Amazon

Today's song is: See You Again  ..Furious

Amazon is number 1 in online sales and number 1 in cloud computing. I am not sure who is number 1 in online assistants. Google has Google Assistant (Google Home?), Apple has Siri, and Amazon has Alexa.

Google has Google Music and Google Play for Movies. Amazon has Amazon Prime for Music and Movies. Apple has the infamous Apple Store for everything Apple.

It is starting to make sense to stay in your ecosystem when deciding on certain technologies.

I recently purchase Amazon's Fire TV Stick for the above reasons. I have a subscription to Amazon Prime for music and videos and the fact that the stick hooks into Bell Fibe (if you subscribe) was a bonus. The fact that the stick's remote has Alexa cooked into it was the overriding factor in the picture.

Alexa and the fire stick can even work with my Google calendar. I think it may be time to get a Amazon Dot to make full use of Alex, like setting an alarm for waking up in the morning.

The only downside to all this is that these companies know everything about you.  These devices are always listening, but then again, I have nothing to hide  :-)

TTYL

Meals

Today's song is: Poker Face .. Gaga on Ellen

It is a quiet day today  .. a walk to the beer store for a few pints, dollar store for some cheesies and teach Jaidan how to pay for them and get change, Circle-K for a 649 lottery ticket, and simply walking about to burn some calories. We walk and Jaidan runs everywhere.

For lunch today I cooked chicken strips and french fries from m&M and Thavorn cooked chicken feet from TnT.

Jaidan and I ate from M&M

Cooked chicken feet

Raw chicken feet  .. ready for cooking  .. yummy  .. to Thais

On Sunday we visited my sister Elaine's house. Jaidan wanted to see her cats and Smokey and Jaidan hit it off.

TTYL

Driving Done

Today's song is: These Days  .. Jesse Glynne ..

I haven't driven for a couple of years but I managed to return the rental unscathed. Total cost for a weekend rental was $87 for 3 days from Friday at 9 am to Monday at 9 am. Enterprise is a good deal.  I will be renting at least once a month if not twice a month.

Yesterday it was about 8 degrees but this morning when I returned the car it was -8 degrees. Still unseasonably code for this time of year. Despite the cold, the snow is disappearing and I suspect a week of normal temperature will be its demise.

I have rediscovered M&M frozen food shops.  Jaidan loves nuggets but at $8 for 10 nuggets, they are expensive. I can buy about 35 nuggets for $11 at m&M and their chicken strips just went on sale at $7 off at $14.95.  Add wrinkle cut french fries and Jaidan is a happy camper (as long as he has yummy ketchup).

I have been enjoying march madness, NCAA basketball, despite watching Duke win.  Anybody but Duke and Kentucky and I am happy. UNC is always a favorite.

My friends Mike and Ashley should be back in Canada soon and it will be fun to get together to discuss how our past years evolved.

My business partner Brent and myself are starting to book appointments with the 5 local school boards that we do business with.  We will probably devote one day a week to our business over the next 5 months while I am in Canada. That does not count the time I spend coding the changes that the visits generate.

That's about it for now. Jaidan is quite happy and Thavorn seems content and I anticipate the contentment will turn to happiness as the weather warms up.

TTYL

A Good Day in Canada

Today's song is: Solo .. Clean bandit

Today was a good day. I was up at 6:30 am and left home at 7:45 to walk 5 kms to get a rental car at Enterprise. Along the way, I stopped at Shopper's Drug Mart to buy a pair of readers as I broke a pair last night.  The Enterprise folks were as friendly as always and I was a bit apprehensive jumping in a car after having had a 3 year break from driving.  Turns out, not to worry, as I readily dropped into my usual driving habits and all was good.

I drove back home to pick up Jaidan and Thavorn and we headed off to visit my business partner Brent and his wife Jeannine to talk about what needed doing with respect to our business. We finished off with a lunch and headed off to TnT Grocery store for Thavorn to explore. Along the way I remembered we needed to go to Service Ontarion to apply for OHIP for Thavorn.  Turns out that the Merivale office was the closest, and as usual, was quite busy. An hour later, mission accomplished and off to TnT we went. Thavorn enjoyed TnT immensely and an hour later I had to drag her out of the store.  Next month we really have to stick to our $400 a month food budget.

We arrived home to find our bidet had been installed at no charge by our BnB host and Thavorn and Jaidan were happy to see it.  I am watching March Madness BBall as I type this and I am looking forward to watching the next game with UNC facing Iona.

Tomorrow, Saturday morning we visit my daughter Jaime's new house and visit Costco. Later in the afternoon we will swing by and say hello to Larry and Lorraine.

Sunday is a some site seeing and a visit to my sister Elaine. Jaidan is looking forward to seeing her cats.

Thavorn seems to be enjoying driving for a change and seems pleased with my driving skills.

A good day indeed  ;-)

TTYL

Friends

Today's song is: I'm a Mess  .. Sheeran

So far I have met with 2 friends, Julian and Billy. Tomorrow I meet my good friend Larry Brown. My friends have been good enough to join me close to wear I live, typically at Timmy's. This weekend I plan to rent a car and get out and about and perhaps visit Big Rig for my favorite pizza, the Buffalo Chicken, which is spicy hot. I think Thavorn will love it and I am sure Jaidan will like their fries.

My initial impression of Canada after having been gone for years is that it has truly become multicultural. It also appears, the new comers to Canada have adopted Canadian attitudes for the most part.  A second impression is that Canada has aged as most of the folks I see are well into old age.  Perhaps, that is the Timmy's crowd and I can understand why the younger people are frequenting Starbucks or Starbuck clones such as Bridgehead.

The grocery stores are pushing 'organic' whatever that means. I don't think there is any standard for organic. Thai produce is full of chemicals and antibiotics and I trust that Canada does a better job on controlling additives, but I am not sure.

It is still colder than normal for this time of year despite the imminent arrival of the spring equinox.

This weekend I am renting a car for the weekend (Friday morning to Monday morning) for $100 which is pretty good. I have some business work to attend to on Friday but look forward to touring around with Thavorn and Jaidan on Saturday and Sunday.  Thavorn wants to visit TnT grocery store  and look for some fresh fish and Thai vegetables.

Thavorn likes Timmy's dark roast, double double.  :-) and their breakfast sausage sandwich on a biscuit.  Same as me.

Maybe time for a meatball sandwich at the Prescott.

TTYL

Today's song is: Thunder  .. Imagine Dragons

We had a wonderful snowfall yesterday. No wind and big fluffy snowflakes for about 5 hours. This is what we end up with:

We have been guilty of cocooning lately but we should get out today. The temperature today will be about 3 degrees and there is no wind, but we will have to wear our boots.

Thavorn has discovered Lotto649 and bought one ticket and won $10 and bought 3 more tickets with her winnings but did not win anything last night. Thais love to gamble and Lotto649 has draws on Wednesday and Saturday nights. Thailand only has one lottery that I am aware of and Canada has many. Thavorn is eyeing Lotto Max with its 25 million payout as of today.

You sometimes don't realize the effect that Thailand's pollution and climate takes on your body. As I have begun to re-acclimatize to Canada I am starting to feel better than I have in years. As Sveta used to say, 'Air is very tasty in Canada'.

TTYL

25 Days in Canada

Today's song is: Born to be Yours  .. Kygo and Imagine Dragons

We are approaching our first month in Canada and things are going well. It would be nice if Ottawa returned to normal March temperatures but as I have told Thavorn, this is a bad winter and will linger on. regardless, Thavorn amd Jaidan have no problem going out for walks while the sun is shining and the wind is minimal.  Thavorn has quickly learned the wind chill factor is the key.

We were going to head out on OC Transpo today but decided to stay in and do about 3 loads of wash and cook up a pork loin roast in the Instapot.

My driver's licence has arrived and I am good to go to rent and drive and will do do soon and take Thavorn and Jaidan on a tour of Ottawa.

I met with Jordan and his childhood buddy and business partner Luke and helped them create a new website for their of 'School of Fitness' business. I hope it pans out for them.

That is about it for this post  .. time to share a beer with Thavorn  :-)

Jordan and Luke  ..they would be rock stars in Bangkok  :-)

TTYL

Saturday in Canada

Today's song is: Shallow .. Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper

Saturday in Canada will be much different than Saturday in Bangkok. In Bangkok it is the best night to go out and party. Not so much in Canada where older folks have no place to party.  I would guess it is a supply and demand issue where the older folks in Canada are waiting until the 'end of time' (Meatloaf's by the dashboard light) whereas in Bangkok older folks are making the most use of the time they have left.

I have been looking into kindergarten for Jaidan and the 50% French is turning me off. Only 4% of the world's population speaks French but the political climate in climate in Canada shoves it down our throats, especially in Ottawa, the nation's Capitol. In education we used to joke there was no french immersion west of Renfrew. Not a big concern this year but something I will have to address next year for 5 year old kindergarten.

The temperature will climb to zero today and creep upwards as we move into March break.  It will be fun to get out and explore more.

Jaidan is enjoying his floor puzzles and they get him off his tablet which is a good thing.  Between more physical activities and getting outside I anticipate more learning for Jaidan. On Wednesday, I ride free on OC Transpo, Jaidan rides free, and only Thavorn pays so I think we will head out exploring, perhaps starting at the Rideau Center and then over to parliament Hill.

Jordan is starting up an after school and summer fitness program for 13 to 16 year olds and he will be visiting Sunday to work on his web site.

Jordan and his partner Luke

TTYL

Amazon Prime

Today's song is: All of Me .. John Legend

I am using the Amazon Prime free 30 day trial and may continue it when done, for a number of reasons.

I used to subscribe to Google Play Music service at $13.95 a month which was a rip off. I prefer Amazon music offering through Prime which is include in the $7.95 Prime subscription cost per month.  Prime also gives me Prime video and 1 or 2 day free delivery.  All in all, becuase I do not have a car, Amazon and Prime will become a mainstay for me.

I order a mortar and pestle for Thavorn yesterday and it will arrive today, courtesy of Intelcom Courier, which seems to be the best Amazon delivery partner. I have also seen Amazon delivery and it seems 2nd best. Running a last choice is, you guessed it, Canada Post. They seem to be anal in delivering. I missed them yesterday and they did not leave the package, despite my building having large enough mail box containers.  Somehow, I am not surprised. Blame unions and monopolies.

My Instapot has arrived from Amazon and my first attempt was successful at cooking Basmati Rice. Easy peasy to use and the results are great. Next meal up is beef stew which should be more challenging.

It is a beautiful sunny day but a little chilly at -11 degrees so we will wait until the afternoon to go for a walk and get some cooking supplies.

A main stay in Thai cuisine.

I expect to use this Instapot a lot.

Thavorn is making great use of LINE video to talk and share experiences with her Mom, sister, children and friends in Thailand. The internet makes staying in contact so easy.

TTYL

Bank Account Done

Today's song is: See You Again .. Charlie Puth

We had a 10 am appointment at the Royal Bank (chosen because it was within walking distance) to open an account. Canada is very multicultural these days and we had a lovely young lady (late 20's) from Dubai open Tavorn's account. Now the account is open, we await a mailing from the Royal bank and then we head off to OHIP again to register Thavorn for coverage.

We decided to have a breakfast sausage sandwich at Timmy's and Jaidan had a honey dip donut.  Afterwards we decided to try the shortcut back to our condo. It was only 5 mins and a beautiful walk back.

Some pics  ...

So far so good  ..it just keeps getting better. The weather is supposed to be more like spring starting on the weekend when we climb above 0 degrees. 

TTYL

Getting Things Done

Today's song is: Uptown Funk  .. Mark Ronson

I had breakfast with Julian Hanlon yesterday and it was good to get caught up after seeing Julian and Claire in Bangkok.

My printer arrived by Amazon and I was able to get our application off to Sudbury for the Canada Child Benefit. We also made an appointment to open a bank account for Thavorn. It is needed to deposit the Canada Child Benefit into as well as a document required (Ontario Address) for applying to OHIP. We need to get one account statement sent to our address in order to prove to OHIP that Thavorn actually lives in Ontario.

On our way back from mailing the application it started to snow and Thavorn and Jaidan enjoyed the flurry.

Thavorn and Jaidan are fascinated by snow.

TTYL

Out in the Country

Today's song is: Young Blood ..

Yesterday we headed off to my sister's log house on the Quebec side.  Besides the beautiful country side, the dogs and Jaidan were interesting. Ann has some rather large dogs and Jaidan and Thavorn had never seen large dogs.

Jaime, Elaine, and Thavorn

Bill and Jordan

My sister Ann, our host  :-)

The visit was lots of fun. Jaidan was initially overwhelmed by the dogs, but once they quieted down all was good. The meal was excellent as always as Ann is a great cook!

TTYL

Home for the Next 6 Months

Today's song is: Puff the magic Dragon  ... Peter, Paul, and Mary

A bit of whimsical  ...

We made the move from my sister Ann's condo to the airBnB that we will stay in for the next 6 months.  I like it as it meets all my needs and Jaidan seems to like it as well. Not so sure about Thavorn but she was spoiled at my sister's condo.

We are a 5 minute walk from Harvey's, Swiss Chalet, McDonalds, Farm Boy, Shoppers Drug Mart, the Beer Store, and the Royal Bank.  Everything I need is close by.

Bill, Ann's husband helped us make the move and did 3 trips between the 2 places and then stopped at McDonald's for take out. Thanks Bill!

I have my laptop, monitor and VOIP phone unpacked but realized I can't plug in the phone, and the monitor because they have Malaysian and Thai plugs.  Guess I will have to find a hardware or electronics store to get an adapter. The power bar I brought from Thailand takes any plug, but it has a Thai plug on the input end. I obviously did not think that through.

My toner cartridge arrived from Amazon Canada today (next day delivery) and my 3-in-1 laser printer arrives on Monday or Tuesday. I took the 30 day PRIME trial and it looks like a good fit for me.

Pics tomorrow ...

I decided to check my internet speed  .. I can live with it.

TTYL