Cirque Du Soleil's Totem

For our anniversary, I got my wife tickets to Cirque Du Soleil's, Totem, and on Friday night we went to see the show. I'm not a big fan of the Cirque, I think their clowns are kinda creepy, but because it was something my wife really wanted to do, I sucked it up and took her.

We had dinner at the Goof in the Beach, an old hang out of ours, which we hadn't been to in awhile.

If you are looking for a quick diner style bite, with a Canadian Chinese food twist, the Goof is the place to go.

And then it was off to the show.

Totem is the story of evolution through the eyes of Cirque Du Soleil.

So there was a lot of incredible acrobatics, and some clowns, but thankfully not the creepy kind.

Definitely not as good as "O" in Vegas, but as a travelling road show, it was still really good.

If you are looking for something a little bit different to do in the city, check it out.

Cirque Du Soleil's, Totem runs until October down in the portlands.

Apple Saves The Day

The other day at work I threw my iPhone into my lunch bag as I was headed out the door for home. When I got home 20 minutes later and reached into my bag to get my cell phone I found it floating in a puddle of Redbull. Apparently the fork that I put in there for my lunch had pierced the can of Redbull that I had been carrying around in my bag for the last few weeks. Needless to say, my 8 month old iPhone 4 was no longer working.

I tried everything I could think of to dry it out and get it to work, including the rice trick.

NOTHING worked.

It was now just a brick.

Because I am on a 3 year term with my cell phone provider, I needed to get another smart phone.

I went to my cell phone carrier to see if they could help me out. NOT.

I checked to see if I could buy a used one online. How much?! NOT.

Brand new? Forget about it.

Then I went to the Apple website to see if they had any refurbished phones for sale. They did, so I called the number and the Apple guy asked me how old my phone was. I told him and he said to go to the nearest Apple store and maybe they would be able to fix it because it was still under warranty. And if they couldn't fixed it, I could get another iPhone 4 at a reduced cost.

I called and made an appointment for the next day.

Now here's where it gets good.

I went in for my appointment and explained to the Apple genius what had happened. He laughed, then tried a few things to see if he could get my phone to work. It didn't.

Then to my surprise, he said that Apple was going to replace my phone this one time only, free of charge. And just like that I was walking out the door with a brand new iPhone 4!

How's that for a company standing behind its product.

This is my second time dealing with Apple customer service, and both times I walked away with A+ service and care.

Awesome job Apple, OUTSTANDING customer service!

Bubbles on the Beach

I was out for a ride yesterday and on my homeward leg along the beach I came across this amazing sight. Ominous clouds rolling in off the lake, like in one of those monster movies.

While I was admiring this incredible view I was also treated to a bubble show. Just another day down by the lake...

Let's Go To The Ex!

A sure sign that summer is coming to an end in Toronto is when the National Exhibition rolls into town. The dog days of summer are long gone, and Labour day weekend looms on the horizon, which is the unofficial end to summer in the city.

It's been such a great summer though, its hard to feel sad about it, so we decided to embrace it, and we went down to check out the sights and sounds of the EX.

The midway during the day.

Mardi Gras parade.

Super Dog show.

The art of rock balancing on display.

Part of the excitement when you get on one of these rides is the potential for disaster. Even though these rides are checked every day and are supposed to be safe, there have been accidents. You roll the dice every time you get on one of these rides, and that is all part of the fun.

The midway at night.

The famed Himalayan ride.

Do you want to go faster?!

You bet your ass we do!

Racing School

Last Saturday Tony and I attended our second open wheel driving class at Bridgestone Racing Academy.

This time it was in the 2008 Formula Van Diemen race car,

which included a 90 minute in class session,

followed by a 10 minute warm up session followed by a 20 minute session behind a pace car at speed, break and then one final 20 minute session behind the pace car at speed.

Tony getting buckled in.

Out of everyone out there, Tony was by far the fastest.

Here is a shot of Tony out on track.