Chuck's Roadhouse

If you are someone that lives in Ontario and enjoys ribs, streak or good hamburger can I recommend Chuck's Roadhouse.  The one problem that I am going to say it there aren't a lot of locations but if you are close to one give them a try.

We have found quite a few locations are wonderful and have only found one that we didn’t like. Our first experience at a Chuck’s was on a visit to Niagara Falls, Ontario and this location was within a short walk from our hotel as we were staying at the Courtyard Inn by Marriott on Victoria. The Chuck’s Roadhouse is an easy walk from this hotel, so it made it a great place for dinner.  Chuck’s was originally recommended to me but some friends online so we figured it was worth a try. 

When we first went to Chuck’s what surprised us was the price of a top sirloin steak because it was very reasonable and especially in Niagara Falls. The Top Sirloin is 7 oz, and it comes with fries and corn, and it was $15. You can upgrade your side to a Caesar salad, sweet potato fries or a loaded baked potato for around $2. We have been going to Chuck’s for a while now and the prices are still around the same which is nice.

Something to know that they do have specials during the week and knowing about them does help when you are trying to figure out a place to go and have dinner or even a late-night drink and some appetizers. There is a special of ½ price appetizers after 9 pm most days if not every day so that is great when you are out and just want something extra. Now, the special that we really enjoy is the Wednesday special and we sometimes plan to be near a Chuck’s just for this special, and it is Wednesday Rib Day, All Day. A full rack of back ribs is $15 and a half rack of ribs are $10. What we have done is order a full rack of ribs each and cut them in half and then take a half rack of ribs home for dinner another night.

The restaurant isn’t fancy, but the food is really good, and the prices are reasonable. Being able to go out for dinner and have some good food without spending lots of money is always nice. Chuck’s has become a restaurant that we will look for when we are travelling in Ontario because we know that we will regularly get a good meal.

Hudson Bay - closing and impact to the Path

For those us in Toronto we know that the underground “Path” was someone that we have dealth with for years and it was our method of going from Union Station to Yonge/Dundas Square without having to go outside at any point.

Recently we had a closer of “The Bay” which was part of the “path” so how was it going to impact the route that we all knew and understood. The good news is that the path still remained the same because they were able to close off areas and there were specific paths that everyone could take to get to the various “path” routes that went through “The Bay”.

I am not certain what is going to happen moving forward but at least we were able to walk through the underground bath from the Sheraton Centre to the Eaton Centre without an issue and that made us happy. Of course, the area that we went through was pretty empty but at least we were able to get thorough the area that had been “The Bay”. The only thing that I am going to say is you better be prepared for stairs because you either have to walk up the escalator stairs or the stairs to the right of the escalator and that is rather difficult but at least you can continue to move your way through what was “the Bay” and you can connect to the ret of the path.

It was interesting walking through the area that was once “The Bay” because there were a lot of areas that we couldn’t walk through but then when we got to a specific area there were security guards that were monitoring the open area on the basement area. What this showed was a lot of areas where still open to the public because of the “The Path” access but then there were areas that were not available because they were not specifically “Path” specific.

So, if you are going to be waling from Union Station to the Eaton Center or vice versa please know that you are going to be walking through an area that was a department store a couple of months ago but is now a vacant area and you just have to accept the path that has bene outlines. It isn’t handicap accessible so that is something that you need to know when you do this path. There is a path that you can do outside but again it isn’t totally covered so you might have to deal with the Toronto weather.

Loading Zones - IKEA

 We have been seeing something that neither of us like and that is people parking in loading zones and not following the rules that are there for everyone. Recently we have seen this happen repeatedly when we go to IKEA. It is amazing how many cars are parked in the loading zone and there is no one around the vehicle. It isn’t like someone has pulled up and they are waiting for someone else to finish checking out.

This last trip to IKEA I took a couple of pictures and they are an hour apart and the same vehicle is still sitting in the same location and there was no one in or near the vehicle. Yes, it was a company vehicle but still why should they be allowed to park in a loading zone taking up a space that someone could be using to quickly pick up their purchase. If this happened occasionally it would be one thing but most of the time where are multiple cars parked in the loading zone and with no driver close by.

There is one loading area that I understand that people will leave their vehicles and that is the Click and Collection loading area. This spot I where you can get Ikea to collect your items from throughout the store and you just go to that specific location to pick up the items.

I have asked Ikea about this but have never got any reply and the employees that are standing outside dealing with the carts don’t say anything either so that is also disappointing. These employees are probably not allowed to question why a person is parking in the loading area. It must be frustrating for these employees when there are no spots where someone can pull into to load their purchases and the customer gets upset with them.

 If you are one of those individuals that parks your vehicle in the loading zone and then goes and wanders around Ikea and maybe has a meal as well. Please remember that the loading zone is for customers to quickly load their purchases into their vehicles and not to be used as a close parking spot.

Update: we ended up going back into IKEA to pick up something that we forgot to get and the truck was still there after 1.5 hours.

Working with charities

I am someone that has been helping with charities for most of my adult life and it is something that I enjoy doing. I have supported charities through volunteering my time for events and such. Besides donating my time, I have also been able to support the charities through my crafting, and I have always enjoyed doing that. Through the crafting that I have done for charities I have learned quite a bit and it something that I would like to pass on to others. 

Here are a few things that I have learned:

1. Needs – figure out what is needed by the organization and the items are going to be donated to. If the items can be different sizes make sure you know what the sizes are that are needed, as well as any restrictions, such as type of yarn or colour. If you are collecting handmade blankets, make sure that you know the size that the organization wants and needs and not just a general idea.
2. Volunteers – when you have volunteers that are willing to assist in getting items made, make sure that you communicate to them the sizes, etc. that are required. This is important so that you don’t get items that you cannot distribute.
3. Communication – communication between volunteers and the organization is vital because that ensures everyone knows what is going on. If needs change spending out emails, etc. quickly is a good way to let everyone know about these changes.
4. Accepting items – figure out the method that you will accept the donations, so that everyone knows how it is going to be handled. If you are sending out communications that say “Drop Off’ make sure that you are going to be accepting people dropping off things. If you are not allowing people to drop-off items, make sure that is clearly communicated. Recently I received an email from a charity that I was working with that said, “Schedule a drop-off time” and it turned out that you were to box everything up, weigh it, measure the box and send that information and they would then get a courier to pick up the box. Not everyone has a schedule that allows for waiting around for a courier to pick up the box. This should have been one of the options not the only option.
5. General – making sure that everyone feels part of the team is very important because that is how you will continue to get others willing to help. It is amazing how a crafting community can come together to assist a charity if they will like they are part of it.

These are just a few of things that I have learned while dealing with charities and especially helping make items for different organization. It doesn’t matter what the charity is collecting be it funds or items understanding the importance of volunteers is key.

I understand working with charities can be difficult especially during these economic challenges. Some of what I have learned is also from obtaining my Fundraising Certificate and being able to assist charities is something that I would love to do more of.

 

How events/conferences are changing

We recently went to an event and noticed that the size of the booths has started to decrease in size. I think a lot of that is due to the price of a booth has been increasing and the business that you get from an event may not be increasing compared to the price increase.

The other thing that is changing is the items that are being given away at events. You are no longer seeing t-shirts or items like that being handed out freely because of the cost of them as well. I think that other thing that is deterring companies from having a nice give away is that there are quite often a few individuals that show up and their entire purpose is to see what items they can get for free. So many of these individuals don't care about the company or product at all, they just want is the item that is being given away. 

It can be difficult for any company to have a booth at any conference because there are so many additional costs that they must also think about. It isn't just the cost of the booth; it is being able to have the individuals available to man the booth for the entire time of the conference.  Do you need to put staff up at a hotel and provide them meals to be at the conference or are they local and the only thing you need to do is provide them with the ability to man the booth?

All conferences have been changing and some events there were free in the past have now started to charge you to attend because so many people were only there for what they could get for free. It didn't matter if it was a meal or a drink or just a lot of items available from events.  I am not complaining about the events that have had to start charging to attending because there are a lot of costs that attendees don't realize that the organizer is incurring.

A weekend escape to Belleville, Ontario

A lot of us enjoy spending some time on a mini vacation and it doesn’t have to be that far from home to make it enjoyable. The trip I am going to write about is going from Toronto to Belleville for a weekend escape. The distance is 175km so it should take you around 2 hours to get there if you take the highway but there are lots of things to do and see if you decide to take a slower route. 

Here it is an idea of a possible route so that you can see some of the other things during your journey.

The first stop for us along the way is to stop in Cobourg to visit a yarn store that I like. Yarn It! Where you can find some nice hand-dyed yarns and accessories to go with them. When we make this stop there is usually some yarn added to the stash because I cannot resist getting yarn from here as they do have yarn that they dye themselves.

The second stop is going to be The Big Apple which is just off the 401 in Colborne. If you are driving east, you will see the Big Apple as you are approaching Percy St so that is where you are heading. This is a nice stop where you can pick up some pies that are so nice to have. There is also a general store as well as 401 Cider Brewery where you can pick up Hard Cider as well as some wines. If you have children, there is also a petting zoo and train rides if you are there in the summer.

This picture was taken from the highway so it is that close to the exit.

From The Big Apple you can decide if you want to get back onto the 401 or take the slower route which takes you through the towns of Colborne, Brighton, and Trenton. If you take highway 2 through Trenton you will pass the Canadian Forces Base Trenton, and you may see some of our military planes sitting on the tarmac. In Trenton there is also the National Air Force Museum of Canada where you can see the past, present and future of Canadian aviators.

After leaving Trenton we normally will continue the drive along Highway 2 until we are just outside of Belleville where we head towards the 401 and our hotel which normally has been the TownePlaceSuites by Marriott as it is a convenient location for making day trips into Prince Edward County. There is a lot of things to see and do while in Prince Edward County from walking along the main street of Picton, to going to Wineries as well as spending some time at the beach.

Now one of the reasons we enjoy staying at the TownePlace Suites is there is free breakfast each day of your visit and all the rooms have a kitchen area which is wonderful as you do get a full-size fridge. The fridge comes in handy for keeping the things you pick up in the county cold until you head home. There are a lot of restaurants within a short drive from the hotel so lots of choices of where to have dinner. For us one thing we enjoy is being able to work next door to the Casino and have dinner there. The only disadvantage of this restaurant is its adult only as it is inside the casino and it closes at 8 pm except Friday and Saturday through the summer it closes at 10 pm. (separate blog written about the hotel and casino)

While in Belleville there is still lots of shops to visit and restaurants and one splurge is to go to Reid’sDairy and have some ice cream. One word of warning when you go there is that the amount of ice cream you get if large. If you get 2 scoops, be prepared to have lots of ice cream but it is so good.

I hope that I have helped you plan a trip out to Belleville, and you enjoy a mini vacation away from the city. I know that we always enjoy our trips and each time we go we try and do something a little different and explore a different area of the county.

Please read the original post

There are so many times that there are comments on a post that don’t have anything to do with the original post. What is important is if you are replying to a post on social media is that you need to read the original post and then comment on that.

Recently there was a post that asked people to clean the dead leaves from the curb in front of your house. This person was simply asking everyone to make sure that the water could drain alone the curb to the city drains to make sure that there was no flooding on any of the streets.

What happens was a lot of people decided to complain that they were asking people to rake their lawns which this person never asked for. It is amazing how many times people make assumptions and don’t read what the original post was about. Of course, I tried to manage it the best I could by repeatedly saying it wasn’t requesting people to rake their lawns just clean the curb of leaves. 

It is amazing how many people only see a few words that are written and don’t read the entire post and then they complain that the original poster is wrong. What we need to do is look at and read the original post to make sure that we understand what they are saying before we post a comment. 

If there is a post that you don’t totally understand, maybe try and ask a question or two before you complain that the post isn’t correct. In this case someone was simply asking for leaves to be removed from the curb to ensure that water could drain to the city catch basins.