New chairs for the Greatroom!

So I’ve been monitoring my blood pressure for a few weeks now and I think the ‘high blood pressure‘ concern is somewhat unjustified. Sure I get an occasional slightly above ‘normal’ reading but the majority of my readings are normal. That said, I will continue to monitor it and I’ve started drinking Hibiscus tea (I’m drinking one now as I write this) which has been linked to reducing systolic blood pressure. I don’t mind it taste so… a simple thing to try out. *shrug* It doesn’t appear to me that I’m a lazy, overweight, sedentary individual who’s recklessly unhealthy lifestyle is going to lead them to an early death. At least at this point anyway.

It was a busy weekend for sure. Saturday started with bdot picking up chairs with our Brother in law that we ordered a few weeks back. The process for getting theses chairs started well over a year ago so I’m happy we finally have them. I recall looking through books and books and books of fabrics and chair styles and chair legs etc… It seems worth the time invested as I think they are quite striking. They are a cool addition to the great room, adding some colour and a comfortable place to sit. Well, assuming the chair isn’t occupied by a cat. The boxes the chairs came in also made great playthings for the nephews that had a short visit.

Lelit espresso machine

Bdot introduced me to coffee many years ago. So long ago I don’t even recall exactly when. Prior to bdot, I drank tea exclusively. Well, a lot has changed in nine years. Now I quite enjoy the occasional coffee, latte, cappuccino and even the odd espresso. Yes Starbucks had been in my vocabulary since we lived in Brampton. I still recall the numerous trips to Chapters and sitting with a magazine enjoying a latte. Today in Bolton the closest Starbucks is a 20m drive, the closest Chapters even further, so when bdot took an interest in getting an espresso machine I was certainly interested. Of course, that meant she researched them for a week and developed a good understanding of the machines and how they work. Saturday afternoon we drove in the rain to Milton’s idrinkcoffee to check out espresso machines. Having bdot in my life has made it clear that you can be a geek on just about any subject. Dogs, stain glass, beds, coffee… Bdot started talking to the coffee guys and it sounded like another language. Yes you can get fully automatic machines to make you a coffee by pressing one button, but a manual machine requires a good knowledge of what you are doing in order to brew a nice shot of coffee. It was fascinating hearing them talk coffee. Even the idrinkcoffee guy who demoed the machine we were looking at took two tries to get the correct balance to make a neat espresso shot. The coffee guys were very helpful and didn’t crack under the question barrage from bdot. After some debate we settled on a Lelit espresso machine. After searching in vain in Milton for espresso cups we ventured home.

We were both pretty zonked by the time dinner rolled around Saturday so the plan became to chill and watch a movie. Picking a movie is in itself a process with us. When it comes to ‘entertainment’ and ‘media’ our interests are very different. So the area where we can agree on a movie is a small section of the Venn diagram. After several movie misfires, I white flagged and agreed to watch Crazy Stupid Love.

Marisa Tomei

Crazy Stupid Love stars Steve Carell playing the role of a bumbling guy who recently separates from his wife played by Julianne Moore. The relationship ends when Moore’s character admits to sleeping with a co-worker. The movie was a little slow to unfold. There are a few different storylines that develop. One with Carell’s son who loves his babysitter. The babysitter loves Carell. Moore is pursued by her co-worker and Carell meets up with the womanizing lady’s man played by Ryan Gosling. Phew. Gosling’s character starts off personifying a slick GQ man with the right look, right lines and the eye of every woman. Gosling befriends Carell and begins ‘whipping him into shape’ transforming him into a lesser man whore version of himself. The two characters were fun to watch and had good dialogue to work with. I won’t spoil the film…. but I will say all the plots eventually converge into a riotously funny scene. I was skeptical to watch a film titled crazy stupid love. Frankly it sounded like some awful chick flick but it ended up being pretty entertaining and well acted. The minor characters such as Carrell’s son’s teacher played by Marisa Tomei added some depth to the film. Stick with the film it builds to a funny conclusion. ⭐⭐⭐½

We discovered the evil Chicago Popcorn during the movie. Gawd, cheese popcorn with caramel popcorn? Please, I’m only human… we made an impressive dent in the bag.

first espresso shots

Sunday welcomed bdot the barrista cranking out her first espresso shots which turned into delicious cappuccinos. What a lovely way to start a day. The smell of freshly ground coffee is amazing. We’ve been also looking for a way to get music throughout the house since we moved in. My sister-in-law had a system that worked well for her called Squeezebox from Logitech. I noticed they were blowing them out at NCIX as Logitech has curiously decided to discontinued them. So we made the musical leap and bought a few players. Wow! The system is very impressive. You setup a media server, link in your MP3 database, synchronize and bam! music as you flow from room to room throughout your house. I believe music is one of the things that create warmth and atmosphere in a home. I love it. So now we enjoy music wherever we are in the house. It is fun technology with a lot of integration into news, social media and even has a web player. The quality of Internet radio streams is inconsistent however. Our default, radioparadise usually steams flawlessly however a few CBC radio stations are nothing but problems. *shrug* A recommended system if you can still find any.

Sunday afternoon we spent with our nephews. It was the eldest’s birthday so we drove over to Richmond Hill to meet up for Pizza and Lasertag! Lasertag was fun. It was a lot of running around in the dark. The kids had the right strategy: get to the second level and pick off people below. I found this out too late to get a good score. I played more conservatively hunting the bottom dwellers like a SWAT team. I think it would be awesome to try with my peer group. My nephews and his friends sure seemed to enjoy it. After the birthday festivities we stopped for groceries and then started on Sunday night house chores. Walking Dead is back. Thank gawd. At least there is something for me to look forward to watching on TV since hockey this year looks like a fading possibility. GRRR. It really pisses me off how indifferent and uncommitted the NHL and NHLPA appear to with inability to even work on a deal. I can’t believe the assholes can’t even bother to met. What an embarrassing circus. It is a shame the sport I love the most is being run by the most selfish, greedy bastards in professional sports. Sigh.

Hurricane Sandy

The news is abuzz with the approaching hurricane Sandy. It is suppose to rock the East coast this evening. Living in a home surrounded by trees I always get concerned when there are high winds in the forecast. I’ll be very concerned tonight as there could be gusts that reach 100km/h. Eek. Be safe people.