Random Thoughts

Flying to Halifax: Air Canada sucks!

This is the story of how we got to the airport an hour early and missed our domestic flight (for which they recommend arriving 1 hour early).

I tried to print my boarding pass before Sean, but it wouldn't print and directed me to the service counter. Sean's ticket printed with no probs whatsoever, so he waited for me. I was the second person in line at a countertop with a dozen service desks and only one attendant. It took half an hour to get served and was told that I 'arrived too late' and had missed my flight. This was half an hour before flight time. I objected that we'd arrived half an hour ago and that Sean had printed his boarding pass AFTER mine refused.

Unfortunately, because he waited for me, they wouldn't let Sean board either! They also took his boarding pass so we couldn't prove when we'd arrived (actually, later, the parking receipt at least printed the entry time). We were pissed. And stressed because we had just expressed job dissatisfaction and our boss would probably think we were pulling this on purpose.

They told us the next flights 3 and 5 hours later were both full. Their complaints desk doesn't have a phone number, only takes written complaints and only after the travel is complete. We called our travel agency, who were great, they told us if we needed to, we could check back out and they'd credit the flight to a Westjet flight that had seats. But AC told us that our bags would need to be x-rayed if we checked out and it would take 2 and a half hours!

Then, they told us that even though the flights were 'full', their 'overbooking system' allows people to show up for basically any flight. So apparently a lot of people miss their flight and then are given seats (OUR seats!) on the next flight. I'm betting that's why I couldn't get a boarding pass over 45 mnutes before the flight time - they'd given my seat away but not Sean's.

So we waited at the wrong gate, because they changed it without announcing anything, before realizing that something was wrong and inquiring to find out about the change. All the standby people were called EXCEPT ME - they ended up with Sean. Argh. They told us they would have to page the person who wasn't there. They did that twice with no result, so I ended up taking the poor guy's seat and was on my way - FINALLY - to Halifax.

Restaurant:Grand Chinese Cuisine

Is high-class dim sum an oxymoron? Not at Grand Chinese Cuisine.

Sean and I trekked out for lunch to try this restaurant that Chowhound recommended. By and large, we weren't disappointed. Everything was quite tasty and there were some real standout dishes. Sean, of course, had to be DRAGGED to the restaurant whining that he 'didn't like dim sum'. I didn't let that disturb me, since he always does that ("I don't like sushi!"... "no food could be worth that!") Sure enough, he tasted the first dish and sheepishly promised, "Ok, I won't doubt you about food again."

I'll be holding him to that.

Details below...

Computer Problems = Money Problems

I upgraded to Windows 7 on the weekend. It went really well, considering. Just some minor-but-very-irritating issues with connecting to an old Samba share. Also? for some reason the Home Premium edition doesn't include the security policy editor. Fail.

Anyway, my data hard drive, which has been threatening to die for a while, finally did. I was able to get most of the data off, thankfully, but it took forever. Of course, a new hard drive, a dock to transfer files easily, another new hard drive for backups... all add up. Then I went and bought an Acer Home Server that I really didn't need because it was a great price. But I didn't have anywhere to put it and I didn't really need it (I only have 1 computer so I can really just keep everything on it). So I returned that.

Naomi's 4th Birthday

Naomi's 4 years old now - time is really flying fast. She seems to have a thing for tradition, though, same green pistachio cake, same chocolate cupcakes. (Same ladybug costume for halloween too! That was yesterday.) She seemed to have a good time, though she got a bit touchy toward the middle of the party.

Last year, she was all about my chocolate cupcakes, but this year she TOTALLY went for Grandpa's pistachio cake. I'm not sure what's with the BONFIRE of candles (each letter of "happy birthday") but she did a good job blowing them all out.

In unrelated news, Jen's brother is pretty good at table tennis - but unless he let me win, he's not quite as good as I am ;) I can't play easy against him, though, or he wins.

Princess Cake

Princess cake is a Swedish dessert. It's layers of cake with pastry cream and whipped cream, topped with green marzipan. Melanie had made them in the past working in a bakery but never gotten to taste it. So we decided to make one, using a recipe from Martha Stewart. Ours ended up looking a bit more like the homemade attempts than the Martha Stewart version :) More pix and text after the jump.

Garage Door Opener

Canadian Tire had a great deal on a garage door opener - a heavy duty one with 2 openers and a combo lock. At least I think it was a great deal, because it was about a hundred bucks off and the whole skid of them sold out.

Lisa and I installed it on Thanksgiving Monday, in between gorging ourselves on prime rib, yorkshire puddings and pumpkin pie. EVERYTHING went our way - the motor head landed squarely between the electrical outlet and the ceiling light, and underneath the ceiling joist. My neighbor's ladder was the perfect height to support the motor head in place. The rail just barely fit past the garage door spring. When we needed carriage bolts to attach to the door, my neighbour returned home and supplied them. (For some reason, the kit only supplied 2" lag bolts - who has a 2" thick garage door!?) Lots to be thankful for!

I also installed a lock in the garage door to disengage the opener from the outside, in case the power is out or the unit malfunctions. Unfortunately, I measured with the door closed and when open, the hole for the lock was too low and pulled the disengage hook as the door opened. So I had to move it higher, leaving a hole that needs patching.

Anyway, I'm glad to have it up before winter hits, so that I don't have to get out of the car unnecessarily.

Gaming and Google Earth

Dan, Jen and I went to Chris and Eva's place in Toronto to play board games. We played a variety of games, including Goldene Stadt (which I suck at) and Settlers of Cataan (which I'm OK at). There were other games, but I can't remember them anymore :)

Chris' condo is awesome, spacious and in the heart of the city on College and Yonge - steps from the universities, hospitals and biggest downtown shopping centre. And it was surprisingly inexpensive, making me entertain fantasies of living in the city...

In related news, Google Street View is making its way north - here's Chris' condo building Street View is pretty cool, but it's just a bit creepy. Sean's wife was parked in the street in front of his house and you can 'drive' right past it and look in the windows. Yeesh.

Apple Picking

We went apple picking at Pine Farms Orchard in King City. The trees were laden with many, many different kinds of apples and it was fun sampling them all (pesticides be damned!). It was a drizzly day, but we still had a good time. My favorite for eating were the Honey Crisp, but they were a bit more expensive than the others, which were only 89c/lb - not a bad price. Naomi had a good time but got tired pretty quickly.

Long Slow Stew

Quick recipes are nice, but when trying to make a really good meal out of very cheap meat, low and slow is the way to go. I cut the beef, tough shanks, ox tail and blade, into large chunks so that they wouldn't disappear over the 5 hour bake in the oven. I seared them off to add flavor and sauteed with a classic mirpoix (onions, celery and carrot). Smoked paprika with other herbs added some exotic flavor. Parsley, beans and cherry tomatoes from the garden rounded out the meal.

Recipe: Blueberry Muffins

Recipezaar comes through again! This recipe for blueberry muffins turned out really really well and were yummy. Also important, they were very easy to make and used ingredients that are easy to have on hand. I'm reproducing the recipe here so that I won't lose track of it.