So by now I’m sure you’ve all heard the distressing news: The actor who played “Wheels” on the various Degrassi series died 5 years ago and no one noticed. I read this news earlier this morning and to be honest, it depressed me for several hours.

Now, I’m aware that Degrassi wasn’t necessarily the most popular show worldwide, but it definitely was a Canadian cultural icon (for good or for bad) and it’s somewhat surprising that this wasn’t announced somewhere at the time it happened. The story about the fact the family only just found out as well is just painful.

I remember my friend Julia and I watching a lot of old Degrassi episodes a few years back and googling the cast members on a whim. When we googled Neil Hope, nothing showed up (not even an obituary!). And damn, we were shocked! Wheels being one of the most unintentionally hilarious characters on the show, we thought for sure there would be something out there about him. Hell, there was a whole webpage devoted to “Heather and Erica- The Erotic Twins” (which is, um, weird).

When I was in the hospital with a burst appendix, Julia brought me the official Degrassi “Wheels” book to cheer me up. Upon learning that he died alone in a rooming house, I feel really bad about constantly turning that book facedown whenever a nurse or doctor was coming in.

At any rate, I felt like posting this, mainly just so that there’s something else in the search results out there that’s not a depressing news article.

Cheers to you Neil/Wheels, you had strong thighs.

Mac, over there on the left, is dumping Stacy for a newer model, despite his own advanced age. Must be a mid-product-life-cycle crisis.

Never ever break up by text message. I don’t care how steeped society is in technology these days, it’s just so disrespectful. I did this one for fun, but I think it does make a little statement. Maybe I should upload this one, I don’t know?

Alternative title for this piece? “I’m sorry, you’re breaking up.”

Most of my friends and family know the gist of the story, but for the sake of documentation, I’ll try and get some of the main points down here. Hey, it might be of interest to other people googling the same thing. I know I would’ve appreciated reading some other people’s accounts of the situation.

So, in short, my appendix burst. Well, to be accurate, according to one of my surgeons, it straight-up exploded actually. Imagine a bag of microwave popcorn after someone slams a fist down on it, that was my appendix. Blown out on two sides, apparently.

I started having an achey stomach on a Friday night, but I had started a new ab workout that week and figured that it was just residual muscle soreness from that. I should’ve known something was up the next day when I could only get 2 miles into a 4 mile run because my stomach was too sore when I lifted my legs, but again, just thought it was the change in workout.

Saturday night brought the pain, I actually woke up and googled appendicitis, but decided to wait until the next day to be sure. Sunday, the pain was a lot less but unfortunately brought with it, um, digestive tract issues (detail I do not wish to go into). So I thought, “Well, this isn’t typical of appendicitis, I probably just have Gastroenteritis or something again,” since it seemed similar to my symptoms from that in the past. The GI issues lasted until Wednesday, but faded a bit everyday, so I assumed I was getting better, but made an appointment with my doctor for Thursday anyway.

Thursday rolls around, I’m feeling pretty good, probably at around 90% of my usual self. I go to JYSK before the appointment and lug a new comforter around. See the doctor who agrees it’s probably just a stomach virus, but orders tests anyway. I get home and everything starts to go bad, I’m in massive pain, can barely walk and can’t eat.

Made the mistake of going to Misericordia ‘Urgent Care’ that night (which I will later find out is NOT Emergency, which, oh, I don’t know, they could perhaps TELL YOU or refer you to a different hospital if you come in with a serious problem). Waited about 4 hours to see a doctor who told me I was very good at describing the pain but that it doesn’t help him (which again, what the hell? What else am I supposed to tell him about?). They took an x-ray, blood and urine (which at this point, looked like rust) and basically did the tests my doctor ordered, decided that I had a Urinary Tract Infection despite a complete lack of evidence and the fact that I have had that before and trust me, it was nothing like this was. They put me on an IV of antibiotics and told me to come back the next day for another.

I hobbled around for most of Friday, feeling a bit better, but still terrible and with a horribly swollen abdomen. Went back to Misericordia on Saturday morning, where a nurse snapped at me for not being able to walk. The doctor administering the IV was at least decent and said I should get a CT scan, but the office at Misericordia was CLOSED on the weekend, so I should schedule one for the week. I agreed and we left with a prescription for more oral antibiotics.

Took the antibiotics and attempted to eat and drink on Saturday but I started throwing up anything I ingested, to the point where it was pure bile coming out. Idiotically, we went back to Misericordia one last time, where the ONLY decent nurse there hinted that if we went to the Health Sciences Centre, we could get a CT scan done right away. Why no one told us this earlier is beyond me. My mom showed up and we left to go to HSC instead.

And I should note, that on the way out of Misericordia, Nik overheard the nurse saying something to the effect of, “The nerve of some people, don’t they know this isn’t an Emergency department?”. The answer is: NO, MAYBE THEY DON’T. PERHAPS YOU COULD INFORM OF THIS FACT WHEN THEY COME IN WITH SERIOUS PROBLEMS INSTEAD OF LEAVING THEM TO PERISH IN YOUR WAITING ROOM. Also of note, the first night we were there (Thursday), the doctor and nurses were within earshot making fun of one of the other patients. Now that’s care! Also, the floors of the (non)emergency patient area, with the beds, were filthy.

Now, HSC, I only have nice things to say about. They got me into an Emergency room within an hour, the doctors were very caring, they listened and also took the time to explain to us what was going on. They diagnosed the burst appendix pretty quickly, with a CT scan to confirm it. They waited a day to do surgery as they attempted to reduce the massive stomach abscesses I had with antibiotics, and performed surgery on Monday evening.

The surgery, presumably, went well as I’m still alive. Along with removing the appendix, apparently, they also had to essentially take out most of my organs and wash all the toxic stuff off them in order to get rid of everything that was in my stomach cavity and to prevent my organs from shutting down or going into septic shock. My details may not be perfect here, but that’s pretty much how it was explained to me and after the fact, it quite frankly scares the hell out of me.

I spent another week and a half in the hospital, full of IVs and tubes and drains that went straight into my abdomen to drain all the excess bad stuff out of me. Good times. The only positives about the whole thing was getting the chance to watch ‘The Price Is Right’ (the choice of invalids everywhere) everyday and learning the lesson that Misericordia is easily the WORST hospital in Winnipeg and will almost kill you and not even care about it.

So that’s the story. I still kind of feel like hell, my stomach is still insanely sore, I lost about 15 pounds I didn’t need to lose and I now have a giant, crappy scar from my naval down. Yay.

And because I’m totally bitter, I will pretend for a moment that this blog isn’t attached to my professional design site which I use in order to attract clients and issue a giant ‘fuck you’ to Misericordia for almost killing me. I hate to come down on hospitals because I honestly think they do the best they can with their resources and our healthcare in Canada is still very good, but honestly, everyone there, except that one doctor and nurse that were decent, can go to Hell as far as I’m concerned. Everyone makes mistakes but the lack of care and concern there was absolutely appalling.

To end on a more positive note, cheers to the doctors and nurses at HSC, particularly the first doctor (whose name I unfortunately didn’t catch) that saw us when I was admitted and Mulleina (probably spelled this wrong too) that saw me most mornings. A bit of care and respect go a long way.

Well, Pixar, if your goal was to make me cry (again… damn you WALL-E), mission accomplished.

Nik and I just got back from seeing Pixar’s latest Up and have to say it was pretty good. Aside from us making the obvious mistake of seeing the earlier show (too many yappy children), we had a good time. It was a good pick-me-up for a crummy day and for that, I thank them.

The movie was in the new 3D format that’s all the rage with the kids these days (or so I hear). We last saw Coraline in that format, and while that movie was really great, this one made much better use of it. The animation was clear and crisp, as one would expect from Pixar, and the 3D really popped.

The story itself was very sweet, and the opening background info is a bit of a tearjerker. Hell, even the opening animated short is a bit of a sniffler, though perhaps I can blame this on the poison Turkey Wrap I had at Prairie Ink beforehand, blech. The vocal work was excellent as well.

If I were going to nitpick, I would say that this one was a bit more kid-oriented than some other Pixar films, but honestly, when I think about it, they’re really all very kid-oriented. Adults just like ‘em anyway! Up wasn’t quite as funny as some of their films as well (except for perhaps the talking dog bits), but it was still a pretty solid film that I’d recommend.

You know, just maybe bring a few hankies if you’re feeling a bit sucky…

It feels like I have gone through a massive glut of books this year. Just can’t get enough of ‘em. Even on the short flight back from Denver (after leaving Las Vegas… lights so bright, palm sweat on a Saturday night…) I felt the urge to pick up something a bit better than just a magazine. Mind you, I did pick up an issue of Real Simple magazine as well, but I digress. Lately I have been back on my “information binges”, so I think the reading of everything I can get my hands on is part of that.

The book I picked up in the airport was Rejected: Tales of the Failed, Dumped and Canceled by Jon Friedman. It’s an easy read, as it’s basically a collection of short stories and articles written by mostly comedic writers and actors, or rejected content from said writers and actors. Some of the writers have been associated with The Daily Show, SNL, and Flight of the Conchords, to name a few.

It’s a nice little collection. There’s a few duds, but most of the pieces are funny and quick-witted, though somewhat understandable as to why they were “rejected” (too racy, too risque, too esoteric or just not funny enough).  Lots of laugh out loud moments so far (I admit, I haven’t had the chance to finish it).

Plus, one nice thing about it is that most of the writers are very successful folks, so it gives hope for the rest of us, in a humorous way. A nice light summer read for anyone who’s interested in picking it up.

Sam’s verdict on a scale of ‘how late into the night I’ll stay up reading it despite how tired I am’? It’s a 1 am novel. You keep wanting to read the next story, but at the same time, it’s easy to put down too.

Well, I’m back. I must apologize to all 2 of my followers for the long delay between posts, but I was prepping for and going on a trip to Las Vegas with a few friends for the past long weekend. How was it, you ask? Awesome. It was a short trip, but for my first time there, I feel like we covered some decent ground (though I shall have to return).

In the interest of not boring anyone (since it seems that everyone except us had been to Vegas before) I’ll just post a couple of observations about the things that we did.

1. Don’t gamble with Amy. She’s embarrassingly lucky when it comes to Blackjack and it will make you feel like a bad gamer when she gets her 5th blackjack in ten hands.
2. The casino floors will always play some mixture of 80s and early 90s music, nothing newer.
3. Vegas is smokey. People can smoke everywhere and I’d forgotten how much I appreciate all our anti-smoking rules here in Canada.
4. You can drink ANYWHERE. This… I have no problem with. In fact, I think my favourite part about Vegas is walking around on the street with open liquor. Preferably with one of those giant margarita-bong things they seem to sell everywhere.
5. Julia is a badass.
6. Vegas clubs are just as lame as clubs anywhere. Actually, correction: Vegas clubs are nicer than the ones here, but they are filled with just as many lame people. They weren’t really even much nicer dressed.
7. Club tour organizers don’t really know what they’re doing either.
8. Don’t go to Pure Nightclub. It would be nice except that they pack it so full of people that you can’t even move, even at two in the morning.
9. The Bellagio Buffet is mostly awesome, particularly the desserts and the prime rib. All the reviews crowed about the KING. CRAB. LEGS. but honestly those weren’t that great.
10. Cirque Du Soleil’s “O” is worth every penny. Get the best seats you can. High divers! Platforms! Dancing! Trapeze! Swings!
11. Don’t let Julia and Amy lead a group. Heh.
12. Paris Hotel & Casino has a few yucky places to eat.
13. The Stratosphere Hotel (where we stayed) wasn’t a bad hotel but was in a seedy end of the strip. Lesson learned when a man in a car slowed down to ask us if we were “working”. Sheesh, we were wearing flip-flops and shorts.
14. Vegas is hot all the time. It is awesome. I hate wearing a jacket at night in the summer, so this is the place for me.
15. The Top of the World restaurant on top of the Stratosphere tower is excellent, and needless to say, has amazing views. Worth the money.

You can see some more photos from the trip at my Flickr account.

Finally got the chance to try out the Hamam room at Ten Spa this weekend and it was quite glorious. Ten Spa has recently undergone some renovations, mainly to the lobby area and changerooms, but it seems that the main areas have stayed pretty much the same. I mean this in a good way though, as the improvements were great, but my friends and I loved the lounge and treatment areas.

Anyway, my first experience with Hamam was quite good. We did the Intro to Hamam, which was a good initiation to the traditional treatment. Based on the traditional Turkish Baths, you start in a warm room with some mint tea and a sweet to ramp up your body temperature before entering the 40-50 degree treatment room.

Upon entering the steamy treatment room you have a quick shower, then start administering the exfoliating salt scrub at a warm bench. After you’ve had the opportunity to sit with that, you then get rinsed off with cool water and go to lie down on warm marble slab. From then on you get a wonderful scalp massage, then some more cooling water poured on, then onto the foot massage. I should mention that while all this is going on, you have the pleasure of sweating and staring up at a simulated starry sky (though I must say that the twinkling is currently happening a bit too quickly, slow those down Ten Spa!).

After the massage, you can then wait near the benches and sinks to cool off a bit, or have another shower. Following that, you go back to the warm room from earlier in the day, apply some lotion to keep the moisture in your skin, then it’s off to the quiet lounge to finish off with a “shot” of ayran. The shot is sort of a salty (very salty), yogurt-like drink with a cucumber alongside it. I understand the purpose of the drink being so salty in this case is probably to allow you to retain water after sweating out so much in the treatment room, but it’s still a bit nasty. My favourite part was watching Shannon try to stomach it, despite that she’s had it before. (Sorry Shannon, it was funny). Given the taste of the drink, this line in the wiki about ayran confounds me:

Ayran is so popular in Turkey that it rivals the sales of the juice and soda industries. International fast-food companies, such as McDonald’s, include Ayran in their standard menu.

Whoa. No.

Ayran excluded, it was a pleasant afternoon spent at the spa. And I’d recommend the Hamam treatments to anyone looking to try them. Just try not to cough up the salty Activia.

Before we went to the Weakerthans show on Saturday night, Boyfriend Nik and I headed to one of our favourite restaurants, Dessert Sinsations (yes, they have great food too, not just desserts!). Now I had been told about Ciao Winnipeg’s Chocolate Fest, but had kind of ignored it because I’m more of a candy person rather than chocolate. However when we got there, we saw the special chocolate concoctions and had to sample some.

The dishes we decided to sample were the Chorizotto Mole: a spicy chorizo sausage with chocolate chilli risotto and for dessert we shared a slice of Chocolate Banana Cream Pie. Nik also had the Callebaut White Chocolate Pistachio Latte.

The Chorizotto Mole, while looking something like Libbey’s Pork and Beans in a bowl (with chorizo instead of hot dogs), tasted amazing. The spicy chorizo complimented the rich chocolate chilli risotto perfectly. The chocolate flavour was really quite light, not overwhelming at all. Highly recommended to split as an appetizer, and it could really serve as a moderately light meal on its own.

Now, while I still maintain the dessert would be even better if it had a layer of peanut butter (because if chocolate+peanut butter=good, peanut butter+banana=good, therefore chocolate+peanut butter+banana=amazing, it’s math, people!), the Chocolate Banana Cream Pie was to die for. The dark cookie crust was a welcome addition and it was a bit salty, which was a nice contrast to the light, sweet, whipped topping. Very, very good… even without the peanut butter.

I did not try the latte myself, but Nik said it was a bit sweet and didn’t finish it. Your taste may vary from his though, and I know I like sweet things probably more than he does, so it still sounded pretty good to me.

Ciao’s ChocolateFest is on for the month of April, so you still have a chance to go and sample some of the treats at many of the participating restaurants and bistros. If you’ve tried any of the specials at any other restaurants, let me know in the comments!

First, let it be said that Boyfriend Nik and I had a great time on Saturday at the Weakerthans show at the Burt. According to a friend of ours, they were shooting material for a dvd release and I’m certain they got some really great material as it was just an awesome show. I  feel like I enjoy them more and more every time I see them. If you haven’t heard of them (meaning you’re probably not from Winnipeg), give the video above a watch/listen to. Tournament of Hearts, it’s one damn poignant curling song.

However, although the Constantines are a fine band, I found myself getting bored during their opening set and started drifting off. I’ve found that in these situations, where talking to my boyfriend would be a bit rude, I like to invent little games in my head to play. Saturday’s game was “Count the Plaids”. Now, I love plaid, and own a few shirts of my own. But as I looked down at the crowd at the front of the theatre, I couldn’t help but imagine the crowd shots on the Weakerthans dvd as just being a sea of plaid. Probably about half the audience on the floor, men and women, was wearing plaid or some kind of plaid-variant. It was a bit freaky.

The whole thing with the plaid reminded me of my previous hipster-counting game, “Count the Unnecessary Scarves” and prior to that, “Count the Skinny Jeans Paired with Ballet Flats”. And I started thinking that you can spot fashion trends that are exclusive to certain musical genres at just about any concert you go to. I’ll post some examples here and maybe some folks can help me fill in the list in the comments.

• Toby Keith (Country) – Mullets, nah, too easy. Try looking for NASCAR or “9-11, Never Forget” gear.
• Britney Spears (Pop) – Count the number of bangles on girls’ wrists, then work out the average BPG (Bangles Per Girl).
• 50 Cent (rap variants… no, Kanye is NOT rap, he’s barely pop at this point) – Figure out the average difference between the size of jeans people are wearing versus the size they actually should be wearing. Note the inverse relationship between the mens’ and womens’ sizes (too big vs. too small).
• Broken Social Scene (indie) – Besides the plaid game above, you can also count the number of girls with side-swept bangs and unkempt hair. Also, the number of guys with poorly grown facial hair.
• Nickelback (crap-rock) – You should never be at a Nickelback show. There’s no acceptable reason for that.

Okay, now you do some!

Man, I get a major kick out of bad tattoos. The “lolcats” format of the site isn’t really my thing, but they are showcasing some amazingly heinous tattoos over at LOLTATZ. I just cannot believe the things people want on their body. Forever. Luckily these people have decided to document their mistakes and post them on the internet for the rest of us to have fun with. Forewarned is forearmed: some of the tattoos are definitely NSFW. Otherwise, hit up the site and enjoy!

For more fun at others’ permanent expense, Fashion SWAT at Somethingawful.com did a great sendup of some bad tattoos some years back. Check them out too, if you’ve got the time.