Long Weekend Audio: Weighty Issues

The audio machine keeps on rollin'.

This morning we got to do something I've been meaning to do for a while. I got to show you our talking scale...which sounds like my mom! It's kinda creepy hearing a voice that sounds like your mom telling you your weight.

It's a quick one, only 10 minutes, but here it is.

Long Weekend Audio: The First Of Many Casts

Well...our first audio is up. We had hoped to have it up last night, but we kind of fell over after we finished recording it. The file got uploaded to the server, but hell if I was going to write the post around it. So I'm writing it this morning.

Poor Steve had to start it alone, because Trix had to take care of business. But I figured I'd make my presence known. If you wondered why Steve suddenly made some yelling noise in the middle of his sentence, no, he hasn't lost his mind. I was down below, making the Tugboat noise at him. I hoped the mic would pick it up, but it didn't. The Tugboat noise? Yes, the Tugboat noise. It's about 6 minutes in, but there it is. Probably if I hadn't seen it, I wouldn't believe it either.
If you don't feel like waiting 6 minutes for 16 seconds of Tugboaty goodness, you can download his promo right here. Eeeeeee!

After I distract him with randomly-placed Tugboat noises, Steve manages to get his groove back, and talks about our new website, and how it's awesome to have audio capabilities back. He then moves on to baseball, and how certain Blue Jays are doing really well while others were awesome, but need some help.

When I got back, we talked about wrestling, and I finally sort of mention Tugboat, but we really couldn't do him justice. That moved us on to how much wrestling has changed over the years, and how hard it is to be a new fan today.

Next up, I gave a brief update on me, and how Trix gave me a little bit of a scare. This led us to talking about how awesome it is to move over from Blogger to a place where we actually have some server space, and the awesome that is Skynet Communications. We also got to rag on Blogger importer for screwing up who wrote what, and being just a wee bit bizarre.

Somehow we got from here to talking about the new Guelph Central Station, AKA the land of confusion where our city buses live now. We talked about how eventually we hope it will be easier to navigate, but right now, it's a total zoo, and we're all confused, which is really fun when transfer times are next to 0. We also talked about how it's kind of dumb to have a heap of bus platforms and no real shelter, since the inside of the building won't be functional until 2013. Also, we mentioned that that light at St. George's Square is no longer an all-way stop, so don't die, everybody.

As we talked about the crappy decision that was changing routes in January, we some how wandered into describing our creepy landlord from the old apartment building.

Next up, Steve gave his opinions on foreign music. What more can I say about that little piece. Oh, I can link to the video I mentioned as part of the conversation.



While Steve went to get a beer, I talked about how awesome Shane's podcasts are, and how they brought back memories of training.

Things begin winding down with another plug for Skynet Communications. Somehow that led into a talk about how the "underline" key is now called "underscore" and wondering how that happened.

We wrap things up by reminding people that they can send us questions and we will answer them in an audio mailbag, but we need more questions, so keep sending them in.

And that does it for our first 53 minutes of chaos. If you feel so inclined, go get it. Enjoy, and there will be more to come, I'm sure.

The Website, Terrible Beer, Audio Returns And Some Jokes At The End

I just got an email from Molson asking me to "answer the call of the long weekend." I'm sure this is code for please drink our shitty beer, so the long weekend will be getting my voicemail.

That really did just happen.

Anyway, how's everybody doing? I hope you're all doing well and are less tired than this guy, who for some reason woke up at 20 after 4 this morning. Bad times, but it's still better than being sentenced to a long weekend of Molson.

If you've seen it (and if you follow one of us on Twitter and clicked on this post that way you have,) we hope you're liking the new website. It's almost finished, thank the lord. The only thing we need to do before we can 86 Blogger for good is figure out how to make the new server send out daily emails full of our wit and wisdom like Feedburner is doing now. I know we can probably transfer the current feed over and keep everything as it is, but since Feedburner has a CAPTCHA that we can't disable on its subscription form, fuck those guys. If we were content with firing off emails whenever a post went up the problem would be solved, but since we sometimes go on insane posting jags that's not going to happen. We care about you all too much as readers and in some cases friends to put you through that. If anybody knows of something free or close to it that will allow for what I've described, let us know.

Besides that, we're pretty much good to go. All the posts have the correct bylines on them (kiss my ass again, blog importer) and all the downloads that haven't worked for months are now alive and well on our new server which, I should add, is fast as hell. I should also add that relinking them was a much easier process than we had anticipated thanks to a handy search and replace plugin that Carin dug up. That's one thing I love about Wordpress. It's insanely customizable and has loads of functionality built right in, but if it doesn't do something that somebody has ever wanted it to do, that person has probably built a plugin that'll get it done.

If you're thinking about making the move from something like Blogger or even about starting a new site, give Wordpress a shot. And if you happen to be in the market for some hosting for that reason or any other, drop a line to Shane and James. Tell them Steve and #CarinOfTheWin sent ya. I'm not sure what it'll do for you in the favours department, but give it a try and let me know how it goes. If it does nothing, I'm putting Shane on notice that at some point I may have to resort to tossing him around like I used to when he was little. Wait, what am I saying? He's still little.

Oh, I almost forgot, we need to get AdSense up and running as well. I'm not looking forward to that. Messing with ad sizes, styles and positioning when you can't actually see what your site looks like isn't high on my list of fun activities. Carin's either, as it happens. If any of you have a good idea of what might work around these parts, please get in touch.

But AdSense or not, daily digest or not, it's time to celebrate! And what better way to say thanks for putting up with our quietness and website talk and to break in a new server than a little something we like to call Long Audio Weekend!? Quiet down, crickets! You're drowning out the cheers of celebration that I'm sure are coming from all over the world! But yes, now that we have a reliable place to put them, we can do casts again, and do casts we shall...unless something bad/unexpected comes up. I'm not sure what we'll talk about, but we'll think of something. All the stuff we haven't gotten around to writing down might be a good place to start.

With all that out of the way...I suddenly realize I can't remember what else I was going to write down. This is embarrassing. Hmmm...what to do? I know, have a few of the jokes I've been saving. That and be sure to follow @ShakespeareSong if you don't already. One of my favourite things ever on Twitter.

See you for audio weekend unless I remember something between now and then.

Ok...jokes!

*Okay, I know the order of the pedals is clutch - brake - accelerator, but how do I start this piano?

*There were two fish in a tank. One of them said to the other: "How do you drive this thing?"

*Some guy called my wife a pig the other day. I said, "Don't listen to him, Babe!"

*In 1950's Ireland, the Catholic Church ruled the country with an iron fist. It was a tough time to be an altar boy.

*After the accident, my wife was left a vegetable.

"Who left this vegetable here," She asked.

*I just heard on the Radio that the Leader of the Monkees has died. R.I.P. Nelson Mandela.

*As the sperm swam with a mission in mind toward the egg, I thought to myself, "Wow, I've really ruined this breakfast buffet."

*Q: Who is a Catholic priest's favourite singer?

A: Kneel Young.

*Muhammad Ali vs. Michael J. Fox: The Quickest Game of Jenga Ever.

*Two gay guys were on the beach. One says to the other, "shall I put the umbrella up?" The other replies "yes, but don't open it!"

*My mate has got a computer document full of 16 year old girls. What a PDF-file.

*Q: What do you call someone who's had their car stolen?

A: A taxi.

*A man walks into a bar and orders 6 shots of tequila.

"Why so many, buddy," the bartender asks.

"I'm celebrating my first blow job," The man replies.

"Well hell, congratulations," says the bartender. "I will give you one on the house."

"No thank you," replies the man. "if the first 6 shots don't get the taste out of my mouth, one more won't make a difference."

Help Save The Guelph Public Library's Free Internet Access

Earlier in the week I posted about the unfortunate situation that the Guelph Public Library finds itself in thanks to our fantastic Harper government. Well, it didn't take long for people to take up the cause and start working to ensure that when the funding ends, the free internet access doesn't.

City councillor Cam Guthrie has started a pledge drive on Twitter to help raise the $6800 required to keep the service up and running in its current form.

Within 24 hours, Guthrie said, he had collected more than $2,400 in pledges.

"People have been retweeting it like crazy,” the councillor said. “I’m getting contacted by people I don’t even know saying they want to help out."

If you're interested in giving something no matter how big or small, send a tweet to @CamGuthrie and let him know. Every little bit helps.

It totally sucks that the public should have to step up and cover for our government's failings, but it seems that's where we are if we want this valuable service to continue. Give if you can, and whether you can or you can't, be sure to spread the word.

Run for President

Rich De Steno, who you might recall is the man who gave the world Destination Mars, emailed to let me know that another of his old games has been updated to work on Windows. It's Run for President, the other one I remember playing back in the day.

The object is to fly around the U.S.A. and claim states and their Electoral votes. If you get 270 of them, you win and become president. But just like with Mars, it's not easy. You only have so much money, and it can be hard to hold onto it. It's also, at least based on the game I just tanked big time, much easier to lose states to the computer than it used to be. Part of the reason for this is that there are now trivia questions you must answer along the way. If you can remember who was President when and how to spell everything you should be ok, but it definitely adds a new wrinkle to things especially if you're Canadian like me.

The game is free, and if you'd like to take a run at it so to speak, you can grab it here.

Have fun.

Destination Mars Is Alive And Well And Working On Windows

Aaaaaaaaand...I do believe I've smacked headlong into the next thing that's going to send any hope of productivity I may have had straight down the tubes.

Back when I was in high school, some kind fellow students went to the trouble of installing several games on the computers in the student lab. Nobody gave us a whole lot of grief about them being there most of the time, so there they stayed. And should they mysteriously disappear, they would just as mysteriously reappear, sometimes within a few hours. Funny that. To give you an idea of how old I am or how up to date our computer lab wasn't, these were DOS games. Ask your mom and dad if you're confused, kids.

One of them was called Destination Mars. The object was to successfully pilot your ship 35 million miles and make it to Mars without getting yourself killed. It was hard, and it was fun! Of all the games we had, it was one of my favourites. So imagine my face lighting up today upon receiving word that Richard De Steno decided to bring his old game out of retirement and give us all a version for Windows.

I've only played once so far, but it's just as fun as I remember. It's weird hearing actual modernish sound instead of speaker beeps like the old days, but I can train my brain to get used to that as I play, which I'm sure I'll be doing a lot of.

If you've never played before or if you remember it and are just as excited as I am, you can download it for free here. Warning: I'm not sure what it looks like for sighted players, but feel free to try it out and let me know. And yes the game is free, but if you like it, you can throw a donation in Rich's direction via PayPal at ironrock@verizon.net.

Have fun, and I'll talk to you whenever I can pull myself away from this thing and get something done. Kind of the way it was back in the day, now that I think about it.

Food Basics, Now with Screenreader Accessible Flyers!

A long time back, Carin mentioned the lack of an accessible Food Basics flyer and how it would be awesome if they had one because we buy a lot of our groceries there. For a while we put this thought out of our heads because they said if something was done it would be well down the road, plus the 100 Mile Market made shopping at a real live grocery store almost unnecessary. But now that there is suddenly no more 100 Mile Market, it's back to the real live grocery stores with us, so flyers are on our minds a bit more.

So today while I was rummaging through Carin's email (she knows I was in there) I came across one of the weekly Food Basics flyer emails she never stopped getting. Since it had been a long time, I decided to open it and see if anything had changed. Much to my great surprise and happiness, it had! Below the regular flyer link there was another that said "click here to view the accessible flyer." You know, I think I'd like to do that. And sure enough, it was completely accessible!

The layout is pretty simple. There's a heading for each page, and below each of those is a fairly easy to figure out list of the week's specials. You'll want to read it line by line since groups of things that are the same price and I believe made by the same people sometimes run together rather than having their own space, but other than that, nice work!

To access the flyer, you can click here. That's the link to the regular page, which gets updated each week. On that page there's a link to the accessible version. I'd have linked that one directly, but stripping off the specific flyer ID causes it to link back to the regular page anyway, so there's no point. You can also subscribe for the weekly emails that helped me discover this by going here.

I don't know when you started doing this, but thank you, Food Basics! We blind folks really do appreciate it.

Thought Explosions About #SpikeMobileCCC and other things.

Here comes another monster o thoughts. While I'm doing the laundry, I might as well write a blog post.

This whole being out of town part time thing has taught me that I suck at time-management. I was always able to get by since I had lots of flexibility to get stuff done. I didn't get to that today? Oh well I'll do it tomorrow. Now, I have to think ahead to make sure I get everything done on my off days.

Even laundry has become slightly more of a pain since our building has those inaccessible laundry card-filler-uppers. So, if I'm getting low on laundry money, I have to either a. coordinate like hell to be there when the huppy's mom is doing laundry, or b. pray to the lord above that someone will be down there to help me fill the damn card. I'm seriously thinking about rounding up an apartment-sized washer/dryer set. Seriously I am.

Since I don't have as much time/energy to look at Twitter as I did before, I've started organizing the people I follow into lists. As a result, I'm uber behind on the news, people's retweets and random folks I decided to follow. I really need to fix that giant news Twitter hole I've created though. That's just shameful.

And because I'm behind on people's retweets, I didn't notice in enough time that The guys who did Twittereen were at it again, with another contest, Countdown2Christmas.

I suck, and have missed out on two days of the contest, but I don't care. I'm still going to try. I mean, look at the prizes! They wrote 'em out. Yeah yeah yeah I would like a leak-proof travel mug and a Timmy's card. Sure I would.

So wish me good luck in what's left of this here contest, There aren't any iThings, but the contest is still cool.

Edit: looks like I didn't need the luck, since before I posted this, I won the prize I wanted. Yea! Gimme gimme gimme my Timmy Timmy Timmy's stuff!

Another sign that I obviously don't have this whole time-management thing down: I didn't get a happy birthday Steve post up like I try to do. Failbox! Well I guess I did pay for his dinner at Smokin' Tony's. Maybe that makes up for it.

By the way...Smokin' Tony's? Om nom nom! Check out their menu. They really give you a lot of food, and it's good. Mmm sweet potato casserole! When I first walked in I was afraid you could only take your food and go...but then I remembered. They serve beer, they must intend for people to sit down. And they did, and they were great.

Even though Steve and I are doing Christmas together, we figured for the sake of not lugging each other's gifts on the road, we'd exchange our gifts on Steve's birthday. That's probably a good idea, since I can't keep a secret at all. Out of the 6 things I got Steve, he knew what 3 of them were, and had guessed at a fourth. It kind of kills the surprise element when he knew what half the stuff was already. And he didn't snoop, it's because I can't keep a secret worth a damn...and an email came in which had the name of one of his gifts in the subject line..which just happened to read as he walked in the room. Damn JAWS, ya busted me. can't win for losin'.

But I'm happy to say that I own all the Austin Lounge Lizards CD's to date, and their concert DVD! Oooo that one's gonna be fun! Will have to review those when I get some time...so considering my big pile of comments about my lack of ability to time-manage...could be a while.

It is really hard to believe it's Christmas. I'm happy there's no snow, but it's hard to remember to wish people a merry Christmas and stuff when I'm not trompling through the snow. Christmas is going to be here and gone before I know what hit me.

And I think I've found the song that is as irritating to me as it's the most wonderful time of the year is to Steve. It's Do They Know It's Christmas.
I know it was a song raising money for people in Africa, but the line about "Do they know it's Christmas time" kinda bugs me. Maybe they don't care. What if they celebrate something else? And don't they need the money the rest of the year too? I don't know, there's something about that song that bugs me.

So they're starting a Go Train service out of Guelph. Right now it's designed to shuttle people to Toronto, but I hope some day it will go to Kitchener, giving me more options for travel to my awesome job. But as a preview, they gave everyone a free trip to Kitchener, and because a friend was also going, she asked me if I wanted to. Sure, what the heck!

So we headed for the train. She's a far bigger Go guru (goru?) than I am, so told me all about the accessible car, and how if I'm going to take the train, I'd be best to get on there. For one, there's always a person there watching for folks. For another, it always pulls up in the same spot, and third, it opens at every stop! Yup, sounds like a deal to me.

We got on, and actually got to talk to our MPP Liz Sandals. She was surprised that the bus service from Guelph to KW had deteriorated so badly. We talked for a little while to her about how awesome this whole Go service thing would be, because really it's the only truly accessible public transit service there is for folks in wheelchairs. Greyhound? Yeah right. Via? pfffft! Go Bus? Maybe if the drivers remember to do the fancy dancin' with a strip of seats. But with Go Trains, it's cool. A ramp comes out to close the gap between platform and train, and folks in wheelchairs just wheely wheely wheel onboard, and there's an area that's designated as accessible seating...although women with strollers think that means they're entitled, even though there are seniors with walkers and people with wheelchairs in plain sight. May you develop a disability making that seat necessary for you later in life and encounter a stroller-wheeling woman just like you. That is all. But the point is Go is really the only way to go for folks in wheelchairs, so let's start Go-ing in more directions.

The trip was wicked fast, like 20 minutes. Yup, I could deal with that. It's too bad poor Go got stuck behind a broken down freight train, which delayed their exit by an hour. But the trip itself was pretty cool.

In this rambling winding post of crazy, I have to give two gigantic woo's to a couple of folks in a couple of businesses. Let's start with Portions Canada. I heard about them through Twitter, the way I seem to hear about most things these days, and they were talking about having gluten-free food and prepared meals for folks with diabetes and stuff. I knew the shoe thief was kind of run ragged by a bunch of stuff, so I decided to get him a couple of frozen meals and some cookies. So off I went on a crazy adventure.

Can I say again that Google Transit is the worst thing known to man? Unless I'm an epic fail at using it, it always tells me the exactly wrong bus to get on to get to a given destination. I saw a link to it on the Portions Canada's Google map, so I thought I'd try it. "Take the 1 Woodlawn," it said. So I called Guelph Transit to get more details, and their response? "Um? 1 Woodlawn? To get there? Um, erm, not even close! You have to take the 22!"

But that's beside the point. I just couldn't miss the opportunity to rag on Google Transit. After going on a wild adventure through the city, being dumped on a giant grassy sidewalkless zone and being escorted across a busy parking lot to the store, the people *in* the store were nothing short of awesome. They told me next time, just call before I come and they'll come meet me at the bus stop! Not only that, but they went through things until I found the perfect combo of stuff. And to top it off, they delivered it to the shoe thief for me! Like, um, holy crap?

So if you're in the market for gluten-free goodies, stuff for folks with Diabetes or kidney disease, and I'm sure lots of other things, pop in there and see what you will find. But I have learned that if you're alergic to garlic, you should definitely not pop in there. All their meals and stuff have garlic in 'em. Ah well, how else are you going to flavour it without salt?

I have to also give a gigantic thankya to a very cool employee at Wind Mobile. Long story time. I have a blind friend who has been searching for a phone that he could at least possibly operate a little bit. Every phone he gets, he has been promised it talks, but all it has is voice recognition, i.e. "please say a command." That works to an extent, but you can't enter your own contacts, or operate most of the phone's functions. So, eventually, in frustration, he asked me to go with him to the store to see what we could see.

I first went in hoping they had something that could have the Nokia Screen Reader installed on it. I know it's free and kind of preliminary, but CodeFactory had their hand in it, I thought it would get us by. But they had nothing that would take that screen reader. So the woman from Wind Mobile toiled, talked to Samsung tech support, and twisted that phone into halfway working to the point that he might be able to at least get to voice command on his own.

This was no easy feat, but she did it. Not only that, but she taught me a few things about his phone, so I could continue helping him. Adrien from Wind Mobile in Old Quebec Street Mall in Guelph, you are the most awesome of awesome, and we appreciate all your hard work. Thanks to you, I was able to show him a couple more things. You deserve to get promoted yesterday.

You know, I have been buzzed by several colds and flus, and as each one zooms by, I thank my lucky stars. I did not want to be sick and need time off when I'm just starting work. But now, just before Christmas, I've got this wicked cough. Sometimes, when I cough, I sound like I'm pulling a Carl Barron. I can't find a damn clip of him doing it, but maybe others have heard him do that bit with the loud dry sounding cough. I'm hoping to beat it into submission before Friday when we head for Steve's family.

This got me to thinking. Why is it perfectly ok to come home for Christmas with your own family when you have a cold, but if you're going to someone else's family, that's just wrong? Why is it ok to infect your own family? Yup, we're weird.

I've been told by several people that Trixie has a lot more white around her muzzle. Um, eek? I don't like the physical reminders that she is getting older. I know she's still young, but well, it's just another reminder, like the pile of her city tags in the drawer, that time marches on.

I'm making a little something for Trixie's raisers this Christmas. I still don't know if they read here, so can't say what it is yet, but I hope they enjoy it. It'll have to arrive late this year, because I lost their address in the hard drive crash of doom in May, and I've emailed them but haven't heard back yet.

I got some very sad news yesterday. Don't worry, noone died, but it kind of feels like someone did. I just found out that the Fresh at Home program has suddenly been discontinued. You know what that means? No more easy to get local and awesome food. It's back to the grocery store for us, which is one big boo. It was cool that it was delivered, but the cooler part was how amazing it was. It truly was amazing. I don't know what happened to it, but one day, there was a program and the next it was gondo. It makes Steve and I very sad pandas.

And I think this monster has gone for quite long enough. I should be snoring, 6 a.m. comes early. So...I will post, fall down, and finish the thoughts I had left over in another post. Yes, I have more, and other posts that need a place up here. But I have to stop or I'll be no good to anyone tomorrow.

Radio

I got an email from brother Brad asking me to plug something for a friend of his. I told him I'd be happy to do it so long as I get my damn Cherpumple. Actually I didn't, but in all seriousness he's thinking about trying to make one, at least that's how it sounds. If he does, my vote is do it for dad's Christmas so that if it sucks we can leave it there. One thing about dad, he'll eat just about anything regardless of whether or not it's a good idea.

Anyway, here's Brad's email.

Have a listen to this and tell me what ya think.

Also, if you don't mind, he's trying to get it out there...so if you might post it he'd like that too. 

I don't know if you know Jesse Perriam. I think you did meat him once. He's put together something of an album, and this is the first thing off it.

Personally, I'd rather it without the electronic voice butcherer, but, it's his song. 

Thanks. 

Brad.

Yes, I did meet him once. Seemed like a nice enough dude, so post it I shall.

And I agree. The song isn't bad at all, but the "electronic voice butcherer" is very distracting in spots. Makes it hard to get into because all the attention is focussed on the effects rather than the words and the melody. Maybe there's a compromize where you could keep the effects but tone them down, but as it is it's too much. Most people use that sort of thing to hide a shitty voice, but he doesn't sound like he has to.

With all of that said, here it is so you can form your own opinions.

Anton And His Theatre Friends present...The Gift of the Magi

If you're looking for something to do really, really soon, our old pal Anton may have just the thing for you if you happen to be in the right area or aren't going to the Irish Rovers and having people stay with you this weekend like Carin and I are.

Join Out of Sight Productions for
a Special Christmas Presentation of
"The Gift of the Magi" 

London, Ontario, October 12, 2011 - To celebrate the spirit of the Christmas season, Out of Sight Productions is pleased to present "The Gift of the Magi", the classic tale by O. Henry adapted for our stage by London's Steve Stockwell. 

In this enduring tale of self-sacrifice we witness a love of such depth and understanding that it nurtures sustenance for a couple who, in a mad desire to please, have surrendered their most precious possessions while unwittingly ensuring a future on which their current dreams can be built. 

"The Gift of the Magi" at the CNIB Auditorium, 749 Base Line Road East:                  

Thursday, December 1 at 7:30pm                  

Friday, December 2 at 3:00pm and 7:30pm                  

Saturday, December 3 at 3:00pm and 7:30pm                  

Sunday, December 4 at 3:00pm 

Admission is Free - a small donation to help support the work of Out of Sight Productions would be greatly appreciated. 

For further information, please contact:
          Kelly MacDonald, Company Director, Out of Sight Productions       

Phone: 519-675-0379       

Email: info@oosproductions.com       

Web: www.oosproductions.com 

Out of Sight Productions thanks you for supporting our unique theatre initiative

We Went To The Baker Street Station And You Should Too

Yesterday was my birthday. Ok so it's actually not for a few more weeks, but we pretended it was and Carin took me out to the brand new Baker Street Station. It's been open for about a week and change and we'd been looking for an excuse to pop in and try it, so hey, if it's my birthday it's my birthday, right?

I'm not sure how many ways there are to say what a great place, but if you were to ask my opinion of our experience there I think I'd need just about every one of them.

The staff were great. From the moment we walked in, they were super helpful. This is one of the most important parts of a restaurant experience for me, especially in a new place like this. Blind guys in a gigantic unfamiliar area are going to need a bit of a hand, and everyone we ran into did a fine job of helping us with whatever we needed. If the blind guy part tripped them up at all, they didn't show it. It was even their idea to read the menu to us! Usually we have to ask for that and then watch as the person processes the concept that old dark eyes over here isn't going to be reading the printed menu on his own. A definite 2 thumbs up for all of you.

And what can I say about the food? Everything we had was awesome. I can't remember the last time I saw somebody rave as much about an appetizer as Carin did about the Short Rib Poutine she had. It was to the point that I almost ordered one of those instead of a main course after my 5 spice wings. Those were neat, by the way. When you think wings, you don't usually think cinnamon and ginger, but it totally worked. Every bite tasted a little bit different, which made it fun.

As for the main courses, Carin had fish and chips which she crushed in what seemed like no time, and I had what I think might have been the best restaurant burger I've had in this town. I may need to go to the Wooly to do a little comparative research since I haven't burgered there in forever, but I think I'd put the Baker St. Burger up against anybody else's and it would give them a serious run for their money. I don't think I've ever had a burger so tender. It felt like it was going to melt in my mouth, and there was a lot of flavour unlike some of the bland burgers you tend to find in restaurants. The Ketchup and Aioli were nice touches as well, very tasty. The fries remind me of someplace, but I'm not sure where. I keep thinking it was somewhere I went when I was little, but hell if I can remember what the place was called. Let's call it This Place Has Fabulous Freakin Fries Land. Yeah, that works.

Neither of us had room for dessert, but it's on the list for next time. Yes, there will be a next time. But as for this time, the pints of Tankhouse Ale and MacLean's Pale Ale did a fine job of filling whatever stomach space was left over. Oh, and I think Carin has a new favourite drink. It's called a Razzmatazz. Two words: chocolate vodka. Oh, and lots and lots of raspberry. You should have seen the little guy happy giggle. If she does that, you know you've struck alcohol gold.

If you're in Guelph and looking for a nice place to eat and have a couple, definitely give the Station your time. We liked it so much we ended up walking out with a gift certificate for a friend's Christmas. The atmosphere is really cool and kind of hard to describe, so here are some pictures of it. The place is huge and you know that, but it somehow also feels a bit cozy and like it would be the perfect place to come and warm up when winter hits. Even though it's big, it was completely packed when we got there. the downstairs was full, but luckily there were a couple of stools at the upstairs bar until a table for two opened up up there.

And that's another cool thing. The separate levels would be great for having some kind of live music and food on one and just food on the other. Not sure if that's in the plans, but feel free to take that idea if it wasn't, guys.

You can find them at 76 Baker Street (now you know where the name came from), and there's a map on the website if you need one. And if you're blind like us and the map won't really help you, give them a call or send them a tweet and they'll probably help you out pretty quickly. They're pretty good at the Twitter thing.

Oh, and speaking of the Twitter thing, one last question. carin and I were both curious about the mind the brooms tweet that linked to this photo. The person we asked had no idea what we were talking about, so hopefully somebody reading this can solve the mystery.

Thanks for a fun night and a great meal, Carin and restaurant people. Oh, and to answer your question Twitter manning person, our night out was good enough for a Vomit Comet post.

Life, #Twittereen, #Movember, And Other Things

Hi there. It's me, ya know, the absentee blogger. I haven't really had much to say in the last little while. Not on email, not on Twitter, not on the blog, not anywhere. But that's ok. I'm surviving, that's what matters. I'm surviving, and attempting to expand this very little brain. By consequence, when I do talk, I ramble, and ramble, and ramble some more.

The job is still going well...although I'm constantly afraid I'm not moving fast enough. Everyone keeps telling me not to worry. All of this worry is completely self-inflicted. I'll get over it, I swear. But I have learned my way around my floor pretty well, which is friggin liberating. Too bad I get to learn a new floor in a couple weeks. But hopefully they can help me by telling me that my new destination is just under some old destination that I know. At least I have points of reference, which is awesome. And I have very patient, awesome coworkers.

Hmmm. More updates. I did not win that iPod in the Twittereen contest, but Steve and I did win *something*. Remember that ice cream/waffle place I was talking about? Well, a bunch of us won a waffle stack! This is awesome, because we can probably coordinate rides and all go together, which means Steve and I have a chance in hell of getting to this place in Cambridge. YeaWaffle Stacks!

But even if I didn't win an iPod, work has lent me one so I can learn how to use it. And amazingly, I'm making some pretty good progress. I managed to write the sentence "This is a test" on the touchscreen keyboard, which to me is a pretty good feat. Soon I will have mastered iThings, mwa ha ha ha ha. But I couldn't have done it without my fellow iThing users helping me out over Twitter. I'm sure people thought there were perverted things going on, what with all this talk of flicking, scrubbing, finger-twisting and other stuff. No really, I'm just trying to use my iPod!

Jennison, a blind guy I know, wrote a tweet that I think is very very true. It read: "One of the true tests of trust when you can't see is when you have to find a new barber." I would like to add another test of trust. Going to the shoe store. Here's why.

A while back I started to notice that my poor old running shoes were starting to bite the big one. Then I noticed there were holes under other holes. Um, eek? This is getting pretty bad. So, I headed out to the Shoeper Store. I wanted to buy a pair of running shoes. Simple running shoes that could fit my orthotics and were comfy and wouldn't make me look like a child.

I told the girl at the store my needs, and she trotted off and came back with a pair of shoes. All she said was "How do you feel about grey and blue?" Since I told her I wanted plain and simple, I thought hmmm maybe it'll be a dark blue with a grey stripe on them. I said ok. I put the shoes on, and damn did they feel good! They fit my orthotics too, so I was double happy.

I came home, wore them around with the tags still on, and thought I think I'm satisfied. But now I have learned a very valuable lesson. Next time, I must wear the shoes, with the tags on, down to someone possessing functioning eyes and good taste. Here's why.

I cut the tags off, triumphant that I had a new pair of shoes. Awesome! And I headed downstairs with the Trixter, at which point I ran into the huppy's dad. "New shoes?" he asked. "They must be new, I mean, they shine so much!" Excuuuuse me? Shine? I asked him to elaborate. It was then that I learned that the blue was not dark, but bright, electric, in fact. It was so attention-grabbing that they were the first things he noticed.

Oh dear dear. Now, for the foreseeable future, I must wear these stupid shoes. I don't even want to have mom and dad see them, because they probably look butt ugly. Maybe they'd be ok if I were a teenager doing some kind of jogging through the woods or something, but that was not what I was going for.

So, sighties, if someone asked you for a plain, simple shoe, would electric blue honestly fit in? Would it not cross your mind to tell me the shade of blue? I knew I should have been worried when her next words were, "Or, how do you feel about purple?" Purple shoes? I reflexively said no when she said purple, but that should have been a great big warning sign. If I'd only left the tags on, I could have taken them back to the store and gotten another pair. I wanted white, maybe black. Nothing crazy like, oh, say, electric blue that draws your attention immediately on sight.

I kind of feel betrayed that this lady sold me electric blue shoes and didn't tell me. I don't always have sighted folks to bring along when I need a pair of shoes, and I'm putting a hell of a lot of trust in the salesperson to listen to what I'm asking for and find something accordingly. I mean, I can't see the shoes. They do feel good, which I guess should be the most important thing, but I'm sure I could have found a pair of white runners that were still comfortable. But now, since I cut the tags off, these electric blue shiny things will be what I wear for the foreseeable future. Maybe I should take a picture of the damn things and put it up.

It's November, or should I say Movember. I swear, this whole Movember thing has gone and pulled a Google in the brain-invasion department. I knew of its existence last year, and I sort of understood what it was all about, but this year, it is everywhere. Granted, I'm seeing a lot more of it on Twitter, but it appears it's really taken off! It's been so everywhere that I dreamed that Steve decided to grow a mo, and was so pissed that he was having so much trouble. I woke up chuckling.

This whole thing of it taking off like crazy is simultaneously great and bad. I think it's great that so many men are getting involved in promoting men's health and raising money for the cause. But it's bad for me! I know so many guys doing it that how on earth do I choose who to donate to? I can't possibly donate to every dude I know sporting a mo for Movember, I'll go broke!

So, I'll do the next best thing, I'll suggest a bunch of people I know who are doing the Movember thing. If you feel moved to do it, toss 'em a few bucks. I donated to this guy, he's one of those awesome colleagues I keep talking about. But work has a whole honkin' team, so there's another way to go at it. Look at that! 63 people doing the Movember thing!

But I know people outside of work who are doing this too. There's our buddy Sean Yo, at least I think it's him, so if you're one of his honeybunches, throw him some dough. Then there's Joel, who saved my butt the first week of work and gave me a ride on the first day. I will always be a biiig fan of Joel for allowing me to, um, get to work on my first day, so he's always a good guy to donate to.

Next up are two guys whose pages I can't find, but would love to. Hey peoples, not everybody can see pictures, so DO NOT USE YOUR PROFILE PICTURE AS YOUR SOLE WAY OF IDENTIFYING YOURSELF. Please please please give me something else to grab onto. Anything. For example, if you're Cam Guthrie, say you're a Guelph city councilor. If you're Dan Gillis, maybe mention where you work or something. Give me something! Unfortunately, you're not the only one with your name, and even if you were, how can I be sure I've got the right dude? I'm about to donate, I'd like to know I'm donating to the right guy.

So as soon as I find those guys' pages, I'll link to them, and then if you feel so inclined, huck them some dough. Good luck everybody doing the Movember thing.

Last Friday, the Guelph Community Foundation was promoting Random Act of Kindness day. On one level, I think it's a really sweet idea. But on the other, I have to wonder. Do we need a day? Can't we just see something and do it? Is it really that hard? And do we need to be given a cookie for doing a good deed? It always bugs me when someone who's giving me a little bit of help says "Ah, I've done my good deed for the day." I'm sure they're just joking, but it always makes me feel just a wee bit like they want a medal or something.

Speaking of cookies, is it wrong that when I saw that one of my Twitter buddies was handing out cookies at a bus terminal, I couldn't help but think "If I received a cookie randomly, would I eat it? Wouldn't Random Acts of Kindness Day be the most perfect coverup to poison random people if you're that kind of person?" Then another part of me slapped myself hard for being so synical. But I still wonder if I would eat a random cookie given to me by a random stranger. But then again, I accept help from random strangers all the time. What's the difference between accepting help and a cookie? I think my brain just exploded.

And another thing that made my brain explode was I saw that Guelph Transit was giving out $20 bus passes with the following instruction "If you get one of these, pass it on!" So, does anyone ever actually use the things? Or do they just keep getting passed around?

I did a couple of random acts of kindness, but sadly neither of them fell on Random Acts of Kindness Day. A bunch of seniors got on the bus I was on and asked if this was the right bus to get them to a certain church. The driver had no clue, and didn't really try to figure it out. So I picked up my phone, looked up information and found them an address. Once I gave that to the driver, she knew exactly where it was and told them they were on the right bus. I didn't do it because it was Random Acts of Kindness Day, I did it because I felt it was the right thing to do, and I felt really good about helping some folks out.

Another time, I found out a friend of mine had a really shitty birthday and said "Oh if only I had some cupcakes!" She didn't know where there was a place near her that had them, so I googled out a shop that would deliver, found a delivery service, and she got some cupcakes delivered to her house a couple days later, which I paid for. I didn't need a bracelet or a card to do it. I did it because I wanted to give her a smile and it made me feel good. Isn't that all the motivation we need?

I guess if it brightens someone's day, then that's all that matters. But wouldn't it be great to move to a kind of community where people did little things for each other all the time just because?

I've noticed something as I follow more people on Twitter. Some of them appear to spend most of their time tweeting about tweeting. Seriously. I guess if thinking about thinking is called metacognition, would this be metatweeting? Don't get me wrong, a little is fine, but these people do it all the time! They tweet about tweetups, effective tweeting, social media conferences, and they hella retweet, but they don't seem to say much of their own...and they have scads of followers! How does that work? I don't get it. I've actually unfollowed a couple of them because I just spend more time skimming their tweets. What am I missing? Somebody help me.

And I think that's about it for now. I'm afraid this will be the trend. Long silences followed by barrages nobody will finish reading. Hope somebody enjoyed this.

Free Cab Rides For Veterans On November 11th

Just ran across this while going through my massive backlog of just about every freaking thing and figured it needed a post since it involves somebody doing good for a change and in case there's anybody reading from Guelph who might be able to take advantage of it. Good on you, Red Top.

Red Top Taxi will be providing free service to veterans from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., on Nov. 11.

Veterans wishing to access this service are to obtain vouchers for this purpose issued by the company. Red Top president Charles Dadd said these are available through the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 234 or through Red Top.

For more information or to make arrangements to secure a voucher, veterans are invited to call or email the Legion at 519-822-1565 and/or rcl234@on.aibn.com or to call Red Top at 519-821-1700.

JustEat Is Just Neat

Oh my god I'm writing a blog post before I go to work. Hey, maybe this is a good sign that I'm getting into the swing of things and will be able to post more often.

This is another one I've been meaning to write for a while. A long time ago, I was on the phone with our buddy Anton. He mentioned a service called JustEat.ca and said he thought it served Guelph. What it is is a site where you can order from any of the restaurants in your area who have agreed to be part of it. You put your order through this website, they forward it on to the restaurant, the restaurant sends out the food to your door.

The really cool part about this for me is a lot of restaurants don't put their menus in an accessible format. So if I decide to order from them, I have to know what I want already, and then just call them and order it. So I never learn about new stuff they have, or different stuff I haven't already found. But with this site, the menu is accessible, right down to picking toppings on a pizza! So, I can read about everything, and take my sweet time picking, without feeling like I'm bothering the dude on the phone from the place.

We've ordered a few times from them, and every time, the deliveries have been wicked fast. In every single case, they have beaten their estimated arrival time, and by a long shot.

And, if you do run into trouble on their website, they have a hotline you can call, 877 338 0568. They've always been helpful when I had trouble with their coupon codes not working.

That's another thing. They send out coupon codes for different reasons, and plug specials from the restaurants whose menus they have.

My only criticism, which really isn't anything they can help, is the restaurants in our area are heavy on the pizza. Out of the 9 restaurants available from our postal code, 5 of them are pizza, and one of them that isn't pizza has weird hours. It would be awesome if other stuff like chicken, or other local restaurants that do delivery would get on board, but I realize they have to want to before they will.

Over all, I definitely like JustEat.ca. See if they serve your area, and what they've got.

#Twittereen

When I was a kid, and we would go on scavenger hunts, I never really cared about them. I mean, it was fun to run around with my buddies and watch them scoop up clues, but I really wasn't helping out with the hunting down of stuff. I was just sort of along for the ride. But last week, I got to take part in an online scavenger hunt, and it was pretty fun!

The contest is called Twittereen, ya know, in honour of Halloween. Its aim is to get people to learn about some local businesses, follow them on Twitter, engage with them, and some random lucky winners will receive prizes like gift certificates to a bunch of the mentioned local businesses. But the prize I reeeally want is an iPod Touch. yes, yes, gimme gimme.

I have learned about a bunch of cool businesses, sadly a bunch of them aren't in Guelph. One thing I want to do some time is end up at the Indulge Ice Cream caboose in Cambridge for either ice cream or some waffles. Mmmm. I would have never heard of what sounds like the most awesome place ever if it weren't for Twittereen.

One thing I had driven home by this contest is why I don't often go straight to a company's website to learn a bunch about them. It's hit and miss whether a website will be designed with accessibility in mind. Just as an example, one website's homepage was completely composed of an inaccessible flash movie. Another blasted music louder than JAWS. Another had pictures containing some of the information.

But because I want that damn iPod Touch, I persevered and found everything I needed to. Now I wait to see if I get to be a lucky winner.

If you want to play too, here is a pdf of the rules, here's the online entry form, and here are some pictures of prizes. This is what the good fellows at Spike Mobile said were the prizes available.

1st Place is an Extreme Makeover for your car from @WendellMotors , 2nd Place is an 8GB iPod Touch from @spike_mobile. The other prizes are various gift cards from @GibsonSV @Bookshelfnews @SevenShores @Subworx @Waffle_Stacks.

Isn't that the coolest contest ever? Get involved in your community, learn about local businesses, and maybe just win something. Super neat! And it was a scavenger hunt I could play.

So, even though this is against my best interests since it decreases my chances of getting the iPod Touch, go play Twittereen. You have until 12:05 Saturday morning to track down all the clues. Happy hunting!

Steve And Carin On CFRU's Accessibility Matters

If you missed it live and would like to hear it, you can download this afternoon's episode of Accessibility Matters featuring Carin and I right here.

We were on with Jan and Susan for the whole hour talking about various things, but most of the time was spent on CFRU itself and the goal the folks there have of making the studios accessible for people with various types of disabilities.

I talked quite a bit about my time as an on air host and how difficult it can be to be the blind guy in a room full of what to me is unlabelled music and computers that don't talk. There was also talk of Carin's new job, Guelph Transit and the announcing of bus stops (always a favourite around here) and how much of a difference the attitudes of those around you can make in the life of a disabled person. A few other things got touched on as well, but those are the main points.

And before I forget, the line at the end where one of them says they hope I'll come back to the station and I respond with something like "you don't have me back yet" was meant to come off as be careful what you wish for, not as there's no friggin way I'll ever be back. Wanted to clear that up in case there was any doubt.

Enjoy the show, and please do donate if you can. CFRU does a great service to Guelph and beyond and honestly does need your support. If you feel like throwing them a few bucks, call 519-837-2378 or head over to CFRU.ca.

Steve and I on Accessibility Matters

Well, it looks like today's the day
for me to be on the radio again, only this time, Steve will be there too! So, I'm sure it'll be a lot more fun to listen to than those other shows. Like before, we have been invited on Accessibility Matters, which comes on Wednesdays at 1, and right now, the radio station is in the middle of its Raise Your Voice fund-raising campaign. Here's a press release about it.

PRESS RELEASE:

October 12,2011

CFRU 93.3fm, Guelph’s campus and community radio station, is an organization that is well known for promoting underrepresented voices that truly reflect the diversity of Guelph’s communities. Understanding that silence serves no one, CFRU strives to uphold a philosophy of inclusivity in order to provide an alternative source of media, music programming, and local social justice and documentary work.

Each October, CFRU launches an annual fundraising campaign called, “Raise Your Voice” (RYV). This year, Raise Your Voice will take place between October 22nd and October 30th,  on-air, on the University of Guelph campus, and at various locations in downtown Guelph. In keeping with our commitment to foster an environment that welcomes diversity, we will be devoting a large portion of this year’s fundraising efforts toward increasing accessibility within the radio station. Our goal is to purchase assistive technology and interior aids in order to better enable programmers and volunteers with disabilities to participate in the many activities we offer at CFRU.

In order to accomplish this year’s fundraising goal, we are partnering with the Canadian Disability Resource Council (CDRC), a registered charitable organization. As our administrative fundraising partner, the CDRC will be providing all donors who pledge funds in the amount of $25.00 and above a registered charitable tax receipt which can be applied as a tax credit when filing business or personal income tax.

Last year, we raised money to design and launch a new website at www.cfru.ca. The new site will launch on October 20th, 2011. Online donations through our website for this year’s funding drive will be possible. We hope that you will agree that reducing barriers and increasing accessibility at CFRU is an important initiative and will encourage community members to donate  both to our station and to this cause.

For further information, please contact:
Peter Bradley, Station Manager, CFRU, 519-824-4120 ext. 56920,
info@cfru.ca

So, if you're in Guelph, tune in to CFRU 93.3 fm this afternoon at 1, or if you're beyond the reach of their "250 watts of community power," chuck on over to their site and fire up a stream.

An Out Of Sight Night

Anton, yes, that one for those who remember his little misadventure with the Shoe Thief, is part of more theatre productions. Here's the info if you're interested.

Out of Sight Productions

An Inclusive Theatre Company

Phone: 519-675-0379

Email: info@oosproductions.com

Web: www.oosproductions.com  

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

Join Out of Sight Productions in September at The Arts Project for "Three Plays - An Out of Sight Night" 

London, Ontario, July 28, 2011 - Out of Sight Productions is excited to announce the upcoming production of three original one-act plays, to be performed at The Arts Project, 203 Dundas Street, London.  

This locally written and produced trilogy will present a compelling, candid and humorous glimpse inside the lives of three very different families facing unique yet surprisingly similar challenges. In Kelly MacDonald's "The Final Road Trip" we witness a couple attempting to accept the coming of age of their daughters and the resultant blossoming of a new mutual relationship. Paul Kinsella's "Now See Hear" exposes the beauty in understanding and acceptance of personal differences. The third play, "Heroery" by Steve Stockwell, set in days of yore, depicts a version of life in an imaginary kingdom that is facing unimaginable adversity. 

Out of Sight Productions will be performing "Three Plays - An Out of Sight Night" at The Arts Project on:

Wednesday, September 28 to Saturday, October 1 at 7:30 pm

with a Matinee Performance on October 1 at 3:00 pm 

Tickets: $15   (2 for the price of 1 on Friday September 30)

For advance ticket sales, please call The Arts Project at: 519-642-2767 

For further information, please contact Kelly MacDonald, Company Director, Out of Sight Productions:

Phone: 519-675-0379

Email: info@oosproductions.com

Tell The Government You'd Rather They Not Spy On Your Every Online Move

I should have posted this back when I signed it, but it's not too late to add your name and try to stop this awful Conservative Government legislation from passing.

The government is trying to ram through an anti-Internet set of electronic surveillance laws that will invade your privacy and cost you money. The plan is to force every phone and Internet provider to surrender our personal information to "authorities" without a warrant.

This bizarre legislation will create Internet surveillance that is:

• Warrantless: A range of "authorities" will have the ability to invade the private lives of law-abiding Canadians and our families using wired Internet and mobile devices, without a warrant or any justification.


• Invasive and Dangerous: The laws leave our personal and financial information less secure and more susceptible to cybercrime.


• Costly: Internet services providers may be forced to install millions of dollars worth of spying technology and the cost will be passed down to YOU.

If enough of us speak out now the government will have no choice but to stop this mandatory online spying scheme. Sign the petition now, and forward it to everyone you know.→

If you care at all about your rights and freedoms and are proud to live in a country that doesn't stifle its people to the extent of oh, let's say China, go to StopSpying.ca and sign the petition. The criminal code may need a bit of modernizing here or there to catch it up to newer technologies, but this goes further than should ever be necessary.

A New Goalball League For Toronto

This was sent my way by our old friend Matt. It sounds like a really good opportunity for people to learn goalball or get another chance to play the game. I hope lots of people take advantage of it.

The Ontario Blind Sports Association (OBSA) in partnership with the City of Toronto is proud to offer a recreational goalball league through the City of Toronto Parks and Recreation.

This league will run once a week for the duration of 8 weeks during the City of Toronto's, Fall/Winter Seasson.

People of all ages and all visual abilities are welcome. During these sessions, participants will learn the rules of the game and drills to help improve their game and endurance and of course, play full games.

All equipment will be provided and this amazing opportunity is free of charge!

The first try-it session is Thursday, September 8th from 7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. at Mitchell Field Community Center, which is located at 89 Church Avenue M2N 6C9 (close to Finch Station). 

Can't wait to see everyone there! 

If you have any questions, please contact the office at (416) 426-7191