Notes from a bemused canuck
I'm really not into it today and my mind is going. Stop Dave! What are you doing, Dave? I can't let you do that Dave…
Ever since I've been at the office, I keep wanting to do stuff, and then completely forget what it is I wanted to do in the first place. It's highly annoying.
Very bleh day. It had potential, but it kind of fizzled out in the end. Last night was good. Met up with Donna and Will for his birthday do. We went punting on the Cam and managed to squeek in just before the rain set in. Then there was booze at a riverside bistro. Then there was really, really good food at Cafe Rouge on Bridge St. It was funny. This week is graduation week so everywhere is booked solid. We'd walked in earlier in the day and asked to see if it would be possible to book a table for later in the evening (that's when we found out about grad week and all), but the hostess told us that since it was just the two of us, she might be able to sneak us in if we came back later.
That's what we did, after the punting and the booze. There was a couple who came in the restaurant just before we did that got turned away because they didn't have a booking, but we were quietly ushered in to the restaurant. It turned out that we had prime seats in front of one of the only open windows in the place – and it was a relief cause the whole place was muggy because of the rain and the packed bodies. I had a very good onion soup and a great slab of dead cow with melted blue cheese. Loverly! We met up with Donna, Will and the rest of their troup for another round of drinks, and another, before calling it a day and grabbing a cab back home.
In other news, the cat now has a jingly-bell collar. It's impressive how short a time it took for him to get used to it. We got it for him in preparation of letting him go outside for reasonable periods of time at some point in the near future. We've also gotten a new cage for the gecko, who managed a houdini-like escape act but didn't go too far (we found her in a storage box, happily munching away at some treats). She now has a double-decker condo with better locks.
Today was meh. Slow start to the day, then Tesco for a shop, then home for some Rome reruns and some cooking. The Dr Who finale left a bit to be desired. A bit too much “poof! everything is right in the world again!!!”, but it had some redeeming features.
Dinner was a bit of a letdown. I'd planned onion soup, roast pig and tarte tatin. I think I was a bit too ambitious, given that I was running around all afternoon and trying to watch Dr Who at the same time. It was ok, but not as good as I've made before. Passing grade, but not much else.
I'd hoped to be able to have a nice long chat with Michel tonight but, as is seemingly our usual, we didn't connect. I haven't spoken to him more than a few sentences of email in … it's been that long that I can't even remember now. This is highly distressing… sigh.
I've finally found the name of the animated toon I was looking for all friggin' week :)
It's been bugging me since last weekend, and now I've remembered it.
This makes me happy.
I give you http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cybersix
In a city that seems to have everything, it's amazing what we'll still be surprised to find. Take for example what CBS recently uncovered going on in the back of a pizzeria. Let's just say it's hotter than the pizza served up front. On the outside, Cordatos looks like your ordinary pizzeria, but inside customers are offered something way too hot and spicy to be found on the menu.
Lap dances. Yes, you read that correctly.
A walk through the restaurant past the pizza ovens, leads to a heavy soundproof door, where inside the back room $10 buys you a few moments of lap dancing by barely dressed exotic dancers, a dance too graphic for most newscasts.
“When you are in the Big Apple anything and everything goes,” one patron said.
The anything and everything on this menu includes extremely close body-to-body contact during the lap dance. Judging from the crowds CBS saw during our hidden camera investigation, it's a popular pit stop just blocks from ground zero, where construction workers and Wall Street traders find a slice of pleasure in the least likely of places.
“The guys go at lunch time,” one man said. “It's not a bad thing either, relieves a little pressure.”
So is this New York City's best-kept secret? Apparently not, especially to members of the NYPD's vice unit. Three years ago, several of the dancers were arrested and charged with prostitution.
While Cordatos is licensed to serve alcohol, dancing falls under the city's Cabaret Law, which requires a separate license, which the pizzeria does not have.
CBS went looking for answers and found the pizza and dancing were a lot warmer than the reception we got. Upon seeing our camera, an unidentified pizzeria worker out his hand over our lens.
During our hidden camera investigation we did not observe any nudity, however a legal expert told us that in some cases the body-to-body contact we captured on camera could be deemed criminal.
Even though several city agencies knew the pizzeria had been cited for the same offenses in the past, records show none had returned to check if any laws were being broken. In fact, the NYPD told CBS it would respond based on a complaint, which to this date has not been made.
Big deal. These people would go nuts if they saw the lunch crowd for the buffet at Super Sexe.
Sometimes, I miss Montreal and the fact that you have huge strip clubs and sex shops on the high street and nobody gives a damn.
It'll probably get me in trouble, but I miss strip clubs and the shenanigans I used to get into with the boys.
Try as they might, scientists havent managed to better one of mankinds most enduring technologies paper. But the pain of carrying a library to the beach may soon be over, thanks to Sonys new electronic book. The Readers revolutionary feature is its 6in screen, which uses E Ink technology that is as easy on the eye as newsprint and requires power only to change what its displaying which extends battery life. The built-in memory will store 80 novels, which you can download from the internet. And when you grow weary of reading, you can use the reader to play MP3 music or audiobooks. The UK launch is expected later in the year.
This is a quote from Tom Dunmore, editor of Stuff magazine.
I will not say I told you so, but I told you so. I bought the Sony reader yesterday. Today, I see news reports that the Hanlin V3 is going in mass production at the end of july and that the sony is coming to the UK.
Aw screw it, I told you so!
I'm >< this close to getting my grubby mits on an ebook reader!
Sony, evil bastards that they are, are only marketing the PRS-500 in the US. This means that, to be able to get a reader, I had to:
– ask an american visitor to purchase it on his american credit card
– have it delivered to an address in the US belonging to a friend of an american coworker
– having said american coworker pick it up when he's in the US on vacation next month.
All because I can't order the damn thing myself.
The order has been made on the SonyStyle website and the guy has been send an email confirmation, but the funds have yet to be cleared by the credit card. I keep refreshing the order status page on the Sony website and it still says “Pending remote fulfillment”.
This is where I realize that England (and Europe in general) has a brilliant system for mail order and internet shopping. I've never had this much trouble ordering stuff online and have it automagically appear on my doorstep the following day.
I hope there's no delay or bureaucratic red-tapish crap. The american visitor is leaving tomorrow morning (and, since I wasn't expecting any problems, I've already transferred the money to his paypal account)
I'm sure everything will work itself out, but it's driving me nuts in the meantime :)
I can't wait, ohboy ohboy ohboy!
Update: The status is now “Order received by OMS”, whatever the hell that means :) At least it doesn't sound negative :D
Ideal breakfast has ham, cheese
LONDON, June 24 (UPI) — A scientific study of British students' eating habits has found eating ham and cheese for breakfast can significantly improve cognitive functioning.
The study headed up by psychology professor David Benton of Wales' Swansea University found the traditional German breakfast can aid in cognitive functions like memory and attention levels, The Sunday Times of London said.
“It is all down to the glucose release of the breakfast into the bloodstream. The slower the release, the better the pupils performed,” Benton said of his study's findings.
Benton's group monitored the eating habits and cognitive performance of 6- and 7-year-olds to determine the effect of a well-balanced breakfast. Benton's group also found meals with slow-releasing glucose levels helped children stay physically fit and curbed obesity by limiting one's appetite.
“The high protein in the breakfast will release into the system slowly, and therefore it will suppress the appetite for longer, and prevent children from snacking,” he told the newspaper.
Last friday was ![[info]](http://stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
petkatyyazzick's un-birthday.
You see, she's fed up of having a birthday so close to christmas so, like the Queen, she now has an official birthday (June 22nd) as well as a real birthday (December 22nd). That way, she can have prezzies twice a year like everybody else (rather than the “I'll get her something bigger” excuse she normally gets).
I got her a pair of hair straighteners she can use in North America as well as in the UK and arranged with the pub to have her favouritest foods to be put on the specials menu just for her. All in all, it was a nice evening.
Spent the rest of the weekend doing sod all. Even though we need to cut the grass, the weather couldn't make up its mind so the grass alternated between dry, damp and flat-out drenched. I'll try and cut it one night this week. Katy spent the weekend working on her coursework, which is almost done (and that means that her course is almost done – yay!) I took the bus into town on saturday to go pick up a few odds and ends at Boots, a sketching pad and some drawing supplies. I want to start working on the design of my next tat, which will be based on modern Haida art styles. Sunday was spent watching Babylon 5 reruns. Fun fun fun :)
First, I came across:
A bunch of geeks using solid state Tesla coils to play The 1812 overture and the Super Mario theme song .
Then, there was:
Greg Patillo, a beatboxing flute player (!), playing a unique rendition of the Super Mario theme song and the Sesame Street theme song
And then, when I went to go to the bathroom, I discovered a real-life garage band playing in the EBI underground parking lot. Apparently, they practice there during lunch time.
This makes me realize just how much I miss playing music.