The Inn at Christie's Mill

My Darling Bride and I had the pleasure to stay at a Muskoka Resort this weekend. Made even more of a pleasure as it was all paid for, by someone else!

The Inn at Christie's Mill is a luxury resort spa, plunked right on the waters edge at Port Severn, Ontario, the gateway to the Muskoka's and the Trent-Severn Waterway.

Now, my experiences with resort/spas has been limited to a conference center in Mississauga annually for work related events, but this was different.

The view from the room this time did not include the 401 or office towers and the approach lights for Pearson.

This was far different.

Our view overlooking the harbour would only have been more perfect if it hadn't been cloudy.

The room itself was as big as our living/dining room combined. It's only lacking was a side table to put beside the chairs while watching the fireplace.

The bed was best described as oversized. It seemed bigger than our king bed at home, perhaps because you needed a stool to get in it. It was quite comfy, even if we were sleeping in different postal codes.

The bathroom was bigger than my first apartment, complete with his and hers sinks, a tricked out water closet and a Jacuzzi tub with a heat lamp. The bath fixtures were Kohler, complete with a fully height adjustable shower massage with three settings: soothing, massage and 'marry me.'

The dining room was very something. I can't quite find the right words.

Maybe rustic elegance.

It was built in a circular pattern to invoke the feeling of the working parts of an old grist mill. Lots of stone and wood, which I like. Of course I had to sit there and analyze its construction.

Again, a spectacular view overlooking the water and an island.

The dining was Chef prepared, with the emphasis being on the preparation and presentation. You had all your major food groups represented, steak, lamb, pork, veal, chicken and seafood. I shied away from the steak, as it was advertised as a 9 ounce, and that would have been an appetizer for me. I selected the veal with pasta, and it was grand. The pasta was done in a garlic butter and Parmesan sauce that tasted as if I had made it. My Darling Bride chose the pork tenderloin and veggies. The loin was tender and tasty, but the veggies were more arranged than served. I guess I'm not cultured enough for the fine dining experience (or the prices). Dessert for me was a 'Chocolate Disaster' of ice cream, ground up brownie and chocolate sauce served in a champagne glass. M.D.B. had the blueberry crumble, served in a coffee cup with ice cream and ornately drizzled with chocolate and caramel.

We did not partake in the spa part of the spa, as bookings did not jive with our schedule, but we did peek into the area. The pool was smallish, and the hot tub smaller, but with the Jacuzzi in the room, it wasn't needed.

If I had to find complaint about the experience, its that the resort's layout is very strung out, and someone with mobility problems would find it tedious to get around.

The other complaint: that we couldn't stay longer.

Thanks to Thing 2 for the life experience getaway, and to Thing 1 for the spending cash. Luvya both.

If you get the chance, we can now recommend The Inn at Christie's Mill.

DJW

Todays Lesson Is...

...Make sure you know who you are talking to.

Last week I was given a job at work, laying out a sewer in Oakville. Nothing unusual about that, it's part of what I do. As an addendum to this task, I was asked to hand out notices to area residents and businesses about the upcoming construction. That task is usually reserved for the inspector.

Well, circumstances intervened and the letters didn't get delivered. No sweat, I thought, the inspector could deliver them when he made his initial pre-construction survey of the site. I gave the letters to the inspector and explained that I hadn't had time to deliver them, and pointed out that it was part of his job anyway. He was non-plussed by this.

The next morning I answer my phone and get this, "Why didn't you deliver the letters?"

No hello, good morning, or, "Hi it's Fred."

Just, "Why didn't you deliver the letters?"

I pointed out that I had told him yesterday why not, and he carried on. The conversation quickly escalated into a yelling match and I finished the call with,"Why don't you get off your lazy a** and do it yourself! HAVE A GOOD DAY!" and I snapped my phone shut.

After calming down for a few minutes, I decided to call my boss and let him know about this. I left him a voicemail saying, "Joe, its DJ. I just had a run in with Fred. Give me a call."

A few minutes later, Joe calls back. I started to explain when he cut in, "I didn't appreciate being hung up on."

Silence

"That was YOU? It sounded like Fred!"

"I have a cold."

After I delivered the letters I bought my boss some cold medicine.

The lesson: make sure you know who you are talking to before you tell them to, "HAVE A GOOD DAY!"

DJW

Lawyers...who needs them?

A piece in The Hamilton Spectator goes to show some of the problems with our legal and justice system.

Seems a lawyer thinks a decision should be overturned because the Crown can't prove beyond a reasonable doubt that his client was acting carelessly before he struck a cyclist and killed him over two years ago.

Never mind that he had another careless driving charge two months later.

Never mind that he had amassed fourteen thousand dollars in fines in the last ten years.

His client is not guilty, because no one was there to see the accident, therefore the cyclist may have swerved in front of the truck.

Never mind that victim was a competitive cyclist who would be well in control of his bike.

Never mind that the victim's family has suffered the same tragedy as if he had killed on duty.

Read the story here.

Why is this guy still driving?

Why is this guy not in jail?

The reason that I could never be a lawyer is that I could never find it in my morals to defend someone like this.

To quote Shakespeare , "The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers."
(2 Henry VI, 4.2.59)

DJW

Uh oh, he's talking politics!

In light of the fact that we are currently immersed in Politicking from all sides, I feel the urge to express my views.

Firstly, I feel that I am a typical Canadian voter; I am apolitical. Not what you expected from me, was it?

That doesn't mean I'm apathetic, it just means I'm not a card carrying member of an organized party.

There are no signs on my lawn, nor will there be. It's nobody's business whom I support.

I don't consider myself red or blue or green or chartreuse or whatever other politico stripes you can be.

As Joe Average, I have a few basic expectations from the people selected to run my Country.

When I go to bed at night, I wish to sleep knowing that while I dream impossible dreams, the status quo is maintained. Maybe even improved a little.

Not much to ask.

I do not want to wake up to skyrocketing gas prices.

I do not want to wake up to a devalued dollar, either by design or by chance.

I do not want to wake up to double digit inflation.

I do not want to wake up to interest rate hikes.

I do not want to wake up to higher taxes. Or new taxes. Or taxes disguised as tariffs.

I do not want to wake up to find my tax dollars going to bail out another multi-national corporation.

I do not want my elected officials to waste time fighting amongst themselves and calling each other names, they should have gotten that out of their systems in grade 7.

I want my politicians to tell me what they are going to do for me, not what the other guys are going to do to me.

I want real time health care. Why should we have to wait interminably long times for tests and procedures that we have already paid for with tax dollars? And why should hospitals need to have bake-sales for equipment?

I want the Native Land claims issue sorted out. Would you want to own property within The Haldimand Tract right now? I do. And although my tax assessment doesn't reflect it, I'm pretty sure that the Native Protest Camp 600 meters out my back door has had a negative impact on my property value.

I want real support for our Armed Forces. They need ships and choppers and tanks and weapons NOW. The Governor General can wait a few more years for a bathroom remodel. Tell her to cross her legs.

I want rights and power taken away from the criminals and given back to the police.

I don't want you to promise the me sky, because I know you can't deliver it.

I just want the real time day to day crud to go a little easier.

If you can promise me all or most of the above, you'll get my vote.

DJW

How do protesters decide which sites to target?

I have a question for the HDI and its friends: How do you select which sites to protest?
You have delayed development at several large commercial, industrial and residential sites, but Tim Hortons and Boston Pizza, both within sight of the river, go on unfettered.
Is there a dollar threshold you apply?
Or do you support coffee and pizza?
Just curious.

DJW

This just in....

Listen...for all of you who think I make this stuff up, this is reprinted (read stolen) verbatim from Yahoo News.

Lewd, crude vandal leaves his greasy imprint on Nebraska town

By Nate Jenkins, The Associated Press

VALENTINE, Neb. - Boy, how people here wish their busiest vandal would find another way to make his mark.

Beginning more than a year ago, some man has been skipping from one business to another at night, pressing his naked behind - sometimes his groin, sometimes both - on windows.

Store owners, church workers and school janitors have had to wash lotion and petroleum jelly off the windows he selects.

Police Chief Ben McBride says it's the weirdest case he's ever seen.

Some residents of Valentine, a town of about 2,650 people, find some humour in the strange vandalism and have taken to calling the perpetrator the "Butt Bandit."

But they also can't help but cringe when finding his marks.

"We were completely grossed out," said Kalli Kieborz, who works in a downtown building. "One day I walked into the office and an employee said, 'Oh, my God, we've been struck!"'

The police chief is far from amused.

"It's not funny," McBride said. "We're worried about the next step."

It started in spring 2007, when the window of a Methodist church was greased with an imprint. McBride figured it was a high school prank. But the church kept getting hit, even after police staked it out.

The bandit struck business after business, window after window last summer.

Then he - and maybe, McBride said, copycat vandals - stopped over the fall and winter.

"People said he was done," McBride said. "Then he started back up this summer."

During one particularly brazen session, virtually all the windows at a local hotel were imprinted.

McBride said no one has reported seeing the vandal in action. The only clue is a blurry picture of him caught by a surveillance camera at the middle school last year.

The man was six feet tall or slightly taller, and slender. He had a dark complexion, and McBride said the man's dark hair was styled in a "1980s, feathered look."

Valentine, in remote north-central Nebraska, promotes itself as "The Heart City." Downtown sidewalks are painted with hearts, and locals encourage people from around the country to send their Valentine's Day cards to the local post office so they can be mailed out with the word "Valentine" stamped on them.

"This is not normal behaviour for Valentine," Cherry County Attorney Eric Scott said. "It's not funny or something people want to be exposed to."

DJ here...

Now what gets me is not the fact that this guy is doing this, and that the local paper is reporting this, but the national news wires have picked this up!

Now, I've never been to Valentine, Nebraska , but a map of the town would indicate it compares in size to Ayr or Acton, Ontario.

So it would seem to me that if they merely posted an image of one of the 'tags', at least one female in the town should be able to I.D. the offending parts.

My guess is that its the local druggist, otherwise a red flag would go up by the purchase of a lot of Vaseline.

Horatio Caine, Nebraska needs you!

I leave you with a comment from a Yahoo reader:

Valentine"s vasoline vandal has a limited window of opportunity before being exposed and will have to bare time behind bars.

POSTED BY: Flin Flon Man on SAT, SEP 13, 2008 12:35 AM -0500

DJW

Some driving advice.

The Q.E.W. is one of the busiest highways in North America.

Every once in a while I drive that way to work to remind myself why I don't drive that way to work.

Some observations and advice from my most recent trip:

• YOU in the Beemer: HANG UP AND DRIVE!
• YOU in the Honda: This is not Formula 1 and you are NOT Micheal Shumacher.
• YOU in the Acura: The on/off ramps are not your personal passing lanes.
  
• YOU in the Buick in the left lane: either pass the guy on your right or get behind him. Geeze dude, you're holding up everyone behind you.
• YOU in the Audi: Flash me one more time and you'll get a face full of my spotlight. If the Buick would pass I would too. This isn't the Autobahn, Gunther.
• YOU in the SUV: BACK OFF! Your headlights are the same height as my back window and your blinding me!
• YOU in the Gravel Truck: Your following that Smart Car too close, and your brake lights are too dirty to see.
• YOU in the Semi: That is not a Honda your piloting, Skeeter! Pick a lane!
• YOU in Olds: The limit is 100, not eighty. If you can't get it up to speed, get off.
• YOU in the overloaded construction pick-up: Get a second truck or a trailer. Idiot.
• EVERYONE: Leave enough space and we wouldn't have those daily chain reaction rear enders that slow down every other decent driver.

There, I feel better now.

See you on Highway 5.

DJW