Birthday Bonanza

This year I decided to make my birthday extra special; five celebrations and a ton of free goodies. I had so much fun getting things for free that I thought I would share, a little early birthday present to all my friends! Generally you just sign up and they email you a coupon, but if you have issues check out where I got all my ideas from here or here (there are a ton of dinner options on the aforementioned sites so check that out also!)

Enjoy!

Booster Juice - free regular sized smoothie!

Sephora - free body wash/shampoo

La Senza - free undies with membership

Quiznos - free combo and cookie

Starbucks - free drink after 1 year membership

Boston Pizza - free starter and pasta or dessert

Williams Fresh Cafe - BOGO value meal

Orange Julius - BOGO 20 oz. Julius or Fruit Smoothie

East Side Marios - free appetizer with entree purchase

Warning!

I love and I hate walking to work in the morning. It feels great to be outside and breath in the fresh air, except that after making the move to Toronto the air isn't fresh anymore.

I was excited to move to Toronto, but what I was most thrilled about was that I could finally walk everywhere I wanted to go. Only when I actually started walking everywhere did I realize that there were so many people who smoked. It feels like each day at least one person blows a puff of smoke directly in my face or flicks a butt in my general direction. I am very happy that Ontario has banned smoking indoors, but we need more. Things are starting to improve; buildings now have designated smoking areas away from doorways, many outdoor public spaces have done the same and on top of that packaging updates may help to further deter smoking.

For 8 years Canada had been working on new warning labels for cigarettes. It was argued that the current labels were stale and had become less shocking to smokers and that a toll-free quit line should be included to help promote change. Since, new labels were unveiled and strict laws about the way cigarettes are displayed have been put in place.

This year the United States will be working to get their new labels ready for Fall of 2012. Progression was stalled by a federal judge earlier this month who argued that the new labels were not factual. Whether or not this is true, smoking is an annoyance and health risk for everyone and it is not fair to compromise the well being of others.

I am hopeful that my generation will help to decrease smoking and that I will have to deal with the invasion on my personal space less and less the longer I live in the city.

Not Cutting It!

The International Energy Agency released its annual World Energy Output this past Wednesday and it doesn't sound good. After reading a couple articles I decided to take a look at the presentation, I was disappointed to see that despite the attention the environment is gaining, it is still not enough.

• Economic concerns have diverted the attention from the energy policy

• CO2 emissions rebounded to a record high

• Energy efficiency for the global economy has worsened for a second straight year

• Spending on oil imports is near record highs

• Rising incomes and population will increase energy needs

• Heavily polluting coal could increase 65% by 2035

I try to do my part, but at times it feels like it makes little difference. While Canada kept it's promises to reduce energy consumption, the savings were over shone by the excessive usage in less developed countries. It is disappointing to see reports like theses, but hopefully the International Energy Agency will be successful in promoting positive change for our global energy consumption.

At The Salon

A couple of Tuesdays ago I decided to stay late at work then head over to the Design Exchange for their first Salon Night. The idea for the evening was that a designer of the DX's choosing would ask another designer if they could interview them, creating live entertainment for the twenty-something people that were in attendance.

At first I found myself a little uncomfortable, I quickly realized that everyone brought a friend with them and that perhaps I should have done the same (worry not, I have a partner lined up for next time). Things quickly changed when the interviewer, Jeremy Vandermeij, started asking the interviewee, Paddy Harrington, a few surface questions.

After learning a bit about Paddy, the questions got a lot more interesting and I pulled out my notebook to jot down a few things. I would fancy up my scribbles but it seems that Raylene Knutson from the Toronto Standard has already done a much better job of it, check out this link for a fantastic recap of the evening!

Menacing Plagues

"Advertising helps to keep the masses dissatisfied with their mode of life, discontented with ugly things around them," reported an advertising trade journal in the late forties. "Satisfied customers are not as profitable as discontented ones." (Heller)

I find it amazing that in the late forties advertisers realized that insecurity-marketing would prevail. By turning body odor, bad breath and acne into plague like issues, they convinced the masses that it was imperative to deal with these common nuisances.

This is still the case over sixty years later and it seems like things are getting worse. In addition to hygiene, we all must have expensive clothes, clear skin, a perfect body and of course the latest in electronics. I realize that technology has significantly advanced my field and I am very grateful that I am not using tech pens and illustration boards, but at the same time I, along with my parents generation, wonder if technology is taking things in the wrong direction. We now have to be insecure about having the right phone, computer and tablet, not to mention maintaining cars and houses.

The costs are adding up and sometimes I think I would have preferred to have been born 50 years earlier when there weren't so many things to buy to keep up with the Joneses.

Missing the Movement

For the past month I have been hearing a lot about the Occupy WallStreet movement online, especially through social media. I didn't realize that the idea was first brought up by Adbusters mid-July or that it was gaining such momentum until I looked into it further this weekend.

The Occupy Wall Street website states that, "Occupy Wall Street is a leaderless resistance movement with people of many colors, genders and political persuasions. The one thing we all have in common is that We Are The 99% that will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1%. We are using the revolutionary Arab Spring tactic to achieve our ends and encourage the use of nonviolence to maximize the safety of all participants."

One of the most recent speakers was Slavoj Zizek, he spoke about North America's lack of dreaming, the issues with the system and the need for patience. Below I have summarized what I found most interesting from his visit.

In China the government prohibited all stories that contain alternate reality or time travel, this shows that citizens still dream about alternatives and that there is a need for prohibition. In the United States there is no need to prohibit such things as the ruling system has suppressed the capacity to dream. It seems that we have all the freedoms we want but are missing the language to articulate the extent of the current non-freedom.

The biggest threat to the movement is that when everyone goes back to normal life there will be no changes. That down the road, protesters will meet up yearly to remember the nice time they had, not the changes they have experienced.

It is imperative to think about alternatives, we know we are not living in the best possible world, but after understanding what we don't want, we need to figure out what we do want. One of Zizek's final points was that people often desire something but do not really want it. Citizens need to really want what they desire to make a significant change.

"We don't want higher standards of living. We want better standards of living."

Amateur

Today at an interview I was told I was going to continue being an amateur until I was paid for the work I was doing. The interviewer did not mean it in a mean, "you are such an amateur" way, but more in a, "you should be getting paid" sort of manner. While I agree, I love the work I have been able to do as an intern, making it all worthwhile to me.

I bring all of this up because of an article I came across today. In simple terms Karen Howe, of Due North Communications, gives advice on how to get hired for the first time. Below are some excerpts from the article that I found especially pertinent.

Advertising is one tough business. Anyone who’s survived it has the scars to prove it. The only thing tougher is breaking into it.

Let’s start with your work. It has to be spectacular. You need to rise above this year’s flood of graduates. Once you land somewhere that trajectory needs to continue.

If you are a writer, show copy.

If you’re an art director, know more fonts than Helvetica.

Have range.

Attack on all fronts, the phone is not enough. In emails, be charming, brief and professional.

If you can’t get in to see the CD, interview with anyone who is willing to spare you the time. It gives you experience interviewing. It gives you feedback on your work. And it just might give you a back door into the place.

You hooked an interview. Now what? Confirm your appointment the day before, then show up on time.

What I took away from the article was to be persistent and organized. Working hard and meeting with as many people possible is bound to lead to a great junior job.