Sorry it's been a while since I updated here. Work has been pretty busy (it's now budget season).
Heather and I walked up to Little India for dinner yesterday. Went to Lahore Tikka as usual, it was fast and good. We walked along Queen E from Greenwood and noticed a few changes in the stores. Studio Oui (Heather's favourite clothing store) has a satellite store carrying men's clothing; the Stage East lofts are almost sold out, and have a cool-looking sales office on the north side of Queen; Timmie Dog Outfitters are opening a Queen E location; the used car lot near Wild Thyme's old spot is now up for lease; and the pub at Curzon looks like the renovations are done (and it looks amazing inside), but our guess is they're still waiting for the liquor license.
I've been fixing up my travel blog. Finally got CS3 installed and so I've been going through my old travel pics looking for images that crop nicely for header photos. I created about a dozen. I've been trying to find a free site that will host server-side scripting so that I can randomly rotate through the pics. Unfortunately Google Pages doesn't.
JP is back in town, and he came out after our Ultimate game on Sunday. We won our game 19 - 15, in a fairly competitive game. Went to Jawny Baker's (in the middle of nowhere at O'Connor and StClair). It's a nice restaurant to head to after a game. Most of our Sunday games are at 1pm, and they serve brunch (including a decent eggs benedict) until 3pm, so we'll most likely be there every week. Our games are near Bermondsey and Eglinton (even more in the middle of nowhere). We should do pretty well this season.
Hockey hasn't started out that great. We lost our first game 8-0; and then our next game 5-0. Hopefully they'll re-sort the teams soon. This week's game is late, at 11:15pm, but it's also the night of the VP debate in the US. Most people I know are looking forward to watching the debate, to see if Palin makes a fool of herself again. The clips of her Couric interview on youtube are pretty funny, if it wasn't for the fact that she really is running for VP. The Canadian english debate is also on that night (I guess so TV stations minimize lost ad revenue), but my preference will be the US VP debate. I actually watched Letterman for the first time in years, to see if he would make fun of McCain suspending his campaign for the 3rd night (the first two nights Letterman spent about eight minutes ripping McCain because he skipped out on his show).
We had our 1st wedding anniversary last week. We went out to Tomi Kro's on the Saturday, because most restaurants are closed on Mondays. Heather had the scallop carpaccio appetizer and duck main; I had the foie gras appetizer and beef tenderloin w/ stilton cheese. All the food was great, as usual.
The little black bugs are all over our backyard again. It happens around this time every year. We stopped using the back door, because every time we open it about 40 bugs fly in, which we then have to hand-vac up. If I remember the only way they go away is when the temperature finally drops below zero. It's quite a nuisance, especially when barbecuing. I asked my Ultimate team and other people have the same problem. The bugs are somewhere between aphids and mosquitoes. They don't do anything except fly towards lights and the ceiling, and then die within hours.
Anyways I should start getting ready for bed.
Monday, September 01, 2008
The end of summer and the deck is finished
Summer came to an unofficial end today, being Labour Day. It feels like we were cheated out of a week of summer because Labour Day was so early this year. (I was also sick for almost two weeks at the start of August which made it go by rather quickly).
I was at Deerfield today with Doaner, Craig and Chris. We all started well on the 1st hole. I had a 6, and there were two 5s and another 6. We didn't do so well after that. I shot a 45 on the front, and then fell apart on the last 5 holes to end up with a 102. Bleh. The only club really working for me was my putter.
I finally finished the deck yesterday!
Oddly enough I tore down the old deck on Victoria Day weekend (the unofficial start of summer) and finished on Labour Day weekend. So the deck can officially be called my "summer project".
The lighting turned out as I had hoped; I took some pics but my camera can't handle the low lighting levels. The front of the deck looks a bit odd right now, because there's no plants yet. There will be two globe cedars on each side of the stairs, tucked under the overhang. The idea is to make it look like the deck is floating. Our new city-issued garbage bin arrived this past week and fits in nicely under the bench with the recycling bin. (Fortunately, as I designed it that way). Our green bin will go around the side of the house, as it contains smelly stuff. (We wash out our recycling before throwing stuff out, and garbage is mostly non-recyclable plastics, which doesn't smell).
I haven't figured out what to do with our old garbage bin -- the city suggests using it to gather leaves. Obviously suggested by some city staffer who lives in the suburbs where they might have room to store an extra garbage bin or two, and who don't have to design decks around garbage bins. The city did pick up the old blue bins, maybe they'll do the same with old garbage bins.
The whole backyard project started because I need to disconnect the downspout. I can now landscape a bit of the yard (so that water flows away from the house). I'd like to complete that before winter.
We lost in our hockey playoff game on Thursday so we're done for the season. All my summer sports are now done, and fall seasons don't start up for a couple weeks. I may have to go for a run to keep myself active over the two weeks.
I'm going to try to read a bit of my book so that's it for now.
I was at Deerfield today with Doaner, Craig and Chris. We all started well on the 1st hole. I had a 6, and there were two 5s and another 6. We didn't do so well after that. I shot a 45 on the front, and then fell apart on the last 5 holes to end up with a 102. Bleh. The only club really working for me was my putter.
I finally finished the deck yesterday!
Oddly enough I tore down the old deck on Victoria Day weekend (the unofficial start of summer) and finished on Labour Day weekend. So the deck can officially be called my "summer project".
The lighting turned out as I had hoped; I took some pics but my camera can't handle the low lighting levels. The front of the deck looks a bit odd right now, because there's no plants yet. There will be two globe cedars on each side of the stairs, tucked under the overhang. The idea is to make it look like the deck is floating. Our new city-issued garbage bin arrived this past week and fits in nicely under the bench with the recycling bin. (Fortunately, as I designed it that way). Our green bin will go around the side of the house, as it contains smelly stuff. (We wash out our recycling before throwing stuff out, and garbage is mostly non-recyclable plastics, which doesn't smell).
I haven't figured out what to do with our old garbage bin -- the city suggests using it to gather leaves. Obviously suggested by some city staffer who lives in the suburbs where they might have room to store an extra garbage bin or two, and who don't have to design decks around garbage bins. The city did pick up the old blue bins, maybe they'll do the same with old garbage bins.
The whole backyard project started because I need to disconnect the downspout. I can now landscape a bit of the yard (so that water flows away from the house). I'd like to complete that before winter.
We lost in our hockey playoff game on Thursday so we're done for the season. All my summer sports are now done, and fall seasons don't start up for a couple weeks. I may have to go for a run to keep myself active over the two weeks.
I'm going to try to read a bit of my book so that's it for now.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
We are the champions!
We won our Sunday Ultimate final to win the championship! It was a very close game, the other team, Disco, was pretty good. Disco was up 9-7 at half (games go to 19); and at various points in the 2nd half were up by three points. At 17-15 for Disco I didn't think we would pull it out. But we scored two points to tie the game. I was exhausted and sat out a point, which Disco scored to make it 18-17. We needed to score the next two to win, and we did, winning 19-18, just as it was getting dark. The game took almost two hours to play. The win gave us an undefeated season over the summer.
l-r Ed, Chris, me, Trishia, Craig, Maricar, Helen, Marshall, Cindy
Chris showed up for the first couple games in spring (when we took the picture) and hasn't played since. The core of us (me, Trishia, Craig, Maricar, Helen & Cindy) are now into our 5th year playing together (anywhere from 1 to 3 times a week). After so many years we are all pretty good at reading the plays the same, which makes us a better team and harder to beat.
...
I surfed around to learn how to change my icon. Depending on your browser, you may see a little picture of me as the icon in your browser and favourites.
l-r Ed, Chris, me, Trishia, Craig, Maricar, Helen, Marshall, Cindy
Chris showed up for the first couple games in spring (when we took the picture) and hasn't played since. The core of us (me, Trishia, Craig, Maricar, Helen & Cindy) are now into our 5th year playing together (anywhere from 1 to 3 times a week). After so many years we are all pretty good at reading the plays the same, which makes us a better team and harder to beat.
...
I surfed around to learn how to change my icon. Depending on your browser, you may see a little picture of me as the icon in your browser and favourites.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
It rained this afternoon so I'll have to finish the deck next weekend. I just have a little railing to build, and then install lighting.
We have our championship game for Sunday Ultimate this evening. We won our game easily last Sunday in the semis, but surprisingly The Enemy lost their game! I don't know how good our opposition is because we only played them on the August long weekend and both teams were missing key players. They only lost to The Enemy and us in the regular season, and then beat the The Enemy so they can't be that bad. The weather forecast looks good, it's hot and sticky out now but there's a cold front moving in so hopefully it will be comfortable on the field by game time.
We won our first playoff game in hockey on Thursday. It was my first game in four weeks, and I scored again! I almost had two more goals, but missed the net on both. We finished 4th (out of four teams), and are playing the top team. It's a two game series, with an OT and shootout if we split the games. They are much better than us, and our goalie (who's by far the best player on our team) is out next week, so it's not looking good. But we'll see.
I also went golfing out Thursday afternoon. I had a meeting out in Listowel (over two hours west of Toronto), and so we golfed at Listowel Golf Club. It was just two us, and we played the front nine in 1 hour 20 minutes!! We caught some other players on the back nine, but still finished the round in under 3.5 hours. I shot 92, and was generally consistent.
One of the big old trees on Wayne and Walter's yard has an orange paint marking on it. Heather and I are a bit concerned, we wonder if it means the city's marked it as dangerous and are going to cut it down. There's three big trees that frame the entrance to our street, and the main reason I was interested in the house when I first saw it (after living here there's much more to like, but at first I noticed the trees). A lot of trees in Leslieville are about 100 years old, and then there's a big age gap in trees. On our street fortunately there are a couple 40 - 50 year old trees.
We have our championship game for Sunday Ultimate this evening. We won our game easily last Sunday in the semis, but surprisingly The Enemy lost their game! I don't know how good our opposition is because we only played them on the August long weekend and both teams were missing key players. They only lost to The Enemy and us in the regular season, and then beat the The Enemy so they can't be that bad. The weather forecast looks good, it's hot and sticky out now but there's a cold front moving in so hopefully it will be comfortable on the field by game time.
We won our first playoff game in hockey on Thursday. It was my first game in four weeks, and I scored again! I almost had two more goals, but missed the net on both. We finished 4th (out of four teams), and are playing the top team. It's a two game series, with an OT and shootout if we split the games. They are much better than us, and our goalie (who's by far the best player on our team) is out next week, so it's not looking good. But we'll see.
I also went golfing out Thursday afternoon. I had a meeting out in Listowel (over two hours west of Toronto), and so we golfed at Listowel Golf Club. It was just two us, and we played the front nine in 1 hour 20 minutes!! We caught some other players on the back nine, but still finished the round in under 3.5 hours. I shot 92, and was generally consistent.
One of the big old trees on Wayne and Walter's yard has an orange paint marking on it. Heather and I are a bit concerned, we wonder if it means the city's marked it as dangerous and are going to cut it down. There's three big trees that frame the entrance to our street, and the main reason I was interested in the house when I first saw it (after living here there's much more to like, but at first I noticed the trees). A lot of trees in Leslieville are about 100 years old, and then there's a big age gap in trees. On our street fortunately there are a couple 40 - 50 year old trees.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
It was a nice day today and I worked on the deck most of the afternoon. Replaced the stairs, with a more sound design. Also finished the other hinged door under the bench. The next little task is to put a small railing on the non-bench side of the stairs, and then do the lighting. Unfortunately the weather doesn't look like it's going to co-operate tomorrow so it may have to wait until the long weekend.
Heather and I walked down to Lahore Tikka for dinner. It also happened to be the Festival of South Asia on Gerrard E, so the street was closed to traffic and the restaurant was packed. Our dinner was great as usual. After we walked down the length of the street festival to check it out. It was really busy! It was still early (9:30ish) so we headed to Strat's for a Keith's. They always have good draught beer there, and we sat outside having our beers until the patio closed at 11pm.
Heather's old printer died an ignominious death on Thursday, so we had to go get a new printer. Bought a HP K5400, which I hooked up this morning. I had had the house cabled with ethernet when it was gutted, although I had to re-seat the wiring in the ethernet jack in the basement to get it working. The electronics in the house are finally coming together as I first planned -- a network printer that we can print wirelessly from a laptop and backyard speakers hooked up to the stereo. The printer is pretty good, although there is some black streaking that I need to fix. I did a test print of a photo, and it came out looking amazing -- near laserjet quality, and the full 8.5"x11" (there's no white border). Althought, it's probably cheaper to print at Staples, given the amount of ink used.
Heather and I walked down to Lahore Tikka for dinner. It also happened to be the Festival of South Asia on Gerrard E, so the street was closed to traffic and the restaurant was packed. Our dinner was great as usual. After we walked down the length of the street festival to check it out. It was really busy! It was still early (9:30ish) so we headed to Strat's for a Keith's. They always have good draught beer there, and we sat outside having our beers until the patio closed at 11pm.
Heather's old printer died an ignominious death on Thursday, so we had to go get a new printer. Bought a HP K5400, which I hooked up this morning. I had had the house cabled with ethernet when it was gutted, although I had to re-seat the wiring in the ethernet jack in the basement to get it working. The electronics in the house are finally coming together as I first planned -- a network printer that we can print wirelessly from a laptop and backyard speakers hooked up to the stereo. The printer is pretty good, although there is some black streaking that I need to fix. I did a test print of a photo, and it came out looking amazing -- near laserjet quality, and the full 8.5"x11" (there's no white border). Althought, it's probably cheaper to print at Staples, given the amount of ink used.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
I was out sick for much of the last couple weeks, with a bug that's knocked out a few people at work. Heather caught it a couple days after me and she was out too.
I felt better this past weekend and finished off a bit more of the deck. The deck boards are all done; the speakers sound amazing (the wood surroundings make for great acoustics); and one of the hinged doors under the bench to the recycling is done.
The door had to be weighted so that the natural position is closed. I wasn't sure if it would stay shut but the design worked out.
I was concerned about the original design for the stairs (I wanted them to look like they're floating). I had cut away at the stringers but that weakened them. I bought new stringers to replace them with a different design -- good thing too, cause the bottom step snapped off this morning.
I tested out the lighting over the weekend, to see how bright they were and where the best placing would be. It was a bit of a catch-22 because it's easier to install the lights before the deck is finished, but I couldn't figure out how the lighting would look until the deck was done. So I have to lift up some of the deck boards to install the lights but oh well.
Last night Heather and I were at the Jays game (against the Yankees no less), in the Skybox (Rogersbox?). Paula (my boss) had the box and invited all the directors and their partners. It was a pretty good time, and cool for all the partners to meet all the people they'd only heard about. The Jays won thanks to a couple errors by the Yankee's centrefielder.
After (surprisingly to me) we went bar hopping! First to Gretzky's and his very nice Oasis rooftop patio. Heather and I had been there years ago (it's where Heather first met Doaner), and neither of us remember the patio being that large and nice. Next we stopped in at Rain (!) for a (probably very expensive) drink (Heather was on sparkling water at this point). Then onto Ultra Supper Club's rooftop patio, which was packed (on a Tuesday night!). Heather and I left around 1:45am, with the rest of the crew still there.
I felt better this past weekend and finished off a bit more of the deck. The deck boards are all done; the speakers sound amazing (the wood surroundings make for great acoustics); and one of the hinged doors under the bench to the recycling is done.
The door had to be weighted so that the natural position is closed. I wasn't sure if it would stay shut but the design worked out.
I was concerned about the original design for the stairs (I wanted them to look like they're floating). I had cut away at the stringers but that weakened them. I bought new stringers to replace them with a different design -- good thing too, cause the bottom step snapped off this morning.
I tested out the lighting over the weekend, to see how bright they were and where the best placing would be. It was a bit of a catch-22 because it's easier to install the lights before the deck is finished, but I couldn't figure out how the lighting would look until the deck was done. So I have to lift up some of the deck boards to install the lights but oh well.
Last night Heather and I were at the Jays game (against the Yankees no less), in the Skybox (Rogersbox?). Paula (my boss) had the box and invited all the directors and their partners. It was a pretty good time, and cool for all the partners to meet all the people they'd only heard about. The Jays won thanks to a couple errors by the Yankee's centrefielder.
After (surprisingly to me) we went bar hopping! First to Gretzky's and his very nice Oasis rooftop patio. Heather and I had been there years ago (it's where Heather first met Doaner), and neither of us remember the patio being that large and nice. Next we stopped in at Rain (!) for a (probably very expensive) drink (Heather was on sparkling water at this point). Then onto Ultra Supper Club's rooftop patio, which was packed (on a Tuesday night!). Heather and I left around 1:45am, with the rest of the crew still there.
Thursday, August 07, 2008
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)