Doh-tawa

It's true I've been ragging on Ottawa ever since I moved back. But it's hard to give a thumbs up when even minor things are aggravating. For example: I'll be spending a few days in Toronto soon so I was buying tickets for travel and upcoming events. But since my 8-year-old BlackBerry will often turn itself off if unplugged, I couldn't trust it for displaying the e-tickets. So I needed physical copies.

It turns out the Ottawa Public Library supports mobile printing as of this past February. Toronto has had this service for years but better late than never. So I uploaded the relevant PDFs and headed downtown to the main branch. The printing stations took my money, flushed their queue (by sending my docs to the printers), but nothing was actually printed. No one could help me and it became moot when they stopped being able to log into their own work computer.

Over the next 2 weeks, this remained a problem as I visited several different branches. Some were pleasantly nestled in a charming neighbourhood ... but still. It was only after I put my docs on a USB stick that the library staff found a local workaround. During that visit to the St. Laurent and Montreal Rd location, I dropped by Ogilvie Pizza because they offered by-the-slice for lunch. 2 slices + a pop for $6.99 (all in) seemed a good deal. The first few bites of cheese-covered pepperoni were good, but the meal fizzled out because the dough was simply too bland. So my disappointment of Ottawa remains.

This past Sunday was actually a pleasant experience as my friend was hosting a belated birthday. Yes, it has been a year since we've seen each other. In any case, their spouse was an accomplished home cook so the meal included tuna tataki, shrimp with wasabi salsa, and other tasty appetizers. The entrees were Singaporean fried rice with grilled chicken and meatballs, and a delicious Thai curry noodle.

The birthday guest and their family had years of construction woes but they've finally moved in (including the grandparents). It was apparently a large multi-generational home that even had a small elevator. I'd like to have that house tour! My host also did some minor renovation and were generally doing okay. But their sibling continued to struggle with health issues: the cancer has spread to several other organs. I bid them good-night and not to be a stranger.