Archive for July, 2009

Hey Hey SJ.. wanna pay for my transportation?

July 30th, 2009

So, I’m sure you’re all aware that they’re doing construction on the Catherwood/Fairville Blvd intersection on the West Side of Saint John. Well.. I for one am not very pleased about the way they’ve chosen to go about it.

Before, it was 4.3km and about 5 minutes to make the drive from my house and the Superstore and back. Now, it’s 5.6km and more than 10 minutes. Not only that, but FORGET getting coffee at Tim’s up the road because they closed 1/2 of that street, and now it’s 1 way.. and getting out of that place going left on Main Street is suicidal.

So, what I want to know is if Saint John is going to remiburse people for the ridiculous amount of gas this street construction is costing people. I’m guessing it’s about double what it was before. I realize it’s only an extra 1.3km, but the idle time is insane now. I truly believe that they could have set this up in some sort of way that would have made it less of a pain in the ass for the commuter.

So, I think that the next thing to go before the city council is a vote to give us some money to pay for this stupidity.. because we all  have to go to the grocery or drug store at some point, and the run-around is costing us all.

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Posted in General Room, News

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July 16th, 2009

So.. like we mentioned before, I’m just your basic, average movie lover.. so keep that in mind if you want to critize my opinion :)

So, I spent 2 hours and 43 minutes of my life with “The Watchmen” the other night… I can’t say that it was a complete waste of my life, but it was close.

So, I was expecting a cool superhero movie, and, well, while it was about superhero’s, it was more about their dark bad sides than it was about anything you’d normally find in a superhero movie. The first hour is all about how much of an A**ho*e one of the superhero’s is.. and they’re not even really superheros. Mostly they’re all normal regular humans with a little more strength and smarts than some of the rest of us. There’s only one with actual superpowers.

There are a couple (a COUPLE) of good fight seens, A LOT of shock and awe violence, and I have to admit the effects aren’t that bad, the music is pretty good and the acting itself is pretty good (Jeffery Dean Morgan and Billy Crudup were awesome) . I found it overall pretty boring, and slow.

If you’re a fan of the Graphic Novels, then you’ll no doubt love the movie, but if you don’t know anything about them, and are finding out who The Watchmen are for the first time, then you may or may not like the movie, it’s all about personal preference. I give it a generous 6.

Oh, and one more thing. Dr. Manhattan.. doesn’t like to wear clothes. Just warning you.

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Posted in Amanda's Picks, Movie Room

Baby Formula dollars and sense.

July 16th, 2009

Okay, I know this isn’t what you’re normally used too from TalkNB, but, since I just had a baby, we’re going to start talking about some baby things. First (since I just had to go buy formula last night) we’re going to talk about formula.

My daughter is 4 months old now, and we’re using formula. It’s expensive, there’s no doubt about it, as anyone who’s bought formula knows. Now, when choosing the right kind, I did a lot of research on which one was the best. My baby is perfectly healthy, with no reflux (spit up) or other gastrointestinal issues, so I chose Similac Advance with Omega 3&6 because my research (and pediatrician) told me that it was the closest formula on the market to breast milk.

Now, I’d been buying powdered formula, because my research also told me that it was the cheapest. To quote one of my favorite baby-related website resources “Powdered formula is the most economical choice” and “Liquid concentrate formula is a little easier to prepare but more expensive.”  There were lots of other places that said the same thing. And, it appeared at first glance that they were right.

But, being frustrated with the amount of time and energy I was putting into preparing bottles so they would be ready when she was, I started looking closer into liquid, telling myself that the price difference (if it wasn’t TOOOO much more) would be worth the time I would save.

So, here’s what I found out. I was buying 728g cans of powdered formula. They make, when prepared properly, (1 scoop of powder to 2oz of water) about 5661ml of formula, and regularly priced they cost $28.99 everywhere (Superstore, Sobey’s, Shoppers Drug Mart, Lawtons, Wal-Mart and Zellers..etc)

My other option was concentrated liquid. You add an equal amount of water and concentrated formula. You get them in a case with 12 cans that have 385ml of concentrated formula in each can. So, each can makes 770ml of formula, and each case makes 9240ml.. and it costs (regularly priced at all stores mentioned above) $43.99. Yeah.. that’s what I thought..

But look at the numbers..

Powdered formula = 0.0051 cents per ML of prepared formula
Concentrated liquid = 0.0048 cents per ML of prepared formula
It’s actually cheaper, even if only by a couple of 100ths of a cent. But, not only is it a tad bit cheaper, it’s less time consuming, and harder to screw up. So, I’m going liquid from now on, which seems more expensive but actually isn’t and is easier. Which means more time with my baby, and less dishes to do!!

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Posted in General Room

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What did you do on Canada Day?

July 1st, 2009

This Canada Day, we decided that we weren’t going to do the traditional crap. It’s way too crowded. So, we went to the local bowling alley and arcaded it up, bowled a little, went out to lunch and to our local market for some Ice Cream. It was a fun day!

Congrats to Katie Houseman for winning more than 8 frikin’ tickets on one of the arcade games in the Bowlarama. As a matter of fact, she won 810! Good Job Katie.. you beat the system. Nick playing with the prizes that they cashed their tickets in for, and Amanda cheating at bowling!! It was a fun couple of hours.

So, after lunch, we decided to go to the “Pumpkin Patch” and get some ice cream. When we got there, they were doing a little Canada Day thing with a lobster on the sidewalk for advertising. So, we have NHouseman talking about the importance of keeping ice cream traditional and talking with the lobster!

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Posted in Around NB