Well this is my first post, so we’ll see how it goes!

I went to Quebec this past weekend for their annual winter carnival. For those who haven’t heard of the winter carnival, it’s a 3 week production that has events including an international snow sculpture contests, snow tubing, toboggan rides, ice castles, ice bars, etc. This is my second year going and it was just as fun as the first. I went with Slava and another couple, Jimmy and Becky. Quebec is such a beautiful city and in the winter it seems to be a winter wonderland.

My favorite part of the trip was the toboggan. This toboggan run is long and steep, and well worth the hike up. We took about 10 runs in an hours time, often racing people down and winning! Each sled can fit up to 4 people, which is what we often did.

The snow sculptures always amaze me, but this year was especially interesting because the team from the United States was actually from right here in Portland! They also do the ice sculpturers for L.L. Bean and the sand castles in the summer. This years sculpture was titled “In Humans We Trust”, and it has a bunch of sea related parts including a starfish, net, crab, boat, etc.

I put my pictures on shutterfly, so please feel free to view them! If you ever have the chance to go, I’d recommend it, as it was very fun!!

Until next post…

-Lindsay

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This past weekend, our family stayed with friends on Pleasant Lake in Otisfield, Maine. It was a winter wonderland…There was easily 4+ feet of snow on the ground. The camp sits right at the water’s edge and faces west across the narrow part of the lake. We obtained fishing licenses in advance so that we could participate in one of Maine’s winter pass-times, ice fishing. After watching our friend Mark handle a manual ice auger to efficiently drill 6 holes in the ice to set up traps, by girl friend Jo and I took our best shot drilling a hole in the ice. 15 minutes later, the kids are starting to lose interest. It’s not as easy as it looks!–the ice was about 14 inches thick…

We are now ready for Survivor Winter Edition. Jokingly we wondered aloud why after 8+ years, there has never been a winter-time themed Survivor. Our best guess is that there is very little skin opportunities, (no bikinis, no boobies, no 6-packs), just frost bite.

We also enjoyed some xc skiing, sledding (or sliding as they say here in Maine), and of course Knob Creek.

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Ok so you may have heard that the economic stimulus package is about to be signed by El Presidente. Concern is that people won’t spend the money and actually buy something(s) and the whole thing will be a waste of time. So why gosh darn it doesn’t the President just buy us all a new iPod? Everyone’s a winner! Especially Steve Jobs.

What would you like the president to buy you? Limit $600.00 each. I’d like an Ipod touch and a new fridge.

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They say you should never discuss politics in the workplace… I’m a big fan of Barack Obama, I think he’s got just what it will take to restore the faith of the world in the last remaining superpower and perhaps even the faith of Americans in themselves. I’m not going to get into politics. I’m at the workplace. What I will get into is just how spectacular I find Barack’s website. Beyond the tremendous aesthetic appeal, the smart information architecture, and the seemingly-endless number of things to do or ways to get involved, the power of the my.barackobama.com volunteer section is fantastic!

For several evenings over the past week I have been calling everyday Americans to encourage them to vote in their state Caucus or Primary. The site asks me which of a select group of states I would like to focus on, dishes me up names/numbers along with a script and an orderly abundance of responses to questions Joe Citizen may have on nearly any topic. The interface is slick, the results are useful, and the cause is mighty.

Aside from having a very sturdy website, Barack has grabbed Web 2.0 by the horns in a big way – linking to every relevant social networking site imaginable and a whole host of sites I’d never heard about. I wonder how candidates 100 years (25 political seasons) ago would have integrated the internet into their efforts. I wonder if riding across the country in a caboose campaign would work today.

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Here we are in February and we are on our 5th snow day. As if there aren’t enough staff development days and early release days already, they seem to cancel school at the first sign of a snowflake…I remember back when I was a kid, I’d lay in bed at 6am and listen for the local fire department to sound it’s very loud siren to signal a snow day…than happily roll over and go back to sleep.

Now, as a parent, I see snow days as more of a nuisance than anything. Ok it’s one thing if we’re having a real blizzard or something, but today, the bulk of the snow fell overnight, and the storm is moving away as we speak. All the weather stations reported Winter Storm Warning until 10 am. Why couldn’t they just have had late start, Snow Delay? It certainly would have made more sense.

Now my gym down the road, Lifestyles is ALWAYS open during the storms. I just love that. Their staff drive reliable 4-wheel drive vehicles. We do live in Maine after all, it snows and we all should know how to drive in the snow.

My childcare is also AWESOME when it comes to winter weather. Children’s Time has always stayed open during snow storms because they cater to working parents. Ok, once or twice they have closed early, but bless them for staying open. They will even take our Kindergardener on school snow days so she can hang out with her 3-year old sister and mom and dad can get some work done.

Cybele Brooks

Mom, Marketing Maven & flyte co-pilot

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Okay I ‘m writing this only because I had the great idea of watching Silent Running with the kids at the weekend. Talk about a bad move. I had totally forgotten how disturbing it might be for a nine year old. Yes there were tears and we had to stop after one of the little robots didn’t get back into the ship during a cosmic storm and was ripped from its legs whilst roaming the outside of the ship….. as of course you do when you are a little simian robot thing in space. I hadn’t actually watched it for about 15 years and thought it would be tame compared to Star Wars……. Now my child is scarred for life.

But I digress, the real reason is to share this Blog and Post that I happened upon recently. The 10 Worst Spaceships of All Time.

Just so happens that the Valley Forge from Silent Running is in there at #3. The rest of the blog has some gems too like: The 24 Biggest Assholes of Lost and Sawyer’s a Huge, Huge Dickweed Parental advisory on some of the language in this one .

Anyway I want to nominate ‘The Liberator‘ [frameset warning] from BBC TV series Blake’s Seven probably the cheesiest SciFi series ever although as a 12 year old I loved it.

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I’ve been enjoying the new album “Jukebox” from Cat Power. I’ve always liked her voice; not sure why she stands out among other talented singers, but she does to me.

Although it’s available in many places, you can get it for a (legal) steal at eMusic.  Depending on your plan it works out to a couple of bucks and change.

Although I didn’t see any songs off this album at her MySpace page, you can still check out singles from her Greatest CD, which is also great.

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You have to wonder if these people accidentally chose these domain names, or they did it on purpose.  I think my favorite might be www.speedofart.com from the Speed of Art people.

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This is my first blog rant, although I’m sure it won’t be my last. It’s about what I believe is a deceptive policy on the part of Irving Gas.

Last night I filled the car up at the Irving station near the South Portland Maine mall. I used my debit card and happened to compare the receipt to the amount on the pump (something we all should do, but probably the majority do not.) The amount on the receipt was almost $2 more than the amount on the pump, so I went inside and asked the clerk why the larger charge.

Apparently, without any posting, warning or agreement, THEY CHARGE YOU EXTRA WHEN YOU USE A DEBIT CARD at the pump!!! Is this Legal? (We know it’s not ethical, but this is a gas company after all). I’m still mad about it today. Do other big oil stations do this? (Until now, I’ve been somewhat loyal – but that will change).

Will they charge more if I use a credit card instead? I’ll try that next time, but if anyone knows where I can send my complaint letter, let me know.

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I’ve been reading Dan Pink‘s “A Whole New Mind: Why Right Brainers Will Rule the Future“. It paints a fascinating and very convincing case that we are on the brink of the next age; the Conceptual Age. Where this country’s Industrial Age was built on the hard-working American work ethic, and the white collar intellect (left brain functionality) fueled the Information Age, the Conceptual Age will be very much based on western society’s fantastic ability to conceive design or, as the title suggests, use our right brain.

The book is a great read, but highly untraditional as much of it is in the form of a workbook with assigned tasks to help strengthen the “six essential aptitudes” of a strong right brain – Design, Story, Symphony, Empathy, Play, and Meaning. I’d explain what I’ve learned about each, but it’s probably best you go buy the book.

Because of the untraditional approach of the book, I’ve spent nearly 2 months with it and am only about half way through. It’s a little awkward telling people about the book I’ve been “reading” for the last couple of months, they must think”man, that guy is one SLOW reader!”

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