Flyer Friday – the fit and fat edition

I got my first holiday greeting card in the mail this week. From Domino’s. Also came with certificates, so ahead! Yum Factor 7!

I also received adverts for U weight loss clinics. Two of them. The Guilt Patrol is keeping tabs on me…

Last Friday I had a heck of a day at work. It was frenzied and busy and by 4:00 I was craving some serious junk. I told a casual worker that I was considering getting a pizza after work. This same worker said she’s lost 80 pounds via Curves so I got stuck hearing her moan and whine about how much she’d like pizza but… fill in whatever standard line fits. Yesterday, there was cake to celebrate a maternity leave and the same woman didn’t even slice a slice in half. She just ate an apple.

Now, part of me admires her steadfast dedication but the rest of me rolls my eyes.

The real question might be, why?

I don’t have an answer. Not one that wouldn’t come across all whiny and self-obsessed, anyway. I do enough of those posts already.

Last time I was in the grocery store, I was struck anew with the irony of advertising for women. I forget what rag it was, but they had a woman on the cover, grinning ear to ear, and wearing jeans that two of her would fit into. That’s a common photo shoot for those magazines, I think. The headline announced in bold colourful type just how much weight she lost and how anyone else could do it too, by following whatever diet or suppliment was the fad du jour. Next to that, a photo of a turkey dinner or big dessert spread with a promise that all instructions were inside to create just as big a majesty for your own dinner table and feed your family and friends to bursting.

Big pants. Little woman smiling. Big feast. Some “Lose 20 pounds in 10 days!” enticement in the lower corner. Tantalizing treat up where the price is.

Can you mix up the messages any more? I think there’s something sensibly healthy on page 53. Hurry up and add some confusion before we print it…

Small wonder women have weight issues.

I think part of the problem boils down to how people relate to weight. I’ve heard people say, “If I ever get that fat, shoot me.” Obviously they fear being stigmatized because of their shape or fitness level and cope by stigmatizing others. I was insulted because of my weight through much of school. Is it a big surprise to admit that the taunts didn’t encourage me to lose any weight? They made me want to hide in my room and gorge on frozen gingerbread.

I think, too, that more emphasis needs to be put on nutrition from an early age. As soon as a kid understands language, he or she should be learning what’s good to eat and be encouraged to eat them. There are a lot of healthy choices but sometimes not even the parents have any real clue about how food fuels the body. They’re hardly in a good position to train and encourage their kids into following good healthy eating patterns if they don’t understand portions and fiber and whatever else is required. It’s too easy to cave and serve Zoodles every day.

Also, fitness needs more encouragement. All too often it becomes used as a punishment for gaining a pound or two, when it really needs to be promoted as an automatic thing you do as part of your routine every day. Worry less about pant size and focus on cardiovascular strength, endurance, train and educate and show how useful it is to be flexible and energetic. Figure out a way to make kids want fitness and health as much as they want a new game system or tech gadget.

I think health and fitness need to be more fun for adults, too. I also think there should be more free alternatives to gyms and rec centers. Not everyone can afford membership fees or live close enough to attend a class four or five times a week.

It’s not Domino’s fault I’m a tub of lard. I could make my mind up at any moment to change how I eat and how I organize my day so I can make space for exercise. Anybody can. So why don’t we?

Is willpower a real thing or do people just like to accuse us of having none for the reason we’re so fat? “You know, I quit smoking cold turkey..” Okay, good for you. People can’t quit eating, though. Not if they want to live. “How did I raise such a fat daughter?” Hell if I know. It’s not always a mother’s fault. There isn’t a fat body on Mom’s side. Dad’s though… no wondering if I was switched at birth here.

But, weight loss doesn’t automatically lead to better health.

Genetic predisposition aside, it turns out that the most common advice for reducing fatness has made things worse. Research published over fifty years ago demonstrated how and why even a moderately restrictive diet is counterproductive for long term weight loss. New studies bear this out: weight can be lost on virtually any contrived plan to restrict calories or food groups, but between 85% and 95% of this weight is predictably regained, with over half of all dieters gaining more weight than they lost. If you doubt this, check the National Institute of Health for the data, then check your own observations to consider how many people you know who have gone on a diet once. If dieting was effective why would it be a perennial activity, and why would most dieters be fatter today than before their first diet?

I find myself wondering – if I hadn’t felt embarrassed in grade 12 to do something about my weight, would I be thinner now? I dropped 50 pounds before grad which I gained back, and then some. Would I be better off if I hadn’t? Yo-yo dieting is incredibly unhealthy and studies do show that the majority of dieters are unable to keep the weight off.

It is troubling that so few leaders in health care cannot see the forest for the trees: that shifting the focus to how we live rather than what we weigh is an effective solution that empowers all people of every size and shape to be the best they can be. Who could argue that a fit and well-fed populous of diverse sized people would not be preferable to the status quo? Campaigns to support the development of healthy, realistic body images, wholesome, stable eating, and lifetime fitness habits regardless of shape, size, or weight could eliminate much of our population’s “weight problem.”

Which is kind of what I was saying, but done better. Less emphasis on everyone fitting in the same category. There are so many different body types so why would anyone think we can all look like Twiggy, or Brooke Shields or Cindy Crawford? I don’t care for their latest book at all, but Trinny and Susannah at least recognize that bodies vary in size and shape from a fashion standpoint. Clothes that suit one shape won’t fit another. So why should one group’s assumption of the “perfect body” mean everyone has to try and fit into it when it’s clearly impossible to do without major surgery?

Aim for good health. Aim for fitness. Don’t be scared of a treat once in a while, but don’t make the treat the every day occurrence. It ceases to become a treat that way and more like a way of life.

Which is one of the reasons I never did order pizza last week.

Flyer Friday – the donate vs spend edition

Here we are, at the end of another work week for me and for the postal folks who walk around this neighbourhood delivering all this junk mail. I’ll bet they’re just as glad to see a weekend as I am.

Two pizza flyers – Pizza 73 and Dominos as per usual. I ordered Dominos last night as it happens and was greeted at the door by a delivery guy who was probably around the same age as my father. Retirement doesn’t mean much anymore, does it? In my own job, it was decided to dump the mandatory retirement at 65. Now people can stay at their desks until rigor mortis sets in if they want to. I’m torn over that, I think. Granted, it’s not like 65 is the age that senility and feebleness suddenly take over. A lot of older people remain very healthy and mentally sharper than I’ve ever been. But it’s also too bad that what should be the golden retirement years wind up spent in jobs they may or may not like (Greeting at Wal-mart for example) because their pensions or retirement savings just aren’t enough to get by on.

TD Bank’s asking what retirement looks like, too, and they’re willing to help a person find the right plan for his or her future. I ought to be getting that stuff a little more organized too, but I never really had any available money for investments until this year – although I suppose if I’d resisted buying a stereo, tv, dvd player, desk, sofa, chair, new speakers, a rowing machine, and hundreds of dollars worth of movies and music over the years I might be better off…

Premier Brad Wall sent a flyer advertising just how much he’s done for our province since being elected by people other than me. He’s bragging about debt reduction, investments in infrastructure, income tax reductions (not that I’ve noticed) and a fiscal insurance policy “to safeguard Saskatchewan’s future.” I don’t follow local politics. I find it incredibly boring, overall. I’ll mention this infrastructure thing, though – some Saskatchewan stats to share:

Saskatchewan’s highway network consists of 26,250 km of roads, or roughly 14% of the province’s entire rural road network. Saskatchewan’s highway and municipal road networks together constitute the largest rural road system in Canada, totaling over 190,000 km.

On a lot of the highways the speed is posted at 90km/h and it better be followed unless you want your car to fall apart before you reach your destination. The demise of the rail system in this country has increased the number of semi trailers and there’s nothing worse for a thinly paved road during a hot summer than a fleet of trucks rolling over it. They get dips and cracks and holes that may or may not get dealt with before the snow falls and then water gets down there and melts and freezes and melts and freezes again and one morning you discover that you could lose an elephant in one of those potholes. Although you’d find him quick enough just by listening to him bellow.

Brad Wall claims he invested a billion bucks into highways, schools and hospitals this year and plans on another $1.5 billion for next year. Is an election year coming up? Not until 2011. But, I’ve known of Premiers to call one a year early and hope to ride for four more years on the popularity wagon.

If Brad’s been spending a billion, why is the Saskatoon City Hospital Foundation looking for donations? Because there’s never enough money to go around. They want to add an HDTV to their operating room. It’s not so they can watch House, though – it’s to go with their laparoscopic surgery camera. They’ve been doing these kinds of non-invasive surgeries for 20 years already and hope to get enough donations for two more cameras so they can have three suites decked out with the best technology available. Day surgeries are pretty popular options now.

The Lung Association has sent out their Christmas seals again this year – complete with a 100 year anniversary announcement. Wow. I wonder if any family has collected the seals for a hundred years. Thirty-three of the American ones are part of a slide show at christmasseals.org. Every Canadian Seal since 1927 is here.

Kampaign for Kids is running their raffle for their 15th year in a row. The Red Cross runs it for child-related services and is giving away up to $60,000 to people who buy tickets. I don’t think I bought tickets last year but they’ve still got me addressed by name from the last time, guess.

SaskTel (motto “Ahead by a Century” which is inexplicably stupid) is giving away an HDTV and home theatre system — geez, maybe Sasktel could give the TV to the hospital. They need it more than I do. They’re trying to get people to buy their Max Hi-Def channels. Har-de-har-har. I don’t even watch the four I get with rabbit ears for free. Why would I buy more? I realize I’m hooched as of February 2009 but since I rarely ever turn the TV to an actual station instead of AUX, I’m not too sad about losing my snowy signals. It all goes to DVD eventually. I can wait.

I couldn’t wait to dig into “The Daily Burn” this week though. Stupid Capital One played a damned trick on me, though. Here I thought I’d wound up on the Devil’s mailing list now that I have this atheist blog but alas, I was wrong. It’s just a zany post-Halloween “Hell Freezes Over” advert. It’s all Capital One’s fault, too. They have “No Hassle Rewards” for their points earning plan. Apparently hell would freeze over before anyone tried that. Now the Devil’s blowing snow with a $666 machine.

Oh, it’s worth keeping, just for the novelty value. I’m sure it incensed a few churchies, though. It must have done. But it’s so cute from a heathen perspective. Almost funny enough to make me convert to Capital One, but I’ll resist it.

I don’t know if I’ll be able to resist the Inspired magazine from Sobey’s though. They have some nice recipe ideas in here. It’s a wonder people even buy recipe books anymore. The entire Compliments recipe selection is on-line. Every food company has a site, some specialized products from companies have their own recipe sites, and I’ve even just gone into Google and typed out items from my fridge and cupboard and let a flipping website plan my meal for me. That worked out really good but I think I’d like to try this Smokey Applewood pulled pork sandwich recipe this weekend.

That’s definitely a plan.

Flyer Friday – the good deeds edition

You can tell Christmas is coming. Charity groups ramp up the prize giveaways.

For a hundred dollars I could buy a ticket for the Knights of Columbus Dream Lottery and win a house I couldn’t afford to heat let alone pay taxes on. Failing the win of the Grand Prize, there are still 136 chances to go home with high tech gadgets. Plus, early bird ticket buyers get their names in for a 2008 Chevy Malibu Hybrid.

Money raised goes to good causes, though. The Children’s Health & Hospital Foundation would like to building a children’s hospital for this province. The Saskatoon Zoo and Forestry Farm will also profit.

Other animals in need of assistance are the ones in the care of the Saskatchewan S.P.C.A. which is celebrating its 80th year. This August, the SPCA interceded on the behalf of thirteen horses and one pig at a farm 60 kms northwest of Regina.

I don’t get the compulsion to own horses. Where I grew up, it seemed nearly every acreage near the highway had horses in pastures for what must have been status symbols. You never saw anyone grooming them or riding them or acknowledging their breathing in and out. It’s not cheap to keep a horse and it seems like a waste of money to have five or six and not be doing anything with them. It’s not like people are raising them for meat. One place that did use their horses was a farm owned by veterinarians who raised cattle and bison. They used the horses for herding when necessary. One of them also took part in the North-West Mounted Police Wagon Trek and Trail Ride one year. Not a trip for beginners, from the sounds of things.

SaskEnergy is promoting a good deed of another kind – trade in your flashy sparkly old Christmas lights that shine merrily while they suck all the energy out of the world, and get three dollars off the purchase of a string of LED ones that’ll glow like Rudolph’s nose on a foggy Christmas night and would require 140 of the suckers to do the damage one incandescent manages. The trade in runs two weekends (Nov 1-2, 8-9) at the Co-op, Home Depot, Home Hardware and Sears.

Couple other pieces of junk don’t fit the theme – Sasktel is promoting Voice Mail to Text Service via SpinVox. What’s a word that describes someone who’s not technologically advanced? I thought it was the name of a civilization or town or something — not philistines, but a word used in a similar way to mean backwards.. This Tip of My Tongue site is not helping as much as I hoped it would.

Moving on instead, TD Visa would like to help me move around with a handy dandy Heys suitcase, so long as I apply for a savings account. I actually plan on paying off the little that’s left on my Visa and then canceling it. Ha ha!

I’ll have to use my other credit card to take advantage of the grand opening of Indigo this weekend. I drove past it this morning and wondered if it was ready to roll. First 1000 people on Saturday get a reusable Indigo bag. They’re sure hopeful, eh? Maybe it’s a misprint. They could have meant 100, or 10. They don’t announce the hours of operation on this flyer, unfortunately, but since I’m an early bird by nature, maybe I’ll do breakfast at Smitty’s first thing in the A.M. and sit where I can watch their doors. Ooh, Indigo… I am excited!

Last thing to note – I wound up with another Shopper’s thing for Ms. Yama Yama this week and a second notice about a parcel that had a deadline for today. I didn’t go and pick it up. I really did consider it but wouldn’t that be tantamount to mail fraud? I’d be claiming to be this woman. I did resort to Facebook to message someone who had the same name, just to see if she lived in the city but I never got a response in time. Whatever it was will just go back to sender. I hope it wasn’t anything important.

I’m still wondering if I should also call the Shopper’s 1-800 number and let them know her address is incorrect. It’s not like I just moved in here. This weekend marks the 7th anniversary in this flat, as it happens. Who in hell knows where she lives? Her name is rare enough in this town that there aren’t many listings in the phone book. If I get more mail for her, I’ll try calling them and hope one of them knows her. Otherwise, I suppose it’s tough toots.

Flyer Friday – the belated edition

I missed it yesterday, and there won’t be any Flyer Friday on the 10th, either. I’ll be heading home for Thanksgiving in the land of dial-up so expect a double whammy on the 17th (assuming I have any readers. My “popularity” took a nosedive this week. Novelty wear off or something? Sheesh.)

This week I had not just one, but two postcards about hearing loss and the need to be tested. One’s offering a free trial period with the Ion 200 hearing aid. Cripes, check out the price to buy that puppy! I’m glad I’m not in need. Quality Hearing Centre is offering a $500 rebate on a hearing aid trade-in and $200 off if you mention you saw their website. They don’t advertise the cost of their ear pieces, though.

Turning now to the election recyclables, NDP Patti Gieni is running for the Blackstrap riding in the Federal election and she’s sent me a little card:

As a working mother of four young men I know what it means to overcome difficulties and do what it takes. I have been a councilor, mayor, school board member and union activist and I am ready to work for you.

The union thing is good, as I’m in one. The library is not really considered a “vital service” in this city, except to the people who can’t seem to go a day without walking into one. Prior to working for the library, I had no idea people would actually line up before it opened to get in. People want their newspapers, their internet, their holds, the bathroom so they can get high in privacy… whatever the reason.

Jack Layton, leader of the same party, also has a flyer this week, focused on the need for affordable housing and Layton’s promise to make it happen. His slogan is, “A Prime Minister who’ll put you and your family first.” That would be a first. I wonder if Canada will experience a similar mortgage meltdown to what’s happening in the States. I would like to own a house (so I could vacuum at 6am if I felt like it, early bird that I am) but I’m never going to be able to afford it the way I’m going. I’ll inherit one, but hopefully not for a long time yet. I think I’d wind up selling it anyway, not because I don’t like it, but because I can’t imagine moving home again.

Out of curiosity, I’m poking around at current Saskatoon house prices. Caught a whammy of a deal outside of the city on a 140 acre farm. Owners want over five million dollars for it. I think Dad has 160 acres (a quarter-section of land) but he’d never get that kind of money for the works. A cousin of mine sold his farm for a million or so but I don’t know how big it was. Maybe he could have gotten more if the place was closer to an urban center. Here’s what might be the most expensive house for sale in the city — for Remax anyway. $1,999,900 CAD. Property tax alone would be crippling for most people. Even if I had half that money, I could think of better uses for it, that’s for damn sure.

I see Layton is also promising better job and economic security, improved, affordable health care, more doctors and nurses, and “will ensure Canada lives up to the challenge of climate change” by looking for ways to lower pollution levels and supporting sustainable solutions. It all sounds good. Too bad he won’t get elected.

Lynne Yelich is still pounding the campaign trail, asking people to re-elect her. She’s sent a list of everything the Conservatives have done in their quest to care for Canadians and their hopes for another term – expanded maternity benefits that would benefit the self-employed, cut tax on diesel fuel, give “up to $5000 for the closing costs of a new home” for first time homebuyers, improve other programs and revamp the Young Offenders legislation so youth convicted of the more violent crimes have sentences that fit.

It’s been a while since I took that course in human justice (and nearly failed it), but the Young Offenders Act has always been something of an interest to me. It came into effect in 1984 to replace a Juvenile Delinquent Act that had been in place since 1908.

JDA took a social welfare approach to youth crime. The different focus is immediately apparent in section 38 of the Act, which states: “the care and custody and discipline of a juvenile delinquent shall approximate as nearly as may be that which should be given by its parents, and that as far as practicable, every juvenile delinquent shall be treated, not as a criminal, but as a misdirected and misguided child” (Source: The Young Offenders Act: A Revolution in Canadian Juvenile Justice, p. 132).

Sounds good, looking back, but it was flawed.

The unintended results, however, were often arbitrariness, unfairness, and neglect of the interests of youth, consequences of the discontinuity between the ideals expressed in the JDA, and the actual delivery of services to juveniles. Moreover, juvenile delinquents were denied basic elements of due process: such things as a clear right to counsel, rights of appeal, and definite, as opposed to open-ended, sentences.

The YOA adopts what is known as the “justice” model of juvenile criminal justice. It recognizes the special needs and vulnerability of youth, but also places emphasis on both protection of the public and the rights of young people. The result is a considerably more detailed and explicit code governing criminal proceedings against youth. The emphasis is less on social intervention, and more on the delineation of rights and obligations.

JDA would sentence kids as young as 8, all the way up to age 18 in places. YOA starts at 12 and will send teens (16 and up) to adult court if the crime merits it, and the rules of the Act allow for it. So, police, like my cousin, get laughed at by 10 year olds who know they’re breaking laws. It’s also been argued that harsher sentencing of these kids doesn’t help them. Frankly, isn’t an extended stay in juvie just going to give first offenders a chance to rub noses with the habitual offenders and get some new ideas?

In 2003, amendments were made to the now Youth Criminal Justice Act, which included increased and harsher sentencing. But it also brought back the Youth Justice Committee, which hasn’t been used since the JDA was replaced, to look for alternatives to prison for some offenses and increasing community service and restitution when possible. It’s never going to please everyone, though.

Flyer Friday, the early edition

Not just early, but it must have been slim pickin’s on the flyer farm this week. This is a very poor crop.

I got a reminder to bring I.D. when I vote next month. Well, duh! I don’t understand how people can wander around without any proof of identity. I used to see it happen all the time when I used to make library cards. Some of them seemed strangley shocked to discover the library really does care that they live where they say they live. I guess they don’t understand how a library contract works. The card is proof that the owner of the card agrees to borrow and return their items promptly, in accordance with the rules and regulations of the library, and provides proof of habitation (including phone if available, and there are still people around who have no number they can be reached) in case the library ever needs to mail them something – like overdue notices. No ID means a limited card for a limited time with limited function (internet, 3 item borrow, early expiry date), only gaining full privileges once the address is verified. At least that way, if the person never comes back and never brings back the stuff they took, the library isn’t out a great deal of money. It’s a pain in the ass for the person who wants it afterward, but hey.

I also got a “Come Gamble with us!” type of announcement from Casino Regina. They’re sure pushing what Regina has to offer besides a money magnet. I know what Regina has to offer; I lived there during university. It offers everything Saskatoon has, including a casino, but Regina has the Saskatchewan Science Centre where the IMAX is. “Sharks” is playing. They’ve had a Shark experience show before. That one was hard to sit though. Who really wants to go deep in dark water breathing out of a can, so you can float in a cage and wave at creatures that swim fast and bite hard?

Sheryl Crow has a Regina show, but she’ll be in Saskatoon, too. Not that I’d be going, but I like her music. Also expected, James Blunt, Nine Inch Nails and Dolly Parton. No Lenny Kravitz for Toon Town but no Dolly for Regina, so I guess it all evens out.

And that’s that.

Company’s coming for the weekend so I won’t be here again until Monday. But I’m sure the world will churn out enough blog fodder over the weekend that I can pick and choose what’s most fun to complain about.

Flyer Friday, the Fourth

I got someone else’s mail again today. Not fault of Canada Post this time, but the fault of Ms. Yama Yama (name changed, obviously) who never bothered alerting Shopper’s Drug Mart that she moved. Like, before November 2001, which is when I moved in here. I occasionally get mail for a Mr. Bobo, as well, and I think there’s someone else who receives mail here once in a while. Back to the postal people it’ll go…

Four pizza flyers this week. Dominos and Pizza73 are after my business as usual, but I’ve also got a Boston Pizza purchase incentive. They sent a whole flipping menu of choices. Lucky them; I was planning on booking a table there again this year for my birthday party. Whoo! Pizza party! I love the food there.

The Star Phoenix needs carriers. Not my idea of a good time, but I’m sure it’s good exercise. I wonder how many people subscribe to the paper here. They called me up earlier this week, actually, wanting me to re-subscribe. I told the guy on the phone that I never did have a subscription. Did I want one? No.

I opened my Bay Card bill and out fluttered more flyers of an unnecessary kind, like deals on solar powered decorative lights, commemorative Olympic coins, and holiday booking on a Sandals resort. This GE 7 megapixel camera with blink detection sounds kind of cool, though. I’m considering getting my mom a camera this year, but she needs something super simple without a lot of fandangle. She’d never use a lot of fandangle. A friend of hers, quite elderly, was given a superfab camera as a gift last year and the poor woman can’t deal with all the extras. She can hardly get a basic shot that’s not out of focus. She’s pretty frustrated with it.

My voter registration card was in the mail this week, as was a flyer to re-elect Lynne Yelich, Member of Parliament for Blackstrap. She’s been there since 2000, apparently. She’s also apologizing to her daughter for missing grad and the girl’s 18th birthday. I wonder if this was written on the heels of all the Palin controversy down south:

Even now there are some, if not many, who may question a mother sitting in the House of Commons while there are still children at home. This lingering attitude often pushes us to stretch our lives to the limit. … My family has adjusted, coped and succeeded, despite the challenges of my parliamentary life. I am proud of their sacrifices as I am so very aware of my own.

Is it worse for a mother to miss out on her family’s big moments because of her job than it is for a father to miss out? Is there still a lot of pressure for mothers to be mothers first and career-oriented second? Or is the pressure felt the other way? That it’s right to let the job you’re paid to do take precedence over a duty you chose to do for free? I’m single, I have no kids, I have no idea what I’d do if I were faced with a major career path vs staying home with the offspring. Money comes into it, time, drive, ambition.. guilt, too, I suspect. Either path is a choice that should be up to the person making it, and her family. Either path means making sacrifices of one kind or another. Ah well, anyway.. back to flyers.

McKenzie Sales and Leasing is giving away a 2005 Dodge Caravan with dvd. Oh wait, not quite a no-strings deal: “All you have to do is apply for credit and you could WIN.” Well, if I were in the market to lease a vehicle, I still don’t know if I’d be swayed by this. I’ve heard some auto companies quit leasing and a quick google confirms that. Gas prices, depreciation.. I know little about economic ebb and flow, I have to admit.

But, I’m reminded of a thing I heard on CBC Radio a week or so ago – Bentley automobiles are selling like hotcakes in Calgary, and they only chose to set up a dealership there last year. That oil money’s gotta go somewhere, I guess, but for some reason it never goes anywhere sensible. I hope some of those oil sands workers are looking ahead a little rather then spending all they’ve made now.

That wraps it up for another week.

Flyer Friday, the Saturday edition

I was “under the weather” Thursday night/Friday so never managed a Flyer Friday post. Until now…

I received another Domino’s Pizza flyer. If I kept all the flyers I get from these guys, I could paper my kitchen.

Winners sent out an advertisement for their “Fall best-in brand event” focusing on a lot of “gorgeous greys and the colour purple” for up to 60% less. I’m focusing on the superfluous hyphen instead on the flyer instead. What is that doing there? Maybe there was supposed to be another one? The best-in-brand event? That little hyphen’s looking very embarrassed to be dropped in the middle of all those letters. “They just told me to park here. I don’t know what’s going on!” Maybe the designers of this ad campaign should have consulted a guidebook to proper punctuation.

I like shopping at Winners, actually. I never find clothes that suit me but I’ve bought shoes and household items there. I found a very nice vase of fake flowers (purple!) that totally matched my bedroom scheme.

Also shopping related, Shopper’s Voice sent out a survey. They’ve done this a couple times but I never bothered filling them out before. They’re poking around trying to find out what I spend my money on. Safeway probably has a great idea of what I buy. Every time I shop there, they zap my club card which has to be keeping a record of products I’ve picked up just because there was a club saving on it. I watch though. I look at the sale price and see if it’s a better deal than buying two or three of some cheaper brand. If it isn’t, then I buy the cheaper brand, or buy elsewhere.

Also in the mail was an envelope from StoresOnline.com with free tickets to a dinner conference, so long as I am willing to sit through a presentation on how to make money on the internet with my own business.

Trisha Ahlman lists 10 reasons why internet businesses fail including such obvious reasons as bad budgeting, bad planning, lacking commitment and lack of training. Daegen Smith provides some stats:

According to the Department of Labor and Statistics, 75,000 new people subscribe to the Internet daily. This is a startling statistic, considering that many people around the world already have access to the internet. In line with that, 100,000 new web sites are built while 125,000 people start a home-based business per week.

It’s do-able but it takes more than an “I could do that” epiphany at three o’clock in the morning or some zany belief that wishing for success will somehow attract the notice of the universe who will hand it to you before breakfast. It takes ambition, dedication, drive, devotion to your product, a willingness to put your whole life into it, not just an hour on Saturday mornings, and sacrifice. Lots and lots of sacrifice. It takes more skill and money and planning than most start-up hopefuls realize.

Flyer Friday, the first

I don’t have a six foot high pile of junk mail but even I know it’s not good for the environment. It’s sad to think of how many trees give up their lives for:

Hearing clinics
A new one’s opened in my area and were I in need of aural assistance, I’d make an appointment. Yesterday at work a girl went to the library card desk to check out some items and although I was standing a few meters away, I could hear the “music” blaring out of her earbuds. I could still hear the racket as she walked away from the desk, out the security gates and into the foyer. That kid will need Alto Hearing before I do.

Pizza deals
Domino’s Pizza has some good ones this week. Mmm, greasy cheesy bread products. If it weren’t for the fact that I spent $77 on real vegetables and other nibblies yesterday, I would have called them for supper. I ate chicken, linguini, and a nice salad instead, plus drank two glasses of wine. Is there a wine that goes with pizza? I have my doubts.

Weight loss clinics
I’ll hang onto this one and write more about it some other time. Be U again, indeed. I’ve been me all of my life. I didn’t gain 50 pounds and then turn into Rosanne Barr or something…cripes. Body issues and fat fallacies, coming soon(ish).

Charity bribes
It’s too bad people need to be enticed to donate to good causes with promises of maybe winning this house or these other houses, plus cars, cash, vacations and high tech gadgets. I’m all for giving to charities but the joy should be in the giving, the knowing you’ve helped a zoo or a children’s hospital, or raised some money for disease research. Children’s Wish offers $500,000 if you win but don’t want the house. Wouldn’t that $500,000 make a lot of kids’ wishes come true? Call me cynical, but what’s the winner going to do with all that money? Buy a bunch of crap and brag about it, likely. Or, if the family who wins takes the house, can they afford to live in it? I suspect they can’t turn around the next day and sell the thing off to the highest bidder. People just want too much damned stuff these days.

“Only the Best” coupon magazines
I already clipped the deals on bowling. I love bowling and will be in a league again this year. Always good for a party, to my way of thinking. Let’s look at the other coupons, real quick – save up to $15 on drycleaning, so long as you’re spending at least $50. Some deal. Buy ten loaves of nearly stale bread, get three free. Aside from Hutterites (who make their own bread), who needs that much? Who has the space in a freezer to put it? Craziness. Oh, here’s a good one – one free Ionic Foot Cleanse device if you buy six (and then sell them all to suckers). Why people still believe that works is beyond me. This is what it really does. The rest of the book features art and framing, car stuff, tub surrounds and carpet cleaning.

World Vision
Nothing against World Vision. They have good intentions. Alan Thicke used to be on TV every week selling children encouraging sponsorship. This flyer features Brad Johner as the token celebrity and a local reporter who hugged a three-year-old in Nicaragua: “…all I could think about was how he got such a raw deal in life.” Well, Tara Yolen, part of the raw deal comes from being born in a country predominantly Roman Catholic and everyone knows that every Pope before and including old Ben have been firmly set against condoms and birth control. Thousands and thousands of children are born into over-populated countries so impoverished they require outside aid for basic essentials. There’s nothing good about that. Madonna and Angelina need to do more than take away a kid or two. Celebrities could be helping feed the poor instead of buying cars, mansions and drugs. Wal-Mart and other corporate giants could help more, too, instead of hoarding their wealth in a few bank accounts and vaults. Giving more should make you worth more, I think. (Worth as in value to society, not dollars, obviously.)

Golfing holidays at a Fairmont Vacation Villa
3 days and 2 nights starting at $99.95. Sounds like a good deal until we read the fine print: restricted to individuals “with an annual verifiable income of $60,000 or more.” And, they require interested parties to attend a two hour informational tour. Damned elitists. I’m glad I’m near the poverty line. It keeps me sensible and cash-conscious.

That’s it for this round. That coupon book had an ad for Grainfields Family Restaurant and now I’m in the mood for pancakes…