Getting Sac'd Part II

So I was in Toronto for work and had lunch at Subway. When I walked in, this one lady was giving it to the lady behind the counter about the new charge for the crappy little plastic bag for your sub. Apparently it's part of the green initiative for the city of Toronto to charge 5cents for bags, so subway is charging now... I didn't pay for one as I planned on eating in, but that made the decision for me... sure, it's only 5 cents, but I think I'd rather pay 5 cents at Zehrs to get a bag that will be useful for something. I'd probably be angry and yelling at the sandwich artist if I was forced to pay for a bag while ordering multiple sandwiches.... that's extortion.

Thanks for asking

I'm not planning on getting the pig flu vaccine as it becomes
available. I waited for an hour or so until Faith got there to get the
kids theirs, but then I left and went back to work. I'm not buying all
the hype and hysteria, plus I'm pretty sure I had it in Feb. If it's
anything like the one I had in Feb, I'll take my week off sick and watch
movies in bed thankyou very much...

Words words words

I've noticed lately(on a few awkward occasions)that, even though I enjoy a lot of music from my youth and it gives me a good nostalgic feeling when I hear or sing it, I really had no clue what the words were to the songs. This isn't any sort of preachy bit on how music can corrupt you, rather a realization that I listened to a lot of music that I liked back in the day that had some pretty messed up lyrics. Even more, I didn't notice for the most part until recently... I've been out to Karaoke every Monday all summer and it's been a lot of fun. I usually put in a song from high school so I can re-live the glory days, but sometimes realize just how messed up the words of the song are while reading and regurgitating... I've heard a lot said about how music kids listen to
changes their behaviour, but I was a pretty good kid and made it another 13+ years before I clued in to what the songs I liked meant... I was just interested in the music, no the words... makes me wonder how much kids pick up. I didn't really pay attention til recently I suppose...

Awkward moment 1 - Song: Lighning Crash by Live... weird lyrical use of placenta...

Awkward moment 2 - Song: Possum Kingdom by The Toadies... give it up to me, do you wanna be my angel, do you wanna die?

Karaoke is fun, though. You should come.

J-balls and the NHL

Watching all the hub-bub surrounding the Hamilton Coyotes aka the
Phoenix Coyotes only brings one question to my mind.

Do I care?

IF (big IF) this were ever to become a reality, would it make a difference to my fanship? I'm not sure that it would. There's a lot to be said about the ability to get a ticket and the storied history of mediocrity in TO, but I'm a leaf fan, good times or now... The idea of driving into Hamilton (spit) to see a game makes me angry. I hate getting around Hamilton (spit) and I'm sure it would be a lot worse with 18,000 people trying to get to the arena at the same time. I'd much rather drive to TO and spend some time in the city before a game than drive to Hamilton and contract some rare lung condition. Personally, it's not an attractive option for me to change allegiance. The Mapleleafs already have my money from merchandise, so why would I want to up and change all that to a new team if it's not ideal.

If I were to cheer for only successful teams, I would change teams every year. There's something special about following a team and hoping to see them succeed. That will bring you through some rough patches and 42 years without a championship (considering the straight odds of winning in a 30 team league, your not too far off pace). So be it, I like to follow the team, learn about the players and watch them grow together.

I think J-Balls should jump ship on the hamilton idea and build something in Waterloo area near the 401. I'd seriously consider changing my cheering habits for something that was more convenient.

What do you think? Do you have one foot already off the bandwagon?

Windows 7

I've been trying out the new version of windows for a number of weeks now at work as my prime os. It has been an enjoyable experience on the whole but some times I'm left pining for the good ol' days of xp. There have been only a couple minor compatability issues (not nearly as many as with vista) and the virtual xp machine in w7 has made those issues into non issues.

Has anyone else been tinkering? it's still just an os.

Tell me that's not a dude...

There's been a lot of talk about this around the 'water cooler' today... you make the call.

Getting sac'd

I'm getting pretty miffed about this 'green' trend to charge for plastic
bags. Seems nothing more than eliminating a few plastic bags while
lining the grocery stores pockets with nickels and opening up new
revenue streams for their "reusable bags"... We've gotten to a point,
because we use a lot of plastice bags for garbage (diapers etc), where
we have had to either pay for bags on purpose or go to a store that
doesn't charge so we could have some in stock.... either that or pay for
a box of bags.

It's annoying that it's turned from a courtesy provided for us into
another way to make money. Why not just not offer plastic bags if
they're really serious about eliminating them. Now it's just like a tax
for forgetful people.

Slurpee Conditions, Civic Style.

As is my civic duty, I will report tonight's slurpee conditions.
Location - Sarnia (London Rd)
Time - Shortly before Eva threw up in the car...
Report: Well, Dr Pepper Cherry and Pepsi did everything they possibly could to smooth over the fact that my daugter puked in the car (again) and the smell was putrid... Nonetheless, the slurpee was good, although enjoyed begrudgingly in spurts between cleaning up and packing up at Grandma's house. The slurpee did, however, compliment the Captain Kidd fireworks quite nicely, despite the screaming child behind me smelling of vomit.

I call it like I see/smell it.

Today's Slurpee Conditions (Wednesday Edition)

Location: Chatham, Ontario
Time: 9:00pm
Gatrorade g-force and coke were in good shape tonight, quite thick and potent. The only thing that subtracted from this particular experience was the baby vomit in the back of the van and the subsequent cleanup effort on hwy 40... At least it had stopped raining at that time....

Official Slurpee/Froster Conditions

Date: Friday, June 26, 2009 - 2:30pm
Location: 7-eleven in Woodstock
Report: Coke was at it's finest today, best enjoyed on the 401 with the sunroof open... booyah

Date: Saturday, June 27, 2009 - 7pm
Location: MACs at Strasburgh and Block Line - Kitchener
Report: Runny sprite and ok coke mixed up to make something much too syrupy and upset my stomach. The leftovers were preserved through cryogenics and enjoyed on sunday afternoon with a spoon.

Thanks.

Official Froster Report

Location: Mac's at Block Line and Strasburg, Kitchener
Date: May 24, 3:00pm

Coke was at it's absolute best, which is good due to the fact that all
others were runny... Very good mix of syrup to frostery goodness today,
straight to the last drop. 1.18 L never tasted so good...

Motel Sicks

so, on the way up to Cochrane, we've decided to stay overnight about half way the last number of times. We decided to try to cut costs and stay at Motel 6 in Huntsville. Right off the bat, I should have walked out, because they didn't have a crib, but I was being cheap and optimistic. We got settled into the room and I get ready for bed. It was small, but modern enough. After about 10 mins of laying down, trying to convince Silas to fall asleep, I noticed my breathing getting very constricted. More than normal. Since the kids weren't enjoying the sleeping arrangements, and I couldn't breathe, we packed everything back in the car and checked out to try another hotel in North Bay with a crib and less poison rooms.

I went to the front desk to explain the situation and get my money back when they person working informed me that she could only give me half the money back for a 1 hour stay. I argued a bit, and asked to speak to a manager. At this point it was 11:30pm and neither manager answered their phones or cell phones, but one did call back... I overheard some parts of their conversation which included "they were in a pet room" and "he refuses to switch rooms". Luckilly, I needed no more argument and she refunded the whole price for me. I didn't even have to bring out he argument that people really shouldn't try to poison guests by not informing them that they were staying in a designated pet room.

Travelodge in North Bay was quite nice with a decent continental breakfast, a crib and we all had a good sleep.

THE END

Slurpee conditions

Time: 8pm
Location: king st, kitchener

pepsi and gatorade fruit punch are a formidable duo with great consistency and texture this evening... Worth the trip.

Slurpee conditions

As of 4pm on apr 23, conditions are favourable. gatorade fruit punch has potential, reminiscent of Tahiti Treat.

Official Slurpee Report: TO Edition

No, it's not the Terell Owens edition, I stopped in at the ol Sev Elev on tha way home from working in Toronto on Wednesday.  Conditions at the 7 eleven on Rutherford Rd in TO are as follows:

Pepsi: Excellent condition, thick enough to last until Guelph.

Gatorade G-Force: Tasted more like a powerade I've had before, was pink instead of orange... methinks it wasn't the Gatorade afer all. 

Washroom: I'm glad I only had to pee, cause that toilet gets an F

Thanks for tuning in... 

Official Slurpee Conditions Report

As of 9:30pm, March 29th, 2009 at Derry Rd Location, Mississauga, ON

Looked like dire straits at this particular 7-eleven until fully rounding the corner to find the second slurpee machine!  Coke was in it's element tonight, thick enough to pile to a nice cone at the top.  I give it 5/5, though none of the other flavours were operational or appetizing. 

Stopped by after visiting the meeting house oakville for The Attic... decent evening, though I still don't quite understand what 'emotionally disabled' means... reminds me of the chapel at EBC where the guy said we were committing 'spiritual incest'...  weird.

March of the Penguin

so, I've been running a little file/print server in my basement on Ubuntu Linux for about a year or so now.  It's been quite stable and virus free, though recently it started becoming flaky and non functional for some of the basic purposes I wanted from it.  Part of it was hardware getting old and failing...  Anyways, I decided to upgrade my storage and rebuild the thing last week and I installed the latest release of Ubuntu, 100% pain free.  It found all the drivers, and didn't bother me, like a windows install does, periodically to click next.  

Then I try to get the file shares going, no problem... next, print sharing.  Trouble.  It wasn't as easy as I remember and I start mucking around with settings and editing config files... typical old school linux crap.  Not only could I not print, but my file shares stopped too...  Running out of usable time, I did what I thought I would never do...  I went back to good ol' windows.  

More painul install, trying to find current drivers, doing 4 or 5 batches of updates etc... I can now print and access my files with reasonable ease.  I think the main difference was that I switched from win 2000 server which was quite clunky and beligerent sometimes.  Now I've gone to XP pro, not exactly server class, but a little smoother.  Maybe Bill Gates likes mullets.

Just for me mom...

At the request of my mom, here's a pic with the mullet and a wifebeater.  Faith pulled out the flat iron and straightened my hair lat night... People at church thought it was quite something. 

I'm glad my hair isn't naturally straight.  This is pretty intense though.  

Obey the Mullet!

Here's some pics of the complete package... Mullet and handlebar...  I decided, after forgetting to decide on anything for lent, to give up my dignity and get a mullet.  Not the first run at this particular 'Euro' hairstyle.  The challenge to keep it til easter may be difficult... 

Last week at Swiss Chalet, while waiting for a table, I caught a girl staring, then telling a friend and pointing. All while I was looking right at her, so I gave her a kissy face and raised my eyebrow and she hid in fear and embarrassment.  People seem to stare wherever I go, but shockingly I've found more people who don't notice or say it suits me.  One woman at work said it's 'sexy'.  Thanks Anne.   Another woman at work said that when she sees me, she 'hears Randy Bachman songs in her head'.  It's been fun to see people's reactions, now to see if I can last til easter.

Zap!