I’ve finally found an online running log that exports data to an RSS or XML feed. This means I can now automagically import that data to my blog here and have it displayed on the sidebar. Nifty, isn’t it? Anyhow I’m quite happy with everything, though there is a small bug with the importing of date and time and I’m working on that. If you want a good exercise log, I would recommend DailyMile who despite their name do allow you to record your log in Kilometres.
In my 14 years living in Korea I’ve heard so many times from other Canadians about how much they miss Tim Horton’s coffee. I understand about comfort food when living abroad, I have some of my own – A&W Root Beer ranks pretty high on my list. However I didn’t remember Tim Horton’s coffee being any thing outstanding though by the amount praise it gets from expats here one would think that it is larger than life and the greatest thing since sliced bread.
While I was inOttawa just over a weak ago I had some Tim Horton’s Coffee. I actually didn’t have any until my second or third day as I was always closer to a Starbucks or Second Cup – both of which offer free wifi (important for tourists/travelers like me without smart phones). In any case I was in a mall for a while and decided to give it a shot and when I walked into the store I almost turned around right away due to seeing pots of coffee sitting on the element (burning the coffee) rather than in a thermos, like most other coffee shops do, keeping the coffee hot without burning it.
In any case I decided to give it a shot. I was not wrong. The coffee tasted how I imagine warm camel piss would taste. Unfortunately over the next several days driving on the highway I did not have much choice other than to drink Tim Horton’s coffee. On my last day in Canada I was sitting in a Tim’s with a friend in Toronto waiting for someone else when my friend bought me one of their frozen coffee concoctions which was really really good. Unfortunately I can’t remember the name of it.
My final thoughts. If you like coffee, there is no way on earth that you can say Tim Horton’s coffee is any good. The food may be good, but the coffee tastes like warm camel piss.
I’m in Ottawa right now on my scouting trip in preparation for my move back to Canada next summer. When deciding where to stay in Ottawa this trip my priorities were on budget – I wanted the cheapest place I could get as long as it is clean. The size and amenities were not important. I found out that various Universities across Canada rent out dorm rooms during summer vacation so I booked a room at the University of Ottawa residence. This is my review of the residence after one night.
The room is small and clean. The size is about what I expected and honestly I don’t really care about the size since I only need it to sleep in. When I booked the room I understood that my rate was going to be $42 a night including parking (which is $12) however when I checked in I found out that I had to pay an extra $12 a night for parking. I’m not sure if I misunderstood the deal or if I’m being mischarged. In any case there’s some poor communication going on here.
I got the key to my room and went up and when I opened the door it was like walking into a sauna – it was about 10 degrees hotter than outside, which was already 31C. The tiny window opened on to a busy street with tons of street noise. I went back down to reception and asked for a different room – I got one not facing the street which was much better but the room temperature was the same. The window is incredibly tiny and barely opens at all. There is no air conditioning (that’s okay I guess for the price) but there is also no fan which means no air circulation.
I went out and about all day, did my thing and came back to the dorm around 9pm and had a shower. About 10 minutes after my shower I was a bucket of sweat again. Went down and complained, but was told that nothing could be done because the supervisor was not there – alright. I also wrote an email to the dorm people and am now waiting for a reply (expect one later today) Anyhow I somehow managed to sleep last night waking up a lot due to sweat and being extremely parched. I packed up my things and took a shower – as soon as I returned to my room I left before I started sweating again. Once outside the air temperature was quite reasonable and not sticky at all (at 6:30 am) even though my room still felt like it was around 38C.
The conditions are unreasonable and unlivable especially in light of the weather advisory currently on – The radio has several times a day talked about keeping hydrating and being inside with air conditioning. Yet the university is renting dorm rooms with effectively zero air circulation and not even a fan. Today I’m going to buy a fan, which I will use for 3 days and then throw away (what a waste of money) as well as a thermometer so I can properly document the temperature differences. Once I have this done and take some pictures I will post this review up to the internet.
Yesterday was a good day for me. I had a relaxing start to the day which involved packing my stuff up and getting out of the hole that was the University of Ottawa dorm rooms. I have a blog post in draft about it, but haven’t decided if I should publish it or not. Thanks to XUP, I was able to move to a much better place for the next couple of days.
Anyhow after packing I met up with Jonathon Snook (twitter – @snookca) for lunch at the Aulde Dubliner in the Byward Market. We talked for awhile and had a good lunch. Really enjoyed meeting him and hope to connect again once I’ve moved.
Shepards Pie, something I’ve never eaten before – was pretty good but a little too heavy for lunch
After lunch with Jonathon I met up with a mortgage broker who basically said the same thing that the bank told me the day before. We have nothing to worry about and will definitely be able to buy a home when we return to Canada – even without having a job, due to getting an equity based loan.
Following that I met XUP and went to dinner with her and two others before heading out to an Ottawa bloggers meeting which was really great. I met a lot of people and got to see a very vibrant blogging community. I’ve been to a couple of blogger meetings in Seoul, but nothing compared to the Ottawa meeting.
This morning I went to the School board and got some good information about putting my kids into school here and am about to head out and take a look at some neighborhoods with listings that my real estate agent recommended.
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