570News Blog: Lisa Drew

I have to be that annoying mom-at-work type today..

Bear with me. 

Our eleven-year-old had quite the hockey weekend.  His atom team, the Lightning, became the 2007-08 champs.
He picked up an assist in the final playoff game.
Congrats to all involved in the Day of Champs put on by Cambridge House League.  What a thrill for the kids.
They skated onto the ice in a cloud of dry ice with the spotlight on them.  There was music,  even a big time announcer to set the mood.
Congrats and big thank-you to coach and league convenor John C.  I don’t know how many times he lost his voice over the season!  What a great bunch of hockey moms and dads too.

And out of the mouth of babes…yet another reminder why we should all channel a five-year-old.
Our youngest got off the school bus on Friday, carrying his backpack and library books.
When I asked how his morning at S-K went, he smiled and said quote.. “I played.. got Halloween books at the library…
I had a blast” !

Happy Monday.

lisa

Call me anything you want..I’m just happy March is pretty much behind us.

Bring it on April.
Bring on the April showers.
We can take it after this long.. drawn out winter.

We can even handle those lame April Fool’s jokes that
will likely make their way into the office setting Tuesday morning. 
( That is the rule.. come noon time pranksters have it give it up.)

A survey out this week finds office tricks on April 1st don’t go over that well.
71 percent of marketing execs polled by Creative Group say the pranks are unacceptable.
I’m thinking the creative types around here will be a little more giving come Tuesday.
(Watch what you sit on!)
Happy weekend.

lisa

What a difference a few days… some chocolate bunnies.. and a case of Scarlet Fever make!
I’m happy to be upright and back to business again..and very happy to have our studio remote control back in hand. 

Let’s rewind.

The Easter Bunny showed up at our place over the
weekend, we spent the morning with the kids turning up eggs.   Then the possum from under our back deck came up for air, looking for goodies at the back door.
It’s so ugly its almost cute,  but it is time it moves on.
It’s a good reminder to us.. to trot the garbage out to the shed too.
 
By Sunday afternoon, I was on the couch with the dog and and the down comforter.
Monday morning I landed at Urgent Care with a case of strep throat, with a fever and quite the rash. It looked like I was on the first day of a holiday in Mexico.
Thanks to modern day medication and sleep, I’m back.
My first email of the day was from our engineer Steve, stating that our remote had made a return as well.  Sweet.

Where was our little remote?
It turns out some engineer guy with an industrial-sized shop vac sucked it up last week.
Really. 

It’s nice to be back.

lisa

HAPPY SPRING….!  FINALLY!
Glenn and I are happy to be heading off for a nice long weekend following a very stressful week in studio. How stressful? The TV remote control has gone missing… missing the same week Mike Farwell fills in on the Jeff Allan show.  Hmmmm..

Now it has turned into an early Easter egg hunt in the studio. We’ve checked under computers and chairs, through the recycling bins and garbage cans,  and now our engineer Steve is getting into the act.  He sends us an email about a new super-sized remote control ..the thing is the size of a magazine! 
Funny…. but really.. can you get us another one?

This Easter long weekend will mark the second year in a row that I’ve had to cancel our big Easter egg hunt at home.  Too much snow.
This annual egg hunt has become a big Martha deal.. trust me.
We’ve got a pretty big yard..and over the years
way too many foil wrapped chocolate eggs have been scattered for the little ones.
The better treats get hidden a little better for the older crowd.
I think we were up to almost 40 kids at the last egg hunt.
Parents had the cameras ready , then we would hang out with a BBQ  later.
Peter across the road would then load the kids into a trailer hitched to the back of his tractor..and take them on a wild ride. 

The worst hunt was about five years ago.
It was sunny and the temperature was close to 20.
You know what happened.
The eggs melted before the bunny got the job done.

(Thanks to our 570 bunny Lyndsey for the treats this morning..totally fat free.  HA! There is nothing like a sugar rush at 7am.)

Happy hunting this weekend!

lisa

Yes,  many of us will be doing the green thing today.  Pretending we are Irish just to get down to the local pub and down green beer which is basically some golden Irish lager with a few drops of green food colouring.
At least 30-percent of staffers here are wearing some sort of green thing today. 
(Don’t forget the green eggs and ham tomorrow when you are feeling truly green.)

And..a spring-like note: spring officially arrives early Thursday…
How bad has it been this winter?  We’re blue.
A Harris poll conducted for the Workforce Institute finds we’ve officially had it with shovelling the driveway out,  and clearing the car,  just to make it into work.
Some 39-percent of workers asked.. say severe weather this winter has impacted productivity.

Just days to go until spring struts her stuff  - and that means a trip to the Dairy Queen and some new flip-flops are just around the corner…right?

lisa

Somehow we survived our childhood.
We had this story in our news run this morning :
A U-S study finds snow is dirty.
Experts say snow contains large amounts of bacteria,
and it’s impossible to say what that bacteria could do to a child who eats extraordinary amounts of snow.
Pediatricians say it’s probably wise not to eat a lot snow.
One expert says licking a little snow off your glove is probably okay but a meal of snow is not.
The study is published in the journal Science.

March Break Madness kicks off early.
The kids are home starting this Friday.
Toronto’s Pearson International gears up for its biggest crowd Friday and Saturday.  (Last year it dealt with some 93-thousand passengers a day during the break.)

Parents are gearing up for a different type of travel. I’m expecting at least 20 trips to the fridge daily..
-five episodes of name calling between brothers…
-at least four requests a day about friends coming over to play Rock Band……and… at least one big question of Why?…Why we aren’t we on a beach like everyone else?
  
Safe travelling…

lisa

We are freezing.
John Wilson is calling for another 7 cm of snow tomorrow.  And that groundhog is sooo wrong.
Wiarton Willie promised us an early spring.  ( FYI:  Of the ten weather predicting groundhogs in North America… eight called for an early spring!)
Environment Canada’s senior climatologist says forget it.
Dave Phillips says we are not rushing into spring this time.
In fact.. he says March will likely be cooler than normal and we won’t be putting away our shovel anytime soon.

Thanks.

lisa

You gotta love your neighbour..and your irritating workmate.
An Angus Reid survey done this month finds more than half of office workers asked take issue with negative co-workers.  You know.. the whiners.
46-percent lose it when their co-worker constantly whines.
39-percent struggle with bad breath or body odour at the next desk.

The other biggie?  Incompetent managers.
Some 30-percent of us hate it when the boss points out our flaws in front of others. 

The BlackBerry makes the list too.
22-percent of workers get really irritated when the boss checks.. and checks… and checks….that personal handheld device during meetings.

Happy work-free weekend..

lisa

A very lovely writer.. by the name of Budge Wilson has messed with my beloved Anne.

A prequel to Anne of Green Gables has hit the shelves,
one hundred years after L.M. Montgomery’s story was first published.
This new book has been okayed by Ms. Montgomery’s
grandchildren.

Before Green Gables documents Anne’s early days.
The National Post ran excerpts of the book last week.
I tried.. but I had to stop reading.
It’s just not the same.

Like so many Canadian girls.. and girls worldwide.. Anne truly became a part of me and her spirit has stayed with me.

I pulled my torn copy of Anne from my grandma’s basement over the weekend.  I plan to read it with fresh.. and grown up eyes this week.
Maybe then I can finally move and.. and move back in time.. and read about Anne’s earlier years.

Here’s what you have to read if you love Anne.
Head to the library and take home the
the Selected Journals of L.M Montgomery.

I go over them every few years.
The selected diaries run from 1889.. up to 1942.
and were edited by two University of Guelph professors..
The journals document her early years in PEI, a move to Ontario, becoming a mother.. and her life as a minister’s wife and her husband’s struggles.. and his stay at Homewood in Guelph.
It also showcases her writing and her battles with a U-S publisher..

Her words are honest..and are still powerful today.

That’s my Anne.

lisa
   
 

On this day of everything pink hearts and red roses..I put this out there.
I want a brother-in-law.
 
I have a 30-something sister who has not been able to find “The One”.
Yes, she’s got a “great personality”..she’s also cute  (really).. and a real blonde.
She can ski and golf..and is a devoted aunt.

She has a fabulous job..owns real estate in Toronto…
and she travels.

She also spends weekends with the same university crowd.. ( most of them are married off and having babies).
She’s not out there meeting a lot of new people.

Can you help me out?

Are you single?..Do you have a job?  Are you somewhat funny? ( I’m thinking in a Monty Python, Simpsons kind of way.)
Do you still talk to your mother?
Do you want children?
Could you cope with having me as a sister-in-law ?
(Yeah.. I realize this might be part of the problem!)

Simply forward references.. and a recent police check. You know where to find me.

Don’t tell my sister about this… okay?

Happy Valentine’s Day!

lisa