online groceries

Just ordered some groceries online a few minutes ago! Jeff and I found out about Peachtree Foods and FoodFare on a news show last night, an online grocery shopping service available in Canada. Immediately intrigued (as I am by all opportunities to spend more time online), I checked it out. Wow...looks promising. No delivery charge if you order over $50 worth of groceries, different payment options (check, credit card, cash), "shopping list" capabilities, nice user interface, choice of many brands. I usually do my food shopping every couple of weeks at a Loblaws on Yonge Street and have groceries delivered...even if I was a driver, there would be no place to park near the store.

Advantages (for me, anyway) of online grocery shopping:

• Saves me a delivery charge.
  
• Discourages impulse buying ("ooo...that looks so good, maybe I should try it...")
  
• Saves me time/hassle.
  
• I spend less because of the running total that is constantly displayed. Also because the price comparisons stare me in the face anytime I browse an "aisle", I tend to be more conscious of better deals.
  

Anyway, after I finished making my selections, I chose my payment option and also made a request that the delivery be made before 4 pm. A few minutes after submitting this request, I received a confirmation by email as well as a notice that I would receive a phone confirmation before the delivery was made.

Now comes the big test...will my food actually be delivered? (fortunately I don't have to pay anything until it does arrive) Will it arrive intact? Report to follow...

baycon good wishes

Hope you Baycon folks are having fun! Allison, Jodi and I wish we could be there, esp. since so many of you seem to be heading there this weekend. Hope one of you posts a mini Baycon report! Good luck with the concerts, Puzzlebox!!

The Ookla The Mok Unofficial Fan Site has moved. New URL: http://www.otmfan.com/. Cool new design AND a new domain. Hey, and they even have a link to our site! The link description reads: "This site has all kinds of Ookla stuff scattered throughout. If you like Ookla then odds are good that you'll like UT too." I'm tempted to change all OUR Ookla links to read, "Check out the Ookla site, they mention Urban Tapestry!" >:-D

Thanks to Katy and Ju for writing nice things about us on their
webpage! :-)

Site of the day (or rather recipe of the day) is courtesy of my friend Fox in the UK:
Pork With Chilies and Chocolate

sugar mountain

Had dim sum with some friends visiting from California (William & Mona). Went to Sugar Mountain and bought: Cadbury's P.S. (layers of wafer and caramel chocolate cream), 1 pkg pop rocks, 1 Galaxy Ripple, 1 Nestle White Crunch, 1 pkg Tropical Nerds, 1 Nestle Caramac, 1 semi-sweet Zero bar, 1 orange cream, 1 Cadbury's Dipped SnowFlake, 1 small bag of caramel corn Jelly Bellies (tm).

random house

Random House is trying out my site, Inkspot, as an advertising vehicle. I would be most grateful if some of you could go to my site and click on the banner ad at the top. You should be taken to "Jesse's Word Of The Day" which IS an interesting page of info. :-) (please don't be tempted to deluge this banner with clicks...I appreciate the enthusiasm, but the logs will be recording where clicks are coming from). Thanks!

Ate my Cadbury's P.S. bar after going to the health club this morning. :-) I am so Bad. Very yummy chocolate bar, too bad it's not readily available here (Sugar Mountain imports them from Africa).

Went to visit my 2-year-old niece Brittany out in the country yesterday. She calls me "Dobbie" and Jeff "Joff". She and I played by the pond for a while, making mud soup. She made sure I was wearing enough sunscreen and insect repellent. Afterwards we went up to the house to have lunch and I let her have bites of my hamburger (my lunch was obviously MUCH tastier than hers) and she "cooked" me slices of pizza and waffle in her mini-kitchen. Whenever I left the room, Brittany got very concerned and called out, "DOBBIE! DOBBIE! DOBBIE!" until I reassured her I was coming back. She saw a scar on my knee (from a mountain biking crash years ago) and kissed it for me. :-)

After our visit with Brittany, Jeff & I went to visit Sara and Annie (it was a very Niece-oriented day). Sara and Jeff did science experiments in the kitchen (baking soda and vinegar and suchlike) while I played nursery rhymes on the piano for Annie to dance to. Then we put on the new Martha children's CD (Martha used to be with the Muffins), which was loads of fun...Ruth, Sara, Annie, and I were all dancing around in the livingroom. It was quite the party, with Sara was twirling around in circles, Annie was bopping up and down and flapping her hands up and down (she just learned to walk last week, so being able to participate was a major Event for her...she was quite pleased with the whole thing). I'm sure any neighbours seeing us in the window thought us completely bonkers.

When Jeff and I got home, we were completely wiped. Ended up going to bed around 9:30 p.m. I don't know how all you parent-types find the energy!!! :-)

haircut

Got my hair cut yesterday (I was having trouble seeing through my bangs, so I figured it was about time). I discovered that my regular hairdresserperson was away on vacation, so I opted for the other place in the mall I used to get my hair cut. And it just so happened that the hairdresser on duty was the guy that USED to cut my hair. Remember the Seinfeld episode about hairdresser loyalty? I went through the same guilt as I got in the Chair. My old hairdresser chatted up a storm (one of the reasons I left him for another! I reeeeeeally hate smalltalk), commenting how he hadn't seen me in a while, how he'd never seen my hair so long, etc. etc. There was no way I was going to tell him that I had been disloyal and had someone else cut my hair, at least not while he had a pair of shears a half-inch away from my head. So I sat there in guilty silence, praying for it to be over soon. I was only having my BANGS TRIMMED, for Pete's sake, but he made a big fuss over every snip, used hairspray, fluffed and primped with a blowdryer, meanwhile chattering on about ideas he had for my hair, etc. etc. etc. I felt so guilty by the end (since I knew I wouldn't be back ever, not even if my hairdresser went on vacation again) that I gave him a big tip (which was probably his intention all along :)) and practically ran out of the salon. So concludes my hirsute adventure of the week.

Made vegetarian lasagne last night and was shocked when it actually turned out all right.

I spent half an hour looking for my new bike air pump last week, by the way, and only recently found out that Jeff had stolen it for his own bike! The fiend!!! He promises to replace it. Speaking of bikes...Toronto Bike Week starts this Saturday (May 30-June 7).