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.

Taxpayer Supported SPAM

Spam is the abuse of electronic messaging systems (including most broadcast media, digital delivery systems) to send unsolicited bulk messages indiscriminately. While the most widely recognized form of spam is e-mail spam, the term is applied to similar abuses in other media: instant messaging spam,Usenet newsgroup spam, Web search engine spam, spam in blogs, wiki spam, online classified ads spam, mobile phone messaging spam, Internet forum spam, junk fax transmissions, social networking spam, and file sharing network spam. - Wikipedia.

Spam in blogs (also called simply blog spam or comment spam) is a form of spamdexing. It is done by automatically posting random comments or promoting commercial services to, wikis, guestbooks, or other publicly accessible online discussion boards. Any web application that accepts and displays hyperlinks submitted by visitors may be a target.
Adding links that point to the spammer's web site artificially increases the site's search engine ranking. An increased ranking often results in the spammer's commercial site being listed ahead of other sites for certain searches, increasing the number of potential visitors and paying customers.- Wikipedia

On October 23rd I visited my blog to find a new comment to the most recent post I made. As a blogger I love when people comment. Fellow blogger Jack put it best in a recent post "It would be great to get a lot of comments on every post....I like comments, but I don't blog for them...it is not my central focus." I enjoy blogging but don't aim for comments myself either. I blog what is on my mind and sometimes to let off a little steam (like when I run into incompentance of various natures).

So I clicked on the "comment link" to the post and eagerly awaited Rogers Internet to deliver to deliver my comment content. Sadly I was dissapointed, to find a SPAM entry. Now I don't get many SPAM entries (in fact I can barely remember the last one) but sadly a SPAM entry has to be one of the most frustratrating things that a blogger can run accross in his/her comment section.

But this time it was even worse. I quickly read the comment from "Jordan" who started off noting that his comment was directly toward the post about my dining experience at Fran's in Toronto. He then goest to ramble on about VIVAnext for the rest of his comment and mentioning the VIVAnext website and VIVAnext's current contest for an ipod Nano. Not only was I being SPAMmed but I was being SPAMmed by a taxpayer payed employee of the Region of York whose job is to market the yet to put a shovel in the ground VIVAnext program.

Apparently part of Jordan's job during a workday is to runaround the blogosphere and post unsolicited SPAM comments about VIVAnext's blog and website address. This is proven considering that this blog post points out that Jordan has posted comments to that blog's post and another blog's posting. Perhaps this is done so VIVAnext will have more links to it's website for search engine purposes (currently listed 1st for the website and 2nd for the blog on Google) or just to attract more visitors.

I wonder what will happen if I were to visit the VIVAnext blog and post a comment beginning with "while this isn’t a comment directly related to the recent blog posting.." and then advertise my blog or my company's services whether it would get through the moderators there. I happen to think that, hypocritically (which VIVA is well known for), they would probably delete my SPAM post and yet "Jordan" and others would continue on with their SPAMing ways. The worst part of all this, you and I the Region of York Taxpayers and/or VIVA Transit riders are paying for all this. And for this YRT/VIVA will no doubt raise transit fares again just like they have for the past three consecutive years.

A Little Dinner at Fran's tastes mediocre

My wife and I were looking for a place to eat for dinner in downtown Toronto and stopped by Fran's Restaurant (20 College Street, Toronto). My wife wanted an all day breakfast and I was satisifed with a burger and fries so we sauntered in noticing several other tables were occupied.

The waiter took our drink Orders (Pepsi and a glass of water). He returned with two glasses of water. I waited for the Pepsi thinking the waiter was being polite and bringing water out for the table and the Pepsi would be coming.

We placed our orders of a "Premium Fran Breakfast" and a Classic Franburger with Fries".
The food came about 10 minutes later. The waiter ensured there was ketchup, relish and mustard on the table and was about to leave. I inquired if the Pepsi I ordered was available yet at this time?It quickly appeared after only the SECOND REQUEST!

The fries were dry for my liking but the burger was good. The Homefries in the breakfast were perfect. However the sausages, cut in half length wise were a little dry as well.

If we are in the area again perhaps we'll return. However, this isn't exactly the best "greasy spoon" restaurant in town.

Retail Incompentence Astounds me

Yesterday Yvonne and myself headed to Downtown Toronto for a little lunch with my sister, a tour of Yorkville (Yvonne had never been) and to purchase a new winter jacket at Mountain Equipment Co-Op (MEC).

Lunch was decent at Made in China on Yonge Street just south of Gerrard. We did a quick walking tour of Yorkville and visited Indigo so my sister could purchase a book. Following this we headed to Valu mart where my sister did a little grocery shopping. So far so good.

Yvonne and I headed down to King Street to MEC to investigate men's winter jackets for me. We looked through the two or three racks of jackets until I settled on the "Frostbreaker Parka". I wanted one in black and sorted through the rack twice by myself and at least once by Yvonne. This was to no avail. I tried on a brown one in my size and it fit perfectly. However, the brown I wasn't keen on.

So we tried asking one of the associates. The female associate was talking to another one right near the rack I was so I enquired about the size I wanted. She quickley went over and looked it up on the computer and we saw there was seven in stock. She dissapeared to the backroom for three minutes and returned empty handed saying they didn't have any.

I dejectly thanked her for her time and effort and slowly walked away with Yvonne. Yvonne wouldn't have any of it. She said we should ask someone else. Yvonne wouldn't take no for an answer from me and we wandered around the top of the store once more. Eventually I gave into her persistance and we approached a male associate at the back of the store. We told him what we wanted and again looked it up and saw seven were in stock. He dissappeared into the back again for three minutes and came back out WITH A JACKET!

I tried on the jacket and it fit perfectly. We walked downstairs and browsed the bag section for Yvonne before heading the cash.

One of my all time pet peeves in the retail environment is the poor back room organization and stocking practices. Working in the retail sector I know back rooms can be messy with a lot of stock coming in at one time. However, during down times the stock room should be organized to so that stock can be quickly found and moved onto the floor when required.

In my case MEC failed to have an organized backroom as the first associate couldn't find the jacket I was looking for even though there were seven of them. The other theory is the first retail associate I ran into simply "didn't care".

I prefer the original idea that their backroom is not organized. When I saw the male associate enter the backroom they had clothing up hanging from on high on racks and below also on racks. I presume these racks ensure the clothing is hung and is ready for the sales floor. However, I'm not quite sure in the brief glimpse how one tells what type of clothing is on the top rack or how it is retrieved from the top rack at all. So this may been a problem for the female associate who failed to find my jacket as she was looking on the racks and not for the boxes.

However, the male associate brought one out in a plastic bag with the jacket folded in it. This would suggest that the jacket came from a box of these and hadn't been hung up on the racks in the back ready to be moved to the sales floor. But then again, the fact the store didn't have any of my size on the floor in that colour and the next size down shows the store hasn't stocked the racks on the sales floor for quite some time. Perhaps if the staff on the sales floor weren't talking to one another and instead took greater interest in stocking the racks this problem wouldn't occur and more sales would be made.

This leads us back to stocking the racks in the first place (the first issue of my visit for my jacket). The backroom in theory should be where the items are brought into the store off the trucks and prepared (e.g. hung, price tagged, etc.) for the sales floor. Once this is complete the coats and other items should be brought out and put on display. If there is not enough room on the salesfloor, the existing stock on the salesfloor should be checked for sizes so that all sizes are on the sales floor and others held on the racks in the backroom waiting to go out as stocks were depleted. Obviously in my case my new jacked skipped the backroom prepping (first mistake) and never made it to the salesfloor when my size no longer had any there (second mistake). Follow this up with the female sales associate who couldn't find any despite there supposedly being seven in the store's inventory (third mistake).

What does all this amount too? A possible lost sale of over $100 for Mountain Equipment Co-op if not for the persistance of a wife of mine.

Little Petey got Married!

This past weekend my little (or not so little) brother Peter got Married to Alice Xu at the McMichael Art Gallery in Kleinburg, Ontario.

It was a wonderful wedding at an interesting place. The wedding took place after the McMichael Art Gallery closed for the day. The ceremony itself took place in the lobby of the art gallery and following the ceremony cocktails were service and attendees were allowed to wonder the art gallery at will. Following that dinner and dancing occurred.

The only downfall is the lighting in the lobby and in the gallery's multi purpose rooms is not that great for pictures. So I only have a few found here.

CONGRATS LITTLE PETEY & ALICE!

A new day at Aurora United Church

This morning Aurora United Church opened it's new Sanctuary. There still is some work to be done, but it was ready for it's first Sunday Service. Since May, a great transformation has occurred which was documented by Bob Kyriakides here.

Fast forward to today and the only things left are to finish adding a few lights here and there, hook up a few speakers and microphones, install the pews in the balcony, a sliding glass door and a few touch ups and it will all be done.

Below are the pictures I took today of the the outcome of the renovations:

The Chancel Area

 

The Congregation in the new Sanctuary

 

A look from the balcony of the new Sanctuary.

 

A look from the chancel area to the rear of the new Sanctuary.

 

A look at the cross over the chancel area.

I can't wait until Aurora United Church's Sanctuary is fully completed. To see how the Sanctuary looked before the renovations check out Bob's website or my Aurora Photos.

Sometimes they just refuse to answer the question...until the Second Time!

Earlier this past week I read a blog post at the VIVAnext blog about how great level boarding would be for VIVA buses in the next phase of the VIVA process to bring rapid transit to York Region would be. (For more on the next phase for VIVA, visit the VIVAnext website).

I was a little puzzled about this new "level boarding" concept as I thought the current VIVA stops and buses were designed for "level boarding". I would later find out I was incorrect that the current set up is basically the same as a low floor bus pulling up to a regular sidewalk next a curb. Thus this is not level boarding. Apparently when YRT and York Region built the current stops they didn't measure the height of the new VIVA vehicles to what they were building. That was probably way to much forthought and engineering work.

But back to my puzzlement. I originally thought that the current VIVA stations provided "level boarding" already as much as possible. Thus I posted this Comment as a question at the VIVAnext blog post:

Quick question: How will the level boarding at the new VIVA Stations differ from what is currently in place at the current VIVA stations in place?

I thought it was a simple enough question that the blog poster, "Dale A" could provide a simple answer or update the original blog post of how the proposed new VIVA Stations would differ on the concept of "level boarding."

But apparently that was to easy and "Dale A" chose the "I'll give the answer in a bureaucratic runaround by not actually answering the question" type style:

DaleA: Thanks for the comments above and sharing your concerns! We’re looking into various options with the possibility of new fare machines being in place on the vivastations when the rapidways are complete. We’re still exploring the options, but I can tell you that every new vivastation will have a new fare machine with many more options for paying, including Presto and credit/debit cards. Adding solar panels to stations has been something that we have also been discussing and we hope that new technology with the panels in the future will allow us to add some that form to the top of the canopy. We’re looking forward to level boarding because it makes it easier and faster for people to get on and off Viva. People with buggies, strollers, canes, wheelchairs and so forth can simply enter or exit the vehicle without delay or extra effort.

So I was obiously perplexed that "Dale A" couldn't answer the question. Didn't he ride the current VIVA system? If you are marketing improving something shouldn't you know what the current system in place works? So just for my own amusement, and others blog readers, posted the following:

Dalea:
How about answering my question about level boarding as the bove doesn’t really work. I wasn’t asking about fare machines and solar panels. I asked a simple question:
“How will the level boarding at the new VIVA Stations differ from what is currently in place at the current VIVA stations in place?”

Please answer the question of how the new VIVA Stations LEVEL BOARDING will be different from the current VIVA Stations. The answer to my original question just doesn’t answer it.

And finally, "Dale A" actually comes through with an answer to my original question asked!:

DaleA: Currently, when a Viva vehicle pulls up to a stop, the floor of the bus is higher than the sidewalk/platform you’re standing on. Therefore, riders must step up to get on the vehicle. This not only increases the time to board and get off, but it is even more time consuming for riders with buggies, strollers, canes and wheelchairs. Level boarding will be significantly different from what is currently in place because the platform will be raised to be at the same level as the floor of the bus. Riders will then be able to walk straight across to board or exit the vehicle – even with buggies, strollers, wheelchairs and so forth. Hope that clarifies it.

Now I, and others, have a better understanding of what the VIVAnext team are aiming at. However what is most noticeable is it took two attempts for the marketing team to answer a a very straightforward question without avoiding the issue. It seems to me either politicians are starting to have an influence on the VIVAnext team (read: avoid answering the question at all costs) or the VIVAnext team has been learning customer service methods from Rogers or Bell (read: totally dumbfound or impress the customer with all sorts of non relevant stuff brick a brack that they will leave satisfied and forget the original question). All in all not a great day for the team at VIVA and VIVAnext.