bennybox

You know you’re anciently old when you have regular board game saturdays. To my credit, I’ve heard that board games have risen in popularity over the past few years - ever since 9/11 more families have opted to stay at home and I think board games are a pretty non-offensive way you can spend quality time with them.

I can quite safely say that I’ve played Cranium more than any other board game. Created by former Microsoft executives, the game plays like four games in one. You have elements of pictionary, trivia, brain teasers and pop culture all in one tidy little package. The barrier for entry is so low that everyone can enjoy Cranium. And a game of Cranium always leads to the most hilarious moments.

A cranium story for another day: getting a 6′3″ man to do a curtsy, by moving his arms and legs like a puppet. Yeah that one didn’t go so well…

Bonus link: Here is the website of Cranium artist Gary Baseman

Everytime I see a pothole on the road, an out of service traffic light or a dead animal in Toronto, I always wonder who to call. So I decided to browse over to the City of Toronto phone directory and added some numbers to my phone book. Because I’m a nerd like that!

If you’re looking for something specific at the city of Toronto, you can call the Access Toronto hotline - 416-338-0338.

Illegal dumping waste enforcement - 392-0843
Sewer systems, drains, environmental spill reporting - 338-8888
Pothole and street repair - 338-9999
Street litter cleanup - 39-CLEAN (25326)
Street lights out (Toronto Hydro) - 542-3195

Way back in grade six, when you had to make do with whatever electronics your parents bought 10 years earlier, there was really only one way to make a mixtape.

• put a tape recorder really close to your stereo
• turn on the radio/press play on a tape
• press record
• run out of the room and don’t let anyone in until the recording is done

Okay, so it definately made for some crappy recordings, and when you only own two blank tapes you end up recording over them alot.

There are three songs that I particularly remember from that era, and I’m going to share them here (complete with youtube videos!). I must have heard these songs a million times and being twelve years old for some reason never got tired of hearing them.

Everyone who watched cartoons after school will remember the two geography songs from Animaniacs. Yakko sings all the countries of the world. Wakko sings all 50 states and their capitols (and adds the District of Columbia too). And of course, who could forget the Sign. Thank you Ace of Base!

For the past three months I’ve been going on and on about I couldn’t wait to do my taxes. Each day in 2007, I would excited come home to check my mail hoping I would receive another tax receipt or my T4 forms. Every few days I would get another piece of the tax return puzzle.

I was too impatient for all the forms to come in, so I guestimated the various numbers and did a trial run of my tax return.

So a couple weeks ago when I came home to the tuition T4A from Waterloo, it took all of 15 minutes to finish my return and file it to the government website. I’ve been joking that the CRA employees probably sit around a lot this time of year and that there were 100 specialists all pouring over the only person filing this early in the year. And it still took eight days to get my refund!

I’m already thinking of tax year 2007. Someone help me!