Sinople

Weekly Update

Sun, 04 Jan 2009 21:28:23 -0500

Read: White Tiger, by Aravind Adiga

Watched: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Played: NHL 09

Favourite Thing Right Now: My new Kuru Toga pencil.

Amazing Thing of the Week: Canadian Junior Hockey comeback with 5.4 seconds remaining.

Favourite Song Right Now: I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You, by Black Kids

More Movies

Sun, 31 Aug 2008 20:21:53 -0500

Just listing...
- Forgetting Sarah Marshall
- Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle
- Juno
- The Dark Knight
- Tropic Thunder
- Spanglish
- Punch Drunk Love (wth PTA)

More Movies

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 20:49:26 -0500

I guess I'm in the middle of something of a movie blitz.

- Hellboy II - better than I expected, but I heard some pretty awful reviews (from people who are neither Hellboy nor del Toro fans, evidently)
- Before the Devil Knows You're Dead - pretty cool title, pretty cool movie. Phillip Seymour Hoffman is always amazing. Ethan Hawke is always...the same.

Recent Media

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 19:32:49 -0500

Movies watched, and how much I enjoyed each in descending order:

In Bruges
Wall-E
Iron Man
The Princess Bride
Little Miss Sunshine
Young People F**cking
Batman - Gotham Knight
Hulk II
Wanted
Shutter (2008)
Hancock

Books read:

The Art of Racing in the Rain - would've been fantastic if it was just a racing book. Unfortunately, they had to make it a dog book.
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle - beautiful, unsatisfying.

Tessa Update

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 22:10:40 -0500

Took her to see Dr. Farzad again on Friday due to a trace of a blood spotted in her urine. After thorough x-rays and analysis, it appears that it's just an UTI so we shouldn't have to worry about anything. I dragged her to work with me afterwards since Dad was out and I didn't want her to be alone. Ironically, we had more people complaining about walking Tessa through Canadian Tire to get a can opener (two) than walking her through the hospital (none). She behaved well all afternoon.

Current weight: 65.0 pounds.

Vaccinations

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 11:43:24 -0500

Tessa went in for her annuals this weekend and we visited Dr. Farzad's for the first (real) time. I had made a huge fuss earlier this week going to the Willowdale Animal Hospital and giving them grief about first delaying the facsimile of her health records by three weeks, then trying to charge me for them. I was willing to pay for them at that point but the evening receptionist was so embarrassed by their procrastination that she put all twenty-eight pages through while I watched.

We probably should've changed vets sooner as Dr. Farzad was both terrific with Tessa and extremely generous with the charges. Tessa enjoyed the experience and didn't even notice the two needles until the good doctor sprayed her when a spot of blood seeped up. She's also managed to drop to 72.2 from 76.6 pounds since April 30th and we're very happy about that. Continued diligence!

The Luckiest Week

Sat, 07 Jun 2008 11:40:05 -0500

I've had an incredibly fortunate week:

Made a horrible decision to separate Kiwi from the neighbourhood Chow when they were fighting over a ball (that Tessa stole) when they were actually fighting and escaped with just a minor scrape.
Forgot to wear my helmet while biking and managed to get hit by a car turning out of a driveway but the only casualty was the chain dropping a large gear.
Lost my wallet on Friday and realized three hours later, only to find it right where I expected it under the table at our cafeteria.

Anywhere I Lay My Head

Fri, 16 May 2008 20:24:41 -0500

I have the biggest crush on Ms. Scarlett. I'm even sure she can sing decently. Yet, what the hell is this garbage? Garbage like this is what pushes people to steal music - at least there's no buyer's remorse.

My Commute

Thu, 15 May 2008 13:33:52 -0500

Biked to work today, here is my route:

05/14/2008 Work Route
Find more Bike Rides in Toronto, Ontario

Baltimore Trip

Thu, 15 May 2008 11:44:18 -0500

Hube and I headed down to visit the Moores last Thursday by car. Nine-hour drive stopping three times along the way, passing through Fort Erie and heading down through mid-Pennsylvania and straight to Columbia. It was a fairly easy drive and, although boring, PA was incredibly scenic if you're into watching hour after hour of lakes and trees as you whiz by on the highway. We placed our faith entirely in the Garmin on the way there and it turned out to be a blessing that the skies were clear as we found during the intermittent rains in Maryland that the antenna on the GPS is terribly finicky - Mike's Tom Tom was much more receptive.

Arriving after work hours on Thursday, we decompressed for the rest of the evening and then spent most of Friday shopping (outlet mall, Mall of Columbia) before heading to Café Atlantico for latino fusion. The food was pretty good, although I have to admit I'm a bit glad that we didn't get reservations for Minibar since it isn't the venue I'd be terribly pleased dropping $120 a meal (plus tax, tip and drinks).

Saturday was just a short cameo at Cory's and the cutting of the Babe while Sunday was just slacking at home although we had intended to go out to Baltimore but the rain kept us at bay. Hit their local sushi restaurant that day, followed by a dinner with a good number of the FFXI folk at La Scala in the evening.

All we learned was that there are a good number of ghettos in the Baltimore and DC region, and not to go over the limit in NY because their reciprocal agreement with Toronto really, really hurts. A good time, nonetheless.

Feign

Tue, 06 May 2008 10:00:59 -0500

Yesterday at the school, Tessa ran into Cindy and proceeded to try and mount her. Not the most accommodating of dogs even on her best days, Cindy jumped up and charged at Tessa's neck, teeth snapping at her fur. Unfortunately, she managed to step on Tessa's leash and prevented her escape, frightening Tessa and making her cry.

She ran not to me, but to Cindy's owner wailing in a high-pitched howl that I'd never heard, breaking in spots like a sobbing child unable to catch their breath. She sat down and dangled her paw limply for inspection, but flinching whenever anyone touched it. The owner hugged her and apologized twice, telling her it's alright. Tessa continued to sob.

As Cindy and the owner decided to take their leave, Tessa watched them go, stood back up and promptly sprinted happily away.

Cherry Blossoms

Sun, 04 May 2008 19:56:37 -0500

Gradually tiring of pictures, Tessa went from happily posing, then vocally opposing and ultimately simply turning away and showing them her bottom when strangers came by with cameras, passively protesting the pap. She's a bright dog, that one.

Birthday

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 20:08:51 -0500

Cheryll convinced me to go out and grab dessert last night so we went to Scaramouche, if only because I wanted to cross another Eat, Drink and be Daring item off my list. This time it was Scarmouche's Coconut Cream Pie, the very first on the list. It was alright, and she gave it more credit than I did by saying that the custard wasn't bad. I believe my expert review was "It's coconut, and it's cream. It is what it is." Aside from this, we also ordered the Crème Brulée (had better) and a Passionfruit and Yogurt Semifreddo (excellent, frogurt!) while she had a latté (also excellent). Ten year gaps between trips to Scaramouche sounds about right though - the clientele is still old, crusty and obnoxiously loud. I felt bad about being potentially underdressed until I realized I don't care what these ancient louses with money thought about me anyway.

Today, I took the dog out on a roadtrip. We first dropped by Dr. Farzad's at Lakeshore West just to be on record in case we need another veterinarian somewhere down the line (I learned little from Dr. Stallman's visit yesterday other than the fact that he will soon need a transplant due to cardiomyopia). He gave Tessa a free cursory checkup and offered us a treatment of Revolution but I politely declined since we have some at home; he's too kind.

We then worked our way back east along Lakeshore, stopping at a few parks so we could chase a few police horses and take some pictures. Continuing onwards to Bay, we hopped on the Ferry and spent several hours strolling around a more-or-less deserted Center Island, gazing at tourists and pretending to be tourists ourselves. Came home exhausted, took a nap and I'm considering opening GTA IV in a little bit.

As far as birthdays go, I've rather enjoyed this one. Of all the things I'm grateful for, having a great dog is somewhere near the top of the list.

Final Thought

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 22:03:04 -0500

While I'd never get a tattoo or have anything pierced, I think my (admittedly disturbing) interest in attempting to understand why people go through the oddest kinds of body modification - subdermal implants, genital subincision, elective amputation, the....shaping of random body parts - made going through with the chalazion operation an easy decision. Even though it was actively bothering me, especially in bright sunshine (and a colleague understood because he still has the remnants of one from nearly two months ago that took three weeks before it even began to clear up), I have yet to speak to anyone who said that they would allow their eyelid to be sliced. In fact, most people went as far as to say that I was brave to undergo this routine procedure when I was on a high and couldn't wait to get it done all day.

I honestly wonder what this means for how I really feel about cosmetic surgery and modifications.

Audrey

Sun, 27 Apr 2008 22:09:59 -0500

Because it was just one of those weekends, I watched four Audrey Hepburn movies with a napping dog, a blanket and several tubs of Haagen-Dazs by my side. Tessa's always up (err...ready to nap) for a good movie and there's never a bad time for H-D's strawberry cheesecake Extras. In chronological order, watched Funny Face, Love in the Afternoon, Sabrina and Breakfast at Tiffany's off the 360. As is the case with all romance films, they were all fairly predictable. And as is the case with old movies, they were rife with sexism, racism and other bigotry that wouldn't fly in films today - LitA and BaT just revolved around loose morals and prostitution as a generally-accepted means of income. My mom did ask if I felt that older movies lacked the excitement and pacing of modern films but I can't say I noticed at all. Audrey Hepburn is stunning no matter what the decade.

Why is it, though, that every movie ends up in Paris?