Sleepless Night

I've been pretty tired the last few days and not wanting to do anything as a result. Last night I made an attempt to sleep early and of course failed miserably. I do remember a really disgusting "nightmare" though: 炒小強. I was 炒ing away in the dream and most disgusted at the fact. Of course I didn't eat any, but remember giving one to Meishan to try who in turn told me: 未熟喎! Absolutely disgusting!!! I'm so sorry Meishan, to put you in my dream like that! I'm shuddering at the fact as I'm writing this!

I'd rather be drinking perfume... right, V?

Woke up this morning to a really really sore right arm. I must have slept on it weird...

Quaken by a Shake or Shaken by a Quake?

Us Torontonians felt a magnitude 5.0 earthquake earlier this afternoon and I thought it was me!! I was sitting in the office talking to a co-worker when I noticed my chair rumbling and my monitor shaking. Apparently, the epicentre is just north of Ottawa so we had our share of the shake. Although more nerves were shaken than buildings, people actually evacuated their workplaces. Just 10 minutes after the "tremor" we got an interoffice email telling us what to do in an environmental emergency. LOL~ Then came the "what to do during a tornado" email 10 minutes later. Yep, tornado warning is in store for us today as well. First an earthquake, then a tornado... sigh... life in TO!

I heard about the high winds this morning on the radio, but didn't expect it to be a tornado warning. I'm worrying about my tomato plants on my balcony now. Being two feet tall, I'm more afraid of them flying over the balcony than being torn out by the winds, although I'd really like them to survive! I stuck two arrows in them this morning to hold the plants up during high winds, but if they fly over the balcony, those arrows can really hurt. Hopefully the winds won't be too bad, or I shall have to move my planters inside for the night.

How Pathetic

I've been having problems with my netbook mouse lately so I finally decided to call Microsoft Support to see if I can get it fixed before the warranty expires. Called last Monday, was placed on hold forever and got cut off -_-"" Just my luck. Tried to send an email to support but their webpage kept giving me this stupid message:

"Our system is not responding right now. We apologize for the inconvenience. Our technical team has been alerted and is working on resolving the problem."

My ass. Their system has not worked ever since I tried for the first time 8 days ago. Typical Microsoft. So days pass and I didn't get to call back until now, so while I'm still on hold waiting for a "technical support rep" (who the hell did I call in the first place then?), I thought I'd jot down the contents of the pathetic conversation for the record.

MS: what are you calling about?
me: Microsoft Arc mouse.
MS: what is that?
me: a mouse.
MS: can you spell that please?
me: (wtf?) A-R-C m-o-u-s-e
MS: what brand is your Microsoft mouse? Dell? Toshiba?
me: (am I on the wrong planet?!?) uh, Microsoft?
MS: what brand is your computer?
me: Asus.
MS: Acer?
me: no, Asus.
MS: is it Acer?
me: (I'm not getting anywhere) no, it's Asus.
MS: can you spell that please? Is it a-c-e-r?
me: NO! a-s-u-s! Asus!
MS: did you buy your mouse with the computer?
me: no.
MS: where did you buy your mouse?
me: (what difference does it make?!?!) at a computer store.
MS: oh, a computer store. Nice. Please stay on the line while I retrieve some information.

25 minutes later...

MS: thank you for holding Ms. Joyce, I will have to transfer you to technical support. Please continue to hold...

Argh! At least the next hold was short and sweet. The hardware tech rep actually sounded like he knew what he was talking about and didn't talk to me like I was an idiot, although he did ask me if I put the batteries in correctly (*facepalm). After the entire fiasco, I should be getting a new mouse in 7-10 business days. Nice enough of him to remind me that I have 3 years warranty on the mouse instead of 1.

We'll see how long that one lasts...or if it ever gets here...

Sixteen Years

After 16 years of collecting Airmiles and not one single redemption, I finally made the 10K mark. Sigh....this is pathetic. Time to really think about redeeming it all before they either jack up prices even more or cancel the program altogether (hope that doesn't happen anytime soon).

食米唔知價之麥記 Hash Brown 篇

This morning I had to trek all the way to Scarborough in rush hour traffic and by the time I left Midland/Finch to head to work, my stomach started hurting because I was so hungry. Since I haven't had hash browns in so long, I thought I'd pick one up at McD's on my way back to the office. McD's is having their $1 any size drink again this summer so I thought perfect, I can grab a Coke too (yep, my morning coffee). Walked into the McD's at 7 and Valleymede and ordered my hash brown and medium Coke (what the hell, it's still a dollar; turned out it was still super sweet even with all that ice they put in there). Total came to $2.61 which I gladly paid. Then I did a double take. The hash brown is $1.49?!?!?! Since when?? The last I checked, they were $0.89!!

Tells you how long I haven't had McD's...

V's Birthday and a Bake-a-Thon

What a great way to celebrate a birthday....by making the birthday girl make her own cake, LOL~! Nah, we weren't that mean. Last Saturday we celebrated 細 V's big three oh and before we went out to dinner, 可可, 細 V and I hung out at my place and we made chocolate cupcakes and black sesame macarons! I gotta say, after 3 failed attempts, my hopes were pretty high for them hopeful macarights. Watching for the feet was soooo nerve-wracking!! When they formed, I was jumping up and down for joy, LOL! They actually look decent this time! Hoot!

After dinner, we went to 可可's place to decorate the 5 dozen cupcakes that we made and attempted marshmallow fondant for the first time. Surprisingly enough, it tastes okay~

Two Doors Opened to Two Bellinis Slurped

On Sunday, 可可 and her 蜜糖兔仔 organized a little itinerary to tour some of the places that were participating in Doors Open 2010 so along with 細 V, Gootoe, a couple of 可可's friends, 文生 and I tackled the CityTV/Omni station and the Elgin & Winter Theatre. Unfortunately, due to road closures and heavy traffic, we were kinda, um... late and didn't get to go to Redpath Sugar. I was pretty disappointed in the CityTV building as we didn't get to do much but sit around for a Rogers presentation despite waiting in line for about an hour. Looking back at the Doors Open photos from 2008, it seem like we did quite a bit more stuff than just wait in line, LOL~! Regardless, we had lots of fun chatting, baking in the sun, taking photos and catching up! Thanks to 可可 for organizing!

I'm still chuckling at the comment made by the 路人甲 waiting in line behind us while we were enjoying our vendor dogs, "唔係遊客都唔食熱狗喇!" Ya, we drove over an hour to get downtown since the highway was packed, so there's some truth to it I suppose.

Highlight of the afternoon was definitely the bellinis that we had a Milestones...yum! Slurped them up in no time. Very yummy! Can't wait for Saturday when we go celebrate 細 V's birthday at Moxie's where we can get it twice as big for a fraction of the price.

Probably the only thing I miss about living downtown is the great samples they give out at Dundas Square. Just before we left, we were given two bottles of VH cooking sauces, Vindaloo and Tikka Masala. I skimmed through the label and didn't quite like the idea of having to use the entire 341mL bottle of sauce to make just 4 servings of a dish (which equals only 2 servings for 文生 and I). After all, sauces are supposed to only compliment a dish, right? Well, maybe except pasta sauce, LOL. I'm usually not a fan of using cooking sauces since I don't believe you can get authentic flavours like you do from making things from scratch. I still don't get why people buy 李錦記 麻婆豆腐、宮保雞丁 sauces. It's so easy to make! Then again, not everyone likes keeping 18 different bottles of hot sauces in their fridge. LOL! That being said, I was determined to give the VH sauces a try. My hopes weren't exactly high when I used the Tikka Masala sauce to make lunch for today. Just finished it and my thoughts, meh... it's not very flavourful. Will probably not buy it again. Now I'm definitely not betting my pennies on the Vindaloo sauce.

I wonder how much these bottles retail for?