surf'n'turf?

we went out for dinner tonight. our food probably took 45 minutes to arrive at our table, and when it did, it was terribly over-cooked. my food was cold, dry and flavour-less. kris' steak was well-done when it was supposed to be medium. we didn't even have to tell the waitress, who noticed kris' steak was a lump of gray mass on a plate. she was extremely apologetic and replaced his steak. then the manager came over and apologized again, and asked me how my food was...i told her it was cold and dry, but that it's okay since they already replaced the steak. she insisted on getting me a new, piping hot meal. they also didn't charge us for my food and threw in free dessert.

because of their attempts, i almost feel obligated to go back...i guess that's what they were hoping. but that'll teach kris a lesson about ordering steak at a sub-par seafood restaurant...

save one show

every year, tv networks release a list of shows that could possibly be cancelled. every year, eonline has a "save one show" campaign where tv viewers vote on which show should be taken off the the endangered list. the winning show is then usually renewed because the networks decide that it's actually popular enough to continue running.

as usual, veronica mars is on this list. however, in the past, veronica mars has been saved by the network execs because they liked it so much. for some reason this year, this is not the case, and out of all the endangered shows, this is one of the most at risk.

this is where you come in! you need to vote for veronica mars! even if you don't watch it, do it for ME...and do it for dana. most of you don't know dana, but do it for us. here is the full story. click on any of the "save one show" links to vote.

ps. friday night lights is on this list too, but it seems to be on safe. so vote for veronica mars. please?

thank you for smoking...not

there is talk about making apartment buildings smoke-free. this would be fantastic since we have two nicotine chimneys for neighbours.

it's one thing to smoke in your own unit and give yourself lung cancer. it's another thing to subject your neighbours to the smell of stale smoke in the hallway. and yet another thing to smoke inside when you have access to a covered balcony.

that's not all. their smoking is so intense, we can sometimes smell it in our suite. and they aren't even our direct neighbours, they live two suites down from us.

i'm told there are condos that don't allow you to have pets. seriously, you can't have a nice, well-behaved cat, but you're allowed to spread cancer to strangers through second-hand smoke diffusing through their home??


so everytime we smell smoke in the hallway, kris and i have a script, which we recite loudly:

both: *sniff...sniff*
miko: "smells like..."
kris: "cigarettes!"
both: "UGH!!"

i wonder if they will ever get the hint. it's doubtful. these are the neighbours that directly ignored us when we said hi when we first moved in. not only are they smelly and inconsiderate, they're mean.

green miko

in trying to do our part for the environment, we bought some reuseable grocery bags. they're so cute and they are 5 for $5! what a steal!

the design makes me wish i wasn't allergic to kiwi fruit:



then i remembered how kiwi fruit makes the inside of my ears itchy and i don't feel so bad.

people who look like people, part vi

my two subjects this time around are both named taylor. i didn't actually clue into this resemblance until today. i had a crush on taylor hanson in high school and helps explain why i have a currently have a crush on taylor kitsch.

who is taylor kitsch, you say? why, i'm glad you asked! he plays tim riggins on friday night lights:




compare to taylor hanson, from the mmm-boppin' boy band from the '90s, hanson:




you may remember taylor hanson better in this picture:



*giggles like a school girl*

re: my favourite mistake

i really think this episode should have been called "operation: be kind, rewind"...haha! it's funny how you don't think about certain things and then suddenly it's brought up and you realize how old you really are. like, kids now have no idea what "be kind, rewind" means because you don't have to rewind dvds. just like kids don't know that oprah used to be a trashy talk show. or that icq came before MSN and was way cooler. i could go on...

the big question - will george and izzie be able to keep the secret? my humble opinion? of course not! this is tv. why would they even bother bringing up the secret if they weren't going to keep it? too bad that george will be dead once his father-in-law finds out what he did. i will miss george when he's dead.

i can't remember if i blogged about this before, but i hate that grey's makes adultery seem okay...even glorifies it...why can't they make relationships happen between single people? i guess there is less drama in that kind of relationship.

this episode was kind of the quiet side...i guess that's okay, not everything can be thunderbolts-and-lightening-very-very-frightening-me all the time, right? they did tie up some loose ends, like the apparent time warp from the episode where meredith died, burktina's argument so now they're happy again (they'll probably call off the engagement next week though), the interview for chief...

speaking of which, i'm not really enjoying that storyline. why would sloan get a leg up? even if he had a fantastic interview, why was he interviewing in the first place? he makes his interns fetch him coffee and dry-cleaning. can you imagine what he would do if he was in charge of the hospital?! and he just stole bailey's words. stupid sloan.

and finally. i absolutely love the chemistry that mer and der have. it's just so...lovey-dovey. i can't believe they aren't in love in real life. and i can't believe more tabloids aren't writing stories about how they're not in love in real life. the hovering? and the look they shared when meredith made dead mommy proud? so cute. derek seems to be getting a white stripe of hair, making him look a little skunky. that's okay. he can be my skunk.

i'm surrounded by idiots (present company excluded)

a few weekends ago, kris and i drove to work separately but came home at the same time. we discovered someone was parked in our very expensive extended parking spot. we think the owner of this car decided to take our spot because he didn't want to dish out the extra cash for the parking spot that would fit two cars. he parked at the very end of our spot so even if we wanted to park one of our cars and block him in, we couldn't. i will call this "perp" mr. impala to help with the telling of this story. mr. impala could be a female, but it's just easier to assume he's male.

he was left nasty notes from the concierge desk and he eventually moved. then we started looking for mr. impala's car (coincidentally - it's an impala!) in the garage to see if he is a building resident. he is indeed - he parked in the visitor parking everyday. then due to our complaints, the building management company made an announcement, saying that all cars in the visitor parking will be tagged/towed unless they are signed in the parking log.

suddenly mr. impala doesn't have anywhere to park. he knows our spot is taken, so he parks in the spot next to ours, which we know does not belong to him.

this guy is an idiot. okay. it's one thing to steal someone's parking spot. it's another to choose the best spots in the garage possible. did he even try to steal the spot that is in the back corner, furthest from the entrance? noooh, he goes straight for the money spots. if you're going to steal something, you should at least be smart about it.

and then there's a stop sign at the end of our street. someone keeps running over it?! this is the third time it's been run over since the stop sign's birth date of december 2006. each time, the city would replace it with a new stop sign, but this time, they just re-erected the old sign. so it's all crumpled with tire treads on it, but i guess they couldn't afford to keep replacing it with a new one. because someone keeps running over it. you know, the next time i'm bored and thinking of something to do, i think i'll run over a stop sign. anyone want to come with? this idiot is probably mr. impala.

regardless...i rest my case. surrounded by idiots!

frizzy miko

i bought "frizz-ease" shampoo by john frieda. it's supposed to reduce frizz which is what i look for in a shampoo (cue to miko pictures circa 1991-1998).

i had high expectations for this shampoo. this probably led to its demise, since i was terribly disappointed by it's performance. it made my hair frizzy! i would flat-iron my hair because it was so pouffy after blow-drying it, and it would be less pouffy, but still frizzy. and the colour of my hair was really flat, kind of a mouse-y dark brown. it's amazing how much shampoo can affect the look of your hair. so i've switched to bed head's "self-absorbed" shampoo. it's wonderful! it smells like orange sherbet...i have to restrain from eating it and best of all, it works great.

so...anyone want a "de-frizzing" shampoo?

bribery schmribery

i have accepted a new position at work. this position will allow me to work more days while retaining some of my students. this means i will no longer be home at 10pm on weeknights, but more like 6pm. yay!

since i'm reducing teaching, i have to let some students go for september. this was a hard decision since i love my students. i teach two brothers and they belong to the group of the students that will be displaced. they brought me a necklace from the dominican. it's not really anything i would wear, but the sentiment is so sweet. then the boys' mom said "see, i don't see anyone else bringing you jewellery, you should really keep us as students...what else would you like, we can bring that for you next week!" ulterior motives, i see.

this reduction in teaching could turn into a lucrative industry...hmmm...i should start telling students that i'm taking bribes. "a new car? oh no, you shouldn't have!"

another poo incident

this really needs to stop...

so when we're not home, we leave scout in our bedroom. we started doing this when she started drinking the christmas tree water, but we have continued to do this once christmas was over (it has since resulted in fewer pawprints on the counter and pulled threads on our rug). there is a door leading from our bedroom to the bathroom - kind of like an ensuite, but not really since it's the only bathroom we have. we always keep this open while scout is locked in the bedroom in case she needs to use her literbox, which is in the bathroom.

you can see where this going.

we accidentally closed the bathroom door open today. we weren't even gone a long time, but we came home and realized we left the door shut. no big deal, scout seemed fine...happy and cute as always.

sometimes i just throw myself on the bed upon returning home because i'm apparently addicted to sleeping. it's a good thing i didn't do this today because scout left us a present. a very big present that matched the chocolate brown colour of our duvet cover perfectly. and this gift didn't smell like chocolate, i can tell you that.

i am so serious about my blogging that i now wish i had taken a picture of the pile of poo on our bed for your enjoyment...but at the time, i was more disgusted and wanting to get the poo as far away from my sleeping quarters as possible. it's probably better this way - i am guessing a picture of a pile of brown poo on my poo brown duvet cover on my poo brown blog wouldn't be as interesting for people as i think it would be.

the good thing is that the poo was exactly in the middle of the bed. this means that scout doesn't blame one of us for leaving the door closed. although i do think she likes me better, so technically she should have pooed more on kris' side of the bed. i'll talk to her about that for next time, if there is a next time...i hope there won't be a next time...

re: scars and souvenirs

oh no.

there goes the last platonic relationship in the hospital. that is, unless addison and bailey decide to become lesbians.

izzie and george. george and izzie. george sticking two feet and a knee in his mouth by using izzie's supermodel looks to explain why she could never be into him. as he was saying it, i was thinking in my head that the guy has a point, not even realizing the insinuation until callie's face fell. insecure callie. poor callie.

what is UP with george and his inappropriate liaisons?! he sleeps with olivia. contracts syphillis. sleeps with meredith. contracts a broken heart and a broken friendship for a while. sleeps with izzie. contracts...a divorce?! meredith is always touted as the one who makes bad decisions, but i think george takes the cake here.

and roger rees, aka robin colcord as dr. colin marlow? talk about a blast from the past. he has gotten really old-looking since the days he was on cheers. i guess that was a long time ago. his OR scrubs were hilarious - so symbolic with the evil black, but where did those come from? every other visiting doctor person has normal coloured scrubs...this guy whips out the could-be-on-a-zero-dark-commercial black scrubs. he reminded me of general zod from superman 2:



everytime he was on the screen i giggled and wondered if laser beams were going to shoot out of his eyes.

burktina. burke had a very valid point...when he was shot and it was unsure whether he would be able to operate again, i wondered if cristina would stay with him at all. what happens when he no longer has anything to teach her? will she leave him too, like she left general zod? (giggle)

i really liked this episode...the bomb episode where meredith almost died or the drowning episode where meredith almost died was exciting and suspenseful, but i prefer these kinds of episodes. good character development, some nice side stories and the required thematic thread running throughout.

now i await the writer's blog...

the grape-gobblin' goblin

we were at a fruit store, standing in line to pay.

as we were waiting, i noticed there was a girl ahead of us...she was holding a big bag of grapes. she was taking out grapes and eating them nonchalently. she was young and i didn't want to assume the worst of this criminalette...so i thought that she just didn't know that the grapes were priced by weight, and by her eating them, she is essentially stealing. but she was at least 17 years old, definitely old enough to know better. and she started being more suspicious; she started kind of ducking behind the person in front of her...dipping her hand into her bag and taking out many grapes at once instead of just one at a time...then shoving the grapes in her mouth while looking around to see if anyone was watching her. she might as well have walked into a bank wearing a black and white striped jumpsuit and a mask, clutching a canvas bag with a dollar sign on it in her grubby little hands.

seriously...who does that?! i wasn't going to confront the grape-gobblin' goblin because we all know how dangerous fruit-filchers are. so instead i bought grapes myself. because she was doing a really good job of making them look delectable. mmm...grapes.

which way to the little girl's room?

i have issues with the signage (or lack thereof) on bathroom doors.

i find that in bars or pubs, the signage is so ambigious that you're not really sure which gendered bathroom you're entering until you're close enough to see if there are urinal cakes. trial and error is generally not a good thing when it comes to deciding which bathroom door to select, since you only have two options. sometimes it's just an abstract picture of what's supposed to be a man or a woman on it to tell you which is which. plus, this is even more difficult to decipher in a bar or pub since you've usually consumed some kind of alcohol beverage. or four.

whatever happened to the standard signs for the men's bathroom and women's bathroom?

although i'm a fan of cryptograms, i am definitely not when my clean pants are at stake...

the departed

my hairdresser keeps leaving his place of work with no warning. it's rather annoying. the last time this happened, i went without a haircut for 7 months. we have tracked him down faster this time...but he's in thornhill. that's way over THERE! so far away. maybe i need a new hairdresser. the only thing stopping me is that the last time i tried a new hairdresser, i ended up with asymmetrical hair. asymmetrical hair that took over a year to grow out. don't get me wrong...asymmetrical hair is not a bad thing. accidental asymmetrical hair is a totally different story.

people who look like people, part v

this installment is dedicated to the blue jays and their disappointing start to spring training 2007.

michael richards (on the right), from seinfeld:



j.p. ricciardi, general manager of the toronto blue jays:



and another one. michael:


j.p.:



it's a bit of a stretch, as always. michael's eyes are beady and shifty, while j.p.'s eyes are a little too deer-in-headlights. otherwise the features are there! i tried to find a picture of michael with sunglasses, since there are many with j.p. wearing shades...to no avail. go blue jays!

i just wanted a BLT and a chance to roll up the rim...

there was a quasi food court building across from our hotel. we went there on friday night because we had eaten an early dinner and got hungry late that night. the only thing that was open for walk-up service was tim horton's. we were contemplating getting that, when the oh-so-helpful (my typing is supposed to be dripping with sarcasm) guy working told us that tim horton's is a rip-off and we should really go to wendy's, which was open for drive-thru service. he even went so far as to ask us what we WOULD have ordered and calculated how much money it would be, and that we could get much more bang for our buck if we just went to wendy's. i would have preferred he just tell us he was too lazy to make a sandwich. i feel inclined to write a letter because although wendy's and tim horton's are owned by the same company, would they really appreciate this kind of lollygagging employee? i think not. where's my poison pen?

our weekend away

we went to niagara-on-the-lake (NOTL) this weekend. we got a good deal through one of my work friend's whose husband works in the hotel business. because i have flex-hours, i was able to work more during the week which made my friday very short - two hours, to be precise. so we left on friday directly from oakville. first, we took a detour to buffalo, where i scored a new zippie for $25 and cuuute flip flops for $10. kris bought two shirts, one $25 and one $7. buffalo is great.

we checked into our hotel, which we assumed would be closer to downtown NOTL, but was still nice. our room smelled a bit like feet, which leads me to believe that i have a complex about things smelling like feet (since i thought the movie theatre smelled like feet). i really don't like the smell of feet. i think it's because of the time i had a roommate whose feet stunk up all 3 floors of the house i was living in. blech.

on saturday, we slept a lot (i took two naps! two!!), ate a lot (three meals! three!!) and toured around NOTL. i bought my ceremonial maple candy and maple butter, which confirms that i really am japanese. we also went to the store that, a few years ago, told me to not touch the clothing. i touched the clothing on purpose while the saleswoman glowered at me. AND did you know there is a cow's ice cream store in NOTL?! COW'S! a.k.a. the best ice cream EVER. i was so happy, but none of the flavours appealed to me, mostly because they didn't have wowie-cowie. slightly disappointing. more exciting than disappointing though, since NOTL is so much closer than PEI.

scout is so happy to have us home since she was without people-contact for 3 days. she's hanging out with us more than usual, and whole time she's been purring like a kitten. ha!

grey's diagnosis

there is a quiz on the grey's anatomy website which, upon completion, tells you which grey's character you are most like. in light of the rerun tonight (second week in a row, i might add) and to tide myself over, i did the quiz. everytime i answered a question that would qualify me to be izzie, i cursed myself...like my worst quality being too emotional...but when all was said and done, i'm meredith. i don't know what that says about me. her friends call her dark and twisty. i don't think i'm either of those, although i do have dark hair. and i'm semi-flexible. hence twisty. but i'm definitely not scary and damaged!

now, my precious grey's fans...i know you won't be able to resist, if you haven't already done the quiz...who are YOU most like?

king of the furrow

seeing as grey's won't be new for a while, i thought i would dedicate one blog to prison break.

this episode was better than previous ones...with some suspense and what was up with (ex)president reynolds' relationship with her brother?!

the best part was when wentworth miller showed two new facial expressions: one of happpiness and one of disbelief/fear. neither of these faces involved the furrowing of the brow. i wonder if he recently had to surgery to de-wrinkle his brow, there's no other explanation for the expansion in his repertoire.

ps. for you city folk, my post title, "king of furrow" refers to the plowing match competition from back home appropriately named "queen of the furrow". once my piano teacher's husband wanted me to run for queen of the furrow. i declined. anyway, i thought my post title it was kind of clever...kind of a "shout-out" to my "peeps" back home, whilst poking fun at wentworth...what kind of name is wentworth anyway? why is this post so tangent-y? my cat's breath smells like cat food.

she's a lady

i've said it before and i'll say it again...she's definitely not very lady-like. she's not as fat as she looks here though.

the picture is a little foggy because i didn't realize there was a fingerprint on the lens (a product of last night's shenanigans).

playing catch-up

we spent the weekend catching up with loved ones that we don't see as often as we like.

we were supposed to start our marathon tour of southwestern ontario at my parent's house - but the weather proved to be a little fickle, so we will see them at a later date.

in the afternoon, we visited kenji and shelley (my brother and sister-in-law) and their quickly sprouting family. we were entertained by kai, who has learned how to run, but hasn't quite learned how to deal with his new-found velocity; his running was accompanied by a commentary - "whoa! whoa! whoa!" reiko showed off her artistic talent in her water painting. dvds were exchanged, along with an update on our lives.

on saturday evening, we went to london to visit jennifer and brendan (affectionately known as brennifer) to celebrate jen's birthday. it was a night of drunken debauchery, with crazy pictures to prove it! even though we had an apathetic waitress and there are apparently only 6 cabs that work the entire city of london, we had a great time. i did meet one of jen's friends who resembled dave from the tv show what about brian...i tried to take a picture so i could do another installment of people who look like people, but his pictures didn't look like dave as much as he looked like dave. disappointment. and our waitress looked like christina aguilera, but she was mean and purposely took a long time to do her job, so i didn't ask for her picture for fear of giving her the impression that we were happy with her service.

it was a good thing that we slept over because london was hit with a snow storm, which may explain the taxi shortage mentioned above. but things cleared up today and the weather was sunny as we drove home, tired but happy.

eau de movie theatre (to be said in a french accent)

today was a snow day. i like snow days because then i am home before 10pm. so how did we celebrate my temporary nighttime freedom? first it took me an hour to drive home at 2km/hour. literally. then we took a nap. then we went to see a movie in an empty movie theatre (the number 23 - don't see it). then we came home to not watch grey's since it's a rerun. instead, we watched the oilers lose. and to listen to the wind throw the barbeque around on the balcony.

does anyone else notice that movie theatres smell like feet? it's gross. or is it just the movie theatre that we frequent? or maybe it's just me. *smells feet* phew, i'm safe. at least, i am today.