Permission

Permission. 

Such a simple word, yet it means so much.

For a young child it means that your mom says you can go and play at your friends house and maybe even sleep over.

For a teen it means getting the keys to the car for the night because your parents trust you with that responsibility. 

For an adult, well there really is no permission.   That is unless you are married and your wife says you can do something. 

Recently, I had a request from the Webmaster, Brenda, of the Bolton & District Horticultural Society for permission to use the shovel photo I took in May 2008 on a tour of Merlin's Hollow. 

My reply was was in the affirmative and I only requested proper credit back via link to the photo albumn itself or a link to my main website.

In return the Bolton & District Horticultural Society got to use the photo and pat on the back blog entry as well. 

Permission...sometimes it's so easy to get.

Man I wish I had that when I was Planning

Google recently launched a website for those getting married.  It is a simple concept really for Google.  Merely have great applications that those planning a wedding can use and then create a website that shows users how to use these services can be used for wedding planning. 

Now if only had that and the time to investigate the apps a little more, the planning for my wedding in 2009 would have been so much simpler.

Burger, Beer & Wings at Archie's

Yesterday I headed over to Archibald's Pub (8950 Yonge Street, Richmond Hill) with my father for a little lunch.  

We easily arrived, entered and sat down.  The waitress came over with menus quickly and inquired what we would like to drink. 

After a while she returned with our drinks and we ordered.

The Order: ARCHIE'S FIRE RIVER ANGUS BURGER (7 oz. Canadian Angus beef served with all the trimmings) with fries and Coke and ARCHIE'S ROADHOUSE CRISPY WINGS with a Rickard's Red. 

Due to this being a weekday lunch time the restaurant wasn't that busy thus our food came quickly after we ordered. 

The burger was well put together and tasted great.  The fries seemed to be right out of the fryer and barely put on the plate before it was served. Both the burger and fries were freshly made and not sitting around.

My father seemed to enjoy the wings as they quickly dissappeared.  

Our waitress periodically came by to see if everything was fine and we had really nothing to say except our lunch was great. 

The decor though could be renovated as it looks a little dated.  Most customers sit along the window booths while the rest of the place is empty.  Hopefully with a little updating Archibald's can be seem a little more welcoming to the customers to sit more around the restaurant rather than just in the window booths. 

Overall Archibald's is a great lunch time place as there are not that many others there yet the food is great.  The evening meals can be a little slow in service from the kitchen as they get backed up depending on how many people are that bar.  But overall the food is fresh and the service is usually decent.

Shovel your own Snow!

Recently a merchant in downtown Newmarket complained to the local paper about the snow removal from Main Street in Newmarket. Patricia Carmichael, of Carmichael Salon and Day Spa, has complained that the town plows the snow from main street to the side of the road and creates a big wall of snow her clients have to climb over to access her store.  Ms. Carmichael believes the town should be digging out access points every so often for customers of main street to park their cars on the side of the street and then climb through the snow banks to the shops.  She herself has hired a contractor to do this type of service for her particular store but she still wishes the Town of Newmarket would do this service.  The paper even interviewed a 75 year old lady about the issue to paint the "wo is me" type mentality into the article about how it is hard for her to get the to merchants.   The town replied that they do not provide the service but does remove excess snow when the banks get high and when time permits.

It seams Ms. Carmichael misses the point.  Government (Town of Newmarket in this case) cannot do everything for all people.  The town currently plows the streets and the sidewalks in Newmarket and the snow from these operations must go somewhere, hence the walls.  To create the access points the town would have to pay additionally to have the contractor return and, depending on the circumstance, hand dig or plow out the access points.  This added cost would have to either be born by the entire town's taxpayers or by just the merchants on Main Street through a local improvement tax.  The local improvement tax would be calculated by the town on how much it costs to provide the service of creating the access points.  So Ms. Carmichael basically wants the town to pay for the cost and, thus, either pass on the cost to all taxpayers for her special perk or burden the businesses of Main Street in Newmarket with the cost via a local improvement tax.

The same two methods could be completed for those who live the new townhouse areas that have on street parking.  Along Bantry Avenue in Richmond Hill between Yonge Street and Bayview Avenue residents periodically dig out pathways between the sidewalk and the street across the boulevard so they can access their cars parked on the side of the road.  Should the Town of Richmond Hill be doing this service? If Ms. Carmichael is successful in getting the Town of Newmarket to create and pay for the creation of the access points, shouldn't the residents in the townhouses who want similar access points also have the right to the same service?  Wouldn't this just increase property taxes overall?

There is another way to resolve the issue of course.  Ms. Carmichael could do the work herself.  She could, shudder the thought, walk outside, grab the shovel and shovel the snow to a width of her snow shovel!  Oh for crying out loud! We can't have that, Ms. Carmichael might chip a nail!  This method would ensure that the Town doesn't get dinged with this expense and Ms. Carmichael could assist in resolving the issue.  This method is what the merchants on Yonge Street in Downtown Aurora use as well.  Heck, some merchants even shovel the entire sidewalk in front of their stores before the snow removal contractors from the Town of Aurora come by.  Imagine that, taking initiative and assist in resolving the issue and not depending on the government for assistance.

Ms. Carmichael grab a shovel or hire someone to do it for you!  The Town of Newmarket doesn't need to clear your snow.  Shovel your own Snow.

Kung Hei Fat Choi!

Happy Chinese New Year!

What happened at Wendy's?

Today I had a craving for a burger.  Mmmmmm burger, I thought to myself where is a good place?  Hero Burger? McDonald's? Nope, been there done that recently.

I headed to good old Dave's Wendy's (10520 Yonge Street, Richmond Hill) expecting an excellent burger, good fries with a Coke at an excellent price. 

I took the bus up to the location and was surprised the entire parking lot around the Wendy's store was plowed even though we were in the midst of Snowmaggeden! 

I entered to a mostly empty restaurant with only one person ordering at the counter.  The service seemed a little slower than normal, but I chalked it up to it being a slow day at the restaurant.   Eventually this person was served and it was my turn. 

The Order: 1 Single Combo (1 burger, medium fries and medium coke). 

I was suprised at what I got in return.  The order was correct, the size of fries and Coke hadn't changed.  The burger seemed well wrapped, the price was wrong.  $7.44 including taxes for a burger, fries and a coke! 

The single combo is now $5.89 base price and then a surcharge of $0.69 is required to make it a medium combo.  Before, a medium Single combo used to be $5.50ish and included all the medium sized items.  Talk about a price increase.

I've learned recently that old reliable burger fast food places like McDonald's, Wendy's and others are becoming expensive for what you receive.  The only way to get decent value from these places anymore is to use the coupons from the mailbox.  McDonald's normally sends out coupons periodically for a two can dine for $8.98 which allows me to purchase two Big Mac Meals for $10 and change.   What a big difference to what I received today for value for money that Wendy's offerred.

The food itself was satisfactory for a burger place. The fries were just as I remembered them, warm and tasty great with a little ketchup and washed down the with a Coke.  The quantity of the fries was the same as it always was.  Wendy's at least didn't mess around with that.

The single burger on the other hand looked a little sad.  The burger was find but there was one sheet of lettuce with a tomato smushed on top with ketchup, mustard and relish splattered on.  It didn't appear topped the way old Dave would have wanted it.  If I wanted a burger like this I would have gone to an elmentary school BBQ where a 9 year old could have served me.   

Things are starting to decline at least at this Wendy's, the price and burger topping are just the beginning. 

It makes you wonder what happenned at Wendy's since Dave has permanently left the company.  What happenned indeed.

Snowmaggedden!

Last night the local media have been calling for thirty centimetres of snow, blustry winds and cold temperatures.   Snomaggedden! was being proclaimed by The Toronto Star as the storm had Toronto in it's sites.

This morning I awoke to find about ten to fifteen centimetres of snow on my front stoop and driveway.  The only regret I have in the past year is moving from an apartment where the shovelling was done for me.  At least it wasn't as bad as where I used to live in Aurora with my parents.  It would probably take over an hour to clear the driveway instead of half an hour for a quick cleanup with my shovel. 

Snowmaggedden?  Hardly, my wife made it to work without an issue and Yonge Street in Richmond Hill had light traffic but was partially snowcovered.   Was Toronto snowed under and crying "UNCLE?" or calling in the military to shovel our sorry carcasses out?  No sir, except for the Downsview Airforce base, the army was barely seen today. 

My only regret?  We should have booked the cruise for this week so I could have been enjoying this:

instead of close two twenty centimetres of the white stuff.   

You win some,you lose some... - J. Askenberg