Filed under: Children, Fuel My Blog, Fuelmyblog, Internet, Kids, Life, News, Parenting, Shameless Self Promotion, Stupid, Stupidity, World
The following is an excerpt from my Tips for Parents feature at the Fuelmyblog blog. Each Saturday, I participate there by writing the feature offering parents tips for keeping up with what their kids might be doing online.
Because this week’s feature dealt with a relatively new phenomenon, I thought I’d share an excerpt here. To read the rest of the article, or the many other wonderful articles by fellow fuelers… visit the fuelmyblog blog.
It’s six o’clock and you do know where your child is. He’s at the computer, playing some online game or talking with friends. You’re sure that he’s safe because after all, he’s home. What could be wrong with that? Sure… there are bad people on the internet, everyone knows that by now. You don’t have to worry about all that stuff you’ve heard about and read about and watched on tv; your child just talks to friends online, maybe plays some games. You know this because you’ve checked and you never see him at bad sites.
But what is he talking about with those friends?
In a report published June 29, 2007, at the Telegraph website, Richard Savill reports that one of the newest trends happening, is something called “fight clubbing” wherein youth organize fights with each other over the internet. The fighting takes place in person… it’s the orchestration that takes place online.
- “Plans for separate organized fights in at least two towns, one of which involved 30 youngsters armed with a variety of weapons, have prompted police to warn about the dangers.
- The craze has apparently been named after the 1999 film staring Brad Pitt and Helena Bonham Carter in which men arranged to pummel the living daylights out of each another through a secret club.The film provoked criticism because it presented violence as a seductive “lifestyle choice” for young men.”
Continue reading the article at the fuelmyblog blog.
Filed under: Canada, Entertainment, Food, Lists, Meme, Opinions, Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Travel, World
Yoo hoo, Mark… I’m finally doing the restaurant meme. Poo. He fainted. Well get that man some smelling salts and let’s get down to business, I, like Uma Thurman, am in a hurry to get out of this box I’ve stupidly gotten myself into.
This one’s originally by Chronicles of Nicole, and comes to us all the way from Sydney, Australia.
1. Add a direct link to your post below the name of the person who tagged you. Include the city/state and country you’re in.
(For those using WordPress.com, if you just copy and paste this list into the visual editor, the links will come through and save you loads of time.)
Nicole (Sydney, Australia)
velverse (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)
LB (San Giovanni in Marignano, Italy)
Selba (Jakarta, Indonesia)
Olivia (London, England)
ML (Utah, USA)
Lotus (Toronto, Canada)
tanabata (Saitama, Japan)
Andi (Dallas [ish], Texas, United States)
Todd (Louisville, Kentucky, United States)
miss kendra (los angeles, california, u.s.a)
Jiggs Casey (Berkeley, CA, USA! USA! USA!)
Tits McGee (New England, USA)
Joe (NE Tennessee, USA)
10K Monkeys (Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA)
Big Stupid Tommy (Athens, Tennessee, USA)
Newscoma (Weakley County, Tennessee, USA)
Russ McBee (Knoxville, Tennessee, USA)
Atomictumor Mrs Eaves (Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA)
Oh Really? LissaKay (Oak Ridge, TN, USA)
Mark Steel blogitude.com (Knoxville, TN, USA)
Fracas (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada)
2. List out your top 5 favorite places to eat at your location.
My Place – Having worked in the industry for many years in my day… I’m really picky about where I think is worth going out to. Most often, I prefer to eat at home. I’m a good cook (though the food part of the meal doesn’t thrill me to make, I make kick-ass desserts) and food is often better (and cheaper) at home. However, I don’t want all of you while travelling, to show up at my home so I’m going to give you five places in Saskatoon where you can get a good meal.
The Saskatoon Station Place - (Description taken from their website) Dining at the Saskatoon Station Place is a historical step into the past where people from all over the world have come to enjoy our hospitality, as well as our fantastic cuisine created by our Master Chefs! The doors were first opened in November of 1984 by the Arvanitis Brothers, who created the thematic railroad concept of this unique and stylish establishment. The entire design of the building and dining cars dates back to the early 1800’s. You will notice throughout the restaurant a number of priceless heirlooms that a renowned antique dealer from Toronto collected over a six year period.
You must view the website and enjoy the photo gallery that displays for you while relaxing Greek music plays in the background. While it is known as a Prime Rib and Steakhouse, if you go, you should try something from their Greek cuisine offerings. Beautiful atmosphere, good food.
The Keg - The Keg is a great steakhouse to visit if you want a steakhouse kind of meal. The Saskatoon location is currently in the location of a former “finer dining” type of establishment that didn’t survive, so the decor and atmosphere reflect that fact. If you go on a Saturday night, without reservations, be prepared to spend considerable time in the lounge drinking your appetizers while you wait for a table. While they sing the praises of their Prime Rib, I happened to enjoy a fine steak encrusted with peppercorns and pecans, topped with a goat cheese filling and drizzled with a red wine sauce. It was delicious. The Saskatoon.com page for The Keg Steakhouse is here.
The Berry Barn - A seasonal business, The Berry Barn offers U-Pick berries, craft shop, restaurant, greenhouse and an area for functions such as weddings and banquets. It’s simply beautiful. In fact, just behind the building is a lovely walk down to the riverbank, where fracas happened to take this lovely photo available on the images page right here at fracas. This is a location that everyone coming to Saskatoon usually stops at at least once, whether it’s for a meal, to have a slice of Saskatoon Berry pie, or to purchase something wonderful from the craft and gift shop that has everything from, well… crafts and gifts, to every kind of yummy product able to be created from a berry.
The Cave Restaurant - The Cave might as well be a landmark. Everyone has eaten there at some point or another. The restaurant is designed to look like the inside of a cave, the placemats bear the floor plans so you don’t get lost on your way to the loo. The food is an assortment of Greek and Canadian Cuisine, and if you’re going to have Baklava for dessert, there’s nowhere else to have it than there. The website is not complete yet, but you can check out more information on it by visiting the Saskatoon.com page for the adjacent lounge, known as The Cavern Lounge.
Manos on 8th - Manos is casual dining with great food. We were out with friends for something light in the evening after a show that caused us to miss dinner, and so ordered from the appetizers and salads. We may as well have been ordering a meal. The Bruschetta was huge, totally awesome and so loaded with really great filling that it was indeed, a meal. If you love a Greek salad but long for more stuff and less lettuce, order Mediterranean Salad instead as it has no lettuce. Reminiscent of a Greek Village Salad I had at another restaurant long ago, it’s just the ticket if you want to experience a salad even a man can praise. The restaurant offers a display of natural honey products, produced locally. I can tell you, you haven’t had honey until you’ve tried theirs. Their Saskatoon.com page is here.
Addendum: For more restaurant listings in Saskatoon, visit the Tourism Saskatoon alphabetical listing, this food.ca page, or even the Saskatoon.com site!
Happy Eating!
3. Tag 5 Others
Ok, I wasn’t going to actually tag anyone, asking people to volunteer to participate but then, I visited the originator… Chronicles of Nicole, and changed my mind. She takes the time to update a page where she maintains the list of all the participants, tells a bit about them, and categorizes them by country, making it truly, a great list to aid those who might be travelling. Woohoo Nicole. She also tracks how many of the tags from each participant, went on to particpate. What a gal! If for no reason other than she deserves support for her efforts, I’m tagging people. Before you decide not to do the meme, go to her site and see if that doesn’t change your mind about tagging 5 people too!
So, I am trying to tag people that live in differing locations so as to keep this interesting:
1. Princesse Ecossaise from La Belle Saison
2. Sid from Sid in the City
3. JerseyChick from Daily Drudge
4. Sulz from Bloggerdygook
5. Judy from Sugar Queen’s Dream
Filed under: Blogging, Celebrate, Cheer, Family, Friends, Fun, Gifts, Health, Humanity, Life, Lists, Meme, Milestones, Miracles, Notables, Personal, Preemies, Red Bra Diaries, Red Shoe Diaries, Relationships, Women
Judy (aka Sugar Queen) awarded me with the Rockin Girl Blogger award a couple of days ago. I posted my thanks and placed it under “awards” in the sidebar. I didn’t realize I was supposed to tag five more people with it.
So you can dress me up in hot shoes and hot bras… but you can’t take me out. I’m blonde; I’m a few fries short of a happy meal. I’m sorry. It was selfish of me to think I wouldn’t have to give something back. Now… I promised to bait and pay you off with hot shoes and bras and I think I should cough up a shoe or a bra (well no, not literally you silly nut) , and so I shall. That’s not what I mean by giving something back though.
I am bestowing the Rockin’ Girl Blogger award on the following five people. I’ll try to make sure I don’t hand it over to someone who’s already got one. If I err, please don’t feel obligated to do the meme again. I don’t want to be the cause of anyone else’s descent into meme hell.
1. Joey
Joey is Rockin’ because she surpassed me in hits and ranking some time ago, yet has not once come over to post a nyaa, nyaa, nyaa nyaa nyaa about it. Oh. She’s also a girl. In order to please the masses, honor my promises and make Joey laugh, Joey gets a bra from fracas.
2. Rootietoot
Rootie is Rockin’ because she gives the best damn advice to so many different people, that she should 
bloody well hang up a shingle somewhere or get a radio show or something like that. She also doesn’t seem to know how fraccing awesome she is so that makes it even more fraccing awesome. Yeah.. you probably figured it out that Rootie’s a girl too.
Rootie’s going to get a new hip and so to celebrate that new hip later, Rootie gets shoes from fracas.
3. Skywindows
Skywindows is Rockin’ because she handles that which would render most of us to a quivering pile of jello. She’s there for her kids, her husband, her friends and her extended family and it’s no wonder brahnamin tells people she’s pretty perfect. Yeah, yeah… she’s obviously a girl.
Skywindows probably does more for everyone else and so fracas gives Sky a really hot bra, ’cause she deserves it and ’cause I know I’m making two people happy with one bra.
4. LindaC
Linda is Rockin’ not just because she’s the fraccy family (though that certainly is a good reason) but because she’s accomplished so much on her own, starting from scratch at a time in her life when lots of women would give up (and make excuses for why everyone else should take care of 
them) and because she’s got the biggest heart a sister could wish her sister to have. If there’s family or a friend in need of help, you can bet she’ll have her candle in the window and an email sent to offer you whatever she can do. Ok.. clearly, she’s a girl. I bet you can figure out that all the five taggees are female.
This is one of those times where a little sister gets to boss the big sister around and so Linda gets a hot bra too!
And last (for this meme) but certainly not the least….
5. Korrina
Korrina is my niece, the daughter of another fraccy family member who although is pretty Rockin’ herself (as is Aussiebabe – yet another fraccy family member) just doesn’t blog. Korrina is Rockin’ for way more reasons than just being my family. Korrina is Rockin’ because once upon a time, 
I wrote about her facing something most of us will never have to, and over the course of the past eight months, she’s shown everyone what it means to have strength. In her own words:
“You see when our girls were born at 25 weeks gestation (40 is normal), we were told they were going to die. When they didn’t we were told that the chances of them living a normal life was 0%. We were told that they would never walk or talk etc. We chose to believe in our girls and they are doing wonderfully. 
Kassie is a normal 13 week old baby doing everything a 13 weeker should be. Lena is a little behind but she has good reason. At the end of March she was diagnosed with hydrocephalus and had to undergo painful surgery to place a shunt in her head. She has recovered well but the stress of the illness and the surgery have caused some delays. I am glad to report that she is doing remarkably well and is making leaps and bounds daily.”
Korrina is a Rockin’ Girl Blogger. I couldn’t possibly just give Korrina a bra or some shoes though. Korrina, as I said in my own post, gave me something when I was delivering my youngest. She was in the delivery room to be responsible for my oldest son (9 at the time) who wanted to be present. 
Korrina gave our family something very precious and there’s just no way that she should get anything less than angel wings.
On a cold day last winter, I delivered to Ronald McDonald House, the book of hope built from the pdf Linda created from all the links and information she and I spent hours finding. We told her that someday, she will be able to pass that hope on to someone else who will be feeling the same desperation as she and her husband (and my sis and her family) were.
Miracles do happen.
God Bless all the Rockin’ Girl Bloggers!
Filed under: Blogging, Bras, Britney Spears, Discipline, Entertainment, Friends, Humor, Lists, Meme, Paris Hilton, Red Bra Diaries, Red Shoe Diaries, Shameless Self Promotion, Shoes, Stupidity, Uproars, Video, Who Cares, YouTube, lol cats, lolcats
I am awash in memes. I’m so full of memes that I can’t even think about posting any derogatory posts about how I don’t believe a word of the crap silly banter Paris Hilton spewed all over Larry King; can’t imagine having time to look for more crotch shots of anyone or edit the airbrushed heads off of a slew of really hot bra pictures to post another entry into the Red Bra Diaries. Or the Red Shoe Diaries for that matter… although those don’t need heads cropped so maybe I will post a shoe or two.
But alas, I have realized that unless I get to some of these memes now, I’m in real danger of ending up on someone’s hit list.
The evidence:
1. I still owe Mark a restaurant Meme.
2. Diogenes asked me to do one a while back… do you think I can find it now? (Cue wet noodle lashes…)
3. I just realized (because I saw it at The Kat House and though Kat didn’t tag me, Judy did give me the award, only I didn’t realize part of the award was to give it to five others) I didn’t pass on the Rockin’ Girl Blogger Award and so need to do that one.
4. Bluepaintred tagged me again for this meme, and though her post includes the Rockin Girl Blogger Award, the meme questions are different and so I don’t think I should count it as the same as the meme from Judy.
5. Bill Blunt tagged me with the 8 things about me meme.
6. As did Kendall also tag me for the “8 things about me meme. I guess this time I can link them both and 
kill two birds with one stone. No offense to Bill or Kendall… I don’t mean it literally, and besides that, neither of you could be considered a bird. If you were women, perhaps the “chick” thing could be stretched into making the bird thing legitimate, but still… I wouldn’t use a stone anyway, I’m smart enough to use a more efficient weapon.
I’m kidding.
Then there’s the fact I did promise to answer the “Questions for Canadians” offered up by newHoosier, although that one isn’t technically a meme. I’m thinking that the post I started, which is sitting in draft right now, will be great to post on Canada Day – July 1. But 
still…
I am in meme hell and the lesson to everyone is that when tagged… just do the meme right away. Otherwise, the meme will multiply faster than a rabbit Britney Spears without a record deal, and you too, will be in serious meme hell.
And trust me, meme hell is a place you don’t want to be. It will keep you awake at night, keep you from your children and cause your hair to fall out in huge chunks.
Wait.. that’s not meme hell, that’s also Britney Spears.
Whatever. As for me…
Though I feel a little like Uma Thurman in the pine box in the ground in that Kill Bill movie, I, like she, plan to hack my way out of the box with nothing but my bare hands and determination.
I shall be spewing the meme effluent shortly. You may feel free to either look forward to it and come back repeatedly in anticipation of my answers (thereby pimping my hit counter with your eagerness) or take this as a warning to dive into the nearest foxhole and wait it out.
But I hope it’s the former, since I’ll probably bait and pay you off with amusing photos, shoes and bras.
In the meanwhile, please enjoy this remix of Mrs. Fletcher’s tragic fall.
