C-vents:

• Canada Day and Parade, 2011: Riding, Premier M, J, U, poking fun at people. Used my ruddy turned up blue nose, to good effect. It is not too heavy. Was tired for the P, but happy as well.
• Waterford Festival, 2011: My premier twisting event. Some kid called me “dog”, which apparently is a good thing. U not good on grass or steep hills. Used my round yellow nose, very light and comfy, to good effect.
• Halloween Skating, Scarborough, Oct 30 2011: Had fun skating, used a very large red round. A little too large to stick and started to separate, bobbed up and down too much. Attracted lots of kids, but especially two kids, Mingming and Yeye, whom I have been sitting beside for about 3 months but they did not notice me through that time. Now they say Hi every week.
• Thornhill Historical Parade, 2011: Crowded, there was no bus at the end of the event, so had to walk. Lots of people, but Ok. Helmet top of 3 toys was too heavy, kept falling off. Performed M for a little girl on the TTC that sat across from me, while all the adults watched. Used my small red nose. Light and comfy.
• New Year’s Eve, Scarborough Civic Centre, Dec 31 2011: Little Weed twisted and had a great time. He learned a lot from another, Sparky. I did M and J. Used my new small and shiny red nose, light and really comfy. Freaked out a lot of adults, mostly. I met the rest of the SCofC, which I could not do previously. Did M in Mandarin and freaked out a lady and her son and daughter, who ran from me. No, this is no voodoo. Stiff rope went over very well, as did Prof’s Night. Fun was had by all.
• Port Union Winterfest 2012: It was raining and there was a high wind, so everyone was inside. I got lost getting to the event, and parking was terrible. We were late. Little Weed enjoyed twisting, but we ran out of supplies an hour before the event ended. They fed us a burger and drink, which was nice. Few events treat us to food.

Onward, Forward, Upward.

Our family lived in a rented apartment building until I was in my early teens. There was no issue of privacy nor of many worldly possessions. We simply did not have the space nor the money to buy many toys. Talking about our family situation to the Little Weed draws blank stares and a vacant look. Did I live on the same planet as we do now? Grow up in a house from birth and you know nothing else but house living. It really is difficult for him to contemplate apartment living, nor sharing a room.

Ten boxes of “stuff”, lots of plastic bags, models, Lego, Kinex, it all adds up, which all needs to be stored. His main concern when moving back in is not clothing, which he cares little, but of storage capacity. Where will he display his Hot Wheels collection without his shelving? How can he add more storage to his room? Where to display his models and Transformers?

Freshly painted, bed reassembled, it was time for a new and clean slate. The paint needs to cure, which will take a couple of days. We cannot add his shelving to the walls until this occurs. Put out he was, though in good spirit he did not show his annoyance. More shelving will come in due course.

There is nothing better than custom woodwork. The Little Weed now expects this. Route a curved groove longitudinally into a shelf, which allows his cars to not roll off. The wheels park in the groove and they stop, as they should. This is how Hot Wheels should be displayed, from the Book of Little Weed. Unfortunately “Hot Wheels ready shelving” is not readily available at the Big Box stores. One must set up the router and do it oneself, followed by cutting to length, sanding and sealing. Yet for the Little Weed this how one stores Hot Wheels, and is part of his expectations for living.

New lighting is being considered, halogens that can point where he wants. There is no “if” but “when”.

At least he is happy with his newly painted and drywalled room. The baseboard looks pretty nice. As always, expectations are high.

You will eventually need to cross a major street, so there is no avoiding the problem. Unfortunately there are many distractions that kids must overcome to safely do this. One is that they need to come of a certain age to realize that crossing a traffic intersection requires concentration. After you cross the intersection you can daydream all you want, but as we approach and during the crossing, keep your mind, ears and eyes on the task at hand. The reason is simply for safety. Kids and adults can easily be killed at an intersection. This happens regularly.

We see a lot of terrible driving here in Scarborough. In my predominantly Chinese area, it is no surprise that the majority of bad drivers are Chinese. Yes, there is a good representation of other nationalities. While most drivers are bad due to a lack of concentration on driving, their behaviour can still kill and maim the lowly pedestrian. This benign neglect is better than drivers who have selfish and arrogant attitudes, but not by much. Both will hurt you. All bad drivers are a hazard to pedestrians and cyclists. No matter that the pedestrian has right of way, this matters little when the pedestrian is struck and lands up in hospital, or worse, killed.

Many drivers who want to turn right now do not stop for a red light at intersections. I have even seen police do this. These “rolling reds” are especially dangerous to pedestrians and cyclists. When drivers are tired or distracted, they might roll through a red, not see a pedestrian and run over them. I have found it very difficult to teach my kids that, while they have a green light, many adults will drive through a red, even though they are supposed to stop. Kids are simplistic this way, expecting others to follow the rules, especially adults. Adults made them up, so why do not adults follow them? Unfortunately life is not so simple.

The hard reality of life is that in Canada more people get killed and maimed from vehicular crashes than any other reason. Drivers are not to be trusted. People here take driving as a right and not a privilege.

There are still some basic rules to the road that are followed by most drivers. These include driving on the right side of a road, and driving through a green light. Apart from these, all other rules are commonly breached. A pedestrian, for his own safety, must be certain that a driver will adhere to traffic rules or risk getting run over.

At a traffic light, each pedestrian crossing has three major hazards. This depends on whether the pedestrian is crossing with or against the flow of traffic parallel to the pedestrian.

Pedestrian walks against the flow of traffic parallel to the pedestrian: Threat 1: Car 1 signals for a right turn, but has a red light. Pedestrian has right of way. Ensure car comes to a complete stop and the driver sees you, before starting to walk. Beware the inattentive and dreaded ‘Rolling Red’ driver. Threat 2: Car 2 in middle of intersection signals for a left turn, has a green light. Pedestrian has right of way. Ensure car does not enter pedestrian walkway, the driver sees you, before continuing to walk. If in doubt, stop. Threat 3: Car 3 signals to make a right turn, has a green light. Pedestrian has right of way. Ensure car comes to a complete stop and the driver sees you, before continuing to walk. if in doubt, stop.

Pedestrian walks with flow of traffic parallel to the pedestrian: Threat 1: Car 1 signals for a right turn, has a green light. Pedestrian has right of way. Ensure car comes to a complete stop and the driver sees you, before walking. Threat 2: Car 2 in middle of intersection signals for a left turn, has a green light. Pedestrian has right of way. Ensure car does not enter pedestrian walkway, the driver sees you, before continuing to walk. If in doubt, stop. Threat 3: Car 3 signals to make a right turn, but has a red light. Pedestrian has right of way. Ensure car comes to a complete stop and the driver sees you, before continuing to walk. If in doubt, stop. Beware the inattentive and dreaded ‘Rolling Red’ driver..

Pedestrian crosses from South-East corner to North-East corner. Pedestrian crosses in same direction as traffic. Mouse over for descriptions.

Mickey Mouse cake mould with our experimental home made icing. It tasted great and was easy to make.

What you need:

• 500 mg package of icing sugar, $1.80CAD
• 2 egg whites: separate the egg white from the egg yolk using two containers. Crack the eggs into one container, then drain the egg whites into the other container. Do each egg separately. 12 eggs $2.80CAD
• cream of tartar, 1/2 tsp: This is a powder I bought in a small but relatively expensive container. You do not need much, so a container will last a long time. $5.00CAD
• food colouring: I bought red, yellow, green and blue. I suppose you could mix yellow and blue to make green, but it was at the grocery store so I bought it. Each 28ml bottle costs about $1.80CAD. You can review your colour theory at the same time.
• vanilla extract, 1/2 tsp: I used pure, $4.50CAD. You only need a little.

The icing recipe I used was a 500gm bag of confectioner’s sugar or icing sugar. The recipe called for a 16 oz bag, which is not metric and therefore needed my friend Google to translate (into 469gm or ~500gm), 1/2 tsp cream of tartar, 2 egg whites (What to do with the yolks, they are still in the ‘fridge) and a bit of 1/2 tsp vanilla extract. Sift the drys first, then using a blender on low blend the liquids in, and then blend on medium. I would have thought that the icing would come out too dry because we did not add liquid, but the egg white served this purpose. It turned out pretty well, though too much for one cake. I have a good 250 gm of icing still in the ‘fridge. The egg yolks were microwaved on medium and eaten with bread.

Starting with white, add three drops of red and one drop of blue to get purple icing. Baby blue only needs one drop of blue, so we added more for a deeper blue. Pink came out of a couple drops of red. It never really became deep red. Green was mint coloured. Yellow was a consistent yellow with only one drop. After 10 minutes the icing solidified, making the addition of extra colours much easier.

Different colours of cake icing. Make a batch of white icing and add colouring. It was easy.

Today we started with a Mickey Mouse cake pan. I was advised to use Pam oil spray, but found the 400 ml bottle expensive at $5.00CAD. Instead I tried oil and flour, which failed. Today I was successful with shortening and flour. Nothing stuck. Turning the cake over was challenging. Next time I will use a board underneath the pan.

Of course there was a huge amount of dish washing after all the excitement died down and the cake was iced. This is the solitary that most parents walk, the last hurrah and ending. We walk this alone, but happily.

Freshly squeezed orange juice is so much better, and way more expensive, than tetrapacked or frozen

Growing up, orange juice was a valued commodity in our family, in that it was rare on our table. Orange juice was expensive to buy and my family could not afford it on a regular basis. While we were “encouraged” to drink water in actuality we had no choice. For this reason, I provide orange and apple juice to our Little Weeds. To me orange juice is a daily reminder of the importance of the small things in life. In a revelation of sorts I set up a taste test of freshly squeezed vs cartoned orange juice (OJ) for the Little Weeds. It was no surprise that they were able to identify which one was freshly squeezed, and also no surprise which one they preferred. Freshly squeezed orange juice is so much better in taste than cartoned orange juice. You really cannot believe all the marketing and packaging of products, as they can warp your life perspective.

The randomness of life continues. I happened upon a glass juicer on sale at a garage sale here in Scarborough/Toronto, Canada. With no moving parts and all glass construction, this tool screams “old school”. A couple of months before on a whim we purchased a plastic juicer, where the freshly squeezed juice runs down to a cup attached below. It is difficult to wash and just Ok to use. The glass version is much simpler, does the job and is easier to wash. Simple but effective, is this glass juicer, just the way I like it.

The Little Weed could not wait to get home to try it. As we usually have fresh oranges in the house, he was soon happily grinding orange halves into juice. It is hard work. Two oranges, with some effort, yields a delicious cup of freshly squeezed orange juice. The taste and quality simply cannot be matched when compared to any packaged orange juice in the grocery store, no matter how fancy the packaging. The taste is in the tongue, unequivocally, and with certainty.

My lesson to the Little Weeds were many. Firstly, there is value in some of the old ways. Modern is not necessarily better. While cartoned OJ is convenient and available year round, there has always been a better product out there, known to everyone from the beginning of time. Oranges picked off the tree, cut into halves and squeezed will give you a much superior product.

Quality has its costs, one of which is increased effort. In this modern age of convenience, some kids will not make any type of significant effort. If it is too hard, takes too long or takes too much effort, they would rather do without. I suppose there have always been these types of personalities, but this has never and will never be tolerated in this family. The Little Weed takes the time and effort to manually juice two oranges in order to get a cup of OJ because he feels it is worthwhile. I as a parent can spout whatever parental verbiage until my mouth runs dry, and without a positive outcome, but he must convince himself. Freshly squeezed OJ has done this for him. I do help him by washing the oranges and halving them, and cleaning up after, be he does the squeezing.

This is not to say that cartoned OJ does not have its place, as it clearly is popular with our family. Squeezing OJ takes time, which cannot be done in the morning. It is so convenient to open a carton and pour.

There is also a increased cost for fresh OJ. On sale, a 1.8L carton of OJ will cost ~$2.00CAD, or $1.10CAD/L. Our local Chinese grocery store sells a 5lb bag of Florida oranges for $3.00CAD or $0.60CAD per pound. One 5lb bag give us about 12 oranges, or 6 cups of squeezed OJ. One cup of squeezed OJ is about 200ml, so 6 cups gives us 1.2L, or $2.5CAD/L. Freshly squeezed OJ is therefore 2.3 times more expensive than cartoned OJ on sale, and you have to take the time and effort to squeeze it yourself. Cartoned OJ is clearly cheaper to serve. This week the 5 lb bag of oranges has increased to $3.60/bag, or $3CAD/litre. Cartoned or frozen OJ can be bought on sale and stored in a freezer for a long time, decreasing the overall unit cost per litre.

I recall working for a high level executive at a large Canadian bank, Jeff Chisholm, who asked for and received a large pitcher of freshly squeezed OJ each and every morning. At the time I found it excessive, but now I see the wisdom of his ways. That only took me a decade! Some lessons come slowly.

On our last trip to China, I also looked for OJ. They also had tetra pack OJ, but the taste was dreadful. It did not taste like OJ at all. I recall making such a judgmental thought and then reminding myself that I was in China and should be happy to find any non-toxic liquid that might proxy for OJ. I would not trust any packaging in China, so we taste and eat everything with some doubt as to its origins.

Links:
-Not so sweet: Even “100 percent pure” orange juice is artificially flavoured
-Frozen Orange Juice Grades in Canada
-Hating Old South Orange Juice New Packaging
-Purchasing Orange Juice for Your Family

Bicycle riding prohibited in certain parks in Toronto. The bylaw 319-69 was repealed in 1997.

Sometimes finding certain information on the internet is much more difficult than it should be. I was looking for the City of Toronto, Ontario, Canada bylaw that allows bicycles with less than 24″ tires to ride on the sidewalk. I could not find it. I emailed the city clerk about the bylaw but got no response. This bylaw is heavily mentioned but almost never referenced. After about two years of searching the web, I finally found it.

Even the City of Toronto alludes to this bylaw but does not state its source. I wonder if the the legal interpretation of this bylaw is enforceable, as it is not mentioned in the actual bylaw. Would it hurt the city to reference its actual bylaw? For the record there are other fines for bicycle related infractions.

A City bylaw allows cyclists with a tire size of 61cm or 24 inches or less to ride on the sidewalk… The bylaw is based on wheel size because it is difficult for Police to enforce age-based bylaws, as most children do not carry identification. This is a municipal bylaw and rules vary in communities across Ontario.

The Toronto bylaw states that riding a bicycle with tire size over 61cm (24 inches) on sidewalks is prohibited, as is riding/operating a bicycle (or roller skates, in-line skates, skateboard, coaster, toy vehicle) on a sidewalk without due care and attention and reasonable consideration for others. The fine in downtown Toronto for not following this bylaw is $90 and aggressive cyclists can also be charged with careless driving.

Here is the actual City of Toronto Bylaw 313-27 as it pertains to riding a bicycle on the sidewalk:

ARTICLE IV: Sidewalk Regulations
§ 313-27. Horses and vehicles; Toronto Island.

A. No person shall ride, drive, lead or back any horse, carriage, cart, wagon, sled, sleigh or any vehicle over or along any paved or planked sidewalk, except at a regular crossing.

B. Except where permitted under Chapter 194, § 194-5, no person shall place on or use, draw, haul or propel along or upon any sidewalk any carriage, tricycle, bicycle, wagon, cart, hand-cart, hose, hose-cart, truck or any hand-wagon, sled, sleigh or other vehicle used for the conveyance of any person, article or property upon any sidewalk, except persons lawfully repairing the sidewalk. [Amended 1995-03-27 by By-law No. 1995-0249]

C. Subsections A and B do not apply to baby carriages, baby sleighs, children’s carts, wagons or tricycles operated by muscular power, or to shopping carts or wheelchairs, or to bicycles having each tire with a tire size no more than sixty-one (61) centimetres.

D. Pedestrians shall have the right-of-way on a sidewalk, and no person shall ride upon or operate a bicycle permitted under Subsection C, roller skates, in-line skates, skateboard, coaster, toy vehicle or similar device on a sidewalk without due care and attention and without reasonable consideration for others using the sidewalk. [Added 1995-03-31 by By-law No. 1995-0263; amended 1995-06-26 by By-law No. 1995-0445]

Due to inconsistencies in City of Toronto bylaws, fines are different for different parts of the city. The $90 fine in the City of Toronto is only $3.75 in North York and Scarborough.

< Here in Scarborough riding on the road is dangerous. People drive fast, most often over the speed limit. The skill level of car drivers is quite low. Even in supposed bicycle lanes cars invariably park there, forcing bicycle riders out into traffic. Having bicycle riders hit by open car doors is unsafe for riders. After multiple very close calls where I could have gotten seriously injured, I must question the safety of this bylaw in my suburb.

Note: There are signs in certain city of Toronto parks prohibiting bicycles. These state the bylaw number 319-69. This bylaw was repealed in 1997. Other incorrect bylaw numbers include 32/92.

The B2M Institute Summer Camp is wildly popular because it is well run, the kids have a great time, it keeps the kids busy from 09:00 to 16:00 and because there is no registration fee. Grants from the Federal government and sponsorship by the Toronto District School Board and others, allows this magic to happen. lunch is provided to all kids, and the food is excellent. Sometimes my Little Weed would return home bragging about the lunch he had at summer camp. Maybe I should up my game plan for family food prep?

As a business analyst I enjoy analyzing the workflow of complex processes, and registration for a summer camp, while seemingly simple, can become complex due to certain human traits, some of them laughable now, but while you are in line they are not as funny. The registration is as follows. Before the end of day school, forms were sent around to parents. Parents were to fill out the form and return them to their public school, where they would be collected. You arrive on the starting day of camp. The organizers have all your info and you’re ready to go.

The intent of the preregistration, I believe is that it simplifies the first day of camp, identifies that only kids that go to the Toronto District School Board get admitted, and it gives the camp organizers precious time and information for forward planning. Registration the start day of camp for over 500 people would be total chaos. The Toronto District School Board is a major sponsor of the camp.

Last year registration took 2.5 hours in a very hot and unventilated high school, even though the kids were preregistered. I was not the only parent grumbling about the lack of organization. They eventually got it right.

This year registration took one hour, and I arrived about 30 minutes before the start of registration. Thus, there has been marked improvement in the registration process since last year. Still this year there were still many issues, some of which are the responsibility of the organizers, Boys 2 Men Institute, and some of which are the responsibility of the parents.

Many kids missed the preregistration of camp, causing havoc in the parking lot. It is difficult to determine on exactly is to blame, so there is blame all around.These issues include:

• Parents not reading the form and following directions: If parents were more interested in their kids and knew about the camp, they would have called the school and ask about the camp in advance. Camp registration forms for the little Weed’s school only went out on the second last day of school, after I called the organizer and asked him how to register. Parents did not read their form, which clearly stated the forms were to be returned to the school. Instead parents brought the form to the first day of camp and are told they would join a waiting list. In actual fact their kids will not attend camp. All 300 spots are already filled with those kids who followed the registration process.
• B2M Institute did not provide sufficient forms for each school and more importantly, did not provide the school administrators with processing instructions. Our school administrator had no clue as to the purpose of the form. no written documentation was provided and administrators were clueless as to the process. Further more, 25 forms for over 180 kids is not sufficient. I had to phone the school, go into the school office, read the form, identify that this was the Boys 2 Men Institute summer sports camp, and phone the camp administrator to seek clarification as to how to register. He asked what school I was calling about, and my call started the ball rolling. A week later and on the second last day of school, forms were sent home to parents. Organizationally, this was too little too late, leaving precious little time for parents to comply.
• The registration form by B2M was clear, easy to fill out and had written processing instructions included. On the negative, when the forms were sent out to parents, this form looked physically different from the first form I filled out, had different schools, but looked like last year’s form. As a parent I was confused enough to contact the B2M administrator yet a second time to ask him if I needed to fill this form out again. Consistency of the form would have been better. The second form was the better, because the form was shorter and left camp instructions for parents (start time and date, location of camp) after the form was ripped off and handed into the school. The first form took up the whole page, was to be completely handed in and left no information about the camp to parents.
• The B2M administrator was quick to return my call and emails. This is very good, and he clarified the process quickly.
• While the camp is held in unilingual English, 95% of attending kids are of Chinese background. Many of these parents do not speak much English and would have difficulty with the form. I, however, do not lay blame on the B2M Institute, but on the parents. We live in Canada. The camp is held in English. Either have the child read the form in English or find someone that can help you with the form. B2M Institute has no moral obligation to translate the form into multiple languages. They are a charity, not the civil service.

Today, the first day of camp and registration day, was more chaotic than necessary. Much of the problem was with the preregistration issues, but many were due to the parents. The B2M Institute handled it as best they could.

• The B2M Institute administrator blocked the door to all parents, letting in only 20 kids and parents at a time. This is excellent crowd control. He also told people trying to cut the queue to line up, at the END of the queue.
• The B2M Institute administrator was collecting forms for all the kids that missed preregistration. This is good because it gave the parents direct feedback, input and acknowledgment that the form was received properly. Parents and kids dispersed, reducing the size of the lineup. Unfortunately he was also telling them that all 300 spots for kids were already filled by preregistered kids.
• The B2M Institute administrator was also trying to explain the process to many parents, but was not able to explain himself because parents largely spoke Chinese and he spoke English. Nor did he acknowledge that there was any language issue. When a Chinese parent offered to translate he stated that no help was necessary. The reality is that not everyone speaks English sufficiently to understand the registration process, so a Chinese translator would have been very helpful.
• With no explanation forthcoming to the Chinese parents that they could understand, Parents with forms in hand continued to stay in line, not knowing that could not register their kids that day. I could see them getting more impatient and angry. A healthy and happy mood there was not.
• Do Chinese people not know how to join a queue? They certainly do. Even with other Chinese parents giving explanation, many Chinese parents tried to jump the queue and push themselves in. Some were able to push themselves in, bypass the B2M Administrator, only to be blocked inside the building because their kids were not preregistered. While I admire their persistence, there was no way their kids were getting in without the proper registration process. Simply being pushy and rude to those around you may work elsewhere.
• The traditional way for Chinese parents to jump the queue is as follows: Look at the line and try to identify a friend. Engage your friend in Chinese. Hopefully your friend will invite you into the line. If others complain that you are queue jumping and they speak to you in English you feign that you do not understand English. If you are told to not queue jump in Chinese, you tell the Chinese person to mind their own business. Because of this Chinese trait the queue gets fatter and more funnel shaped the closer you get to the entry.
• A more innovative way to jump the queue is to engage the B2M Administrator at the door. As he is explaining in English you feign you do not understand and push your way into the line. Once others see that this tactic does work, a flurry of other parents from the queue all try to do the same thing, again making the queue more funnel shaped. While it worked for a few parents, the B2M Administrator wisened up and told these parents to go to the back of the queue.
• I really do not think that language was the issue today. Parents did not or could not preregister their kids, and the result was chaos. A Chinese mob mentality was starting to occur. Selfishness showed its ugly face, as it has for the last 3 years of registration day. We are human.

With a little more forward planning, project management and a touch of Chinese translation the registration process and Registration Day could be more streamlined. Thankfully parents did not revolt, though I know some of them wanted to. Each year gets a little better, but they seem to be a little slow in learning their lessons. While there was a marked improvement over the previous two years, further improvement is required.

Eating watermelon while in China might cause you diarrhea

Your relatives sit you down on their stools in the doorway of their rural Chinese farmhouse. The doorway is the only large shaded area, and there is the bonus cross draft that, in your mind, seems to lower the 30°C temperature. Watermelon slices comes out and you are thankful for their hospitality, but you know that despite your vigilance against waterborne bacteria, you will get the runs. Do not eat watermelon while traveling in China.

Getting sick while traveling makes your trip miserable. While you should be having a good time you hang on and hope the event will quickly pass. Water in China is not potable, meaning it is not drinkable from the tap. Precautions are required so you do not get sick.

This water filter from MEC.ca is compact, easy to use and effective

Traveling with two small children, our water regimen is quite strict. Well water is first boiled for 5 minutes or longer, then poured into a secondary metal container with a lid to cool and settle. Settling is required so that sediment in the water settles to the bottom, rather than stay suspended in the water and play havoc on your bowels. This cooled and settled water is then run through a 0.2 micron water filter we bought at MEC.ca, which removes 95% of all bacteria and viruses. Viruses smaller than 0.2 microns will still slip through, though they were hopefully killed by boiling. Boiled, settled, then filtered, the resulting water is stored in designated water bottles and is safe to drink. I have tested this method and it works very well.

Filtering water is troublesome and time consuming, but there was no other way to get clean water. Water filters are small and portable. Expensive, yes, but I do not travel to rural China without one.

Unfortunately for us when elders foist juicy watermelon upon us during a hot spell in rural China, one really cannot refuse. Invariably I know that we will get diarrhea that night. This has occurred many times. Pears, apples, oranges and other fruit are Ok to eat if peeled, but not watermelon, which I believe is 98% water. A recent article on exploding watermelons due to misuse of fertilizer brought my Chinese watermelon views to the fore. These chemical fertilizers cannot be good for people. Damaged watermelons will be fed to the pigs, which are slaughtered for meat consumption. Again this is not good for people.

The other forbidden food we now do not eat are Chinese Popsicles. These tasty frozen treats are fun for kids in the hot summer. Unfortunately we found out that they also upset our stomachs. When we stopped eating them we got better. These should be safe to eat because the formula should have been boiled before being frozen. However the resulting product is unsafe to eat, much to the chagrin of my kids.

You cannot survive long without clean water. We have taken chances with dubious bottled water in China but we would rather be prepared. If you run out of filtered water there is orange soda and bottled water. In the past orange soda has tasted awful but has been safe to drink. Maybe today’s hermetically sealed tetra pak drinks are safer than in the past? I do not know.

Rocker RA-200 dreadnought acoustic guitar, Made in China, surprisingly good quality

My friend bought this guitar and, due to lack of time, gave it to me. This acoustic guitar is a low end “Made in China” acoustic dreadnought, purchased here in Toronto, Canada. For the low price of $60CAD, this guitar is surprisingly high quality. It says in tune, sounds very good, is well finished and looks great. The neck is straight and intonation perfect. The action is high but can be somewhat lowered. I do hate the “Rocker” brand name. Whomever chose this name should be shot.

If you search for Rocker guitars on the internet you will find little information, even from the manufacturer. The full name of the company is “Rocker Music Tools”. The name “Rocker” is lame, as is the addition of “Music Tools”. Someone in China should be a little more creative. Rocker is imported into Canada by Audio One in Bolton, who also distributes Crate and Ampeg gear. The Rocker website is scarce on information but states the Rocker RA-200 has a spruce top, and rosewood fingerboard and bridge. I have no idea what wood they used for the body sides and back, and neck. I guess at this price point they don’t care, but I would like to know. All I can say is it is “brown wood”. How is that for specific technical information?

My friend purchased this guitar new for $60CAD from a no name music importer in Mississauga, suckered in on a supposed 50% off sale. They were lieing. The guitar comes wrapped in thin foam, encased in a cardboard box. An allen key for the truss rod was included.

Overall you can see that this guitar is not meant to compete with the higher end Epis and Fenders. The neck is thin, straight, feels smooth and is easy to play. The dreadnought size is a little large for me but acceptable. The guitar sounds pretty good and stays in tune. The wood is finished nicely with no defects, and shines up well. It is overall a nice looking guitar. The tuners do their job of keeping the guitar in tune. The intonation was checked with an electronic tuner and was perfect. The action was high and needed to be lowered.

Putting a capo on the first fret and pressing down on the 13th fret, height at the 6th fret was similar to the width of the high E, or 0.010″, so no change was required to the truss rod.

The frets are not jumbo and are skinny, forcing you to use extra hand force to get a note without buzzing, something quickly frowned upon my by eldest little weed. Still, she has gotten used to it. The ends of the frets are sharp and need sanding down. When running your hand up and down the neck you might scratch yourself. Varnish on the upper part of the fretboard, near the12th fret markers is prematurely chipping off, but is not sharp. The varnish is still wearing away. I know not why, because this is a brand new guitar with very little play time.

Rocker RA-200 dreadnought acoustic guitar. Made in China. Varnish is chipping off near the 12th fret markers. Macro 2.8x

Rocker RA-200 acoustic guitar. Made in China. Soundhole rosette, macro 2.8x

The soundhole rosette is pleasant but not excellent quality. Looking at the macro photo the quality seems worse than in person. I like the blue colour of the rosette, as it reminds me of JingdeZhen Chinese pottery and tableware. The dentile is a nice design, but there are some quality issues that are evident.

At first glance the “Rocker Musical Tools” logo on the headstock looks like inlaid Mother of Pearl, but this is untrue. With some clever Chinese trickery and a high tech pattern that looks like a hollogram, the label can deceive the eye. No doubt it is a sticker of some kind, but nicely done and then varnished. One cannot feel the logo on the headstock. It does reflect light in a similar way to Mother of Pearl.

Rocker RA-200 acoustic guitar. Made in China. Logo is a high tech reflective material that looks like a hollogram. Definately not Mother of Pearl, but could trick you. Macro 2.8x

The action on the RA-200 was high enough to give me a hand cramp when playing a song of predominantly bar chords. The big weed also complained. I loosened the strings and removed the plastic bridge. The bridge was sanded down until the action was lowered. This did not take much time. Note that the bridge is not flat on the bottom and sanding it flat will quickly reduce the bridge height, so do this carefully. Action before sanding: Low E = 0.197″, high E = 0.164″. Action after lowering: Low E = 0.163″, high E = 0.135″, measured with a vernier caliper and a magnifying glass. There is a tiny bit of excess buzzing on the high E, 12th and 13th fret, so the action cannot be lowered any further.

The strings included were acceptable, though when I was lowering the action the high E broke as I was tuning it with my electronic tuner. For a new guitar this should not happen.

When your guitar costs less than the hard shell case that protects it, you cannot complain too much. The Rocker RA-200 plays well, sounds good and looks good. It is worth $60CAD but cannot be compared to the more famous name brands. Still, I would rather play the Rocker than some of the ultra low priced “Made in China” Epiphones and other name brands. These days, brand name alone is usually not indicative of high quality. Buyer beware.

Rocker RA-200 acoustic guitar. Made in China. Label in the sound hole.

Ten bad driving habits, by Chen Xin, People Daily, equally applicable here in Toronto, Canada

As a lifelong resident of Toronto I can attest that many fellow Torontonians wonder out loud why Chinese drivers are so terrible. I am one of them. As I live in Scarborough, a heavily Chinese area of Toronto, there are certain major intersections that I avoid due to a very high proportion of Chinese drivers that approach 100%. As my ethnic background is Chinese, I have ruled out genetics. Moreover I know many Canadian born Chinese, or Huayi, that are excellent drivers. Further, anyone from Hong Kong can attest to the prowess of their local driving skill. So why are Chinese drivers so terrible?

If you have traveled to China you know that driving in China is terrible and very dangerous for pedestrians and cyclists.

Beijing began a five-year action plan over the weekend aimed at cracking down on traffic violations and bad driving habits in a bid to ease the city’s worsening traffic situation.

Over the next five years, traffic police will crack down on drunk driving, running red lights, the illegal occupation of emergency lanes and bus lanes, driving without a license, and six other traffic violations. Bad driving habits, such as forcibly overtaking another vehicle and forcing it into another lane, will also be targeted.

Traffic in Beijing is horrible. I recall taking 45 minutes to travel 2 kms in a taxi. There are way too many cars on Beijing streets to travel efficiently. Still, cars that do move are dangerous. Traffic signals are ignored if there is no police on site. People park their cars everywhere, blocking whomever they wish. It seems that there is a blatant disregard for the safety and convenience of others. I suppose if you do not know someone else personally, you have no personal connection (guanxi), and therefore no need to be cordial.

I will not cite examples of bad driving practice that I have personally witnessed in China, as they are too numerous. And very scary. Suffice it to say that in trying to cross a busy Chinese street you may not make it to the other side uninjured.

We can only guess at the reasons why Chinese are terrible drivers.

1. Driving is relatively new: Yes, in China the ability to drive is very new, only within the last 10 years. New drivers lack skill. That get a driver’s license from Hong Kong are excellent drivers, and those that fail migrate to Toronto and get an Ontario driver’s license. Many from Mainland China do not have a drivers license from China, so this is their first time driving here in Toronto.
2. Driving is a status symbol: It seems like when Chinese migrate to Toronto from China one of their goals is to get the largest vehicle possible. Maybe this is to brag to those back in China that they are financially well off? Unfortunately these large vehicles are more difficult to drive. These new drives drive so poorly that they become a hazard to everyone else on the road.
3. Driving rules are not enforced: This is true both in China and Toronto. Bad driving is applicable to all drivers here in Toronto. If police would enforce existing laws there would be better overall driving habits, but even the police break the laws.

No matter where you originate, here in Toronto Chinese drivers have a bad reputation as terrible drivers. Hopefully the next generation of young Chinese drivers will not follow their parents and grow up to be skilled and courteous drivers. Parents need to learn from their kids.