Review


  • My Thoughts on Reviews

    I love writing and submitting views and reviews on a lot of things. With that, I feel that some people over favourably review things. A 5 star is, in my opinion, the best of the best where the service was above and beyond, or for movies that I loved it so much, I would buy the DVD and watch it a couple of times a year.

    I see a 3-star or 4-star review as a favourable review still. When it comes to travelling places I always ignore the 5s anyway and look to the reasoning why people did not like it. Quite often people will have just been too picky.

    Right now I am getting close to 50 reviews on Trip Advisor check them out and let me know what you think. Am I being too hard?


  • Council’s Last Chance at Transit

    It is now 7pm in the council chambers and the councillors are now arriving. As council begins there is 44 people here.

    The meeting has now begun the councillor are doing their opening thanks to different community groups.

    Joe Mott is absent tonight. Most of the routine business is quite boring and routine. The first item is 12.1 on the demolition of a dilapidated building on city road no one will miss. Next is a review of the Taxi by-law review and a full presentation with slides.

    Council has after an hour approved starting the process of drafting the new Taxi By-Law something that has been talked about for close to 15 years now. Now they are discussing changes to the procurement policies.

    Now it is time for transit (11.2). Councillor Higgins has moved to reassess the decision to cuts. Now the motion is a refer to budget deliberations. Councillor Farren sounds hesitant as long as it does not increase taxes. Deputy Mayor Chase does not seem to really support this. He is even denying that Higgins did know that the facts that she is denying and is stern on holding the budget. Councillor Norton is proposing a public review on route changes, but is being cautious. Councillor Snook is supporting transit but is supportive of the public consultation of optimizing routes. The City Manager is trying to educate council that this is not a cut but a limit to the increase to 1% even though Transit has been increasing the city’s subsidy by about 8%. Court was not favourable to the motion. Councillor Sullivan is not wavering on the fact that Transit is not a council priority. They are trying to wash their hands of transit and placing responsibility on the commission and the province for the taxes on the garage.

    Some appear on delaying a decision. Councillor Titus, the council representative on the Transit Commission, is placing the blame back on council. He is insisting that the transit commission placed much thought on the routes. The cuts were based on cost effectiveness of service. The pension issue is of great importance and that money has been already been spent on printing of new schedule.

    Titus insists that there is not really $5-million dollars extra. Insists that we have really good services, that citizens should be proud of.

    Higgins makes a good closing point that perhaps if more than one transit passenger was on the commission it could be more efficient. It could be better promoted, and that the larger percentage of users are renters and renters pay 2x the tax rate of regular residential.

    Considering that East Saint John is getting hit the hardest. It is despicable that Councilor Court is taking such a hard line against the prosperity of transit. Councillor Court does not stand up for is own ward and should likely be cut come election time. Voting time it is a referral motion 8-2 in-favour. Titus and Sullivan against.


  • Jade City

    There are menu items to avoid, but the rest of the food is very fresh and they have a good take out lunch buffet.

    212 McAllister Drive
    Saint John, NB E2J 2S5

    This Review was originally posted on Yelp, in 2019 I deleted my Yelp account and moved the reviews here.


  • MapleLeaf Queen’s Buffet

    There was a good selection of food, but much was reheated frozen food. The tables have cheesy plexiglass on them. Very large dessert selection but most of it looks bought and not cooked there.

     
    212 McAllister Drive
    Saint John, NB E2J 2S7

    This Review was originally posted on Yelp, in 2019 I deleted my Yelp account and moved the reviews here.


  • Urban Deli

    The food is always flavourful and of great quality. In the rare instance it is not they are great at taking care of it.

    The Ruben and Pulled Pork are to die for.

    68 King Street
    Saint John, NB E2L 1G4

    This Review was originally posted on Yelp, in 2019 I deleted my Yelp account and moved the reviews here.


  • CBC News – NB – Review Anglo Society flag motion: language chief

    CBC News – New Brunswick – Review Anglo Society flag motion: language chief.

    This has to be one of the most overhyped stories of the month. It would be common practice for the City of Bathurst to fly this flag. I firmly believe that every group or person has the freedom to speak their thoughts. Just as much as it is everybody elses to consider to merits, then decide if it should be accepted or driven out-of-town with pitch-forks. In this case I think the City of Bathurst is committing censorship but the few deciding without the Anglo-Society having a chance to give the Anglo-Society their moment on the soap box.

    Personally from the time I was in Fredericton I think the Anglo-Society should be driven out with pitch-forks but everyone should be given a chance to hear their points.


  • Does council not care about protocol

    Does council not care about protocol

    This week I went to the council to see the debate and decision on Peel Plaza/North of Union project. That particular topic is so revolting in so many ways that it needs not mention here.

    But what is even more inexcusable is the state of the decorations in the Council chamber. I have attached a photo that demonstrates the three worst violations.

    1. The Queen’s Photo

    This item really bugged me most of the night it is not noticeable on TV or the web feed but the photos are crooked. In the chamber, it was the Philip photo that looked wrong but upon review in PhotoShop , it is actually the Queen’s photo that is eleven degrees clockwise crooked.

    2. The New Brunswick Flag

    This one is not as noticeable as the others but the flag is a good decimeter down the shaft from the top making it lower than the other flags.

    3. The Acadian Banner/Flag

    In this case , you don’t even see it because it has no base and is leaning against the Canadian flag.

    Bonus: Flag Order

    The flags are positioned incorrectly. They are positioned left to right: Union Jack, New Brunswick, Canada, Acadian. By official precedence with 4 flags the Canadian flag should be on the left, followed by the flag of a sovereign state (Union Jack), Provincial Flag in order of confederation (NB), then historical flags (Acadian). Then an optional second Canadian flag could be on the right.


  • I have a new Camera … again

    I have a new Camera … again

    Canon PowerShot SX120 IS
    Canon PowerShot SX120 IS

    About a week ago, I caved and bought a new piece of technology. Yes, as the title of this post suggests it is a new camera. Not just any camera it is the Canon PowerShot SX120 IS. Although not that much better than my S5 IS it is really the form factor that made me buy it. On the downside first, it is a smaller lens and only mono audio of the video, I can’t see the viewfinder for taking great one try self-portraits and I can’t set voice memos for the photos. On the good side, it only takes 2 AA batteries, and it is a 10 megapixel with a 10x optical zoom (my old cam is 12x).

    If you are wondering what the pictures look like, the strawberry waffles were taken with this camera. This has pushed me to update my SnapShots gallery that it is now run by WordPress and Gallery is about to be shut off, I just have the 2 largest albums to go through.


  • Fitness and Personality Watchmen

    I’m going to start today’s post with the fact that I have joined a gym. My friend Andrea finally convinced me to join Nubody’s (now GoodLife) (Now GoodLife). I bought the membership on Thursday and finally went yesterday. Despite feeling a little sore and tired today, I actually feel better. Despite the fact that I have a lot of weight that I should lose, I am actually quite hesitant to set goals/benchmarks at this point. It has been since 2002 since I last regularly worked-out in a gym. The most exercise I have done recently is walking to work from missing the bus. Which according to Google Maps is 3.4 km which should take 39 minutes. I usually take 45-50 minutes to do it, Although I have done it in a “Vindaloo” walk in 32 minutes. (While listening to “Vindaloo” on my iPod. in one song loop mode.)

    The next topic is to discuss personalities. I was recently updating my profile for the site StumbleUpon which one of the selections is personality type. Being unsure what the meaning of the letters were I did a quick Google search and found this site that offered a free personality quiz. I took the test and got these results.

    Extravert, iNtuitive, Thinker, Judger (ENTJ)

    ENTJs represent between 2 and 5% of the U.S. population.

    Natural leaders with a hearty and frank style, ENTJs tend to take charge of any situation they find themselves in. They are good organizers of people because they have the ability to see ahead and then communicate their vision to others. Usually friendly and outgoing, ENTJs have a lot of energy, often speaking, thinking and moving quickly. Excellent strategic thinkers, they grasp new concepts quickly, even complicated or complex issues and they generally convey confidence. ENTJs often juggle several projects at once and pride themselves on completing them all with skill and efficiency. Creative and innovative, most ENTJs enjoy developing a high-level strategy and leading a team or organization towards implementation. Because ENTJs are so logical and analytical, they are usually good at anything that requires reasoning and intelligence. Driven to achieve competence in all they do, they can naturally spot the flaws that may exist in a situation and see immediately how to improve them.

    Then I recall learning this during my second university stint in the class “Introduction to Organizational Behavior.” I never did well in that class. I was constantly disputing the theories involved in it but now in hindsight that maybe might have been due to the fact of my personality type…or that I did not study.

    While I am at it I might as well include a review of a movie. Yesterday after the gym I went to the theatre to see “The Watchmen.” I really like the story and the acting was really good. However, the editing and attention to detail were very poor. In the Dr. Manhattan farewell scene as Silk Specter II’s hair is blowing in the wind it is filled with a green light from the green screen instead of the proper background. CEFM Rating: 3.5/5


  • Slamming Empire Theatres

    Okay, so instead of a review of a movie I’m going to post about the whole getting into the theatre. This is payback for not showing the new release “New in Town.”

    1. Congestion at Entrance.

    First off the last renovation to the theater was based on the time when probably 70% of the transactions were cash based. Now that this is not the case there is a large congestion at the point by the arcade. I mean there are several ad-hock lines for the automated machines and the REALLY LONG cash line. It practically is impassable to get past it especially if you are going to the concessions and getting you tickets there. To make it worse the on sight that informs you of this is the one that is in the way and makes the situation worse on a busy Friday/Saturday. And move that sign further near the foot of the ramp.

    2. Focus in the Cinemas.

    About 20% of the movies that I see are so out of focus that it bothers me at times, like most people would not notice but to a trained eye like mine it does get annoying during some presentations.

    3. The Express System

    Why can’t you buy tickets from more than one movie at once? Also why can’t you buy single items? Or, items from different categories. This results in needless transaction costs to the theatre, as I have to go through a few times to get everything I want. No the single items go to my next point.

    4. The express lanes need more items!

    This is ridicules why if I want to just get a Pop why cant I get a ticket run through and grab the pop and head off to my movie. Also New Your Fries could be added as a Regular and Large Fries, and Chocolate Bars should be added as well. And the auto system should allow you to select different items available as mix and match. Of course anything that requires preparation like Nachos, Poutine, and TCBY would not work but the quick stuff, even Hot Dogs maybe. I also don’t think it would be difficult to have a monitor scroll by what I items are being ordered in real time by the automated machines and allow the concession supervisors to optimize the system. E.g. if 5 poutines and 5 pretzel bites combos are ordered on the automated system you may need an extra person over there and the revised express lane would relive some of the line ups.

    5. I wanna see the good movies too..

    I was really disappointed by not being able to see New in Town, Be Kind Please Rewind, and countless others. I understand that some movies are limited release and some have contracts that are too long for the quality of the movie but. There have been many hyped movies that I have been disappointed that they were not shown.