It’s all in the marketing

I’d heard about CraigsList, a web based classified site a long time ago, but had never used it until a few months ago when I was reintroduced to it by a friend.  It’s kind of interesting, and available for most major locations around the world.

I actually managed to find the house we’re living in (rented) via a listing on CraigsList, so I can certainly recommend it.

My personal favourite is the “FREE” section.  The amount of weird stuff on this is unbelievable, sometimes the humour is based purely in what is being offered.  Personally I think the time invested in advertising a half empty bottle of eyedrops far outweighs the benefit of not having to throw it out, and I kid you not.  Someone actually advertised eyedrops.  As if anyone would want someone else’s eyedrops.  EWWW GROSS!!

Moving on…  I stumbled across one this evening, for a free item that’s available in Redmond, the very same suburb that Mark works in.  As CraigsList ad’s expire, I’ve copied it below for you.

I thought it amusing and quirky.  Enjoy!

Old-Fashioned Milk Bottles

Date: 2007-06-24, 4:45PM PDT
I have four crates of five old-fashioned milk bottles. You can:
-Fill them with milk and then drink it!
-Use them as vases!
-Break the bottom off of one and use it in a barroom brawl!
-Glue stuff to them and call it art!
-Melt them and remold them into the shape of your choosing!
-Do a little milkman-themed role-playing with your significant other!
-Fill them with milk and then not drink it!
-Do a little milkman-themed role-playing with me! (Attractive women only, please.)
-Drill finger holes in one and play it like a flute!
All other uses are strictly prohibited. However, this strict prohibition is very laxly enforced, so in practice you can do whatever you want with them. Except bring them back to me! Unless it’s for the milkman thing!

Sky high

What a day it’s been today.  It started off grey, wet and miserable, but as the day progressed the weather improved, then got bad, then improved, then got bad, then improved, then got bad…  Finally, as I type this, it’s nice again.

The day started off with breakfast at a local cafe a short walk from the hotel, and then it was off to the Capilano Suspension Bridge, a cable bridge across a valley and river.  Absolutely brilliant it was too.  I took some video footage, and have issued a video dare for my mum, but I won’t be able to upload it, or any photos until we get back to Seattle.

Next was up the road a ways to Grouse Mountain, where we took the SkyRide to the summit before catching a Lumberjack Show, seeing two cute (but I’d not want to be on the same side of the fence with them) Grizzly Bears, and some timber wolves.  We had lunch on the mountain, had a good walk around, took more photos and footage, and then tried to head back.

That’s when the weather got us.  Just as we were about to board the cable car again to descend the mountain a storm hit, and the SkyRide was closed down; otherwise known as “Put on Weather watch”.  Of course the weather being the weather, you can’t guess how long it’ll last.  So we waited patiently in the queue for almost 40 minutes before finally being able to descend the mountain again.

Once down, it was another drive across town to have dinner at the Vancouver Stone Grill, a restaurant where your food is served to you pretty much raw, on a volcanic rock that has been heated to around 400 degrees Celsius (if you want imperial measurements, work them out yourself 😛  I’m back in the land of metric – yay!), you slice the meat yourself and cook it to your own requirements.  Yummy and fun.  One word of warning (and I didn’t do it, but I imagine that it’d hurt)…  DO NOT TOUCH THE ROCK!  Of course, it’s almost completely irresistible to not try and re-cook everything that’s on your plate, vegetables, bits of ice, whatever is available really.  *laugh*

So that’s it, the day in a nutshell…  Certainly a much briefer version of what actually happened.  But when I get back I promise I’ll upload some footage and photos for you all.

Oh, and I’ve decided that Vancouver is in my top 3 favourite places to be.

1. Melbourne
2. Perth
3. Vancouver

This may change, but for now, I’m loving it here much more than where I’m currently living.  Strange though, everyone here understands me perfectly, but I have a 1 second “language lag” understanding them.

Ahhh and today’s quote from one of the lumberjacks.  “I’m not crazy, I’m Canadian!”

Hooroo!