unkn0wnwarrior

I have no friends.

For the second year in a row, the gas company is convinced there is a problem with our gas meter. Apparently it has only been reading the bare minimum amount needed to keep the furnace's pilot light lit. Also for the second year in a row, they are sending somebody to replace it. It's working perfectly fine, of course, and we've told them why the readings are so low. We don't use the furnace. I guess that's not an answer they can live with, though.

I don't like his music in general, so there's at least one that agrees with you.

From what I've heard from friends and family, it isn't uncommon. Or at least it wasn't 5-10 years ago at 5 or 6 different Colleges/Universities in the region.

There's a group who protest abortion 24/7 outside my sister's workplace. They've never approached her, but they would regret it if they tried. Most days, even I regret talking to her.

This Watford classes as Warwick Township, but it was separate when I was growing up so it will remain as such in my mind. It's also not too far from London, so another case of stolen (borrowed?) naming. I never went to College/Uni so I don't really know much about the setup, but that exam date surprises me. 7pm doesn't really, I've heard of that from cousins, but I've never heard of one on a Sunday. The merchandise doesn't surprise me at all, though. I've seen more than I ever cared to and I've never done more than drive by the place. I hear that a lot, actually. My high school had roughly half the number (it wasn't in the village).

I was born in a small city (Sarnia, Ontario) but grew up in a village of 1600-1700 (Watford). I lived in that village for almost 19 years and would happily return if there were decent job opportunities. Don't get me wrong, Watford is pretty terrible in almost every way, but the smaller population is what I prefer.

I had a longer post typed out about the rest of your plans, but my aunt's cat decided to ruin it by sprawling across the keyboard. The only really salvagable part was the moose thing (which, despite being a true story, wasn't particularly serious), so I posted it and went to find food before baseball started. Besides, that bear quip was the important part. I felt compelled to warn you of the true threat to mankind, the majestic moose of Canada. If we ever manage to recruit them into our military, this world shall be ours. Toronto is actually the only place on your list I've been. I've been there 4 times. There are definitely reasons to go, but if it wasn't for Blue Jays baseball I wouldn't have gone back the third and fourth times. I'm not a city person, though. Even London is way too big for my liking.

If you're going north then you should worry more about the moose. I've witnessed a moose attacking a pickup. The truck was totaled and the moose walked away like it was nothing.

As I said, I can understand how they can benefit both sides. They just don't allow me to show my positive self, like the in-person ones, and it shows. I am currently a lifetime 3-for-3 in-person and 0-for-3 on the phone.

I don't know anybody who does it, but I always thought that was the idea. Unrelated, and I've probably said it before, but I'll say it again. Phone interviews are, in my opinion, the one of the worst supposedly good things ever. Don't get me wrong, I understand how they can be beneficial to both sides. I just think that, for me, they do nothing but portray me as an overly cynical person. Anybody who has spent actual time with me knows I'm not, but I can't really express my true self via a phone conversation. Apparently I, through sighs and the like, showcase all kinds of negativity on the phone that I am quite adept at either hiding or ignoring in any other instance. In case you haven't figured it out, yes I had a phone interview in the last hour. It was for a job I don't want (some general warehousing position), with a company I don't care about one way or the other (Coca-Cola), and lasted less than 4 minutes (3:43, to be precise). That might sound bad, but 4 minutes of my time, in person, has gotten me jobs in the past. Of course, I already know that, if I get this job, my time with the company will only end when they choose to end it.

My sister does that at least once every couple of weeks. Speaking of my sister, her and I went to the US on monday. There was no real reason for it (although she was looking for a set of Iron Man wall lights), apart from needing to kill about 8 hours before baseball started. We ended up spending about $30 and had to submit to a vehicle search on the way back.

I only learned about it because a nearby pizza place does 2 slices and a drink for $3.81 + tax and it comes out to $4 even. Somebody in line in front of me asked them about it and that was what they said.

Only if you spend more than $4. If the meal is less than that then the provincial portion of the HST is removed. They call it HST but still apply it the same way as ever. They calculate both separate and then apply the GST followed by the PST. If the cost with the GST is $4 or less, they void the PST. Technically the PST/GST split doesn't exist anymore, but it still does in calculations. I am in Ontario, by the way. Also, Randox, I think that might be a Nova Scotia thing. It doesn't work like that in Ontario at present. I kind of hope it does in the future, though. Also, the corner store near me does that a lot, too.

I know gas has all taxes included in its listed price here. I also know grocery items are not taxed, but I'm not sure what else is deemed essential. So at the very least, those 2 things are the same. Alcohol and tobacco might be as well, but I don't know for sure because I've never needed to. If a restaurant meal is less than $4 you don't pay provincial tax on it here. If you buy alcohol in a restaurant, you pay 13% provincial tax instead of the usual 8% (on top of the federal tax, of course). It really is more complicated than it needs to be.

The worst part of taxes in Ontario (not entirely sure about the rest of Canada) is that not everything is taxed the same amount. Some items are exempt from the provincial tax, some from the federal, some from both... Some even have their own special taxes (I believe beer and gas fall under this category, though I never buy either one). Unless you actually know what you're doing, it gets really confusing. I found out those tickets my sister bought were actually ticket packages for all 3 Leafs games this weekend. 3 hockey games in 3 days. Should make for a great weekend.

So my older sister and I walked to the grocery store, but not the close one that would have been a 1hr round trip. We walked to the one that is a little under an hour 1-way. During that walk, though, she told me she bought tickets to the Maple Leafs rookie tournament in London next weekend. It should be fun, unlike the walk.

Just wait until winter. Mid- to late-Autumn, really. Right around the end of October is when it usually starts getting ridiculous, at least in the London area. Eh, it's mostly the winter months here. Then again I live like a couple hours from London so... It's mostly the winter months, sure, but the first true cold usually happens late October, sometimes early November. It just doesn't always stay that cold. But a couple hours away is quite a distance, so it could very well be considerably different for you. I've lived in or near London for almost 27 years and had to look it up a few years ago when I found out London's ex-mayor was from there.

I am legitimately surprised your phone recognises the intersection that calls itself Arva. I mean, I would understand if it said Middlesex Centre, which Arva is a part of, but Arva itself? No offense to anybody (however unlikely they read this) from there, it's just really small is all.

Just wait until winter. Mid- to late-Autumn, really. Right around the end of October is when it usually starts getting ridiculous, at least in the London area. Yeah, you'll see a lot of familiar names around here. We stole a majority of our naming schemes from the UK. Out of respect and love, of course.

It does get out of hand at times, but drunkSkull is correct. The flags are essentially how many of us show our love for our country. I don't have a flag, but it would probably be stolen if I did. I don't exactly live in a nice part of London. The people are generally polite (apart from one guy who takes every little thing as a personal attack) but in 3 years our vehicles have shown noticable tampering at least a dozen times. Most recently, they finally got in and searched through everything. They left my mom's CDs, but took her $1 sunglasses. There have also been a few cases of tires being slashed, but only once were any of ours.

$20 for unlimited text and a 66% reduction in calling rates. I used to have a $10 unlimited data add-on but I never used it. I've been using this same phone for 7 years, though, so the plan likely doesn't exist anymore. And if it does, I would be surprised if it was still only $20. Pretty good coverage, too. It even worked in the middle of the factory I used to work in, despite nobody else's working.

I went to school in a small town (1600 or 1700 people depending on which direction you approached from) until grade 9 when it was a slightly bigger town (~2900). Sometime before grade 5 we went to my school's principal's emu farm. By grade 6 we had gone to the same orchard twice. In high school, the music class went to a different school and performed a few songs (one of the two trips I actually enjoyed in my time as a student). The music class also went to a "festival" ever year to see how we stacked up in Ontario (always well, but I never went on this one). Apart from my grade 8 grad trip, that's all I can think of. And the grad trip was to Toronto, where we saw some musical thing, the Ontario Science Centre, the CN Tower and Medieval Times. This was, of course, the other trip I enjoyed.

I'm probably in the minority, but (as a Leafs fan) I didn't want McDavid in Toronto. I didn't want my team to become "Connor McDavid and the Toronto Maple Leafs". I was actually hoping for the Coyotes to get him. They could use a player like that. The somewhat selfish London Knights fan in me wants the Leafs to take Marner. EDIT: And the Leafs have hired Babcock... I was kinda hoping for Torts, honestly. Say what you will about him, but Torts would have taken a lot of media attention off of the team and that would be a good thing in Toronto.

Count me among the "stupid" ones, then. Unfortunately, all of my teams are out of their playoff pictures so I'm watching games I care far less about and knowing next year will be no different (except possibly the OHL, where the Knights could fare well despite likely losing at least 2 of their top 3 players). So... stupid but loyal, really. Maybe even stupidly loyal.* Anyway, apparently my uncle died yesterday. It was far from a surprise. He's been in and out of the hospital a lot in the last few years. That makes 3 deaths in my family this year. *In case it wasn't clear, I was not offended while writing this. If I was, I'm Canadian, I would have apologized.