Here comes the bride...

"Weddings! I love weddings! Drinks all around!"

A big congrats to the happy couple! What a morning for them. I cant imagine what it felt like to drive down the street, to stand on the balcony in front of what was I'm sure, a million people. All there to see just you. Totally incredible.
What has got me curious though, is not the dress, or the shoes, or the flowers....but its the very strong influence of Christianity in the wedding ceremony. Yes, it was a traditional Anglican wedding ceremony, but I can't help but wonder if there was one soul in that church that really believe what the were hearing, singing, or declaring for the world to hear. I pray that at least the bride and groom were listening. At least a handful of times the name of Jesus Christ was mentioned as well as the gospel message...I wonder if anyone was touched by the Truth of the words? The ceremony, I felt, was rather anti-climatic and a bit dreary, but it also impressed upon me the very seriousness of marriage. Something I feel the world has drastically downplayed over the years. Anyways I hope they will have an amazing, memorable life together.

On to more thrilling things like...well normal life, specifically mine. Today is Day 3 since I was laid off. I have spent it very idle, if you must know, hardly being productive at all. I did decide that the cost of getting fake tanning is absolutely ridiculous! Now normally I don't consider doing this sort of thing, (have you seen the beds? talk about claustrophobic! Not to mention all those creepy lights 'shudder'). Check this one out, its called a Starship?? Now that just makes me nervous...Anyways, I must give in eventually for I am to be a part of me dear cousins beautiful wedding, as one of her bridesmaids. And since my dress is beige, a bit of colour is, I'm told, a must. What we do for those we love eh?

So other than that not so significant information, you will be pleased to know (well, maybe, but you probably don't really care all that much) that I have been productive on a different front. I have made use of my home bound state by completing my EI application (which hopefully I wont need), updating my resume and applying to two jobs! Yay, go me! For those of you who don't know, I am a notorious procrastinator, so this is a HUGE feat for moi. I applied to Abbotsford's Park division of the Parks, Recreation and Culture department and to Census Canada. So we'll see what comes of it.

Now that is all I want to write at the moment as I have so much to do (yes, I actually do). Since I wasted the morning away watching Kate and Williams nuptials, I know have only a few hours to clean the house and pack for me weekend get away with my girlfriends! Woot! Look out Birch Bay here we come!

Until next time, I bid you adieu.

It may seem common knowledge...

So, the other day one who will remain unnamed suggested to me that pizza did not in fact come from Italy, but Mexico. Well, this seemed slightly absurd to me so I decided to look it up. Enter Google! ....well we can all be relieved that I could find no reference about pizza originating in Mexico, and that the most consistant evidence is that pizza did originate in Italy as a flat bread, mostly eaten by peasants, with tomatos and cheese. (ha! so there 'one who will remain unamed'!) Then along comes the King of Italy and his wife Margherita of Savoy. Now the story gets rather fuzzy here, as each website seems to have their own twist. Some say the King would disguise himself as a commoner so that he could sneak in the poor neighborhood of Naples to 'sink his teeth into a food the queen banned from the royal court', others say the King and Queen were on a tour of the country, and the Queen enjoyed the pizza treat so much she had chef Rafaelle Esposito summoned to make a selection of pizzas for her. Esposito decideds to honour the queen with a patriotic pizza topped with red tomatos, green basil leaves and white mozerella cheese to represent the Italian flag, thus naming it Pizza Margherita, which is still popular in Italy to this day.

Now that is just one of the stories on the origins. I read that pizza could have gone all the way back to the Roman times! But I will choose to say that it came from and was perfected by Italy... maybe Greece too. Here are the sites I used: Wikepedia and YourDictionary

Hope you were enlightened :)

Sometimes little surprises aren't fun...

Aaahhhkkkk!! There was a spider in the candy dish this morning!! I was about to refill it and then I saw a fluff or something and went to remove it went it MOVED!! I almost freaked, but I couldn't because I had just answered the phone, so I was forced to swallow my squeal of fright which caused my whole body to shudder and twitch with a case of serious hebegebes. Fun fact, when I googled 'hebigebis' (which i did to get the right spelling for the above feeling), it found this "What Does the Hebegebes mean? by ChaCha Answers" Definition: The heebie jeebies is a feeling of minor fright, anxiety, nervousness or apprehension. So I thought that was pretty great and proved that you can find everything on Google! lol Did you know that yesterday was apparently (according to Google) the Ice Cream Sundae's 119th Birthday? To celebrate accordingly, our family brought out the ice cream with all the trimmings (bananas, chocolate, pecans, syrup, strawberry's, etc) and had sundae's on Sunday on the Sundae's birthday. Yes they were delicious, thanks for asking. Now I'm at work and though the phones are pretty busy, I can't seem to get Sundae's off the brain. So, I googled. One would never think such a debate surrounded this delightful little dish! Did you know there were legal battles between two cities over the claim to the first sundae? Ya, for serious! Two Rivers, Wisconsin claims the first sundae was served by accident in 1881 while Ithaca, New York claims to be the birthplace in 1892. Both have similar stories in my opinion. Apparently back then it was "unrighteous" to have ice cream sodas and the clergy actually preached against what they called "sucking soda" on the Sabbath. I'm not even kidding! So to compromise, on Sundays, a person would simply have a bowl of ice cream. In both cities, the owner of the Ice Cream parlor or one of their friends spontaneously suggested putting chocolate syrup over the ice cream to mix it up a bit and voila! The special Sunday only treat become a favourite of both young and old. Shopkeepers even decided to sell it in the weekdays as the demand for the confection became insistent. The official name came when a glassware salesman placed an order for the canoe-shaped dishes under 'Sundae dishes'. Thus was born the ICE CREAM SUNDAE we are so fond of today. I could write more details, and describe a rather hilarious but legit letter from Two Rivers' City Council formally challenging Ithaca, New York's claim to be the 'Birthplace of the Ice Cream Sundae' but I grow weary of typing, I leave it to you to read for yourself if you so desire. Click here for the website.

Man's Fascination, and yet...

Albino. This anomaly was on my mind so I Googled it and found some pretty cool pictures of some pure white animals. This occurs in nature more often than I thought. I'm sure you all know this, but I'll give you the definition of it anyway since it is, in fact, my blog. (plus it makes me feel smart :P) So albinism is a hereditary inability to produce the pigment melanin which leaves pale or pink skin, white fur, pinkish or light blue eyes and usually impaired vision. To be albino is so not the greatest thing, though we humans seem to see it as a novelty. In fact, albino animals are often caught and bred for that reason. Which I guess is better for the animal because the chances of an albino animal surviving in the wild is very slim. The biggest disadvantage would be the impaired vision. Apparently melanin has a big part in developing the irises, retinas, eye muscles and optic nerves. The animal has problems with focusing, depth perception and tracking...which it would kinda need, especially if its a predator or say a....bird. Did you know that melanin also helps protect you from the sunlight? Ya, or rather melanomas (clusters of melanin) does. So besides not being able to see and dealing with constant sunburns, with that bright white coat of fur or feathers or skin, all thoughts of camouflage disappear! Oddly enough though, some studies have revealed that sometimes predators will avoid albinos, not even recognizing them as prey to begin with, huh. Very interesting. Oh and studies of birds like ravens, barn swallows and penguins, show that albino birds have trouble winning a mate. In fact they were consistently rejected based on the lack of colours and patterns a mate would rely on to make choices, poor little birdies!! Talk about some serious prejudice! (actually sounds like us humans...hmmm lol). So the outcome of my study is that these creatures are to be pitied, and are a result of a fallen world. I am actually now quite sad for the poor albino animals of the world, especially the ones humans take advantage of (a half blind animal is easier to control). But perhaps what has caused me the most grief this day is an article I came upon regarding the human side of albinism. I was shocked to the core to read this title "Seven new albino killings in Tanzania and Burundi" and my heart sunk even more as I continued to read. Recently a 28 year old woman and her 4 year old son were killed and...actually I don't even want to write what they did and continue to do to these helpless people. I cannot even imagine living in that kinda of terror. Sorry to leave you on a sad note....but sometimes thats just the way it is. Now I'm going to go cry a bit

So the Zipper...

We were just finishing dinner when I happened to glance at my brother staring at the zipper on his hoodie, slowly pulling it up and down. I kinda chuckled a bit at the sight and he looked up with an adorable lopsided grin and said something like "Haven't you ever wondered how a zipper works?" (My brother is 24 and married with 9 month old son.) Gotta love it. Anyways it sparked an interest in my brain and I started to wonder where in the world zippers did in fact came from.

Look at your zipper. See the initials YKK? It stands for Yoshida Kogyo Kabushibibaisha, the world's largest zipper manufacturer, located in.....prize for the winning answer!!

But I get ahead of myself.

It may not come as a surprise that the inventor of the sewing machine, Elias Howe, was the first to tinker with the idea of a what is now called the zipper. He received a patent in 1851 for an 'Automatic, Continuous Clothing Closure', but it wasn't until 4 years later that Mr. Whitcomb Judson began to market a 'Clasp Locker', earning the credit of being the 'Inventor of the Zipper'. Judson's Clasp Locker was a complicated hook-and-eye shoe fastener. He launched the Universal Fastener Company which was devoted to creating this design, brilliant idea that wasn't very popular with the public unfortunately.

Enter Gideon Sundback, a guy with a creepy mustache and mad skills. He got a job at the Universal Fastener Co, becoming head designer and vastly improved Judson's lame design. Sadly his dear wife died which caused him to become obsessed with his work (to deal with his grief I assume) and by 1913 he had designed what is now the modern day zipper, the patent issued in 1917 for the 'Separable Fastener'.

Yet we still don't see the word 'Zipper' anywhere....well I have that fascinating information too. It came from the B.F. Goodrich Company who decided to use the Fastener on a new type of rubber boots and renamed it the 'Zipper', the name has stuck ever since. It took a full 20 years before the zipper graduated from boots and tobacco pouches to the fashion industry, beginning with children's clothing. Here's a fun fact, in a "Battle of the Fly" in 1937 the zipper beat the button! Woot! All thanks to the French apparently. who declared the zipper as the "Newest tailoring idea for men". Among its many virtues was that it was said to exclude "the possibility of unintentional and embarrassing disarray" Obviously, they had not yet discovered the experience of forgetting to zip-up ;)

So there you have it my friends, the history of the Zipper if you ever wanted to know.

All information was gleaned from About.com.Inventors

for lack of anything better...

Alrighty! The much anticipated 2nd post! lol (this ones all for you bananas)

So I have a bit of tragic news. My lovely Starbucks mug has been stolen! Yes, stolen. I left it at church two weeks ago and for multiple reasons, one of which was just plain laziness, I hadn't gone back to find it until this Monday. It was much to my dismay to discover that it was not only not in the Lost and Found, but to find out that it had been there at one point (information secured by the church facility guy, so nice that he remembered my dear mug) and was in fact most likely taken by the less reputable folk that frequent the church and apparently like to go shopping in the church Lost and Found. If only I had come sooner! So, after a brief grieving period of about...2 mins, I zipped off to Starbucks to purchase myself another!! It is most unsettling to not have a trusty mug for ones morning coffee, I know someone understands me.....well maybe I'm just weird then, ah well.

So as luck would have it, low and behold there was an equally beautiful mug at Starbucks to replace the old one. I am very pleased with the outcome of this minor tragedy.

Now, you might be wondering what this has to do with behind the desk....I will tell you. As an avid coffee drinker should understand, ones mug is stuck like glue to ones hand until the drink is consumed (quite the phenomenon I know :P). So I have my mug beside me as go about my morning routine of checking emails, mailing letters...writing my blog, chatting with my co-workers...this new one will have to learn the ropes but I'm positive it will do alright.

Speaking of co-workers, I have to give props to Mr. Roly Patrick who very kindly improved my rather foul mood yesterday morning. This video definitely aided him in this, though I really had no idea what it was at the time, somehow watching Kermit the frog at 8 in the morning tickled my brain. Check it out: Danny Boy

Blooper real...

It all started with YouTube mixed with a serious case of boredom. What started as a very focused search for a specific scene from Pirates of the Carribbean 3 turned into me laughing my face off at the bloopers for said film. Its like Lays chips, you can't just watch one. So in chatting with my best friend and sister, Bananas, who sometimes enjoys my randomness, voila! Mots sont apparus comme vous le voyez!

I am the 'voice' of a distribution company. Actually, I am a receptionist, I like to say admin assistant too but that's just to make me feel a bit better. In the endless hours of answering call after call, none of which are for me, in the most animated cheerful voice that to some is akin to nails on a chalkboard, tends to wear on a person. Giving into insanity or apathy are very real fears. So, I have found various ways to entertain myself and created this blog to document them.

What to expect....well nothing at all, yet so much of everything, except the totally detestable, but not excluding the questionable.

The title mentions behind the desk, so it follows that all posts will be done from work (shhh dont tell the boss). For those who read my nonsensical babbling I hope you will be much entertained with stories of the persons, events and other such random things that are witnessed from behind the desk. I will not be using names, and to save on confusion you will begin to know my characters by their apt nicknames. In like manner I will only be known by my ulter-ego Jerusalem. I used to be schizophrenic but we're okay with that now.

On with the show...