iPhone 3G S. All the better to tweet from.

posted by Jenn-a-lala | 10:50 PM |
Filed under: Blah Blah Blah | Bookmark this at del.icio.us

April 07, 2009

When it makes the news, it really makes the news...

Woke up to this story in my inbox: Stolen plane from Canada escorted by US fighters

It was the part about "The plane was reported stolen Monday afternoon from Confederation College Flight School at Thunder Bay International Airport in Ontario" that actually woke me up, heh. Craziest story out of the city where I was born and raised since the whole Bambenek/America's Most Wanted thing.

posted by Jenn-a-lala | 06:02 AM | TrackBack (0) |
Filed under: Blah Blah Blah | Bookmark this at del.icio.us

March 31, 2009

"If you like it then you should've called or texted it..."

Tomorrow is 1 year and 10 months for me as a California girl. In a little over two weeks, it will be two years since the slushy/snowy day when I was working from home by my fireplace and received an email from a recruiter at the company where I now work that changed pretty much everything. And just days from now, it will be a month since I had the sudden realization that personally, I may have grown up. That boys who behave in ways I'll politely and diplomatically call "flaky" have lost their appeal entirely. The chase isn't fun, nor is it a challenge. That whole "I'm only interested until you're interested and then I'm not interested until you're not interested" thing is just so passé. Been there, been involved with that (yeah, perhaps more than once ;)), and now... completely turned off by it. I can't say I'm sad to see that phase of my life go.

Suddenly I like the ones who call, text, and make plans. If you've been a close friend through most of my twenties, you'll understand and possibly even appreciate this. (And if you're Karen or Sophie, you're probably thanking the deities on high. ;) Love you both.)

That's the most personal I've gotten on here in awhile, and all I'm going to say on that! As per my blog rules since the beginning of time, my personal life stays off the blog, and my work life stays off the blog. There are some things you just really shouldn't share with the Internet world. ;)

Other than this, looking forward to a week of getting back to active life. I've been sick for the last few days, and pretty much lost my voice Friday, with it just getting back to mostly normal today. It's been really nice outside though, and I'm raring to go 'blading and swim in the pool. I did hit the hot tub today and got some sunshine, which was great. Fingers crossed I'm 100% by this weekend!

posted by Jenn-a-lala | 11:12 PM | TrackBack (0) |
Filed under: Blah Blah Blah | Bookmark this at del.icio.us

March 23, 2009

No, I didn't go on a photo deleting mission...

Hmm... not sure how 7 of my photo albums in the gallery at jenniferfarwell.com suddenly emptied of photos or were deleted, but no, I didn't go on a crazy photo deleting mission. I'm not sure I want to think this hard about how to fix it, though!

Just got back last night from LA for the second time this month... happy girl. :) I love LA. So it's been a super busy month, and all good things. When I catch up on sleep I'll actually write a real blog post or something!!

posted by Jenn-a-lala | 08:02 PM | TrackBack (0) |
Filed under: Blah Blah Blah | Bookmark this at del.icio.us

February 08, 2009

Sunday night randomness

1. I'm not sure whether or not I should be disturbed by Pico's rapt attention to Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift's duet performance during the Grammys. This from the dog that I thought only liked alt, rock, and metal. Really, puppy?
2. I really don't get the John Mayer thing. Really, honestly, truly. DOES NOT COMPUTE. I've said what I need to say, so why, Georgia Jennifer Aniston radio station music directors, why?
3. The SPPNTCJ now has a MySpace, as well as being on Twitter. (And of course, you can always find the SPPNTCJ at sppntcj.com.) So friend us on MySpace, or follow us on Twitter!
4. This has been making the Internet rounds, but in case you missed it: Police create wanted poster on Nintendo Wii (Because apparently, only Wii can stop crime.)
   
   That's some serious cutbacks, yo, when sketch artists lose out to a video game console. Good thing it wasn't something serious. I mean, it's not like they're trying to catch a criminal or anything... Oh wait.
   
   Funnier than the story itself are the comments. Here are a couple of my faves:
   
   "I saw him, but he sped away on a go-kart. God help us all if he has a blue shell."
   
   "The suspect has also been seen selling mushrooms to Italian plumbers."

posted by Jenn-a-lala | 10:17 PM | TrackBack (0) |
Filed under: Blah Blah Blah | Bookmark this at del.icio.us

February 01, 2009

In other news, Satan just grabbed a parka, shovel, and ice scraper...

... While Chicken Little was hospitalized for minor head trauma, since the sky fell from the pure shock of it all. Yes folks, that's right. I'm doing what I never, ever do. PLANNING MEALS FOR THE WEEK, in advance of getting home from work, going through the fridge, freezer, and cupboards 15 times, taking the dog for a walk, then coming back inside and going through the fridge, freezer, and cupboards 15 more times... you get the picture. I call it "culinary spontaneity." Others call it "lack of interest in planning meals." Tomato, to-mah-to.

It's not that I can't cook. I can actually cook very well, when motivated enough to do so. And by cooking I mean something different than baking, but I'm good at cookies and pies, although a recent cake baking adventure shows I should probably quit while I'm ahead. My meal cooking motivation -- unless it's a weekend and I'm inspired -- is usually saved for dinner parties. For this week, so far I'm thinking chicken à la king, turkey rice soup (more like a stew), maybe grilled chicken eggplant parm... and that's about as far as I've gotten. To be continued.

Back to the cookbooks. And because this was totally random, I'll leave you with something else that's totally random -- two very cute, sweet pics of Pico that my dad took in December, when we visited for the holidays. And yes, Pico actually likes the toy turtle that was on his head, even if it looks like he's humoring us.

posted by Jenn-a-lala | 01:15 PM | TrackBack (0) |
Filed under: Blah Blah Blah | Bookmark this at del.icio.us

January 20, 2009

What rhymes with "coffee" (coffeeeeeeeeee) that doesn't involve toffee?

Takin' it to the blog. My current Facebook status is, "Jenn is making up a song about Tuesdays. What rhymes with "coffee" (coffeeeeeeeeee) that doesn't involve toffee?" I've had the following suggestions:

softy
lofty
frothy
snorgtee (Aaron, what's a snorgtee?)
"Maybe you end with the verb and thereby introduce all your -ing possibilities. Drinking, stinking, Lincoln, etc." (Thanks, Megan!)

My own contribution was, "I started thinking maybe 'tequila' because after enough tequila, everything rhymes with 'coffee.' But after enough tequila you don't need to write a song about Tuesdays. Hmmm."

Does anything but "toffee" rhyme with "coffee"? I might have to take this one to the Rhyming Dictionary. Or better still, go to sleep because when I wake up, it will be Wednesday. And Wednesday is a new day, new song, and new rhyme challenge. Maybe I'll try rhyming something easier, like "latte" or "five consecutive cups of Earl Gray tea."

What caffeine addiction?

posted by Jenn-a-lala | 10:49 PM | TrackBack (0) |
Filed under: Blah Blah Blah | Bookmark this at del.icio.us

January 18, 2009

Welcome to 2009

I've been having a mini The Hills marathon this weekend (shuddup, yes I'm addicted, but believe me, MTV "reality" TV is now actually a necessity for balancing out my brain!), and I'm on season 2, and all the times they end up at Area brings a smile to my face. Ah, Area, host to fun times and one of the more interesting nights of my life, circa end of July 2007. I miss you.

When I think about it all, 2007 was probably the best year of my life so far. 2008 had many challenges, but I think those challenges built a foundation and paved the way for 2009. I'm grateful for the love of my beautiful, amazing family and friends, and to be a California girl, and to have a kick-ass job I love. Now might also be a good time to send up a ginormous "thank you!" to God, the Universe, and all forces of luck that kept me a California girl and let me miss the recent pseudo-Ice Age across the former home province of Ontario and other parts of Canada. Brrr. You all have my deepest sympathies. Wind chills nearing -50 C would have brought me to my knees. And, like one particularly cold morning in Montreal when I was visiting, probably would have been the day I forgot where my gloves were and wound up pumping gas while skin froze to handle. Yeah. Apparently when you move to a more moderate climate, you forget how to keep track of your gloves and no longer understand how to use a hat or scarf.

It's interesting watching how different the path my life has taken has been from many good friends. Many are now married, some with children, and some with children on the way. I know, since some of my earliest childhood memories, that's never been me. Mostly in 2009, I'm remembering to take time out every day to look around and be thankful for staying true to who I've always been, and for pursuing and realizing dreams. Always dream, never give up, and never settle.

I'm ready for 2009 to rock, and hope all of you are too. One of my resolutions is to update here more often, and to get back to a point where personal blogging is natural again. Now, though, it's 2 o'clock and time for me to get going on the day. Hope everyone's weekend has been good!

posted by Jenn-a-lala | 01:59 PM | TrackBack (0) |
Filed under: Blah Blah Blah | Bookmark this at del.icio.us

January 06, 2009

SFO-MSP-YQT; YQT-YOW-YUL; YUL-YOW-YQT; YQT-MSP-SFO... or, a very busy couple of weeks!

Hi everyone! I'll be updating again really soon... really! I got back this weekend from 2 1/2 weeks in Canada, a vacation which had me in Thunder Bay to see my family, then in Montreal, Ottawa, and Montreal again to see friends that I hadn't seen in over a year and a half since moving, then back in Thunder Bay, and now back home in CA! I spent most of Sunday completely jet-lagged, and it was back to work yesterday, madly trying to catch up. :)

My blog post title, by the way, is all the airport codes from my vacation... I think I only did 16 flights in 2008, which is either significantly less (or maybe an improvement) over the 29 flights in 2007, but I think it says something when you start to memorize airport codes!

I hope everyone had a fantastic holiday season and great New Year's Eve and start to the new year.

posted by Jenn-a-lala | 06:54 AM | TrackBack (0) |
Filed under: Blah Blah Blah | Bookmark this at del.icio.us

December 02, 2008

This post will only make sense to Canadians

prorogue: 1) the act of doing something similar to calling a timeout 30 seconds before the game is over, Parliament-style; 2) prolonging the inevitable. See also: taking your ball and going home; tattling to "Mom" (the Governor-General).

I wonder what CPAC's ratings were like today?

posted by Jenn-a-lala | 07:51 PM | TrackBack (0) |
Filed under: Blah Blah Blah | Bookmark this at del.icio.us

September 23, 2008

More pics from Vegas

Just added a few more pics from Vegas to the gallery. Hope everyone is having a fab week! Busy here, but I'll try to post again by this weekend. :)

posted by Jenn-a-lala | 11:09 PM | TrackBack (0) |
Filed under: Blah Blah Blah | Bookmark this at del.icio.us

September 21, 2008

Weekend in Vegas

Vegas, baby. Or at least a few of the details that are fit to print. My life day-to-day tends to be very busy -- and having said that, I'd never trade it. :) My long weekend away, though, was the ultimate chance to just let go, relax, and have a lot of FUN.

Vegas began midday with drinks by the pool, lovin' the sun and just chilllllllllllin'. Breathe in, breathe out and just be in the moment. Later that evening, my friends and I got glammed up and headed over to the Mirage to catch the Cirque de Soleil show Love. I'd never before seen a Cirque show, and it took my breath away. Not only watching all the performers, who were absolutely incredible (and who made me want to resume the dance classes I took when I was younger, and to definitely devote more time to yoga) -- but the music. Love, as its website says, "celebrates the musical legacy of the Beatles." The show made me appreciate all that the Beatles contributed to music in a way that my university "History of Popular Music After 1945" class couldn't quite put its finger on.

After Love, we were stopped by a few of the lounge and nightclub staff who were looking to draw clientele in for the night. We were already on the guest list for LAX nightclub though, AND managed to get free champagne for most of the night. The next day was some shopping at the shops over by Caesar's Palace, some more pool time, and an amazing dinner at CatHouse. Followed by a short excursion a few hotels over, random run-in and a drink, then another night out dancing at a club.

Vegas is such a cool place to explore. I love it! I'm not a huge gambling or casino person, but there's so much more to do there, and so much nightlife.

The rest of this week was pretty busy, and on Friday I went sea kayaking in Monterey for a team off-site. Love the kayaking part, just not the wetsuits. ;) Chalk that one up to six years working for Canada's federal health department and reading one too many consumer advisories or communicable disease reports, heh. It was a beautiful day, though, and we saw so many sea otters, sea lions, and harbor seals. I love Monterey.

And now it's Sunday night, with a few things still to do before heading off to sleep. Hope everyone's had a great weekend!

posted by Jenn-a-lala | 10:08 PM | TrackBack (0) |
Filed under: Blah Blah Blah | Bookmark this at del.icio.us

September 18, 2008

And so the point of Air Miles then is...?

Say, hypothetically, you thought it might be nice to head to Canadialand for Christmas. Cos, y'know, you haven't seen your family in almost a year -- and hey, if you could get an Air Miles ticket and stay for a couple of weeks, maybe you could also take a few days and hop another flight down to Ottawa and Montreal to visit some friends there too, who by then you wouldn't have seen in a year and a half. So you pick up the phone and call Air Miles, because you know you have oodles of flexibility on both travel dates and airports. So for travel dates, you give them the option of departing Dec. 15 to Dec. 24, and the option of returning Dec. 27 to Jan. 4.

Choices of departing airports: San Jose, San Francisco, Oakland, Los Angeles, and Sacramento.

Choices of arriving airports: Thunder Bay, Winnipeg, and Toronto.

Silly me. I must have lost my mind there for a few minutes. No? No flights? No?

Well, Air Canada had some but it was the only airline out of the list. I like Air Canada, but unfortunately Air Canada doesn't like pets in cabin (and not that I'd ever put my dog in cargo, but for information's sake, most airlines don't take pets in cargo during the Christmas travel season).

Soldiering on. Anyone else think it's funny that the fare from California to Thunder Bay is about the same as the fare from California to Melbourne or Sydney, Australia? Same continent vs. other side of the world. There's something more than a little wrong with this picture. And you at least still get complimentary non-alcoholic drinks on trans-continental flights.

posted by Jenn-a-lala | 09:32 PM | TrackBack (0) |
Filed under: Blah Blah Blah | Bookmark this at del.icio.us

September 15, 2008

Fun weekend!

Hello... random babble before I go to bed. I'm sleeeepy!! I got back today from a very fun weekend in Vegas! Sometime over the next few days I'll put up more pics in the gallery (too happily sleepy today to resize and upload all the photos) and I'll post about the weekend!

posted by Jenn-a-lala | 10:45 PM | TrackBack (0) |
Filed under: Blah Blah Blah | Bookmark this at del.icio.us

September 04, 2008

A commentary on the summer they had?

I was adding the WeatherBug application to my Facebook profile a few minutes ago -- what? I grew up in Canada, I'm a weather freak, I will forever be obsessed by it even though I no longer have to deal with skin freeze warnings, flash freeze warnings, blizzards, ice storms, black ice, tornado watches, or humidity levels that could put a sauna to shame -- and I thought hey, let's check out the weather in my former hometowns of Ottawa and Thunder Bay.

When I got to the bottom of the Thunder Bay weather page on Environment Canada's website, I burst out laughing. Check out the circled minimum temperature recorded for "Yesterday" in the "Historical Data" table.

While I've heard the summer weather was sub-par there this year, somehow I think I would have heard about almost 73 degrees below zero. Unless, you know, all the phone lines froze and the power went out alongside the dawn of the short-lived new ice age. So is it a data input error or sarcastic weather commentary? Whatever the case, it made me giggle.

posted by Jenn-a-lala | 09:25 PM | TrackBack (0) | Comments (1)
Filed under: Blah Blah Blah | Bookmark this at del.icio.us

July 19, 2008

Past, present, future

Nothing big, just three questions from a meme I saw on Iris' blog. I decided to stick to the "What were you doing, what are you doing, what would you do" questions. Enjoy!

1) What was I doing 10 years ago?

July 1998. I was 18 years old and had just finished grade 12 -- in Ontario at the time, there was a grade 13, aka OAC, so I had one year of high school to go. I had just started working in the bedding, bath and linens department of a department store, quite happy to leave my job at a movie theatre. I lived in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada, where I was born and raised. I spent a lot of time hanging out with Allana, before she moved to Ottawa for school (I would visit her in Ottawa that coming winter, and move to Ottawa -- as planned for several years -- the following year). In July, I would have had a crush still on T, a high school friend whom I hadn't seen in a year, but encountered at grad night and hung out with at the grad party. He'd had a crush on me the year before, but I'd been kind of oblivious -- some things don't change! I remember talking to him on the phone a couple of times after that. (I wonder what he's doing now?) A month later, I would begin designing a website for an indie band based in Toronto, something that ended up shaping the next few years of my life.

2) What are 5 things on my to-do list for today?

1. Drink more coffee. No, for real. I was out til 2am, yet answering texts from Tina at 8am, then outside for a walk with Pico and just finished playing fetch with him. It's either more sleep, or more coffee.
2. Finish editing a video and work on some design mocks for a side project in progress.
3. Continue re-reading the Tao Te Ching (Blakney translation) -- it's been several years since I last read it.
4. Take Pico for a long walk, then take him to Petsmart so I can get him some more food.
5. Same thing I do every day, Brain... plan to take over the world. ;) Oh, and maybe stop at Borders.

3) Things I would do if I were a billionaire:

Get more sleep, probably. ;) Yeah, who am I kidding? I would do a lot of what I do now, since I always need to be doing something. If I have a few days off just to chill, I end up driving myself bonkers if I don't plan things to do! I'd move my family out to California (or at least build them a home they could visit during the winter months, if they didn't want to live out here full-time). Take a few trips I want to take - Australia (Melbourne, Sydney, and the Gold Coast), New Zealand, London, Paris, Greece... Definitely donate to the Humane Society and Animal Rescue groups, and also the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario -- CHEO has held a special place in my heart since j-skool. Help out friends if they need it, and see some of my friends a lot more I'm sure! Start a scholarship fund at my former high school. Think about what I could contribute to the world, not just monetarily, but what that monetary backing would allow me to instrument and move forward. So many possibilities.

posted by Jenn-a-lala | 11:11 AM | TrackBack (0) |
Filed under: Blah Blah Blah | Bookmark this at del.icio.us

July 14, 2008

Hey there Delilah Jenn-a-lala, what's it like in New York City California, you're a three thousand miles away, but girl tonight...

The title isn't really related to anything, that song was just stuck in my head after hearing it on the radio last night. So I changed the wording a bit. And yes, I AM in California. Even the part of California in which I live. My dog can't believe it either.

So aside from friends trying to marry me off on Facebook and inviting themselves to a wedding I didn't know was happening... and criss-crossing the continental US a couple of times... and covering a whole lot of my home state... things are pretty busy! Okay, I'm kidding about the wedding part, but not about the friends inviting themselves to it, or the rest of it. Hey, life's not boring, I'll say that much, which is very much the point. I haven't had a lot of time to be sarcastically introspective about something, which is when I usually come and blog. Is that called behaving like an adult in addition to actually being one, or does that mean I need to clone myself into three people and assign one of us to resume having random encounters or thought patterns that result in highly sarcastic blog material? Your call.

Nah. There ARE stories, actually. Good ones, too, although you might not believe me if I told you. I'll share them some day, when I find out how it all goes.

In the meantime, I'm keeping my eyes and ears open for something I can get all tangential about again!

A couple of updates... there are some new pics in the gallery that I put up last week. I also recently joined a site called Adoptic, which is kind of like a webring but not really. If you have a blog, though, definitely check it out.

posted by Jenn-a-lala | 05:37 PM | TrackBack (0) |
Filed under: Blah Blah Blah | Bookmark this at del.icio.us

July 02, 2008

Here's where I've been, how about you?

Breathe in. Exhale. Wooooooosh. Do you hear that sound? That's me, finally sitting still for just a moment, after two jam-packed months that included 10 planes, 2 road trips, and a house move. Last night I (quite accidentally, actually) got 8 hours of sleep, and miracle of all miracles, woke up much more rested this morning than I've been awhile, which also meant I wasn't Grumpy the Narcoleptic Grouch all day. This is good, I think I'm going to go with it.

I'll be doing my best to stick around home this weekend, continuing to catch up on sleep and some other projects, playing with Pico, 'blading, swimming, all that good stuff. Right now though, it's time to think about winding down for the night, seeing if I can get another decent night's sleep, and off for a busy and hopefully productive day of work before the 4th of July weekend.

posted by Jenn-a-lala | 10:52 PM | TrackBack (0) |
Filed under: Blah Blah Blah | Bookmark this at del.icio.us

June 04, 2008

You can take the girl out of Canada, but you can't take the innate Canadian-born need to watch the Stanley Cup finals out of the girl...

Or, "An Open Letter to the CBC," that would begin something like this:

Dear CBC.ca:

Look. I *know* it was probably prompted by the laws of the land, but c'mon. Since when does the Internet have borders? You know what I'm talking about. That... ugh... f-word. Dare I even say it? That firewall, magical filter you have detecting IP addresses, that would let your scripts-o-video-player-on-high know when someone outside of Canada would try to be accessing the live video stream of Stanley Cup playoff games on CBC Sports.

And as I try to load the video stream in the player, I can sense your scripts laughing and pointing, saying "Look! Isn't that cute? An ex-pat trying to watch the playoffs. Hahahaha. I don't think so, cos if you're not here suffering through 6 months of winter followed by the equally brutal season of Canadian Idol like the rest of us, then you clearly have not earned the right to watch the final moments of the quest for Lord Stanley's cup on a Crown corporation's video player. Should have thought of that BEFORE you left, chickie!" Bugger.

And so on it would go, but I'm going to stop here, and give you a little bit of back story. Here in the U.S., the Stanley Cup playoffs were being broadcast on NBC, and yes, normally on any given day, I'd have NBC. However, I moved over the weekend, and somehow when I scheduled a satellite re-hook-up for the coming weekend, I didn't factor the playoffs into the equation. While ABC, CBS, and even the CW are all part of California's equivalent to Canadian "farmervision" (don't require cable or satellite), apparently NBC deems itself above all that jazz and does not make an appearance in the free TV lineup. Bugger.

So two nights ago, during the triple overtime game, I found another TV to watch the game on. Tonight though, was a different story. I tried more ways to get access to a broadcast than I should probably admit to in writing. Well, desperate times call for creative search engine queries. And at last, the result I was looking for, courtesy a kind group of folks posting over at Yahoo!Xtra (New Zealand) Answers. Third period, and YES, I could watch the rest of the game! Crisis averted. Where there's a will, and the help of kind folks sharing information across the globe, there is a way to watch the final game of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Let us all bless the Internet.

Time spent researching ways to access the game broadcast online: 2 hours at home, plus another half hour at lunch, plus an hour or so last night. (Um. A lot. What? See my post title.) Getting to watch the final game of the Stanley Cup playoffs? Worth every second.

posted by Jenn-a-lala | 08:13 PM | TrackBack (0) |
Filed under: Blah Blah Blah | Tangential | Bookmark this at del.icio.us

April 27, 2008

Further proof of my complete geekdom (like you didn't already know this)

While catching up on my SEO / SEM / ecommerce / other related "geek stuff" reading for work, I came across a couple of absolutely hilarious things that I have to share. Well, okay. Hilarious is probably relative to the audience, but c'mon. When you get to the image examples of one article, if you haven't been living under a bigger rock than I, at times, have been known to, you'll laugh.

First - a great idea for results returned when searching "Chuck Norris".

Second - the folks over at SEOmoz came up with their suggestions for search results missing from OneBox. This article is funny in and of itself. What makes it even funnier, though, is how it wound up influencing Google Trends results after it was posted.

And now, under the "things that make you go hmmm?" category, can someone explain to me how I've heard that classic '80s song "Glory of Love" on the radio no fewer than four times this week, when, prior to this, I don't think I've heard it since sometime in the '80s or possibly early '90s? Does this go hand-in-hand with the neverending attempts at '80s fashion revival? Cos they're missing something here. It's not the clothes or necessarily the music of the '80s that people old enough to remember that decade cherished. It was the global attitude. Nostalgiacize all you want (hee, new word!) but I'm not sure this is quite the same.

All right. Off to do some errands, then further immerse myself in beautiful weekend laze. Maybe I'll actually get some writing done!

posted by Jenn-a-lala | 11:09 AM | TrackBack (0) |
Filed under: Blah Blah Blah | Bookmark this at del.icio.us

April 10, 2008

Checking in

Hi everyone... I've been a bit slammed lately with lots to do, but I'll be back with a new post soon. Thank you so much to everyone who's been checking out The Fame Experiment. I appreciate it! Hope everyone is looking forward to a fabulous weekend, wherever you are and whatever you're doing. Lots of love out to you all. :)

posted by Jenn-a-lala | 10:00 PM | TrackBack (0) |
Filed under: Blah Blah Blah | Bookmark this at del.icio.us

March 31, 2008

Monday night, and things that will only amuse Harry Potter fans

I'm currently collapsed into a heap on my big red couch -- welcome to Monday night. It's not so different from last night, except that Pico isn't up on the couch watching The Italian Job on TV. I'm really not kidding when I say that my dog watches more TV than I do. Wait'll the Stanley Cup playoffs. If I dare to throw his ball and ask him to "fetch!" during a play, he'll exact his revenge that night or the next morning by weaving in and out of the vertical blinds in my bedroom until they're clanging together in a perfect Pico symphony. I'm still kind of scared to see what happens when he realizes his favorite programming no longer comes packaged with the Hockey Night in Canada theme song.

TV time aside, we do co-exist harmoniously. At least until he figures out how to open the Milk Bone cupboard by himself.

I did make it over to the fitness center earlier tonight though, and also took Pico for a walk. When I decided to resume being a Monday night couch potato, I somehow got to looking through old CD backups of computer files and found one from late 2001. I've been reading old blog entries from 2000 and 2001 that were permanently archived offline, and wow. I don't even remember writing half of that stuff! I was a little less self-censored then. I guess time, a semester of communications law, and irate circus clowns can all help you develop the mind-to-keyboard filter.

What else have I been up to? It was a pretty busy weekend. I went for a hike in the Santa Cruz mountains on Friday, and on Saturday, loaded Pico into the car and drove to Fresno to see Kelly, Timothy, T, T & E, along with Kelly's parents, her sister, and brother-in-law. It was so good to see everyone! And Harry Potter fans, if you can ever make it on a drive through Madera county, there's something you're really going to want to see. The world may never know if Platform 9 3/4 exists, but I can tell you that Avenue 15 3/4 does. For real. One day I'm going to need to look up the explanation for this, but I'll guess it has something to do with measurements?

I'll leave you all to ponder that. If anyone knows the history of this, please leave a comment or drop me an email!

posted by Jenn-a-lala | 09:01 PM | TrackBack (0) | Comments (1)
Filed under: Blah Blah Blah | Bookmark this at del.icio.us

March 20, 2008

It's come to this

Thursday night, late March. A blond Canadian ex-pat sits in her living room, having come to the inevitable and unavoidable conclusion. It's come to this. It's time.

I'm about to begin Canada's favorite springtime game that I like to call "Choose your own income tax filing adventure."

This year is particularly fun, given that I've come across two entirely different sets of filing instructions for non-residents of Canada, each with a different tax office to mail your return to. I haven't quite figured out yet which one applies when you were a resident for part of the year, but I'm hoping it's the one where I get to claim a portion of the personal tax credit for the number of days in 2007 that I was still living there. If you don't hear from me in the next week or so, I'm probably rocking back and forth somewhere, singing Rick Mercer's "Knee in my Package" song.

For the confused, yes, I file a US return too. ;) But given that I wouldn't know how to file a state and federal return if it walked up to me, shook my hand, then took me out for dinner, I'm letting the pros handle that one.

Before I head off to the land of the infinitely confused to be blindsided by numbers while attempting whichever non-resident-applicable mathematical equation was dreamed up for us this year by someone who's been snowed-in to their government office since last fall, I want to leave you all with a very funny article that was forwarded to me by a friend this morning. If you're in need of some sarcastic/cynical humor, then check out "What's eating you, Mother Nature? Is it us?" by Maclean's columnist Scott Feschuk. I'm sending lots of love and warm, snow-melting thoughts to my friends back in Ottawa. Hope you see springtime soon!

posted by Jenn-a-lala | 06:17 PM | TrackBack (0) | Comments (1)
Filed under: Blah Blah Blah | Bookmark this at del.icio.us

March 05, 2008

Hockey night in California

I went to my first Sharks game tonight with two friends who also used to live in Ottawa. I was raised a rink rat, so for me, going to a hockey game feels like going home. It's one of my absolute favorite things to do.

It was Sharks vs. Sens tonight, so pretty cool to catch a game where my new hometown team played my old "new" hometown team! The Sharks won in overtime.

I'm a sleepy girl now, so off to bed. Late tomorrow night sometime I have a FUNNY story to recap for you all here... it's been making me laugh for most of the day!

Love and hugs to everyone.

posted by Jenn-a-lala | 11:48 PM | TrackBack (0) |
Filed under: Blah Blah Blah | Bookmark this at del.icio.us

February 26, 2008

Confessions of a techno gadget junkie

"Mulder, if you had to do without a cell phone for two minutes you'd lapse into catatonic schizophrenia."
          - Agent Dana Scully, The X-Files

Change "Mulder" to "Jenn" and "cell phone" to "laptop computer" and that's probably a fair description of yours truly. The extent to which I depend on the techno gadgets in my life has been proven to me over the last several weeks, which is part of why I've been so quiet on the blog as of late! The other part is winter. Laugh if you'd like -- I know it isn't really "winter" here at all! -- but there's something about the shorter days that tends to cut my verbosity in half. If you can believe that.

So, a couple of weeks ago, my four-year-old laptop bit it. And I mean BIG TIME. It's not all that surprising considering it started chucking files last spring when I was still living in Canadialand, and that I've spent the last four years abusing it like it was a Mac. The programs I use on a regular basis -- Photoshop, Image Ready, Illustrator, In Design, Dreamweaver, Flash, Swish (and on and on and on, complete with extended brush, filter and plug-in packages) -- are what Macs are designed for. So the fact that I got four good years out of my Compaq before it pitched the mother of all Windows-loading temper tantrums is kind of miraculous, really. A gazillion or so different recovery attempts and a lot of phone calls to my dad later, and we're pretty sure that the hard drive is toast.

"Well," I said to myself, "I still have my work laptop!" Now, when you so brilliantly say these things to yourself, knock on wood just to be safe. Yup, you guessed it. Last week my work laptop started having some, uh, power issues. Explaining the whole thing is long and boring but Friday morning saw my hard drive being swapped into a new machine, after a couple of nights of bringing my laptop home and not being able to power it up from either the battery or the power adapter!

Pico, for his part, was thrilled. Computers to him are the archenemy.

So that's the scoop. It's enough to get one back into reading actual books and talking with people face-to-face instead of IM'ing. (Okay, so maybe I went the text message route in lieu of IM... shhhhhh!) Crazy stuff.

posted by Jenn-a-lala | 07:00 PM | TrackBack (0) |
Filed under: Blah Blah Blah | Bookmark this at del.icio.us

February 24, 2008

Wild applause

As usual, Rick Mercer nails it. If you're a Canadian especially, check out "Science: 21st century menace," his latest blog entry. I guess everything really is political.

posted by Jenn-a-lala | 11:29 AM | TrackBack (0) |
Filed under: Blah Blah Blah | Bookmark this at del.icio.us

February 08, 2008

Back next week...

Taking a personal vacation from blog/computer land this weekend... catch you all next week.

posted by Jenn-a-lala | 12:48 PM | TrackBack (0) |
Filed under: Blah Blah Blah | Bookmark this at del.icio.us

February 03, 2008

So speechless, I can't even think of a title

Um, wow. Or, in the words of Bubble (who emailed me this story), "I'm positive this has to be one of the 7 signs of the Apocalypse."

From the AFP, and found on Yahoo! News:

Quarter of Brits think Churchill was myth: poll

LONDON (AFP) - Britons are losing their grip on reality, according to a poll out Monday which showed that nearly a quarter think Winston Churchill was a myth while the majority reckon Sherlock Holmes was real. Read more...

I don't think this one even needs sarcastic commentary. It kind of writes itself.

posted by Jenn-a-lala | 11:29 PM | TrackBack (0) |
Filed under: Blah Blah Blah | Bookmark this at del.icio.us

February 01, 2008

A trip down bizarre and random memory lane

File under "things that weren't funny at the time but are amusing now" -- that time a professional clown threatened to sue me over a blog post about another of his clown friends. And I do literally mean clowns. I would recount the story here, but for fear of instigating the whole thing all over again, I'll just leave it as while I was out covering an event for a story I was writing, I got hit on by (and given a phone number from) a real live professional clown.

I mean, really. Who gets hit on by a clown?

Um, I mean... for legal reasons (legitimate or otherwise) I should probably cover my backside there. What I MEANT to add is "Not that there's anything wrong with getting hit on by a clown who is in costume and on duty." Truth be told, pictures of clowns and real live clowns creeped the bejeesus out of me when I was a little kid.

Which kind of makes the whole thing a little bit funnier.

And so I've opened the archive of bizarre memories involving my personal life. Maybe one day I'll recount the stories about the "dead wife buried in Mexico" pick-up line and that time I was asked about my biological clock while on a date... when I was 23. So it's no wonder, really, that while I was out with one of my guy friends this summer, he made the inquiring observation: "Are you scared of people, or do you just meet scary people?"

Still waiting for the verdict to come in on that one.

posted by Jenn-a-lala | 08:41 PM | TrackBack (0) | Comments (1)
Filed under: Blah Blah Blah | Bookmark this at del.icio.us

January 26, 2008

Californified

Picture it: Late January, 2007 (yes, last year). A suburb of Ottawa, Canada. Snowbanks as far as the eye can see. A set of my house and car keys lost in one of them, not to be recovered until the spring, well after the locks had to be changed, due to an incident I like to call "my spare key was with Karen, and Karen was in Denver, and I needed a house key to lock my door." And Pico, but 6 months old, plowing his puppy way through any pile of snow that confronted him, following housebreaking during the rainy fall. To him rain and snow were the norm, and he had no problems splashing through any mud or slush puddle that got in his way. He had his own set of towels because I was drying him off five times a day.

Let's fast forward to one year later. We live in California now, in an area that sees 300 days of sunshine every year. The slightest trace of rain during the summer becomes the biggest news story of the day, week, or possibly even month. Believe me, I'm not complaining. Summers in Ottawa? Let's put it this way. I had several umbrellas on hand at all times, because while the day could begin sunny as could be, by afternoon a huge thunderstorm could swoop in, the skies would open up, and it would POUR. Then once that cleared out, back to sunshine it was. This was normal and expected behavior.

You don't truly appreciate how volatile the weather in Canada can be until you move to a place where weather patterns are predictable. You also don't appreciate how much you appreciate a moderate climate until you live in one. Love you, California. LOVE YOU.

At any rate, not only am I Californified, but apparently Pico is too. The dog that used to race out into the rain has developed some pretty refined tastes when it comes to weather, and rain? Now, here in the winter when we DO get a bit of rain, I'll open the door and the dog who was so excited and bouncing around to go outside will back up, sit down, and look at me with the expression of "you've got to be kidding me."

The classic California reaction to rain. Even I'm starting to adopt it (and am now ducking all objects being thrown my way from friends up north... I know, I know, I KNOW).

I think we've finally found our home.

posted by Jenn-a-lala | 10:49 AM | TrackBack (0) |
Filed under: Blah Blah Blah | Bookmark this at del.icio.us

January 25, 2008

One year ago, this week

On Wednesday I realized it was one year since the night I'd had drinks with Dave Navarro, then danced on top of a bar for a DJ'ing Tommy Lee (yes, clothed, thank you... and it was at his prompting!). And here I was, remembering that crazy night in Montreal -- aka "The Best Tuesday Night Ever, Part II" -- from where I am now. In California. Where I'd wanted to live since I was 10 years old. Working for a company I'd adored and admired since I was 15. Combine that with 29 flights and two train rides in 2007, making appearances in not only San Francisco, San Jose (and the Silicon Valley area in general), and Ottawa, but also Thunder Bay, Chicago, Winnipeg, Calgary, Vancouver, Los Angeles, Portland/Hillsboro, Carmel, Monterey, and of course, Montreal... and you might say that 2007 was a blockbuster year.

So how do I top this in 2008? Give me time. ;) I'm brainstorming.

I think what I want to say to everyone is that if you have dreams, goals, and visions for your life, then never give up. Pour every ounce of yourself into making it happen, as far-fetched as you may think it seems. I've never really told the tale here of all that led me to where I currently sit, typing this post quickly on my lunch break. Wishing and intent alone is not enough. If you want to change something in your life, you have to take action and see it through. Luck is part of it, yes, as is willpower, but action is what changes things.

Is 2008 going to be a fun, rockin' year? You betcha. Am I going to have to work hard? Yes, absolutely. And I'm looking forward to every bit of what the next few months will bring.

I'll have more posts for you all this weekend, including the story of my entirely Californified dog, Pico. 'Til then, hope everyone is having a wonderful Friday!

posted by Jenn-a-lala | 12:12 PM | TrackBack (0) | Comments (1)
Filed under: Blah Blah Blah | Bookmark this at del.icio.us

January 20, 2008

Now... with comments

Comments are now enabled. Go nuts.

I haven't had comments enabled for posts in a few years, so we'll see how this goes. First person to comment as "Bob's My Uncle 29717fxxx2tz" trying to sell me my own illegal pharmacy / some kind of faux luxury watch / male "enhancement" paraphernalia loses their Cali-vacation-at-my-place privileges. ;)

posted by Jenn-a-lala | 12:49 PM | TrackBack (0) |
Filed under: Blah Blah Blah | Bookmark this at del.icio.us

January 18, 2008

Jenn-a-lala Land: The Blog is the new Snapshots Into Oblivion

And for newcomers, that means I've switched to a new web hosting provider -- the faboo Yahoo! Web Hosting -- got a free domain name, and decided to rebrand my blog after years and years and years of it being a mere section of jenniferfarwell.com. Hence, Jenn-a-lala Land: The Blog, at jennalala.com.

The tech talk is over. It's subliminal messaging for change your bookmarks, add the blog feed, tell your friends, and let's exchange links.

At some point I'll probably design a new template for the blog. You know, in my oodles of spare time that exists due west and three intersections from the mountain of missing left socks, kitty-corner to the lost city of Atlantis, somewhere between the flat Earth and its moon made of green cheese.

It'll happen one day.

For now, I've moved over a few recent entries from the former Snapshots Into Oblivion blog, and gone through the archives to dig out and post some of the older classics. Enjoy!

posted by Jenn-a-lala | 04:08 PM | TrackBack (0) |
Filed under: Blah Blah Blah | Bookmark this at del.icio.us

January 15, 2008

Since I think I know the answer, this is probably a rhetorical question

Am I the only person with an iPhone who hasn't hacked it yet?

Bear with me, people. I finally got around to doing a mass update of the songs on both it and my iPod a couple of nights ago.

And I realize that by admitting this, I'm in dire risk of being stripped of my geek girl status. If I'm charming, you'll forgive me... right?

posted by Jenn-a-lala | 08:27 PM | TrackBack (0) |
Filed under: Blah Blah Blah | Bookmark this at del.icio.us