Rant: because electronics stores dealers are the best sources on petty crime

I've been on the hunt for a simpler way of recording cell phone conversations for a while now--not because I am a hardened criminal looking for new ways of trapping people into blackmail deals by recording their most incriminating intimate phone conversations, but in fact because I am a reporter, and conduct an average of 4 phone interviews a week, and I take the whole idea of accuracy pretty seriously, and damned if my speaker phone doesn't cut out on me half the time so I spend most of my time typing fiendishly to try to get all my interviewee's quotes down into a word document. And now I'll be doing twice as many articles, which means twice as many phone calls, and my poor fingers have had enough.

Kick-Ass Wedding Ideas*

Being in the wedding business, I feel that I am fully qualified to start planning out a few weddings of my own. I read in some wedding magazine in the staff bathroom that your wedding is supposed to be a true reflection of you and your intended's personalities. So, here are a few wedding ideas for the more creative spouses-to-be:

39 Hours in Halifax. Thank God for Quick-Dry Trousers.

Last weekend, I found myself in Halifax, doing the Orange Dance* to 90's dance hits in my stockinged feet. How did I get there? It was a wedding, of course.

I love weddings! Once you get over the hurdle of the Awkwardly Long Speeches**, weddings are all cake, dancing, eating, and comparing blisters with the bridesmaids: all fun activities. And so while I may not fly thousands of miles cross country for Christmas or Spring Break or to watch the jellyfish come out in spring time, I will definitely rearrange my entire life so I can spend less than 2 days total in this small, water-logged city, provided there is a wedding involved.