elicitconcepts : the freelance mind of lyndsey mcdonald

Where have you been??

Wednesday, January 7th, 2009

Some of you may have wondered where I’ve disappeared to, while my blog has been over-run by spam comments. Well, the last few month I have been spending a lot of time developing my artistic, creative, and even “crafty” side, and have been pouring my energy into a couple new endeavors. I’ve now opened 2 online shops, one selling funky camera straps and other random handmade fun (http://tanybug.etsy.com), and the other is brand new, selling my art (http://lynseandfancy.etsy.com). I have also been putting all of my energy into a new blog, geared towards art and handmade items, you can check it out at http://inspiredbyhand.blogspot.com.

This blog here will probably remain on the backburner for a couple of more month, but I do plan to bring it back, with a new look and tonnes of cool stuff at some point this year.

So until then, catch you on facebook!

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Go Station Lieing About Parking Lot Thefts

Wednesday, June 25th, 2008

Last week and article appeared in the Toronto Star about Catalytic Converters being stolen out of SUV trucks in GO station parking lots around the GTA. Which, as you can imagine, would be a very big problem for the owner of that vehicle. A GO Station Security Guard was interviewed anonymously, and stated that it was a fact that many vehicles are the victim of theft everyday at GO Station Parking lots across the Toronto Area. A GO PR-type person then stated that the security guard was misinforming people, and that the number of thefts is actually very very small. (I am not going to get into to much detail here and quote numbers, as it is all outlined in the article linked below.)

To people who had had their vehicle broken into, stolen, or vandalized at a GO Station Parking lot, this is like a slap in the face. GO Transit’s stance is to pretend like its not happening, and lie to the public, to make the lots seem safe. My boyfriend Dave’s vehicle(s) has been stolen once, second time broken into, stereo stole, and vehicle damaged so badly it was a write off, and then third time, his brand new vehicle had it’s window smashed out, only for the would-be thieves to find there was nothing inside. All 3 of these incidents happened within about a years time.

Well, Dave decided not to let the first article go unnoticed, as did a few other people. Within a few days, The Star had emails, Dave’s included, and phone calls from angry citizens demanding GO Transit to take a harder look at security at GO Transit parking lots. In response, The Star published a second article with responses from these concerned citizens, and encouraged victims of GO Transit parking lot theft to come forward and the the real numbers become apparent. I urge you to do the same! If we do not speak up, and put some pressure on GO Transit to fix the problem, they will just keep pretending it’s not real.

Read the article and find contact information here:
http://www.thestar.com/GTA/Fixer/article/445821

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Listening to The History of Hip Hop

Monday, April 14th, 2008

I was recently listening to The History of Hip Hop, on The Rub. This is one of the most complete collections showing the evolution of hip hop, year by year, from 1979, ending 20 years later at 1999 (which I think, not-so-coincidentally, is pretty close to the time that Hip Hop died).

This collection is one of the best I have ever heard and will take you back to a time when Hip Hop was full of talent, thoughtful lyrics, and some meaning, unlike this less than innovative trend we’ve been seeing over the past 8-10 years where 90% of hip hop is about bling, hoes, and Diddy-fied commercialism, not to mention that every other new hip hop song sounds exactly the same, and the art of “sampling” has turned into “borrowing” entire songs/tracks. But I digress…

If you haven’t already, check out The Rub, and The History of Hip Hop. My personal favourites are 1997 (it was a good year for the WU!) and ‘94, but really all the surrounding years take me back! (hey, I’m not all that old what can I say) The late 80’s leave me with fewer songs I remember, but definitely worth a listen as you can really see the evolution of hip hop and when a song does come on that you know, nothing beat jamming to the real old school flava! (yes I said flava)

I also found 2 interesting articles that are worth a read, and answer the question, is Hip Hop dead?

Is Hip Hop Really Dead? By DaveyD, San Jose Mercury News
Is Hip Hop Dead? By Walter Dawkins

Posted in Rants, Daily Life | No Comments »

Passage Tattoo

Sunday, March 30th, 2008

It recently came to my attention that my favourite place to get tattooed started their own blog. I’ve been tattooed by Brian (who has moved) and Dave has been tattooed by Lizzie, and my friend Alison has had work done by Tyson. It’s safe to say that any of the artsits at Passage are awesome and they all do great work. If you are thinking of getting a tattoo I suggest you check them out! Check out the new blog: http://passagetattoo.blogspot.com/

My cover up by Brian-

Lizzie’s work on Dave- His first tattoo-

Tyson’s work on Alison-

Posted in Daily Life | 1 Comment »

Are there Magic Mushrooms in my Rice Krispies!?!

Tuesday, January 29th, 2008

After a particularly trying day at work, followed by some horrible customer service at the gym, I got home feeling completely defeated and quite frankly ready to curl up in the fetal position and start rocking back and forth like crazy people do. First though, I needed dinner. As those of you who know me know, I often eat cereal for dinner, so the highlight of this day was shaping up to be the new Vanilla Rice Krispies I bought last night, and dreamt about all day. (I love rice Krispies, I love vanilla, how could I go wrong?)

So I get home all in a tizzy, as my mom would say, and start thinking about the blog I am going to write, ranting about the do’s and don’t of customer service, when I pull out the box of Rice Krispies, and what I see makes me start laughing. And laughing. and laughing. In fact, laughing uncontrolably, much the same as a crazy person might actually do. However, I do think this was worth a laugh; See, right on the box of rice Krispies, there is POP, holding what looks to me like nothing else then a magic mushroom.

Am I the only person who see’s this?

vanilla rice krispies

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Long overdue - An update!

Friday, January 4th, 2008

It’s been quite a while since I wrote my last blog post. I have been insanely busy between the holidays, starting a new job, travelling to Wisconsin for said job, and of course, snowboarding. These are all very exciting things, I just haven’t had a chance to blog about them, so here’s a shortened recap of all of the above!

December 10th I started a new job at Kaboose Inc., working on Two Peas in a Bucket. I will be doing a lot of graphic work and UI design and advertising support. It’s a pretty exciting opportunity for me and I am really looking forward to learning a tonne of stuff and growing my skill set. Second week on the job I had the opportunity to fly down to Madison, Wisconsin to meet the rest of my team, and thier big giant dogs! Everyone on my team brings a unique set of skills and knowledge to the table so I am really looking forward to working from everyone!

After 2 weeks on the new job, it was Holiday Time! Here is the new ornament I bought for my tree this year, I love it!:

Pig Christmas Decoration

Christmas is an awesome time of year and this year was no exception! I got to spend some nice relaxing time with family and friends, with lots of food, wine, rest, and of course, guitar hero! (I don’t think I know anyone who wasn’t talking about guitar hero this holiday season! I think every family spent Christmas eve surrounding the TV while one relative or another went crazy with the whammy bar! I know I did!) Here are some pictures from family-time:

Me and my sister. I think I’ve found my next pair of snowboarding goggles-

Grandpa sleeping-

Baby Aiden-

Dave and Aiden-

Baby Sean -

Colton, Drew, Jaxon-

If you want to see all of the family Christmas photos you can view theme here.

Speaking of Christmas, Santa brought me a very exciting present this year - a new snowboard!

So, New Years Day Dave and I went up to Blue Mountain and met up with Alison and Matt. After at least a foot of fresh powder dropping on us New years eve, I have never seen such awesome riding conditions here in Ontario. The conditions, along with my new board (which by the way, has turned snowboarding into a whole new sport for me) made for the best riding day I have ever had. (even though I said that in my last post haha)

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Yummy Yummy Banana Bread

Monday, November 12th, 2007

If you know me, you know cooking, baking, or most any form of food making is not really one of my strongest abilities, to say the least. Once and a while though I do alright! This delicious banana bread I made the other day was one such occaision. It’s not your traditional banana bread, and I think it seems to change some of the ingrdients for lower fat options, so it may be slightly…healthier?

Here’s the recipe, I suggest you try it:

2-3 Bananas, mashed up
1/4 cup of honey
1.5 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup of vanilla yogurt
2 tbls vegetable oil
1.5 cup flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
cinnimon

-Preheat oven to 350 F
-Lightly grease 4″ x 8″ loaf pan (use Pam to keep the fat down!)
-In a large bowl mash the bananas, add the honey, vanilla, sugar, yogurt and oil. Mix together.
-Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon
- Fold the dry ingredients into the wet mixture, until just combined
-Pour into pan and bake (recipe said 40-50 mins, mine seemed to take about 55-60 mins.)

And Ta Da-
Banana Bread

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Vacation extrodinaire a la Mehico!

Monday, October 29th, 2007

Dave and I just returned from an amazing trip in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. We had an amazing time and loved every minute of it! We did some snorkeling, some hiking (almost getting lost in a remote village with no road access), some shopping, and lots of swimming, relaxing, eating, and of course, drinking!

I took hundreds of photos, literally, so here are a few of my favourites, and below you will find 2 links to the albums on photobucket.

View all the photos here:

Album 1

Album 2

Posted in Photos, Daily Life | 1 Comment »

Simpsons movie - D’oh!?

Wednesday, August 1st, 2007

I’m just going to say it - this movie was a HUGE let down for me. The true comedic genius that I’ve come to expect from the Simpsons just wasn’t there. Mirroring what many have said about the show itself in the past few years. Perhaps it’s just a case of too little, too late.

That’s not to say there weren’t some funny parts of the movie, and times I was chuckling to myself, but definately not the laughing out loud kind of experience I was expecting from such an epic, long-awaited, movie, starring the family who has probably most influenced our times. Yes, I laughed when Homer was walking his pet pig along the ceiling singing “Spider-pig, spider-pig”. But guess what? I saw this in the previews, I knew it was coming.

The story line also lacked interest for me. I think that the worlds funniest, off-the-wall family could have found a better adventure than moving to Alaska to escape the giant bubble dome put over Springfield. And it dragged…and dragged. Really it was just a Simpsons episode, dragged out to an hour and a half. It needed to be 3 episodes worth of adventure.

I’m glad we only paid $5 to go see this movie at the drive-in. Overall I give it 2/5 stars, as it was mildly entertaining.

Posted in Daily Life | 2 Comments »

Waterfall Hunting!

Monday, July 23rd, 2007

Dave and I had a day off work last Friday so we decided to go hiking, and waterfall hunting! For those of you who don’t know, there are 32 waterfalls along the Bruce Trail between Stoney Creek and Dundas, winding through Hamilton and Ancaster. (Just Google “Hamilton Waterfalls” of “dundas Waterfalls” for more info.) We hiked for about 3.5 hours total (there and back) and saw 4 waterfalls. It was our first time going so we didnt know where to start, the best areas, or how far to expect to go, so we just jumped in at the top of the mountain in Hamilton and went as far as our little legs could carry us. Aside from the falls, we also saw lots of wildlife, including an hawk, (actually a few hawks, some started circling over us on the way back), 4 deer, a snake, (yeah that scared the crap out of me, I screamed like a baby), an upclose-and-personal chipmunk, (this happened just after the snake, so again I screamed, haha), and some other things like interesting birds and butterflies, oh and lots of grasshoppers.

It’s really quite neat, and most surprising to me, was that this was basically in our own backyard. Most people from the GTA would figure you have to drive hours up North to find such pretty hiking trails, but they are right here!

Here are some pictures from the day:

Here are the massive stairs we had to climb down (luckily not back up) to start our adventure-

Here is the first waterfall we came across-

When we walked away from this waterfall we were walking along the path up a little hill, and at the top of this hill, there stood an eagle! It was so weird, a big huge hawk just chillin. I actually got probably about 5 or 6 meters away from it, but by the time I got my camera out and ready it started to wander off. Here he is anyways-

Here are the second, third and fourth waterfalls we saw-

And just as we were about to turn around for the day and head back to the car, we were walking along a trail and got inturrupted by some deer checking us out. Again, only about 10 meters from us-

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