I just got the hot press release in my mail box this second:
The Apple Store Pacific Centre will open to the public on Saturday, May 24, 2008 at 10:00 a.m. PDT.
 |
I’ll see you in line.
The Blog According to Buzz. Spread the word, ya heard?
Archive for May, 2008Daycare or Nanny? Which will you choose as your maternity leave comes to an end and you have to head back into the rat race to put food on the table, cars in the driveway and plants in the garden. Some of my friends have opted out of this prisoner’s dilemma, and have just sacrificed to keep a parent home. Jen and I’s situation doesnt afford that “luxury” just yet. We opted for daycare and week 1 has come to an end.
That’s a pretty eventful 5 days of extra-parental care. We knew there would be a learning curve for both us, and the daycare staff, but neither of us could have imagined that laundry list in just 5 days. A recent survey of pediatricians put the question of daycare vs nanny up for debate. For those who landed on a firm side, 50+% opted for “it depends”, the majority chose at home care for those under 2.
And who can argue with that? It’s the biggest problem we’re struggling with as Z transistions to care. He’s a baby. He can’t walk. He can’t talk. He can’t properly express his needs. He can’t follow directions. Yes, socialization is important, and we really do think Z has a ton of fun scrambling through the playground, or climbing all over their slides and gear - but it really comes down to personalized attention for us. How did Z’s diaper get so full that it soaked through his pants? Noone was paying attention. How is that Z’s not sleeping more than 45mins for 2 daily naps? Noone is trying to get him back down. How is that Z’s socks get soaked when his shoes come off on the playground? Noone was paying attention. How is that Z’s not eating/drinking enough through the day? Noone is making an effort to sit and feed him. How is that Z’s getting bumped and scratched and bruised? Noone is there to catch a climbing infant’s fall. Now I don’t want to be that parent. You know, the extra clingy and protective and complaining parent who thinks their child is perfect and is never getting enough attention - but Z is a baby, in a room full of toddlers, he needs the extra attention. Jen and I are talking about switching to a nanny, we have friends who have live in care for the same price we’re paying for daycare, but we don’t have room for a suite. So we’d have to go with a live out nanny, and without the accomodation subsidy you provide with live in care, the costs rise quickly - I don’t think it’s doable. Which means we’re stocking up on band aids, and patience. The Blog According to Buzz. Spread the word, ya heard?
Very few actual dates are burned into my brain. I mean, burned in as month, day and year. I know January 28, 1986. That was my 16th birthday, it’s also the day the shuttle exploded. I know the Victoria Day Weekend of 1990 was when I moved for my first radio job at CJIB in Vernon (which makes this weekend my 18th anniversary in the biz!!). I know I started at 95.3 in Vancouver on Labour Day of 1993. Zacharie was born May 31, 2007. My mom and dad were married October 21, 1967. So apart from family or personal dates, there’s nothing really that stands out in my mind - except May 18, 1980.
I have always remembered the exact date Mount St Helens exploded. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s because I was 10, an age where boys are fascinated things that go boom. But what makes my memory of this date remarkable, is that I was living in Ontario at the time of the explosion. Our family was preparing to move from Kingston, Ontario to Richmond, BC later that summer. At the time of the eruption my dad was out west looking at homes. He brought me home a plastic envelope of ash. It was one of those prized possessions I had pinned to my bulletin board for years until, in my early adulthood, I started moving around a lot and saw it as useless, instead of the vital childhood souvenir it has become. So I don’t have the envelope of ash, but I do think about it every year, on May 18. The Blog According to Buzz. Spread the word, ya heard?
We’ve been tossing around ways to try and get Z motivated to feed himself. He’ll eat Cheerios and toast and small things, but he’s not really into trying to do it on his own. My mother said she used to give us mango pits when we were kids. They were a fun puzzle for us to chew on and try to get the mango off, plus they were great as a relief from teething. Perfect, we tried it today.
Mom’s always right. The Blog According to Buzz. Spread the word, ya heard?
- Think the housing market is out of control? The wedding market is going just as crazy. So crazy that some couples are taking Wedding Loans. - You're forgiven if you're thinking about the weekend today. It's going to be gorgeous and fun, with these events all starting up: - There's a bunch of breakups in Hollywood today. Shania Twain and Mutt Lange. Kate Hudson and Owen Wilson. Oh, and one new crazy couple - Britney Spears and Mel Gibson vacationing together. - If you thought the story Nat and Drew discussed this week about letting your kids become Free Range was crazy, check out what they do to children in Bulgaria. The Blog According to Buzz. Spread the word, ya heard?
Facebook is MIA too. How does that Joni Mitchell song go? “You never know what you got til it’s gone .. “ Yeah, well the Twitternets were my paradise, now they’re a parking lot. I feel naked and empty today without my “friends.” The Blog According to Buzz. Spread the word, ya heard?
Jennifer Love Hewitt did. So did Minka Kelly and Jessica Simpson. Lately it’s Jennifer Aniston opening the gates to Wonderland for John to play in with his all day ride pass. Which means she’s seeing a lot of this face.
Ahh the sex face. I still don’t have a copy of Guitar Hero III to play in the mirror, so I don’t know what mine looks like. I don’t want to know. But I’m certain this is John Mayer’s. The Blog According to Buzz. Spread the word, ya heard?
Jen’s back at work, so that means the cellar is getting re-stocked for the return of Wine Wednesdays. Last night Jen was telling me a story about a tasting they had at work earlier in the week. Jen’s company reps Gabbiano. It’s a winery from Italy with a great heritage, and an absolutely horrible label.
So if you’re rocking the bbq this weekend, or just chilling in the backyard and watching the petals fall off the tulips, pick up the Gabbiano, and decant it in an empty Voss bottle. Your friends won’t know the difference. The Blog According to Buzz. Spread the word, ya heard?
It’s happened in hockey a lot. Same for Garth Snow. One day he was the 3rd string goalie for the New York Islanders, the next day he was the General Manager because the owner “”knew what he could do.” Garth had no managerial experience, but by all accounts, has done a bang up job since getting the gig. More recently the Vancouver Canucks ownership set out to search for an experienced hockey man to be General Manager of their team. Instead of hiring any of the available and experienced GMs currently out of work, the team went the other way and hired someone from across the table - an agent. Mike Gillis had never been a GM before, but like Gretzky, he had seen how others did the job and he was involved in assessing talent from his own side of the business. Sometimes hiring someone with no direct experience for your job opening gives you a chance to bring in fresh perspectives and ideas to your work place. If the Coyotes had hired an experienced coach, or the Islanders or Canucks an experienced GM, they would simply be re-trying tactics that, in the past, had gotten the person fired. It would be simply recycling old ideas in a new workplace. Doing things the way they’ve always been done, or accepted to be done in an industry is not always acceptable. When you’re trying to rebuild or reimagine a business often you’re told to “think outside the box,” perhaps hiring outside that box goes right along with it.
DONATED: $2 330 A couple cheques just landed in my lap and immediately went in to the Team Diabetes donation jar.
The big one is for a voice session I did for Western Financial, the smaller one is for the Links for a Cause in my sidebar courtesy of TextLinkAds. Next month I’ll be getting a cheque for my Google AdSense that I run with each post. I’ve committed to Freelancing for Charity as I get ready for the Easter Island Marathon in June 09 with Team Diabetes. I need to get to $10 000 and these latest cheques will nearly double the fund raising efforts. If you have need for an emcee, spokesperson, voice talent or anything along those lines, I’d appreciate you hiring me. I will do the work for you in exchange for a donation of the usual fees to my Team Diabetes jar. You get a professional product AND a tax receipt, I get closer to my goal. This week, now that Z has started daycare, I’ve had some time to start running again. I’ve been lazy. I’m only running about 3k and huffing and puffing the whole way - a far cry from the 42k I will do in a year. Team Diabetes sets out fundraising benchmarks to hit as you get ready for a marathon. My first one is for $2500 in October, I’m well on my way to making that milestone! The Blog According to Buzz. Spread the word, ya heard?
|
|
And that’s the problem. The wine inside is perfectly brilliant, but in this world where few of us are wine connoisseurs, but all of us are wine lovers - we have to judge the juice by it’s bottle. 
Do a blind tasting and you’ll probably pick Gabbiano. Voga isn’t bad, it’s just the Gabbiano is better. However, we don’t do our buying by taking a blind taste test. We taste with our eyes before we taste with our tongue, and just one look at the Voga bottle will have you whipping out $15 faster than you can say “Hey, it looks a lot like the Voss water bottle, doesn’t it?”
Sometimes the best perspective doesn’t come from the most qualified candidate, it can come from someone who is actually very under qualified.
Entries (RSS)