Public Service Announcement - One Second Plumber

A few weeks ago my kitchen sink was clogged, and I couldn't unclog it with the usual goopy chemicals. I had to get the apartment handy-dude to come. Which is always a hassle for reasons I won't bore you with. I noticed he cleared it using some sort of pump that went "GALOOP!" and a second later the clog was gone.

This week our bathroom sink's slow-drain became near clogged. Harumph. Two bottles of goop, to no avail. (Are the cats pouring litter down our drains or something?) I even tried plungering, but didn't work. So I went to the little hardware store down the hill and there it was--the pumpy thing. It's called One Second Plumber.

The starter kit was $24 (probably cheaper at big hardware stores) but it's good for 24 uses. You have to read the instructions, cause if you don't properly plug any air holes to your sink, you'll end up with slug all over you (yes there are horror stories on the internet.) I plugged the sink's overflow hole with a cloth and held onto it. I filled in some water into the sink--because apparently how it works is it uses a mixture of gases, that interact with water, to make the water GALOOP through the pipes and push out the blockage. (It's not compressed air, as many think.)

I held it down to the drain, in some water. Pushed it down for a second. There was a faint GALOOP noise. I lifted it up. Bubble bubble. And then swiiiish! The water disappeared and my sink has been working like new.

The One Second Plumber is my new best friend. And I recommend it to all my little friends out there too. Your life will take on new meaning. Buy it as your next housewarming gift.

Actual vegan restaurant eat-ahj

Fernando and I went to Aux Vivres restaurant for the first time last night, for supper. We'd never been--it's all vegan, which means I don't care if the food is mediocre, I'm gonna eat a lot! A starter, a dessert, everything!

The actual seating is really minimal so there was a line to get in, and a line pretty much the whole time we were there; but we only waited about 15 minutes I think.

Fernando had borscht, and I ordered us a starter plate of dips--more so I'd know what's good for any future trips. The vegepaté was fine, good tapenade, hummus is always good. The tofu dip was just okay, and there was something carrot-based-fishy-tasting that neither of us liked. I suspect it might be what they use for their bagel and lox.

Fernando then had the mumbai plate, which tasted good.


I ordered a dragon bowl--and they had three other types of bowls. It was so good. Next time I wouldn't have a starter, so I could finish it all. It's inspired me to try making a dragon bowl at home again. I tried one from Jae Steele, but it didn't turn out very well--I think it's helped having it made by someone else first so I know what the goal is.

(pic off their site)

We ordered dessert to go: chocolate banana pie, faux cheesecake, and truffles.

The truffles weren't sweet enough. The chocolate banana pie was good, but I'm not a huge banana person anyway. However the cheesecake... holy cow. Each layer was perfect, my DAYS. In my pre-vegan days I never met a cheesecake I liked as much as I loved this little spot of sugary goodness.

(pic from their site - it looked like this, but paler)

As they say in French: menoum menoum!

Wonder Woman's costume revealed

Here's the new costume. I like the pants and boots. But it's hard to add metal to something without it looking like plastic, which makes it look like a Halloween costume. Probably should have gone with bronze colored material instead, like the piping on her boots. Interesting that they moved away from the Americanness of the costume.

I also think that, in real life, her boobies would constantly pop out of that costume while chasing baddies. Usually her bustier goes up a little farther than that. Wonder Woman must now go through a lot of double-sided tape.

I also hope these high heels are like those new really expensive boots with lots of cushioning, and good grips. Cause running around in heels is really hard. When I'm in running shoes, I can by-pass a woman in heels any day. But it's possible that amazonian women have exceptionally high arches and this is a healthy shoe for them.

Balcony Amour

My little Wolverbean. Now that it's above zero, any chance I give her to sit on the balcony, she takes. Usually she prefers to sit out at night, but she'll take the day if that's all she gets. But the wind is still chilly so I can't leave the door open longer than 30 minutes cause indoors where there's no sun, I get too cold.

Minion doesn't really get it. She wanders in and out, but she doesn't really understand why her buddy wants to sit out there so long.

I'm back watching the Thornbirds, though I missed the beginning cause I had a headache night last night (it's menstruation week) and slept past 2 PM. But I woke up in time to see Dane's death, like I wanted. I'm waiting for the big scene where Meggy tells Ralph: He was your child! No no noooooooo!!!!

Sillines before I go to bed

Was out walking with Swiss Girl and passed a duplex with a for sale sign. It made me laugh cause it was so pretentious with its little columns out front. And how fun it would be to say: "You'll find my house no problem, it's the one with the columns, next to the castle!"

So I had to find it online. Looks like usually they rent it out--only $3000+ per month, let's go!--but I guess it's sold? And here are pics of the interior as well, cause you can have it furnished as well.

Found a book to read

I finally came across the perfect French book for my mood--I'd forgotten I'd bought it on my last day of work. It's called Un petit pas pour l'homme (One Small Step For Man.)

A couple years ago I read Morlante, a book about a psychopath pirate who just wants to be left alone to write novels. It was so funny, it's the only book I wish I hadn't given away because with my practicing-French-mode I might have actually re-read it.

This is another Dompierre book, about a guy who dumps his girlfriend, and then realizes his new single life isn't as glamorous as he anticipated. The line I like best in the description is: "At 20, there was nothing cooler than being the manager of a record shop. At 30, it's another thing."

I only read the first chapter on the bus, but it was très funny, dans le style Nick Hornby, who I enjoy.

By the way, when I write titles here in French, I get mixed up about what to capitalize. I'd always remembered the rule as being: You only capitalize the first word, unless the first word is a word like an article or whatever (the, and, a) in which case you also capitalize the next word.

But a lot of the time when I see titles written on the internet they still only capitalize the first word no matter what it is. But you can't trust what you see written here and there, because frankly people just don't know their own grammar. I remember in grade 9 I was saying something apologetic about my French, to my French teacher, and she said (in mild disgust--she was Very Proper) that it was better than many of my fellow Francophone students. (I didn't have the worst grades, and French wasn't my worst subject.)

Anyway, I looked up the rule just now, and it's worse than I thought:

If the title is a definite article followed by a noun = article lower case, noun upper case (unless I guess it's the beginning of a sentence.) The Cat by Shakespeare.

Noun followed by adjective = only the noun is capitalized. The Cat fat by Shakespeare.  <--okay imagine this is all in French where adjectives often come after nouns.

So far we're okay, it follows the rule I was taught. Here's what's new to me:

An adjective followed by a noun, well now they're both capitalized!  The Fat Cat by Shakespeare.

Two nouns tied together by "or" = both capitalized. The Cat or the Mat by Shakespeare.

And apparently all other cases, only the first word is capitalized: Un, on, et...  So the rule I learned only applies in the case of "the", so I must have remembered it wrong. And if it's in the middle of a sentence, you wouldn't capitalize the. So the Fat Cat by Shakespeare is written like that. But the Cat fat by Shakespeare like that, and the Cat or the Mat by Shakespeare is like that. But One cat who went to market by Shakespeare is written like that.

• Pour les titres d’œuvres, voici quelques règles¹ :
  • Le titre est un article défini suivi d’un nom : l'article s'écrit avec une minuscule, le nom avec une majuscule. Avez-vous lu la Chute de Camus ?
  • Le titre est un nom suivi d'un adjectif : seul le nom prend la majuscule. Non, mais je vais lire la Machine infernale.
  • Le titre est constitué par deux noms coordonnés par ou : les deux noms prennent la majuscule. Jorge Semprun a publié l’Écriture ou la Vie en 1994.
  • Le titre se compose d'un adjectif suivi d'un nom : tous deux prennent la majuscule. René Barjavel a publié le Grand Secret en 1973.
  • Dans les autres cas, seul le premier mot prend la majuscule. On remet toujours à plus tard la lecture d’À la recherche du temps perdu.

This week I'm going to get my hands on some grammar books and start reviewing all this. :-)

Hiding dying birds in French

My step-mother is French-Canadian, from a small town a couple hours outside of Montreal. She left home before she was 20. I don't remember the exact order of her travels, but some of her early English adventures included traveling around the United States, and there are yellowy pictures of her in little 70s bikinis in Las Vegas or wherever.

Anyway, the Step-mommy had this little office in our new house, and one of my distinct memories is of sitting in there and her telling me about how she learned English. She used to read Agatha Christie books in French and in English, and another book she read to learn English was The Thornbirds. Or: The Birds Hide to Die.

That's what the French translation means. Les Oiseaux se cachent pour mourir. I always remembered because my stepmother thought it was such a stupid translation. (And it's not even accurate. It's really: The birds throw themselves upon a thorn and sing the sweetest song they've ever sung to die.)

I guess if it was an accurate translation of the actual term for a thornbird, it would be excusable, but apparently they're called "les synallaxes." (That's the French, not the Latin.)

So I was excited to come across The Hiding Birds today on TV in French! It's a fine family tradition to practice another language using The Thornbirds. I was even in time to watch Meggy and Ralph getting it on on the beach. Now she's telling off Luke in front of his macho friends. "...que je ne to revois pas jamais!"

McCullough is great. Like the other 80s writers Thornbirds was a multigenerational family saga full of trashy ups and downs, but she gets the psychology of the characters just right. The relationships between the mothers and daughters are really interesting, as well as the whole ambition theme.