Rewiring 59 Cecil Street

Last Wednesday I helped Dickie do some rewiring at May and Judy Eng's mom's place at 59 Cecil Street, not far from the church. My uncle, Jit, actually rents out a room there on the second floor. There are two students who rent out rooms on the third floor according to Dickie.

We were going to lay down some heavy-duty wire from the electrical junction box through the length of the basement up to the third floor kitchen for the new electric stove they bought. The existing 3-burner gas stove they had currently was on it's last legs. Only one of the burners was actually working. So the two girls up there were having a heck of a time trying to cook their meals.

There was already a thinner wire running through the spot Dickie wanted to put the new, heavy duty one in. We decided to use that as a guideline. We attached the new wire from the basement to the end of the old one. But, the hole from the basement through to the main floor was too tight. So Dickie got his drill out and enlarged it slight. Luckily it was big enough to fit.

The new wire was quite heavy. And it was larger in diameter. It's made to carry enough electricity to run a stove or dryer after all. We had a heck of a time pulling it through each of the floors. It was a really slow process. One of us would be pushing up from the floor below, while the other guy would be the floor above pulling. We had to do it floor by floor because there was too much friction to pull straight from the top.

We finally pulled the wire up from the basement to the third floor when we decided we should have about 2-3 more feet of wire up there just in case. So we repeated the whole process (from floor to floor again).

After we did that, Dickie attached the box to accept the plug from the stove to the upper end of the wire and I strung the wire across the length of the basement to the junction box. It was a lot of work. The wire was heavy and not very flexible. Sometimes I would have to pull a long length of it back so it would go the best way around obstacles.

At the end Dickie hooked it up to the junction box. We went upstairs and tested it. Everything was fine. The stove worked well. I'm sure the girls up there will be happy. They now have a stove with four working burners to use.

New Year's Eve Party

I attended the Meet Market Adventures New Year's Eve Party last night. As they've often done in the past, they sent me an e-mail to go for free. If you were to pay, tickets were going for $79.99 or $100 at the door (plus HST). Sometimes I think they need to fill a certain demographic, so that's why they do it (give away tickets to certain people).

It was held at the Arcadian Court (shown above) on the 8th floor of the Simpson Tower at 401 Bay Street (south of Queen Street West). Unlike the photo, the room was empty. It just had booth seating around the edges with open spacing for dancing in the middle. Not nearly as elegant as the picture. As usual the music was way too loud for talking, but what else is new?

There were supposed to be 1,000 people in attendance. That may sound like good odds for meeting someone, but there was quite a disparity in age. I spoke with a few younger folks who were pretty unhappy about that. Most of the attendees were a bit older I have to admit.

I have to say it's really not that interesting when I go by myself. While I can always find people to talk to every now and then. Sometimes that's not always the case. That's when it gets kind of boring. I guess I'm just a sucker for a free deal. I'm pretty sure I would have had more fun if I hung out with my friends doing something more entertaining.

I feel sorry for the people who paid full price for this event. I think they got ripped off. All they really provided was a few hors d'oeuvres, a wee sip of Champagne and some cheap party favors for nearly $80 (or more). I probably shouldn't have told so many people there I went for free. Oh well, what can you do? Happy New Year.

Tropicana Team Dinner

back: Rupert, Wendy, Grace, Winnie, Anthony's girlfriend, Anthony

front: Steve, Sang Hee, Chris

This is our "Sports Night" team, Tropicana. Every Thursday night over the winter we get together with the other two teams in the Cornerstone church league and play different sports. For the first seven weeks we played European Handball. Since the school is closed over the Christmas/New Year's holidays we decided to get together for dinner.

We met up at Kam Toa off Leslie Street, north of Highway 7 for Hot Pot. We were going to go bowling across the street at World Bowl afterwards, but we ran late. The food was good, but service was really slow. We ended up staying over three hours because of that.

While there we had an "Evil Santa" gift exchange. Everyone bought presents that cost about $10. Then we drew numbers and picked from the gifts available. Normally being the first pick would be the most advantageous. But, in Evil Santa being last is best. Because each successive person can steal any of the gifts they see from people picking ahead of them.

I was fortunate enough to be number 10, the last person to go. Normally I'm not that mean when it comes to Evil Santa. But, this year I "stole" a gift that I thought was pretty decent. It was a Bailey's gift box that Chris bought. Sang Hee was funny. She stole the gift that she brought from Grace. It was a mug that she really liked. I don't know if I would have ever done that. Stolen the present that I brought myself. Anyway, we all had a fun time there.

Until we meet again in January... have a Happy New Year.

Christmas Eve Service

We had our annual Christmas Eve dinner and service at church last week. We normally have roast beef with rice and vegetables and stuff. This year was no different. And, as usual, they had a draw for small door prizes. One lady at our table won a macrame, hanging pot holder (for potted plants). Her sister won a small travel chopstick, spoon and fork set.

After dinner we went upstairs from the gym to the sanctuary for service. Pastor Tom spoke again. But, instead of Bill Mak being the interpreter like he usually is, he was replaced by Kevin Leung. Bill was away I believe. Maybe on holiday... I can't remember. Kevin is a young fellow. I'm sure he did a fine job even though I couldn't understand what he was saying (because he was speaking in Cantonese).

After the service we went back down to the gym for snacks. Richard Wong dressed up as Santa and gave out "presents" to the kids. The were packages of cookies and chips and things like that. He was in town from Beijing with Alison and their two kids for the holidays. They're missionaries over there.

There weren't as many "regulars" as I normally see there this year. I guess some people must have been away. I did see a few old faces of members who used to come here. One notable exception was the Tsang family. Usually Jennifer, Rosalind and Victor show up with their parents. I believe Victor is in Vancouver and Rosalind is in New York. I think Jennifer and her parents still live in the city.

I took a few photos for our 100th anniversary book. We're way behind schedule. I figure we could use them if we need to fill any space. After that my parents gave me a lift back home.

Tobogganing with my Nephews

I took my nephews tobogganing last week. It took us 30 seconds to walk there. They have a golf course behind their house that has a wee hill that you can sled down. The workers there didn't mind that we used their course for an hour.

As you can see we don't have much snow yet in Toronto. There are patches of grass sticking up through the snow everywhere. Still it was good enough to pick up a little speed.

My nephews were playing a game where they would take wipeouts part way down the hill and I was supposed to take pictures of them. That didn't work out so well. Anyway, here's a shot of them actually on the sled.

We had a contest at the end where we tried to see who could go farthest down the hill. Since I weigh more than twice as much as the older one I thought I'd have gravity on my side. While that may have helped going down the hill. On the gradual slope near the bottom it worked against me. Too much friction. I came last. Oh the shame. Beaten by a 7 and 10-year-old.

Next year I'll work on losing 100 lbs and kick their butts!

$13 Shirt from Club Monaco

It's true... no joke. I bought this shirt for $13.30 plus tax at Club Monaco on Sunday. It regularly goes for $79. But, out of the goodness of their hearts (and the fact they want to get rid of old stock) they generously slashed the price so that even unemployed bums like myself could afford them.

Sorry I didn't post this earlier. I think they're going to be sold out fast. Perhaps if you go on Boxing Day you'll be able to find other good deals though. Good luck!

Merry Christmas, everyone!!

Dinner with Auntie Mary

After the wedding ceremony everyone went down from the sanctuary to the gym for refreshments and to take group shots. Daphne stayed with Auntie Mary until I finished.

We went to Chinatown afterwards. Auntie Mary wanted to go shopping for food. I waited in the car while they walked around.

After they finished shopping we went to Rol Jui for dinner. We order Auntie Mary some fish congee and Daphne and I split a plate of beef and tomato on rice and chicken and tofu on rice. They also brought us some soup as a starter and some sweet, green bean soup for dessert. It's kind of like red bean soup, but not red. It was tasty.

It's always great going out with Auntie Mary. She always has a lot of interesting stories to tell.