August 22, 2007

Reasons Why I Can't Wait to Go to Sweden

vacation_days.jpg
[Source: New York Times]

Yeah baby!

It's also the world's best country for women because it's such an egalitarian society. Men in Sweden apparently do more housework than men anywhere else in the world... now why can't others follow suit?

Posted by mich at 5:03 PM | return | dreams [1]

November 21, 2006

Life List

According to this article I read last week, Ellen DeGeneres is all about the life list this year. Basically, it's a list of things that you want to accomplish in your life.

So here's mine so far:

  • design my own house
  • go whale watching
  • get my Masters of Fine Art or Design
  • live in Stockholm
  • cruise to Antarctica
  • tour around all of China
  • open up my own cupcake bakery
  • ride a gondola
  • learn to surf
  • have my own solo exhibit
  • be represented by a gallery
  • publish my work in a book
  • road trip to southwest US
  • raise a shih tzu dog
  • volunteer for the Beijing 2008/Vancouver 2010 Olympics
  • get my software idea off the ground
  • improve my Cantonese and French
  • see the Aurora Borealis
  • go up in a hot balloon
  • travel the world
Posted by mich at 10:46 PM | return | dreams [0]

October 4, 2006

Waking City

The Waking City game I played last month was featured in an article of the Toronto Star on Sunday. It's a pretty detailed summary of the game in general and the events that happened over the course of the 2-week game. Some of the puzzles are still eating away at my brain... oh the madness.

Posted by mich at 9:42 PM | return | dreams [0]

February 16, 2006

Scandalous

So the big scandal that was going on in the office this morning as I walked into work was that one of the actors on two of our tv shows is facing child porn charges. What a way to start off my first week of work :P

Posted by mich at 1:41 PM | return | dreams [0]

December 26, 2005

Not Cut Out For Boxing Day Anymore

It's been a hectic few days this holiday weekend what with tons of shopping, eating, and more shopping; and it continues tomorrow with round #2 of boxing day :P

On the 21st I lunched with Dennis at Carnival Grill, a new Brazilian restaurant that opened at East Beaver Creek. It's actually a buffet/all-you-can-eat place there's not only a buffet table for you to fill your plates, they have waiters coming around to everyone with freshly grilled meats to anyone that wants. The best thing that came was the massive grilled pinepple coated in cinamon. YUM. Afterwards we visited Vaughan Mills to do a once around the block. The next day I had Christmas dinner with family and relatives at Pacific Mall. On the 23rd I took the car early in the morning and hit up the library to borrow a some DVDs like Nobody Knows, 21 Grams, Million Dollar Baby, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, to name a few. I met up with Christian in the afternoon at Fairview Mall to buy a cute bonsai tree for my mom. We were only able to stay for 1.5 hours before I was beckoned by my parents to pick them up early from work. I got to my mom's workplace believing that she was all ready to leave, but we were left waiting for 45 min or so. The plan was to pick up my mom then pick up my dad from Hillcrest Mall, where he decided to go after work but didn't anticipate the extended stay... oops. When we arrived at Hillcrest, we spent around 20 minutes looking for him at the entrances of the Bay... it was like a game of hide and seek. I thought he just eventually fell asleep on one of the couches in the mall! But he actually meant that he was waiting for us at the Bay entrace *inside* the mall... aiya. Later that evening after dinner, Chris and I met up with Justine, Brad, and Jon for some dessert at Williams Coffee Pub waaay up north. The waffles were delish, although my milkshake wasn't too great >.< Stayed up until 3:30am working on some portfolio pieces.

Christmas Eve my family had to get to Pacific Mall for 11am to reserve a table for dim sum with Christian and his family at 11:30. Early in the morning and the restaurant was already so packed! The rest of the day was just spent walking around the mall and then grocery shopping at Loblaws for Christmas day meals that Chris and I were going to prepare. I found some really nice cookie cutters that were half price for a dollar, which was a much better deal than the cheap plastic one I got from Bulk Barn the day before. However, they were rung up at regular price and the cashier people had the biggest problem finding the proper price for them. Finally, 15 minutes later they resolved everything and they let me have one for free for all the trouble... so I got 3 cookie cutters for $2! Sweet! Haha, omg I'm such a nerd.

Christmas morning I woke up at 10:30 to make brunch for my family. Started preparing the food at 11am... and finished cooking at 1:15. I couldn't believe it took me over 2 HOURS to make a freakin' meal of homemade hashbrowns, cinamon pancakes, and omelettes with onions, peppers and cheese. And the worst part was... that it wasn't even enough food!! OMG. If a lazy sleepyhead (aka my boyfriend) didn't sleep in until 1pm, maybe a little help would've gone a long way :P But he did come to the rescue in the end by whipping up some yummy maple syrup covered sausages. So he actually *is* good for something (I kid I kid!) :P

After eating we all opened presents, then Chris and I went on to start preparing dinner at 4pm (because who wants to have dinner at 10pm?!) Anthony dropped by for a bit later in the afternoon so we had a nice chat with him. Then it was back to making our Herbed Roast Pork Loin and Gratin Dauphinois (but without the fatty cream that I used last week). At the same time we prepared the yummy Chocolate Chip Cream Chese Squares that we tried out last year. In the end, dinner and dessert all turned out great :)


At night we tried out our new mah-jong table and played until 1am. Christian and I played as a team, and having been our first real time playing the game, I must say, we kicked some serious butt :) Too bad we weren't playing with chips!

Waking up at 8am this morning was absolutely brutal. But that's the sacrifice one must make to land some great sales :P We all headed to the Club Monaco outlet at 9am where they had 50% off everything in the store. We shopped there until 11 then headed downtown to the Eaton Centre where Christian and I were almost killed >.< It turned out that there was a shooting by the mall right across from Sam the Record Man. We were right there only a couple of hours before the shooting! Scary man. We stayed at the mall until 6pm when everyone was totally shopped out and exhausted. It was so hardcore, it felt like we were back in Disneyworld.

Oh, note to everyone: NEVER go to Bubble Tease- it SUCKS. I normally would never go there for bubble tea, but today I was suffering from Shop 'Til You Drop syndrome and was craving some milk tea. I don't know what it is that I ended up drinking, but it did not taste like tea, or even juice. More like watered down sugary powder... YUCK!

Herbed Roast Pork Loin and Potatoes

1 boneless pork loin roast, about 3 to 4 pounds
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon thyme
1 to 2 teaspoon freeze-dried or fresh chives
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
4 to 6 medium potatoes
salt and pepper, to taste

Rub pork loin with 1 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon onion powder, 1 1/2 teaspoons thyme, then sprinkle with salt and pepper; place pork loin in a shallow roasting pan. Roast at 325° for 50 to 55 minutes.

Meanwhile, peel and quarter potatoes; cook in boiling water for about 10 minutes. Drain, let cool, and place potatoes in a large bowl; toss with olive oil, 1 teaspoon dried thyme, chives, 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, and salt and pepper. Place potatoes around pork loin; roast an additional 45 to 60 minutes, or until pork registers at least 155° on a thermometer.

Cover roast pork loin with foil and let stand for about 15 minutes before slicing.

Serves 8 to 10.

Posted by mich at 10:15 PM | return | dreams [0]

December 1, 2005

Lighten Up

I stumbled up some of Ken Rockwell's humourous articles entitled Seven Levels of Photographers and Seven Levels of Artists. He also offers his opinion on why Your Camera Does Not Matter. While I agree that compelling images are captured by the photographer and not the camera, sometimes a really terrible camera/lens can make a potentially stunning image look like garbage (I unfortunately had to use one of those when I broke my camera). On the other hand, I do know some people who are all about their equipment and lusting after the newest set of expensive lenses (and who happen to be in CS, no surprise) who have only snapshots of friends and family to show for all of it. I guess I'm in the middle of the spectrum- I'm pretty picky about the camera equipment I invest in, but I love playing around with different toy cameras and experimenting with ways of using film.

Posted by mich at 6:09 PM | return | dreams [0]

March 5, 2004

Harry Potter Lives On

I just read an article in the newspaper saying that J. K. Rowling is considering writing another installment of Harry Potter as an adult after the series of 7. YEEEEAAHH!!! That makes me SOOOO happy!

Posted by mich at 11:59 AM | return | dreams [1]

January 9, 2004

Sooo.....

I was reading the Toronto Star today and I stumbled upon this article. Here's a tidbit:

Pop culture is giving the English language a nudge once again, and this time it's because we all may have been spending a little too much time with our Friends.

So much so, in fact, that the hit NBC series has left a lasting legacy on the way we speak, propelling one humble word — "so" — from the top of the ratings to the tips of our tongues.

In the new report "So Cool; So Weird; So Innovative" University of Toronto researchers Sali Tagliamonte and Chris Roberts credit the sitcom for how often we use the word to emphasize another word. As in, "That was so good."

That is sooo me. Who knew Friends influenced how I speak?

Posted by mich at 12:37 AM | return | dreams [0]

November 12, 2003

McJob

Here's a little something funny I read in The Star today:

McDonald's is miffed, but Merriam-Webster editors say "McJob" is a word that is here to stay. The 11th edition of Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary defines a "McJob" as "a low-paying job that requires little skill and provides little opportunity for advancement."

Haha, apparently the word has been in use for 17 years. I'm lovin' it!

Posted by mich at 11:36 PM | return | dreams [2]