Picture My World

Our first hint that our neighbour is a creative tool user came a number of months ago as her house’s full reno was nearly complete. Unfortunately, she had run a little short on money and needed to finish some of the project herself before she could get a living permit.

One day she started leveling the front yard (which was very uneven, packed-down dirt). She was wittling away at the dirt with a cleaver. Yes, a kitchen knife. She worked for hours on the yard, every day after work.

After a number of days at this, a friendly passer-by suggested she rent a rototiller to do the job properly. She accepted his advice and continued to chip away with the cleaver. He stopped by again a week later and reiterated his suggestion. She thanked him and continued chopping dirt.

(Common sense eventually kicked in and she rented that rototiller.)

Creative Tool Usage #2 — A cleaver (and a little time) can level mountains.

An interesting analysis of modern day anti-semitism.

Ron (who still doesn’t have a blog) and I went shooting at Queen Elizabeth Park on Monday. Picture this:

The Bloedel Conservatory. Home of tropical plants and birds.

A close-up of the dome where you can see the trees straining to escape. One day that dome is just going to pop off.

The dome again, but with a funky B&W look.

Finally, there were lots of flowers and a few bees.

Hey, business people!  If you offer an email contact address on your web site, you should actually respond to emails from your customers.

That means you, Kerrisdale Cameras (no response to a simple question after  4 days).

I think I have the makings of a series of posts here. Our next door neighbor has to be one of the most “creative” tool users I’ve ever seen.

For example, just today I saw her attempting to open a paint can with a gardening spade. She went around and around, trying to get the shovel under the lid’s lip. It eventually worked.

Creative Tool Usage #1 — In the event you don’t have a screwdriver, open paint cans with a spade.

(This one is nothing.  Stay tuned as we crank creativity up a notch!)

I just applied for a new Canadian passport and was in and out of the local passport office in 35 minutes. Really!

Here’s the trick: fill out your application online. Online applicants get preferential treatment and I only had to wait about 5 minutes after I had registered (that line took 15 minutes). I felt bad for all those people that were waiting the whole time I was there. Actually, I didn’t.

Why are online treated differently? As the officer that helped me succinctly put it, “We’re not data entry people. Our primary job is security.”

Note that the online application only works in Internet Explorer on Windows and the whole registration and application is a little clunky, but it’s worth it.