My dad's birthday is coming up in a few weeks (conveniently just before Christmas...) and once again I am at a loss for what to get him. He lives in an apartment, and therefore does not have a barbeque. He does have a good sized balcony, though, and I was thinking maybe a gas powered grill or electric grill might be okay.

So first, does anyone know what the rules are about gas-powered grills on apartment balconies? I tried searching by-laws but had no luck.

Second, does anyone have any experience with grills of this sort? I'm specifically looking at ones like this one, or this one or this one. Thoughts?

( Show only, no sock - I forgot to take it home  )

I just received a phone call from someone claiming to be part of the Toronto Police asking for a donation for and event or something being held at the Better Living Centre. I've never heard of the police calling for donations and I'm wondering if this is legit or not.

Oh no! My friend and their sweetheart parted ways... we have plans to drink our sorrows away tonight, but...

... what, in this beautiful city on a sunny and mild Saturday afternoon, would you do to avoid thinking of your troubles?

We love exploring, but we're kind of bored with downtown, and the waterfront. Also, my friend lives in the Junction/Bloor West Village area, so we've covered that area as well. Is there anywhere fun (accessible by TTC) in Toronto we should explore? Go for lunch somewhere ridiculously funky? A market or garage sale or church bazaar we could hit?

The city is our oyster today...

The very idea that being a major = no possible psychological problems makes me want to jump in the screen and slap the JAG officer in the mouth. Protip: The kind of guy that insinuates that sort of shit is a joke as an officer. He doesn't know the first damned thing about the reality of a mission. Instead he'll sit on his ass in the rear echelon preening and never once figure out why no one that talks to him for longer than 5 seconds has any respect for him. Fortunately she was there to get in his ass. I'm a little perplexed to find Dr. Phil not getting on my nerves though.

I'm looking for a nice (hard) hiking trail that's accessible via TTC, something that's a little more exotic than the places listed here http://www.toronto.ca/parks/recreation_facilities/discovery_walks/discover_index.htm. Has anyone been on any sweat inducing walks through some trees ?

Thanks,

did anyone go?  I am surprised there are no photos

Can anyone recommend a non-sketchy and affordable locksmith in Toronto?

Thanks!

Hey guys,
I am wondering if any of you know of any decent karaoke places to go to on a Saturday night, looking for a youngish kinda of crowd like 19-34 and preferably has a lot of selection, but in a pub or something, also downtown. I don't want to rent a private booth or anything like that.

Any help is appreciated.

Toronto wins consolation prize for not getting the Olympics! Kind of! Sort of! In 2015!

I am looking for males 19-24 who smoke cigs. regularly or occasionally
for a paid market research study Email linda99@ican.net and put Live Journal in subject line, thanks.

Where would I find a good selection of two-way radio accessories downtown? Headsets and cop mics and such for walkie-talkies: this sort of thing.

The technology's a bit too old for the College St. computer strip, and AFAIK, there won't be much luck at the big-box tech stories. (Best Buy/The Source/etc.)

Back from the doctor. There'll be more tests next week. Apparently right around the time we had to move my old doctor noticed some funny things in my post hysterectomy routine hormone tests. She tried to contact me for follow up, but we'd changed our phone number and we were having some issues with the mail. I changed my info with the regular VA offices, but I forgot that the administrative and the medical don't share information so I had no idea they were trying to contact me. They called my mother since that contact info was still valid. Did she tell my aunt D? No. Did she tell my aunt M? No. Apparently she refused to divulge anyone else's contact info after the nurse identified herself and refused to pass along any messages. She's special in a way that would make my knuckles itch if I wasn't already used to her bullshit.

National Scrapbook Memoir Month!

Would some would-be writers prefer to write memoir-style?

Here's what I'm thinking of doing:

1.  Go through photographs
2.  Choose 30 (or 31) photographs, or groups of photographs
3.  Each day during November, take one of the photographs or group of photographs, and write about it: what happened, feelings, what, where, when, who
4.  By the end of the month, you should have a variety of personal stories written down and ready to either compile into a memoir, or a scrapbook or a journal.

Got my Civic back on Monday. They ended up replacing the bumper completely, which was great because several years ago I'd backed into a rock while at Sequoia National Park and made a nice punched in dent on the passenger side corner. Now that's gone. The lights are all repaired and they matched the color to the green of the car pretty well. There is *some* difference probably due to the underlying color of the original bumper color (it came from a different car, of course), but it's hardly noticable.  Thank heavens I have good coverage through USAA and can afford a low deductible. I couldn't believe that such a "small" looking fix ended up costing, total, about $1,300 dollars. If I hadn't had collision, I would have paid a hell of a lot more.

A neighbor told me someone she knows also got his corner crashed in by the same unknown person driving a tall SUV or truck, so it's happened before. I'm parking my car in the driveway more often now; even if I have coverage, I don't want to risk driving our insurance rate up by reporting too many small accidents.  I also have to have an expensive part replaced before July, when the car is inspected. I can't remember if the Civic gets a smog test this year or not.

It's nice to have MY car back; I liked the doodads in the Saturn Vue, and I liked sitting higher up above the road: but I like my car just fine. I feel like I'm driving a fancy go-cart now, after the Vue!

For the love of all that is holy, please stop playing these songs:

I Haven't Met You Yet - Michael Buble
Tonight's The Night - Black Eyed Peas
Bad Romance - Lady Gaga
That Taylor Swift song where she's the cheerleader in the bleachers

And like, pretty much anything you play a couple of hundred times a day.

Not looking forward to Christmas,  man.


(I'm at work so have no choice about what we listen to here).

Hi, I'm Mary, I write for one of the major news websites in TO.

I am writing a story about New Year's Eve (already) and am looking for people who always go out New Year's Eve, or who always stay home, for whatever reason.

The interview would literally be like, 7 minutes long and can by done by phone if need be.

If you know someone who might want to be interviewed about it, please let me know!

thanks,

Mary

Toronto!

I'm going to be acquiring a car from out of province this weekend and need to get it safety and emission tested before Ontario will license it...

So I need recommendations of good (and preferably CHEAP) garages to get it done since I've never owned a car in this city before.

Help!

TIA :)

You know when I first found out about the giant squids being real I was impressed. The elbowed squid made me pause and question whether or not I was ever going to go diving. The random attacks on humans by carnivorous squid proved that the ocean really isn't that hot of a place to hang out. Throwing in poisonous 400 lb jellyfish is just unnecessary. Really. We get it. You can fuck us up any time you want to and we should be afraid. I notice you've stuck to the oceans for the moment and some might think that makes those of us on land safe. But I'm not fooled. Just do me a favor, when you decide to let us in on the truth about dragons could they be ice-breathing dragons? I know fire is the traditional route, but I have this distinct desire to see how breathing ice would work.

Thanks,

The Girl Who Knows Her God Has Left The Building