Balki Turns 9 Weeks!

It's been a busy couple of weeks for Balki.

He helped us unpack into a storage unit when our first apartment fell through.

He battled deep footprints in the Toronto snow.

He learned how to do stairs on the most terrifying flight there is.

And he was exhausted after moving into our new place.

It's a shame the store didn't have any big bones.

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Of course there's more!

Slightly Different: Credit Cards

I've been using credit cards in the US for almost a decade now. I'm familiar with cash back cards, mileage cards, and why some people refuse to use cards. But that's not why you rang — we're not here for the pros or cons of what amounts to a personal decision. We're here to find out how credit cards are slightly different in Canada than the US.

The Smart Card

Oh sure, your US-based credit card will swipe just fine at most every store in the Greater Toronto Area, but you'll be about the only person around swiping a card. Most cards here have a smart card on them for the Interac network, and instead of being swiped, they're inserted into the bottom of the machine.

Interac PIN Terminal by reinvented on flickr

The Transaction Is Yours

For years I've heard fears voiced at restaurants when a server takes a credit card to the register that "You just don't know what he or she is doing with it!" Apparently having the same distrust, but acting upon it, servers typically bring the terminal to you. Comically, the terminal comes to you in drive thrus as well, right out into the elements on a long cord.

Righting London

A little over a month ago, my girlfriend and I made a stop in London, Ontario. We were nearly short on the bill, but promised ourselves we'd go back and tip our excellent server.

Prince Albert's Diner by Slack pics on flickr

Yesterday we imported just about everything into Canada. Along the way, we made a stop at Prince Albert's Diner. I parked the U-Haul in the parking lot, walked directly into the counter and made a rare request:

• "Hey, I was in here the week after Christmas with my girlfriend and there was a shorter guy doing just about everything — do you know who that would be?"
• "Dark glasses?"
• "Yah"
• "You're probably talking about Ken. Why?"
• "We didn't realize it was cash-only until we ordered, the ATM wouldn't take our cards, we only had $23, and the bill was $22.85"
• "Ah, so you want to leave a tip or something now?"
• "Yes! Would you be able to give it to him?"
• "Definitely. I'll actually be seeing him tomorrow, so I'll just make a note with this right now."

So Ken, if by some chance you happen to read this one day, sorry about the delay!

Handyman Challenge

This is my first week working remotely with the team in San Francisco from Toronto. The three-hour time difference presents some odd working hours -- roughly 12:45pm to 9:45pm. So far before skyping in for the morning meeting I like to think I've gotten a lot done:

• Met most of the folks at the Toronto office
• Looked at several apartments
• Set up a bank account with direct deposit
• Got my Social Insurance Number
• Filled out the benefits paperwork

 After work has been a different story, however. On Monday, I instantly fell asleep. Today held a new 10:00pm discovery on Canadian HGTV: Canada's Handyman Challenge. I had to tweet about it.

Just watched Canada's Handyman Challenge. It's like American Idol for woodworking. Toronto TV is awesome. #chc
— Steve Hill (@sghill) January 30, 2013

They started the show with tryouts. Contestants got a sheet of plywood and had to make something to wow the judges. We saw all kinds of things, but the two best were most certainly a penny-farthing and a geared bicycle, though maybe I'm biased.

From there, the competition heated up with a timed round. Everyone who was chosen to advance was given a door opening that was not level. The approaches varied, as did the effectiveness. The best of this round merely attempted to do things correctly -- leveling the opening, shimming, putting in door stops, etc. The worst saw their doors shattered off the hinges when a judge tried to open it.

Seven contestants were remaining at the start of the last round. Two would be eliminated, and it would prove to be difficult to determine which two were headed home. The task was to build a hammock stand out of the given wood. To make things more interesting, the hammock was much looser than anyone had anticipated -- and no one had checked the stretchiness of the hammock before building. A single hammock stand was shattered by one hand of a judge, while several others utilized designs that would surely not be safe for long. Oh, the drama!

The Next Chapter: Toronto

If the social networks say it, it must be official!

Traditional Pronunciation

I'm heavily entrenched in an embarrassing tradition: mispronouncing street and town names to locals.

Chicago

It all started with the original move to Chicago. My former roommate and I were looking for places in the pouring-down rain when we stumbled into a hotel looking for Wabash Ave.

"Which way is Wah-bahsh?"
"Wah-bahsh? What? Oooh, Wah-bash! you guys aren't from around here are you?"

Little Rock

In Little Rock, Arkansas, one of the biggest roads you'll encounter is Cantrell Rd. It's not pronounced how certain Steve's might expect, either.

"So I just take Can-trell all the way to Rodney Par-ham?"
"First, it's Cantrll...and second, it's Rodney Parm"

Toronto

In Toronto, the road that divides the city into east and west is Yonge St. Naturally, this went just as well.

Yonge St., NYC by Loozrboy on flickr

"Are we at Yong-gey Street yet?"
"I don't think that's how you say it, Steven. I think it's just Yong."
... *later, while talking to someone who knows"
"So you'll want to take Eglinton all the way down to Young and turn right."


We get it right, eventually.

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note that's the only licensed picture I could find, and it was from a movie shoot where they were pretending Toronto was New York.

Mississauga Bowling Championship 2012

I'm no bowling expert, but I am from the midwest. More people than you might expect have based their entire opinion of the midwest on Woody Harrelson's 1996 smash hit Kingpin. It didn't help the general bias that when a local user group did a coding exercise about bowling scoring I was the only one who knew the rules, or that I was near the top during a work outing with a steamy 119. During a recent trip to Toronto for some apartment hunting, Ginger and I stopped for three games at nearby Planet Bowl.

I lost the first game, handily.

I won the second game, handily.

The tiebreaker was a difficult one to digest. Ginger employed some deep mental strategy. "I don't have a chance" she'd say over and over again. Suddenly in the fifth frame, she picked up another ball... from there on out the throws were all pretty good.

Going into the bottom of the final frame, we were both tied at 108. All she needed was one pin.

Championship Throw

Congrats to Ginger on taking the 2012 Mississauga Bowling Championship!

Lunch in London

In another few weeks, I'll be making my way to the ThoughtWorks Toronto office. Having never been to the city before, the end of December seemed like a perfect time for Ginger and I to head north while visiting our families in Greater Detroit.

Since 2005, 1.8 million acres surrounding Greater Toronto have been deemed a greenbelt in an effort to prevent urban sprawl. As it happens, once you get out of that protected acreage, it's mostly farmland as well on the drive from Detroit. London, Ontario is one of the few towns along the way and felt like a good stopping point for lunch.

Just like you'd expect from a city, parking in London isn't free. It took $3, and while we nearly paid cash — I handed Ginger the $3 I had and a folded up $10 fell out of it — I went with my American Express.

The first restaurant we stepped into looked delicious, but clearly said cash only by the register. We both prefer the cashless life, and knew it'd be tight anyway, so we moved on to the diner across the street. With no clear mention of cash only, and an ATM right there, it was a safe option. Or so we thought.

Me: "I'll have the chicken tenders... and do you take credit?"
The server responded, quickly: "Okay. No, but we've got an ATM right there."
Me: "Any chance you take US cash?"
The server, quickly again: "At par, so a dollar is a dollar."

Not feeling great about our cash situation, I headed over to the corner to try the little non-bank-affiliated ATM. I wasn't concerned about fees, because Ally Bank is awesome and just reimburses them. It let me get all the way through the transaction, and then denied me as an Invalid Acquirer. I let Ginger know and she headed over to try her bank card. Same thing; those little ATMs must not like international cards.

Turbo Button ATM by *USB* on flickr

We scraped at our pockets and came up with $23. Doing the math in our heads, and not knowing the tax rate in London, we knew it'd be close; closer than ever before.

Heading to the register the guy tallied the bill and came up with $22.85. Just barely made it, but only with the awful feeling of stiffing the guy who was so nice to us. We'll be back, just with a giant tip.

For more on our Canadian restaurant experience, check out Ginger's Float Me Down the River.