Friday, July 26, 2013

Beat the parking ticket! Uh huh!

A good thing happened this week when I went to court. I won the case against my parking ticket. Yep, got the ticket back in May when I went to lunch downtown. Came out an hour later and saw the ticket. Wait a minute, I put money in the meter.
Sure enough there was still time on the meter. But this was no ordinary parking ticket… apparently, even though I paid the meter, I was getting in the way of daytime street sweeping. This was a $50 fine. Whoa! 50 buckaroos is a lot of money. So I challenged it, did some research and the court agreed. It seems the no-parking sign the city posted was an incorrect no-parking sign. So I was pleased I didn’t have to pay the $50. So were the four other people in traffic court who had the same tickets I did. I wonder how many people just paid the fine?

Tuesday, July 09, 2013

Work is noble ... Grandma said so.

I was just driving home from work, when I spotted a fellow on Cedar North, going door to door. He had one of those name tags for direct home sales and a clipboard. For an instant, I thought, ... just a pesky door to door sales guy. Then it hit me, words from my Grandma... All work is noble! Suddenly I empathized with the guy. He's young, clean cut, shirt and tie and it's 29 degrees out there. As I drove by I noticed that he seemed determined. It is certainly not a glamour job. Maybe he's a kid putting himself through university or college. The important thing is, he is working. There's a lot of people out there who act loud and proud and wouldn't do the work. That's too bad. Like Grandma said, work is noble. There is a good friend of mine in this town who had a very posh job a few years back. Suddenly, through no fault of his own, the job was eliminated. Sometime later, I ran into him ... he was working as a stock boy at Wal Mart. He was as cheerful as ever. I had to admire that. The guy picked up and kept working. And now he has another posh position... A government job no less(Ka-ching). So I have to remember that, work is noble. If somebody is working, they're doing their part to carry their load. They have my respect.

Saturday, July 06, 2013

Good job Gillette!

It was last September I posted a note here singing the praises of the Gillette Fusion razor. And rightfully so. Since last July I have been shaving with Fusion blades and I have to say they are the best. Not only that, they're the most economical. Even though it costs $18 for a four-blade package, each blade lasts longer that a month... Usually five weeks. That is amazing. I am a fussy shaver. Not fuzzy! Fussy! If I don't get a clean shave I change blades right away. I can't believe how the Fusion blades stay so sharp for so long. Anyway, my first Fusion was a free sample give-away when I was on vacation in Toronto. So I tried it and liked it. Since then I have purchased three packages of blades, which have lasted more than a year. So with birthdays and Christmas still far off in the future, everyone knows now... watch for the sales! LOL

Thursday, July 04, 2013

This is NOT a complaint

Living in Timmins, one learns not to 'complain' about warm weather. It's just one of those things. Winter here can be long and weary for some, so when the warm weather arrives most people embrace it. I do not. I hide. The heat just drives me down. I have been spending most of my days in the living room, perched in front of the fan, enjoying a book and a beverage. As a whiskey drinker, I have not been faithful. I think I might have had two glasses of whiskey in the past ten days. I have downed at least two litres of lemonade, a few more litres of iced tea and roughly one beer a day for the past two weeks. Beer just manages to quench a thirst like no other beverage. I also wake up earlier these days, have a cooling shower and rush in to work at about 6:45 or 7:00 a.m. I do get more work done, but then when I leave to go home, the heat is sweltering around 3:00 p.m. or 4:00 p.m. Oh well, just so you know, I am NOT complaining. : )