The cashier at the drug store was the most sour-faced person I’d seen all day. She was slamming things around, muttering under her breath and looking like there was nothing worse than her particular lot in life at that moment.

Then it was my turn.

And I placed my midol, tampons and chocolate bar on the counter.

Her entire demeanor changed. She broke out into a genuine smile, placed my items into the bag with the utmost of care, and told me sincerely to have a good day.

Apparently there’s at least one thing that would be worse.

Here’s one for my colleagues in the marketing industry: I know with Web 2.0 everyone’s drinking the dynamic web kool-aid. (Frankly, the success of the business I work for depends on it.) We all want fancy sites with live demos and streaming this and interactive that. But for the love of pete, please don’t kill your brochure site components entirely!

There’s still a place for the Static Web

I’m currently hunting for some vendors for a number of products and services for work and am noticing a distinct lack of plain old “this is who we are and what we do” content. There are lots of headlines, and “teaser” segments enticing me to “sign up for a live demo” or “sit in on our webinar” or “interact with a specialist (aka salesperson)” - but no actual content I can read to gauge in 3-6 minutes whether or not it’s worth 30-60 minutes of my time to do so.

All I’m asking is a page or two, clearly marked and dedicated to answering the 5 W’s. And hey, then when I do sign up for your dynamic advertising “value-added content”, your salespeople will have some clue that I’m actually qualified. That way they aren’t wasting their time and mine calling me because you left me no choice but to enter my information just to find out what exactly it is that you do.

Heather (aka fubsy, aka nuttymuffin, aka “the hotness”) has put together a 2008 calendar of her beautiful photographs.

This is the same woman who captured me licking my new TiVo at BestBuy waaaaay back in 2005. That’s right - I pioneered the technology licking movement that won Tod Maffin his Wii.

But I digress - Nuttymuffin calendar. I got one, you should too.

Jen-licking-TiVo photo not included.

How awesome is my boss? So awesome that after the whirlwind of work travel, she gave me (in addition to a nice cash bonus) new running gloves and socks, as some incentive to get back into my running routine, since it was interrupted and had basically died.

I test-drove the gloves and socks on Monday morning when I ventured out in the cold for my first run in about a month.

The gloves are awesome - kept my hands nice and warm, without being sweaty at all. Now I just need a similar product for my ears (perhaps the matching hat!), because holy hell it’s frickin’ freezing at 6:00am!

The socks were great too - thin, comfy, dry-fit wicking material, unique left-right specific padding, and “the Nike Swift technology provides advanced aerodynamics to reduce drag and help you run more efficiently.”

That’s right. Ankle drag. That’s what makes me so slow. Not doughnuts, ankle drag.

Incentive and excuses! It’s the gift that keeps on giving!

Not me, at least not entirely. Just my finger.

Neil and I ordered our wedding bands on the weekend (with the dollar where it is, it’s a good time to buy metals), and the jeweler needed to keep mine to ensure the band fits snugly up against the curve of my engagement ring (picture here for those who haven’t seen it/want a reminder).

And I have felt like something is “missing” ever since. I catch myself panicking at least once a day thinking I’ve lost my ring, to remember a nanosecond later that it’s on a planned absence.

I’m sure that the moment I’m feeling comfortable with not wearing any rings, I’ll get a call saying it’s no longer needed and I can retrieve it. And I’ll have to get used to wearing it all over again.

But in the meantime, if I seem a little less… shiny… you know why.

1. One Laptop Per Child. I’m so doing this.

2. Firebug. You don’t even understand how much easier this just made my life.

3. Movember. The month is half over - don’t forget to donate to your favourite Mo’ Bro!

Neil and I went to the Canucks game tonight - my first attendance at GM Place of the season - to watch them take on the Edmonton Oilers.

The game was unremarkable. Mediocre hockey at its finest. The game was 0-0 (pet peeve of mine - calling a game “scoreless.” There is a score: it is 0-0) through all 3 periods and the 5 minute overtime. The Canucks finally lost in the 3rd shot of the shootout.

What *was* remarkable though, was seeing Greg Neufeld (2nd from the right in the photo), Canadian Idol 2006 and 2007 top 10 contestant as a fellow game attendee. The remarkable part wasn’t seeing him there - after all he is a local boy - the remarkable part was how freaking SHORT he is!

After watching the Idol series and seeing him practically tower over nearly everyone else on stage, it was highly disconcerting to walk past him and see that he’s at least an inch or two shorter than Neil (who is 5′10 and a tiny bit - and I have been explicitly told that I must include the “tiny bit” which is very important!).

But I was seriously expecting Neufeld to ring in around at least 6 feet. Apparently not so.

Anyhow, Greg, in case you google yourself (or if you know Greg and/or google him): you still rock the casbah, even though your stature is somewhat diminished from what I expected. I still think you should have won and your voice is like buttah and if you actually become as famous as you deserve (and therefore completely unreachable to a commoner such as myself) I will bump John Cusak from top spot on my laminated list (he’s getting a bit long in the tooth now anyhow).

And now I must go start researching other TV personality and assorted celebrity heights. Next thing you’re going to tell me Tom Cruise is only 5 feet tall.

Oh wait….

I made it back on Thursday from “Fabulous Las Vegas” and am so incredibly glad the crazy travel time is over. Now we can get on with crazy running time and crazy moving time and crazy wedding time - hopefully in that order.

Vegas was good, though was really all work. And while I love what I do, it doesn’t make for very interesting blogging, so suffice to say I rocked the casbah with my trade-show-fu, and didn’t do much else. Quick hotel review: THEHotel at Mandalay Bay is really nice. So is Mandalay Beach. But the two are a 1/4 mile hike through the casino/mall apart. You have been warned. Quick restaurant review: Alize at the Palms is really not worth the money. Sensi at Bellagio really is worth the money.

Running update: I haven’t run since the day before I left for New York. I feel like a whale out of water - all floppy and useless and struggling to breathe. Now that I have the time and inclination to do anything but work and sleep, I’m going back to Week 2 of the Couch to 5k program.

Moving update: We finally dealt with securing our mortgage. No I don’t wanna talk about the rate (which, like all rates at this time, is atrocious). I also don’t wanna talk about how the GST is going down another 1% 2 weeks after our current estimated closing date. It’s ok, I didn’t want those thousands of dollars anyhow. We are trying very hard (and mostly succeeding) to be Zen about it all, since we can’t do anything about it anyhow.

Wedding update: Our engagement announcement ran in the Province and Sun last weekend (November 3 & 4, 2007). Thanks again to everyone who called/emailed/sms’d to pass on well-wishes. I’m not entirely sure how long the online version runs (I think I remember my mom mentioning 3-months or so), but you can also see it online for the time being here. Other than that, planning keeps on keepin’ on keepin’ on.

It only took a few months to happen - I’ve got lunch fatigue. I’m officially bored with the lunch offerings around my office.

And yah, I could make lunch to take to work, but I’m sorely out of practice and creativity in that department.

It gets especially difficult when you consider the fact that I don’t really like sandwiches.

That’s right. Don’t like sandwiches. I don’t mind a basic PB&J, or a toasted clubhouse, or the holy grail: the day-after Christmas turkey/cranberry sauce/stuffing/mashed potatoes/gravy on bread concoction, but untoasted bread stuffed with… stuff… it just turns me off. I dunno why.

I’ve also tried bringing salads to work, but I find they’re not filling enough, and also a very cold lunch in my very cold office. Plus after 3 days of salads, I’m still bored with the local options and now also bored with salad.

But I think I’ve found a solution!

Surfing through the blogopshere, I found the new site Just Bento.

I love bento - tiny meals in a box - and Makiko has put together a collection of tasty recipes and handy tricks. Including a big ol’ DUH that I didn’t think of but really should have: most bentos start with rice, so pre-cook a bunch, freeze it, and then top a frozen rice-hunk with bento fixin’s.

In fact she talks about maintaining a stash of joubisai (prepared ingredients) to make prep and assembly easier. We already maintain a similar pantry stock for dinners, so why it never occurred to me to populate a similar collection for lunches I’m not sure.

The site is pretty new, so it only has two bento recipes up so far. I’m hoping more will come during the next week while I’m away, and I can start the bento process with earnest once I’m back home.

Do you have any favourite lunch fixin’s or bento resources? After 1 week away, 6 frazzled days at home, and another week on the road, I’m going to be in the mood for some serious home cooking.