Thursday Thirteen: 13 most exhausting things for me today

I had a really exhausting day today, so as a result, I have decided to post my Thursday thirteen about the 13 most tiring things that happened to me today.
Starting… now!

13.  The line-up at Tim Horton’s drive through this morning was insane.  There were over 20 cars in line and although I normally jump into the store instead of lining up, it was pouring rain and I was listening to the FAN590 piece on Zdeno Chara trying to kill Max Pacioretty.  Cars were backing up and turning around to leave, which I contemplated until I was able to see the hold up.  Some pick-up tuck was ordering enough coffee for the boys. I saw 2 boxes of coffees and food being passed to the truck. Why the servers didn’t ask the truck to sit aside so they could put together the order and still serve others, I do not know.

12. Today was the last day of one of my employees, who had been with my company for 10 years.  I totally get her desire for change as I left my job after 10 years there. I got up one Thursday, booked off the rest of the afternoon, headed home, booked off the Friday, was on vacation the following week and never went back. 

11.  While standing in line holding a half-slab cake (a very heavy half-slab cake) at the self check out, the woman in front of me was paying for her $13.00 of groceries in dimes.  She would put in 3 or 4 dimes, check the balance on the machine, then reach back into her giant bag of time wasting to pull out 3 or 4 more. What frosted my ass, was that she would periodically stop her complete disregard for the rest of the shoppers in line and pull the rejected coins out of the return tray to feed them back in to the top… over and over again… the same friggin coins… over and over again… After what seemed like 15 minutes, I was on the verge of a breakdown when a different cash came open and I was sent there by a store employee who thought I was going to lose it.

10.  I’m tired, therefore I had no patience today for complainers or people who take food that does not belong to them.

9.  Standing in line at Tim Horton’s for an afternoon coffee behind a guy who was standing practically on top of me. I could feel his breath on the back of my neck. Gross.

8.  When I arrived at home in the evening, I realized we were out of milk and went to get some, in the rain, stepping in the biggest puddle in all of Toronto that resembled a lake, soaking my pants, socks and shoes. I almost caught a fish in there too…

7.  Speaking of headaches – The US government is taking over three Tylenol plants following a blizzard of drug recalls and a Food and Drug Administration criminal investigation into safety issues at the factories… I could use some tylenol.

6.  I REALLY need to drink until I cannot remember my name. Problem is I don’t drink and I have household and office responsibilities which will keep me up until 2am at the earliest.

5.  For YEARS, I wanted to go into politics, but never had the balls to actually run. I enjoyed being behind the scenes. Yesterday, a long-time friend of mine, Michael Yen, who ran municipally in the last Toronto election will soon be running Provincially for the Conservatives, reached out to me to see if I was interested in running in my ward, ward 21. Apparently there was an event the night before and there were a lot of powerful Tories in the house, and Mike suggested he may know someone keenly interested. If it were 3 years ago, I’d be all over this, but I love my job right now and wouldn’t make that change.

4.  I finished the latest Dan Brown book called The Lost Symbol and I have to tell you the book was great for the first 50 pages, awesome for the next 250 pages, incredible for the following 150 pages then the ending fell flat on it’s face as if Brown had a deadline and gave up. I’m very disappointed!

3.  I don’t like being fat, especially as I’m trying to heal up my sore foot – which is keeping me from exercising – but my day was filled with temptation; donuts, cake, coffee, chocolates… Damn you temptation. Obviously I gave in… often.

2.  Anyone want to know how to look like Harry Potter? Bend down in your kitchen to pick up the cats water bowl while your wife opens the cupboard above you and leaves the door open so when you stand up you destroy your forehead on the bottom corner of the door. That, my friends, is how you get to look like Harry Potter.

1.  Have I mentioned it’s still tax season and since December 1st it’s been 24/7. I’m beyond tired… I cannot see straight and I’m relying on tons of coffee to get through the day. With all that being said, I love doing what I’m doing but I needed a break so much, I ate a Kit Kat.

So that is why this day was capital “F” frustrating.

Here is hoping Friday is better!

 

Parenting stuff; Kids, Coffee and Imagination.

I finally won my first treat on Tim Horton’s Roll up the rim to win contest, on Monday, when I won a donut followed up yesterday with a free coffee win.

My record is 23 winners, none more than the coffee / donut prize.

My 6-year-old intervened in a conversation my wife and I were having, by snapping his fingers at me and saying; “Turn on your brain, Daddy”.

My 4-year-old explained to me this morning that the reason his room light was on at 6am was because he and his stuffed animals were “preparing” for the “show”. They needed to practice. Slave-driving animals! Don’t they know a 4-year-old needed to sleep…

Things I hate today:

BMW’s – yes, still.
Coffee cup lids that flip back when you clip it to the top of the cup, usually throwing coffee back at me, usually when I’m wearing a white shirt.

The bathroom guillotine – men you know what I’m talking about. When you have to pee, and you pull down your underwear and they snap back up pinning you between the underwear band and the top of the zipper. With the potential for flying fluids, and the excruciating pain, it can be a very frustrating experience.

I don’t like ordering a coffee and getting to drink it and finding it either the wrong mix ie/ regular instead of double double, or not stirred, so sitting on the bottom waiting for my last swig of coffee is all the sugar.

Sometimes I hate my GPS. Take for example 2 weeks ago when I was trying to clean up the old destinations – you know, so it will stop thinking home is our old address – and instead I somehow managed to set the course for a mystery location somewhere in the world, based on its longitude and latitude.

Needless to say, when I went to take Linus’ friend home – who lives really close to us – the GPS was sending me somewhere 8344kms away.

It took me a week to make that destination go away, but in doing that I have managed to turn off all the guidance systems… Geez. At least it’s better than maps and getting lost.

Last story:

My 4-year-old wanted an apple before bed. He referred to it as a “Ta-poo-ach”, which is apple in Hebrew.

Then he said it again, and again and again, so that I was forced to cut him off by singing, “Ta-poo-ach, ta-poo-ach, ta-poo-achhhhhhh”.

He stopped my and said, “Daddy, do you know G-d can hear you?”

“Yes, I know”, I replied rolling my eyes.

“He can see that too, Daddy. G-d is everywhere”.

“How do you know that?” I questioned, “You go to public school, it’s your brother than goes to private school?!?”

“My animals told me!” He shot back.

“They know everything!”.

Is it wrong that my kids entertain the hell out of me???

 

Thoughts and musings of a run-down daddy, after a weekend of unpacking and organizing

In today’s post, I’m trying to get back into the swing of things. I’ve been out of it lately, under the weather for most of the month of June with a nasty sinus infection and now feeling very run down.

I was chatting with my wife and she recalled how she was always the one getting sick and I was the healthy one, but recently it’s been the complete opposite. I don’t like being sick. Not sure people “like” being sick, but I detest it!

So in order to get back on track I am taking a few draft posts and throwing them into this one big post to get this stuff off my back and into my blog.

Here are my random thoughts for the past week…

(Monday) I’m not sure if I can drink my large double, double from Tim Horton’s so long as they have a picture of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats logo on it. Double Blue, man!!!

(Weekend) So LeBron James speaks… First he holds a press conference and tells the world how great he is – in the middle of prime time TV slot, with the interview taking place in a boys and girls club.

Then he shuns his former team by saying how much he did for them.

I’m thinking he’s the biggest asshole in the world.

Then…

He goes on Larry King live – interviewed in the courtyard of his palatial estate in front of the waterfall, and tells Larry how great he is.

I’m thinking, now I know he’s an asshole.

Then…

He talks about his mom. Having him when she was 16 and how he doesn’t know how she did it, and that everything he does is for her.

Awwww.

While I still want the Heat to lose every game, I’m softening my stance on the whole LBJ thing.

I’m also softening my stance on the collusion aspect where other league execs are calling on the NBA to investigate how the Heat could re-sign Wade, and sigh Bosh and James.

I mean come on. The Heat must have arranged this over a year ago for the Heat to draw up and execute their plan to dump contracts and make room for these guys. If Bosh, Wade and James go elsewhere, the Heat have 4 guys signed for the 2010/2011 campaign.

While that did seem suspicious, the Knicks and Nets pretty much did the same thing. I’m also sure the Bulls had room.

But how much would I have laughed if LBJ announced that he was joining the Toronto Raptors… We have a monarchy in Canada, so “King James” could have met Queen Elizabeth who is on tour right now in Toronto.

(Tuesday) If you help someone get their career started, what do they owe you, if anything?

(Sunday) So I’m coaching both my boys soccer teams and after the first games end the convener / referee comes to me and tells me that each kid on the team requires shin pads and soccer cleats or they cannot play.

Hmmmm…

My kids don’t have those…

So last night before bed, I take out my sons soccer uniform (my 3-year-old plays on Brazil, the 5-year-old on Portugal) when my 5-year-old tells me to put the uniform back in the drawer because he cannot play.

“Why?”, I ask…

“Because I don’t have soccer shoes”, he replies.

DAMN!!!!
DAMN!!!
DAMN!!
DAMN!
DAMN

So off I run on Monday looking for them. Wal-Mart, nope. National Sports, nope. Canadian Tire… BINGO.

But I don’t know what size the boys wear so I bought sizes 11, 12 and 13.

OY. I guarantee one of the kids will completely melt-down upon trying on their cleats or shin pads…

Update: Linus completely melted-down last night. Then, once I got him calm enough to play and stop holding hands of the female coach, he was dilly-dallying on the field, not paying attention to the ball or the play and the referee stepped on his ankle sending him wailing to the sidelines. Real big tears flying off his face. At first I thought we was just selling it in order to not have to play but once we got home and he took off his sock, I saw a scratch. Poor kid.

 

Happy Father’s Day!

I updated my status message on Facebook a few house ago and wished all my daddy friends a happy father’s day. I really feel that being a dad, makes us guys very lucky… For most of us, pretty much every day is father’s day. It all begins at conceptions. We don’t have to grow the child, carry it for 9 months, and birth it. And, if the child is breastfed only, we can’t help with that either. We kind of get off easy, I think. Plus, if you love being a dad like I do, then it’s even better getting to help out in every way possible… I wish I could be the stay-at-home Dad…

Regarding father’s day, I don’t need any fancy gifts from my kids – a hand made card is more than enough. I don’t really need anything substantial from my wife, as I think she’s already contributed the most to our family and is the reason I’m a father. I have never be 100% certain as to who gets and gives gifts for father’s day. We gave to my father-in-law and wife’s grandfather, and I received from my mother and sister… See how it’s odd?!? But all in all, hanging out with my entire family – wife and kids made the day super-special.

Sure there are BBQ’s and some gifts exchanged, but it’s just not the same as say mother’s day. If you miss that holiday… Look out. For us Dad’s… We go with the flow.

Take my weekend, for example…

Saturday:

I made the kids breakfast in the morning and we were going to have a nie healthy bowl of organic fresh oatmeal, until I was attacked by my family with great gifts, beautiful cards and a lot of love! My 3-yea-old, for example made a card for me in school where he has to fill in the blanks. So the first question was, “My Dad is ___ old”. He put 60. The next one was; “My Dad’s job is ____”. He put “Peeling apples”. The next one; “My Dad weighs ____”. He put “2000 pounds”. And there were more. LOL. I got an awesome book in gardening in small spaces. I CAN’T wait to read this book. It’s perfect! and my 6 custom tailored dress shirts from Maxwell the tailor showed up and my wife graciously paid the duty and included them in my gift. The shirts are… Interesting… 3 of them I love. One looks like a table cloth, one like wrapping paper and one… well… she said I need to keep 2 buttons open, hang big gold chains and put a ghetto blaster on my shoulder. It’s a little bit shiny… OK a LOT shiny.

After breakfast and lots of hugs and kisses, we set off to do some organic strawberry picking / strawberry buffet (fresh peas too) with our very cool cousins. We had a blast. We picked, ate and picked some more. I love strawberries!!!

After getting all covered in berries we went to have some yummy veggie Dim Sum for lunch at the Lotus Pond. We’ve been going there for years.

We headed home around 3pm so our 5-year-old, Linus, would have some rest before a 4pm birthday party.

After the party, it was a quick dinner, some packing and moving of boxes in the garage, then bed.
WHEW.

Sunday:

Sunday’s breakfast was yummy and simple, as we all ate Cheerios with fresh picked berries in it. Loved the way the milk turned pink and the sweet berries.
Then off to karate when both kids had awesome classes today. We dragged mummy and Berry (6-month old baby girl) along to see Stewie try for his yellow advanced belt. He got it! He was SO excited. That kid is all focus.

I also like Sunday morning karate because I get to hang with Supernova Elliott for an hour, drink an XL double double Tim Horton’s coffee and talk about being Dad’s to 3 kids. We also talk music, about why our wives won’t eat red meat, and our frustration with hate mongers.

After karate we hit up a high-end men’s store in Toronto called the Coop for a present for my FIL, and after that myself and the boys walked down to the flower / plant sore for some tomato plants, flowers and a ficus benjamina for my wife. The kids love flowers!!!

We came home, cleaned the garage for a couple hours - packed more boxes – then set off to my inlaws for a BBQ. We had 4 generations of her family there. It was pretty amazing.

Then home ,and bed.

Before long it will be Monday and I get to witness the impact of the G20 firsthand… Can’t wait!

 

Taking the Kids on a Trip to Sleepyville…

I did not need to take the kids for a ride to sleepyville this weekend.

We had a busy, eventful weekend partly because of planned outings and partially because we can’t be home while there are showings of our house.

In the course of each day this weekend, all three kids nodded off and fell asleep while I was driving. That much needed rest got them through the day – and quite frankly allowed us to get through the day too. You know how horrible a day can turn when you have an over-tired child who will not give it up and sleep.

But in weekends past, it has not always been as easy as this past weekend was, on the sleeping front.

Normally in our household, by Sunday afternoon, the kids are over-tired and melting down. They are yelling, fighting, and trying to kill each other. Then come more tears.
I ask them to have a nap, but they refuse.
So I started taking them to “Sleepyville”.
Sleepyville, you see, is where I grab both boys, let them bring their favourite stuffed friend, and we all pile into the car for a drive. A long drive… I drive until both kids are sound asleep. Then I come home and sit in the driveway with them – reading a book – while they snore.
On a typicla trip to “Sleepyville”, my 3-year-old is out within minutes, but it takes the 5-year-old a little bit longer to give in to his exaustedness.

Usually once they both are out cold, I go to a local drive through Tim Horton’s and grab a large double double to keep me awake for the ride home. My favourite drive-thru’s (for those of you in the Greater Toronto area) are at Lawrence and Don Mills and at Leslie and 16th Avenue.

These trips to sleepyville, have required me to be pretty creative about my driving as I always like to stay at a good speed so they won’t wake up, or worse of all, miss their nap. I have drive on the 401 heading way out east, the DVP south or 404 up north. I’ve made it up to Stouffville (30 minutes north of the city) and we’ve driven through the Bridle Path and gawked at the multi-million dollar houses.

Each time they awake from our trip, each one will ask me if we made it to Sleepyville, to which I respond, “yes, but you were asleep so we came home.”

A couple months ago, my 5-year-old fought the urge to sleep and in my impatience and exhaustion, I went to Tim Horton’s before he was out for the count. He awoke while I was ordering my coffee and hew asked for a donut, which I declined, then a muffin, again no dice, then a yogurt, so I bought him a yogurt. The only catch was that he NOT tell his brother about the yogurt when his brother wakes up – his brother would be VERY upset. That boy loves his food.

Well, we sat in the car, and the second my 3-year-old awoke, there was his brother waving the empty yogurt container in his face.

Tears… Then wailing… So I rushed him into the house and got him his own yogurt so he would calm down.

Now, fast forward to a couple weeks ago. The kids are a complete mess and refusing to nap or rest, so I tell my wife that I’m taking them to Sleepyville.
At that moment, our 5-year-old smirks, then turns towards our 3-year-old and whispers;
“Stewie… Don’t worry. Sleepyville is really Tim Horton’s. They have yogurt there..”

BUSTED!

LOL.

 

Just order the damn coffee!

I was standing in line at the Tim Horton’s near my office and the only person in front of me was a Chinese man about 10 year older than me. He was trying to facilitate the purchase of breakfast for his wife who was sitting half-way across the shop from him.

He was standing not that close to the front of the line, but mid-way between the front of the line and the display windows of all the donuts and muffins.

Clearly, although he was speaking in Chinese, he was getting frustrated that his wife could not decided on something to eat, and boy was he trying his hardest to get her to choose something so he could order and not hold up the line.

Let’s pretend for a minute that all the characters I am about to type are Chinese words. I will attempt to re-create the situation to see if any of you find the humour in it as I did.

Him, yelling;

“&*^%$#$%^&^%$#%^&^% Cinnamon Raisin #$%^*&^#$%&^%$%&^.

@#$%^&*(*^%#$%^&(*^&%#& Boston Creme %$#^&*$%#$%$&^$#

#$%^&*^&%^$#$&^$@ Banana Nut #$%^$&^$@$#%&^$#%& Oatmeal Raisin %$^$$^%#$^&%^$#%&^ Chocolate @#$&^%#$%&^$#& Strawberry!!!!!!!!!

Getting frustrated now…

$#%^&*(&^%$#*^%&$^#$%*&$ YOGURT??? $%^&%^$#%&$^%^$#%^& DUTCHIE??? $%^%&*^&%^#%$&*%&%#^$^* HONEY GLAZED???…

Then he walked up to the cash and calmly ordered two medium regular coffees.

I wish I knew what else he was saying to her…

I think everyone in line felt bad for him but we were all smiling when he finally ordered. I suspect the whole time she was probably just telling him to not eat that crap and just order the damn coffees!

BTW, the new strawberry shortcake cookies are FANTASTIC!

 

For a Monday

My Monday rant..  How did your day go?  Let me know if any of these strike a nerve with you too…

I hate when my coffee cup lid does not clip back as it should when I open it. When it flips back towards the shut position it sprays me with coffee. All over my work clothes. #$%^&*&^%$%*&&^

Listening to Alice in Chains – Check my brain.

The Leafs suck, I mean really suck. It’s a tough pill to swallow considering they have no prize for finishing last, like the right to draft the best junior player in the country.

Minimum wage is going up… again. What are the Ontario Liberals trying to do to this province? I might have to jump on to the Toronto as a province party since idiot Ontarians vote Liberal regardless and the Liberals and NDP are killing us!

I’m going to have an opinion about the race for Toronto Mayor coming up as I care about who is going to screw up, errr, lead this city even though I didn’t make the Toronto Star’s list of 30 local active bloggers in the city.
I did raise funds for current city councillor Karen Stintz, revised and ran a ratepayers organization, volunteered on several other ratepayer groups, helped coordinate the Mayor’s community clean-up in my ward, and was on working groups to discuss local developments… No credentials.

Now listening to Fallen Leaves by… Billy Talent

Looking for my referral for physiotherapy on my Achilles… I tried running after a very long lay-off but it’s still bugging me.  @#$^%^%#  I’ve managed to stay in the gym – personal training on Monday – and do that pain-free, but I really like the way I feel after a good long run.

Heard on the weekend that there was a ruling relating to my former government position and as a result the Feds have to make up some payments to be “fair” to those staff who were incorrectly classified since 2007.  Only in the government.    I’ll be sitting by my mailbox waiting for my cheque.

My friend and the brains behind www.supernova.com (the world’s leader in Indie music) told me I need to create and post a video on the correct way to roll up the rim to win on a cup of Tim Horton’s coffee.  After many years in the government and many coffee breaks I have perfected it.  Showed him on the weekend while our kids were in their karate class and him and I were pounding back the XL double doubles.

Speaking of karate… There is a kid in the class with my oldest boy and this kid is a complete distraction.  He’s all over the place!  Sure he makes me laugh at his over the top antics but he also distracts my boy and that bugs me.  It’s almost like this kids over way too bored and would rather do karat-ballet than actual karate.  Poor kid.  In the meanwhile, I had to ask the owner to keep that kid away from mine!!!

Hear a London Ontario dentist has been jailed after performing dental surgery from his garage.  Really?  There are complete idiots who think it’s okay to have dental surgery in a garage???  Were there not any clues that this was not ok… Like the car in the garage at the same time?!?  Seriously folks… Wake the fuck up!

 

Tuesday Newsday

Stories that caught my attention:

1.  Madoff name change -  The name “Madoff” is too much of a “burden” for a daughter-in-law of Wall Street’s most notorious fraudster as Stephanie Madoff, is seeking legal approval to drop the last name becasue she is embarrassed, or because she stands a chance of keeping her assets.  You decide which reason.

Stephanie Madoff has filed legal papers to formally change her surname, and those of her two young children, to ”Morgan”.  She explains that her father-in-law, who is serving a 150-year jail sentence for masterminding a $65 billion Ponzi scheme has received a lot of press for defrauding numerous investors in his companies and I guess she doesn’t want the general public to feel that her family was the beneficiary of anything from that fraud. 

I’m sure no one believes that.  Personally I think she’s trying to get under the radar and keep her assets.

Stephanie Madoff is married to Bernard Madoff’s eldest son, Mark, who happened to have worked with his father at Madoff Investment Securities, but denies any knowledge of his father’s fraud (giggle), Mark and his younger brother, Andrew, have both had their assets frozen as a liquidator seeks to reclaim funds from them to reimburse victims.

The application for a name change says Stephanie Madoff wants to avoid the “embarrassment, harassment and endangerment associated with the name”.  Her husband has filed an affidavit saying he has no objection, though he intends to keep his father’s name himself. The couple have a three-year-old daughter, Audrey, and a one-year-old son, Nicholas.

Bernard Madoff has been labelled as the biggest con man in financial history since he admitted at the end of 2008 that his fund management business had been a pyramid scheme for decades, using new deposits to pay out fantasy profits to past investors without doing any genuine trading (Ponzi scheme).  So while investors believed they had $65 billion of savings, liquidators have only been able to retrieve a few million dollars.

Madoff’s over 5,000 victims included hedge funds, Jewish charities and private investors including well known names such as the film director Steven Spielberg, Nobel Prize winning author Elie Wiesel and the actor Kevin Bacon. At least two cases of suicide have been linked to Madoff’s crimes.

In November, US marshals service raised more than $1 million by auctioning off Madoff’s personal belongings, with lots ranging from clothing to dog bowls, golf shoes and boogie boards. I think the US Marshalls need to look long and hard at every member of that family.  Putting a 71 year old in jail is not going to recover those funds.  Putting the entire family on the street and selling all their assets, may.

2. Tim Horton’s making lots of cash – and coffee and donuts too.

Tim Hortons Inc. brewed up a bigger profit in its latest quarter and is preparing to serve up higher dividends for its shareholders.  The Ontario-based restaurant company says it has boosted the dividend range and will raise its quarterly payout by 30 per cent, to 13 cents per common share.

Tim Hortons had profit of $91-million, a 32-per-cent gain from the year-earlier profit.  Revenue increased by 9.2 per cent, to $615.3-million in the three-months ended Dec. 31 from $563.7-million a year earlier.

Tim’s says sales at its stores accelerated each month of the quarter and the momentum continued into the current year.

Same-store sales, which compare locations open for at least a year, were up 3.4% in Canada during the quarter, compared to 2.1% in the US. 

3.  Tiger Woods – Spayed or Neutered?

PETA has sharpened its claws in a new ad mocking Tiger Woods as the animal-rights organization plans to erect a billboard near Woods’ Windermere, Fla. home which reads:  “Too much sex can be a bad thing… for little tigers too. Help keep our cats (and dogs) out of trouble: Always spay or neuter!”

4. Carly Simon reveals “You’re So Vain” clue.

Has Carly Simon finally told the world the subject of her hit song “You’re So Vain”?

In a new version of the 1972 hit song,” the singer whispers a name during an instrumental break. Played backward, the name is revealed to be “David”, believed to be record executive David Geffen.  NBC executive Dick Ebersol paid $50,000 at a charity auction for the revelation and a live performance of the song.

There is a theory which revolves around the idea that Simon recorded the song to express displeasure at Geffen’s signing of a rival, Joni Mitchell, for his record label, Asylum Records.

Simon is on record as being uncomfortable with Geffen.

Simon has kept the identity of the “You’re So Vain” character a secret although rumors have focused on Warren Beatty, Mick Jagger and Kris Kristofferson, among others. Beatty has said he believes it’s about him.  Simon has said that “You’re So Vain” wasn’t the only song about the man, whomever it might be, and there are “clues” in other songs. 

Whatever the answer is, Simon has been tickled that a song’s puzzle — now almost 38 years old — could still have such a hold on the public.  I’m sure she is still amused that people care and ask…

5. One of the 8 children belonging to Marie Osmond has committed suicide.

Marie Osmond’s 18-year-old son, Michael Blosil had died.  arie, along with her brother Donny hosted the national television variety show “The Donny & Marie Show” from 1976 to 1981, although it seemed to have been on much longer.  She disappeared for a few years – many kids – while singing, only to return to prominence recently as a judge on the show ”Dancing With the Stars.”

 

I’m not going to comment on the fact that an 18 year old - with 7 other siblings – might have needed some extra attention and that may have led to this suicide.  His mom was battling post partum depression (probably for MANY years) and both parents working…

 

Well, I guess I just did.

 

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.

 

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??