FEES HERE, FEES THERE, FEES FEES EVERYWHERE!

A few days ago, the hubby and I have decided to go on a mini two-week vacation with the kids before he starts work. So I've been given the duty of deal-finder for airfare. I went to every single airline's websites and other travel websites to find any good deals. A few hours later, I was very excited to find a pretty reasonable price for tickets: $129 going to our destination and $130 to come back. I realized that another $100+ will be added for taxes and whatever fees. Little did I know, they charge travelers so many different fees now.

Here is a list of the different charges they put on top of the base rate:

• Surcharges - $15.00
• Canada Airport Improvement Fee (really?!) - $20.00
• USA Transportation Tax - $39.00
• US Agriculture Fee - $6.20
• Air Travelers Security Charge - $7.94
• US Passenger Facility Charge - $5.58
• Canada Goods and Services Tax (GST/HST) - $21.30
• September 11 Security Fee - $6.20 (WTH?! Will this fee assure me that no terrorist will board our flight?!)
• USA Immigration User Fee - $8.67

After adding everything up, I decided that it wasn't a good deal anymore. So I'm still on the hunt for cheap airfare :-( But either way, we're leaving end of April for some Fun in the Sun! And finally, I'll be able to step into the LAND where dreams come true and go Casino-ing in the Land of Casinos! Oh and the few things I'm really looking forward to: Jollibee, Chow King, Red Ribbon and Goldilocks!

PARKING ISSUES

This is the car that's always parked infront of us in the parking garage. Do you see the problem here?

For the past few months, we've been noticing that this car is always parked a little too forward to the point where the front of his car is taking up a bit too much of our parking space. I've been wanting to talk to management about this but never got around to doing it (yet).

If this car is always gonna be parked this way, the car's owner should start paying part of our maintenance fee (which includes the fee for our parking spaces) to pay for our space that he or she is taking.

It's only fair.

*Photos taken from my cellphone just several minutes before this post was written.

CELEBRATING WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH

Thank clever and crafty female inventors for these can't-live-without-them conveniences:

The windshield wiper, Mary Anderson (1903)

- Tired of cleaning her car windshield in bad weather, Anderson designed a hand-operated mechanical window-cleaning device.

The dishwasher, Josephine Cochrane (1886)

- Frustrated by hand washing dishes, Cochrane created a machine that held soiled tableware in place for washing by internal water jets.

Scotchgard, Patsy Sherman (1955)

- Removing stains might be more of a challenge were it not for scientist Sherman, who developed the emulsion that keeps spills from soiling treated fabrics.

The modern curling iron, Jessie T. Pope (1946)

- When curling irons were warmed in a fire or on a stovetop, the heat could not be adjusted. Pope created a device whose temperature could be controlled.

Liquid Paper, Bette Nesmith Graham (1956)

- As a secretary, Graham experienced her share of typos. In her kitchen, she whipped up a paint formula that could be brushed over ink mistakes.

*Taken from the Real Simple magazine- March issue.

MEET JULIA

Check out this little girl, Julia.

Isn't she cute?

*Embedding for this video was disabled by the owner.

HIGH HEELS

I think high heels are sexy.

But when the person wearing 'em are limping and/or can't walk in them... ugh! What an ugly sight!

So please... if you can't walk properly in them, stick with your flats!

DONUTS, ANYONE?

I am NOT a donut person. I never understood what the big deal was about donuts. When I was in school, my friends would always have a coffee and donut combo on their desks during class. At work, my co-workers would always do 'coffee and donut runs' to Timmy's. I get the coffee part but never the donut part. Until a couple of year ago...

We were away in the States for our annual Black Friday shopping for the weekend. We decided to stop by a Dunkin Donuts for some coffee and snacks then the hubby saw it... TOASTED COCONUT DONUT. He wanted it right there and then. He went on and on about how good it was from what he remembered... blah blah... Then he made me try it. I didn't want to at first since 1) I'm not a donut person (like I said before) and 2) I'm not a fan of coconut. But he shoved a piece in my mouth anyway.

My eyes lit up... YUM! It was love at first sight... or should I say... at first taste. I wanted more! So we bought whatever they had left and couldn't stop eating it in the car and in the hotel. When we finished everything, I sent the hubby off to the nearest DD but he came back empty-handed. Apparently, not all locations carry that particular flavour. Imagine how upset I was! The next day, we dropped by every single DD store we passed by to check if they had my Toasted Coconut donut. But we had no luck. What a tease! We came back to Toronto without having any more.

Then we went to Buffalo several months later to drop-off the in-laws at the airport. And guess where we decided to drop by? Yup, DD. Lo and behold that location had my donuts! I was sooo happy! Of course, we bought everything- again! And now, even my in-laws are in-love with it.

Last week, when my family went to Michigan, I asked my mom to pick some of my donuts on their way home. I prayed so hard that the location they'd go to would have it- and my prayers were answered. I had a box of Toasted Coconut donuts waiting for me when they got back. I was sooo happy... but guess what happened?

On my way home after picking up the stuff my mom got from Michigan for us, my mother-in-law asked to be picked up and driven home. So I did. When she opened the door, she saw my box of donuts on the seat. She looked inside and her eyes lit up. And there I was thinking, "Uh-oh!" Hahaha. Yup! She asked for some and what was I supposed to say? "No, you can't have any?!" Of course not! But I did feel like a selfish little brat thinking... "There goes a couple of my donuts." Tsk tsk. But it's all fine... really. If she hadn't taken those 2 donuts, I would've gained even more weight than I did already!

But one more thing... I know... Can you believe I'm writing this much about some stupid, fattening donut? The next day, I went downtown with the hubby. He wanted to pass by Timmy's before going to his meeting. So we did. And guess what they had? Yes, my donuts! And of course, we bought whatever was left. But same issue again: they're only sold at select locations. BOO! Oh and one last thing (I swear!)... The Timmy's version is much better than DD's.

...

SHOULD BE EXCUSED... BABY IS SICK :-(

ON DUPLICITY

When I first saw the trailer for Duplicity, which stars Julia Roberts and Clive Owen, I wanted to see it already.

It finally came out on Friday and the hubby and I got the chance to see it earlier tonight. I'm normally easily to please when it comes to movies, but this one... I don't know. The main actors were both very pleasing to the eyes but I wasn't too sure about their chemistry on-screen. But what really bothered me was how they kept on going back to the past then to the present then to the past (again) then to the present... and so on and so forth... This happened throughout the whole movie! I was trying to piece what was happening together but I couldn't. Normally, I appreciate movies that make you think and stuff but this one, I thought, was poorly done. There was too much double-crossing, triple-crossing, quadruple-crossing (whatever!) going on, too. By the end of the movie, I wished we'd waited for this movie to come out on DVD instead.

Oh wellz...

A PERFECT DAY

We all know that nobody is perfect. Nothing is perfect. But is it possible to have such a thing as a perfect day? Because I find myself searching for it but somehow, something always gets screwed up. Just when I start to think, "Wow! I'm having a perfect day!" BOOM! Some ish happens and boo-hoo... my day is ruined.

Oh wellz... maybe it's just me... I'm just psycho like that. It's happened waaaayyyy too many times already! K... Just wanted to vent.

BUT... WHERE'S MINE ?

Mom called to tell me she has shirts for me from Kalidadis. I finally got to pick them up today and here they are! Very pretty, aren't they?

But where's mine?

SO NOT FAIR!!! :-(

*Thanks for the shirts, Tita D. They fit very comfortably! I'm waiting for my very own ...BLAH BLAH... shirt :-)

CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE

BLOGGER TOO LAZY! PLEASE CHECK BACK IN A DAY OR TWO... MAYBE MORE...

FAM IN RED

My mother-in-law celebrated her 50th birthday this week. For the party, the immediate family were asked to wear red. In the Chinese culture, they believe that the colour red will bring long life and lots of good luck.

While we were getting ready, Kyla asked why we were all wearing red. So the hubby told her about the long life thing. Then she picked up my phone and started dialing. As it turned out she called my mother-in-law and this is what she said:

"Ama, I just want to let you know that you're really going to have a very long life because all of us are wearing red- EVEN MY UNDERWEAR IS RED!"

*Ama is Chinese for grandma.

US LADIES

TAKE YOUR PICK !

HOLY ALDO ?

One of the must-visit stores for me when I'm in the mall is Aldo.

While at the Eaton Centre today, I was shocked to see the new items Aldo now carries:

ROSARIES!
Reg. Price: $18
Sale Price: $11.99

These rosaries were in their accesories section! That is just so wrong... tsk tsk...

*I hurriedly took this pic from my phone before I get in trouble- again.

THE SOUND OF MUSIC

To those of you who know me quite well, you know that I'm a big musical fanatic. A couple of years ago when Mirvish announced that they were bringing The Sound of Music to Toronto, I could not wait to see it.

Then it finally came. It's been playing for some time now but I still haven't gone. The tickets cost a bit more than the others I've seen but I know it'll probably be worth it (unlike Lord of the Rings).

Now Mirvish has a special going on: 4 'best seats' tickets for $199! Brice and Kyla don't wanna go. So more than likely, it'll be me and my sister. But we still need 2 more people.

Anybody interested in splitting?

TWEET TWEET

Like Facebook wasn't bad enough, I decided to start my own Twitter account.

It's nothing like Facebook or Friendster where you have a profile with all your info, pictures, etc. It's really just this thing where you update your "status" a la Facebook.

So really... you're just telling the whole world what you're doing (as often as you want)! It's really a great way to stalk people. SSssshhhh...

Anyway, it's been fun so far even though I don't really see the point of it yet.

MY GIRLS

WHO'S WHO?

TIME CHANGE

Here in North America, we change our clocks twice a year. Time falls backwards in the fall, and it springs forward in... you guessed it... the spring.

But just now, the hubby brought up a good point that got me thinking: What happens to those who work the 'graveyard' shift?

If somebody's shift is from 11pm-7am, do they have to work an extra hour when in the fall when we go on daylight savings time and an hour less in the fall when we go back to standard time? Do they get paid for the actual hours they put in or for the 8 hours that they're scheduled for?

I should find out from my co-workers who do the night shift...

But for now...

NO CAMERAS ALLOWED!

We were at Toys R Us earlier today to pick up something for Kaelene when the hubby saw this cute, pink push car.

Kaelene loved it so much! You could see it in her face. So I decided to take a picture. We left the camera in the car so I had to use the hubby's iPhone.

While I was trying to get Kae's attention to take the picture, I heard a voice behind me rudely saying, "No cameras allowed."

When I turned around, a Toys R Us employee pushing a cart to the stock room was standing behind me and said (again) with this look on her face that really bothered me, "No cameras allowed. It's store policy." I wouldn't have cared if she said it nicely, not like I was supposed to know that it was "store policy."

Anyway, as soon as she left, I hurriedly took the picture because Kae just looked so cute in that tiny car- that explains why she wasn't even looking in the camera. Oh well. Maybe if she used the magic word I would've obeyed "store policy."

*Sorry TOYS R US! Maybe you guys should put up a VISIBLE sign with ALL your "STORE POLICIES" in it- right by the entrance would be great. Thank you very much.

BOOK SALE

Look what I found on one of the tables at a book sale!

I thought it was interesting that somebody would actually write a book about this.

I was actually proud to be Asian at first thinking that it's so awesome to have other cultures see us as "high achievers" (hopefully they meant it in a good way). Until I saw the authors... The book was written by Asians!

Can you believe they actually had the balls to write "How Asian Parents Raise High Achievers- and How You Can Too" ?

I don't know about you guys but for me, it makes Asian parents seem a bit cocky, which I don't think is always the case. Besides, not ALL Asian children are "high-achievers."

ERROR OR NOT?

The hubby had his graduation photo taken yesterday. He was given a slip of paper with all his info on it as a receipt and he's to use this to check the proofs online as well.

Do you see anything wrong with it?

Do you think this was done on purpose to try to be funny? OR Is it really a typo that the company made? 

I think it's more unprofessional than it is funny.

PUROLATOR SUCKS

Last Tuesday, the hubby ordered a new macbook online. It normally takes a day or two for these online orders to get delivered. So when it wasn't delivered last week, we started wondering what was going on. On Saturday, the hubby finally checked the 'track your order' link on the receipt sent to him by Apple. It said that 'the package is ready for pick-up at the Purolator store'.

WHAT?! Why do we have to pick it up? They're supposed to deliver it!

So the hubby called Purolator. And guess what they said?

They tried to deliver it on Thursday but nobody was home.

First of all, when there's a delivery for us, the guardhouse calls up to make sure we're home. But did I get any phone calls? NO. Secondly, if they did try to come, weren't they supposed to leave a note saying 'we tried to deliver something... blah blah... since you weren't home, please pick up your package at... blah blah... whatever..."?! But... nope... No notes, whatsoever...

When the hubby asked why they didn't leave a note, they said that it's their policy to not leave notes for expensive products. Oh-kay? Fine. Let's just say that was the case, why didn't they call to inform us that they tried to deliver it... blah blah... and it was ready for pick up at wherever? We're not psychics, you know. Well, according to the person the hubby spoke to, they did call to inform us that it was ready for pick up. Hmmm. We both checked our phones- but no received or missed calls from them or from any unknown numbers. So the hubby asked what number they called since we're both sure we didn't receive any calls from them. And guess what? They didn't have it on file. It's supposed to be on the receipt that came with the package. UGH!!!

So the hubby picked up the package today and asked the people there about what happened but they still insisted that they did leave a message informing us about the package... blah blah... WHATEVER! And no, they didn't have our phone number! Go figure! And the worst thing about this incident: NOT A SINGLE PERSON FROM PUROLATOR APOLOGIZED.

Next time we order anything online, we will specifically request NOT to have PUROLATOR deliver it.