Chromilo Amin

It's been a few days after the day and I recount the experience leading up to the hype that is Valentine's Day. I'm glad it's over because it was a little expensive for me. I understand why some people say we should celebrate V-day everyday but it gets stressful and depletes your finances if not careful. It's very easy to get carried away in the emotion of it all and personally, I'm glad it's a once-a-year event. Here is my simplistic approach/formula for making it a successful day, i.e. Wife + Happy = Happy Life. I list 4 items I did to make this happen: 1) The present - A Gift card Talk it over with her a few weeks before and see if she would like to be surprised or if she would rather go out and buy it herself. Gift cards are easy as long as you get the correct store name for the gift card from her. This is important because you cannot refund gift cards. I didn't know about that, did you? I got one from the perfume store Sephora http://www.sephora.co...

I was at a Magicut Salon yesterday for a much needed haircut and was suprised to get a teary-eyed hair stylist. I stopped here on my way to a dentist appointment and was mildly surprised at the experience while at the salon that day. A customer and her sister were having a loud argument in the salon with another hair stylist, about the hourly rates for doing her hair. Customer said she was promised $10 an hour by my hair stylist, when in fact it should have been around $25. My hair stylist started whispering to me about the situation, how they failed to understand what she meant about the advertised reduced rate, and how she will probably get fired over this. She started to cry saying this is the last I'll be seeing of her at the salon. I felt bad for her, and worried a little about what she might do to my hair. Not sure if I have ever gotten a haircut from a crying hairstylist, so I continued to listen in. She said that she was hated at that salon by one very mean co-harstylist, w...

We purchased the Vitapur VWD5446BLS water dispenser from Canadian Tire in 2008 and it's taken until 2012 for an issue to come up with it. I would say that is very good for any product. The problem is that it leaks and creates a puddle when plugged in overnight. When unplugged however, there is no leak. I checked the coils in the back and there were some condensate the first time it happened so I reduced the mperature setting so that it's not too cold. However, I think I set it in the reverse direction, setting it colder, and I'm not sure if that caused another puddle overnight. It seems extreme if the issue is with condensation. I emailed the makers GreenwayHp Support and received great customer service. They walked me through the obvious, like check for cracks in the water bottle, but in the end I wouldn't be able to get any service for it because it was already out of warranty. I asked for local repair shops and they suggested Langara ...

Little K learned from class last week how a male penguin keeps the egg warm until it hatches. They were tasked to do the same at home, with a hard boiled egg, to teach the child responsibility. They were to care for the egg, take it wherever they go, and keep a journal of the adventure. Here is K's journal (with a little help from us): "I received my very own penguin egg to care for and keep safe on Wednesday morning. My Mom placed my penguin egg in a ziplock bag and asked me to take care of it like we learned in class. It keeps it warm and cozy being inside the bag. My sister C also wanted to care for my egg but I didn't let her. She took it from me during playtime at home and I cried. A lot. My Mom helped get it back at which point I decided to keep it in my pocket. I carried it around like that all day until we took a nap. I put my egg on my pillow and we took a nap together. After naptime we went to Costco and we took my penguin egg with us. It was in my pocket a...

After a few days of intense non-stop work, we were glad to unwind with a friend who lives in Toronto. Driving to his place was an adventure even with a GPS, as we unintentionally got onto railroad tracks towards incoming train cars. Honest mistake. We went to his quaint lowrise condo in the Toronto proper for some chips, chicharon, roasted almonds, home-made salsa dip and guacamole. His condo complex is a long brick warehouse on the west side of Lansdowne just below Davenport. This converted warehouse has a very big atrium for residents and it's very beautiful. It reminds me of the houses in the Yaletown district in Vancouver. He also served some local beer, including Coffee Porter beer which I enjoyed last time we visited with him at a local distillery in the old Toronto area. For dinner, we went out to Zocalo bistro / restaurant at The Junction, which is an up and coming neighborhood hangout for the working-types I am told. We had three different types of cheese, a few shareable...

I saw this homeless man sleeping on the Canada Line on my way to the YVR Airport. I forgot to disembark at the terminus station and the skytrain started heading back to the Waterfront station. I noticed that the homeless person stayed on and continued sleeping, so I gathered that he probably had been sleeping on the same train going back and forth between terminus stations. Nothing wrong with that because I know that riding the skytrain lulls me to sleep everytime I take it. Its a little chilly outside before 8am so I'm sure the poor guy was probably just trying to keep warm. I hope transit officers don't kick him out for overstaying on the trains as it appears it isn't too busy.

This is the first year we have donated to Samaritan's Purse www.samaritanspurse.ca for the Operation Christmas Child program. Great to actually do that on top of or instead of just buying family gifts during Christmas. We have just dropped off our one shoebox filled with toys, clothes, and a personalized Christmas card for a 2-4 year old girl. Hope she(her parents) keep in touch. We have also included a monetary donation on top of the $7 fee to cover shipment charges for the shoebox. The shoebox is bulging and barely closes shut because we have squeezed in all the items below: - Doll - Teddy bear - Toothbrush - Crayons - Sweater - Shirts I thought we missed the deadline for the shoebox dropoff but luckily you have until November 27. Just go to their website to find the closest dropoff location to you, or call them per below: (Samaritan's Purse, www.samaritanspurse.ca , 1-800-303-1269)