The ancient technology I grew up with,including the colour. We still have a bit of antiquated technology called a home phone. We use a VoIP phone — have done so since 2002 — which is why I say “home phone” rather than “landline”. Our home phone is not a landline.
Continue readingTag: miscellaneous blather
wmtc: update from the land of the missing white dog
We miss Tala a lot. Of course. Need it even be said. Somehow I have gone from abject grief to poignant acceptance quicker than I expected. I have no idea why this is. With each dog we have said goodbye to, eventually I get to a place where, thinking of
Continue readingwmtc: i look forward to the day when no one wears a fitbit anymore
What did people do before Fitbit? Without their adorable little bracelets, how did they get enough exercise? Never mind that, how did they manage to live?? All those lonely, barren years, decade upon decade, people running, swimming, cycling, lifting, walking — without a Fitbit. Can you imagine? It breaks my
Continue readingwmtc: i’m not ready for another broken heart, or, nothing says mortality like your sick dog
Tala has cancer. As it happened with Cody, We found a lump. First I was sure it was a cyst, then I was hoping it was a cyst, now I’m just hoping it’s not an iceberg. There’s a big ugly tumoury thing sticking out, but this type of sarcoma is k…
Continue readingwmtc: a gray rug, a black kong, a happy white dog
We need to get rugs or carpet runners for Tala; she’s slipping on the wood floors when she and Diego play. But with one heavy shedder and one heavy drooler, we’re not too keen on buying nice rugs. While looking for something else at Ikea, we found a rug they
Continue readingwmtc: two random observations arising from watching a tv show from my childhood
In September, I blogged about watching “Bewitched” on Netflix as my “comedy before sleep” show. I’m still watching it, sometimes taking as many as three nights to get through one episode, so potent is this sleep aid. I want to share two random observations based on Bewitched. People on TV
Continue readingwmtc: libraries with pride of place
Central Library at National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico City While I wait impatiently to post some exciting news, please enjoy these photos of amazing libraries all over the world. I’ve seen six on this list: New York Public Library, Butler Library at Columbia University, Thomas Fisher Rare Books Library
Continue readingwmtc: in which i defend the suburbs against misconceptions (some thoughts on reading jane jacobs)
I’m reading Dark Age Ahead, Jane Jacobs’ 2004 strong caution to North American society. I’ll blog about the book in general at a later date, but wanted to share some thoughts that keep coming up as I’m reading. This is the first time I’m reading Jacobs since living in a suburb,
Continue readingwmtc: wmtc winter break goes low-tech
Every year I seem to break the holiest commandment of the holiday season: I’m not busy. I always hear how “everyone is so busy this time of year” and “this is such a crazy time of year, you can’t get anything done,” but that never reflects my experience. We don’t
Continue readingwmtc: personal update, our new (rental) house, and why we’ll never own a home
We’ve moved! We’re renting a much larger, newer, and more comfortable house in central Mississauga. We’ve lost the huge backyard of our old rental home, but the backyard here is still a decent size, the largest of any house we saw that we’d want to live in. (The choices were
Continue readingwmtc: know your rights, rental edition
After a week of looking at houses for rent, we found something we love and put down a deposit. My dread of moving has been mostly replaced with a mixture of resignation and excitement, as this will be a definite upgrade in our standard of living. Life is full of
Continue readingwmtc: can money buy happiness? yes. no. sometimes. maybe.
My friend Impudent Strumpet writes a series of posts that dispute the oft-repeated notion “money can’t buy happiness”. (Here’s an example.) I find this idea very thought-provoking. I’ve definitely subscribed to the idea that money doesn’t equal happiness – that making the acquisition of riches a primary life goal does
Continue readingwmtc: a great date
It’s 12.12.12! To all my fellow obsessives, enjoy the day!
Continue readingwmtc: what is it about love?
I was looking my dogs, thinking about how each came into our lives. How one day a dog is living in a shelter, and that’s its pack and its life, and then one day it is put in a car and taken somewhere else, and now it has a new
Continue readingwmtc: what fans’ extreme reaction to bad reviews reveals
I noticed this story yesterday about some fans’ extreme reaction to negative reviews of an upcoming movie. As The Dark Knight Rises hits theatres this week, critics posting negative reviews of the Batman film have been flooded with a wave of online abuse and threats sent by fans. The final
Continue readingwmtc: wmtc poll results: avoidance wins the day
It’s not a huge sample size, but the results are pretty clear. Eighteen of 27 respondants (this includes three from the “other” category) voted for avoidance. Avoidance is definitely the line of least resistance, easiest on both the avoider and the avoideded. I’m assuming the eff-off response was a troll,
Continue readingwmtc: wmtc survey: what would you do?
Survey time! Please choose the answer closest to what you would actually do. More information: 1. The acquaintance does not read this blog. 2. After answering the question, please feel free to discuss in comments. Thanks!
Continue readingwmtc: how to have a one-sided conversation, or, how not to ask for a favour
A reader – or at least someone who stumbled on my blog at some point – emailed me with a request. When I replied, I received this auto-reply: Your message to xxxxx was not delivered because this mailbox does not accept mail from the Gmail system. Gmail not only invades
Continue readingwmtc: new survey: use of online directories
One more question, folks! Do you use directories to find information online? If you ask, “What’s a directory?”, it’s safe to say you don’t use one. Thank you very much! I really appreciate it. I will share the results of both surveys when I’m done with my research.
Continue readingwmtc: social bookmarking survey, take two
The poll in an earlier wmtc post wreaked havoc on my blog, so I’m trying again. If I might beg another moment of your time, please go here to take a two-question survey about your use of social bookmarking websites. By this I mean sites like Delicious, Reddit, CiteULike, BuzzFeed,
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