Melissa McLean Montgomery

What a difference a day makes! Everything is back to normal: no more pins, no more crowds, and worst of all no more TV at work. Sigh. I must say, I am sad to se the Olympics go. It was fun while it lasted. What's next? Back to the old boring and normal: work, the cafe, the grocery store, long distance calls to mom every day, my blog, my website......this week I'm supposed to be writing about Canadian Tourism.....timely or did I miss the proverbial bus?

Well, the Olympics are here, wether I like it or not. After watching the torch being passed in my neighbourhood I've decided to get with it. Hey, I'll admit it: it WAS exciting to see Ed Robertson from The Barenaked Ladies! And my local Parks Board Commissioner gave me a pin! It doesn't take much to make me happy. Everywhere I go I am saying , " Happy Olympics!" and " Are these Olympics apples/oranges/pork chops?" I know it's a lot of money being spent...blah blah blah, but I can't do anything about that. It certainly wasn't my decision. And it's not my department. As I watched the opening ceremony last night, I found myself with tears in my eyes. Corny, but true. I guess I AM proud to be Candadian and if the 2010 Winter Games have to be somewhere, they might as well be here in beautiful Vancouver. I'm off to Granville Island to have a wander, wear my pin, and buy some Olympic tulips.

"If you complain nothing happens so you might as well not bother!" ( Monty Python ) Ah yes, one of my favourite quotations. When to complain, ideed? When do we decide not to bother and either: a) suck it up b) forget it c) move on d) ignore, ignore, ignore? e) stuff it down and let it fester until it pops out on some poor unsuspecting relative lover or spouse? I have been wondering if I should complain about the following: -The local barista who insists on asking me personal questions every time I go in for a coffee. ( Where do you work? Where do you live? Do you rent or own- that's a whole other blog- nosy people) -My noisy neighbours -The film company that is setting up a generator in the lane Is it worth it? Will anything come of my complaints? Or will I be laughed at and end up feeling like I'm H.M. ( High Maintenance). The older I become, the more discerning I have become about complaining- I try only to complain when absolutley necessary ( ie. when the ceiling a...

Cats I have known and loved: Pin, Bille, Chimo, Plinky, Minnie, Sophie, Kitty, Bobbi, Felice, Tabby, Snagglepuss, Perdita, Monty, Mao, Orion, Luna, Cleo, Sammi, Silky, Dylan, Dickens, Janet, Pusska, Tia, Jimmijam,...did I forget anyone? Kiffelton, Alcina and Mayo Mayo. All are deserving of praise. All are individuals and have their own quirks. What is it about cats that I love so much? I think it is their absolute sense of independance. They don't need you - you need them. They don't wait for you to come home- you can't wait to get home and see them. You let them out and you don't know where they go or what they do. They come back hours later nonchalantly, their whiskers covered in dust, cobwebs or dew and it's up to you to guess where they've been and what they've been doing. I think I'll invent a kitty cam to solve this mystery. A remote camera attatched to a cat's collar and it would show where a cat goes when it gos outside. Have you ever seen yo...

Am I in the know? When I log into Yahoo and the home page lists the latest celebrity deaths, cancer diagnoses (celebrities only, please) , regular scandals (wealthy/famous people only, please), sex scandals (good looking celebrities and ugly politicians only, please) , hockey brawls, wars and the like - if I read them, do I really know what is happening in the world? Does it make me tuned in? Knowledgeable? Smart? Smarter than you? The fact that someone tortured a cat to death in Windsor, Ontario last week makes me angry and sad. But who cares, really? That is only one animal torture death we know about, thanks to the news. I am sure there were many, many more animals that were tortured to death last week. Not to mention children who died untimely deaths, the elderly who died, death in war, death in disaster, death by overdose, suicide- then there are the two mosquitoes and one spider I killed last week..... I can't do anything about it. Neither can you. Feeling one way or the o...

Coffee: It's for adults only - children are told it will stunt their growth and make them unnecessarily hyper. Everyone remembers their first cup and the rush that came with it. It wasn't the caffeine; it was the feeling of being grown up at last. I'm now almost 6 feet tall- is it because of all the tea I drank as a child? Coffee culture has grown out of a need to get out of the house out of the office, away from a nagging partner/messy roommate/screaming baby/spouse and relax for a few moments without breaking the bank. Everyone wants to feel like an adult and for those who do not drink alcohol; coffee is the one thing that can to remind one of adulthood. Or if one prefers alcohol, one can drink coffee to get rid of a hangover. Very adult, indeed! For teenagers unable to get into bars, the local coffee shop is the one place they can go (on the pretext of doing homework) where they can pretend to be adults. For University students, the coffee shop is a valid replacement for...