June 2007 Archives (10 posts)
wine library tv
Today he’s featured in TIME and Gary couldn’t be happier. He celebrated by tasting 3 different champagne wines.
This is what he had to say about a 1996 Duval Leroy Brut Femme:
Exceptional stuff. 63 bones… Mmmm. It’s pricey, but it’s special. And it kicks Dom in the nuts!
You won’t find a review like Vaynerchuk’s in Wine Spectator which makes him a breath of fresh air in the stuffy world of wine tasting.
Posted in Food and Web at 11:27 PM | Comments (0)
No Wine Should Be Served At Room Temperature
Thank you Beppi Crosariol for your wine column, in today’s Globe and Mail. My wife prefers to drink red wine at room temperature which always drives me nuts because all I can taste is the alcohol.
To chill the wine I usually drop an ice cube in my warm glass of Shiraz, swirl it around with a spoon then remove it. My wife usually shakes her head at this practice and calls me a peasant.
Most Canadians serve their wine at taste-distorting temperatures - the whites are too cold, and the reds are too warm. But with a little know-how and a few tricks from the pros (that’s right, you can drop an ice cube into your Aussie shiraz), getting the most out of your bottle is as easy as reading a thermometer.
Beppi goes on to say that “no wine – repeat: no wine – should be served at room temperature, which in Canada is a flavour-busting 21 C (and much higher in many homes in summer.” I couldn’t agree more.
Posted in Food at 3:37 PM | Comments (4)
Sightings
Today’s high temperature in Toronto is 91 F. With the humidity it feels closer to 95 F. So why do you suppose I saw a woman at Danforth and Main Street wearing ear muffs?
I saw another woman riding a pink bicycle with a scarf, goggles, toque and a jacket. Did I mention the guy I saw wearing a winter hat and a winter jacket?
There must be a radio contest I didn’t hear about or just maybe, all three of these people are completely whacked. I wish I had my camera to take a photo of the woman on the bike. Classic!
Posted in Observations at 1:17 PM | Comments (0)
Green Incentives and Rebates
As our home renovation continues, I’m finding out that there are a few rebates and incentives I can take advantage of. It’s nice to get something back from the government instead of higher taxes and parking tickets. Read on!
Residential Toilet Replacement Program
The City offers Toronto residents a $60 or $75 cash incentive to replace a water-guzzling toilet with a City-selected water-efficient model. More info.
Retail Sales Tax Rebate on Solar Energy Systems
Owners of residential premises, including multi-residential buildings, can claim a refund of the 8% Retail Sales Tax (provincial sales tax) paid on new solar energy systems and on any expansions or upgrades to existing systems installed in their premises. More info.
Summer Savings 10/10
This program will offer residential consumers an incentive to reduce power use. Cutting use by 10 per cent during a set period will give consumers an additional 10 per cent rebate on their electricity bills. More info.
TAPS program
Homeowners living in Toronto who use natural gas heating can obtain free delivery and installation of up to two low-flow showerheads, aerators for kitchen and bathroom taps, water pipe insulation material and four compact fluorescent light bulbs. More info.
More Rebates
For even more energy related rebates in the remote areas of the province of Ontario (Whitby, Newmarket, Cambridge, Burlington and Maple), consult the Environment Canada website for a list of incentives and rebates. If your name is Dave, then just ignore this entire entry. Then again if your name is Dave and you live in Whitby you probably went to another website as soon as you read Green Incentives and Rebates.
Posted in Observations at 9:35 AM | Comments (5)
Enbridge and web standards
My gas utility in Toronto is Enbridge. If you try to visit there website using the Safari web browser you’ll probably see this screen:
Notice the text at the bottom that says Safari users - our site runs best on one of the browsers above.
It seems that the dumb-ass web developers at Enbridge haven’t heard of web standards. What year is this? Browser sniffers and messages like this are so 1999!
If you look at the HTML code on the homepage you’ll notice that the site is coded in XHTML/CSS. Keep looking at the code and you’ll also see that they’re using tables for layout. Lame!
Okay. End of rant.
Rebates
If you’re using Firefox or Internet Explorer then you might want to take a look at these rebate programs that Enbridge is offering.
If you live in the Toronto area then take advantage of this program if your going to purchase any of these items in the next 2 months:
- a programmable thermostat
- high-efficiency gas furnace
- outdoor gas BBQ
If you’re feeling really generous, then donate your rebates to the web developers at Enbridge so they purchase a few O’Reilly books on web development.
Posted in Web at 10:46 AM | Comments (0)
Extreme Home Makeover
All I wanted was a home office. Now I find myself in the middle of a major renovation. Our entire ground floor has been gutted and we’re putting on a new second floor.
My new office for JAK Media is going to be sweet. It will be on the second floor at the back of the house with a nice view of the yard. I’ll be sitting there for about 18 hours in the future but I think it will all be worth it.
When your essentially making a second mortgage payment for office rent, it makes a lot of sense to invest it into your own house. That’s how I try to justify the chaos around me. Oh, and there is that small part where we’ll get a new kitchen, living/dining area, etc, etc, etc. The lovely just finished a show called Sarah’s House. Now she’s working on a real life reality show called Bombippy’s House.
I’ll be posting photos of the whole process on my flickr site.
You can read daily updates about this stuff and junk here.
Posted in Personal at 2:54 PM | Comments (2)
Don’t Stop Believin’
iTunes will be selling a lot of tracks for Journey’s Don’t Stop Believin’ this morning. I can’t get the song out of my head after watching The Sopranos series finale last night.
When the show ended with Perry singing “don’t stop believen’” and the screen cutting abruptly to black, I thought my satellite feed went dead. When the credits rolled without any music and I realized David Chase pulled a fast one on us.
Without giving any more away, I thought the ending to one of the series on television was innovative and refreshing. It also leaves the show open to movie possibilities.
Posted in Television at 11:32 AM | Comments (1)
Hacked!
You might have noticed that my site was down for a little while. Somebody hacked Dreamhost earlier this week and 20% of their accounts were compromised. Mine was one of them.
Passwords have been changed, index pages have been republished and I’m back but my confidence in Dreamhost hasn’t returned.
Posted in Bombippy at 11:16 AM | Comments (1)
2012 Olympics logo
I have no comment on the logo for the 2012 Olympic Games in London. John Gruber at Daring Fireball has a pretty strong opinion of this logo. I like Gruber’s opinion.
Posted in Design at 3:40 PM | Comments (1)
Ugly ROM, Ugly Star
Last Monday the Toronto Star launched a redesigned print version of their newspaper. The best word I can think of to describe this redesign is ugly.
They made some small improvements to the typography (increased the point size and leading to make it easier to read) but the headlines and layout look cumbersome and unappealing. The recent redesign of the Globe and Mail newspaper was a huge improvement. The paper looks more contemporary whereas the Toronto Star looks more antiquated. My 75 cents.
Tomorrow the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) unveils the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal — one of the ugliest architectural projects of our time. Architect Daniel Libeskind created the mixture of glass and metal that juts out of the ROM. I think the whole thing looks cheap and ugly.
After looking at a dozen projects by Libeskind I can say that I just don’t like his style. I prefer the look of The Gehry Tower, London City Hall, or the brilliant 30 St Mary Axe in London.
Posted in Design at 10:29 AM | Comments (4)
