  Stressed There's been a lot of talk about urlLink stress lately. While out and about in the downtown core (taking "before" pictures ahead of urlLink Friday's event ), I passed by the Bell Trinity Square building.
A woman stood outside an emergency exit, frantically puffing on a cigarette. She looked stressed. In her smoke-free hand she held a small blue ball, painted to look like the earth. A foam stress ball, that she was methodically squeezing over and over and over. She was staring straight ahead, eyes fixed on nothing. I've seen stress balls, and I've been given a few of them at trade shows. I've seen them sold in execu-toy stores, and I've seen them displayed proudly and ironically on desks. I've never actually seen someone use one. She must have been really stressed, because unless she kept that one in her purse or briefcase, it means that she had to go and get it from that bottom drawer of her desk where she shoves her pay stubs, dried out highlighting, power bar wrappers and promotional ephemera, to retrieve it.
It wasn't something that she just picked up from the sidewalk outside the building. At some point she had to have thought: "Fuck....I really need a smoke and my stress ball". Now THAT'S stressed. I wonder if it helped. 
