Dinner at the Burger Inn

"Hi there, what can I get for you?"

"Oh, uh, my wife will have the elk burger and I..."

I find making decisions about food difficult. The fact is, I'd like to try it all. Yes, given the opportunity, I'll have everything on the menu. Unfortunately, one rarely gets that opportunity and so I have to make a decision. It's stressful and it can become only more stressful with people standing behind you.

I've been known to walk into a Starbucks, get in line, take a look at the menu board and leave. Not because I didn't like what I saw, but because I felt like I was the only one in line who didn't know exactly what I wanted. All I knew was that I wanted a sweet tasting coffee. Not good enough. Time to retreat.

But, back to the Burger Inn on 4th street, I was fortunate that the vegetarian options are sparse, thus making dinner decisions easier. I like this. Still, I also like to know exactly what my options were. The wild salmon burger seemed pretty well explained but not exactly what I felt like having, so I needed a bit more info on the item identified with parentheses as "meatless".

"What's your Golden Harvest burger all about?"

"That's a veggie burger."

"Great. And you Superior Golden Harvest burger?"

"That's a veggie burger with bacon."

"I should have guessed that."

It's nice when decisions are made for you.

Pretty cunning: The Sequel

The reason Mary started making a Jayne hat (that's the name of the toque in the previous post, although if you don't know the origin of it, the name doesn't help) was that I wanted an awesome Christmas present for my sister. However, she made me one too and when I pulled my hat on, I knew I couldn't deny my sister the Jayne hat for six months.

So I just put it in a box, covered it with some shredded paper and got my mom to write the note with the same text as the note that Jayne's mom wrote.

And this is what ensued.

The hat in its straw-filled box. Mmm, shredded bills.

The hat has landed!

I think Mary made someone's day

My mom looks pretty cute in this hat. Notice the matching shirt.

Not afraid of anything.

Pretty cunning, don'tchya think?

Etiquette states you shouldn't brag about the birthday gifts you received, but sometimes they are just too awesome. Not to say the other gifts were less awesome, in fact I quite like them all.

But...

Mary made me a hat.

This hat can be described by the following quotes:

Pretty cunning, don'tchya think?

Man walks down the street in that hat, people know he's not afraid of anything.

So meticulous was Mary, that she even did screenshots to determine the correct number of dangly string bits on the ear.

Here is the masterpiece:

Check out that hot pom-pom action.

Thanks Mary!

The CBC sausage

Did you know CBC has an official blog for its English operations? Well, now you do and you should check up Inside the CBC. The head "blogger" is Tod Maffin, known by some as the man who ran a very popular site during the CBC lockout.

Typical tidbits include bits on retiring anchors/reporters, odd things about the CBC building (behold the Toronto Hallway of Awkwarness), the fact that CBC employees undewent sensitivity training, and tours of CBC buildings.

And I like the reason CBC put up this blog.

I think they listened to the many employees who said communication could be more direct. And the public, I always felt, wanted the CBC to have more of a human tone. We’re not a big faceless corporation, we’re a creative group of cool people and maybe this will help showcase some of what they do and what you’re doing too.

Another reason to like them: LOLCBCats.

The not-so silent koala

One of the things that's keep from going insane is the CBC Radio 3 podcast hosted by Grant Lawrence. He can be annoying but he knows his indie Canadian music.

Lawrence also has great stories which he told to the Hour.

One involves a not-so silent koala. The other is an airplane toilet. The airplane one is almost as good as one of Daorcey's story.

Won't somebody think of the gamers?

Besides the typical reasons for having babies, I have come up with another in order to convince Daorcey that we should begin procreation.

We'll run out of the games we like.

I came across this article, where basically the author thinks this Wii trend is bad for hardcore gamers. Since gimmicky, cheap-to-make games like Cooking Mama and Wii Play for casual gamers are such hits and video game companies are after the money, we can only look forward to more of the same. A game like Grand Theft Auto or Halo cost millions to make and there are few (in comparison to the casual gamers) hardcore gamers. So games with intricate storylines and "out there" graphics will become fewer and farther between. A company can make a ton of gimmicky, mini-game based Wii games for the price of one high-budget game and not have to worry as much about making the money back. So much more shake your Wii around and much less Mass Effect.

This is bad as Daorcey and I like our GTA/Mass Effect/God of War games which are considered "hardcore."

However, demographics are in our favour. Most of the casual gamers are older people and as older people tend to do, they die. I hate to say it, but it's true. They are not all like Old Grandma Hard Core, mashing buttons on Okami and God of War 2. When I'm 70, I hope to be like her.

As well they've missed the window where they can imprint their video game habits on their offspring. But us hardcore gamers are just gearing up to spawn. And this is where it's crucial to continue the cycle of hardcore games: we must teach our children to like what we like. Otherwise we'll lose them to the easy seductive wave of a Wii. We'll watch in horror as they jump up and down like automotons trying to flip a sausage or grate a cell phone. We'll try in vain to introduce them to the bliss of shooting off an alien's head with a chainsaw gun or race the police with a wanted rating of five stars.

But it will be all for naught unless hardcore gamers, like me and Daorcey, start having babies and starting them on Baby's first FPS.

Agrarian Revolt!

Some things I had to share:

-Chances are you've seen LOLcats. Those cats captioned with Impact with a thick black stroke. I think I've found my favourite. It's like a nerd sandwich.


-I think I will never join Facebook. Even though my HSLM, my husband, and countless other friends are on it, I'm never, ever signing up. Related to that, CBC thinks they've found the next hot thing to engage Canada's politically apathetic youth: starting a group on Facebook. It's Canada's Wishlist and it's asking people for their fondest wishes and CBC will broadcast it on Canada Day. The top groups according to the Globe article? Abolish abortion, more religion, keep abortion, and lower tuition. Clearly the kooks and SU kids are on Facebook. Besides the sheer lunacy of this contest, I was caught by a quote in the article.

The service has made such inroads among Canadians that a young person who isn't on Facebook is, more likely than not, a deliberate holdout, besieged like a peasant refusing to convert to a newly declared state religion. To them, this must seem a final insult: Join Facebook, or Shelagh Rogers will never hear your wish!

That's me, a besiged peasant, holding out for an agrarian revolt.

-Miss Vicki's chips seem to have a new flavour: Vintage Cheddar and Red Onion. Every time I see a package, I think back to that time at the Gauntlet where we had free samples of Onion and Cheese Pringles. At first it was great since it was free chips and I had an empty stomach. But by around the second week, it was horrid. You would be hungry and cheap, thus you would rip open a new container. By the second chip you'd realize what a mistake it was. Ugh.

-Last, I've just finished a book that combines a) dragons and b) Napoleonic war. No wait, come back it's not that ludicrous. Okay, it might be but it's well written and a pretty awesome concept. I don't want to spoil the last quarter of the book, but let's just say it's unthinkable what Napoleon does with the dragons. I think this book will only be loved by me and Nicole. How sad.