The warmer weather has allowed me to go out and explore the area near my new office at noon. This Friday I went down to Ravisoups near Peter and Adelaide. I’ve heard about it before – it got great press when it opened – it was also mentioned on the office list of “recommended places to go” that sits in our lunchroom.

Ravisoups is a nice and cozy spot. It has a back area for a patio but it wasn’t open because it was still pretty brisk outside. Two of us ordered the corn chowder and it was delicious! A lot more filling than I would’ve though but the crab meat piled nicely in the middle of the thick broth fills you up. Each soup came with a biscuit. The others tried different soups, that I forget, but one of us also ordered the lamb wrap which she said was quite good. Ravisoups is definitely a place I will go back to.

Ravisoups
322 Adelaide St. W.
647-435-8365

I hate using carts in grocery stores but sometimes carrying a basket is too heavy. T&T replaced all their baskets with these hybrids – baskets with wheels and an extra handle for pulling like rolling luggage. Brilliant!

Sure, Roger’s has two Canadian “exclusives”, the iPhone and the Blackberry Bold. But recent changes to their pricing and upgrade policies have me rethinking them as the choice for my current smartphone. Not only did they increase prices on all new blackberrys (by as much as $50) but today they increased the time for upgrades from 12 months to 24 months. This is on top of thier new increased fees for cable, internet and wireless service.

Rogers is taking EVERY step possible to squeeze as much revenue as possible from their existing user base. At least we have some choice in the matter. Bell isn’t standing by and has aggressively been promoting both cable and internet service to my building. GlobalLive is holding onto a large chunk of spectrum and itching to get into the wireless service in Canada. We have long memories and won’t forget this cash squeeze from Rogers – we may not leave right away, but when the time comes, we will leave and never look back.

Surprisingly, not many people realize what cars are made in Canada. More importantly, that many GOOD* cars are made in Canada – ones that I would recommend. Here’s a full list of all the cars I know of that have final assembly here in the great-white-north:

Acura

• CSX*
• MDX*

Honda

• Civic*
• Odyssey
• Ridgeline
• Pilot*

Toyota

• Corolla
• RX350*
• Matrix

Chrysler

• Dodge Caravan, Chrysler Town & Country minivans
• Chrysler Pacifica
• Chrysler 300
• Dodge Magnum
• Dodge Charger
• Dodge Challenger

Ford

• Ford Edge
• Lincoln MKX
• Ford Freestar
• Ford Crown Victoria
• Mercury Grand Marquis

GM

• Chevrolet Camaro
• Chevrolet Impala
• Chevrolet Monte Carlo
• Pontiac Grand Prix
• Buick Allure/LaCrosse
• Chevy SIlverado
• GMC Sierra
• Chevrolet Equinox
• Pontiac Torrent
• Suzuki XL7

Volkswagon

• Volkswagon Routan minivan

Udon noodles come in these great little packages at T&T. I bought them and have been getting them regularly every trip. They store forever and keep better than the frozen kind which get freezerburned too often.

• Beef ribeye sliced thinly
• Udon noodles packaged
• Beef broth
• King oyster mushrooms
• Bok choy (or spinach or other nice green veg)
• Green onion/Scallion

1. Cut beef into very thin strips and cook on medium low heat in a fry pan. When finished, set aside.
2. Boil enough water to cover the udon noodles for only 2-3 minutes, then drain and set aside.
3. Bring beef broth (or chicken broth) to a boil, quickly add bok choy and king oyster mushrooms. Add noodles just a minute later, then finally the beef. Turn off the heat and let stew for a minute.
4. Plate and serve, garnish with green onion.

Some sites are built on features, some on content, but a rare few are built on their community. Audiworld was one such site. Having used the forums to help purchase, maintain and eventually sell it – it’s sad to see their new owners not value their community. What happened yesterday was such a simple technical change – they moved from an old, depracated forum software to the industry-standard vbulletin. However, all did not go smoothly – posts were truncated, the format was not kept, and what ended up existing after the conversion was just-another-vbulletin-forum.

The community revolted, and quickly a new forum was set up and the core userbase moved over. Quattroworld now maintains the look-and-feel of the original forums, and a large userbase has already created accounts and started posting. One forum is already filled with 16 pages of posts in as many hours.

It’ll be interesting to see what happens. I highly doubt the Audiworld owners, Internet Brands, will back down. Will the hardcore userbase be enough to drive their revenue down enough that they will notice? Will quattroworld be successful or just a niche forum for a very small audience…and eventually disappear over time. It will be interesting to watch.

For now, there’s a lot of hate on Audiworld. The new owners that forced the change, the loss of years of data that the community contributed to, a backlash from some of their moderators, all add up to quite a mess. It’s even been talked about in the niche auto press.

I never wash my car during the winter. I do this because I put a nice thick coat of sealant before winter starts and I find that frequent winter washes remove this coat really quickly, because of all the grime and salt that builds up on the car. When the weather warms up, I do a single, full wash and the sealant is still underneath, protecting the paint from the elements. Unfortunately, this leaves the car looking like a salt lick for most of the winter.

A few weeks ago, a hand car wash opened up in the neighborhood, just south of Summerhill. Called Mr. Shine it’s located at Yonge and Roxborough, just across the street from the Shell station. I took the car there to support a new local business – they had the tedious task of removing 4 months of dirt from the car. They did a pretty good job, and I recommend them. A basic exterior wash, without detailing, is $16.99. Usually I spend $13 in a car wash bay, so it’s not that much more. I detail my car myself, so I haven’t seen the results. However I’ll probably stop by soon and find out what products they use – and whether or not they use a sealant or a wax (or both!).

This week, the first batch of Nikon’s 35mm f1.8 lens began arriving in stores. Call first – Henry’s, Black’s and Aden were all sold out on Friday.

There’s some rumors going around on the blogs about the details of the iPhone OS version 3.0 that will be announced on the 17th. Here’s what Boy Genius Reports lists:

• MMS
• Tethering via Bluetooth and USB

BMW Canada is offering two driving events that compare their 3-series against the competition. On May 27-30 and June 5-7 they will be heading to Downsview park and allow people two hours to test drive their car against the Audi A4, Lexus IS and Mercedes C-class. Granted, many of the competition cars will not be heavily optioned, and usually are run with very crappy tires, but it should prove to be a fun day. To signup go to their website.