Monthly Archive: March 2009

Just a few more tweaks

Categories:

Mon. March 23, 2009

Yeah so, I was looking forward to today. It was scheduled to be the day my braces would come off. Every appointment before seemed to indicate that there would be no reason for today to not be the day. Each month they’d ooh and aah over the continual improvements. It seemed like my bite changed with every visit. Well, with anticipation I ventured in to the dentist’s office. When I sat in the chair she asked “well, is today going to be the day?” All I could to was reply with an earnest “I hope so.” She asked me to bite together a few times and tilted my head at a few different angles. When the oohs and aahs weren’t so forthright, that’s when I figured that the news wouldn’t be the news I wanted.

My dentist told me that there was one part that she wanted to tweak just a little bit more to close a gap. I was hesitant and didn’t want to agree to it right away. I had to ask a couple of times whether there was anything else that could be done that involved having the braces come off. She told me there were, but there was nothing that was as sure as just adjusting the brackets and continuing onward for a little bit longer. Ultimately it would be my decision. In the end, my common sense won out and I decided to just push on.

My dentist removed two of my brackets (which was uncomfortable as heck–they were bonded on really well) and rebonded them a millimetre or two away from where they were. Instead of the tough wires they’ve been using they reverted to something a lot more flexible. Looking in the mirror, I can see the intended effect. As much as I’m disappointed, I recognize that I might as well get my money’s worth. Since I’m paying for it, it’s best to get it perfect, right? I’m patient like that. I mean, I’ve heard an read a few stories of people who were in a hurry to get them off, only to have things wander, or to have the teeth less than perfect. Man, if I’m paying a few thousand to get things straightened, I’m going to make damn sure that it’s well and good–I can’t afford to be impatient. In any case, I’m not going to predict when they’re coming off anymore. I don’t want to get my expectations up again only to have them come crashing down again.

Patience.

Tags:

Leave comment

The gourmand tour 1

Categories:

Sun. March 22, 2009

So, yesterday I told you about the food tour that me and my friend were going to partake in. It started out early in the day–I met up with her at 9:30 a.m. or so. We decided to get an early start because we were determined to get as much content in as possible. In the end, we covered a lot of ground, ate a lot of food, and even participated in a pillow fight. I’ll talk about the pillow fight in another entry because this one is going to be a long one as it is.

Read more of the food tour, and check out the photos after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: ,

4 comments

Tasting Toronto

Categories:

Sat. March 21, 2009

Firing off a quick post with regards to what I’m going to be up to today. I often have small complaints about not getting out enough. Well today I’m doing something very interesting. I’m meeting up with a friend and we’re going to be hitting up various restaurants spread out through downtown. These places have been recommended by blogTO so we want to see what the fuss is about. Stops will include: brunch, Ethiopian, cheese, chocolate, burgers, a deli, and Latin.

Obviously we’re not going to get stuffed at each stop, but will find small menu items worth sampling. We’ll be walking all over, so at least that will help us digest. That being said, I’m packing pepto with me.

I’ll be attempting to Twitter updates as we go. Should be great!

Tags: ,

Leave comment

Handmade

Categories:

Fri. March 20, 2009

Transcription after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags:

3 comments

The chimpanzee and the magician

Categories:

Thu. March 19, 2009

In all likelihood, I’m pretty sure you’ve probably seen the video of the chimpanzee riding the Segway. That chimp’s name is Pan-kun. Anyway, he and his trainer (I guess?) seem to make frequent appearances on the Japanese variety show Tensai! Shimura Dōbutsuen (can be translated as Genius! Shimura Zoo). He’s usually shown doing “human” things to the amusement of the celeb panelists. In this video, he’s shown paying attention to some magic tricks.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IM-KQxgtOao

I’m really torn on how to react to this video and all other Pan-kun videos that I’ve seen. On a base level, gosh, the young chimp is just so cute. I mean, imposing some anthropomorphic qualities on the animal is just kind of fun to watch. You can tell there’s some genuine surprise with the magic tricks. It’s really cute to watch him go running to hug his friend when he’s scared, too. Despite all of this, in the back of my mind I can’t ignore the fact that this chimp is a wild animal. Consider that trick at the end of the clip. What if Pan-kun thought his friend was really in danger? Maybe he’s go nuts and start mauling the magician. Who knows? Pan-kun looks gentle now, but later on I can imagine that he’d become more prone to unexpected mood swings and all, know what I mean?

What immediately comes to mind is the recent chimp attack that happened in the States. In this case, the chimp didn’t have any indication that he’d snap. This chimp seemed well-trained and even appeared in a few commercials. In the linked article an officer associated with the case seemed to indicate that the chimp was used to doing a lot of anthropomorphic stuff. Then…bam. According to this follow up article, the victim “lost her hands, nose, lips and eyelids in the attack, which may have left her blind and brain damaged.” Jesus. Here’s another article: Worst Chimpanzee Attack Story Ever – Moe the Chimp Owner Attacked – Esquire. There are four pages to this one: take a look at the progression from page 1 to page 3. Those are some strong images.

Anyway, main point is: as cute as Pan-kun is, he’s still got wild instincts.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to watch a video of Pan-kun learning to dip strawberries in a chocolate fountain.

Tags: , ,

Leave comment

Zonked out on a weekday

Categories:

Wed. March 18, 2009

I’m not sure if I’m regulating my energy levels properly as of late. For the past few days I’ve been drinking heaps of pu-erh, and that’s been raising my caffeine levels to amounts way higher than what I’m used to. Then, yesterday for a change I switched to a decaffeinated mint tisane. By the end of my day, after my short run and writing out my blog entry I just passed out on the bed.

I was still decked out in my technical shirt and running shorts. The light was still on. I didn’t turn off the main light and switch on my lamp, so I didn’t do anything about the light since the switch was far away. On my bed my laptop was still on with my mouse plugged into the USB port, so every time I rolled over I made the screen light up and that woke me up a couple of times. I don’t think my sleep was really deep because once 7 a.m. rolled around I was feeling groggier than ever. I’m sure tonight will be much better, but hell, I don’t remember being that zonked out in a while.

I’m sure it’s happened in recent times, but really being drained of energy at the end of a work day is more reminiscent of my life prior to taking up running as a hobby. It wouldn’t have been unusual back then to just recline on the bed and wake up at 4 a.m. with the lights still on wondering what the hell just happened. Nowadays I seem to think it’s a bit rarer. Of course, this doesn’t count days when I’ve had to spend a ridiculous number of hours in office. Naturally, after those days I’d have every right to just fall asleep like a narcoleptic right then and there.

I guess, you’d that that with running to drain off even more of my energy stores I’d probably be more likely to have an empty tank, but no, actually I feel like I’m more energized. This doesn’t count my long Sunday runs, because damn, after 2-3 hours of running I can be forgiven for sleeping away the afternoon. On weekdays, when I have a run planned, I guess I put in more effort to ensure that I have enough energy to last through the run. As a result, I usually feel just fine upon returning. I guess having all of those happy chemicals running through my system has an impact, right? What happened on Tuesday then? No clue.

No matter, I guess. Best thing I can do tonight is ensure that I’m comfortable. I need to set aside the laptop, wear something appropriate, and find a good amount of darkness. Right about now that’s sounding really good.

Tags: ,

Leave comment

Running shorts weather

Categories:

Tue. March 17, 2009

Back on Sunday morning the weather at the beginning of the run was kind of nippy. I took off my gloves because I could feel my hands getting warmer. Thing is, when I took them off the winds made me uncomfortable. So, the gloves came back on. The run went well. Within an hour or so, the sun really warmed thing up. During the last few kilometres I remember thinking about how my legs felt sweaty under my track pants.

Aaaaaand that was my queue: it’s officially running shorts weather!

What’s my general rule? I think it’s safe enough to wear shorts if it’s above 5°C. Even if I’m a little bit cold at the beginning, I tend to warm up really quickly. For tonight’s run I wore shorts with a technical tee and a light jacket. The weather was windy, but tolerable. Overall, I had the right amount of stuff on. My GOD, running in shorts felt great! After a season of testing out tights, and eventually resorting to track pants, not feeling weighed down was refreshing.

Go, spring!

Tags: ,

2 comments

Cursing the magic eye

Categories:

Mon. March 16, 2009

I’ve been getting really horrible headaches lately. They haven’t been pleasant at all, but really I’m sure I’m entirely to blame for getting them. You see, I’ve been staring way too hard a lot of those Magic Eye 3D pictures. I’ve been particularly determined to get them to work for me.

I’m unsure how it happened, but this past weekend in a conversation with Julius the whole 90′s phenomenon of the 3D stereograms came up. Back in B-town, I still recall seeing stands set up in the heart of BCC displaying several of these photos. They attracted sizable crowds just standing at a distance gawking. Every few minutes you’ll hear someone exclaiming “Oh my God! I see a pony!” or something equally strange. To me, no matter how much I stared at the images I never managed to see anything besides a lot of visual noise, much less a shark or whatever else the images held secret. I just figured that I was just physiologically unable to see anything. Publicly, I just said that it was all some sort of conspiracy–there was nothing there!

And then the images just faded from memory.

Well, when they were brought up again, I did a search and found a good amount of the stereogram images online. I gave them another go quite determined to unlock their secrets. Maybe a few years will have made a difference, right? Well, I squinted and strained and still nothing. Julius suggested that maybe one of my eyes was weaker than the other. I scoffed at the idea–I have perfect vision! At least, I thought I did. I tried covering my right eye and attempted to read some text at a distance. I was fine. I then covered my left eye and tried to do the same. Holy crap, I was surprised to actually run into some difficulty. I was seriously shocked. It turns out my left eye is my dominant eye. It compensates for my right eye’s slightly weaker vision. I guess most of my vision is based off of what I’m seeing out my left. I’m pretty sure that’s why these stereograms don’t work for me–if my brain is working from mostly my left eye there’s no way I can get the hidden 3D image. Seriously. Give it a shot. If you are good at picking out these 3D images, try seeing the hidden image with just one eye. You’ll be unable to do so.

So, at some point I need to go to my doctor to get a referral for an optometrist; I want to get measured. My eyes are kind of achy right now, and I wonder how much of that is from straining to see those damn things vs. me coming to the realization that I have unbalanced vision. Maybe my brain is starting to compensate weirdly now that I’m conscious about my problem. I have no clue.

All this because of those maddening Magic Eye things. No good comes from them! None at all!

Tags:

4 comments

Older posts «

» Newer posts

Switch to our mobile site