Like all good bloggers, I often check site meter to see if anyone is coming to my blog. My blog is like having a Chia Pet, if you remember those. I would check that silly thing with great anticipation every day to see how much more the sprouts sprouted. Somehow I don’t see Chia Pets taking hold in the market today where the average attention span is about 3 seconds. In any event, according to site meter, you could say I have had 688 visitors to date, or as I prefer to say, I have had 0.000000688 billion visitors. Site meter, being the blabbermouth it is, also tells me that I get a lot of visitors from Ontario.
Curious about what makes these people from Ontario to have such excellent taste in blogs, I set out to learn more about this city. One of the things I learned is I should have paid more attention in geography, because apparently it is a huge providence and not a city at all. I also read that Ontario has 12,634,018 people. I can vouch for this because I grew up in a lakeside city in Pennsylvania where I personally witnessed them all arrive at our mall to buy our tax-free clothes. It always amazed me to see the lines of buses at the mall- I would think "who would get on a tour bus to come to Erie"? But a little tax relief I guess will get a lot of people to brave the diesel bus fumes for two hours. I guess the Canadians should have thrown the tea into the harbor with the Americans.
Anyway, I imagine that those days of global consumer commerce between US and Canada are ticking down. In December, a new law takes effect that requires a passport to cross the border. Americans in general are not good advance planners and getting a passport is something that requires a lot of paperwork and weeks of advance planning. If you are in the 10% of people who's original copies of their key life documents such as marriage certificates, birth certificates, etc., aren’t LOST by the US Passport Agency (don’t worry, if its like mine, it will inexplicably show up in your mailbox 19 months later. At which point, you must resubmit), then you still have to deal with the passport photo lottery. In most cases, the passport photo will make you looks like you escaped from a freak show or circus side show, and thus the passport must be "lost" and you must apply (try, try) again.
As a result, Americans will be forced to sit glumly on the decrepit US side of Niagara Falls listening to the cacophony of bricks falling off vacant buildings, while the Canadians whoop it up on the glitzy Canadian, we-allow-gambling-and-underage-drinking, side. It's going to be bad.
At least you will not need a passport to continue to read my riveting blog (at least I don’t think Bush has introduced that legislation yet), so for that at least, we can all breathe a big sigh of relief.
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3 comments:
I guess I am the Ontario gal. Not sure if I should be thrilled at being your #1 visitor or horrified that perhaps I spend too much time on the internet while my children are napping (yes, I should be doing my laundry and cleaning the toy room).
Ontario is a province, sorry I had to correct that - I live in Toronto, the largest city in Ontario.
I do have a passport, much easier to get across the border, as do my three children and my husband. I also hold a professional designation so am the sought out person in the office to sign everyone else's passport applications - Canadians of course and I must have known them for at least 2 years.
Keep writing - need to see another book review ... how I first found you.
Ann, Well it looks like I should have paid more attention in both geography AND Spelling…“Providence”. I wish that was my worst offense but my dependency on MS Word spell check comes at a price. I’m glad you came forward; overall I was surprised by the number of Canadian visitors, not just Toronto. Don’t worry about surfing the internet too much, anyone who can get three kids down for a nap at the same time is beyond reproach.
As for books, I thought I was going to review every book I read, but after the last several books (Eye Contact, Coming to America, Riley’s Fire, Daniel Isn’t Talking, Sellervision, At Risk), I was struggling for thoughts other than “eh, it’s ok.” Or “I really didn’t like this book”, which bored even me, so I was waiting for inspiration to strike. I got so lame-book depressed, I am now reading an old Erma Bombeck book, like a drowning victim struggling for air.
However, some older books I can recommend (from what I can remember), in a variety of styles would be: Katherine (Seton), My Life on a Plate, The Kite Runner, The Red Tent, Stolen Lives, Memoirs of a Geisha, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, Into Thin Air, Band of Brothers, Night, Me Talk Pretty One Day, Possible Side Effects, Seabiscuit, Angela’s Ashes, most of Oprah’s book club books.
Wow Amy
No problem with Providence - it is easy for us Canadians to criticize the Americans - half of your channels aren't from Canada (unlike ours) so you won't be as well exposed to things North. On high def tv, I can watch Seatle television so am relatively well geographically versed. I do believe the passport issue has been delayed a bit.
On to the reading front - we share a few similar interests of your list I have read Kite Runner, Into Thin Air, Geisha, Seabiscuit (horse nut here), and have been known to frequent the Oprah books. I am still trying to finish Eat Pray Love but find it a bit tough (and Italy was the easiest part) but gave up in favour of Friedman's Beirut to Jerusalem (good read if not outdated).
I read slowly with three young kiddos it takes me forever to get through books.
HOw is that for a novel!
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