Wow. I bet the Edmonton Tourism Bureau could really use a mind like yours! "Come to Edmonton -- At Least We Stink Less Than America!" I mean, I kind of wish I lived in the equivalent of a naked, parasitic wino. I would NEVER LEAVE, if I were you. Meany - website of choice 2006-02-01 05:29:09

When you say, "The trees are holding up convenience stores," I picture 7-11s and Cumberland Farmses propped up against evergreens. golfwidow - website of choice 2006-02-01 07:51:35

i've always been suspicious of trees. ever since they were mean and threw apples at dorothy. dom - website of choice 2006-02-01 09:34:03

Oh sure, golfwidow, it's all fun, games and giggle joke time - until the wood strikes! And then the trees shall laugh and laugh and laugh last. Just you watch. Smoog - website of choice 2006-02-01 14:06:23

oh, Edmonton! in Canada? now i remember where i've heard of it. at work here, we have a branch in Edmonton and sometimes we have to travel to the branches for work, so whenever someone wants to make a threat, we jokingly say "We'll send you up to Edmonton in winter!" now i know why no one wants to go there... the trees! dom - website of choice 2006-02-01 16:30:16

Yeah, I can read about bloodshed and serial killers till my eyes ooze out of my head, but if I have no access to water, I COMPLETELY FLIPPIN' FREAK OUT. People? They are merely tolerated. Some I hate less than others. Ok...I've got my water bottle beside me. And I think there's an old popsicle in the freezer. Now: Tell me more about those flying kindergartners. Wait! Don't forget to explain the bus explosion first, in graphic detail. (Make up stuff! Lie! Embellish! That's the quickest way for whitey to get on Oprah. I'm in the midst of penning my memoir: Poor Black Slave, Presidential Whore: Serving Up Pancakes and Jungle Love in the Jefferson Administration. Yes, I should've died a LONG TIME ago, but Doubleday never checks facts! Sweet. They already offered me a contract for a second book! Halo Askew - website of choice 2006-02-01 20:44:21

So what does poofy mean in Edmonton? I ask merely for information, because where I come from a poof is a gay person. Not that there's anything wrong with that (shameless Seinfeld reference). Ben - website of choice 2006-02-02 05:25:09

I have the great good fortune of coming from a cultural background where all meanings of poof are in play. Therefore, the down-filled winter coat is both gay and big and fluffy-like. It's a blessing, really. Smoog - website of choice 2006-02-02 10:02:04

My town is exactly the same. Random unidentifiable piles of whattyouwill everywhere. ESPECIALLY around the mall...the husks of shoppers who lost their souls in the clearance isle of Target, perhaps? MATTY! - website of choice 2006-02-02 16:23:41

Well that is handy. Ben - website of choice 2006-02-03 04:00:21

here are two more thumbs up for you, from someone who lived in Monterey, CA and smelled the fish on Cannery Row (but loved every minute of it, especially the pillow theatre even if it's not there any more)... I find myself making the rounds of the Diaryland elite today and your name came up on the trail... gold stars and shiney things all around it, too... yay you, hope it gets warmer soon :) candoor - website of choice 2006-02-03 18:03:21

Garbage is so popular in Italy that in this period, Carnival, you can see it walking along the calle and in Piazza San Marco. Paula - website of choice 2006-02-05 04:27:46

Hey Smoog! Where are ya?! Didja get buried in that garbage? Hmmm, Zen Rubbish...interesting concept :) Rae - website of choice 2006-02-18 12:42:09