If you're feeling down today, don't despair - you're not alone. Apparently today is known as the bleakest day of the year: Blue Monday. The origins of Blue Monday can be traced back to Cliff Arnall, loosely affiliated with Cardiff University. Arnall, it seems at the behest of Sky Travel, signed his name to a marketing formula that blamed the combination of weather, holiday debt, and the inevitable failure of our New Year's resolutions for a widespread, crushing case of the blues. Kitschy marketing formula or not, it seems to hit pretty close to home. Anyway, the Star lists some positive remedies to perk you up today, including: get some sun, get some sex and eat some chocolate. Um, can Blue Monday be every Monday?

Offering a hint of what to expect for Tuesday's funeral in downtown Toronto, hundreds gathered to pay respect to fallen police officer, Ryan Russell, outside the funeral home on Sunday. Inside the funeral home, visitors said Sgt. Russell's wife and family were holding up as best they could, buoyed by the support they've received from the community. "There's a general sadness about a young life lost, [the] life of a very promising officer," said Toronto Police Services Board chairman Alok Mukherjee. "Tragedies like this remind us ... that the job of police officers in keeping our community safe is so risky."

Garbage helping garbage? The byproduct of rotting kitchen scraps could be fueling some of Toronto's garbage trucks by the middle of 2011. "The city's Dufferin organics processing facility will begin to produce the biomethane (combo of methane and biogas) that will be captured for conversion into natural gas," city spokesman Patricia Barrett said in an e-mail. "Dufferin is considered as the pilot program and it will start producing biomethane by mid-to-late 2011 through to the end of 2013." It's all part of the city's efforts to keep 70% of solid waste from heading to the Green Lane Landfill near St. Thomas. The city has so far fallen well short of hitting that target.

Those Molson Beer vats finally arrived at their destination on Carlingview Drive early this morning. In an article that takes the whole process far too seriously - a few photos would do the trick, wouldn't they? - the Toronto Star tracks the convoy's progress over the last leg of its journey.

IN BRIEF:

• Extreme cold weather alert for GTA on Bleak Monday
• Paul Giamatti gives a shout out to Canada at Golden Globes
• Jays sign Carlos Villanueva for 1-year deal

Photo by syncros in the blogTO Flickr pool.