I’ve been evaluating a few different options for Double-DIN car decks for my car. At first glance, the Pioneer F series look like a sure winner. Not only do they have out-of-the-box bluetooth support, but it comes with navigation, SD media support, ipod support (with adaptor), and speech recognition similar to Ford’s SYNC. The F700-BT offers all this and the F900-BT adds DVD support. Moreover, all the models can change the deck illumination to match your car’s dash.

However, there have been MANY reported problems with all the F-series models. Problems that Pioneer does not seem to acknowledge nor intend to address. Amoung them:

1. Bluetooth compatibility issues causing lots of staticy connections

2. Very slow startup times – made even worse when connecting an iPod as your initial playback device.

3. iPod playback is only alphabetical and does not follow the playlist order

Because of all these problems, I’ll likely get an Alpine unit.

My friend and I tried Le Select Bistro on an early Sunday afternoon. It was just after the brunch rush and we had a drink at the bar before getting a seat on their patio. A Wellington Street patio is very nice, since it’s a quiet street and there is not a lot of car traffic going by. Much less noisy then True Restaurant.

We skipped the normal brunch fair and both had the grilled steak, served with an egg. Being a bistro, I ordered it rare and it came out just a tad over rare, but it was very tasty – I have no complaints. My friend enjoyed his steak as well.

The service was very good, the staff were extremely friendly and accomodating. The quiet patio on a quiet street really makes Le Select one of the nicer places to go for brunch in Toronto.

Le Select Bistro
432 Wellington Street West
Toronto, Ontario
M5V 1E3
416-596-6405

In Canada when your bank has a dormant account that is over 10 years old, it turns it over to the Bank of Canada. The BoC lists all the dormant accounts and allows the original owners to claim them.

Search for unclaimed balances on their website, you may have money that you don’t know about. On CityNews they found that former mayors Barbara Hall and Mel Lastman had unclaimed balances.

A Globe and Mail article about chocolate used the term “Technical Tasting” to describe a way of “enjoying” chocolate as much as most people enjoy wine. While I appreciate the stunning skills and senses that it takes to be a sommelier, isn’t all that technical complexity for a food taking the fun out of it? Most of us know instictively what tastes good and bad, and what is enjoyed by one may not be enjoyed by another because of tastes.

“Technical Tasting” is what breeds wine snobs, so are we on the verge of having “chocolate snobs”? What about “cola snobs” or “celery snobs”? “I’m sorry, but I cannot have this cheese whiz dish, the celery was from the central region of Ontario and they experienced a bad drought that affected this crop.”

Let’s just eat what we like. Leave the technical tasting to people to the killjoys. Hell, my favorite chocolate comes from the 7-eleven.

What is the significance of August 8th, 2008 at 8:08pm (and 8 seconds)? It’s the start of the Olympics and opening ceremonies in China. I guess numerology has infiltrated the Olympics too.

Canadian Celine Dion is scheduled to perform there. I guess instead of the Prime Minister we are sending her. Seems only fair. :)

This is not “Snow” (Aka “Hey Oh”) by the Red Hot Chili Peppers but one of their lesser known tracks from Stadium Arcadium. I first heard it and thought it was one of the best tracks they’ve put out in years.

*This is not the official video but a fanvid.

If you’re part of the league of Porsche-nerds like me, you probably know what a 997 is – it’s the latest iteration of the Porsche Carrera models that debuted in 2005 (previously 996, 993, etc.). I’ve been tracking used prices of these cars for the past few years since I’ve considered buying one for some time now.

I’ve noticed a few of my friends have also been looking, so I’ve summarized some of the price trends over the past two years from Autotrader:

July 2006:
2006 c2s: $129,995-$145,900
2006 c2: $99,888-$128,000
2005 c2s: $103,800-$109,900
2005 c2: $99,900-103,995

July 2007:
2006 c4s: $109,900-$111,900
2006 c4: none listed
2006 c2s: $99,888-$109,500
2006 c2: $94,800*
2005 c2s: $94,800-$102,900
2005 c2: $79900-$89,900

July 2008:
2007 c4: $105,900*
2007 c2s: none listed
2007 c2: $84,900*
2006 c4s: $87,900-$99,888
2006 c4: $94,900*
2006 c2s: $79,525-$85,888
2006 c2: $75,000-$81,900
2005 c2s: $72,988-$84,950
2005 c2: $57,950-$74,900

* Denotes only a single listing in Autotrader which might not give an accurate market price

All models are not convertibles and no turbo/gt3/gt2 models were tracked.

1. Make sure the tire pressure on your car is at the recommended level.

2. Drive like grandma. Light acceleration, lots of coasting.

These work. Seriously.

I watched the Russell Peters DVD last night, Outsourced. I’ve watched it before, but it still makes me laugh.

I was walking around Yonge/St. Clair yesterday and noticed a big proliferation of fine dining Indian restaurants in the neighborhood. Both Jaaadu and Rangoli advertise as “Fine Indian Cuisine”. Perhaps the success of Amaya has spawned a new wave of “fine” indian restaurants. At least with Yonge street locations, these two restaurants will garner more pass-by traffic than Amaya’s Bayview street location.

Jaaadu looks to be the “Finer” of the two restaurants, I will try it soon to compare it to Amaya which currently ranks as one of my favorites.