Podonomics

Last week, I took a much deserved 5-day holiday. On Wednesday morning, I headed north of Toronto to spend 2-days at a friend’s cottage in the Kawarthas. Then on Friday morning, I went to the shores of Lake Erie to bask in the warm sunshine. I went to church on Saturday, a BBQ on Sunday, then spent more time in the sun on holiday Monday at Harbourfront taking in the sights and sounds of Caribana inspired gospel music.

Just glorious! An amazing way to unwind and relax. No computers, no Internet, nothing technical. Just sun and fun for 5-days. I learned many things about the world around me while away from the computer and I want to share them with you.

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I dedicate this song to Jay Moonah, Tara Thompson and Charlotte, my Podcamp Boston road warriors. How spending 27-hours in a Ford Focus visiting 8 states and 2 provinces has renewed my love of the dog who had no home. Sing along with me (Tara, please harmonize)…

I was over at TWIT reviewing the Canada Day edition of net@nite with Amber Mac. Something in the show notes triggered the song in the video above. Actually, Amber linked to the video in the show notes.

I didn’t read the show notes properly at first and instead, went in search of the video. I had a devil of a time finding it because when it aired on TV, I was a young gal. I didn’t really understand the lyrics, so I made up the words.

So I typed in “log song TVOntario” into Google since I knew it was a song about a man on a log and it was shown on TVOntario. And low and behold, I found the video on YouTube. Of course, I went back to the show notes and Amber had already linked to it. Silly me.

Anyone remember this?

“Um, just drop it in the mailbox, dude.”

No word of a lie, but I just got off the phone with someone who wanted to know how to mail a letter to Canada. He was calling from New York and apparently, he got something in the mail from a company that shares the same postal code as mine does. He plugged in the postal code into a browser, saw my number, then called.

I thought it was a joke. Maybe a New York based radio station running a segment trying to confuse Canadians or something. But when the guy asked why the zip code had letters in it, I knew that the call wasn’t a joke. He then admitted that this was his first time sending a piece of mail outside his own city, so I think that explains it.

Sadly, there are many people in this world who have never travelled outside their own city blocks.

After close to a year, I now have tons of content for The Adventures of Papa Zeek podcast. In Episode 3, I chatted with my mom whom I call Lady J. We went to a Jamaican restaurant the other day and she was recounting the experience to my sister who didn’t join us. It has everything to do with a well dressed woman and highway robbery.

I’m already prepping Episode 4 which will be my dad describing what happened when he tried to lay tiles on his floor. He’s such a storyteller and makes every adventure seems so dramatic.

Now, my mom’s Jamaican accent isn’t as strong as my dad’s, so you may actually understand what she’s saying if you failed Jamaican Patois 101. Typically, I offer no translation and this episode is really no different. So, listen at your own risk, plus I offer a Jamaican Word of the Episode. Try to add it to your everyday vocabulary.

Go and take a listen.

Here’s a free tip guys. If you want to score mucho, mucho points with the ladies, don’t bore her with details about your yearly income and the Hummer sitting in your brother’s wife’s sister’s friend’s boss’ boss’ boss’ parking lot.

Instead, give her your gloves on a cold windy day, offer to roll her luggage around, hop on the subway and escort her and her friends right to their front door, then give her a hug and go home. Offer nothing but your strength and character, take nothing but her words of thanks.

Nuff luv to Bendrix for proving that chivalry is not dead. Not only did he find the most direct route for myself, Wendy, Tammy & Ava to take to the hotel on that complicated New York subway system, but he did all of what I described in paragraph #2.

Thanks to Wendy for taking the picture.

Tags: bendrix, wendy cooper, tammy munson

This has nothing to do with podcasting, but I had to share. I’m on the phone with my cell phone provider trying to figure out why I’m paying way more than I’m supposed to each month.

At the end of the call, the customer service rep says:

“My name is Suriya.”

So, I’m thinking to myself, Well that’s new. They never remind you what their names are.

While thinking, Suriya continues:

“And my employee number is 667…”

And I’m thinking, Well, that’s easy to remember. What an added customer service touch.

“…2390071.”

Great, just like a phone company to make even their own employee numbers hard to remember. Similar to the contracts they put you under.

I have been without Internet access since very early Tuesday morning. Turns out that they need to visit my premises and the earliest they can arrive is Thursday afternoon. At this rate, I have no idea when I’ll be back up and running in my home office, so if you need me, you’ll have to call or just wait until I can respond to your email.

The company that provides my Internet access is not important as I’ve been a happy customer of theirs since 1999. I’ve had problems with them only twice. Once about 5-years ago when the Internet went down for days (culprit - outdated modem) and now.

I didn’t realize how dependent I am on the Internet. Everything I do is online. My contact lists are online. My calendar is online. My friends are online. My community is online. I get my news online. I do my banking online. In fact, my entire life is online.

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Okay, so I’m standing in line at the grocery store. I hate shopping - any type of shopping - so to ease my misery, I think good thoughts. You know, like a plate of food from a Chinese buffet, Battlestar Galactica, chiseled chests, even my future Rottweiler named Tank, anything but the items that burden my arms.

So, I start thinking about movies. Aside from action, comedy and sci fi movies, I just love films that have an end-of-the-world message (upon searching, I discovered that this genre is called apocalyptic fiction). Some disease, alien, force of nature or plague is threatening Earth and it’s left to just 1 or 2 or a small band of people to save all of humanity from the impending destruction.

Films like 28 Days Later, Outbreak, War of the Worlds, The Day After Tomorrow, Deep Impact and Armageddon are just a small sample of films in this genre that keep me on the edge of my seat. Love it!

Which got me thinking…

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Today is the day of my birth. About 3 decades plus 3 years ago, I made my entry into this world. While it was an insignificant event to many, it was the most significant to the woman who bore me (I’m not tooting my horn here as it’s what my mother tells me).

So, I shall update this post with a collection of the 33 people who have made me smile, laugh and feel generally positive about things over the past year. I’m following a post that Bryper did on his birthday and I thought it was a nice touch, so I’m going to do it here.

Here’s my list.

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