Brand new comic strip technology?
Check out this comic strip. Really look at it.

Notice something? Freaky, isn't it?

Okay, one more diet post. Humour me.
At Goodwill last night I bought a fabulous designer skirt suit. Size 10! That's my first size 10 skirt since before Ice Prince was born.

When I took it to the counter, the cashier took it off the hanger, held up the skirt, looked at me and said, "Isn't this a little big on you?"

I could've kissed her.

Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I’m 134?
As of today, I have officially lost 20 lbs. I am very disappointed that bells didn’t go off and confetti and balloons didn’t fall from the ceiling when I stepped on the scale at the clinic. Shouldn’t that be mandatory? The receptionist didn’t even empty the contents of the three hole punch over my head – I would’ve settled for that.

So I’m about 2/3 of the way to my goal. I look great in a dress, but another 10 should have me looking nice in a bathing suit too. I hope. Well, good enough, anyway.

I am NOT doing the Pride Run this year, because I don’t feel like adjusting my diet for the training. Why mess with a good thing? Although if I find a pair of roller blades in my size at Goodwill between now and then, anything’s possible.

I thought I’d miss the wine the most, but I don’t. I miss pizza. Cheese, pesto, crust, oh!

Question Of The Day

Are you a Hollaback Girl? Why or why not?

Discuss.

The Letter R
Via Lilly
Here's how it works: if you wanna play too, let me know in the comments and I'll assign you a letter. Then you write about 10 words that start with that letter that are important to you and explain why.
Restaurant Makeover – My favourite tv show.
Rapini – Tasty veg. First thing I craved when I was pregnant.
REM – Love “Daysleeper”. And sleeping.
Rectlinear – Sounds dirty. Like “bum”!
Redhead – At least ,for now…
Retro – I love funky old fonts, 80s music and vintage clothing.
Rivets – I was the riveter for my high school Auto Club’s race car.
Robin in the Rain – The first song I remember learning.
Ribald – C’mon who doesn’t love this?
Radio – There’s still something to be said for the randomness of radio. Shuffle be damned!

A Meme to Get My Blogger Mojo Back in Gear
Pillaged from Dantallion who took it from Dickey: Firsts, Nexts, and Lasts
Nexts:
1. Next person you’ll kiss: Ice Prince
2. Next movie you want to see: The Susan Clarke Story: How She Lost 30lbs and Was Signed by the Food Network to Host Her Own Show.
3. Next person you want to sleep with: Fresh. Duh!
4. Next car you want to have: Green Mazda Miata with tan leather interior
5. Next time you’re going out: For our 15th wedding anniversary, June 29th
6. Next time you’re going to move: When I have to pee.
7. Next thing you’re going to save money for: New clothes.
8. Next time that you will drink alcohol: June 29th
9. Next person you are going to call: Probably check my voice mail at home.
10. Next place you’ll take vacation: Northern Northern Ontario to kayak and hike, last week of August
11. Next thing you are going to do after filling this survey?: Get back to work
12. Next thing you are going to eat: Melba toast and fat free Swiss cheese
13. Next time you plan to be drunk: Sigh. I don’t. Too many calories!
14. Next thing you are going to do outside: Bicycle home.
15. Next person you’d like to see fill this out: Crabby!
Lasts:
1. Last kiss: Ice Prince when dropped off at daycare
2. Last person you hugged: Ditto
3. Last person you spoke to: My summer student
4. Last alcoholic beverage: Shared a glass of red wine with Fresh, May 6, 2006.
5. Last movie: A Jackie Chan movie from 1974. Funny!
6. Last person you thought of: Fresh
7. Last school you went to: University of Western Ontario for my Master’s in Library and Information Science (I dropped out two weeks in)
8. Last person you said I love you to: Ice Prince
9. Last run in with the law: A speeding ticket in 1988
10. Last fight you were in: With the Wexford Soccer Club
11. Last bar/club/concert/party you went to: Chisai Jackson at Bar Italia
12. Last person you e-mailed: My summer student
13. Last thing you ate: Half a grapefruit
14. Last thing you saved up money for: Sending Ice Prince to French Camp
15. Last song you sung: “Naked Tiger”, an original composition for IP’s bedtime, which sound vaguely like “Go Speed Racer”

Firsts:
1. First car: A 1974 Dodge Duster
2. First pet: A cat named Cathy
3. First word/phrase: Not a clue
4. First alcoholic beverage: Champagne at a wedding
5. First time you stayed out all night: first year university
6. First best friend: Allison Glass
7. First job: Cashier and stock duster at Becker’s in Glencoe
8. First school: I can’t remember. I was only there for three months or so.
9. First kiss: Shaun Hindley in front of the school office. (Wonder if he googles himself? And I don’t mean the euphemistically.)
10. First Tattoo: None. My body is a temple. (The Temple of Doom, that is.)
11. First car accident: Sideswiping our country mailbox with the 1974 Dodge Duster.

Still here. Still tongue-tied.
Now don't get all excited to hear from me. I'm just checking in so that you don't think I'm dead.

Ever since I got back from Chicago I've been...empty. There were some bad experiences - like my presentation sucking eggs and my ear being clogged for the first three days. Now that I'm back, I've been on a diet since May 11th and lost 13lbs so far. Our basement flooded and we had to move all of my parents furniture and rip up half the rug. And then get the drain pipes replaced, which involved digging up our garden and some of the garden we share with our neighbours. And it's been insanely busy at work. And today I am home while we finally have our ductless air conditioning installed, for which I cleaned out the wrong two closets, so now the contents of all of the upstairs closets are heaped on our bed.

Oh yeah, and I got in a snark fight with Ice Prince's Soccer Club and he won't be going there. Surprised? Me neither. Maybe I'll sign him up for ROTC (the Righteous Outrageous Twirling Corps).

Things at work are good, though. Lots of interviews. Lots of impressing executives.

And yet...I still don't feel like typing anything in here. I'm sure it will come back eventually.

So hang in there and I'll be back. Smaller and better than ever.

Happiness Is

Finding out that it's your steamed veggie lunch that leaked in your backpack and not your urine sample.

Although a urine sample leaking does have a certain ring to it.

Do Not Adjust Your Set
Sorry I haven't written. I'm working hard on a fabulous new job and a fabulous new body. And I am insanely busy at work. Be back soon. Talk amongst yourselves.

I want to ride my bicycle...
Oh for God's sake, I was so excited about the media attention that I forgot the big news!

Ice Prince learned to ride WITHOUT his training wheels yesterday. It literally took about two minutes. Then Frank let go, and off he went.

I'm so proud.

My Cover Boy

Frank's on the cover of The Voice, the local newspaper for Cabbagetown, Riverdale, Boystown, etc.

Eva and Joey are mentioned, and me too! "...and Susan on vocals." No last name for me. Like Madonna. Or Cher. or Charo.

Go search out your local coffee shops and bookstores and find one. They'll be collector's items!

Help Me Do My Job
Name something that you HAVE to do, but that you WANT to do, because of the benefits.

Such as:
--Wearing your seatbelt
--Wearing a motorcycle or bicycle helmet
--Filing your taxes when you expect a refund

I was going to say "brushing your teeth", but no one is making you brush your teeth. There are no rules or laws about that.

I'm doing a presentation and need a metaphor.

Thanks! You are the wind beneath my wings.

More fun with CP24 News

You know, I don’t know much about golf, but from the looks of the picture, I think this guy was a pretty crappy mentor.

Guest Blog: Fresh from Fresh...

I want to thank everyone for coming to Frankstock and helping to make it the success it was. I especially want to thank the many talented performers among you! Eva: Green Day's Time of Your Life sounded great -- you play a mean violin! And your tin whistle and recorder made the Mermaid shine! It was a joy to play those tunes with you, thank you very much! Joey: you rocked on that accordion! No one will ever equate the accordion with the Shmenge brothers after they heard you! Stacey: You're an impressive dancer and, combined with the drum, added quite the spice to the evening! And last but certainly not least, my beloved Susan who sang me a love song that included a pledge to let me watch "The National" whenever I want -- now that's true love! For everyone else who sang, including a rendition of Happy Birthday, or showed their enthusiasm, many thanks -- you made it a lot of fun. I'm also happy to say the evening raised over $1,000 for the Regent Park School of Music!

I'm actually a little sad it all came and went so fast but there's still "Soozapalooza" in just over two-and-a-half years! Time for me to start practicing but not before saying one more thank you -- you guys are great!

Frank
(aka Fresh)

Oh Yes, I'm thoroughly enjoying high speed Internet

Some communications skills we somehow failed to cover in this Chicago conference.

Romantic Movies Always Make Me Misty
Awwwwwww....

CHICAGO!


Here’s my hotel with TWO, count ‘em TWO towers.


And here are two communications professionals enjoying a real deep dish pizza with me. It was voted best Chicago pizza by the New York Times and Washington Post. And on our way to the restaurant we saw PAT SAJAK!


And look, the subway is above ground. What’s with that?


And today I saw THIS. Seriously! I tried to chase them down and get a photo, but I was wearing high heels and they were faster for obvious reasons. And dorkier! I hope I catch one tomorrow.

Fun Fact
Did you know that 86% of corporate communicators are named Stephanie?

Kinda Windy, I Guess
So I'm here in Chicago at a big Communications conference. Yesterday I was exhausted because I had to get up at 4:30 am after Frankstock to get to the airport in time. Then I took the subway/train into downtown Chicago from O'Hare, which took 45 minutes. Then I walked from the station with my bags, got lost under some overpasses and finally found my hotel which is huge. I'll post some pictures soon.

Thanks to everyone who came to Frankstock. A special thanks to Eva (who had to learn new stuff) and Stacey and Joey for participating. I have to run now to eat danishes and network with professionals with southern drawls who think I'm rude or stupid because I can't hear what they're saying (my left ear is blocked and probably needs a doctor to fix it, but I'm in Chicago, so what to do?) And I have to write a presentation for our Chicago office on Friday about Career Development, but since I don't know any of them, maybe I'll make it one big standup routine of my funniest career bloopers. Like the flip flops, or running into the SVP on my way to a job interview when I had pneumonia and was supposed to be home. Yeah, I'm a real poster girl for successful career development.

Okay, enough! More later tonight when I'm procrastinating about the presentation.

Smmmmmmokin’!

FRANKSTOCK! Tonight. C’est What. 8pm on. Be there.

In other news, the lovely Clara got me onto this cool face recognition thing. You upload your picture and it tells you which celebrity you most look like.

So if you haven’t met me before and you’re coming to Frankstock, look for:


Britanny Murphy (It’s like looking in a mirror!)



Molly Ringwald (I can live with that.)



Or Jim Carrey (What?!)

Sticks, the inside of my mouth and poppyseeds, not in that order
If I were designing a cell phone, it would have a mirror on the back, so I could check for errant poppyseeds.

Seriously: doesn't that make sense?

And don't forget fabulous Frankstock! Monday night! Yes, Maria and Stacey, we'll still sing. Trust me. We'll figure it out. Can you say "Bad?" You're hired! There will be accordions and drums and whistles and recorders and guitars and keyboards and more fun people than you can shake a stick at. Although the management strongly discourages stick-shaking. Unless that's a euphemism, in which case: shake that funky stick, white boy!

Man, I need a drink. It's been quite the week. Gotta go finish up my work 'cause I'll be in Chicago next week. Well, starting Tuesday. After Frankstock. I'll try to blog from there: I have a camera phone now too, so big fun. Did you know that you need the flash on to photograph inside your mouth? It's true!