Chromilo Amin

We went to the BC Place Stadium last week for Canada's largest indoor carnival. It was from March 16 – 20, 2012 and the kids had fun. The place was busy with tons of rides, attractions, and food stands. We found great parking at a public parking garage just steps away from the ticketing office. We tried the carousel. We were all a little happier than this angry bird. We tried the Hog Wild motorcycle ride. The attendant kept it going round and round and round the tracks for multiple revolutions. He must have had a very interesting conversation with one of the parents because he didn't stop the ride for a long time. Kids had cotton candy at the food stands, and then fish and chips at the food court. I didn't like the food at the food court at all but what can you expect, right? We walked up and down Robson Street after that and dined out at one of the noodle shops on the strip. Lotsa fun. Here is mo...

The ladies all went out for a night of R&R to a bar with a live band this past weekend. I'm not naming names but one of them was propositioned by someone I would probably refer to as a female pimp (also known as 'madam'), to an elderly man she introduced as her friend. The way it was explained to me, the ladies were all approached by an elderly Filipina woman that night, who asked if one of them would be interested in hooking up with her friend. The ladies described her as a stereotypical madam wearing provocative clothing and one even mentioned that she lacked 'support' in the chest region especially given the attire she had on. Of course they politely said no but this woman still brought over her 'friend', an elderly East Indian man and introduced him as Harold or Harry to one of the ladies. She singled out one of the ladies in the group for her friend Harold (or Harry, whatever). I thought that this was all very good and normal but then she whispered ...

I freaked out a little when I was handed the bill for a bowl of take-out chicken noodle soup at Golden Panda Restaurant in Surrey, BC. It was for $6.66 (see attached receipt for "CNS" or Chicken Noodle Soup). Ominous sign, right? Nope, just good old hearty soup.

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...