A Good Time at Wild Wing

We arrived and were seated immediately at Wild Wing (the location at 340 Eagle Street West, Newmarket)

Soon our waitress came and took our drink order (Pepsi and a glass of water). She also explained how the "Wild Wing" worked in terms of the table being set up (i.e. your caddy has everything you need!) to how many wings are in a pound typically. It was very helpful for us as we don't normally eat chicken wings.

We decided to split a pound each of BBQ wings and "Honey Buns Wings" and an order of Sweet Potato fries.

Within ten minutes of us ordering we had th wings and fries as well as refill on my Pepsi.

The BBQ wings were the traditional in taste to other bars. However, the Honey Bun wings were diferent with their ownly downfall being they have way too much sauce on them.

My wife and I would probably come back to this restaurant again in the future as the food was good and the service was quick. We may even try another of these restaurants in this franchise.

Common Sense in the Public Sector?

Two news items this morning have left me shaking my head in my confidence in public officials to do the right thing:

1. In Toronto several area hospital Board of Director's, who see nothing of the day to day operations of sick people coming in the front door, received H1N1 shots. H1N1 shots in Ontario are currently and have always been limited to "priority groups" (e.g. pregnant women, children under five, etc.) as set out by the provincial government. Their was no indication that the members on the Hospital Boards have underlying health conditions or anything. The worst part of all, the man that should've known not to give these members the H1N1 vaccine, Donald Low gave the authorization. Now he's apologizing left right and centre. But in actualy Dr. Low knows that nobody can replace him as chief Microbiologist at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto. He has been the face of fighting the SARS pandemic and the current knowledagable 'talking head' for the H1N1 for the media. So it seems he agreed to take the fall on this as Mount Sinai hospital knows the province is highly unlikely to fire him over this issue as the media would then have a field day over this issue.

At the provincial legislature, Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath is calling on making a list of anyone who received a shot not in the priority groups public. This would hopefully shame those who received the shot who are perfectly healthy before lets say a five year old with asthma or a pregnant woman. This just leaves me shaking my head as anyone in the public sector could easily skip this criteria by classifying themselves as "healthcare worker" (i.e. the board members of hospitals) or somehow in a "priority group" somehow thus not having to have their shot accounted for.

Whats even worse right now the provincial government, despite several calls for this information from Opposition members, can't even release how many people have been vaccinated. But all this accounting for the H1N1 program would mean public officials would be held accountable and we can't have that now can we? No sir... but we can have more of the public shaking their heads.

2. Finally this one from small town politics from a town (village? Small inhabited local?) in story in today's Toronto Star found here:

If promises are sometimes forgotten in politics, one ought to remember that George Patterson is not a politician. His brother James is.

And so when George, owner of the only gas station in the picturesque village of Sainte-Madeleine-de-la-Rivière-Madeleine, warned residents that if they didn't re-elect his brother as mayor, he'd turn off his pumps – he kept his word.

"I said I'd close them," George declared matter-of-factly. "It's no more serious than that."

Asked whether he was punishing residents, he replied, "It's not so much a punishment (as) a protest. I'm against the new mayor."

Again, I'm left shaking my head as the next set of gas pumps is 30 to 40 kilometres out of town. Talk about selfishness of the highest regard just because someone didn't get their way in politics. I wonder of George and his brother got their flu shots? I would hazard a guess, but then again that would mean someone would have to be held accountable and we can't have that now can we.

I've learned my lesson, politics will just leave the average person shaking their heads at the lack of common sense.

A Decent time at old reliable Swiss Chalet

My wife and I have been to the Richmond Hill Swiss Chalet (9350 Yonge Street, Richmond Hill, Ontario) before with mixed results. Either it was a long wait to be seated, took a while to get service or everything went well.

This time we seated quickly (no one lined up) with our menus. Five minutes later our food and drink order was taken.

The Order: Quarter Chicken Dark Meat, White Roll with Fries and Pepsi and Chicken on Kaiser with fries and glass of water

The dinner was average Swiss Chalet quality (decent chicken with good fries and sauce not too hot but not too cold either). The same with chicken sandwich.

The only complaint was the waitress came over a couple of times to see how we were doing to which we always replied "everything is fine." However at no time did she offer to refill my Pepsi even though there were, according to the menu "free refills."

Other than that, this place is your standard run of the mill Swiss Chalet franchise restaurant.

A Bland Pho not in Saigon at Pho Saigon

My wife had decided to look up a few good vietenamese restaurants in the Aurora / Newmarket area. She chose Pho Saigon (located at 16925 Yonge Street, in Newmarket).

My wife and I arrived around 5:15 P.M. and were immediatly seated and handed menues. So far so good.

Then things started heading down there from there. There was one waitress who took orders, served drinks, gave out the bills and took the money for the ENTIRE place! This wasn't too bad when we go there as there were only 4 tables being served. But later some larger groups came in which meant we had to start to compete for attention.

When ordering my meal I was told there was no rice left. The thought came to mind: "What Asian place doesn't have rice?" and "Isn't rice a main component of most Asian dishes?" The waitress, after I dumbfoundedly looked at her over the rice issue, suggested I try noodles. So I did.

I was sadly disspointed at the result. It turned out to be a chopped chicken pieces with lettuce and noodles on the bottom. It tasted quite bland, and once the noodles got colder it only got worse from there.

My wife had the large pho. The broth was quite bland but at least the noodles were satisfactory.

To say the least we probably won't return as we've had better vietnamese elsewhere.

Who needs Cable Anyway?

Recently Bill Arends wrote an entry over at his blog about how the Cable Companies and Television Networks are at war over a pay per subscriber fee to go towards local cable companies.

Bill, in his blog entry, debates a couple of options consumers could take if faced with higher cable fees. I on the other hand saw Bill's take as a chance to reflect on my coming up on four months without cable.

I posted a comment Bill's post and thought it adequatly reflected on what there is to do besides sitting my large bottom down to watch television:

I've actually given up on cable and actually don't have it. There was one reson why, Aurora's (where I live) local cable provider sold out to Rogers. Rogers put out letters asking subscribers in the area to call a special number and transition over. After several phone calls to Rogers nobody could tell me what "Basic Cable" channels were included. I alos couldn't talk to a manager there as they were never available for every reason under the sun. I even attempted leaving my cell phone number but the lady couldn't record that information even after I repeated it 5 times.

I blogged about it under this lable on my blog here:

http://michaelsuddard.blogspot.com/search/label/Life%20without%20Cable

What do I do without cable?

1. Read books - Currently reading Brian Mulroney's biography a thousand page behoemouth well worth the read if you are into Canadian Politics.

2. Read newspapers and do crosswords - Metro is a free newspaper in many Canadian cities and my wife and I have become good crossword fanatics. I even polish off the word search in the weekend Toronto Star or Toronto Sun.

3. Nintendo Wii - hours of fun, nuff said.

4. Clean the apartment - doesn't it need doing?

5. Excercise - Take a walk together outdoors - hark! Actually see the neighbours!

6. Blog - I'm working on blogging more.

7. Save a wack of dough - NO Cable bill = $35.00 plus in savings per month on basic cable. Also means I don't have to worry about Rogers screwing up my cable bill. My Internet bill on the otherhand...

8. Surf the internet - Local news programming from accross Canada is available on the CTV and CBC stations websites. I imagine Canwest (Global) is similar. CBC.ca also has the National and other news programs loaded on a daily basis.

Lots to do, so who really needs cable anyway?

After writing the above, I've further reflected on how I can now sit back and watch the cable companies and networks go after each other on whose going to pay for this new "TV Tax" either the cable companies or the cable subscriber. If consumers are nailed with increased cable fees after this squabble has been settled there will be more consumers like myself who will just drop cable television. Besides the increased rates will only be worse in Ontario once the HST will only incresae the bills even further. Once this happens fewer subcribers will mean fewer viewers which will mean lower advertising revenues for the networks which is exactly the problem the networks ran into in the first place. So let these big Television Networks and Cable companies go at it because again, who really needs cable anyway?

YRT's Hypocrisy: The Wait is over but Not Over Yet

The image to the left is currently on the York Region Transit (YRT) website's front page on the bottom left hand corner.

The image refers to YRT's promise in it's fall My Transit Newsletter, on page 2, that real time transit information would be available on YRT's website. Basically the promise boils down to a rider, just before starting their trip, being able to log onto www.yrt.ca and checking to see what time the bus will arrive as opposed to the usual YRT's "I pray it is right" schedule. Hopefully this will answer a transit rider's question "is there a bus coming?....soon?". I won't go into how I feel about YRT launching this (GREAT! But you guys have a history of screwing this up....how can a VIVA Bus be at a stop yet on your digital VIVA board show it is 2 minutes away? HUH). No now...not this post at least.

The image posted on their website, above, is hillariously hypocritically badly done that a high school student would fail if this was a web or english project.

First: The first line: "The wait is over" screams to the www.yrt.ca visitor that 'YRT is launching something' and the reader can use this new feature right away. Now before you get too excited keep reading....

Second: The Second line says "Real-time info is coming soon." Which tells the reader that in the near future the Real Time information, as I described above, should be launching soon. But doesn't this contradict the first line where YRT promises that "the wait is over"?

Third: "Stay tuned for updates" reads the third line. If "the wait is over" and "Real-Time info is coming soon" why the need for updates? Shouldn't the Real Time information on www.yrt.ca website be launched already (according to the first line of the graphic) or within the next month be launching (as the second line would indicate as "coming soon")? So, again why the need for updates?

The whole graphic smells of typical YRT hypocrisy (i.e. do this, no do that, no do this) that YRT is becoming known for. It seems YRT has no idea when this thing will be launched (today, tomorrow or sometime in the distant future that we'll update you on).

Now for the other shoe to drop: YRT doesn't have its stuff together on this "Real-Time" and will not launch this feature on www.yrt.ca as it's GPS system, which tracks the location of the buses, currently isn't working on all of it's vehicles. As a case in point, I rode YRT Route 85 on the way home and from Rutherford GO Station to Yonge Street the bus showed "85 to MS Hospital" and didn't show the next stop like it usually does if the GPS System is up and running. Another failure of this system is that the TTC buses, that YRT contracts to provide service in the southern part of York Region, will not be included as YRT isn't even allowed to track these buses for customer service complaints and scheduling issues.

With YRT posting a confusing graphic in a promenint spot on their website, it makes riders wonder if the wait for the "Real-Time Transit Info" will be worth the wait.

Who needs Harvey's when you have T.C.'s

I've always been a fan of T.C's Fish & Burgers growing up. I've spent a lot of time there enjoying the burgers and fries through my teen years and now enjoy it married. There's just something about going to T.C.'s at 15198 Yonge Street, Aurora, Ontario for a little lunch.

This past Saturday afternoon my wife and I stopped by for burgers and fries for lunch.
Chris (the "C" in TC's) took the order.

The Order: Cheeseburger Combo (4 Oz cheeseburger with Fries and Dr. Pepper) & Chicken Burger Combo (Chickenburger with Fries and water)

The Review: Within ten minutes of laughing at marriage jokes with Chris and his wife Stella as they prepared the food my wife and I were chowing down on a good flame cooked burgers. This was despite two other groups of four people were waiting for their orders.

My cheeseburger combo is perhaps the best burger combo in Aurora hands down. The burger paddy is delicious and TC's tops it just the way you want it. Then they add mounds of fries to your plate. Add to this the excellent service provided by a family who cares about their restaurant instead of the teens at Harvey's who are only interested in the pay cheque and when quiten time is.

My wife consumed a chicken burger. I didn't get a chance to taste it myself, but if it is anything like T.C.'s burgers, it must be excellent. I did have the chance to eat about half her fries though, there are just too many for her to eat all by herself.

All in all T.C.'s Fish & Burgers is an excellent family owned and family oriented food establishment with great food in generous portions.