June 2008 Archives

Just passed the second hour boundary waiting in the doctor's office. There are fewer people here but the line is moving slowly. When people do talk it's about how long the wait is. There are some people in a lot of pain spending hours having to sit in uncomfortable chairs. I took off for a bit and went to a pub across the street for a pulled pork burrito and a beer. I asked them to rush but obviously there was no need; I've been sitting in the waiting room again for about a half hour. Bleh.

Update: I waited 2 hours and 40 minutes for a 7 minute appointment. The doc did say there have been scheduling problems that he hopes to have dealt with soon. We shall see. In the meantime I have DRUGS!

I just noticed that I didn't post the results of the pool season. We made it into the finals but were eliminated in the first round so we finished in fourth place. Not terrible but quite a downer after experiencing the lofty heights of second place. I'm sure it was because Mike wasn't there to buy us shots again.

The end of season banquet was the night before last and I bid the league a fond farewell. I also ate a lot but that's not important right now. So, now, I begin life without playing pool. No doubt it will be a shadow of the life I had with pool but I think I'll make it through some how...

We celebrated our second anniversary at Marben restaurant on Wellington W. last night. We got there at 6pm, which by restaurant standards might as well be 6am but they still seemed happy to see us. For most of the dinner we had the place to ourselves, but with the music and everyone bustling around it didn't feel cavernous at all; it was comfortable and intimate. While we were ordering our appetizers Katherine casually mentioned to the manager that we were there for our anniversary and how we had read a great review in Toronto Life. As soon as he left the bartender showed up with flutes of champagne for us. We already loved the place and hadn't even tried the food yet!

We had the perogies and the antipasto salad with duck prosciutto and buffalo mozzarella as appetizers and savoured every bite. We hoped that the main courses would be as good. Katherine had the southern fried quail, which the Toronto Life review singled out. I had the cod with grilled avocado and (I think) creamed grits. This had to be one of the best main courses I've had in a very long time. The combination of textures and the flavours (especially the combination of the smoky avocado and the cod) was exquisite.

After dinner we asked about desserts and the waitress said that the kitchen was preparing something special for us. She arrive shortly after with this plate:

A sample plate for two of four different desserts: mango smoothy (yum), mousse with Bailey's cream (yum), a decadent little brownie with raspberry sauce (yum) and a spicy samosa with peach filling (yum) with Happy Anniversary! written in chocolate!

They didn't charge us for the dessert or champagne but we would have been happy to pay ... it was all soooo good. The staff was very friendly and helpful and the food was INCREDIBLE. Go there now.

Ester Putnam sent me an email with the subject "Stop being a loser". The body of the mail said:

> Emphasize your affiliation with masculine gender by fuller and longer main feature!
> Start training your soldier of love now!

I didn't realize my affiliation with the masculine gender was in danger. See what happens when you miss a meeting?

I was reading an article on thestar.com about a streetcar collision and at the bottom it said "With files from Precious Yutangco". What a great name! Already perfect for when she makes the transition to TV. "Welcome to Entertainment Tonight and I'm your host, Precious!"

It's probably really a made-up name that they use when there are no 'files' at all and they're using their own fuzzy memories. (I used all three versions of 'there' there.)

We're going to the cottage this weekend and I'm packing the bathroom stuff. My little bottle of shampoo was nearly empty so I added more of a different brand. I couldn't help myself from thinking that I'm making frankenpoo. Help me.

There was a guy at the grocery store the other day who had his hair cut in a mohawk. Except that he had male-pattern-baldness starting which broke up the swath of hair into two sections. Looked like a Morse code dash - dot on the top of his head.

Due to some strange combination of luck, bourbon, cleavage and handicaps we won the night by one point. No one was more surprised than us, again. One of the players on the apposing team (the one who wasn't drinking the shots, naturally) was more than a little miffed that we're coming back next week and they're not. I was really expecting that this was going to be my last night playing on the team and wasn't really concentrating on playing. Mike on the other team had just been paid and was buying us shots all night. Apparently I play well under the influence of bourbon. Who knew.

I read an article in the Star about the Uno; something that looks like a cross between a motorcycle and a unicycle. The Uno. The machine is very radical but the best part is that it was invented and constructed by a 19 year old guy from Milton. I'm pleased that in this increasing complex world there is still room for someone working out of their basement (not literally in this case) to come out with something staggeringly unique that's more than just a mock up and a dream.

I have some friends who have a twitter.com account but won't join facebook and some facebook users who say they '"don't care to have" a twitter account. I think it's interesting the lines that different people draw in the sand that they don't want to cross.