Observation + the Power of Branding

I've always thought that I'm a fairly observant person. I tend to notice little details that slip by other people. But more recently, I've started to notice that I might not be as observant as I might think. Or more accurately, I notice the tiny details, but the bigger picture might slip past me. A few incidents recently have been about branding.
For those who don't know, there is a bike share program in downtown Toronto. You can rent a bike for a couple of hours or the whole day and there are spots to pick up and drop off bikes just about every other block. The logo for the bike share program is two shades of green. And ever since I've been spending time in downtown Toronto (since last summer), I've thought that TD sponsored the program. Imagine my surprise last week when I was looking at the bike share stand more closely only to realize that TD is not mentioned anywhere. TD has got nothing to do with the bikes. I only thought that TD had something to do with it. Any guesses as to why? If you said because of the logo colour, you're right. My brain connected the shade of green of the bike share program to the colour of TD and assumed they were connected. It just goes to show the power of branding and the effect it can have on how we think about things. (Ever notice in Bell ads that every accent is blue?)
Not much going on for me other than work. I'm starting to get some more interesting things to do and my team is still as awesome as they were when I started. I've been practicing my hand lettering in the evenings and doing a fair bit of shopping. I'm finally fulfilling my dream of lots of summer dresses! I still can't cook meals for one. The apartment hunt is ongoing, but I'm going to see one tomorrow which I'm hopeful about. I'm excited for Emily to come back to Toronto, because I don't really have friends to hang out with right now. I'm planning on doing some baking tomorrow, and will probably take some into work, since I can't eat an entire batch of cookies by myself (let's not kid ourselves. I could easily eat a batch of cookies by myself. I just probably shouldn't).

Hello Hello

Long time no see, my friends. Although I'm sure a lot of you followed my travel blog. As of right now, I'm in Mississauga for an internship with D+H. I've completed two weeks already, out of a 12 week contract. I have a feeling it will go by very quickly. I'm staying with the family of one of my friends from high school for the time that I'll be in Mississauga. I'm really grateful for that. I was thinking the other day that coming home to a family that is glad to have me staying with them is so much better than living in a basement apartment by myself. So that's a real blessing. And it's working out well. I'm getting the feel of how their family works and runs, and slotting myself in. I'm now vying for the spot of favourite child ;) I've helped garden, gone grocery shopping with them, and I hung out with Grandma which apparently wins me big points. It's a bit of a running joke now.
I don't know what I'm allowed to say about the work that I'm doing for D+H, but I'm sure it would be boring to write about regardless. But in general, I'm doing User Experience Design for them. What I will do, however, is tell you about some funny moments with my manager. He's a good guy, and seems interested in helping me learn and grow in my abilities. Let's call him G. G's going to be on 'vacation' next week (he's actually moving and renovating his house, so it's not really a vacation).

G: You know you can dress casual, right? Wear jeans or something.
Me: Yea, but I figured I'd keep appearances up for the first couple weeks. *pause* But next week when you're gone, it will all fall apart.

He laughed at that, so now I know I can make jokes like that. I've kind of been testing and observing to see what's acceptable. The people that I'm working with seem pretty laid back and friendly. Then later as he was leaving for the day, he popped his head into my cubicle and said "Dress casual tomorrow would ya? It's a Friday." Not one to disobey the boss, I wore jeans the next day. As G walks by my cubicle he says "Good morn- JEANS!" and continues to walk by. Never a dull moment with G.

Now that I've written it out, that's not actually that funny. I suppose the office just isn't a super exciting place to begin with that the little things seem funnier than they actually are. Oh well. I would talk more about what I'm up to, but I need to go to bed. More on another day.