September 29th – National Coffee Day

Apparently today, September 29th, is National Coffee Day.  I know it is in the US, but in all the coffee I drank today in meetings I did not hear anything about it being National Coffee Day in Canada.  I mean, if it was, Tim Horton’s would advertise it, right?!?  It would also probably be a National holiday…

So to my US friends, I wish you a good cuppa java.

Happy National Coffee Day!

And from a new blog that I found, Coffee House Observer, I bring some coffee facts.
 

• Coffee was first rumoured to have been found by farmers in Ethiopia who noticed that their goats would get all jumpy after eating cocoa beans, so they decided to try it for themselves.
• Coffee was a food before it was a drink. 
• Coffee grows on trees.
• The expression “cup of Joe” was first coined in World War II. Soldiers, known as “Joe’s,” were apparently big coffee drinkers.
• Only two types of coffee tree are widely cultivated. 70% of the world drinks coffee from Arabica coffee trees. The rest drink coffee from Robusta trees.
• Oil is the only product that gets traded more than coffee. Cool, eh?
• A coffee tree takes about 5 years to mature. The average annual yield from a coffee tree is only enough for one roasted pound of coffee.  Hmmm, I’m going to have to plant something else in Farmville…
• My favourite kind of coffee when I do go Starbucks, the Americano is another coffee term coined during World War II.  American soldiers would order espresso with water to cut down on the bitter flavor.
• Brewed coffee has been drunken for 700 years.  Instant coffee, was invented in 1906 in Belgium.
• On average, 1400 million cups of coffee are consumed every day around the world.  I accounted for 3 today.

How you came to me…

Sadly this list is nowhere near as exciting as the one Sci-Fi Dad put out that makes me laugh out loud, but I feel that I finally have enough to make a post.

Below, please find search terms used to get to this blog in the past 30 days (please note, no Captain Lou Albano queries… YAY!)

The list, in order of most queries first:

urban daddy – good start
urbandaddy - probably looking for urbandaddy.com and came her by accident.  Someone who came to me via that route, must be the person responsible for the, “this is the biggest pile of bullsh*t I have ever read” comment.
http://www.urbandaddy.wordpress.com – why search this? why not just type that into the URL?!?
club rockit – would bring readers here as that is the name of my friend’s club of which a movie was just made and he’s getting nothing for this infringement..
1717 avenue road – I wrote a passionate post about my part in the negotiations with the City, developer and some nit wits from the neighbourhood.
urbandaddy relocation expenses – Sorry.  I don’t pay them, but I would love to be paid them. 
java joe’s west beaver creek – Go there and tell the owner Randy that I sent you to drink his flavoured coffee’s…
whats further than infidity - I hope this query was from a 4 year old, I really do… Infidity?
i have orange pants i wear them when i dance – hoping this person is looking for the barenaked ladies song and not really commenting on what he/she does in their orange pants…
whats further than infinity – ahh, learned to spell…
who started urbandaddy – me!  Who else?
urban daddy web traffic – I have no idea but I can tell you I have one more hit because of this query… Thanks!
adam vaughan mike yen – I’ll take Mike Yen, thank you.
“omb folly” – There was only one?!? I would have liked to have seen “OMG” folly…
“joe oliver” + “rob ford” – Depends on who takes the last name… Joe Ford, or Rob Oliver.
my soccer team won’t pass to me – I’m sorry.  Try being open…
supernova elliott hurst – Is not here right now, but I can take a message and give it to him at karate on the weekend…
urbandaddy models – I do? I mean, I could, if you can’t find anyone else…
i’ve got orange pants. i wear them when – I know, when you dance… You’ve tried this before…
yurban daddy – ythats ystill yme, y’all.
forcing t-ball – is that like forcing sports on kids?  Why does that direct traffic to me?  My kids want to play in theory… 
xm radio success – you’re welcome!
when kids hate karate and you force them – I don’t force them, I force my own.

“I am the only one that can stop Ford”

That was the quote from Toronto Mayoral candidate George Smitherman yesterday.

I stared at the headline, blinked a few times, then snapped back to reality.

Personally… I’d rather look at Rocco Rossi or Sarah Thompson or whatever her name is, than Smitherman. Nothing against the fact that he is gay – which I just found out yesterday (because last time I checked one’s sexual preference had zero to do with whether or not they could lead a city) but the ego this man has astounds me. I make that comment about him being gay to bring to light what I have noticed this campaign that I do not like at all. For some reason it is acceptable for all the candidates not names Rob Ford to comment on Rob’s weight, hairline, business (Deco Labels and Tags which I used to buy from out of University when I started my own promotional products business. That company was top notch and the service was incredible. I see where Ford gets it from. But back to my point. Each and every attack on Ford is person and seems to be accepted and encouraged. Why not stick to the facts? Transit, economy, budget, services… I think the more the “left” attack Ford, the more his legend grows.

I actually had a conversation with a friend who referred to Ford as a “fat slob”. My response was, “So? Since when do we elect representatives based on how they look, or who they sleep with?” This election in Toronto is about the facts. It’s about reducing wasteful spending of hard-earned tax dollars, both yours and mine.

And speaking about wasteful spending… Let’s go back to Smitherman…

I feel like shouting out loud to anyone who lives in Toronto and has a vote in this city.

GEORGE SMITHERMAN WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR 1 BILLION DOLLARS BEING WASTED IN THE eHEALTH SCANDAL.

I’m sorry. I cannot, and will not vote for this man. Rob Ford is winning because he vows to reel in the out-of-control spending of the left and try to bring the city back from the brink of bankruptcy. I cannot and will not elect someone who allowed 1 billion dollars, not 1 million, but 1 billion dollars of TAXPAYERS money to be wasted – yet he distances himself from it and refuses to acknowledge it.

Are we idiots, George?

Yet I hear this anti-Ford sentiment from people on the left who don’t like the way he looks or that he has had issues in the past at a hockey game, or with his wife and that is all true and on the record, but none of that affects his ability to lead the city, cut unnecessary spending and waste.

Here is the article from the Globe and Mail in which Smitherman essentially tells the candidates to step down so he can get all the vote and “stop” common sense from Toronto City Council.

Please…

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/toronto/city-votes/smitherman-vows-to-lead-anybody-but-ford-charge-in-toronto-mayoral-race/article1721005/

I just heard Smitherman on the radio talking about developing Toronto’s waterfront – how Rob Ford doesn’t want to – but Smitherman feels as Torontonians we need to… He just doesn’t get it, does he? I don’t want to pay $10,000.00 in property tax so that Cherry Beach will be a viable option for anyone and everyone to come swim at. I want fiscal restraint and once outlandish spending is under control, let’s talk about revamping Ontario Place, Exhibition grounds, and the waterfront…

George… In case you failed to notice, we’re in a recession and to tax residents more because you think Ontario Place is outdated is out of touch and irresponsible. It’s akin to, I don’t know, being on guard while 1 BILLION dollars gets wasted on eHealth, which for some unknown reason you refuse to discuss.

I’m glad the unions supported you today, George… Then I won’t feel bad when Mayor Ford outsources a lot of their work at 1/2 the cost.

I like public transit in the City – I take it and really feel that we missed the boat on building a world class system like they have in France, England, Spain, etc. But I also feel that the wages required to be paid to unionized workers is the reason it would cost billions of dollars to build and would take 3 years to complete.

I also think that they has to be some sacrifices before transit is to be built. I don’t care if there is a TTC museum @ York Mills and Yonge Street, but I do want to see more subways all over the city to move people. I think St.Clair’s centre streetcar right-of-way was a huge mistake and I hope they have somewhere to move all the concrete when they rip it up and build a St. Clair subway line.

I just hope people vote with their brains and not with their eyes come the election. And please do not be afraid to send a message to all the current city councillors who have allowed this stagnation to occur under their watch. They are just as bad as Smitherman…

Mercifully, My Sons Soccer Seasons Have Come to an End!

I know for a fact there are many readers of this blog who know the way I feel about my boys’ soccer seasons this summer.

This actual topic came up Friday night at our tot-shabbat dinner / service between myself and our Rabbi, right after I tried to convince her that it was okay to text / surf the net during the high-holidays because when the Torah was written there was no texting.  The Rabbi asked him how soccer was going, was he having fun… when my son said, “Yes, soccer is FUN.”

Oh, yes he did.

I’m shaking my head…

But for those of you who do not know what happened, here it is in a nutshell.  My boys, 5 and 3 (close to 6 and VERY close to 4) play North Toronto Soccer and I am the coach of both teams.  My younger boy had no interest in soccer for most of the season, yet he would get VERY frustrated if he could not touch the ball – so much so that he once chased down a teammate and yanked him to the ground, from behind, by the cuff of his shirt then stood over him crying.  However, after spending the season running behind the play or kicking the ball in his own net, I saw some progress.  Towards the end of his season he actually tried dribbling with the ball during their games and had less hesitation going into traffic to get the ball.  In his last game, he took the ball off the opposition by running beside her, matching her stride for stride, then slipped in front of her and took the ball.  He then took it all the way to the opposition net before his teammate took it off him and kick it in for a goal.  His response to me was, “almost!”.  Nice.

 My oldest boy, on the other hand, has less than ZERO interest in the game and often times would be caught far away from the action during the games picking weeds, playing with sticks, or watching the other games.  He was there because he had to be and the fact that there was a game going on was a mere coincidence.  His teammates, knowing this, would try to pass to him so he could score – or even just kick the ball, yet passes would roll in front of him without him even noticing.  He hated soccer games.  He liked to practice and be with his teammates, but as for the games… No way.   

Coaching went something like this…  On Monday nights I would yell at the 3 and 4 year old’s to help them learn to play by the rules; “there are no hands in soccer” or “take your hands out of your pockets”, “stop ripping out the grass”, “get off your teammate”, or “keep the ball inbounds”.  By Tuesday night, my hoarse voice would get done in as I would yet to (at) Linus; “go kick the ball”, “run!!!”, “who are you covering?”, “run, run, run” or the ever famous, “Linus!  I bought you cleats so you could run and kick the ball… please… you’re killing me… Just kick the ball”

Anyways, after a LONG season, this Saturday was the finalsday for both boys teams.

Stewie’s team – Brazil - was short half the team, so only 4 of the 8 kids showed up, which meant we had 2 teams of 2 kids and we played the other team, Argentina, who had 7 of their 8 kids there.   The 4 on 2 team had our best 4-year-old and he dominated.  We won that side but my 2 guys,  Stewie being one of them had to overcome some crafty cheating by the Argentine coaches to keep the win.   

We were up 3-0 when the ball went behind the Argentine net and instead of letting all six kids eventually kick it around the net back into the play, the Argentine coach picked up the ball and tossed it to right in front of our net.  Needless to say that scored.    The Argentine’s managed to pull this off 2 more times before I kept sending the ball back to their net for my kids to score.   We won that game 7-4.

The next round saw my team Brazil have t play 2 on 4 on both sides, yet we still managed to win both of those games.  With my side down 3-0, I switched over my best kid to my other Brazil coach whose squad was destroying the little Spaniards and our kid quickly scored 5 goals for a 6-3 win.

With a playoff sweep in the books the kids then got their medal, team picture, pizza, water and a giant, really cool, soccer ball cookie.

I realized in the 2 on 4 scenario, that Stewie was getting better and better and at still 3-years-old he held his own and even scored a few goals.  I might have a player in him after all…

… But then there was Linus…

UGH.

His team won their first game via comeback 7-5 over Mexico but lost 3-1 in their final to Spain. 

Linus was invisible.  He usually walked behind the play, sometimes jogged, but never made any attempt to kick or block the ball.  His teammates wanted him to kick it and score so they kept passing to him, but he wouldn’t move and the ball would roll past.  Not once all season did he want to be first to the ball, nor did he want to get into a scrum to kick the ball out.  He doesn’t like to dribble, won’t practice at home and has never talked of scoring a goal…

But at the end of his game, his season, and probably his soccer career, he too got his cookie, pizza, medal, picture and water and he was pleased with himself.  He made it.  I think his happiest moment was having his medal put on his neck by City Councillor Karen Stintz – we go way back – and he remembered her.  Plus with his top 2 teeth missing he’s really freeking cute!

I’m glad this ordeal is over.  Makes me want to consider ice skating again…

Week in, week out, I yelled and yelled until I has no voice.  I used a white board and diagramed plays.  I talked calmly, I spoke strategically but none of it worked.  Parents laughed, Linus smiled.

It was almost as though during the games he didn’t know what to do…

So I am SO relieved it is over.  I gave him a big hug and congratulations for sticking with this program (he wanted to play soccer!!!) even though he hated it.  So then he tells me that he may want to play next year… Yikes.  I won’t be coaching. 

I’m a certified Canadian sports coach but dealing with your kids is different…

But now both kids put their team pictures on the fireplace for me to see and curse daily.  Oddly enough, even though Linus said how much he hated soccer, when asked a school what his favourite 3 numbers are – the 3rd number he chose was his soccer number, #8.

Kids… I just don’t get them.

Urban Daddy Recommends – Samual Kleinberg Jewellers

I cannot say enough about the way I’ve been treated at Samual Kleinberg Jewellers. I’ve been going there for about 10 years now and have bought a wide variety of jewellery for urban mummy ranging from earrings to necklaces, bracelets, rings and we have had some beautiful eternity rings made to coincide with the birth of each of our three children.

The service is excellent and the selection is wonderful. A friend of our suggested we go into Mark Lash jewellers in Richmond Hill, to look for a specific style of ring so we could have Melissa design something different but all they had in this massive store was plain white stones and the same boring silver and gold bands that my mother or grandmother would wear. We prefer SK Jewellers because they have colour!  Coloured stones and coloured gold.  Stuff my wife would wear!

Below is their contact information. If you decide to go in, let Melissa know the Urban Daddy sent you, and you can follow her / them on twitter or through facebook.

http://www.samuelkleinberg.com/

You can shop online – although you will want to try on the item first, no doubt and this website has a plethora on information including a section to educate the buyer (say men looking for an engagement ring for his girl-friend) and I even learned today that they buy your gold!

So have a look, go in, look around, give them a call and you won’t be disappointed.

And look at the bright side… They are in the plaza at the corner of Lawrence Avenue and Bathurst Street with a Winners, Shoppers Drug Mart, Shoe Company, Metro (with a Tim Horton’s in it), Second Cup, Mark’s Work Warehouse and so much more, so take some time to look in the store and send the kids to the other stores to look around / shop.

P.S. Melissa, put some coloured stones in the sample section on the website! Like those beautiful eternity bands you designed for us, or the purple earrings…

Thursday Thirteen – Guest Edition

This weeks Thursday Thirteen comes to us from a New York Yankee fan whose love of hard rock and children’s songs I can understand (the Yankee fan, I can not).

Orlando Rivera (no relation to Geraldo)

So here are his top thirteen hard rock cover songs.

I have heard and love a couple of them, like Turn the Page, Cars, Sweet Dreams and I’m Your Boogie Man. They are great, and I cannot wait to check out the others.

Thanks Orlando… Go Jays Go.

(Ahem… A-Fraud. A-Roid)

In no particular order:

13. Am I Evil (Diamond Head) by Metallica
12. Cars (Gary Numan) by Fear Factory
11. Turn the Page (Bob Seger) by Metallica
10. Fade to Black (Metallica) by Disturbed
9. One (Metallica) by Korn
8. Shout at the Devil (Motley Crüe) by Stuck Mojo
7. Cat Scratch Fever (Ted Nugent) by Pantera
6. No Quarter (Led Zeppelin) by Tool
5. Sweet Leaf (Black Sabbath) by Machine Head
4. Sweet Dreams (Eurythmics) by Marilyn Manson
3. Hall of the Mountain King (Edvard Grieg) by Apocalyptica
2. The Sound of Silence (Simon and Garfunkel) by Nevermore
1. I’m your Boogie Man (KC and the Sunshine Band) by White Zombie

Toronto Municipal Elections – A Different Approach

I recently read an article on Ward 20 Trinity-Spadina candidate Mike Yen – as he has been reaching out to the single people in his ward – hoping to garner enough support to help him oust notable left-wing incumbent Adam Vaughan (does he even live in this riding?) and I thought that Yen’s approach was not only very sincere, but it was different and great.

Clearly Yen supports Rob Ford and since it appears that Ford is (thankfully) going to be our Mayor, the next step is to elect some Ford-friendly councillors so the left-wing ideology can be swept out of City Hall and stuff can get done!

Feel free to read the article below, and please forget that the Toronto Sun wrote it – according to Federal Liberal Leader (never to be PM) Michael Ignatief Sun readers cannot read…

Now that Yen has everyone attention, his follow up move should be a direct attack on Vaughan’s policies and point out how he (Vaughan) has been trying to close down the club district, or the fraternity’s in the University of Toronto.

http://www.torontosun.com/news/torontoandgta/2010/09/13/15337341.html

A trip to the dentist – Big eye opener!

I have a confession to make…  I love to floss my teeth.  I’m kind of addicted to it, but I was not always like that.

When I was 26 years old I got my first cavity.  Two of them actually.  They were in between my back two molars, where the teeth are very tight together and were the result of not flossing regularly.

Having them filled hurt – even though my dentist gave me laughing gas to help out, so I swore to not let that happen again and started flossing my teeth. 

I had containers of dental tape all over the house – and would floss in bed, in the bathroom, in front of the TV… It was never ending. 

So I made sure that I got my wife and kids to the dentist as soon as they needed to be there to have their teeth cleaned, get that toy from the toy chest and let the family know that going to the dentist is a positive experience. For the better part of 20+ years, I have been going to Bayview Hill Dental Centre (way up at Major Mackenzie and Bayview Avenue in Richmond Hill) and it’s been a long time since anyone in my family has been nervous going to the dentist.

What I did not know, however, was that my 5-year-old son had tight back molars like I do (he’s lost 3 teeth already and another on the way so his teeth are shifting around) and that he needed to floss his teeth at 5 years old.

But boy, do we all know that now!

His first trip to the dentist in a year had a shocking twist as he has 6 cavities! 6. Of those six, only one is a serious cavity that needs to be filled right away, but there are 3 others which have broken through the enamel and will probably be done too. The last two are to be watched as they are in his back molars which don’t fall out until he is 12 years old.

I wonder how he is going to handle this filling of the cavities as he doesn’t even really understand what it means to have a cavity. At least he will now learn how to floss his teeth, and the importance of brushing twice a day and not eating sweets before bed (not that he does that, like ever).

The hygenist tought him how to floss with this little sticks and with the dento-tape / floss and now he’s a pro. He is scheduled to have his teeth filled next week – 4 of he can handle it and at least 2. He will get laughing gas.

The first thing he did whenever he saw anyone was to tell them about the 6 cavities. Geez. But this is a kid that does not eat sweets in a household where we do not eat sweets. It’s just a result of food getting stuck and rotting…

On the bright side, we now floss as a family every night…

It’s actually quite fun.

And now I know why his breath was slightly off for the better part of a year…

Duh!

Update:

He had 2 teeth filled and the other 2 are on the watch radar for now. We all continue to floss and brush as a family every night.

Watching him in the dentist chair was funny. He asked a TON of questions and even after the nitrous oxide mask was put on his nose, he still took it off to speak. Once the gas was on, he was giggling and laughing, it made me laugh so I had to leave him there with his mummy.

After the dentist him and mummy went out for dinner – just the 2 of them – and she let him order. He LOVED it! They even brought me some leftovers for my dinner (yummy Chinese).

I think this whole experience and the dinner with mummy is a good way to teach him that as he approaches 6-years-old, he needs to be accountable for his actions and if he’s good, he gets special treats like a date with his mummy.

And Crashing Down Came Stewie…

Consider this post to be an urban daddy safety tip for you or your children. you can thank me later.

If you have two chairs sitting in your basement, one upside down resting on top of the other one (sitting right side up)…

… and these chairs are close to a hard object, say a train table that looks something like this…

… then do not sit on the top chair / let your kids sit on the top chair in case the bottom chair slides out, causing the top chair to topple backwards and the person on the top to fall backward and crack open their head on the train table, kind of like what my son did last past weekend.

Yup.

Our older son came running upstairs, with a concerned look on his face, and he said, “Stewie’s hurt bad”. Seconds later a crying Stewie came walking upstairs.

When I asked him what happened / what hurts, he said he fell off a chair…

It wasn’t until I asked Linus to show me an instant replay (what happened in super-slow-motion without hurting himself again) and it was then I thought to take my hand and touch the back of Stewie’s head looking for blood. When I took off my hand off his head, there was blood.

GASP.

Calmly, my wife grabbed a cloth, wet it with cold water, to compress on his head and I talked to him about the accident to calm him before looking for the wound.

Expecting to see China – a hole right through to the other side of the world – I found an inch and a half gash in the back of his head that looked like it could use stitches, but was not pouring blood as many deep wounds do (and I have seen PLENTY in my 20 years of ball hockey).

We talked to him, stopped the bleeding but still wanted to have the cut looked at. We drove over to the local walk-in clinic, waiting for 10-15 minutes after-which he was seen, examined and his head wound glued together and my little trooper was ready to get home.

He had to sleep on a towel and couldn’t get his head wet for 2 days, but that didn’t stop him from attacking his brother and almost knocking him over in the drug store, or from playing karate, and soccer.

He’s such a good kid.

Clumsy, like his mummy, but tough like his daddy.

Let’s hope its a long time before I have to go through that again!  I think it was harder on me that it was on him!

Hey Rocco Rossi… You stole my idea for Allen Road!

Well, well, well…

Toronto Mayoral candidate Rocco Rossi has an idea… A GREAT idea, a BOLD idea, which he expects the City of Toronto to embrace and vault him to be the next mayor of this city.

Well, Mr. Rossi, I think the “boldest move of the mayor campaign” was actually my idea and I have plenty of passengers, friends and family that I have shared my idea with since I started driving south on Allen Road for the past 2-3 months.

Allen Road, you see, has always had a soft spot in my heart.  When my father was a child his family live on Everden which is the first street directly south of Eglinton - where Allen Road abruptly ends – and the government at that time expropriated the land for the “Spadina Expressway”, or continuation of Allen Road all the way down to Lake Ontario.

My Dad had always claimed that the decision to remove his family, especially his ill mother contributed to her death as she “loved” that house.  True or not (my dad was a die-hard Conservative), I had always wondered why the 7th largest City in North America has only one major highway down to the waterfront, but it was not until moving into the area that I wondered what, if anything could be done to prevent traffic from backing up at Lawrence as cars have to go East or West at Eglinton.  Plus, with all the side streets set at do not enter, cars must clog up Bathurst Street and Oakwood Avenue.  Makes for a LONG trek downtown…

So one day about 2 months ago, with my 2 carpool passengers in my hybrid, sitting for 45 minutes to get to Eglinton, I was staring at the subway which shoots underground at Eglinton going southbound and really began to consider whether it was possible or not to make the tunnel wider and have a giant express tunnel downtown to waterfront, or with a couple stops on the way to alleviate traffic congestion.  I also wondered about running ramps up from Allen to some of the side streets like Ridelle to allow for cars to get off of Allen Road should they need to feed through the side streets to get home.

Then alas, today, comes the report of Mr. Rossi’s brainchild.  (See article here).

http://news.nationalpost.com/2010/09/13/rocco-rossi-proposes-linking-the-allen-expressway-to-downtown-toronto-by-tunnel/

If he fires out the brilliant idea of installing ramps to the side streets next, you will know for sure that something is up.

Personally, I’d like to see something new – with little disruption to people or parks – to move traffic along, but this idea alone won’t put Rossi back in the race.  Not while Rob Ford is offering up cutbacks to the “spend now-tax later” NDP way of running this City.

Besides, Rocco, I have other great ideas too…  Give me a call, or drop me a comment.