Tara Connors

…when it comes to being female and cars.  I was driving last week and heard a “klunk”.  Soon after that, I noticed a grinding noise when I made sharp right turns.  I immediately took my car in to get it checked… a WEEK LATER!  I’m not proud of this but I can’t be the only person out there who holds out hope that somehow my vehicle will “heal” itself if given a fair chance.  This NEVER works, yet I remain convinced there will be a first time.  This was NOT that time.  I finally bit the bullet and took it in for a diagnosis.   It’s always such a learning experience at the garage.  Eventually, I will learn everything about every function of every part of my vehicle as I’m sure they will all need replacing over time.  This week’s lesson:  Ball joints.

I’m not completely useless when it comes to my car (I feel it necessary to defend myself)… I take it in for regular oil changes and am religious about oil spraying (that impresses the guys at work).  Twice a year I take it to the good folks at Houghton’s Oil Spraying and they give it a big blast!  They’ve totally saved my vehicle (and, again, I learn something every time I visit).  I swear by it!  I paid them a visit today and am set ’til Fall!

Next task… inside out cleaning… though I may just pay someone else to do it this year… because my manicure from Soloi still looks REALLY good!  I TOLD you I’m a stereotype! 

I’m sure you’ve had those moments where a scent takes you back to another time in your life.  Over the weekend I was cooking dinner and opened my spice cupboard.  For a brief moment I detected a combination of spices (oregano was obviously involved) that immediately reverted me to 10 years old when I spread my cooking wings from cake mixes to Chef Boyardee Pizzas.  The sensation was so strong and so real I could almost taste the sauce!  Absolute flood of memories!  Talk about retro.  Do they even still make Chef Boyardee Pizza Mixes?  And, if they do, are they still the same?  Sometimes the foods you loved as a kid just don’t taste the way you remember (a friend of mine swears they’ve changed “Cap’n Crunch”).  I get a little single-minded (some may call it fixated) about things so I know I won’t be happy until I know for sure…

Did YOU know what Carly Smithson’s tattoo was supposed to be?  I thought it was a tattoo of herself but, apparently, most people thought Amy Winehouse  – it’s a geisha.
    Smithson got it two years ago, before Amy Winehouse made a splash, but she never got it finished.
    It’s based on a painting that she has at her home.
    It’s always bugged Smithson that she couldn’t get it finished while on “American Idol,” but there was no time.
    She says a lot of people think it’s Amy Winehouse and even Andrew Lloyd Webber thought it was.
    She says once she gets it coloured in, the geisha’s skin will be white and her lips will be red and she will look nothing like Winehouse.

For the record, I don’t have any tats, but certainly couldn’t imagine getting any as bold as Carly’s!

“Treat the earth well: it was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children. We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors, we borrow it from our Children.”
Ancient Kenyan Proverb

A new Angus Reid poll of Canadians finds out what ticks us off.  No real surprises.  It’s almost like a check list… the top annoyance was telemarketers, then someone cutting in line and bad manners.  Also on the list:  ATM fees, bad service in restaurants and, ironically, people who complain alot!  My top annoyance?  NOT being called for opinion polls!

… to all of our generous CHYM listeners for making the 3rd annual “Kids Can’t Wait Radiothon” for KidsAbility such an overwhelming success.  Over $208,000… YOU made that happen and we are humbled by your response.  I maintain that CHYM FM has the BEST listeners ANYWHERE!   You make me proud.

A New York travel company is offering “Sex and the City” fans the chance to live like the stars of the show for five days, at a cost of $24,000 (how huge were their salaries???? And does that include the Choos?).  Fans with deep pockets will be flown into Manhatten, whisked around the city on shopping sprees and taken to the nightclubs that inspired the show.  The deal coincides with the forthcoming “Sex and the City” movie.  Participants will be given tickets to the premiere!

Think THAT’S extravagant?!  Last summer when we were planning our trip to Paris they had the Parisian “Sex and the City” experience.  Remember at the end of the series when Carrie left New York and moved to Paris with the Russian and they stayed in that amazing hotel where she fell asleep on the bed in that unforgettable dress waiting for him to come home???  You can book THAT room.  The price was outrageous but what a spectacular place.  FWIW, we didn’t stay there.

Can’t wait for the movie!   http://movies.aol.com/movie/sex-and-the-city-2008/30247/video/trailer-no-2/2081927

I’d been wanting to check out the exhibit at the Children’s Museum “Discovering Chimpanzees: The Remarkable World of Jane Goodall” since it opened.  So, this past Sunday afternoon, we did just that!  Really good exhibit and I learned alot, too!  Developed a new appreciation for chimps… besides being as cute-as-all-get-out, they’re really intelligent and amazingly strong!  3x the strength of an adult human male!!!  There’s a part of the exhibit that challenges you to test your strength in comparison.  (Note to self:  NEVER get into a bar fight with a chimp!)  It made me want to learn more about Jane Goodall, too.  I’ll have to pick up some of her books.

Other neat things at the Museum: the bed of nails, the infrared camera, the living wall and the water table!

Good way to spend a few hours.  Plus, check out the Exhibit Cafe.  It’s fresh, local AND organic.  I had the grain salad… made with quinoa (that’s KEEN-wah) … yummy! 

http://www.thechildrensmuseum.ca/web/

Lisa Drew, my radio sister from 570 News, has proven herself to be a true friend.  In the ultimate show of friendship, she immediately e-mailed me when she heard about THIS…

http://bringhomethecup.cbc.ca/ 

In short, you have the chance to have the Stanley Cup (known as the “Holy Grail” to some) in your home for a day… MARK MESSIER (known as the “Greatest Hockey Player EVER” to some… well, me, in particular) will personally deliver it!  Knowing my feelings towards the Moose, Lisa knew this would be a dream come true for me.

Strangely, I have mixed feelings about this.  Time for Pros & Cons…

Pro:  Mark Messier could come to MY house!

Con: I’d have to redecorate.

Pro: It’s Mark Messier.

Con: I’d have to talk to him.  When I finally did meet Mark after a game in Calgary, I lost the ability to speak and bleeted at him like a goat.  Humiliating, yet still one of the best nights of my life!

Pro:  It’s the Stanley Cup!

Con: I have no rituals.

Pro: Mark Messier could come to MY house!

Con: Mark Messier could come to MY house!  I think my head would explode.

Way too much pressure… besides, how would I get a pedestal to put him on built in time?  And, he might be uncomfortable with the amount of Mark Messier memorabilia I have.  For the record, I DON’T have a shrine for him… it’s just in a box in my closet.  I found it the other day when I was Spring cleaning.  And, although hockey died for me the day he retired, I couldn’t bring myself to part with it.

If you know a rabid hockey fan this sounds like an amazing contest!

I thought I’d misheard the K-W Symphony commercial we’ve been playing on CHYM that Lemony Snicket was the narrator for their performance of “The Composer is Dead”.  But, it’s TRUE!

Flashback to the year 2001:  The scene: Joe and Trudy Pavia’s house.  Dinnertime and the talk comes around to books we’re reading.  Oliver, their son, had received a book for Christmas from his aunt…  Book the First in a “Series of Unfortunate Events”.  It sounded interesting.  I picked up a copy a few days later and so began my love affair with the author, Lemony Snicket and the story of the Baudelaire orphans.  They were so clever and so well written and in those small hardcover books that feel just right in your hands. 

Since then, I’ve read every book in the series, plus “The Letters” and the Lemony Snicket Biography.  I can say with certainty, if you’re able to make it to the performance in Guelph tonight or at the Centre in the Square tomorrow night, you are in for a treat! 

 http://www.kwsymphony.on.ca/