Rember what this time of year is about.

Is it time to give up CBC?

This is something that I never thought I would be thinking. CBC is a fixture in my life and has always been there for me through my many moves and events in my life. I love my CBC or at least what it used to be.

I loved programs like Basic Black, The Roundup, and Madly off in all Directions. These have been like warm blankets . Bankies. They were informative, entertaining and heart warming.

Now this being said I completely understand that people need to move on and that things need to change. That is the way of life and buisness. My question here is, Is it time for CBC to really Change? Is the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation fullfilling the needs of the average listener? Who are the average listeners of CBC anymore? Are they using the talent that is with in the CBC to their full potential? Have they lost some of the integrity that they have been know for?
Many questions not enough answers.

I have tried to come up with answers for these. First I would say that CBC needs to look at where they are in regards to the technology out there. More and more people don't watch TV or listen to Radio. They are podcasting and blogging. They are in front of their computers more often than in front of any other media device. So make it more of a focus of your marketing. I'm not saying start advertizing on Google. I'm saying make your website easier to navigate and more accessable for the average user to get around. Heck make it easier for the less than average user to navigate. Put more content on your web space. We want the indepth story not just the sound bite.

Lorne Elliot gives his notice

Today on Todd Maffins website I love Radio, I read that Madly Off in All Directions Lorne Elliot will no longer be on the air after this season. After a decade of bringing us Canada's varied comedy styles Elliot will be stepping off the stage. To read more about this go to http://radio.blogware.com/

Crank Calls

So Freestyle has resorted to a new low. I just listened to them trying to call Alkatraz. Yup, that is some brilliant broadcasting. That isn't something that happens on every private radio morning show. IT'S a CRANK CALL!!! I know that they aren' t asking if the refridgerator is running, but Cameron said "who's your daddy". Oh good gawd!!

Time zones and internet radio

Wow did I just discover something wonderful and a great way to avoid Freestyle without turning off CBC. I live in Calgary and thought well if I tune into the station in Halifax then I will miss Freestyle entirely. It's like it doesn't exist! It is great. That way I get to listen to the world at 6 3 hours earlier and As It Happens is really wonderful. I usually don't get to listen to it all that often.

Yeah for the internet and for time zones.

Freestyle programming

Wanna see where Freestyle is getting their stories from?

www.fark.com

I counted at least 4 from yesterday's show.

Week Two of Freestyle

So today was the first day that I actually made it through CBC's Freestyle. I 'm proud of myself and especially proud of the CBC. I'm not going to say that it was an excellent show and I certainly won't say that it is up to CBC standards at least not previous standards. But it has gotten better.

The music selection has gotten to be more like what I would expect from the CBC. I actually heard bands like Vancouver's Oh Suzanne and Carrie Lee, along with the new Daniel Powder song Free loop. I'll take that anytime, but I could still do with less of the 80's/90's mix of Breakfast at Tiffany's and The Ballad of Peterpumpkin head. More good New Canadian stuff and you can just scrap the other stuff. It is tired and needs to be let go.

Kelly and Cameron bother me. I don't know what it is but the two of them don't work. I think this is the greatest of my aggravations. The banter between them is forced and contrived. everything that comes out of their mouths is very disjointed and has nothing to do with the rest of the segments the are trying to get through. I have found Camerson to be rude and I just don't know what happened to Kelly. I feel sorry for her. I wonder if this fluffy personality is actually what she is like or if it is something that she is trying on? I know that she has had many intelligent moments in her carrier but hosting Freestyle is proving to not be one of those moments.

Oh I would like to give a kudos to Jian Ghomeshi!! The National Playlist ROCKS!!

http://www.cbc.ca/nationalplaylist/

Please Bring Back the Roundup!!!

If don't already know I have a love affair for the CBC. I was raised on it and have always enjoyed the programming. But, and this is a big but, I don't understand why they would get rid of a program like the Round up to replace it with drivel like Freestyle???

The Round up brought us company and wit. Freestyle is VERY bad music and two people rambling. Has the CBC forgotten what it's target audience is? If they are thinking that this program will reel in the younger audience well they are seriously mistaken. We can get this crap on any other station.

If you would like to continue to keep playing music fine play music but can it at least be something that is good? Maybe some new Canadian artists that are taken from a wide variety of areas. Not cover songs! They suck and have always sucked.

Will say that I can see where they are trying to go when they talk to seemingly random people but it needs a bit more thought. There is nothing interesting about people's pigs or your trip to Coronation street. These segments only work if the people have been screened.

I want to be challenged during this time of day. I don't know about you guys but after lunch I need something to keep my brain working. Freestyle does not do this. It only succeeds in making me annoyed.

I can't be the only one to think this way. I encourage you to write to the CBC and tell them that they will lose you as a listener and that this is not what we as the public need from CBC. As many of us have seen over the past few months with the strike there is so much talent in the CBC that isn't getting used. Let some of them contribute! And quite paying people to spin disks. That is a waste of good brains.

Power of the Blogg

Well I have come to realize that there is power in this little space that I have. I know that I haven't really used it to it's full potential and maybe I should get off my ass and do that.

I need to find something that I can get passionate about. Well actually I am passionate about lots of things. Now I should just specialize in something.

Where am I going with this you might be asking? Well I'm not really sure. I guess that is a life question.

Anyway I plan on making my Blogg something that I do on a regular biases.

Weddings

So I have come to realize that I need to actually show people some pictures of this wedding that I had a month ago. So here are a few links to the pictures. my flicker site

I also have some pro pics but I don't think the link will work so that is why you will only get to see this one. Isn't he a cutie?

Unconditional Love

On my daily toodle around the web I tripped over this little bit of insite. Considering I just adopted a dog I feel that it is fitting to promote animal rescues. Even though our new puppy is not a rescue but one that came from a loving home in central Alberta.

There are too many animals that are trying to find someone to love them. Dogs in particular have this thing called unconditional love. You can feel it oozing from everywhere when you come home and this fury little creature only wants to be with you and you alone. Who else can give you that kind of love constantly? You might say your mother, significant other or your child but you know in the back of your mind that it will only last so long or that there will at least be a moment where that isn't true. Your puppy is a constant.

So I am encouraging you to maybe not go out and get a dog but to donate to worthy causes that help out these animals. You don't have to give money; time, dog food, cat food(to those with cats), or even just old blanket or material that you don't need anymore are all excellent things to donate. These places need it more than you might think.

Are you still here? Well why haven't you gone yet? Go!



flicker

I don't know what to say

In the past little while I have gone from one extreme to the next and I don't know what to do or say next.

Okay maybe before I dive right in I should explain myself. It all started on Friday of last week. Chris and I were cleaning out our basement and trying to make it ready for people to live there come the week of the wedding. It was exhausting but it felt good because we had gotten a lot done. I had also had a half day at work and we had actually gotten around to going to the Greenwood and finalizing our contract with them. Then my friend Allyson and her cat Kipper came over and we watched a movie and Allyson stayed the night. It was a very satisfying day.

Saturday was a long day. What with getting up early to get Kipper to the vet and having breakfast at Humpty's where this lady was getting checked out by the paramedics. That was a little weird. Then we all packed up the junk in my house and took it over to Jenn's for a Yard Sale. What a great yard sale! Jenn and I both cleaned out the stuff that we didn't need and it was wonderful to purge like that. Half way through the day we noticed a dog that was hanging around the neibours yard. She was obviously someones pet and looked very healthy, besides the cut on her paw. Jenn and I inticed her into the yard with half a jar of cookies and Jenn's dog Lucy. I would have loved to keep this stray, she was so sweet and gentel, very scared but that is to be expected. Jenn called the SPCA and they came to pick her up, only to have the owner come by an hour later looking for her.

By this time it was late in the afternoon and we were all starving. I tried to get a hold of Chris buthe wasn't anserwing his phone and I was starting to get pissed. Jenn got a hold of Jeff and he told her that Chris was out getting a T-shirt made. That was the icing on the cake. Brodie is pissed!!! When he finally turned up I didn't feel much like talking to him. He was in my bad books and I needed to get home and get ready for my Stagget.

Which turned out to be a wonderful night and I made $75 on buck a sucks.

k i know this is a weak way of ending this one but i actually forgot to post this one and it is now almost a month later and i have other things to say. So that being said sorry and on to something new.

Wedding, wedding, wedding

So we are on the countdown. Tomorrow is officially the first day of September and that means that I will be a Mrs. in 17 days!!! I really can't wait. I think that this is going to be a wonderful day and there will be no other like it. No I haven't pumped it up too much.

I can't say that I have a whole lot to do either. I have to print a few things off on the computer, get my hair trial done, and talk to the Greenwood Inn. That is pretty much it. Besides cleaning my house and getting ready for all the relatives that are going to be coming over in the next few weeks.

I have to admit that it is a little hard for me to believe that we are at this point in the game. It is just around the corner and I feel like I have to do something more. Like I should be stressing out way more than I actually am. I have been told on many occasions that I am way to relaxed about this. What is there to worry about?? As long as I'm married at the end of the day there really isn't anything to fuss over.

Well if I keep going this way I know that I will just work myself up and start to worry about the silly little things.

Going home

I've been confronted with something that I have been worried that I wouldn't hvae to confront for a long time. I will be heading home to be with my Grandmother.

Yesterday morning she fell in the washroom and broke her femur. She is under going surgery to have a pin placed in the bone. I worry that this will progress her already failing health. I have heard that she may never be able to walk again and that the trip out to Calgary for my wedding may be impossible.

Right now I'm a little introspective and I think that I just need to be with my family.

Rain, rain and more rain

I'm sick of it!!! it has been raining here in Calgary for 2 weeks now. Everything is dripping wet, the rivers are over flowing and my lawn needs mowed. You can see my list of priorities. At least it is helping my garden. I actually have a garden! It is growing so much that we had to trim down the rhubarb because it was taller than the fence.

I'm going to give you an update for the wedding plans. I just got off the phone and found out that my flowers are only going to cost me $120!! We are getting them from Costco and are going to be putting them together ourselves. I think that this will save us a huge headache or create a huge head ache as I have never really done flower arranging before. I need to do a trial run I think.

update

Here is an update as I have broken my promise and not written here in a very long time. Much has happened in the past few months. In Febuary Christopher and I helped a friend of the Peariso family to move into a retirement home. This left a large home ready to move into. Well with a little help Chris and I purchased our first home. I am happy to report that we moved in on March 18, 2005.
Ever since then we have beeen going steady. My mother and two of my brothers came out just after easter. It was wonderful to have them out to see the house. Mom and I also had lots to do tring to get lots of wedding stuff done. I have to say that by the end of the week I had the perfect wedding dress and i would tell you more about it but I know that Chris reads this and he doesn't want to hear anything about it.
Then two weeks later Chris loaded up our friend Stephen's things and took it all down to LA for him. You see Stephen moved down there to work but didn't want to move everything when he went because he didn't know if his visa would work out. but that is besides the point. Chris drove Shephen's things to him in a Uhaul truck. Actually this wasnt' as bad as it might sound. The only real delay was of course at the border. They held him up there for over 4 hours. When he didn't check in with Deb (Stephen's mom) she started to freak and call everyone. She made it sound like Chris was detained at the boarder and that he was not going to get through. She wanted to get in a car and drive to lethbridge and rescue Chris. I would have loved to do this but I was leaving for Rosetown in only a few hours. Anyway Chris made it through and the only reason he didn't get through was the guy there was just lazy.
The reason I was going to Rosetown was I had been hired to work the regional drama festival. It was so much fun. I got to see so many different and wonderful plays. It really made me realize why I love theatre. There is no other kind of energy like that of drama kids.

The bridal fair and so much more

Well so much for doing this every day but at least I'm trying. So to bring you up to date this past week has been kinda busy. First off on January 15, I was making breakfast and while I got the bacon going I decided to make one of Chris' favorite foods potato scones. These were frozen and I needed to pop them apart. Well the knife slipped and went right into my hand. The blood started to pour and I was spooked. I ran to get help with my my hand in my mouth. I was in so much pain. Chris was trying to help me but our first aide kit was not up to snuff. All we had was a roll of gauze that I wrapped around my hand like a war wound. I was so light headed and grumpy that I needed to sit down. Well there goes breakfast. The cut was deep but not big enough to get stitches.

Both of us where hungry so we decided to go to the Mexican restaurant across lake. We packed up and headed over, but it was closed. Actually most of the restaurants on the west side of Chestermere were closed. This left us no chose but to go to the place were we go all the time. The Landing. Now let me explain if you have seen Shawn of the Dead, The Landing is our Winchester. It is the place where you always go for a bite and drink.

While we were eating our friends started to call. First it was my friend Allyson it had been her birthday the weekend before. She had wanted to go out and party but wasn't really feeling up to snuff so she had asked me to go out with her this weekend. I thought that it would be fun to go out for a girls night. Now this shouldn't be a conflict but my friend Jeff had given us a call during our meal and asked Chris and I to go to his birthday party that night. Chris and I decide to split up I will go with Allyson and he can go to Jeff's. Well that is that. I got all tarted up after dinner and Chris and I headed into the city.

Allyson wanted to go to a new bar called Mynt, very cool bar, with all sorts of moods. We started to dance and have a couple of drinks, then Allyson spotted a guy she thought was cute. She grabbed his butt and he bought her a drink. Actually he bought her many drinks, then she stuck her tongue down his throat. This is when I sat down and let her have fun.

Hey it's her 25th birthday.

After a little bit she gives me the thumbs up and walks away. Okay they are going to go to a different part of the bar. I just wait in a corner,I wait,and I wait, oh did I mention that I was waiting all by my self in a crowded bar. I waited until 1:30 in the morning but Allyson did not return. By this time I am worried and pissed. I called up Chris to pick me up, tried to put money in her coat, so that if she has spent all her money she at least has money for a cab. Oh I called her every 15 minutes trying to find out if she was alive or dead or if this guy had done something horrible to her. Finally I gave up and went to bed. The next morning Chris actually called her around 10:00 and she had just crawled in her window because her coat with her keys and cell phone was still at the bar. When I told you about the thumbs up and her leaving well she had been swept into a cab and taken to a house party in the north west of Calgary. Oh now I was pissed. I had just spent a night at a bar all by myself, not gone to a party that I would have had tons of fun at, tried to leave her money for a cab, worried that she was dead in a ditch to find out that she had gone to some guys house to play Xbox and make out. Well at least she was all right and had a major hang over.

I had to go over there later to pick up my purse and an over night bag, which I had left there, and she felt really guilty and embarrassed. I really can't stay mad at anyone for too long, also when I went to look in my purse after I had left there was the Circle of Friends DVD and in my bag there was Boys on the Side. That made me giggle.

The rest of the week went by pretty fast. Our friend Steven moved back down to the States, but now he is in LA. The night before he left we got together with a few other friends and went for Alberta prime rib at a restaurant called Smugglers. Chris and Steven love this place because you can get a prime rib the size of a dinner plate the is so tender that you don't really need to cut it. Any way after dinner we went to a movie. It must have been a really good one because I can't even remember what it was called. That was our Friday night.

Saturday was uneventful I worked that was about it but Sunday was the Bridal fair that I actually got Chris to come with me to. Jeff and Jen, friends of ours, are getting married the week before us and so the four of us all went to the fair together. It was really fun to have the boys involved in the process. Both of them are not really into the planning of the weddings and would rather not attend all of the bridal events that give you all the information that you need. But we saw a lot of booths that made us go oh that is what I want. We saw our wedding cake, actually our wedding cupcakes. It was a tower of cupcakes that had a smaller cake on the top for cutting. I love the idea of this and really want to have one for the wedding.

Well hopefully I will keep you updated better in the future talk to you soon.

home bound

Wow, is Calgary cold out there. The mercury is down to -35 degrees celcius, and I have only been out side twice. Once was to get few grocereys for my mother in-law and the second was to get milk from next door. That was the only thing that I had forgotten. Right now the highway comeing in and out of here is closed and all i want to do is watch very bad movies and play with wool. The only thing that I need now would be for my fiance to be here. Oh but he is in San Fran looking at very cool Apple computer products. Well back to the bad movies and wool. later.

My first

Well I would say that I'm not the best person to be keeping one of these, but I think that I should at least try. It would be good for me to write at least something everyday. I will warn you that it may just be a lot of babble, so here it goes...