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It Happened to Me

T-Shirts and Squishy Cows

Why Your Squishy Cow Hasn’t Arrived Yet

You may remember that a little while back, I offered to send a Tucows squishy cow to anyone who asked for one. Due to popular demand, I had to set a cut-off date after which you couldn’t request one.

It’s a couple of weeks later, and you might be wondering why your squishy cow hasn’t arrived yet. That’s because I’m still awaiting a shipment of squishy cows. They’re coming soon, but in the meantime, I must ask that those of you who got the “just a quick note to let you know that your squishy cow is on the way” email from me be patient — as soon as I get my shipment of cows, I’ll put yours in the mail.

For those of you who missed your chance to request one, don’t worry: we will have more squishy cow giveaways.

A Tour of the Tucows Stash

In the meantime, I thought I’d show you this video I put together [21MB QuickTime], in which I go through the Tucows swag in our storage room and explain why you haven’t got your Squishy Cow yet. They’re coming soon, we promise!

Still from the video 'The Tucows Stash'.

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Uncategorized

Declaration of Independence

Gideon Strauss points to an inspiring video put out by Pamela “Escape from Cubicle Nation” Slim, which is a call to become independent, start your own business and work for yourself. It’s a slicker version of Nathaniel Talbott’s presentation, Homesteading: A Thriver’s Guide, but the message is the same: work for yourself.

Even if working for yourself is not in your plans (I’ve done it before, it isn’t for me right now, but it may be someday), the video is worth watching, even if only to inspire yourself to great great presentations. I’ve included a few stills from the video below — click any of them to watch the video.

Still from Pamela Slim's movie, 'A Declaration of Independence'.

Still from Pamela Slim's movie, 'A Declaration of Independence'.

Still from Pamela Slim's movie, 'A Declaration of Independence'.

Still from Pamela Slim's movie, 'A Declaration of Independence'.

Still from Pamela Slim's movie, 'A Declaration of Independence'.

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In the News

Who Really Runs Hollywood (or: "Help me, Tom Cruise!")

Courtesy of Ryland and Miss Fipi Lele: the poster shown below, which was apparently designed and approved before Mad Mel’s arrest and rant.

'South Park' ad with the kids standing in front of the Scientology Celebrity Center and the headline 'C'mon Jews: Let's show them who really runs Hollywood'.

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Toronto (a.k.a. Accordion City)

The George Bush Audiobook Store Billboards

'Don't read enough?' audiobook billboard featuring a photo of George W. Bush.
Photo by Hamish Grant.

Billboards like the one shown above have appeared downtown. It’s generated amusement and derision from the usual sources, with BlogTO giving it the thumbs-up and Kathy over at Relapsed Catholic giving it the opposite in her entry Why I really need a Green Card, part XVII:

Do you ignoramuses realize that, every morning when you’re still asleep, George Bush reads a daily briefing book that’s the size of the GTA phone directory?

Counterpoint: remember the exchange between Kevin Kline and Jamie Lee Curtis in A Fish Called Wanda, in which dumb old Otto is trying to show how smart he is when Wnda calls him an ape:

Otto (Kevin Kline): Apes don’t read philosophy.

Wanda (Jamie Lee Curtis): Yes they do, Otto, they just don’t understand it!

Here’s the audio of that exchange [210K WAV file].

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It Happened to Me Toronto (a.k.a. Accordion City)

The Yellow Griffin: Good Burgers, Lousy Service

The Yellow Griffin Pub, Toronto.

Yesterday, we took Dave, who’s visiting from Chicago, to his favourite restaurant in our neighbourhood: The Yellow Griffin (2202 Bloor Street West, just east of Runnymede). It looks like a typical High Park/Bloor West Village/Swansea faux-Brit pub, but it distinguishes itself with its menu of burgers. They offer 35 sets of toppings, from the traditional cheddar cheese to Stilton and walnuts to mango chutney and tandoori yogurt sauce to scallions, peanuts and kung pao sauce to peanut butter. If you don’t want beef, you can ask to change your burger to ground lamb or turkey, a chicken burger, pork escalope or veggie. I’ve only had the beef burgers, but they cook them just right. There’s also a good choice of sides, from the expected fries and onion rings to my favourite, the breaded green beans, served with a choice of mayonnaise-based dipping sauces, such as curry, garlic and mango-pineapple.

The Yellow Griffin’s major problem is that the service is erratic. When it’s good, it’s passable, and when it’s bad, it’s rather like restaurants in the “before” state on Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares. Last night, it was closer to the latter, with the waitstaff in a state of mild confusion and the kitchen slow to crank out the food (the place doesn’t have more than a dozen tables). When we first took our table, we saw the credit card receipt of the previous patrons, who’d put “0” on the tip line, and based on last night’s service, I understand completely. It’s a shame the service is so bad when the burgers are quite good.

It also has the minor problem of not quite feeling like a local place. I can’t put my finger on it, but the “feel” of the place just doesn’t make any sort of concession to the neighbourhood surrounding it: it might as well be a ground floor pub in an office building downtown or in an industrial park in the ‘burbs. Even the Timothy’s coffee chain just down the street has a more local feel (for starters, they display works by local artists on their walls).

The wide array of burgers, sides and dips are the place’s saving grace; if it weren’t for them, the Griffin would’ve been trounced by the places across the street — Sharkey’s, The Swan and Firkin and especially Dr. Generosity, who in my opinion make a better burger and have great food, great service and feel like they’re part of the neighbourhood. If they could get the place renovated — perhaps an appearance on Restaurant Makeover — and retrain or replace the waitstaff, they’d have a winner on their hands.

For more about the Yellow Griffin, here’s the Toronto Life writeup, and here’s a Now magazine blurb.

Categories
It Happened to Me

Welcome, Dave!

Dave Ahrens posing beside a 'Got Gas? Sauerkraut helps!' sign at Kensington Market, Toronto.
Dave at Kensington Market during his first visit here in November 2004.

This weekend, Dave, an old friend of Wendy’s and one of the “bridesmaids” at our wedding will be here for a visit. Welcome, Dave!

We’ll be catching Spamalot with Maria on Friday night, doing something fun and social on Saturday (drop me a line if you want to come along) and hitting a special Kickass Karaoke on Sunday — it’s a farewell party for Postmodern Sass, who’s off to a new job in San Jose.

Categories
Uncategorized

Java Programmers: The Erotic Fanfic Furries of Programming?

The Geek Hierarchy

As a reader of this blog, it’s likely that you tend to visit a number of nerd-oriented sites and have seen the Geek Hierarchy chart created by Lore Sjöberg on the Brunching Shuttlecocks site. Pictured below is the abridged version:

'Abridged Geek Hierarchy' by Lore Sjoberg.

(Don’t know what a furry is? What, didn’t you see the CSI episode, Fur and Loathing in Las Vegas? Here’s the Wikipedia entry for “furry”.)

Star Trek-Based Furries

You might snicker at the concept of Star Trek furries, but believe me, they do exist. In fact, there’s a site devoted to stories that take place in a universe where furry versions of both Star Trek and Star Wars mileus co-exist called TrekWars: The Furry Conflict. Here’s a quick sampling of the Trek-based characters:

Series of three images of a brown female squirrel, with two of her in a late-era Deep Space Nine uniform, one in a coconut bra playing maracas.
Ensign Brett Walick.

Brown muscular male fox in a gold uniform from the original Star Trek era pointing a phaser.
Captain Marc Xavier.

Blue female rabbit in a tight-fitting blue uniform from the original Star Trek era holding a tricorder.
Lieutenant Commander Cyber Tiberius Hare (really!).

The Programming Language Hierarchy

Luke Welling has crafted his own hierarchy chart, The Programmer Hierarchy, which seems to pretty accurately display the opinions of the language pundits these days:

Luke Welling's 'Programmer Hierarchy' chart.