Fringe! Who wants to come with me?

Hello possible Fringe buddies!

Sept 2 update: shows I've seen and my recommendations in red below!

I went to the Fringe festival preview night last night, and it was like being a kid in a candy store. Listed below in roughly the order of my interest, are the 14 shows I want to see most. 12 of them had fantastic previews (that is like 30%, so no I’m not even pimping all of them). The other two on the list were held over in Edmonton, so I forgive them for not churning out a preview.

Courtesy of my buddy Nic, the technical lead for Venue 1, I have three fringe buttons. This means two people can go with me at a time without getting their own (saving $5 if they weren’t going to get one anyways). The shows are never more than $9, and are usually an hour long. Most of them have 6 show times, and we should be able to buy tickets at the door of all but the most popular shows without waiting more than half an hour for the final showings.

Think of it – cheaper than a movie! In 3D without the glasses! Check out the shows, see the Schedule for the show times or consult the booklet, and get back to me. My number is 250-882-7094, and I will check this email from home over my 4-day weekend. Fringe starts tonight and goes until Sept 6, so you can totally fit one in!

The Honeymoon Period is Officially Over
http://www.intrepidtheatre.com/fringe2009/venue07.php#38

Caburlesque!
http://www.intrepidtheatre.com/fringe2009/venue02.php#25
Pretty good, excellent singing, a good dancer . . .

Uncalled For Presents: Today is all your birthdays!
http://www.intrepidtheatre.com/fringe2009/venue04.php#43
Fantastic! My favourite so far. Funny and accessible. I'd see it again!

Shortened
http://www.intrepidtheatre.com/fringe2009/venue07.php#53
Funny, with a great dance montage sequence at the end. Recommended.

The War of 1812
http://www.intrepidtheatre.com/fringe2009/venue10.php#21
The topic was good, and the comedy was better. Even my American date liked it!

Straight (from that side of town)
http://www.intrepidtheatre.com/fringe2009/venue06.php#48
My only miserable Fringe experience so far. SO not what I'd hoped for. Brock was horrified. It was so bad he doesn't want to talk about it.

The Accident
http://www.intrepidtheatre.com/fringe2009/venue02.php#18

Missed Connections
http://www.intrepidtheatre.com/fringe2009/venue01.php#13
Cute, funny, and that mime barely shows up at all. Recommended.

Collette Unplugged
http://www.intrepidtheatre.com/fringe2009/venue01.php#11

Fall Fair
http://www.intrepidtheatre.com/fringe2009/venue03.php#30

The Power of Ignorance
http://www.intrepidtheatre.com/fringe2009/venue07.php#20

It’s Probably Love
http://www.intrepidtheatre.com/fringe2009/venue05.php#45

Two to Django
http://www.intrepidtheatre.com/fringe2009/venue09.php#60

Burlesque Unzipped
http://www.intrepidtheatre.com/fringe2009/venue07.php#56

Cheers!
-Lindsay

Canoeing!

One of my friends, Margaret Archer, just completed the Bowron Lake Canoe Circuit (A BC Provincial Park thing near ) and after looking at the Facebook pictures, I want to go try it NOW. I also assume that I should perhaps canoe once or twice, first . . . so I'm guessing I might actually try such a thing no sooner than nine months from now. Anyone else interested?

http://www.bcadventure.com/adventure/explore/cariboo/trails/bowron.htm
http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/explore/parkpgs/bowron_lk/

Bowron Lake Park is located about 120 kilometers east of Quesnel, past Barkersville, which I would also like to see. http://www.barkerville.ca/plan_visit.htm

I know it sounds goofy to look so far ahead for an adventure, but if I'm hoping to solicit people from different provinces for a reunion, I had better start now!

Cheers,

-Lindsay

Text to Email and Back Again

How to spam your friends and coworkers with texts, from your email or from their service provider webpage. It’s FREE . . . on your end at least.
I have the instructions for Telus, Bell and Rogers email-to-text. If you know the drill for other providers, please comment below.

Telus:
You can send a message to any TELUS Mobility digital PCS or Mike phone or alphanumeric pager from your computer using e-mail. Just address the message to 10digitmobilenumber@msg.telus.com (e.g., 4031234567@msg.telus.com)

Bell:
Each Bell Mobility cell phone has a unique e-mail address: (10 digit cell phone number)@txt.bell.ca. For example, 4165555555@txt.bell.ca
Reply to the message as you would any other text message

Rogers:
1) Your phone's e-mail address is your10digitphonenumber@pcs.rogers.com2) You will receive a 'Message Alert' when an e-mail is sent to your phone.3) Simply reply to the Message alert* if you want to receive the message, or block the sender from sending you future messages.

Messaging from the service provider websites could be handy too, though with Rogers you must be a Rogers client, and sign up to receive a code on your cell/BB before you send your first message.
http://websms.rogers.page.ca/2way/
http://www.telusmobility.com/sendamessage/sendamessage.shtml
http://www.txt.bell.ca/bell/en/

Harbans Dosanjh's Dahl

Done correctly, simple dahl (stewed and curried beans, normally served with either rice or chapatti) is one of the most economical and popular dishes on the planet. This recipe is from chef Harbans Dosanjh of UVic's International Grill, as printed in the Monday Magazine. If only they printed the recipe for the mint chutney, too!

Preparing good dahl is easy, Dosanjh maintains, so long as you pay careful attentive to what you’re doing. “When I’m cooking, I put my mind and soul into it.” In terms of method, she plays up the importance of rinsing the beans in advance (which cuts down on some of the, uh, breezy after-effects of bean consumption). She also uses the tarka method, where a spiced oil mixture is prepared separately from the beans then added at the very end.

Harbans Dosanjh’s Dahl
• 1 cup red lentils
• 1 cup yellow split peas
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 ½ tsp salt
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped finely
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 knob of ginger, diced (about one square inch)
• 1 tsp crushed dried chiles
• ½ tsp chili powder
• ½ tsp paprika

Soak lentils and split peas in warm water for 15 minutes. Drain and rinse them then add them to a thick-bottomed pot with 6 ½ cups of water, the salt and turmeric. Bring this mixture to a boil then simmer, uncovered, for 15-20 minutes (until the beans have become soft).

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a pan and fry the onions, garlic and ginger together for 5-10 minutes, until lightly browned. Add the crushed chiles, chili powder and paprika to the onions and continue to fry for 30 seconds longer while stirring. Add the onion mixture to the beans with a pinch of garam masala, stir well, and you’re ready to go.