Chromilo Amin

We had a Thomas & Friends themed birthday party over this past Easter weekend at home. I couldn't have asked for a nicer weekend. The weather was sunny and hot, and I believe the kids had fun. We had the bouncy castle in full effect in the backyard and had BBQ going. Some of the children activities included: 1) Easter egg hunt; 2) Tape the tail on the donkey blindfolded (we didn't want to use pins); 3) Hit the Pinata shaped like one of the Thomas & Friends characters; 4) Thomas & Friends birthday ice cream cake from Dairy Queen; 5) Trip to the Sullivan Heights Elementary School playground; 6) Gift opening; 6) and all day bouncy castle bouncing. Some things that worked well for this birthday included: 1) Order birthday supplies 11 days in advance from http://www.birthdayexpress.com . Everyone enjoyed the banner. 2) Use Facebook to set up the event and to send out quick invites. It's quicker than sending out snail mail invites (although we had nice themed cards). ...

Just completed another year of 10K Vancouver Sunrun and I believe that makes 5 years in a row now. I have religiously been at it and have never missed a year. Not sure what your motivation is for doing the sun run but I am going to attemp to explain mine. I used to run cross-country in highschool and was in the soccer team. I would say that helped with my endurance and allows me to keep doing the sun run every year. However, my childhood friend Gilbert on Facebook says "gone are the days", when I posted that this year's sun run wasn't my personal best. It took me 1:05 to complete this year and my fastest was under an hour. Checkout the results here http://www.raceheadquarters.com/results/2011/run/SunRun10K2011Menu.html I think the reason I run every year is to beat my previous time. It isn't to compete with anyone and it's not for the cardio workout (otherwise I would train for it and run more often). The reason I run is purely to improve on my last time. That...

I'm not even going to suggest that I am one and that I'm going to give you the answers. Its more a question that I ask to you for answers because I want to make sure I am being the best father to my children. I believe talking about what qualities make a good father will steer me into the correct path and realize some changes I need to make. I think I can draw upon experiences shared with my own father and how our father-son relationship have been so far. To be unselfish, open, and selfless is what this whole thing teaches me. I'm sure my father has been through a lot raising us and I thank the heavens for him. He teaches me to value education, be independent, and be self-reliant. In addition to this and more importantly, impart to your kids that it is ok to rely on others, to study hard but have fun studying, to always spend quality time with loved ones, and to cultivate good friendships. Being good providers to your family is key but it's not all about money right? T...

We have purchased the Motorolla HD PVR box earlier this year so that we can record TV programs like CSI, Criminal Minds, NBA, or The Bachelor. However, there are times when a recording is missed and you must watch that past show to understand the next. This is what happened with the The Bachelor on Monday February 14th. I forgot to record it because of Valentine's Day preparations and I was in the dog-house. I immediately tried youtube dot com. They always have all the past TV programs streaming on their web servers. Unfortunately, I get a message on the screen saying that I am not allowed to watch it because I am from Canada. Apparently, the ABC TV network only allows viewing of this show from the US. I asked around on Twitter and Facebook. Friends suggest using hulu dot com. I tried that and I got the same message about being a 2nd-class individual. Another friend suggested using an anonymizer, i.e. by using a legitimate public US proxy server. Searched online, found a few server...

I was just getting off the skytrain on my way to line up for the bus when I saw this funny scene. This woman (looked like a hooker) knocked on the door of the closed doors of the King George Smoke Shop where owner was closing up. He motioned to her that he was closed at which point she kicks the glass door. Owner was startled and he rushed to shoo her away. He opens the door and they have a short exchange of expletives I wished I could hear. This is where it got exciting. She spits in his face. The owner was so mad. She turns around to run and he bolts after her. She had a heavy bag with her but she was so much faster. They whizzed through the bus lineup and he slowed down when it was clear he couldn't match her speed. I wonder if he would have beaten her to a pulp if he caught up with her? Shop owner walks back to his store shaking his head, disappointed at the low-lifes he has to deal with around here. I hope he doesn't close shop and move elsewhere as that would really make ...

Here is a review of a baseboard heater for use in your basement if you are in the market for one. I just thought I would write one up because of the hassle I had to go through with my initial choice for a heater. I bought the Honeywell HZ-515C baseboard heater at Canadian Tire for $59 back in August 2008. It was for the basement suite where our friends Gabriel and Natasha are. It worked well for medium to large rooms and was quiet which was a great selling feature. However, by April 2009, the unit had stopped working and I was forced to get it replaced. The replacement warranty was 3 years for these units and it was only 9 months of use. The replacement unit was fine until it stopped working again in March 2010. This was almost a full year of use but I wasn't impressed at this point. I went back to Canadian Tire and wasn't surprised to see that they no longer carry this model. Even if they did carry it, I would probably just pick a different model for the same amount which is w...

My sister called the other day asking me to accompany her to her previous landlord's home to collect her security deposit. It has been over 15 days and she has not received the cheque her landlord says was mailed weeks ago. My sister was already highlighting excerpts from tenant-landlord document she downloaded online which states she can set collection agencies once 15 days of non-payment have elapsed or report her to the City for breaking the agreement. I said I would go with her to help out. My sister had already left a voicemail telling her landlord she was coming that night. Apparently, her landlord was hard to get a hold of and last time she did talk to her landlord, she was told that the cheque was in the mail. We didn't wait long at the door and when she did answer, we had our chat. Her landlord said the the mail was probably on the way and she wanted to make sure cheque wasn't cashed. I stopped her immediately saying that if we have not received it in 2-3 days, it...