And the Academy Award for the Largest Ego for a Spoiled Athlete(s) goes to… The Miami Heat.

I just realized the Academy Awards were on the same night as the NBA all-star game.  Oops.  Different genres of people, I guess.

I watched the 2nd half of the NBA All-Star game because at the end of the first half the score was something insane like 109-88 for the Western Conference which meant the Miami Heat threesome of LeBron (I am the King) James, Dwayne (I can win on my own and don’t need these clowns) Wade and… oh yeah that third wheel and former Raptor Chris (Can I please ride on your coat-tails) Bosh, were losing.  Yay.  so I continued watching hoping for the Eastern conference to lose even though my Raptors play in the East.

But to my utter enjoyment, the East made a game of it, LBJ was putting up 3-pointer after 3-pointer.  It was incredible.  Sure they were down by 20 points, but that is when LBJ is at his best, right? because when push came to shove, it was LBJ who missed a key 3, and then Wade dropped a long-bomb pass which would have been an easy lay-up and probable East win.  Even on the last shot of the game, LBJ didn’t want to take it, he passed it off. 

They choked. He choked.

History repeats itself.

And when the camera panned to LBJ, he was laughing and shrugging his shoulders like it was nothing.  Then while being interviewed he played it off even more along the lines of it doesn’t really matter, the game is over.

It does matter.  LBJ knows he is not the most popular player in the league and that he is slowly developing a reputation of being a bit of a choke artist.  It’s getting to him, and it’s clearly obvious.  He wants to win but doesn’t want that last shot.  Wade will take it.  Kobe will take it.  Even Bosh is used to taking it since he was forced to in Toronto. 

This is the same LBJ who was so popular in high school that either an agent or the school bought his mother a Hummer and when it was made public they denied it.  He’s not cut from a moral cloth to be a role model and to be honest, he’s drinking the cool-aid about how great he is (or thinks he is). 

Now having said all this, the Heat will probably win the championship this year… UGH.

—————————————————

On Sunday, I took Linus with me to a volunteer event – we, at the urban daddy household volunteer at least once a month with the kids to give back to the community – and we took part in an hour of yoga while at this event.  Let me tell you this… Dads… It was hard.  I’m sure the moms have done it numerous times and we all know woman are more flexible anyways, but for me it was tough, but as the program went on, I could really feel the stretch.  I was sore after, a little bit sweaty – not like playing ball hockey – but I knew I was in a workout.  So then after all the cobra’s, downward dogs, sunset’s, etc., the instructor informed me this was a “beginner” class.  OY.   

By Monday morning, I realized that my back was not sore when I woke up which told me need to do more yoga!

What do you have to say?

And don’t forget to like me on Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/pages/Urban-Daddy/109554365740659 

And follow me on Twitter @urbandaddyblog

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Ontario Election Wrap-up – Topical all these months later…

I found this draft post sitting in my folder which I meant to post it but probably left because I was so dismayed at the size of the mistake that folks in Toronto made for the rest of the province of Ontario by re-electing Dalton McGuinty’s Liberal government.

So instead of deleting it, I read it over and decided to post it now.  I have come to realize that while I am not a political pundit in any way, nor am I a prognosticator, I try to be informed and I do my research so below is what I knew and felt at that time.  Have a read and tell me how true a lot of it is…

The post:

Here is my Ontario election wrap-up, urban daddy style.
First of all I want to thank the nearly 1000 people who googled “who do I vote for in the Ontario election” and came to my blog on election day. I hope you read what I wrote and it made sense. I was not endorsing the Ontario Conservatives party blindly as a life long conservative, but I felt like I really presented some key facts, not opinions, which seemed to me to be a whole lot of common sense.

I looked at the previous 8 years of Liberal rule in Ontario and I found;

HST

An eHealth scandal in which the minister in charge fled and tried to become Mayor of Toronto

Sex Education being taught to kids in grade 2.

“Smart” meters resulting in higher hydro charges

Green energy act

Wind Mills

Another rise in the minimum wage, this one pushing it up to $10.25/hr

Delisting of health care items like chiropractic and physio therapy when our population is aging and are going to need these services.

A whole lot of broken promises

The list goes on.

But after going through yet another Provincial election where voters in Toronto blindly voted red, I awake to the same old and I’m not feeling warm and fuzzy about Ontario. Already this morning, one day after that election news media is reporting that the unemployment rate in Ontario has gone UP.  Ontario is fast becoming a have-not province. Yet another finger pointed at Dalton and Co.

But before I continue, I also want to thank WordPress, www.wordpress.com, for adding me to the list of http://botd.wordpress.com/growing-blogs/ of Blogs of the Day – the Fastest Growing Blogs on WordPress.com. I really appreciated that!

So let’s take a look at some people who were re-elected for the Liberals.  This is a telling sign for me because if I’m voting for a policy, or a plan (recall: I did vote for notorious left-wing councillor Joe Mihevc as he appeared to be giving my riding what it needs) I have plenty of reasons to support my decision… So I’m not a 100% conservative die-hard. I do look at other factors and vote that way.

I don’t think voters in Toronto know who they elected and I’ll bet if I stood on a street corner and asked questions of the voters they would have no idea.

For example, did you know that;

Monte Kwinter who won in York Centre… Again, has been the MPP in that riding since 1985. 26 years. Monte, bless him, is 80-years-old. Think he’s in touch with the new generation of have-nots coming out of University expecting jobs, and a lifestyle like their parents currently have?  Probably not.

What about Mike Colle? He’s been in office since 1999. He was born in 1945, so that makes him a 66-years-old. Is this the future of the Liberal party of Ontario? Yet these guys got in easily because the older voters recognize the names, see the pretty pamphlets and just robotically fill in “Liberal” at the ballot box.

The reason I bring these gentlemen up is not to pick on people for their age. I’m 40, and if I ever chose to run in an election would be doing so later in life, but I know first hand having been in Colle’s riding, beside Kwinters and in the riding of Dr. Eric Hoskins, that these people are invisible to Torontonians. They show up at election time with pamphlets and because they know there are going to get elected.  The rest of the time, you could ask 50 people on the street who their MPP is and I’ll bet you 48 of then shrug their shoulders. It’s ridiculous.  Invisible.

What’s worse is that by re-electing McGuinty, voters are signing up for more taxes, more user fees and at some point Dalton has to realize that he cannot keep spending, errr, wasting money on stupid projects because the taxpayer is not going to be able to pay for this year over year… Money is tight and once people realize the waste and cuts and costs they’re going to flip out ala the anti-Rob Ford, anti-Stpehen Harper rhetoric in the news every day.  So either taxes are going up, or more cuts will be coming, and based on Dalton’s need to have a high minimum wage, I’ll bet he de-lists more items from OHIP.  That’s easy, right?  Or more user fees (fancy description for taxes). 

Let’s just hope he makes the right choice when the City comes to him for subway funding and cough up a ton to create lots of subways and bring Toronto into the 20th century.  I doubt that will happen, to be honest.

He’s just not that good of a leader.

But hey, you guys voted for him!  Enjoy.  Just hope you don’t need a hospital…

Remember, when the Conservatives suggested a two-tiered healthcare system all the people freaked out.  Well Ontario, it’s here and not by the Conservatives, but brought in by the Liberals.  Now I see why they refuse to fund IVF… It would save the system money year-over-year.  Liberals can’t save money.  It’s not the way they do things.  They de-list and keep things de-listed.

I’m shaking my head.

You should be too.

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Thursday Thirteen – You know you have lost touch with the adult world when…

Hello to my happy readers. As my 2-year-old daughter Berry would say with much excitement in her voice, “You came back!!!”.  For those of you who are first time readers, welcome, feel free to come back at any time, and if you’ve come here accidentially, thanks for the hit and please come back unless you are looking for Santa Claus porn. 

Because I’m a giant loser, I find myself not needing to dip into the almost 80 blog posts sitting in my draft folder for this weeks Thursday Thirteen, but instead I felt compelled to reach out to my readers with kids and form a bond.

Below you will find the 13 ways in which I realized I have lost touch with the adult world.

Sit tight and here we go.

13. I saw what appeared to be 2 hookers walking through the side streets near Eglinton and Allen Road last night in mid-town Toronto, on my way home from the office – probably heading to one of the many massage places with neon lights that light up on the very quiet Eglinton strip (pun intended) after dark.

For some reason even I cannot explain, I began singing this following song – out loud – in my car, to the tune of the Dora the Explorer theme;

Do do do DO do DO do… Hookers.
Do do do DO do DO do… Hookers.
Hookers, hookers, HOOKERS on Eglinton.
Hookers…

If you know the theme, you know what I mean.

12. I sit down in front of the television infrequently and instead of checking out the regular stations, Ch22 - Sportsnet, Ch30 TSN, Ch53 Headline sports and Ch 418 the NHL network, my fingers immediately press ch65 which is Treehouse TV.  A bad habit indeed because once the kids catch a glimpse of one of their shows the begging begins.

11. Like my kids, I have found myself not caring about the colour of my socks when I head into the office. It used to be black socks for everything unless I’m wearing blue pants, then it would be blue socks and brown socks for brown pants but because my kids regularly wear, for example, an orange shirt, with green pants and red socks, I’m feeling their vibe. I’m not sure those without kids would understand other than to think I’m  losing my mind.

10. I heard a song by Anthrax called “I’m Alive” which I really love right now but instead of singing that I find myself singing a children song that has words in it like, Syria, Oman, Pakistan… and what’s worse about this is that Stewie played it for me on my birthday saying “It’s daddy’s favourite song”. He knows it and I don’t. DOH!

9. I needed to move an icon from my iPad into a folder and ended up giving it to Linus to close off once I finally figured out how to move it – UrbanMummy showed me how to move them but not how to turn it off.  He knew without hesitation.

8. I needed to get through a level of Plants Vs. Zombies but couldn’t figure out how, so I gave it to Linus and Stewie and they had it done in 2 games. That used to be me…

7. I need to make more guy’s nights out to talk about real world topics not having to do with, or involving diapers, trips, programs or any more to deal with a vasectomy.

6. I have read over 1000 children’s books in the past year, and precisely 1 pleasure book for my interest and it was a Dan Brown book which I polished off in just under 2 weeks.

5. Before my ball-hockey game on Monday night, instead of my normal pre-game ritual of pasta, Advil, tums/rolaids, stretching and very loud aggressive rock to get my mind focussed, I took tips from Linus (who hates hockey and has seen me play twice) and his tips WORKED!   In honour of Ron Simmons who is going into the WWE Hall of Fame, I say this; “DAMN”.

4. See the previous discussion about my kids clothing “style” and wonder why it is that I ask them if my clothes match in the morning before I leave for the office.  That’s like me asking Urban Mummy who tells me I look fine when the room is pitch black and she cannot see me, and is the first to comment when I arrive home at the ned of the day with; “You wore THAT to work today?!?”

3.  As Daddy carpool, I take my kids to karate, swimming, parties, Beavers and any other kid only or family outing (like trips to sleepyville) and I am unable to yell or swear at other cars, bikes or people.  I also am banned from singing in the car or listening to my music. 

2.  I spend so much time in the children’s rooms at night – bedtime routine is happily my task – that my daughter has said to me repeatedly, “You have no bed.  Stewie in Stewie’s bed, Linus in Linus’ bed, Mummy in mummy’s bed and Berry in Berry’s big girl bed.  you have no bed.”  No matter how many times I have tried to convince her than mummy and daddy sleep in the same bed she won’t buy it because she never sees me there.  She’s 2.  Yet, I try to convince her over and over again.  Why is that?  It’s a giant waste of time with a 7-year-old, let alone a 2-year-old.

1.  I spend my days waking up at 6am when the kids get up.  I wipe butts, I smell hands, I smell stinky breath, I deal in diapers (thankfully no more poo).  I cook on demand, entertain on demand, feed on demand.  I’m their bitch.  I keep the TV low at night when watching sports.  I have not watched a movie which has suggestive content, the potential for nudity or swearing or inappropriate TV in 7 years.  What’s up with that?

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What the Family Day long weekend means to my family.

 

The Family Day long weekend means rest and relaxation to me and my family. It means a one day break from the daily grind of work, school and programs, and it means time to get some stuff done around the house, like cleaning and organizing and sadly, an extra day of being annoyed at my kids.

On this long weekend we sorted, cleaned, ate, slept and played a lot of Cityville.

Image via Wikipedia

I realized how exhausted I’ve been since I changed jobs – I’ve been sick with an infection for 5 weeks now – and my energy level is at an all time low. My waist is growing to an all-time high. In the past 5-6 weeks I have managed a few dubious achievements, heights not reached since my early 20′s, as I drank a lot of coffee, ate a lot of McDonald’s and through all those chemicals, caffeine, sugar and fat, still found myself without any energy.

I have visited that wonderful treadmill we bought a month ago just twice.  It misses me.  I know it does.

I played my first ball-hockey game in 5 weeks on the family day Monday and thank goodness for a 2 hour afternoon nap, because I was beat by the end of the warm-ups.  I somehow managed to step it up and had my best game in at least 10 years.

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, the 21st was my birthday and I think the extra day off from life helped me get some rest and spend non-programmed time with my kids and we all really enjoyed that.

I’m thinking there should be a family day every month, don’t you?

 

Image via Wikipedia

 

On the actual Family day Monday we took the kids to the Art Gallery of Ontario (we got married there 10 years ago) as there is now a kids area where the kids can draw, colour, dress up, read, play, paint, play table tennis and so much more.  The kids created art on Monday which was placed in the gallery under the kids section.  They thought it was fun, the parents thought it was cool. 

After a couple crowded hours there we headed into Toronto’s Chinatown for some dim sum.  It was, as usual, great and because it was so close to my birthday I got an order of the grilled octopus tenticles and shared some with Berry.  I was so proud of that stomach, to try something new.

Then home and more rest.

I miss you family day.

 

What did your family do?

Should I be concerned that my kids are smarter than me?

I am totally serious here, folks.  I went to school for 12 years (didn’t need grade 13), I went to University for 5 years, and then after taking a bunch of courses here and there, I did a 3 year graduate degree.  By my math, that puts me at 20 years of school.  Today, I am turning 41-years-old, so that means I have been in school for almost half my life and still, my kids say, do and know things that blow me away.

A few examples are below.

This past weekend I realized that I watch a lot of wrestling on TV, when Mark Henry came on the TV and Linus blurted out, “Hey Stewie!  It’s the World’s strongest man, Mark Henry”.  Then of course came the questions from Stewie as to whether Mark Henry could have helped me take the treadmill downstairs instead of coach Eric, and if he would have needed just one pinkie or if he could tuck it under his arm and go.

Later in the day I was singing the theme song from new WWE star Brodus Clay and I blurted out, “Gonna call my doctor…” when Berry corrected me and said; “NO, daddy.  Gonna call my Momma”… and so she sang,   Should she know this???

Later that day, I sang “Gonna call my Momma” when she stopped me and said, “I don’t want to call my momma.  I want to call my doctor”, and so she sang.

Another interesting thought from Stewie occurred when he asked the urban mummy if she still had her sweet tooth.  Laughing, she said that she did, to which he replied, “Good!  Otherwise all food would taste like dirt!”

I love listening to Berry call her brothers.  She yells, “Brothers?  Where are you brothers?”

Tonight, during dinner, Berry wanted to pee, and I wanted one of her brothers to take her, but she wanted me to take her.  I was in the middle of making a batch of homemade pancakes. and really didn’t want to take her.  I tried rationalizing with her – a no no, I know – and I explained to her, but when I was about to give up, Stewie blurted out; “Berry!  You want ice cream?  There is an ice cream truck in the bathroom.  Go with Linus.”  In a second she was gone to the bathroom with Linus so I could finish making dinner.

Also, we have a rule in the house that the kids are not allowed to climb over the couches.  They do anyways, but we try to keep them from using it as a jungle gym.  Today, after telling Stewie to stop climbing over the couch for the 7th time, I resorted to some good old fashion attention getting and when he jumped up I took the spatula and whacked him on his little behind.  He spun, squinted his eyes at me, frowned disapprovingly at me, then said, “Don’t smack me with that spatula Daddy”.  I replied to him, “But I’ve asked you 6 other times not to climb over the couch and I even told you if you did, I would remind you not to, even if it meant smacking your behind – not to hurt, but to help you remember”.  At which point, he looked me right in the eyes and said, I’m telling mummy” and on came the tears. 

He played me.

He’s 5.

Linus got me today too, when someone asked me what 126 + 38 was and as I was calculating it in my head, Linus had already said 164 3 times.  Oy.

So after these few examples, I ask you all, parents, have you found your kids do or say things which are way beyond their years?  Like when you need your kids to program your iPad, much in the same way your parents needed you to program the VCR.

I’d love to hear your stories too.

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This is also my 800th post.  Whew.

For the love of G-d, man… Shovel your snow on your lawn, not in the street… It’s against city bylaws.

This is one of me pet peeves.  People who shovel their snow in the street instead of on their lawns.  If you live in the greater Toronto Area, you would know, or should know, that it is against the city bylaws.  If you get caught doing this – the city had bylaw officers out last winter ticketing houses in my area – and if you don’t pay it, they tack it onto your property taxes.

Best choice… Don’t do it.  The fine is somewhere between $150-$300 but cannot exceed $5000.

I’ve actually stopped my car and told residents about the bylaw and had many of them look at me like I was crazy, and also thank me for letting them know.  Most people just don’t know. 

In case you were wondering what section of the municipal code this falls under, I have provided it below, it is 719-5.  Feel free to google it, print it out and hand it to that annoying neighbour who fills the street with their snow making it very difficult to drive or walk around their house.  

 

Chapter 719 of the Toronto Municipal Code:

SNOW AND ICE REMOVAL

§ 719-1. Definitions.

§ 719-2. Time limit for removal of snow and ice from sidewalks.

§ 719-3. Removal from sidewalks by city; recovery of costs.

§ 719-4. Removal from structures.

§ 719-5. Moving snow onto streets.

§ 719-6. Offences.

§ 719-7. Use of the word “highway.”

§ 719-8. Transition

[HISTORY: Adopted by the Council of the City of Toronto 1999-7-29 by By-law No. 530-1999. Amendments noted where applicable.]

GENERAL REFERENCES

Traffic and parking — See Ch. 950.

§ 719-1. Definitions.

As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:

BUILDING — Includes the land and premises appurtenant to the building.

§ 719-2. Time limit for removal of snow and ice from sidewalks.

A. Every owner or occupant of any building must, within 12 hours after any fall of snow, rain or hail has ceased, clear away and completely remove snow and ice from any sidewalk on any highway in front of, alongside or at the rear of the building.

B. After the removal of snow and ice, if any portion of the sidewalk becomes slippery from any cause, the owner or occupant must immediately and as often as necessary apply to the sidewalk ashes, sand, salt or some other suitable material so as to completely cover the slippery surface.

C. Subsection A does not apply to an owner or an occupant of a building where, pursuant to City of Toronto policy, the City of Toronto has undertaken the responsibility to clear away and completely remove snow and ice from the sidewalk on the highway in front of, alongside or at the rear of the building at that location.

1999-11-25 by By-law No. 776-1999]

TORONTO MUNICIPAL CODE

§ 719-3 SNOW AND ICE REMOVAL

719-2

§ 719-3. Removal from sidewalks by city; recovery of costs.

A. Where snow and ice resulting from any fall of snow, rain or hail has not been removed from a sidewalk situated on a highway in front of, alongside or at the rear of any occupied or unoccupied building or vacant lot, within 12 hours after the fall of snow, rain or hail has ceased, the Commissioner of Works and Emergency Services or a person appointed by the Commissioner may, at the expense of the owner of the building or vacant lot, clear away and remove the snow and ice, including the remediation of any slippery sidewalk.

B. The Commissioner of Works and Emergency Services must keep an account of all expenses incurred in doing the work and of the building or vacant lot in respect to which the work was done.

C. The expenses incurred in doing the work may be collected or recovered from the owner of the building or vacant lot in any manner, including the manner provided by section 326 of the Municipal Act.1

§ 719-4. Removal from structures.

A. The owner or occupant of any building which fronts or abuts on or is erected near to a highway, from which snow or ice may fall upon the highway, must, whenever snow or ice accumulates upon any portion of the building to an extent that is dangerous to the public using the highway, sidewalk or lane way, cause the snow or ice to be immediately removed from the building.

B. The owner or occupant must take proper care and precaution for the warning and the safety of the public using the highway, sidewalk and lane way, during the removal of the snow and ice.

§ 719-5. Moving snow onto streets.

No property owner, occupant or other person shall move or permit to be moved snow or ice from private property onto a highway, sidewalk or lane way.

§ 719-6. Offences.

[Amended 1999-11-25 by By-law No. 776-1999]

Every person who contravenes any provision of this chapter is guilty of an offence and on conviction is liable to a fine as provided for in the Provincial Offences Act.2.  A person convicted of an offence is liable  to a fine of not more than $5,000.

 

SNOW AND ICE REMOVAL § 719-7

719-3

§ 719-7. Use of the word “highway.”

The meaning of the word and expression “highway” where used in this chapter shall have the same meanings attributed to the word and expression by the Highway Traffic Act,

R.S.O. 1990, c. H.8, and amendments and successors thereto.

§ 719-8. Transition

A. Despite this chapter, By-law No. 211-74 of the former Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto, being a by-law “To regulate the use of Metropolitan Roads,” Chapter 304,

Snow and Ice Removal and §313-3 of Chapter 313, Streets and Sidewalks, of the Municipal Code of the former City of Toronto, Chapter 223, Snow and Ice, of the Municipal Code of the former City of Etobicoke, By-law No. 701 of the former Borough of East York, being a by-law “For the removal of snow and ice from public

sidewalks,” By-law No. 1381 of the former Borough of East York, Chapter 838,

Snow Clearing – Sidewalk and Chapter 1004, Street, of the Municipal Code of the former City of York, By-law No. 1212-71 of the former Borough of York, By-law No. 3343-79 of the former Borough of York, By-law No. 17117 of the former City of Scarborough, By-law No. 21621 of the former City of North York, being “A Bylaw to prohibit or regulate the obstructing, encumbering, injury or fouling of highways,” and By-law No. 5630 of the former City of North York (collectively referred to as the “other Snow and Ice Removal By-laws”) and any and all provisions therein shall remain in force until expressly repealed.

B. In the event of any conflict between any one or more of the other snow and ice removal by-laws and this chapter, this chapter shall govern.

[Amended 1999-12-16

by By-law No. 891-1999

 

Editor’s Note: This by-law provided that § 719-8B shall be effective on the earlier of: (a) the date that the City Solicitor files

a notice in the office of the City Clerk that the City of Toronto has received from the Regional Senior Justice of the Court of Ontario approved set fines for the offences set out in City of Toronto By-law No. 530-1999, as amended, being a by-law “To Provide for Snow and Ice Removal;” and (b) February 4, 2000.

Randomness of my thoughts – Parenting, Life and the Grammy Awards

Image via Wikipedia

I’ve got a lot of stuff floating around my head and I started dumping it all into this post last week so that my head would not hurt so much.  As such, I was fully prepared to finish and publish this post Saturday night but it got delayed when I realized the amount of work needed to edit it for poor grammar and spelling.  Saturday became Sunday, which bumped into Monday, then Tuesday… OY.  So I’m hoping you are reading this and today is Wednesday.

So what happened you ask?

I sat down Sunday to work on this post and when I logged onto the Internet, I found the Twittersphere was abuzz with the Grammy awards.  I used to LOVE the Grammy’s because it regularly fell on my birthday, February 21st and it was the only award show that recognized talent, not just popularity.  Quality over quantity.  In addition, many of the singers actually sang during their performances, and that made the show much better than other award shows where the artists lip synched and were there to look cool, and not to be respected by the music community.  Those shows, ahem, MTV music awards, always looked like a giant scripted video where artists dress in torn jeans, get loaded and swore on stage.  The Grammy’s, on the other hand, have always had much more class… Until this year!

I still was not going to watch the show, but someone tweeted that Bruno Mars and Alicia Keys shared the same hairstyle, and that peaked my curiosity, so on went the TV and I was hooked.  To be honest, the Grammy’s and Twitter make for a great pair.  I watched, tweeted, re-tweeted and met some new cool people, and got to know some of my contacts better,  It made for a very interactive event and I got to share my love of music with others also in the know.

So back to my comment about how classy the Grammy’s are and how they failed Sunday night… The Grammy’s not only had two performances from Chris Brown, but they also gave him awards,  Two of them.  Chris Brown. 

For those of you not familiar with him, he is the former boyfriend of singer Rhianna and one night he lost his temper and beat her.  She went public with the picture of her battered and bruised face and instead of coming clean, Brown put a sour look on his face and carried on with his life.

So he thinks it’s okay to hit women.

That’s so not cool.

If I’m a woman (which I’m not) and I’m a R&B fan (which I’m not) or a human being who loves music (which I am), I would NEVER EVER buy, or download another Chris Brown song again.  But instead of ignoring him, the Grammy’s had him perform and man the Twittersphere was not amused.  What were the Grammy’s thinking???  As a matter of fact, the best R&B award had him and R. Kelly – who videotaped sex with a 15-year-old, and Kanye West is a hot-tempered, spoiled brat and a sore loser and this is the cream of the R&B crop?!?  I think this category can do better, don’t you?

But what saved this award show was Adele.  She was appreciative and she has a magnificent voice.  That and she’s not 98 pounds means she is a role model for the next generation of woman, now Lady Gaga who looked like she got caught in a fish net on the way into the award show.

LL Cool J called Sir Paul McCartney his “homie”.  LOL.

Dave Grohl, of the Foo Fighters dissed pretty much every other band by saying they recorded their Best Rock Album in their garage with a tape recorder.  I believe he also dissed the performers who were not really singing.  Classic.

———————————————————–

Other random stuff:

Why do guys have to non-verbally announce the impending of bodily functions in public washrooms. The grunts, groans, “Oh my g-d’s” before and “whews” after are so not cool. Entertaining but not cool.  Especially when one of my kids asks out loud why was that person grunting before they poo’d, loud enough so they can hear too.

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Everyday driving home across Eglinton Avenue in Toronto, I pass a strip mall (pun intended) which has the following businesses;
A XXX Adult video store – tinted covered windows so the perverts cannot see inside
A Ready Lube
Aromatic Sensation “Massage” parlour.

I think the Ready Lube has to go… It’s bringing down the neighbourhood. lol.  But seriously, do you need the ready lube to visit either of the locations?

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Speaking of “massages” has anyone heard the song Pornstar dancing by My Darkest Days?

Or what about I’m Alive by Anthrax? my new favourite song next to “Call my Mamma” the WWE Brodus Clay theme song.

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I’m working on a new blog post based on a comment made by TTC Chair and Toronto City councillor Karen Stintz that ”Council is supreme”. Yes it is… Karen… Yes it is.

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Tuesday night the Leafs lost their 4th game in a row and the Raptors lost on a last second 3-pointer from Lin-sanity himself, David Lin – in his 6th professional ball game.  All this losing makes me thankful the Toronto Rock play this Saturday at home, and makes me REALLY look forward to next week when pitchers and catchers can report for Major League Baseball (MLB) spring training. 

On February 19th it is the voluntary report date for pitchers, catchers and injured players to report to spring training.

February 24th, full squads may report

February 29th, is the first exhibition game between the Philadelphia Philies and Florida State University.

YAY!  The truest sign that spring is on the way!

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Last random thought of the day: Have any of you seen the show Ink Master?  If so, it’s crazy, right!  If not, let me tell you a little about if from the 20 minutes I caught yesterday. 

8 people are competing to find the next best tattoo artist.  The “artists” have to tattoo their “canvas” aka human beings in the manner they want.  For example, one guy wanted a head tattoo, the other a celtic braid around his flabby bicep with the New York skyline sitting on top of the braid.

The concept seems completely fucked up and then you realize how truly messed up it is when they show the work done by these “artists” such as crooked work, poor shading,and pain.  One guy having a head tattoo done needed to be taken to the hospital by EMT.  UGH.

The way I see it the “artists” are up and coming tattoo artists and as such are prone to make mistakes – such as crooked designs or poor shading and they have to complete their art within a limited time frame, like 4 hours.  So one of the tattoo artists had to do a head tattoo in 6 hours but he didn’t finish it.  Then in the next competition, he got another head tattoo to do and the poor guy that wanted it must have seen the look of displeasure on his face but still went through with it.  Yeah, that’s what I want… Some guy doing a tattoo on my head when he a) did one that was brutal and b) doesn’t want to do another.  Yeah, stick that needle in my head, buddy.  NOT.

If the intention of this show is to dissuade kids from wanting tattoos then it worked.  Personally I cannot think of anything I would want to get tattooed permanently on my body, let alone by some amateur during a contest for TV.  Yikes.

 

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Thursday Thirteen – TV Time!

Thirteen TV shows that my wife will absolutely not watch;

Image via Wikipedia

1. The Weather Network – “If you want to see the weather, go outside”.

2. Reality TV – “It’s stupid because it’s not real, it’s scripted”.

3. Soap Opera’s - ”They’re stupid too”.  

4. Sports

5. News – “Why watch it when you can live it”.

6. Scary TV – like those shows where there are dead people eating other dead people and it looks like a poorly dressed zombie eating a very rare piece of meat.

7. Music videos – no Much Music, no MTV, no music TV stations.

8. Food network – “I’d rather cook than watch someone else cook”.

9. Parades – She wouldn’t get caught dead watching those…

10. Wrestling – “No comment, but wrestling is stupid”.

11. Award Shows – No Grammies, no Oscars, no Golden Globes… No red carpets, nothing.   

12. Anything we have to pay for (aside from actual cable) like PPV - “We pay enough for TV without having to pay more for shows”.

13. The SyFy channel – Not surprising since this girl has only seen one Star Wars movie – GASP.  I know!

So if I want to watch any of these I’m watching them alone.

What stations are you addicted to and which would you remove from your TV if you could?

If you want to be a MP, shouldn’t you at least know (to the nearest 5 million) how many Canadians there are in Canada?

Quick:  How many Canadians live in Canada?

Come on.

Give me your best guess… We’re a big country… 20 million?  25 million?  30 million?  If you said 33 million people according to the last census, you would be correct!

If you guessed “almost 9 million people”, well not only would you be WAY off base, but you would also be Scarborough NDP MP Rathika Sitsabaiesan.  At a conference on “Human Rights Abuses in Sri Lanka” last Wednesday, Rathika, while speaking about her struggles as a young Tamil child in Sri Lanka, uttered the following comment about the number of Tamils in Canada, and the number of Canadians in Canada; 

 ”Tamils united, in Canada we’re about 300,000 strong, But Canadians united in Canada we’re a huge force to be reckoned with. We’re almost 9 million if I remember the number correctly. That’s 9 million Canadians strong. Standing together to fight for human rights.”

Screeeeeeech….

She was then interrupted by an audience member who pointed out the number was actually 33 million at which point she tried to hide her error by making the following comment;

“You know what I was thinking of.  I was thinking of the people that came out and voted in the past election.”

… Oh boy…

14.8 million people voted in the last election.

Granted after watching the YouTube video I could tell she was guessing at the numbers of Canadians when she paused trying to collect her thoughts and then referred to the vast number of Canadians before throwing out a number hoping to be close.  She wasn’t close.

More than 9 million Canadians live in Toronto and Montreal.

So while I appreciate that not every Canadian knows the number of Canadians - my guess was just under 30 million, this shows what happens when voter sentiment determines a change needs to be made and does so by electing a party to opposition status (thank goodness not to be the ruling government) who are not prepared to be in that position.  Dare I add that if this was a conservative, the left-wing media would be all over them and asking for them to apologize to Canadians.

But some good has come from this fiasco.  We all know there are 33 million Canadians living in Canada and it’s projected to be 34.7 million by the next census.  As well, some news outlets pointed out that because she’s such a pretty young lady, this non-issue will help her grow in her political career.  Hey!  Nothing surprises me in Canadian politics anymore.   

So since the Liberals were obliterated from power in that election that had only “9 million” voters, maybe they can start working on a training package for all rookie MP’s to help them with some of life’s greatest mysteries.  Population of Canada is today’s issue, the next issue might be the number of provinces in the country, or possibly Canada’s location in North America… or worse, the number of Canadian hockey teams.  (There are 7 now that Winnipeg is back in the league).

Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Ottawa, Edmonton, Calgary and Winnipeg.

Here is a link to an article by Yahoo Canada with the YouTube video so you can see it for yourself.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/canada-politics/ndp-mp-rathika-sitsabaiesan-population-math-may-fine-213352701.html

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Did you know: You can find me here too… Daddy101 @ www.pinkandbluebaby.com

Did you know that you can find me in other places around the web?  Try this URL below, for Pink and Blue Baby, a baby and parenting magazine which has an incredible discussion forum on Facebook.

http://pinkandbluebaby.com/category/daddy-101/

Aptly billed as providing “EXPERT ADVICE FOR FABULOUS MOMS & SAVVY DADS”, Pink & Blue Baby is an online magazine that is unique because it is the first online magazine to feature experts who interacts with parents and parents-to-be by sharing information and advice.

When you check out the magazine you will see that it features experts in their fields on a variety of topics such as; music classes, prenatal, postnatal, nutrition, recipes, child care options, advice from Doctors of all kinds,   holistic remedies, baby names, charity, coupons & deals, sleep, registries, breast-feeding, financial topics, local events, family fun, birthday party ideas and gifts and anything else related to making parents’ fabulous with expert advice and bloggers, and you can write in and ask questions to our experts and ask “Miss Pink & Mr. Blue” all the questions you are curious about.  No boundaries.

The site also has been doing product give aways – which is a bonus - so as a reader you also have an opportunity to win some great swag while getting the inside goods.

Check out the Facebook group, hit them up on Twitter or follow the URL and come say hello. 

So how did this magazine start, you ask?

The concept came about to fill a niche in the Mommy / Daddy marketplace for those of us who have not always had that group of friends since school who we could turn to in order to ask questions, get advice and seek support.  When you’re a new parent or a 3-time parent such as myself, having support, a network, or someone to turn to is critical to raising sane children (or to stay sane as a parent).  In the case of this magazine, one of the sites creators, Nicole Bloomberg, had a baby girl and moved from Florida to Toronto and wanted to have a network to connect with local mothers and help other mothers connect. Since one did not exist, she created one with Robyn Zeldin, the owner of Wee Care & In a Pinch – which happens to be our nanny agency of choice, I might throw in). 

Viola, out came Pink and Blue Baby.

Here are some links to the rest of the site;

• Mom Blog
• Contact Pink & Blue Baby Mag
• Wee Care-In A Pinch

Make sure to check them out and please come by the Daddy101, say hello, post a comment, ask a question and see some of my material done up a little nicer and with pictures!

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