Ipad, Itampon, Geez…

Apple’s iPad was only a few hours old and Twitter was full of comments on it.  The number one trending topic was #Itampon.  Now we hear news that Apple is already facing legal troubles.  Not terribly surprising, as “iPad” is hardly original and apparently Apple has somewhat of a history, stealing registered trademarks of other companies.

A Japanese electronics company, named Fujitsu, supposedly built a handheld computing device way back in 2002 and called it the iPad.  Fujitsu wanted the iPad name back then and still wants it today.  The company first applied to trademark the name “iPad” in 2003, though the application ran into problems because another company — Mag-Tek — was already using the name for another product.  

That’s right, the name iPad is hardly unique!   But here is the twist…

In early 2009, Fujitsu’s trademark application was declared abandoned by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, but the company re-opened its application in June – probably upon hearing that Apple was considering the name for their new product.  Best way to make money, eh?   Since the re-instatement of the Fujitsu application, Apple has been trying to take it away (via proxy) — in fact, they’ve filed three petitions to extend the deadline and have until February 28th to oppose Fujitsu’s claims on the name.  

So while Apple’s lawyers and Fujitsu’s lawyers battle it out in court, there are yet other products using the semi-trademarked name “iPad” — including a padded bra by a Canadian lingerie company called Coconut Grove Intimates, some auto parts by German company Siemens, and a tablet computer made my ST Microelectronics.

Who will win this epic battle?

Wonder if iTampon is registered yet??

Helping Haiti one Cookie at a Time

This morning my 5 year old boy walked into the bathroom while I was shaving and told me he figured out how to help the people of Haiti who were hungry and homeless after the earthquake there.

“Were going to package up cookies and, uh, other food and send it to the hungry people there”, he said.

“And how will we get the food to them, I asked?”

“We’ll take it to my school”, he said, “They send money there every day!”

All right, then. We’ll help the people of Haiti by sending them cookies – something so near and dear to my boys heart (a real treat for him). He must really want to help out.

Meanwhile in my 3 year old’s class, they have been collecting new socks to give to Toronto’s homeless and at the same time taking money for plating trees in Israel, AND money to send to Haiti to help out.

So I had to laugh the other day when he so proudly told my mother that we had given socks to send to the people of Haita “because the earth shook and their houses fell down and people have no place to live and need socks.”

I giggled and told him Haiti was a warm country and didn’t need our socks, but they needed our food and money to help the homeless.

“Oh”.

I do kind of like his rationale batter…

Things overheard on a Monday Morning…

If you are a new reader you may not be familiar with the concept of this post.  Many moons ago I used to work for the government and during that time I had the pleasure of sitting near some wonderful and interesting civil servants. 

One year I had the “pleasure” of sitting near two good work friends who would spend about an hour and a half each Monday morning (from 7:30-9am) recapping their weekends and chatting about anything that popped into their minds. 

One time I heard something that sounded really odd and I wrote it down.  Over that year I must have posted 5 different Monday morning recaps under this title.

Below are snippets of actual conversations.  I did not make them up.

Read, laugh, scratch your head and enjoy. 

Things overheard on a Monday morning:

“Before Jesus came they used to sacrifice lambs, and humans to these G-ds, before Jesus came, whomever they are.  Then Jesus came and said you don’t have to do that anymore… that is why I have vegetarian blood. You can’t get iron from veg so I’m drinking protein shakes…”

“If you had to take a rocket to the moon, would you not check the gas?”

“We drink cows milk because “they” found something they wanted to sell, so they promoted it and forced everyone to drink it.”

Person A “Coffee: caffeine – clogs your system – is the problem – stimulates your heart too much. Dehydrates you. Diuretic. I’ll go to green tea.”

Person B “Green tea has 4 times the caffeine of coffee…”

Person A, “Well then I’ll go to a lemon drink!  Anything marketed is no good. I’ll show them!  I need more lemons in my diet anyways”

“Problem with blood pressure – is you have high cholesterol and the bad is higher than the good – chance of stroke is high. “They” want you to go on pills right away. “They” don’t want to take the time to help you, “They” get money for the pills and not for helping you.  If you’re overweight – stressed – blood pressure goes up – must be sick.  You’re money for “Them”.”

“Sodium – ratio of potassium to sodium is 3-1. If not 3-1 then high blood pressure. People are taking potassium in their diets to even out the ratio… Yeah!.”

My kids

So my baby girls turned 2 months old today… How time flies.  It never flew with both my boys because they are so tiring with their non-stop energy and they love of talking.

For Berry, I can say that because, sadly, I’ve had to work through this newborn stage and I get very little time to spend with either mummy or baby…

And tonight my boys are sleeping (for how long who knows?) in their shared room in their bunk bed with 2 pictures taped to their door.  One picture looks happy the other looks sad… So I asked my wife what it was all about and this is what I got…

Apparently tonight they are back to being scared of monsters so my 5 year old drew a picture of the scariest monster he had ever seen with a line through it to indicate they are not allowed in the room. 

I love the way kids think!

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen things I have wanted to blog about but haven’t had the time.

13. Some stupid, fat, old, piece of shit was yelling at the staff at Tim Horton’s today because they refused to put more jam on top of his donut for free.  He called the server a “stupid bitch” and was really fucking rude.  I glared at him but didn’t speak up because his son, “bubba” was like 6 ft 10 and 350 pounds.  He looked rather proud of “dad” for telling off the server.  Way to go tough guy.  I did, however, tell the manager that if I was her, I would have given back his money, taken the food from him that he already tossed at the server and told him to get his Jabba the Hutt ass out of the store and never come back.  Banned from Timmy’s…  Loser.

12.  My 3 year old woke me up at 2am this morning complaining that his tummy hurt.  In fact when I reached out to touch him, he was sopping wet.  Head to toe.  Upon further patting down I found that he had no night time diaper on and had pee’d himself top to bottom.  I changed him, and him and his brother slept on either side of me for the rest of the night while I tossed and turned.  In the morning, with my glasses on, I realized he did have a diaper on when he went to sleep but had taken it off in the night.  #11 will explain why.

11.  When asked why he took his diaper off, he said, “The elephant was waving his tail in the face of the giraffe who was biting him and the giraffe was not happy at the elephant for bugging him  and the giraffe was not happy because the elephant was biting him so I took off my diaper…”

Yup.

Then he repeated the same story for his mother.

Yup.

10.  Here are some items which did not last the first decade, 2000-2009;

• Jon and Kate
• Beepers
• Retirement savings
• Scripted TV
• CD’s
• Fax machines
• HD DVD
• Microsoft Vista
• Palm Pilots
• Microsoft Zune

9.  9 pedestrians have been killed in the Greater Toronto Area in the past 10 days.  Not blaming drivers, or pedestrians, but if it’s me vs a car or bus… I don’t like those odds.   I will look twice before stepping off the curb.

8.  $100 and I can get my name on the ballot for Mayor of Toronto…  $100.00.

7.  Fionn MacCools on University Avenue in Toronto, rocks!  Went there for a business lunch last Friday and in all the excitement / panic / great food, I forgot my credit card in the bill folder.  I realized it on Wednesday night.  So I called my credit card company, RBC who told me the last charge was my lunch at this fine establishment and there were no new charges.  I asked for a 24 hour hold be put on the card and I called Fionn’s.  A very nice gentleman there – believe was the manager, let’s call him Ryan (real name), told me the card was found Friday and locked away in the office.  How cool.  So when I’m back downtown on Monday, I will run in and grab it.  If you are in Toronto, and looking for a great place to eat, go to Fionn MacCools.  Their website is www.university.fionnmaccools.com.  They are located at 181 University Avenue, Toronto – (416) 363-1944 

6.  I am listening to a few new songs on my iPod.  Sick Bubblegum by Rob Zombie, Fallen Leaves by Billy Talent.  Nickleback’s Burn it to the Ground… Rock!

5.  That “friend” who got the personal trainer… That friend is me.  2 sessions so far and I can still move.  Woo Hoo.

4.  www.supernova.com  Best place for Indie music whether you are a musician or a fan.  Go and go often.  Tell ‘em urbandaddy sent you!

3.  Toyota Motor Corp issued its second large recall in two months to fix a problem with accelerator pedals that can get stuck, causing vehicles to speed up unintentionally.  Fortunately it is the 2010 Highlander and not the 2009 Highlander Hybrid which we received not too long ago… Going to check in with them anyways! 

2.  WTF is up with this whole “sex therapy” thing.  Tiger Woods is there, there is a TV show dedicated to it and seriously, does anyone believe this shit?  In time of companies like Ashley Madison promoting extra-marital affairs, and the stigma of divorce being watered down is anyone surprised?  It’s the best excuse / cope-out for this time and age.  Sorry dear that I slept with 30 other women / men.  I’m addicted to sex.  It’s not my fault.  I’m wired that way.  I just don’t buy it.

1.  Who or what the fuck is Jason Ellis and why is he on my satellite radio?  I’m not sure if he’s an annoying amateur Howard Stern or if he’s brilliant.  Where did he come from?   And while on the topic of satellite radio… I was listening to the 90′s on Channel 9 again today and realized something… Music in the 1990′s sucked!  It was all shit.  After the 80′s (or retro to all you pre-pubes) music died.  Sure there was the grunge area (thank G-d).  But music died when the boy bands came about.

Is this what I have to look forward too???

I was reading up on some of my favourite blogs, see my blogroll, and I came across this post from my friend Tanis @ Redneck Mommy.

http://theredneckmommy.com/2010/01/15/first-base/

Is this what I have to look forward to now that I have a baby girl to join my two boys?

OY.

Urbandaddy’s 2010 Official Coffee Shop Rankings

Here are my 2010 coffee shop rankings.  These rankings are based mainly on the following criteria; taste, price, freshness and also on a few other intangibles, such as snacks, cash and perks.  

1. Tim Horton’s

2. Java Joe’s

3. Starbucks

4. Country Style

5. Second Cup

6. Timothy’s

7. Coffee Time

So how did I come to this conclusion???  Easily.

For the value, taste and freshness, Timmy’s wins out.  Their roll up the rim contest rocks and the staff at pretty much every location are friendly.  You can get yogurt, bagels, and yummy chili and good soups.  A visit there won’t break the bank, and in some areas they seem to be on every block.  Sure the staff rarely stir the coffee, but for $1.56 for a large… You can’t go wrong.  And where else would I be able to say, I’ll have a large double double, please”, and get a smile and a “yes sir”.  Also, I recommend trying the blueberry bagel with lite strawberry cream cheese… Very yummy.

Java Joe’s made my list at number 2 because one opened up near my office and I find I go there often and get a bang for my buck.  First they take debit which Timmy’s doesn’t and their food is much better; organic teas, great flavours of coffee like Jamaica Mistake and Raspberry Chocolate.  Their hot food portions are very large, flavourful and reasonably priced.  The staff are great and the place (at least near my office) has cool tables and chairs and a flat screen TV which you can watch while sitting next to the built in fireplace.

Starbucks, while pricey, and serves very strong coffee, does have great Cafe Americano’s for slightly more than the price of a regular coffee (but I have not been there in the past couple weeks and rumour has it that there was a price increase over that time).  At the suggestion of the barista at my local S’bux, I got hooked on having the Americano with a pump of mocha (free if you have a convenience card) and during the holidays I added a pump of mint too.  Plus, their give you a coupon for a free anything if you don’t like your drink, or waiting too long for it AND, often offer free samples.  Their oatmeal is the perfect treat for a toddler as is their cheese plate (although really pricey).  My kids love the wooden stir sticks (sticks) and the automatic doors.  It’s nice to be able to sit at Starbucks and be noticed.  My wife and I have a term – a Guterman - which means, sitting at S’Bux looking busy but doing sweet fuck all… Ahhh, the life.  Especially in the summer.

Country Style has good coffee and interesting treats which are not outstanding but if you are hungry and cheap, hits the spot.  I have often walked in to have a coffee there because I feel sorry they don’t do a better job getting their brand out.  When fresh their coffee is as good as anyone, but come in during a quiet period and as you drink it you understand why the low price…

Second Cup would normally rank behind Timothy’s because I hate their old, bitter coffee and stupidly high prices for this crap – but I had a coffee there today (first in months) that was half Butter Pecan (their best flavour) and half Holiday Blend.  Sure I needed 4 sugars but it was actually quite good.  They need to find a way to keep their coffee fresher – I doubt they would have the traffic to keep making new pots every 15 minutes like Tim Horton’s but they could try picking a flavour and for that specialty flavour, they will make a fresh post every 15 minutes and see what the responses from their customers are.  The other main issue Second Cup needs to address is their choice of coffees.  Normally they have 5 or 6 different types.  One decaf, one is a medium and one is a strong.  There is a mild – something like a Paradiso (whatever the heck that means) and then the flavour… I hate Irish Cream!!!  Detest it!  That is usually their one flavoured coffee and when asked why, I was told, it is because it is popular… No shit!  It’s the one fucking flavour, and people don’t like stale, overpriced swill, so they get the flavour that needs lots of cream and sugar to cover the bitterness.  I’d recommend they keep Butter Pecan and Caramelo in high rotation – as everyone knows that flavoured coffees need less sugar and cream to mask staleness or bitterness, which means less costs.  They only offer sweets and I can’t eat those after piling all that sugar into my drink. 

Another advantage the Second Cup is not taking advantage of is the space they have in most of their shops which they could totally utilize to capitalize on families by offering a safe environment for kids and snacks under 5000 calories – something healthy, possibly?!?  Seriously, a place for parents to take their kids after dinner to hang out and buy healthy treats might save a few locations… Better than being empty, eh?

Timothy’s… Poor, poor Timothy’s.  I thought they were already out of business.  There used to be one near my home, which I went two less than 5 times (hence why they are gone)  The Timothy’s large coffee is HUGE and expensive, the coffee is watered down and terrible and most of the locations need to bring in “other” items in order to make money – like my local one sells handmade jewellery… The only coffee I can drink there is the toasted coconut because it’s toasted taste covers the fact that the pot has been sitting there all day.   Brutal.  I always feel like I’m wasting money once I leave one.  They seriously need to merge with a US company and re-brand all their stores… That would bring them back from the dead.  I should Google “Seattle’s Best Coffee” and see if they have any extra cash.  Shouldn’t cost that much…  Then again… Seattle’s best aint that great either.  I tried one of those in Newark’s NJ airport… yawn. 

Coffee Time… A very fringe coffee shop, usually open 24 hours, filled with riff raff and in that hideous orange colour (although some newer ones are brown).  It’s never a place to take a family at night – even creepy during the day.  It’s that place you like to run into if you really need coffee, but don’t intend on staying… or… go, but don’t flash any money or look like you have anything of value on you.

Honourable mention to McDonald’s coffee which I tried last year when they were offering it for free.  Even with that I wasn’t sure if it was worth it.  I will have to try it again for the first time.

What are your thoughts on my rankings??

I Do Know How to Read!

Tonight I sat in bed with my 3-year-old and instead of reading him a book, he decided he was going to read it to me.

He picked up the book, “Fish is Fish” by Lou Lionni, held it upside down, gave me a reassuring smile and proceeded to “read” me the story.

“Here are 2 fish”, he reads. “They are upside down”.

Turns the page.

“Here are 2 green fish, oh! They are upside down too!”.

Turns the page.

“And here are 2 more fish… upside down too”.

He looks at me and smiles. Looks down at the book. Looks back and me a little unsure. Then he shuts the book and says, “Why are all the fish upside down? I think the book is upside down.”

He then looked at the book the right side up. Opened it with a big smile, said “oh! this is the right way.”

Then he looked at the book and I think he realized he cannot read. He looked at the pages, shut the book and said, “I don’t want to read this book… I can’t read yet”.

Cutie!

Pet Peeve #8

So this morning I arrive at the Tim Horton’s nearest to my office before 8am and decide to slide in for a coffee.  The line-up is very long and circles around the inside of the coffee shop and coils back towards the door.  At the front of the line is a woman in a Canada Post (Canadian Post Office) jacket.  All of a sudden in walks a colleague of hers who smiles and says hello, then proceeds to walk to the end of the line. 

The Canada Post person says, “come join me in line”, but after seeing about 50 other people also in a rush glaring at them, decides to heard to the back of the line.  Then as soon as that first woman got to the front of the line up comes 3 other from within the line who drop their money down on the counter and order. 

Made the line stand still for a good 5 minutes.

I’m not complaining about buying a coffee from a friend / colleague at the same time you are ordering one.  Take their change, place the order at once and get on with life, but I really, and I mean REALLY hate when others descend on the line and take turns ordering as if it is their g-d given right to be able to jump the line because their colleague is there.

It was rude and pissed me the hell off.

Tuesday Newsday an Urbandaddy exclusive!

Thoughts about world events which peaked my interest or make me shake my head in disbelief:

1) Thousands of prostitutes are expected to descend on Vancouver for the 2010 Winter Olympics there, to cash in on the swelling numbers of fans, media and Olympic employees.

Prostitutes who’ve arrived in advance of the Games’ launch on Feb. 12 are taking business away from the ones who live in Vancouver.  “It’s causing a bit of a financial crisis for us.  We’re all relying on the local clientele now. As more and more (sex) workers come here, our income is being divided even more.”  One prostitute said that she recently went two days without getting a single call from a client. “Never in my career has that happened before.”

2) Simon Cowell is leaving American Idol.

Wait

Wait

Waiting

Waiting

Wait

OK, the world didn’t stop spinning.  And this is news, why?  I thought they cancelled that show years ago.

3) Conan O’Brian is out as the host of the Tonight Show over a dispute with NBC which sees the struggling station pushing that show to 12:05am in order to put the Jay Leno show on at 11:35.  This would result in the Later show with Jimmy Fallon being bumped or ditched, neither of which were possible for O’Brian. 

Oddly enough, I hate Conan and could not stand to watch the Tonight show with Jay Leno after watching it with Johnny Carson.  something about Carson and McMahon (Ed McMahon).  But I do admire Conan for taking a stand and if not enhancing his brand, for bringing publicity back to the Tonight Show and NBC. 

I might actually watch it now.

On second thought… Nope.