A Star is Born

L did a great job acting in her recent school play. On opening night, she said everyone was laughing so hard she had to pause between her lines. She said she found herself improvising as she heard the laughter. After the show came the congratulations from friends and strangers. She was on such a high after all the pure excitement. Apparently there was a mishap backstage. A girl ran straight into a pole because the stage hands didn't have a flashlight on it. But the girl was ok, just a bit bruised.

The next day her friend's mom called to say how much she enjoyed L's performance.

We thought she was really funny when we saw her a few nights later. (M was also able to take his 80 year old mom on opening night). L said it's been such a wonderful experience and has made so many more friends because of it.

News

Pelican attacks TV weatherman (video)

Top 5 excuses for not exercising, and how to beat them

When to Tip? And How Much?

The Skinny On Wallet-Friendly Meals

A Role Model

A friend sent me this most interesting article where Olympic figure skater Johnny Weir responds to commentators who questioned his gender and the example he sets. Mr. Weir gave what I think is an impressive response and I think we're looking at a role model here, that kids like him can look up to. He said: “I would challenge anyone to question my upbringing and question my parents’ ideals and feelings about bringing up me and my brother, who’s completely different from me but taught very much the same way that I was,”

On a lighter note, here's a pretty prom dress I saw at the mall recently. L likes the look of it.


News

Simple, cheap procedure can limit size of heart attack: Researchers

Winnipeg teachers suspended after ‘lap dance’ goes viral

The Power of Technology

My Amazon delivery arrived yesterday! It was nearly 3 weeks since the shipping date, so I was worried.

M had a problem with his work computer yesterday morning. He had upgraded Microsoft Office in order to read a document, but then his work email system stopped working. He thought he would have to take his computer in to the IT department at work to have it fixed then decided to call their 24/7 support line in the U.S. He gave the technician the appropriate passwords to access his computer. There is software that allowed the technician to see the insides of the computer as if he was actually there. The problem was fixed in 5 minutes. It's amazing how everything is so global and online now. In fact, M says if you call that support number in the off-hours (late at night or on holidays), someone from India picks up the call and troubeshoots it in just the same way.

News

The 25 Most Common Cooking Mistakes - I'm guilty of a lot of these

Nouns and Verbs Learned in Different Brain Regions

Best Tech Guy caller EVER with Leo Laporte (video)

Study: High-fat diets raise stroke risk in women

Cute Enclosure

This is a photo of the cute enclosure that came with one of L's university acceptances. You can click on the photo to enlarge and read the writing.




News

Konichiwa, crazy toilet
- This is a hilarious 'toilet'story, toilet stories fascinate me

What do you think of this Shoedini video? I can see young people thinking it's a joke, but as you get older...

My Life in France

We had fresh snow yesterday, it was strange to actually have to do some shovelling this winter. It was/is pretty. My neighbour didn't care, he said he's too old for shovelling (middle aged). There wasn't really enough for him to justify pulling the snowblower out, and he's used to doing that.

I'm really enjoying reading Julia Child's 'My Life in France'. It was written by her husband's great-nephew Alex Prud'homme and he's done a really tasteful job of capturing her memories. Japra mentioned it in her blog and it sounded appealing. It's interesting to read her detailed impressions of Paris and its food 60 years ago. People are still doing many of the same things on the same streets.

News

Canadians Live Longer Than Ever

Exercise cuts worry in those battling health problems

Prom Dresses

On the weekend, I met my friend S for a walk. She wanted to see the new selection of prom dresses at the boutiques on Main Street. There were a couple of girls trying shorter length dresses on in one store. We enjoyed the fashion show and gave our recommendations. One of the girls fell in love with this designer creation that seemed to be made for her. 'Tony Bowls' and 'Jovani' seem to be the hot designer names these days. S thinks 'Alfred Sung' is a bit 'passe'. The saleslady said Miss World had been into the store the previous day and bought a dress. Apparently she's 6ft 2inches tall.

I recently ordered 3 items from Amazon, 2 of which arrived last Wednesday. So now I'm worried about the 3rd one because it was shipped at the same time. I've never had that problem before.

News

Bloom Box: Bloom Energy Powers Your Whole House with a Box [VIDEO] - this is very interesting, I encourage you to watch the '60 minutes' video.

Pediatricians urge choking warning labels for food - I knew about the choking hazard of grapes and hotdogs, but not raw carrots and apples!

One-third of Canadian workers will delay retirement

Virus Coding

So I'm logged into my Gmail account the other night, then this window pops up that looks like a virus, saying all sorts of weird things. I yell 'I have a virus!' When it said 'erasing your hard drive', I decided to re-boot the laptop and run a McAfee Scan to check for viruses. L says, 'don't do that, the virus can't be in your computer, it's on Gmail', but I ignore her.

A bit later on, K deliberately logs into his Gmail account, and the same messages start popping up. This time he decides to wait and see what else it says. Once again it started saying 'erasing hard drive'. I got really scared when it said 'virus coding'. Then I notice L is on her laptop chuckling away, and K starts laughing. The joke's on me! 'Mom, didn't you notice it was a Gmail chat window, it says that very clearly on top!' 'Mean' kids thinking they are very funny! We had a good laugh about the entire incident.

News

Humpty Dumpty's missing word

Japa Dogs

I heard on TV that one of the big hits at the Vancouver Olympics is the Japa dog. It's a hot dog stand where the hot dogs are dressed with various Japanese spices and ingredients. It sounds like there's usually a lineup, but during the Olympics that is an understatement. Here are some photos. They even have a twitter account!

News

The Internet will make you smarter, say experts - But one person said "The price of zipping among lots of bits of information is a loss of depth in our thinking." hmm

YouTube at 5: how its videos became our collective memory

Australian study uses cat food in war on cane toad

Meditation May Boost Mood and Mental Toughness

How to make a living on the web

Grandma uses the laptop

Ellen Degeneres springs a heartwarming surprise on Idol reject Angela Martin in this video.


Here's another funny video called 'Grandma uses the laptop'


News

Student's software design wins award
Award-winning program makes photo collages in seconds

Happiness makes for a healthy heart

Just keep going

I was feeling a total lack of energy yesterday, but forced myself to do the long overdue housecleaning chores. Wouldn't you know, I felt so much better afterward. I remembered Barbara recently learned that the best thing for her recent back pain was to just keep moving around, and I think that theory also works for other ailments.

My other problem is managing all the passwords I have. I don't feel comfortable entering them online anywhere, and if I haven't used any of them for awhile, I have trouble remembering where I kept a few of them. I have a file for most of them, but there are the banking and credit card ones that you're not supposed to write down. I can always contact the institution for help, but it would be nice to have a workable system.

News

Curious chimp checks out camera (video)

How to eat fish ethically: Maps through the maze of sustainable seafood

There's quite a story behind the Olympic flowers

Ignore Expiration Dates"Best by," "Sell by," and all those other labels mean very little.

These are Funny

1. I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.

2. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.

3. I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.

4. There is great need for a sarcasm font.

5. How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

6. Was learning cursive really necessary?

7. Map Quest really needs to start their directions on #5. I'm pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

8. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.

9. I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.

10. Bad decisions make good stories.

11. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you know that you just aren't going to do anything productive for the rest of the day.

12. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after Blue Ray? I don't want to have to restart my collection...again.

13. I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten-page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.

14. "Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this -- ever.

15. I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Damn it!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What'd you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?

16. I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.

17. I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.

18. My 4-year old son asked me in the car the other day "Dad what would happen if you ran over a ninja?" How the hell do I respond to that?

19. I think the freezer deserves a light as well.

20. I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lite than Kay.

Brownies

On the recent Family Day holiday, L and I decided to try Smitten Kitchen's best cocoa brownies recipe. We left the nuts out, because K doesn't like them. We ate them with ice cream. If you love chocolate, you will love these, they are worth a try, so yummy. They're made with butter and cocoa instead of chocolate.

This is the wildest video of a '3 Legged Bear Walking Upright'

News

Love in the time of technology

Morning Light Keeps Teens Awake

Your teenagers will lie to you

Creative Tuesdays - Duck

This is a male red-crested pochard, my contribution to Mr. Toast's Creative Tuesdays 'Duck' theme. I have to admit, it's my first duck portrait ever. I was inspired by this beautiful photo on wikipedia. You know, when you take the time to look at a bird in close-up detail, you can't help but be in awe of nature and all the different species that we share the earth with.

Who, that guy?

Try this test, it gets the adrenalin going. L does it really well and finds it very addictive:

SHEEP REACTION TEST

The automobile driving manual says the average driver's reaction time is: 0.75 seconds ....... or 1 car length for every 10 mph ......

Test your average reaction time..

Be very careful this can be addictive. Click on the link below and good luck.

Reaction Test

K mentioned that this boy who sits beside him in one of his classes is a martial arts expert of some kind. Anyway, he found out that he got in trouble with the police for beating up this other boy (swollen face type of thing). Turns out the victim was in one of K's classes last semester. So he says both boys are his friends. But he said to the martial arts expert: 'who, that guy?... never liked him...'

It's time for me to order L's high school graduation photos. It can be an expensive order, depending on what you choose... decisions, decisions.

News

In pictures: 2010 Canadian International Auto Show

Healthy Recipes

We are having a long 'Family Day' weekend, with Monday being the family day holiday. It's a good thing.

I walked to church yesterday evening. The days are becoming noticeably lighter, although the wind was in my face on the way home. The thought of having weathered, old cheeks came to mind. The priest mentioned that it will be Ash Wednesday on February 17th and reminded all good Catholics to fast and abstain from eating meat on that day. I noticed a man wearing a white sweater that said 'Vancouver . Whistler' on the back. Tax receipts were ready for pickup after mass.

Here are a few healthy recipes I mean to try sometime (my list is piling up):

Cranberry Flax Muffins

Homemade Turkey and Rice Soup

News

'We Are the World' for Haiti debuts (video)

Google tweaks Buzz social hub after privacy woes

Valentines in Ancient Rome Were All About Pain

One Morning's Excitement

I dropped K off to school about 15 minutes early the other morning and went to the Staples office store to courier L's university scholarship application. I thought the process would be as easy as mailing a package.

The girl at the Purolator counter realized she needed an exact street address and not the more general mailing address we were given by the university. I tried calling the university, but they weren't open until 9 am. We tried surfing the address but we didn't feel comfortable to use what we found, because it's a big place, what if it went to the wrong building? After a little while, they suggested I go to another location nearby that was a real Purolator store as they didn't want to make a mistake and have the envelope returned.

I went home and made another call to the university after 9 am. The lady I spoke to managed to find a street name without a number. L was going in to school later that morning, so we decided to get to the other location asap and try to get the package out. The lady there looked at the envelope and said 'I need a street address, the system won't take this address.' She went on to explain that what she needed was a Courier address and that the address we had was a Canada Post mailing address.

So we started fumbling for phone numbers to call the university again. It seems I got a bit flustered and my phone didn't seem to want to dial long distance anymore. Luckily L noticed I was pressing the wrong button, so she took the phone and correctly pressed the 'call' button.

At this point, the Purolator lady noticed that when she entered the postal code, it came up with a very specific address. She said, 'do you think we could use this one?' I said 'why not? The postal code is very specific, they can locate an address just with that code, that must be it! ' She told L she could stop calling long-distance, that we didn't need to anymore. Our stress level went way down at this point.

The lady advised us to request a next day delivery of 10.30 am as opposed to 9 am because the office may not be open then, so it would be difficult to obtain a mail room signature for tracking purposes. She was so helpful. Anyway, we received a tracking number so we could verify whether the package arrived on time.

We learned something, I've never had to courier anything in my life. And luckily we did it on Thursday, because if we had waited until Friday and it would have arrived by 10.30am on a Saturday, when the office is closed. So L was able to confirm that the package made it to its destination!

Hope everyone has a wonderful Valentine's Day. This week, our step class instructor asked everyone to wear red next week. Someone asked 'because of Valentine's Day?' She said, 'Nah, who cares about that?' She meant it for supporting Canada in the Olympics. She's happily married by the way. This is what can happen when you're in your fifties, we become of a more practical nature!


News

Singles in China rent fake dates to appease parents

Chinese New Year is all about good food

5 Foods to Prevent Heart Disease - hot cocoa's on the list!

Opening Day!

Well, it's the Vancouver Olympics Opening Day! It runs from Feb 12-28. I'm not really much of a sports fan, but it's exciting just the same. M and L will be tuned into the TV as time permits.

So the other night my beloved son K says to me:
"Oh, I saw you at the grocery store at lunchtime"
I replied:
"Why didn't you say hello?"
He answered:
"Because I was with my friends"
I said:
"Well, did your friend M see me?"
To which he replied:
"Yes, he asked, 'isn't that your mom?', then I suggested we go the other way"

I gave him a hard time about this, but that's a teenager for you.

L reports that her school made a lot of money with the ice cream sundae fund-raiser they did to help sponsor an Olympic athlete. It did a lot better than the t-shirt sale. She enjoyed doing crowd control and counting the money. One of her friends cut bananas for banana splits. Apparently her hands got stained really brown from the bananas. Who knew?

News

Freedom 55: The whole idea is so 1980s

Apartment restaurant gives new meaning to the phrase "home cooked meal"

OPINION: Toronto's New Working Class

6 Personality traits to admire and acquire

Lower your blood pressure with potassium-rich foods

My Prime Rib Recipe

Just a Plane Ride Away asked me how I did prime rib and thought it would be a good thing to share with all the meat-eaters. This recipe is coming right out of my head, so the measurements are approximate:

4-6 pound prime rib roast
sprig of fresh thyme or 1 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 cup ketchup
1-2 tbs worcestershire sauce
2 minced cloves of garlic or 1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 chopped onion
1 tbs dark soy sauce

pre-heat oven to 325F
Place roast in a baking pan lined with parchment paper. Add the rest of the ingredients to the pan and mix well. Bake approximately 2 hours for medium-well. I loosely place a strip of foil atop the roast after the first half hour.

I use the same marinade for my steaks and everyone loves them.

I was at the gym yesterday and heard that an instructor at another nearby location fell during a step class and badly sprained her ankle. An ambulance had to be called and she'll be out for 6 weeks. I heard that she has a small child, she's going to need some help.

We enjoyed Ellen DeGeneres as the new American Idol judge, she has a great sense of humour as we all know.

News

Self-Published Author Enters Toronto Book Awards

Why olive oil is bad for your stir-fry

Top 5 national recipes for an Olympic feast

Essential manners for couples

CTV Olympic Anthem

Well, yesterday morning I glanced at the newspaper and was shocked by the front page. A military commander charged with 2 murders among other things and then a young mayoral candidate and city councillor embroiled in a scandal with a university student. I thought, what is the world, at least our city coming to. This morning, the young candidate is admitting to multiple affairs. Unless the newspapers are becoming more like magazines and highlighting the salacious stuff that sells! Either way, I don't think this guy should mayor.

'Tastefully Done' has this 'Pasta in a Skillet' recipe that they describe as 'gourmet pasta in one pot'. I'll have to try that.

Here are some interesting videos I found:

The CTV Anthem for the Olympic Winter Games

Embrace life - always wear your seatbelt (video)

Sir Patrick Stewart on the Internet (video)

Misa Digital Guitar Demo (video)

News

$10 Olympic mittens a runaway success

Scientists invent rice that doesn't need cooking

Beer, especially pale ale, promotes bone health: study

Different Colors Describe Happiness vs. Depression

An award for being your own worst enemy?

Superbowl Ads

The government will be offering full day kindergarten classes in selected schools for 4 and 5 year olds starting this September. It's a good thing, but I'm wondering what the impact will be on the private schools (and the daycares), there are a lot of Montessori schools in the area.

Prime rib is on sale this week at the grocery store, so I made a small roast and it smelled so good cooking in the oven.

Yesterday's news was full of all the Superbowl Ads and I chose some of my favourites here, hope you enjoy them as much as I did:

Focus on the Family SuperBowl Commercial with Tim Tebow

Timothy Richman - Cars.com 2010 Super Bowl Ad

Audi 2010 Green Car Super Bowl Commercial

Intel "Lunch Room" 2010 Super Bowl XLIV Commercial Ad

Painted Hyundai Sonata Ad

News

Canada Switches to Growth Charts Based on WHO, Not U.S., Standards

Street vendor puts on the dog for popular Japanese figure skater

Sugary pop nearly doubles pancreatic cancer risk

Digital Assets

Well, yesterday was Superbowl Sunday. I'm not a sports fan, but M says that the best teams made it to the final and it was a great game right down to the last minute. Apparently Google ran its first Superbowl TV ad.

I decided to go for a crisp walk yesterday afternoon, it was only -5C, compared to the -22C wind chills of the previous day. It felt exhilarating, a good walk always perks me up for a bit. I must admit my chin felt a bit frozen. I saw people playing ice hockey and skating at the local pond.

'Mozart at the Nut House', for your entertainment:




News

How Social Gaming is Improving Education

Prepping digital assets for the great off-line

Comatose patient communicates with doctors through brainwaves, MRI

Crepes with Lingonberry Jam

I found this new FoodTV show called 'Big Daddy's House'. Big Daddy has a great personality. He made these crepes in a blender and never got his hands dirty, he just poured the batter straight into the crepe pan. Loved it.

Listen to this incredible 911 call of a calm 5 year old girl.

News

Bees See Your Face as a Strange Flower

Twice the size of P.E.I.: Canada's new national park

7 Gadgets That Changed the World

Milk in Bags, Eh?

This video is called 'Italian Auction'



L was telling a good friend how stressful life is lately, with all the things she has 'on the go'. The friend says, 'I'm stressed just hearing about your stress'. I thought, what a good friend to be so in tune with someone else's stress! My job was to locate a good hairdresser on a morning's notice to give her the perfect 'up-do' for last night's semi-formal. She's 'last minute' like that and I'm trying to explain to her that it's not realistic to have people (like her parents) at her beck and call. M says not to worry, she'll learn in time, he thinks K is worse (in other ways). She did look great with the new dress and everything.

K was happy with his report card, he didn't fail anything. He said one boy did fail Science miserably and will have to retake it in the summer.

Friends of ours are having their grown sons move back home. One just terminated a live-in relationship. The other is finishing university and has decided to pursue another course of study. The parents had adjusted to them leaving and now it will be another re-adjustment (with meal preparations, etc.).


News

So we drink milk from bags. Does that make us weird? - you can look at the viral video for this article here

Bacteria found in 'pre-washed' salad greens

The 10 Must-Have Features in Today's New Homes

Scans reveal awareness in some vegetative brains

Can yoga and meditation prevent high blood pressure?

Chinese New Year

The Chinese New Year is fast approaching. It will be February 14th this year. I learned from google that it's roughly calculated as the 2nd full moon of the year, which explains why it's never the same date every year. Some of the food blogs I read have been mentioning it, and I sense the mounting excitement around planning the dishes to be served. Even our local Walmart has started printing Chinese New Year specials in their flyers. We have a large ethnic Chinese population in Toronto. I'm Jamaican, of Chinese descent myself.

They have bok choy vegetables on sale at the local supermarket. Here's my quick, easy, 'mess-free' way of doing these (measurements are approximate and to taste):

1 package (about 8 stalks) of bok choy, rinsed and cut into quarters lengthwise
1 tsp garlic powder
3 tbs canola oil
2 tbs dark soy sauce
2 tbs oyster sauce

Add canola oil to a dutch oven (large, covered pot). Add half the vegetables. Add garlic powder, soy sauce and oyster sauce. Top with the rest of the vegetables. Cover and simmer for about 10 minutes until the vegetables are cooked. Enjoy! I've recently tried chinese broccoli (gai lohn) like this, except they don't have to be quartered. The oyster sauce really adds to the flavour.

News

Is blogging a slog? Some young people think so

Obese People Lose Weight at High Altitudes

Students finding new ways to cheat through Internet

Haiti Relief

It snowed a bit the past few days and I did a small bit of shovelling, but there really hasn't been much snow this year. We're on track to set a record for the lowest amount of snowfall this year.

One of my sisters sent me this Adam Lambert signed Ellen Underwear and photo bid on Ebay currently going for US $7,605. It's for Red Cross Haiti relief and we think some rich people must be doing this for the tax break (why else?). (-:

Kary at My Farmhouse Kitchen has a great bread recipe on her blog, it sounds so 'do-able' not to mention delicious. I made some slow-baked back ribs yesterday using a recipe that my sister sent me. I baked the ribs in a covered oven roaster pan for an hour and a half at 250F, slathered in bbq sauce. Everyone liked it, and the ribs did seem to be falling off the bone. My sister said she did hers for 3 hours.

Here's a nice video of Vancouver City if you have 5 minutes to watch it.

News

Haiti Benefit Songs “We Are The World” and “Everybody Hurts” Go Viral

German man saved on frozen sea by webcam spotter

Extra weight after age 70 may lengthen life: study

America's Biggest Rip-offs

Exposure to luxury can alter decision making: study

Twins

K started his new semester yesterday. He made friends with an identical twin last semester and it seems the other twin will be in one of his classes this semester. I laughed when he said it will be pretty much like having the other one in his class. This one is apparently more reserved with strangers, but he felt that wouldn't be a problem as he already knows him. It's also time to start registration for his grade 10 courses next year. Interestingly, he wants to be in co-ed gym next year!

L's school is supporting an Olympic athlete and they are planning to sell ice cream sundaes as one way to raise money for the athlete. L's tennis arm has been bothering her and the doctor said it's a sprain, that she has to rest it for a week. Well, I'm glad it wasn't a tendon.

I was at the bank yesterday getting a money order for a birthday gift. I asked the teller how those email money transfers work. She thought they worked quite well and thought all you need is the other person's email id. It might be something to try one of these days, particularly as I get a free one per month on my banking plan.


News

A really good ad for a British Columbia, Canada College

YouTube Makes $10,709.16 From Movie Rental Trial Run

Jobs For Math Lovers

Younger sippers stir a resurgence in tea culture worldwide

Top 10 destinations for 2010

Creative Tuesdays - Muse

Here's my contribution to the 'Muse' theme for Mr. Toast's Creative Tuesdays. I took this theme literally and got my inspiration from wikipedia. I added a seasonal Valentine's Day touch to the 'Muse reading a scroll'.





News

I thought you might like to see this video of Bottlenose dolphins mud-ring feeding off the coast of Florida. It's truly amazing.

Researchers in India engineer tomato with extra 30 days of shelf life - maybe the cure for aging is next!

New source of insulin blossoming on the Prairies

Homeland Security

I thought this was a funny video:



News

Amazon revolution? Researchers unearth lost cities

IDS10: Think Designing A Small Space Is Tough? Try 88 Sq Ft

Smart Cookies' lesson on how to earn more and argue less