This is the first of an eight-part weekly series that I am going to try out unusual foods and review them.
This week’s item is from Russel Stover Cookie Dough in Milk Chocolate. It was about a dollar from Giant Tiger. It consists of one 28g piece of candy. Nutritionally it was (past tense since I have already eaten it 😉)130 calories, has 5g fat, 17g sugar, 3g other carbs, 1g protein, and 2g other.
As I open the package the item is a weird shaped glob without the pre-told story of the packaging is not anything corresponding with Christmas besides reindeer guano.
It was nice and soft to bite into but the glob of cookie dough became overwhelming and hard to finish.
I would not recommend this flavour, I would suggest solid chocolate or marshmallow varieties. As it is a marshmallow world at Christmas time.
After the Christmas party, I was pumped and the goal wasn’t to just walk but to get out. The next weekend I went to a movie with a friend. The main goal that I needed to go home was to go up my front steps and to transfer onto a shower bench. After lots of practice, I was managing a few steps of various height with the hospital physiotherapist.
The next step was going home for a home visit to see what was needed for me to go home. When I arrived at the house that I hadn’t seen for months, it felt familiar but didn’t seem like home. I couldn’t even see half of it. Waking up the steps into my house was the hard part. My rails were too low to give support.
When I got
into the house, I tried sitting on my couch and it was still too low to get up from without help. I also needed a walker still to get around. The walker also didn’t fit well through doors. That night my sister brought me to the Dolan Rd Irving and then went back to the hospital.
The next weekend was my trial overnight. I was really looking forward to it but once home reality kicked in. There was little I could do without help, and I didn’t really have much help. The worst part was at night, my bed was so uncomfortable and I couldn’t get up to go to the bathroom to even pee in the dark. Putting on the ankle brace was hard. The next day I returned to the hospital distressed that the weekend didn’t go that well.
At that point, my hospital release was extended about a month, and I had an idea of what I needed to work on. Unfortunately, being in isolation was impeding the process. It was that week that I ran into infection control checking to see if the sign was on my door while I was having my lunch. They were two very nice ladies. I made it clear to them that the isolation was impending my care and was stupid since I was researching the procedures of other hospitals in dealing with ESBL and that I was probably cured two months earlier.
Later that day, they came back and the Director decided to retest and then maybe decide what could be done. Having no choice I agreed and urinated in a cup and had a swab taken from my but. After two more tests a week apart, the results came back and I was cleared! Since I could solo walk with a walker by this point I did a victory lap.
Up to this point, I had two Physio and one OT session every weekday. The staffing became a bit short and my exercises Physio session was going to be cut. I asked if I could come to the gym and do them solo. (I was motivated at this point.) They agreed so I started doing them myself and then gradually tried doing the harder version that was on the sheet and was excited each time things got better.
Finally, after 5 months and 3 days at the hospital, I was released on March 1st.
On the spur of the moment I came up with a wild goal of getting to my work Christmas party on January 21st. I then told my Physio and OT that this was going to be my goal right after the Christmas holiday.
Step 1: The Car Transfer
Up to this point
, I was barely able to slide on a varnished board but I gave it my everything to be able to do that. However, in doing that my muscles started to build more rapidly and I was moving on to being able to stand using a two-wheel walker, and walking a little with it with a physiotherapist. We had arranged an afternoon with my step-father that had a higher vehicle to get into to try with Physio to get the okay to go. The day I picked turned out to be a quite warm day for January and in one try I was able to get in and place myself in the sea. I couldn’t get my own seat belt on myself but it looked promising.
Step 2: Arrange tickets
My coworkers were visiting me in the hospital regularly and I got them to arrange to get me a ticket and my parents a ticket as well, and it was to be kept a very tight secret which is almost impossible to do with
the closeness of the people I work with.
Step 3: Not arrive naked
Up to this point
, I had not needed any clothes so I was just wearing Johnnies and pyjama pants most days. I had to arrange for my sister to bring me clothes. She got me everything I needed. I had also been working for weeks trying to be able to move enough to pull it off.
It was really funny the nurse helping me with the buttons as my fingers were still very week. I was nervous of having to use the bathroom while out.
Step 4: Arrange for my parents to bring me
This should have been the easy part but my anxiety made it the hardest part. Fortunately
, they were on board and I arranged for them to be able to go as well, which they enthusiastically agreed to do.
Operation a success!
It then became the night of the party. I arranged to get picked up after dinner as it was the best time to have the nurses get me ready to go out with the limited help I still needed. I was just starting with a walker a bit in therapy, but the most part I was wheelchair bound. With the help of my mother
, I made my way down to the waiting car. It was pretty cold and the temperature hit me as I had left the hospital for the first time since September (almost 4 months).
At this point
, my tentative release date was just a few weeks away and this was a real challenge to see my progress. We drove around for a bit as I had about 2 hours to kill before the party. So many things had looked different but quite the same. I was so happy to at least be home. If I had stayed in Brampton, or even if I was transferred to rehab at the Stan Cassidy Centre in Fredericton I don’t think I would have been as motivated for this as I was and it was a goal that pushed me forward and gives hope that more was possible.
Me at the Party
I waited fashionably late to arrive, almost a half hour after the doors opened. Mainly to have more people there to get a bigger welcoming. Much of what I do is plotted for maximum effect. The ramp was in the back door and the key people in on the secret met me and I transferred out of the car and into the wheelchair and I entered the legion hall.
So many people came up to me to see how I was doing it was incredible! The buffet began and I waited in line. My mother helped me, and everyone tried to help me. I really wanted to try and see what I could do but no one was letting that happen.
Eventually, I did manage to ditch everyone and made a solo run to the buffet. I had lots of trouble with the nachos and squeezing thongs.
I danced as much as I could in my chair and had a great time. I eventually needed to use the washroom and managed on my own. I wheeled up to the urinal and stood up on my own grabbing the pipe for support, and it took everything I had to do it. I really wasn’t ready but my brain was determined that there must be a way. As I left the washroom I found the handicapped washroom that would have been safer and easier. It was too late for that. I danced a lot more, said some goodbyes and left.
I wanted to let go and fly down the ramp but nobody was going to let that happen. I got frustrated that no one was letting me try things myself. When I got back to the hospital, I wanted to wheel myself back to the room but my mother wouldn’t let me do that and we got
into an argument again. I was just so frustrated that so was not being considerate as I should have been. I wanted nothing more than to be independent.
I made it back and the nurse helped me back to bed and after some meds, I fell soundly asleep.
After lunch, on November 23rd I was wheeled down the hall to the next tower. I had escaped the mean nurses and now entered the rehabilitation program floor. I remember the weather was overcast or raining it was dark. This isolation room would be my final prison for the next 3 months. I had remembered being told the ESBL treatments were for a week. I was told within a few days that the isolation was to be permanent due to hospital policies.
The first nurse I saw went through the riot act that made me fear that the poor treatment from the last floor was going to continue. I spent the rest of my night in the room just listening to what I could hear from the hall.
The next day involved being assessed for what I was capable of. It was also more just waiting around doing nothing.
Over the next few weeks, I tried really hard and progressed to sitting up and sliding on a transfer board to a wheelchair with help. It was lots of long nights and days. Typically only a little over an hour of physiotherapy and occupational therapy. I was always excited when the respiratory therapist came four times a day to use this big hand pump thing to keep my lungs expanded.
Sitting in a wheelchair for hours was really hard. My bum would get sore from the pressure on it and it felt weird due to the lack of full feeling. There was one day in December, I made it up to 9 hours in the chair. That day they held a Christmas party and had some good singers.
I was upgraded to a better wheelchair and I started trying to push myself, which at first I could only do a few footsteps in length, but I think it was key to getting my arms stronger. I was eventually able to wheel pretty fast. Since I was in isolation, I was only able to get out with someone gowned up. Considering how busy everyone was, it didn’t happen that much. Partially because of my anxiety I couldn’t bring myself to ask for help.
Just before Christmas, they started me with standing. It hurt a lot using the standing lift, especially when slowly standing. I soon learned that if I stood up myself when almost there it hurt less. After standing a couple of days, I was put in a suspended support and walked a few metres on the first day.
The next time, I considered taking rests but when up I just kept going and walked a good distance, until after Christmas I was able to walk without a standing support and moved on to a two-wheel walker. It was at this time that I came up with the goal of going to my work Christmas party in mid-January, although I had not told anyone yet.
In August 2015, it was like Christmas! The Summer 2016 flyer came out and I drooled over every page. Vacation planning is not something I do a lot of, it is more of a familiarization of options. As I reviewed my options, let’s face it, maximizing the number of new countries was the main option.
There resulted in one tour that became the only one that worked for dates to take my mother to Europe, and her need to user the Labour Day weekend to make it work, and the need to still hit Oktoberfest with Tony. That tour was the Trail to Rome starting September 9, 2016. It would leave London, then go to in order; Amsterdam, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Krakow, Budapest, Ljubljana, Venice, and Rome. This was it or bust!I have always booked these trips through the tour group directly, as it was just easier. Since the past trips, I took some cruises and booked them through a particular travel agent. As a few weeks passed, the trip date after the one I wanted went completely sold out and my trip was limited availability now. So I went online and booked the trip directly with Contiki. Since the rest of the trip dependent on others, I didn’t get the insurance (later in the story this was a very wise decision), or airfare.
Around the end of the year, some things came up and my mother was going to have to cancel. Then the trip sold out and Tony was only going to do the end week. Come April I needed to buy my airfare and the trip was not firmed up but I knew I was going to take book-end weeks before and after the trip so I planned to fly to London (so I could store my big bag and travel light), then after the trip give half a week to plan later and then fly Rome to Munich for Oktoberfest, spend 3 nights there, and fly home from there.
Now I researched my flights and tweeted the flights to perfection and timings to not be too early, too late, or wait times too long or too short. I also planned to try out Lufthansa to come home. Since this was 3 segments and multi-airline, I determined a travel agent would be my best bet, and I needed to get travel insurance still.
Now since I booked my trip my regular agent didn’t seem pleased that I booked the package directly with Contiki. In addition, I am quite superstitious about things and the two cruises I booked through her using different airlines, both had my luggage delayed. I, therefore, decided to use a different location of the same company to book the flights. I showed up with a post-it note that had dates, flight codes, and airport codes that would confuse most people as a pile of gibberish, but to her, it made perfect sense and I had tickets in no time.
I also bought travel cancellation insurance through her. I thought the price was a little high and later found out it was the plus plan, and that was why. By the time I found that out it was too late to do anything about it.
After my last article I decided to review a few more items to see it there was something that could top the last two atrocities. Guess what! I found them.
First on the list is Soy Wonderful Noël Nog. This was thicker than the Almond version but had a very bad after taste. In addition after only a week it congealed into a tick lumpy mass of disappointment. Much similar to the beverage version of lumps of coal in the stocking.
The second item was the Gingerbread Man Peeps. These little gems were not only disappointing but the taste like regular Peeps with only a small hint of Gingerbread.
Though I did find a few positive items this time. The first is a local gem Mrs. Dunster’s Candy Cane coated donut bites. These like many other Mrs. Dunster’s products was simply to die for.
The next item that is amazing is from Starbucks. The Cranberry Bliss Bar is an amazing choice to compliment any coffee but the Gingerbread Latte is the best compliment to it.
From Tim Horton’s the biggest disappointment is the Gingerbread Muffin it almost makes you gag from the over strong spice that burns your mouth as you try to eat it.
Why yes folks now that Hallowe’en is over and Remembrance Day is soon to be forgotten, it is now the season that is supposed to bring the sparkle in every little child’s eye. Like most good things that are once good and holy bring out the worst in those that try to modernize and monetize classics.
In this post I am going to focus on food items that are not only symbolic to the festive season, but flavours that you would not think could go wrong. Let’s start with the first item egg nog. This is my favourite holiday drink and each year the shelves are filled with thick, over sweetened, dairy goodness. That has its own still enjoyable light alternative. Warmed with rum and nutmeg makes a nice snack on the early winter night. If you think that they could not ruin that you would be very very wrong.
This is where Earth’s Own comes to town with their Almond Fresh Nöel Nog. This festive joy comes in at 100 calories per 250mL serving. That assumes that you can actually stomach this. This tastes like almond milk with the hint of sweetness and nog spices but is thin and there is not even a think of some type of egg substitute. For this the makers all deserve a lump of coal in their stockings.
Then comes the next item. What one item is unmistakably the cookie of Christmas? It would be the Gingerbread Man or any other gingerbread cookie item or piece of house, etc. How could anyone ruin this you say? While let’s leave that feat to Nabisco and their gingerbread flavour Oreo cookies. This could have been good but the gingerbread filling was overpowered by the vanilla cookies leaving only a wee pit of festive flavour left. This could have been so much better with a gingerbread cookie and white mint filling. Therefore Nabisco a lump of coal goes to your stocking too.
Leave a comment, what do you think is the worst commercialization of a food/drink for the holidays this season?
My December GlymmMan box arrived on Christmas Eve. There was not as much in it as there were in past months. There were 6 items, the 7th item was replaced with a $20 gift card. The missing item as Joico Ice Spike which I would probably not have used anyway.
Most of the items were from a brand êshave a 15g bottle of pre-shave oil, a 30g container of shaving cream, and a 30g container of after shave cream. Then from Lys Parisien Professionnel, there was a 60ml bottle of moisturizing shampoo and, balm (Argan Oil conditioner). Then there was 2 2ml O2 Anti-ageing treatment.
In my last post on the issue, I had promised to give feedback on the items in the box. The Atelier Cologne was really good and I still have some left. The Vitamine & Sea Mineral Clay Mask smelled truly terrible I never finished that. The Bentaberry G-1 moisturizing Face cream made my skin feel much better. The Evolvh UltraShine Moisture Shampoo and Conditioner was some of the best I have ever used. The John Allan’s Slick Water made shaving better. The La Fresh Body Soother stung very badly when it got in my eyes in the rain. Finally the Vasanti BrightenUP! was good but was very rough and made my skin red.
In the sprit of the holiday season I would like to make this rant about the blatant misuse of Father Christmas by millions of parents world wide.
Throughout this highly commercialized world of Christmas. The sweet jolly old man has gone from the symbol of joy and happiness, to be the evil judge of goodness that has in recent years has never cut any kid off that I know of. Face it people you don’t really need it! Hasn’t our generation learned yet from Disney’s The Little Mermaid that things don’t matter as much as experiences.
Then again, experiences are the reason that every parent will get most kids anything they want. You may deny it but for the same reason that you all use Santa to blackmail the kids in the first place you buy them anything. You are self-centered! Using Santa as an incentive to behave provided you benefit. As much so a joy on their faces Christmas morning.
So in closing, happy holidays, and get over yourself. Stop being self-centered you are not as important as me.
As we are wrapping up the year, I have seen a movie in the theatres 300 times. The record for this year for most is Star Trek x 6, Twilight: New Moon x 5, and The Reader x 4, and many 2 and 3 timers. Here is the list of 2009 releases that I have seen (I took a list of 2009 movies and filtered it, there are some missing that I added, but I forgot every movie:)
17 Again, 2012, Adventureland, All About Steve, Angels & Demons, AstroBoy, Bandslam, Blind Date, The Blind Side, Bride Wars, Capitalism: A Love Story, Confessions Of A Shopaholic, Couple’s Retreat, Dance Flick, Did You Hear About The Morgans?, Disney’s A Christmas Carol, Drag Me To Hell, Doubt, Duplicity, Earth, Everybody’s Fine, Extract, Fame, Fanboys, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Fast And Furious 4, Fired Up, The Fourth Kind, Funny People, Ghosts Of Girlfriends Past, Gigantic, The Goods, The Hangover, Hannah Montana: The Movie, Harry Potter And The Half, Blood Prince, The Haunting In Connecticut, He’s Just Not That Into You, Hotel For Dogs, Ice Age 3, I Hate Valentine’s Day, I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell, I Love You Beth Cooper, I Love You, Man, Imagine That, The Informant, Inglorious Bastards, The International, In The Loop, Invictus, It’s Complicated, Julie & Julia, Knowing, Last House On The Left, Trailor Park Boys 2: Countdown to Liquor Day, Love Happens, Love Hurts, Madea Goes To Jail, Mall Cop, Management, The Men Who Stare At Goats, My Bloody Valentine 3D, My Life In Ruins, My Sister’s Keeper, New In Town, New Moon, Night At The Museum 2, Nine, Obsessed, Observe And Report, The Pink Panther 2, Post Grad, The Proposal, Rachel Getting Married, The Soloist, Star Trek, State Of Play, The Reader, The Stone of Destiny, Sunshine Cleaning, The Taking Of Pelham 1 2 3, The Ugly Truth, Up in the Air, The Vampire’s Assistant, Watchmen, Whip It, Year One, and Zombieland.
Despite this for 2010, I am going to attempt to cut my movies to only 100.
Comments are open, What do you think did I miss any good gems that I should see?
$167,000. That number is the value of the pledges being made today at the 2008 Empty Stocking Fund. It was a whole lot of fun and a whole lot of work. It seemed as if at the beginning that it was going to be a nightmare, but the number of pure professionals that came together to pull it off was awe-inspiring.
Update: The show was cancelled due to the weather. Night-Rain-Fog-TV Cameras don’t mix well.
Believe it or not, the Santa Claus Parade is one my my favourite shows to work on each year. I also like seeing what is new each year and really enjoy coming home later to actually watch it. As a bonus for my readers, I have the float list for this year’s parade.
So I haven’t had the opportunity to update this page in a while. It has been really busy lately.
I spent many hours this past month working on the 12 Daytimes of Christmas on Rogers Television. The final two episodes are going to re-air on January 1-4th (11am, 4pm, and 10pm.)
Also another note of something to watch was the locally shot “Sticks and Stones” 8pm AT Jan 1st on CTV.
Now getting onto some of my movies, the pilot episode of the “Badger Hunter” is almost edited for it’s February release date. We are working on it’s website this weekend.
On Boxing Day, I learned that the Toronto Film School is closing which now is gonna change my plans for a October move to Toronto. Tony and I have been looking now at the Toronto Film College but have not heard much about it, also Toronto apartment hunting seems like a daunting monster, even harder than the actual move.
I don’t have much time to make this post but doesn’t the ground look nicer when all the imperfections are covered by a soft fluffy white layer of freshly placed snow.
To day before work I’m going to bring an Acer laptop back to The Source because the wireless does not have good reception to my network and that it is impossible to network it properly with only Windows Vista Home Basic on it. Also when you dim the screen so it doesn’t take your eyes out in a dark room it forgets it after several minutes and blinds you. It also does not have easy a find in the dark volume keys.
These elements were created in Corel Draw 12, Adobe
Illustrator CS, Adobe Photoshop CS, and Adobe AfterEffects 6.
The goal of this project was by changing a few basic elements to an existing show design seamlessly blend in a holiday theme that still made the show look like the original. This project was first conceived on a Friday and needed to be ready to go on air live the following Monday morning. About 12 hours went into this project. The project consisted of re-editing the end of the existing show theme in Avid, a
10-second Bumper, a themed moving background, and a plain background for credits. And changes to the show CG elements of a logo change, a new bug, and show and remove animations.
Logo
Show Bug
Bumper
The images above may not be reproduced on any site other than cefm.ca.
