Inside a Solid Waste drop-in Depot, Toronto, Canada. Garbage everywhere.
Not all garbage is disposed of in the same matter. Here in Toronto, Canada we have fairly strict rules of garbage disposal. There are organics, recyclables and yard waste, all with their special pickup schedules. And then there the pickup for “the rest”, that that is destined for land fill, tilled down and buried into some hill, whereabouts unknown. Old shingles from my recent shingling task needed to be disposed of, so off to the Toronto Solid Waste Drop-off Depot I went.
My entries have been missing these past weeks because life has interrupted my normal routine, shifting me in unplanned directions. I suppose this is how life unfolds. I needed to remove my attic insulation, upgrade a ceiling pot light and vapour barrier, fix the attic vapour barrier, vent my bathroom fans to the outside, redo soffit venting, and then get everything back to normal. I get lemons and then make lemonade.
Reshingling of part of my roof went well. I did not fall off. Dirty yes, but it had to be done.
Imperial sewing machine model 535, as illustrated in the user manual. May also be branded as New Home 535 or Janome 535.
Since I became the custodian of my Imperial 535 sewing machine I have been looking for a user manual. Many people have written in looking for the same. As luck would have it, Gord Bestwick of British Columbia, Canada happened upon my blog page and has kindly cleaned up and offered me an electronic version of his user manual, for free non-commercial distribution. This means no one need pay for this manual and all Imperial, New Home and Janome 535 owners can enjoy it. This manual is applicable to many Japanese sewing machines of similar era. Between us, the world is a better sewing place.
Chubb Monitor Qx started warnings, the trouble LED always lit. The battery needed replacing.
Somethings in your house just keep working silently in the background. You eventually take them for granted, out of mind and out of sight. Such was my Chubb Monitor Qx security system, 452-4713, until the alarm started going off in the middle of the night, here in Toronto, Canada. It aurally called for attention. The trouble LED light remained lit, but with no station indicated. It turned out the battery was near dead. Once replaced it returned to its normal state of silence.
Lights of America LED bulbs 2025LEDE12-65k claim 40 watt bulb equivalent and 30,000 hr life. Real world says 25 watts equivalent and maybe 1,000 hrs. Do not buy this junk.
Browsing through Walmart here in Toronto, Canada, I stumbled upon some LED light bulbs on sale. From a company named “Lights of America”, they have a smaller base for use in a chandelier. Regularly $5.50CAD, they were going for $2.00CAD. Labeled “Made in China”, I hesitated. I could buy them, research them, and if necessary, return them if I was not happy. The results of research were that these LED light bulbs are junk and should be returned. They not only do not live up to brightness claims, but also only last a max of 1,000 of their claimed 30,000 hours of use.
We all die sometime, but sudden deaths are still shocking. I had hoped that Jack Layton would change Canada for the better as Official Opposition in Canada’s Parliament. Now this will not happen. Bad timing? Right person, wrong time? Is there ever a “right time”? Though I did not meet him, I felt he was a person of integrity and honesty, one that would truly represent the people that voted for him, and for the betterment of all Canadians. This I do not feel for any other politician in Federal politics. May his spirit carry on.
One of the many benefits of having kids is that you get to reexamine many aspects of life you easily take for granted. Because of the low level of driving skill and sometimes reckless attitude of local drivers, teaching my Little Weeds to safely cross the street terrified me. In our sleepy suburban neighbourhood in Scarborough, Ontario, it is not too bad, but when it comes to major intersections the concequences for a miscalculation are dire. No matter how well you teach your kids, they also rely on drivers to keep them safe. Here in Scarborough we have terrible drivers. Teaching my kids how to safely cross traffic intersections has been long in the making, Here is what I tell them.
It has been a long time coming, but Chinese fugitive Lai Changxing has finally been deported from Canada. His case took 12 years and went right to the Supreme Court of Canada, the highest court of the land. The twists and turns in this case are numerous. The conclusion of this case is also interesting. The Canadian Consulate in Beijing posted the court results in English on Sina Weibo, a Twitter equivalent in China, but was deleted two days later, presumably not by the original posters. A link was posted to direct readers to the court ruling, and this was also deleted. Here is the court ruling, in full. This court ruling was somewhat difficult to find for me, being inconveniently not indexed by Google. Still I was able to find this Federal Court decision online and in full. The contrast between the Chinese and Canadian legal systems has never been more striking.
You need to get along with your neighbours, but sometimes you must simply say “No”. Such is the case of The Town of Markham and the Morningside Extension. Markham is Toronto’s neighbour to the north east, and has a ballooning population of single family homes. Unsurprisingly these families want to commute into Toronto, where they have jobs. Unfortunately the existing north-south roads from Markham, through Scarborough, a suburb of Toronto, to Toronto’s Highway 401 are already at capacity and overflowing. The solution proposed by Markham is to build a new North-south road, through Scarborough, to Highway 401. Between Markham and Highway 401 lies the Rouge Valley, a large protected area of land soon destined to become a national park.
The Wong or Huang family crest approved and recognized by the Canadian Government
In yet another display of cross cultural friendliness the Canadian Government has officially approved the coat of arms for the surname “Wong” in Cantonese, or “Huang” in Mandarin. These are cultural displays of affection that bring Canada and China together. I wholeheartedly approve.
Wong or Huang is the seventh most common Chinese surname according to the 2006 census. There are a lot of Huangs in the world, and not they have a legitimate Canadian coat of arms or family crest.
