that canadian girl

Latest adventures…

  • Design a logo for Google

    Google UK is holding a competition for kids: It’s your chance to design a Google logo and take over Dennis Hwang’s job for a day!

    Rupert at Google says: “Here in the UK, we wanted to let Dennis have the day off and give someone local the chance to get their artwork in front of millions. After a successful pilot competition in 2005, we’re pleased to tell you that our 2006 “Doodle 4 Google – My Britain” competition is now open and accepting doodles from pupils ages 4-18 in all schools across the UK.”

  • CB2 Internet Bistro, Norfolk Street, Cambridge

    It’s cute, buzzing with conversations without being overly noisy, and no one’s making you feel guilty for having only a cup of green tea and a plate of spicy chips with garlic mayo (which, by the way, were very tasty!).

    painting of CB2

    I was planning on blogging about this place from the moment I walked in – but I expected to have to wait until I got home. Local Secrets describes it as an Internet Bistro, but to me, it’s akin to the now defunct Steaming Bean, which was on Besserer Street in Ottawa.

    The Internet factor is just a bonus. A big bonus in fact! I vaguely recall a few colleagues mentioning that this place had wireless Internet, but it’s only 5 minutes ago when I pulled out my Powerbook to make a few notes that a notice asking me if I wanted to connect to the network reminded me of it.

    I feel this may become a second home this summer… Haven’t yet tried anything off their menu other than those spicy chips, but seeing meals being wheeled around by the waiters, they definitely look and smell gorgeous!

    [Note: If any Cambridge regulars call me an idiot for not going to CB2 until now, even though it’s a 2 minute walk from work, I’ll borrow the guns from the company paintballing event tomorrow night and make them repeat what they just said.]
    [Note 2: The above includes you, Patto. I’ll come find you in Oz if need be!]
    [Note 3: And no, I’m not taking part in the actual paintballing activity. I’m a total wuss.]

  • Update on the "Summer Glow"

    Last week, I posted that I was attempting to leave behind my pale almost-light-emitting look (as my sister would call it…) for a “summer glow” without sun. My sister and a few readers have been poking me repeatedly (ok, virtual poking but still…) to get an update on it.

    Johnson's Holiday SkinAnyone who knows me will know I’m against tanning and leaving yourself open to skin damage and can rant on about the evils of the sun’s rays for ages. So I tried Johnson’s Holiday Skin.

    Let’s make the distinction right away – The big bottle in the picture is the body moisturiser and the little box, which contains a little bottle, is the face moisturiser. In a nutshell, the big one is good, the little one is bad bad bad!

    The body moisturiser just gives a very light shade to the skin and would probably take a good few layers before making a significant difference. But it also means it’s idiot-proof by being such a faint colour, which makes it great for me.

    The face moisturiser dries the living hell out of your skin, to the point where the skin under my eyes started peeling! It felt like I had two black eyes, and didn’t look much better than that either. I guess it must’ve given me a faint darker glow, but as I didn’t want my face to peel off entirely, I stopped using it after three days. I’m sure someone with less sensitive skin would be fine, but in my case, it just didn’t work!

    I’m sure Jo, my light-emittingly-white sister who gets a gorgeous olive tan as soon as the sun comes out, was hoping I’d say I turned freakishly orange and couldn’t leave the house for three days, but unfortunately for her, it wasn’t that comical 😛

  • You can't buy that kind of advertising

    YouTube‘s been the breeding ground of many 15-seconds-of-fame videos. Some were just bizarre, some were very funny, and others, well… the vast majority, are just dull and you might as well watch paint dry.

    It’s also home to the best brand ambassador I’ve seen in a while. She probably didn’t even realise she was doing it.

    Melody, the 17 year old teen that’s been promoting her home-made videos on YouTube, caused a rise in Logitech’s sales on Amazon.com all by herself by simply explaining her webcam’s features to ‘the world out there’. People have been asking her in her comments about that remarkable cam she has and in one of her posts she explains it’s Logitech’s Quickcam Orbit MP.

    My first thought was that she had been paid in one form or another by Logitech to create the video, but Coolz0r‘s thoughts are that she probably isn’t.

    Well… see for yourself.

    Her story has now been quoted in The Guardian, Clickz, C|Net and Seth Godin‘s blog.

  • Damn, they beat us to it!

    Eva's big boobiesI used to go on to my coworkers about my great advertising ideas, a few of which involved paint, oversized ads and Google Earth (usually after a few pints, they seemed GREAT!)

    But it looks like Maxim magasine has beat me to it by plastering its latest magasine cover in a 75×100 foot poster in the middle of the desert.

  • They've understood good customer service – Part II

    Last month, I mentioned that Audi and John Lewis had impressed me with the quality and simplicity of their customer service.

    4x4We always think of our relationship with insurance companies as complicated, lengthy and generally dull. Of course, you’ve got the likes of “Quote Me Happy” Norwich Union who try to be amusing, but the best we can manage is a smirk at the guy who “ran into a friend and took his hubcaps off”.

    But Seth links to Rich’s “That’s what I’m talking about” post:

    “The short, Americanized version: Guy runs off the road with his Citroen. Files a claim. The insurance company sends him a toy SUV with a note that says he’d enjoy off-roading a bit more in a different sort of vehicle…”

    Brilliant, absolutely brilliant! It’ll make the pill go down easier when his premium goes up massively too…

    Read the entry for yourself here.

  • Mooooooon river

    Sunday night already?

    I spent the weekend at my friend Claire’s cow-themed hen weekend and had a pretty good time. I’m not usually a very outdoorsy person, but it was exhilarating doing high ropes and zip line activities – even though they’re suitable for children and weren’t TOO challenging!

    Might share some of the tamer photos when they become available. Watch this space for some sexy udders!

    Mmmm and now, time to get some sleep. Much much needed sleep.

  • How about that summer glow?

    I’m pasty white, there’s no two way about it, I have no lovely olive skin that tans nicely as soon as the sun peaks out of the clouds.

    So I thought I’d do something about it and bought some of Johnson’s new Holiday Glow moisturiser with a little bit of tanning agent. It’s meant to be minimal enough that clumsy incompetent people like me manage a streak-free look.

    Now this could go three ways. Either I’ll end up with no tan at all, I’ll have a perfect light tan, or I’ll end up day-glo orange. Stay tuned tomorrow for the results of the Johnson’s Holiday Glow Experience!

  • Ten Four things I didn't know this time last week

    I started the list wanting to post 10 items, but I can only think of four. What new useless facts have you learned recently?

    1. I always wondered where Mormons communities were and who they were. Only last week, I realised that the “Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints” long adverts I used to see on TV as a kid were in fact announcing just that, the Mormons.
    2. Google Video offers RSS feeds now, and you can customise them to the types and number of videos you want to get – say the top 10 most popular, or only football-related ones. (Ok it’s been more than a week for this one, but I never got around to posting it.)

      3. Gateau au yaourt

    3. Quite how tasty yogurt cake is – I found this recipe on Clotilde’s blog and thought I’d try it one day I was at home sick, feeling awful but being too bored to just sit around. So I made cake. And I felt much better afterwards! So when you feel ill, bake yourself a cake!
    4. Shellfish such as mussels and oysters are at their best in the months that contain an “R”. In the summer months, they’re breeding and are rather thin on meat and not so tasty.

  • Just bloody stupid!

    Australia TourismMr. Patto highlights the fact that Australia’s new tourism commercial, which has the tag-line “So where the bloody hell are you?”, has so far been modified, restricted or banned in the UK, Canada and now Japan.

    Britain raised the issue over the word “bloody” being used, while Canada got its panties in a knot over the fact that they’ve “poured you a beer”. Puh-lease! Are we really that prude and easily offended? It’s even said by a girl in a bikini, to help the pill go down a bit!

    Ah well, I still love the advert – let’s see if readers love it as much as Delta Goodrem’s “I can sing a rainbow” – and certainly, this year’s Australia advert has a lot more taste than this banned advert.