IndigoFire

... with a pulled pork sammich.

(and kudos to bridgeoutahead for the title)

13:30 Arrive at WCI
13:45 Line starts moving
14:00 Sitting in the waiting area before leaving
14:15 In the car.

Yup in-to-out in less than an hour. Way quicker than last year's seasonal flu clinic. Right arm is only slightly sore. Yes, I'm crazy that way, I'd rather have my dominant arm pulled down.

I'm going to WCI after lunch, and hopefully that will result in actually getting the H1N1 flu shot. Anyone interested in joining in, or keeping me company?

As a preview of the kind of conversation you can expect, here is today's great gadget idea: bluetooth enabled hockey helmet. Came up with that one while talking with the CIF staff... yup, I'm in that kind of a mood. :)

I have VIP box seats to The Royal this Sunday at the CNE, including the horse show and "Equine Extravaganza" - the big finish on the last day of the show. Anyone interested in going?

Update: I have the whole box, which is a whole number of tickets, although the exact number is not yet determined. Past events have had 16 tickets for the box. I get the tickets for free, so no payment needed nor wanted.

Confirmed: we have 12 tickets.

In response to the email chain describing how "when we grew up"... we survived despite all of the things that are now "dangerous", I give you this video. Proving that no matter how hard everyone else tries, some people will always find ways to be dangerous, and stupid. Sometimes both. And occasionally it's hilarious.

It's rather nice that the sun is now up within an hour of my usual wakeup. Or rather, that I now wake up within an hour before the sun rising, since really that's what changed and not the other way around. It may be below freezing outside, but being in here and watching the changing hues with a warm cup of tea is rather nice.

It's the day before Halloween, and I've no idea what to do for a costume. Suggestions?

I briefly considered Mr. T... but the severe lack of gold in my house precludes that idea. :P

( Toasted Garlic Quinoa ) ( Roasted Peppers with Herbs )

( Mmmm.... lamb... )

( More turkey than... )

I'm hoping to make a leg of lamb for one of the Thanksgiving dinners this weekend. Partly to avoid being over-turkeyed, but mostly because I love leg of lamb. I've always gone to Brady's for lamb. They have good stuff, and the price is reasonable. They're stuff is from Alberta, and at $8 / lb, a reasonable size leg will be $40 to $48.

Charles Quality Meats raises and slaughters all of their own meat, including lamb. They even grow their own hay. I like buying things locally. "Eat your view" as Michael Pollan says. It also tends to be fresher and better stuff. Is that true in this case? Charles wants $11 / lb, which puts a leg between $55 and $66 - $20 more than Brady's.

Which would you buy and why?

I would very much like to visit horsetraveller as she sails the Rideau Canal this weekend. I think I have everything needed, except one important piece of equipment: a sleeping bag. Hers is a one person mummy-type bag, which wouldn't likely fit me alone let alone the two of us. Any suggestions on where to beg/borrow/steal something that could be used for one night? Considering how often I actually camp anywhere (this is the first time I've needed a sleeping bag in years), I'd rather not go out and buy one just for myself.

Thanks!

My neighbour is loud. If he's outside and talking about something you can hear him - even if you're inside another house. So when I heard him yelling about "that damn cat" my ears perked up. When he threatened to kill Taz by putting a bullet through her head, this was no longer passive overhearing. It was time for a confrontation.

Fortunately, I'm a little calmer than him and actually learned something from the conversation. That he's pissed off about Taz hunting birds, there's nothing I can do about. The neighbourhood cats using his garden as a litterbox is unfortunate, but I don't think that's Taz. But the bylaws he mentioned are important. Turns out that Chapter 408 of the City of Kitchener Bylaws prohibit any pet from "running at large," defined as "not under the effective control of an adult person and not under leash, unless the animal is on the lands of a person who has given prior consent to it being unleashed."

( How this affects my situation )
And so I've learned a couple of things this morning. One, the Kitchener Bylaws. Two, keep a careful eye on my neighbour for rage issues.

Does anyone have a use for cushion stuffing? I have an extra bag that will be thrown out at the end of this week if a use isn't found for it.

We really, really, really need a Senior Mechanical Engineer to design plastic parts for flying things. Our Prez is far too busy selling things - most of which have yet to be designed! - and our co-op student doing mechanical stuff is about to leave for at least 8 months. It's cool stuff, all related to flying robots, some of which have never been done. Anyone out there want to work on flying robots, or know of someone who would?

The barber I had lined up to give Adam, Dad, and I a shave and a haircut has just backed out. Any ideas on where to get a shave and a haircut tomorrow morning in Toronto?

Thanks!

Here's a first: FB won't let me log in, but I can get to LJ, and get to it on my iPhone. Hmmm... the internets are being strange today.

Update: It's back... just blinked for a bit.

I've just been informed that my uncle and his wife, who are inbound within the next two hours, are vegetarian*. In days gone by I would have said "Zen Gardens" without missing a beat. Any suggestions for the best vegetarian dinner for someone from out of town?

* their definition of vegetarian: no land animals or poultry. Fish is apparently ok, but I'd rather do something other than sushi.

Update nobodyhere and Bhima's Warung FTW!

I'm trying to submit an application to renew my passport. Of course, the PDF has all kinds of extra junk that makes it non-standard, and while I can see it on my Mac, it's not exactly the way Passport Canada expects it. You need the official Adobe Acrobat to fill it properly and get the fancy 2D barcode to auto-generate, and you don't want to make life difficult right?

At the same time, the printer at work is Windows only. The solution is obvious: Windows form, Windows printer, grab a windows machine and get the job done. Not so fast. The spare windows machine doesn't have the drivers configured. Arggh. Vista.

After a solid hour of screwing around with it, I saved the PDF, moved it to someone's laptop, and printed from there. Vista means doing a lot of things, most of them badly, slowly, and very painfully.

And people wonder why I haven't looked back and don't care about Windows 7.

I've just heard that Telus might be getting GSM service this fall. Rumours are rampant about the iPhone connection, but that's an even bigger stretch. Either way, I'm not left in a lurch: do I sign a contract with Rogers, or wait for 3 months to see what Telus comes up with? The current setup isn't tenable: two bills, with a total > $150 can't (or at least shouldn't be kept up).

Another option would be to get a US account with North America roaming for data and phone. I could then forward a VoIP line from the office to the phone. I've heard those are reasonably priced. Anyone out there have experience with US cell carriers?

Apparently, innertubes aren't currently recycled around here. Looking around the net, there are a few places in the US that will take old tubes and turn them into something new, but nothing in Canada. The best I've found yet is to turn the tubes into tie downs using a product called IT Hook and IT Clip (apparently available from Sweet Petes in Toronto).

Is there anyone in Canada doing anything to reuse or recycle bike tubes?