Spicy goodness from The Noodle Box
A couple weeks ago I mentioned that I had complained about a rather bland takeout meal from The Noodle Box, and that they offered me a free meal in compensation.
This weekend I took the restaurant up on their freebie offer and picked up a curry to share with Dan. And I have to say, they completely redeemed themselves. I am a big fan of spicy food and consider my heat tolerance to be pretty high (thought not as high as Dan’s!) so I ordered the dish “hot” despite being asked by the waiter, “Have you had our hot?” The meal was very tasty and I wouldn’t hesitate to go back to The Noodle Box, but I think I’ll be ordering the medium from now on. Dan loved the hot curry but I had to keep a glass of milk at hand while I was eating in order to soothe the burning feeling in my mouth!
links for 2008-03-17
-
For when I forget to bring my Niike sensor on runs (like today).
links for 2008-03-15
Won’t you be my personal stylist?
As a typical geek I am blessed with less than perfect eyesight, and over the years I’ve attempted to look more chic than geek (or perhaps geek chic?) by choosing funky eyeglasses. My all-time favourites were a pair of red cateye half-frames that finally bit the dust last year. I replaced them with a boring pair of frames from Costco that I liked at the time, but have since come to despise. As a result I end up wearing my contacts most days. But I miss having funky eyeglasses!
I’ve decided to try one of those online eyeglass places with rock bottom prices. I’ve read up on them all at GlassyEyes and have settled on Goggles4U since they offer a huge selection and the price is right ($25 a pair with free shipping!).
But alas, I am overwhelmed by the massive selection. This is where you, dear reader, come in. Help me solve my eyeglass fashion crisis! I have decided I’ll spring for two pair (at $25 a pop why not?) but I can’t decide which two pair.
I’ve narrowed it down to six:
19061: black and red with stripey temples
19064: square-ish red
19233: blue and teal half-frames
21633: blue with lattice-style temples
21709: black with red and white temples
21718: dainty black 3/4 frames
I was going to use PollDaddy for this little survey but they don’t allow HTML links in their polls. Boo! So we’re doing this the old-fashioned way: Leave your votes in the comments.
links for 2008-03-12
-
A bunch of handy add-on scripts for GMail, including one that will prompt you to add that forgotten attachment if you have written the word “attach” anywhere in your message!
2008 UBC Triathlon
Despite an almost complete lack of training so far this year, I (foolishly, you might say) decided to enter the UBC Triathlon over the weekend. This event started my interest in triathlon back in 2006 when a friend talked me into entering the short course. These days I usually enter sprint distance triathlons (800m swim, 20k cycle, 5k run) but given my current state of fitness I thought it wiser to try the short course again this year (400m swim, 10k bike, 5k run).
On Sunday afternoon I left my downtown apartment in plenty of time to arrive at UBC for my 3:30pm swim start, or so I thought. After a harrowingly long bus trip (1.5 hours to get from Davie & Burrard to UBC! Thank you Translink!), I arrived with just under an hour to spare before my race. That sounds like a lot of time, but I had to pick up my registration package, have my bike and helmet checked out for safety, get my gear set up in the transition area, and get into my swimsuit. Luckily, I made it with 20 minutes to spare. And by “spare” I mean work myself up into a nervous tizzy. Maybe I should show up even later next time!
As soon as the swim started, though, my nerves vanished and I had a great race. I certainly wasn’t at my fastest but I had fun. The temperature was great – not too cold on the bike as I had worried – and my run felt relatively strong (considering my lack of training). My goal for Sunday was to beat my short course time from two years ago and I did that by five and a half minutes. I also placed third in my age group, so hooray for turning 30 and moving up an age bracket! If I had been in the 25-29 age group I would have placed 10th. The full results from the triathlon are here.
Completing this race was just the kick in the butt I needed to get in shape for the summer triathlon season. As soon as I’m recovered from the UBC tri (which may take a while, judging by how sore I am today) I’ll start training for my next race: The North Shore Spring Triathlon.
links for 2008-03-07
-
The entire BSG series recapped in less than 9 minutes!
-
A hilarious essay about crushes on public radio personalities, written by the most excellent Sarah Hepola
Squeaky Wheel
After many years of putting up with crappy service, bad food, and other ridiculousness, I have finally realized that sometimes a well-placed complaint can do a world of good.
As I’m sure several people will attest to, I have absolutely no trouble complaining to friends and family about whatever is annoying me at any given time. However, I rarely follow through with notifying the offending party – whether it be Air Canada mis-delivering my delayed luggage, or the server at a local restaurant bringing me an overcooked steak. But after two experiences in the past couple weeks I think I am going to start being more direct with my complaints from now on! I was pleasantly surprised to find that most companies are happy to offer appeasement to disgruntled customers.
Exhibit 1: I ordered moocards at the beginning of February in anticipation of attending Northern Voice later that month. I received a shipping notification on February 4th which estimated the shipping time for my order at 4-7 business days. Well, those 4-7 days came and went with no sign of my moocards. Then Northern Voice happened (more than two weeks after my order shipped!) and there was still no sign of my moocards. I emailed the folks at moo to express my displeasure and they happily refunded my money and offered me a coupon for a future order! While it still sucks that I didn’t have my cards for Northern Voice (they finally showed up on March 4th – a full MONTH later) it sucks less now that I am not out the money for those cards.
Exhibit 2: The NoodleBox is a new-ish restaurant here in Vancouver that boasts super-spicy food. This week Dan was home sick with a particularly nasty cold and I thought a nice spicy hot and sour soup might be just the cure for his ailment, so I stopped into The NoodleBox on my way home. When I ordered my dish “hot” the waitress asked if I was sure. “Have you *had* our hot? It’s really really really hot.” I assured her that was fine, and happily headed home with my takeout. When Dan and I finally tucked into the soup we were surprised to find it had not a hint of heat. Someone in the kitchen must have confused out order with a super mild one – Very disappointing! But I called the restaurant to complain and now I have a free meal waiting for me the next time I want some hot and spicy takeout. Hopefully the second try will be better.
Hmmm… I wonder if there’s a statute of limitations on complaint letters. Air Canada definitely owes me a free trip or two for all the lost luggage, delays, and cancellations I’ve put up with over the past 10 years. 
links for 2008-03-03
-
Retrieve Google’s cache of any url. Handy when you try to visit a page and find it temporarily unavailable.
-
I haven’t been using my sewing machine for much except repairs lately, but this is just the project to get me sewing again.