Martiniboys

Well, I just survived nearly 48 hours with no home internet. It was … horrible. I can’t write about it.

But the nice Shaw repair guy finally showed up this afternoon and all is well. We have a new splitter thingie. All those hours with no service at home, and having to suffer the shocking indignity of a cyber cafe in my own city (I know!) made me realise that the internet is a precious, precious thing, and that I should spend as many of my waking moments on it as possible. Pain like what I went through yesterday, trying to pick up unsecured wi-fi from hapless (and pretty stupid, really) neighbours steeled my resolve. As God is my witness, I will never be without high-speed internet, in the comfort of my own damn basement, again.

I was perusing restaurant-related sites, as is my wont, and came across one that’s increasingly interesting. It’s from a Toronto outfit called “Martini Boys” and has listings for six cities: Miami, NYC, Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, and the martini-soaked city of Calgary. What I like about it, in addition to a colourful, engaging, and generally sensible layout, is that it has an “opening/buzz” section. I like this- there is so much happening so fast in this town that we need a source that tries to keep up with it. They have a relatively easy way to contact them to give them tips. All in all, a class act, pretty much. EDITED TO ADD that their geographical knowledge of Calgary is hopeless- they list a stripper bar down by Chinook Centre as being in “Bankview,” which is of course my neighbourhood and nowhere near Chinook, but that’s a kink to be worked out, or so one hopes.

I must add that the friendly and gracious Mr Ian Chiclo of Calgary’s free alt weekly, ffwd, has been sending me samples of what will be that mag’s new webite via our interaction on facebook. It looks GREAT, really a huge improvement over the crapulent site linked to here.