Miller Tavern, Toronto, ON

Gord and I had supper this evening at the Miller Tavern (Bay/Queens Quay).


It's a comfortable place ... we sat at the bar.

There were three bartenders and they all took good care of us.

I had a St. Germain Cocktail ... it was yummy!

Gord had a Tavern Shandy which surprisingly tasted good.

For supper, I ordered the Sri Lankan Chicken Curry ... it was good and really really spicy.

Gord was adventurous and had the Seafood Salad Platter (he'd never tried ahi tuna before) ... he said it was good.

I'm not a fan of seafood and Gord's not a fan of curry so we didn't share.

I switched over to white wine and Gord had a Pretty Ricky ... I had a sip and could really taste the cucumber.

He also had a Pear Tree Martini ... which was tasty.

Here's Reed making it ... yes, he is lighting a lemon on fire!

When we left, we were rewarded with a great view of the CN Tower and the downtown core.

The Miller Tavern is a cool place and I'd go back.

The Fox, Toronto, ON

After the Raptors' game, Gord and I checked out the Fox (Bay/Queens Quay), which is across the street from the ACC. It's fairly new, on the ground floor of a condo building and we'd never been there.

It seems like a friendly place.

The owner has another restaurant, the Miller Tavern, right next door to the Fox. He also owns the Miller Tavern (formerly the Jolly Miller).

Our server took good care of us and was friendly.

Can you tell where the bathroom is?!

The fire alarm in the building went off for about a half hour and despite the fact that the fire department sent a couple trucks, we weren't asked to leave. Apparently a pipe had burst somewhere in the building.

We liked The Fox and would go back for a drink and maybe a bite to eat sometime again.

Toronto Raptors 92, LA Lakers 94

I got a couple tickets in our company's box for today's basketball game at the ACC (thanks, Stacey!) ... the Toronto Raptors vs the LA Lakers. Alas, the Raptors aren't doing so well, though the Lakers are doing better.

The Raptor was signing autographs on the main floor before the game.

Mats Sundin, a former Toronto Maple Leaf (they play hockey at the ACC too), had his number honoured last night.

The Raptors and the Lakers are getting warmed up.

The Raptors' dancers get things started.

And the game begins!

We were in the box ... our food (beef sliders, chicken fingers, chicken wings, rings, veggies, pizza, spring rolls, etc.) and drinks were provided. Natasha did an excellent job taking care of us.

This is looking towards the game from the back of the box.

Here's Gord.

At halftime, the Lakers were ahead. Oh oh!

The Raptors tied it in the fourth quarter. Whoohoo!

The Raptors are leading ... yippee!

There was lots of action in the last quarter.

Alas, the Lakers came back in the last seconds of the game and won. Boo!

Here are me and Gord after the game (it didn't take long for the ACC to empty out).

It was a fun exciting game! Too bad we lost.

Book ~ "Flashforward" (1999) - Robert J. Sawyer

From Amazon ~ What would you do if you got a glimpse of your own personal future and it looked bleak? Try to change things, or accept that the future is unchangeable and make the best of it? In Flashforward, Nobel-hungry physicists conducting an unimaginably high-energy experiment accidentally induce a global consciousness shift. In an instant, everyone on Earth is "flashed forward" 21 years, experiencing several minutes of the future. But while everyone is, literally, out of their minds, their bodies drop unconscious; when the world reawakens, car wrecks, botched surgeries, falls, and other mishaps add up to massive death and destruction.

Slowly, as recovery efforts continue, people realize that during the Flashforward (as it comes to be called) they experienced a vision of the future. The range of visions is astounding--those who would be asleep in the future saw psychedelic dream landscapes, while others saw nothing at all (presumably they'd be dead). But those who saw everyday life 20 years hence have to come to grips with evidence of dreams forsaken (or realized). Soon, the physicists who caused the Flashforward are struggling to help the world decide whether the future is changeable--and whether the experiment is worth repeating.

Gord had read this book recently and recommended it. I'd read Mindscan by Sawyer a few years ago and enjoyed it. I enjoy time travel stories and murder mysteries, and this promised both.

It has an interesting premise. The entire world stops suddenly ... as a consequence, many die in accidents (planes, trains and cars crash, people fall down stairs, etc.). For many who survive, they get to see 2.5 minutes of their life 21 years in the future. If you see some psychedelic, it meant you were sleeping at that time in the future. If you don't see anything, well, it meant you were dead.

I found this book boring. Its very science fictiony so a lot of stuff when over my head. Plus I found the writing draggy so found myself skipping ahead a lot. I found the characters cold and didn't really care about them. I thought the ending was silly.

Snow day

We woke up to -13C (-20C with the windchill) and some snow this morning.

We have been having an extraordinary winter this year ... it's been fairly mild and hardly any snow.

There is still a light snow falling ... should be interesting to see what it amounts to.

Book ~ " The Eat-Clean Diet" (2007) - Tosca Reno

From Goodreads ~ With The Eat-Clean Diet, the diet that fitness professionals rely on, readers will transform themselves from sluggish, exhausted and overweight to energetic, lean and fabulous Just like the author and cover girl Tosca Reno did when she was sixty pounds overweight, readers will discover how to make their bodies burn fat while eating tons of food. We've all seen the fitness professionals on the covers of magazines and wished we could look like them. The truth is, they are real people. Just like you, they had to figure out how to get their bodies to look like that. And they all came to the same conclusion: Eat Clean So who better to write a book on the subject than formerly overweight fitness diva and mother of three, Tosca Reno? Tosca shows you how to lose over sixty pounds, like she did, or just that last ten. When you read The Eat-Clean Diet you will: Rev up your metabolism to burn more fat -faster ; Lose weight quickly and easily; Never go hungry; Eat all food groups: protein and carbs and fat; Eat five to seven meals a day; Receive Eat-Clean recipes with color photos; Have more energy than you ever dreamed possible; Stay lean forever never worry about dieting again.

I like reading books about eating healthy. I saw Tosca Reno briefly interviewed on CP24 a couple weeks ago. She looked great so I thought I'd check out one of her books.

I didn't learn anything new ... but it was a good reminder to eat complex carbs with protein to stay full longer, eat smaller meals and drink lots of water.

Alas, there's a lot of repetition in this book. Drink lots of water. Yep, I've got it a couple times already. Eat complex carbs with protein. Yep, I've got that too.

At times, I found the writing was condescending and not in reality. Here's an example in the "Ordering out" chapter under "Making friends with the server".

"Use your charm in a firm but polite manner to win him or her over. Keep your instructions simple. Once you have charmed him into your corner, tell him politely but meaningfully that you will return the food if it comes covered in the things you didn't want."

Really?? He's going to spit in your food!

Or how about the chapter about feeding your kids:

"Once your children start Eating Clean they will not enjoy junk food in the same way. That's a promise! Teenagers have notoriously poor eating habits. They feed voraciously on greasy French fries and sugar-loaded carbonated beverages and all manner of garbage foods. These foods will lose their appeal after Clean Eating has been implemented in your household."

Hmmmm ... I doubt it.

Though there is some useful information, this is not a book I'd recommend.

CPBI Annual Benefit Ball, Toronto, ON

The CPBI had their fifth annual benefit ball this evening ... and I was there.

CPBI’s annual Benefit Ball, the only industry gala event for the pension, benefits and investment industries in Ontario, offers unique brand promotional opportunities for our business partners, members and friends. The 2012 CPBI Benefit Ball will be held on February 9th, 2012 at the Liberty Grand in Toronto.

Over 80% of all proceeds arising from Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of Canada’s fundraising activities across Canada are invested in research and education. The CPBI Benefit Ball is an important fundraiser, donating over $450,000 since its inception. To name a few, Mount Sinai Hospital, the Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto, McMaster University and the University of Calgary all benefit from the funds raised for CCFC. Embarking on our eighth year, our goal is to make this special fundraising evening more memorable than ever.

Please join us in helping CCFC fund the cure, a very worthy cause that affects so many of us today – together we will find the cure! We look forward to seeing you at THE industry event of the year!

This is the third year I've gone. I enjoy it because it's a chance to connect with people I don't see very often. And tonight I ran into people I haven't seen in years.

Medieval Times, which is just across the street from the venue, provided the entertainment. When arriving, there were knights handing out carnation to the women. There was an photo opp with a guy with a falcon. The emcee was an announcer with Medieval Times and had a great voice and sense of humour.

There was a silent action to raise funds for Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of Canada. I bid on a bunch of things and won two ... two tickets for Theatre Passe Muraille and and two tickets for the Factory Theatre. It cost me $55 for $170 tickets value. I was the only bidder on these tickets. Sweet!

Book ~ "The Litigators" (2012) - John Grisham

From Goodreads ~ The partners at Finley & Figg—all two of them—often refer to themselves as “a boutique law firm.” Boutique, as in chic, selective, and prosperous. They are, of course, none of these things. What they are is a two-bit operation always in search of their big break, ambulance chasers who’ve been in the trenches much too long making way too little. Their specialties, so to speak, are quickie divorces and DUIs, with the occasional jackpot of an actual car wreck thrown in. After twenty plus years together, Oscar Finley and Wally Figg bicker like an old married couple but somehow continue to scratch out a half-decent living from their seedy bungalow offices in southwest Chicago.

And then change comes their way. More accurately, it stumbles in. David Zinc, a young but already burned-out attorney, walks away from his fast-track career at a fancy downtown firm, goes on a serious bender, and finds himself literally at the doorstep of our boutique firm. Once David sobers up and comes to grips with the fact that he’s suddenly unemployed, any job—even one with Finley & Figg—looks okay to him.

With their new associate on board, F&F is ready to tackle a really big case, a case that could make the partners rich without requiring them to actually practice much law. An extremely popular drug, Krayoxx, the number one cholesterol reducer for the dangerously overweight, produced by Varrick Labs, a giant pharmaceutical company with annual sales of $25 billion, has recently come under fire after several patients taking it have suffered heart attacks. Wally smells money.

A little online research confirms Wally’s suspicions—a huge plaintiffs’ firm in Florida is putting together a class action suit against Varrick. All Finley & Figg has to do is find a handful of people who have had heart attacks while taking Krayoxx, convince them to become clients, join the class action, and ride along to fame and fortune. With any luck, they won’t even have to enter a courtroom!

It almost seems too good to be true. And it is.

I used to read a lot of Grisham's books but got away from them for a few years. I picked this one up because it's his latest.

There are three main characters (four if you count their receptionist, Rochelle) and I liked them. They are all so different with various goals. Oscar is nearing retirement and wants to spend his golden years without his wife, who is he hoping will die from the drug they are suing about (how's that for a conflict??). Wally is nearly fifty and is battling the bottle and is always looking for the latest get rich scheme. And David is in his mid-thirties and has no idea what his future will bring now that he's walked away from a high paying/high stress job with a law firm ... but he feels happy and free. Rochelle doesn't take any crap from anyone ... she turns away business from the struggling law firm if it means extra work for her.

I didn't really understand the mechanics of the how the courts work so let it go over my head.

You suspect you know how the drug case is going to go ... and you go along for ride on the train wreck you think is going to happen. I was cheering for them regardless.

I enjoyed the story and the writing style and would recommend this book.

Having fun at work

I work for a company that is based in Quebec. We have three marketing people in Toronto, with the majority of them in Montreal.

It was their manager's birthday today (happy birthday, Maryse!) and they wanted to send her a special message.

I sit near the boardroom where they had written Maryse a message and asked me to take some pictures of them they could send to her. So I did.

Then Janice started doodling on the white board.

Guess who she drew first? (Hint: me!).

Here she is in action drawing Serge.

Then she drew Larissa.

Then she drew herself.

Ta-da!

Super Bowl Sunday

Book ~ "Persuasion: A New Approach to Changing Minds" (2011) - Arlene Dickinson

From Amazon ~ At thirty, Arlene Dickinson found herself stranded. Recently divorced, she had a high school diploma, no savings and no clue how she was going to feed four young children. But just one year later, she was a partner in Venture Communications. Ten years on, she was CEO, poised to grow the business into one of Canada's largest independently owned marketing firms. Today, as a co-star of the CBC TV hit Dragons' Den, she is one of the country's most sought-after female entrepreneurs. The secret of her journey from poverty to the corner office? The art of persuasion, as she explains with wit and unusual candour in this, her first book. Blending her own frank and highly entertaining stories with compelling social science, she explains how to persuade both in the boardroom and in everyday life: the crucial importance of a particular kind of listening; how to get people to buy into your ideas; how to attract followers and deal with naysayers; the art of storytelling; how to turn mistakes to your advantage; and how to seize opportunities where others see only roadblocks. Anyone, she believes, can be persuasive-just look how good we are at persuading ourselves we can't do things. Using the tricks of her trade and insights from her own fascinating experiences with some of Canada's leading companies, Dickinson explains how to master the art of persuasion, without an M.B.A., to achieve maximum success in business-and in life.

I like Dragons' Den and I like reading bios and books about how to improve oneself ... this book had it all.

I could definitely hear Arlene's voice in this book. The focus is about persuading people to do what you want, whether that is in a business setting or in your personal life. Not surprising, because it is Arlene's voice, it's not a hard sell.

To her, the basis of persuasion is made up of authenticity, honesty and reciprocity. If you don't believe in yourself, how can you persuade others to believe in you?

Then there is the practical part ... being prepared and confident that you know what you are talking about.

Finally, whether you win or lose, you should analyze what worked well and what didn't.

Interspersed through the book are Arlene's stories and experiences, from both painful personal standpoint and business one.

It isn't a powerful dynamic book but I enjoyed it.

Crumpet and Morgan

It's been a while since I've posted a picture of Crumpet and Morgan together.

Here they are this afternoon ... lazily looking out the window.

As a reminder, here they are eight months ago, a week after we got Crumpet (she was about ten weeks old).

She's definitely grown!

Happy Groundhog Day!