The Majumdar Family

I just watched a truly disheartening and frightening CTV W-Five episode covering a subject that is often not discussed – far less so by the Federal ministers on Parliament Hill just blocks from one of the worst drug, prostitution and homelessness problems anywhere in the nation. None of them, including Public Security Minister Stockwell Day, accepted to meet with CTV W-5 saying they were “too busy”…

They hounded the Premier of Ontario, but he also brushed off a reporter and hustled into a building…

Personally, I am not surprised by this report. I’ve been to Ottawa many times over the last 20-25 years; my ex-wife and much of her family were from there, as was my late stepfather.

In January 2008 I began a series of about a ½ dozen business trips, one every month or so, to the National Capital Region and usually stayed in hotels in the Downtown, or Byward Market area. The Byward Market is a charming 3-4 square block neighbourhood which, by day is a nice selection of multicultural restaurants and farmer market type stands. It’s next to one of the largest shopping centre’s in the Ottawa metropolitan area; the Rideau Centre Shopping Centre.

Now being a Montrealer, I like to explore a city’s nightlife and evening culture – we have a massive choice of cafés, lounges, showbars and nightclubs in Montreal – around the market.

A few of the times I stayed in hotels (including the Econolodge and Marriott Courtyard Inn) near the Byward Market. Those are both nice hotels; granted the Econo Lodge Downtown at 475 Rideau street is pretty much no-frills motor inn more than hotel with rooms straight onto an inside parking lot that is directly onto Rideau street across from a 7-11 and in the vicinity of churches, residential homes and … well a little pic of the Econolodge :


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Well, still suffering with this “acute” bronchitis (as the Dr. at the Jewish General Hospital called it after listinening to my lungs, but I’m relieved that this week at work (with 4-5 major system failures/outages) is behind me. The priority for now is a good night of sleep and having a great day tomorrow and Sunday with Zachary and Tristan… That’s what counts.

So for anyone who’s noticed, I installed a little widget on the right side of the site that shows my most recent twits on Twitter. Twitter is basically a microblogging platforum for quick messages up to 140 characters (no tags, titles, formatting, etc.), easily used from multiple devices in multiple locations (usually mobile, but it’s becoming hugely popular in the general desktop Web as well.) I’ll write more in my tech blog.

You can also grab an RSS feed for my Twitter updates.

Well, I have to be AT the hospital in Montreal at 7:45 a.m. tomorrow morning to (once again) go through my pre-admission tests necessary before my vascular surgery. It lasts about 4 hours (most of it waiting, trust me) and involves multiple blood samples and also (of course) peeing in a cup.

Usually rush hour on a Friday morning in the Greater Montreal Area isn’t so bad, but I’ll be setting my alarm for 6am nonetheless.

I get to eat breakfast (yay) …

Hopefully this time I will actually get to the OR on surgery day (in less than 2 weeks!) and not be bypassed for more serious vascular surgery cases (ie… cardiovascular emergencies!)

Stay tuned for the most in-depth photo blog on varicose vein surgery you have ever seen on the net

This is spooky.

I was actually tempted to buy the Dunn’s smoked meat package (huge of course, probably about 2KG).. and now there are reports that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is warning consumers not to use the individual smoked meat packages sold at Costco.

These are the 1KG packages separated into 6 pouches each weighing 175g.

The UPC code is 4 00007 55699 7 and the expiry dates range between November 1 and November 8, 2008.

They’re reported to be sold in Costco Wholesale outlets in Quebec - but also in Ottawa and the Maritimes…

Interestingly enough on a side note, the product is not really made by Dunn’s directly, but apparently under license by a firm called Les Salaisons Desco Inc located in Boisbriand, Quebec.

A few official links about this:

Official CFIA Recall Information about the Dunn’s / Salaisons Desco recall

Les Salaisons Desco: this is mysteriously mysterious. A quick scan of several online research tools seems to preclude any obvious website for this company but some other info:

They are SERVICE ALIMENTAIRE DESCO INC. at 97 Boulevard Prevost, in Boisbriand, Quebec with a postal code of J7G 3A1 and phone number (450) 437-7182…

They also seem to have numbered company as 9027-8672 Québec Inc. and Les aliments Q’Rico…

None of this is unusual as foodservice provider entities are generally low profile.

Now, I have the urge for a medium smoked meat at Schwartz!

So, I’ve been getting the vaccine against influenza for the last few years and as I had previously written it was usually Vaxigrip. I’m supposed to get it (paid for 100% by the employer) on Monday morning, but the thing is I’ve been battling a nasty cold and/or flu with a throat infection accompanied by fever and aches for the last 6 days.

I wonder if you can get the flu vaccine if you’re already sick. I know from previous years that it makes you feel slightly flu-like for 2-3 days afterwards…. which is supposedly normal, since they are in essence injecting you with a variant of the influenza virus itself (what the &&@*&??) …

Anyhow, I suppose the nurse on Monday will be the one who decides… hopefully I’ll be better off and not so feverish by then. Having cold fingertips is a weird sensation.