I am trying to live by the song made popular by The Who, “Won’t Get Fooled Again”, but I have to wonder if I did just that.
It seems that not all makes or models of cars, trucks, vans, SUVs or any other road worthy vehicle (legal or not) come standard with lights. I bought my car six years ago and I never had the option of buying lights, they just came standard (along with the turn signal, but that is a whole different issue). Did GM fool me into paying for lights when they apparently aren’t needed? Have the car companies become so cheap as to offer lights as an added package?
I say lights are not needed because there are too many people that don’t know when to use them. Driving to the train station this morning in the dull rainy weather, I passed several vehicles without their lights on and of course they were all dull gray in colour and blended into the surroundings. The daytime situation is bad enough but the drivers that really irritate me are those that drive in “stealth mode”, as I like to call it, in the middle of the night. Black does not contrast very well on black does it? I'll give you a hint, gray doesn't contrast on itself very well either.
If it is the cost of the lights you’re concerned about, just think of the thousands of dollars it will cost you in car repairs (or a new car which is more likely the case), increased insurance and even the cost of life if you are involved in an accident. (I have yet to replace a single light in the past six years). I think the $5 lights are a lot cheaper in the long run. But then again the world is getting overpopulated.
Friday, July 28, 2006
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Hooked on Kung Fu
I was off work for a couple of weeks to help get the house in order and to help my wife take care of the little one. Since she would be awake early every morning (night to most people) to comfort our child and try, unsuccessfully, to get him to sleep, I tried to get up earlier than usual to let her get some sleep, after all that was why I was home. That didn’t work some days but on the days that I did get up I couldn’t really do much but watch TV while holding little Alan. So I flipped through the channels endlessly trying to find something even halfway decent to watch. Finally, one morning I stumbled on Kung Fu: The Legend Continues and was instantly hooked on it.
For those who don’t know the show is about a son and his dad, a Shaolin priest, fighting crime and instilling moral virtues in viewers. A little gunplay and some martial arts always make for good viewing, even if it is Canadian made.
Anyhow, back to the story. That first morning I didn’t note down the time the show was on so every day after that I searched tirelessly trying to find it. A day or two later I finally found the show again, weekday mornings at 8 am on Showcase and again at 3:00 in the afternoon. I am back at work now and will not be able to watch the show anymore but lucky for me the first three seasons are on DVD. Coincidently my birthday is approaching and that other gift giving holiday is not too far away either (I dare not name it in the middle of summer). Some may think Kung Fu: the Legend Continues is a lame show but for some unexplained reason I just can’t get enough of it.
Friday, July 14, 2006
The Joys of Moving
My move is becoming a redundant theme on my blog but I just have to share this story with everyone. With moving comes a lot of headaches, address changes with everyone from the Federal Government (CRA), the Provincial Government (MTO), credit card companies and banks. Then there is moving services such as telephone and cable. Lucky for everyone it takes Rogers a long time to discconnect the old cable service. but unlucky for everyone is the move of phone services.
Like most people in Canada I use Bell for my phone services (at least for now) and they pretty much had a monopoly on the telephone market. Now they have some competition (VOIP services & even Rogers now has Home Phone services) but they still have the monopoly mentality to go along with their incompetence.
My wife requested a move of our phone service with Bell (unfortunately we also use their internet access) on July 3. Bell said no problem it will be up and running on the 5th, which it was for about 30 minutes. She called Bell that night and we had service for about 2 hours and then nothing. July 6 we were almost hung up on and by the 7th we were patched through to "Escalations" and spoke with a manager. He manage to get the phone line operational but he was still sending someone to take a look at our line in the morning of the 8th because we were getting static on the line. It wasn't until dinner time on the 12th that someone from Bell finally showed up to check our phone.
Depending on how things shape up in the next few weeks (meaning let's see if I get billed for the week the phone wasn't working) I may be finding another provider for both telephone and internet.
Like most people in Canada I use Bell for my phone services (at least for now) and they pretty much had a monopoly on the telephone market. Now they have some competition (VOIP services & even Rogers now has Home Phone services) but they still have the monopoly mentality to go along with their incompetence.
My wife requested a move of our phone service with Bell (unfortunately we also use their internet access) on July 3. Bell said no problem it will be up and running on the 5th, which it was for about 30 minutes. She called Bell that night and we had service for about 2 hours and then nothing. July 6 we were almost hung up on and by the 7th we were patched through to "Escalations" and spoke with a manager. He manage to get the phone line operational but he was still sending someone to take a look at our line in the morning of the 8th because we were getting static on the line. It wasn't until dinner time on the 12th that someone from Bell finally showed up to check our phone.
Depending on how things shape up in the next few weeks (meaning let's see if I get billed for the week the phone wasn't working) I may be finding another provider for both telephone and internet.
The Move
This is more of a specific post to those people who helped out with the move. I would like to thank the following people who helped me with the move, AS, MK, TK, KS, Dan, BH, DH, SS & MS.
A special thanks goes out to my mom who spent the day in the hospital helping my wife adjust to having the baby in her room and to PS & JC who stayed after everyone else left and restored some order to the place (they were the ones that made sure I had a working TV) and have returned since the moving day to help with some more unpacking.
It was a crazy time for me and I thank everyone for their help.
A special thanks goes out to my mom who spent the day in the hospital helping my wife adjust to having the baby in her room and to PS & JC who stayed after everyone else left and restored some order to the place (they were the ones that made sure I had a working TV) and have returned since the moving day to help with some more unpacking.
It was a crazy time for me and I thank everyone for their help.
Chaos A.D.
As many of you already know my son was born three weeks early. And to make things a little more hectic, as if the uncertainty of my situation was not stressful enough, we were scheduled to move into our new house two days later.
Here is the condensed version of events. My wife was induced on the 21st of June because an ultrasound showed a possible concern with the baby; my son was born in the wee hours of the 22nd. I drove 30 minutes to the lawyers office later on the 22nd to sign the papers for the house, still unsure how my son was doing, wondering if he will be sent to Sick Kid’s in Toronto. The closing of the house was on the 23rd and I had to make two trips to the lawyer’s office, once to return the signed power of attorney and the second to get the keys, not what I wanted to be doing at that point. The next day, the 24th, I had to move us into our new house. Luckily, I had a ton of help from family and friends so the move was not so bad, except the house was a chaotic mess. I at least had a place to sleep and the TV was working. Finally on the 25th both my wife and my son were released from the hospital.
That leads into the following week that was devoted entirely to unpacking and getting any leftovers from our old place. Finally, three weeks later, we are almost totally unpacked, including several boxes of my childhood junk from my parent’s house, and I can focus all of my attention to my son.
Here is the condensed version of events. My wife was induced on the 21st of June because an ultrasound showed a possible concern with the baby; my son was born in the wee hours of the 22nd. I drove 30 minutes to the lawyers office later on the 22nd to sign the papers for the house, still unsure how my son was doing, wondering if he will be sent to Sick Kid’s in Toronto. The closing of the house was on the 23rd and I had to make two trips to the lawyer’s office, once to return the signed power of attorney and the second to get the keys, not what I wanted to be doing at that point. The next day, the 24th, I had to move us into our new house. Luckily, I had a ton of help from family and friends so the move was not so bad, except the house was a chaotic mess. I at least had a place to sleep and the TV was working. Finally on the 25th both my wife and my son were released from the hospital.
That leads into the following week that was devoted entirely to unpacking and getting any leftovers from our old place. Finally, three weeks later, we are almost totally unpacked, including several boxes of my childhood junk from my parent’s house, and I can focus all of my attention to my son.
Friday, June 16, 2006
Silly American Thing
The whole coin incident that happened in the NHL playoffs has reminded me about another quirk that happens at some sporting events in the US when a team from a Canadian city plays a team in an American city. This only seems to happen for Canada’s national sports (hockey and lacrosse) but that may be because the lone Canadian team in both the NBA and MLB haven’t been involved in any post season play recently. This quirk is the chanting of U-S-A near the end of the game when the American team is in the lead.
The first complaint about this is that these games are not between teams representing the two countries. Just because a team is based in a city of one country does not mean it represents the entire country. The team can only be seen to represent the City it’s based from. There is likely several hockey “fans” in Toronto right now cheering for Carolina to win the Stanley Cup. And can you blame them since Bettman, the commissioner, is even cheering for Carolina, but that’s another story. The hatred Torontonians have for the rest of the country is no going to be put aside because of a game.
The second complaint about the U-S-A chant is that the American based teams, at least in hockey and lacrosse, are still comprised primarily of Canadians. In fact, if you look at the actual numbers, American born players are still the minority on most teams. For example, the NLL Champions (Colorado Mammoth) had 8 Americans and 17 Canadians while the losing side of the championship game (Buffalo Bandits) shows 1 American and 25 Canadians (using the rosters on NLL.com). As for the NHL, only 7 of the 25 Carolina Hurricanes are American while 11 are Canadians (including team captain and one assistant captain) and there are 5 Americans and 20 Canadians on the 32 man roster of the Oilers (according to the respective team websites). There is likely a similar mix to most other teams for the most part, some may even have more “foreign-born” players but the Americans will still be the minority.
As proven here, the players on hockey and lacrosse teams based in American cities mostly consist of none-Americans. Given this fact it is improbable that the players represent anything more than the City where they are employed. The fact that a team plays their home games on American soil does not mean anything more then that and the fans of those teams shouldn’t try to make more out of it then that. If one wants to start a chant that splits the ears of all others in the arena and hopefully give the home team some advantage or more incentive to win, then please use the team’s name. The City’s name would do just fine too but whatever you do, do not chant for your country as no one playing a professional sport in North American is playing for their country.
The first complaint about this is that these games are not between teams representing the two countries. Just because a team is based in a city of one country does not mean it represents the entire country. The team can only be seen to represent the City it’s based from. There is likely several hockey “fans” in Toronto right now cheering for Carolina to win the Stanley Cup. And can you blame them since Bettman, the commissioner, is even cheering for Carolina, but that’s another story. The hatred Torontonians have for the rest of the country is no going to be put aside because of a game.
The second complaint about the U-S-A chant is that the American based teams, at least in hockey and lacrosse, are still comprised primarily of Canadians. In fact, if you look at the actual numbers, American born players are still the minority on most teams. For example, the NLL Champions (Colorado Mammoth) had 8 Americans and 17 Canadians while the losing side of the championship game (Buffalo Bandits) shows 1 American and 25 Canadians (using the rosters on NLL.com). As for the NHL, only 7 of the 25 Carolina Hurricanes are American while 11 are Canadians (including team captain and one assistant captain) and there are 5 Americans and 20 Canadians on the 32 man roster of the Oilers (according to the respective team websites). There is likely a similar mix to most other teams for the most part, some may even have more “foreign-born” players but the Americans will still be the minority.
As proven here, the players on hockey and lacrosse teams based in American cities mostly consist of none-Americans. Given this fact it is improbable that the players represent anything more than the City where they are employed. The fact that a team plays their home games on American soil does not mean anything more then that and the fans of those teams shouldn’t try to make more out of it then that. If one wants to start a chant that splits the ears of all others in the arena and hopefully give the home team some advantage or more incentive to win, then please use the team’s name. The City’s name would do just fine too but whatever you do, do not chant for your country as no one playing a professional sport in North American is playing for their country.
What's in a Name?
Are you tired of getting home from work, all excited to be with anyone but those annoying co-workers, ready to sit down to a nice home cooked meal only to find out dinner is the same old meat and potatoes? Well I have a solution for you. Give your food a name. Now I bet you’re saying to yourself, what? Name your food? This guy has finally lost it! But alas, it really helps make boring food more exciting.
For instance, one day last winter I was working on making dinner for my wife and me. We usually just have meat and potatoes but for some reason, maybe the wind was blowing just right, maybe there was a full moon, I don’t know, I wanted a salad. Being creative as I am sometimes with food, I decided to cut the lettuce into wedges and top it with the vegetables I had. Even with the salad dinner was still looking pretty sad. But wait, the salad looks like the peak of a mountain and once the white potatoes are spotted with some caramelized onions, they will look like dirty snow. That night we had a “Mountain Peak” salad followed by tender pork chops with “Dirty Snow” potatoes.
That meal was a lot more exciting than it would have been without the name. To this day I am still being asked about my dirty snow potatoes. Not only does naming food make dinner interesting but it makes people remember the food, even those people who don’t eat it. If you can’t be creative with your cooking then at least be creative with the name of your food and see what kind of reaction you’ll get. I’m willing to bet you will add some excitement to your food and people will actually want to eat it.
For instance, one day last winter I was working on making dinner for my wife and me. We usually just have meat and potatoes but for some reason, maybe the wind was blowing just right, maybe there was a full moon, I don’t know, I wanted a salad. Being creative as I am sometimes with food, I decided to cut the lettuce into wedges and top it with the vegetables I had. Even with the salad dinner was still looking pretty sad. But wait, the salad looks like the peak of a mountain and once the white potatoes are spotted with some caramelized onions, they will look like dirty snow. That night we had a “Mountain Peak” salad followed by tender pork chops with “Dirty Snow” potatoes.
That meal was a lot more exciting than it would have been without the name. To this day I am still being asked about my dirty snow potatoes. Not only does naming food make dinner interesting but it makes people remember the food, even those people who don’t eat it. If you can’t be creative with your cooking then at least be creative with the name of your food and see what kind of reaction you’ll get. I’m willing to bet you will add some excitement to your food and people will actually want to eat it.
Thursday, June 15, 2006
Air Pollution
If you were expecting a long winded rant on the damage being done by the tall grey towers of concrete that pierces the tranquil sky, I’m sorry to disappoint. The air pollution I’m referring to is the use, or rather the misuse of perfumes and colognes employed by so many people. From this point forward when I say perfume I am including cologne too, it makes for a tough read if I keep writing perfume/cologne. And I need to include the guys too as they are just as guilty of polluting the air as women are.
Perfume should be used as a light fragrance to enhance one’s aroma, not as a warning that can be smelled from miles away. Seriously now people. Do you want to be remembered as that stinky person who likes to shower in their perfume or do you want to turn heads with a surprisingly light fragrant aroma that floats in the air when passing by? I doubt anyone would choose the first reaction so why do so many people abuse their perfume.
Is it really that difficult to apply perfume? Most, if not all, bottles of perfume have the little spray pump nozzle do they not? One squirt is all you need. If that is too much then by all means don’t press the nozzle all the way down. It’s not rocket science (well, maybe developing the high tech bottle was). The next time you want to shower yourself in the stink of highly concentrated chemicals, please stop and recall my message and you too can reduce the pollution in the air.
Saturday, June 10, 2006
The Packing Continues
Everyday I come home from work and see that there are more boxes packed and I think 'great, the packing is almost done', then I look further and see another pile of boxes yet to be packed. Will this madness ever end???
But today I looked at the big stack of filled boxes and had a laugh. I remember seeing boxes stacked in just such a manner before but they weren't the ugly brown of discarded fry boxes, oh no, they were the multi-coloured boxes that my fellow house mates and I were proud of. Every student (at least every male student) knows what I am talking about, the ever popular wall of empty beer cases, otherwise known as "The Beer Wall".
But today I looked at the big stack of filled boxes and had a laugh. I remember seeing boxes stacked in just such a manner before but they weren't the ugly brown of discarded fry boxes, oh no, they were the multi-coloured boxes that my fellow house mates and I were proud of. Every student (at least every male student) knows what I am talking about, the ever popular wall of empty beer cases, otherwise known as "The Beer Wall".
Ah yes, the good ol' days, where it was cool to show off to everyone how much beer the house could consume in one school year. And that beer wall of ours provided us with quite the party at the end of each year as it always paid for at least 2 fresh cases of the student version of champagne.
It's just too bad this memory doesn't take away from the reality of things, we still have a ton of crap to pack and eventually move.
It's just too bad this memory doesn't take away from the reality of things, we still have a ton of crap to pack and eventually move.
Friday, June 09, 2006
I am The Invisible Man
Another day at work, lost in the confusion of cubicles filled with computers and other technological marvels, ergonomically correct chairs, and people too busy to smile. Five days a week my life is spent like this, only to be broken by what seems to be two very short days of sitting at home doing nothing. Ah yes, what an exciting life I lead. Living an “existence” that consists of drifting through the abyss we call life, with no real purpose or objective, just simply occupying space.
Ah yes, I do have some friends to share the joys of life with but once another person enters the room I am but a memory, a shape that blends into the wall as if I was a painter’s design. Could it be that I wear such neutral colours that I am discernable from the drab wallpaper or paint that adorn the walls? Most days this theory could be true but even on those rare days when I do wear brighter colours I still seem to fade away when in a group.
Now that I am expecting a child the little acknowledgement I do get will be reduced even further by a small being no bigger than my head. In another month or so my transformation into the invisible man will be complete. Be warned that if you are bumped by an unseen force, or you walk into a large soft mass of nothingness, please apologize, step to the side and continue on your way for it was just me that you walked into, The Invisible Man.
Ah yes, I do have some friends to share the joys of life with but once another person enters the room I am but a memory, a shape that blends into the wall as if I was a painter’s design. Could it be that I wear such neutral colours that I am discernable from the drab wallpaper or paint that adorn the walls? Most days this theory could be true but even on those rare days when I do wear brighter colours I still seem to fade away when in a group.
Now that I am expecting a child the little acknowledgement I do get will be reduced even further by a small being no bigger than my head. In another month or so my transformation into the invisible man will be complete. Be warned that if you are bumped by an unseen force, or you walk into a large soft mass of nothingness, please apologize, step to the side and continue on your way for it was just me that you walked into, The Invisible Man.
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