SylvanD

I have a friend coming to Toronto for literally 24 hours and I'm trying to figure out what essential things to show her to give her a sense of the city in a really short period of time.

Have any of you done Toronto in a hurry? What do you think is essential to see (other than the CN Tower)?

I need to rent a large vehicle to haul materials to a conference at the end of the month. I have used a Cargo Van in the past but it was bigger than I needed. I could really get by with a van/SUV if I take out/fold down the rear seats.

I have not driven a van since before "stow and go" seats came into existence. I used to have to haul the rear seats in and out of the vehicle and I can't really do that this time. Can anyone tell me if most makes and models of vans/SUVs have the stow and go style of seats these days? The rental places I have contacted cannot guarantee I will get a particular make or model and I'm trying to figure out what the odds are that I will get what I need.

I think I'm mostly looking for someone to back me up on this being weird because I feel like I just spent time in bizarro world.

Okay, so my father-in-law (technically step father in law) is a wealthy, single man in his early fifties and he likes to date and bring home much younger women. Now that's his right and they're all adults so they should know what they're getting into.

I find it kind of awkward when these women are about my age and worse when they are younger than me. I'm never sure how to act since, most of the time, I have nothing in common with these young women and I also know that we will probably never see them again. Also, one time when I hugged my father in law goodnight, his date glared at me jealously as though I were competition - so that was weird.

My husband also finds it awkward but he's been dealing with it longer than I have.

What really gets me though is that my father-in-law will sometimes pretend he is younger than he is and his mother will back him up on it with expectations that we won't give things away. She seems to enjoy pretending she is younger. I pointed out to her recently that my husband and I must be the most successful 20 year olds in the world based on her math. Doogie Howser would be jealous (and mentioning Doogie Howser to some of these dates would be a dead giveaway).

We inevitably give something away that any halfway intelligent person would pick up on because it's all ridiculous and we have no interest in pretending to be younger than we are.

Not sure what will happen once we have kids cuz I am not pretending to be a teen mother.

Anyone else been through this sort of thing or have any advice?

We just bought a house with a powder room as part of the master bedroom. Since this is just a sink and toilet not a full en-suite, does it really add much value to the house? To me it just seems like a reminder that the house doesn't have a full master en-suite and I am contemplating taking the fixtures out and just turning the space into a second closet as the bedroom doesn't have much closet space otherwise. In my mind a full wall of closets in a master bedroom has more value than a sink and toilet that are right next door to the main bathroom for the floor.

Any real estate agents have an opinion to share?

My husband and I have had a stressful month and I would like to take him somewhere romantic and relaxing so that he can forget his stressors (mostly work) and we can just spend time together somewhere nice.

Candles, good food etc.

Any suggestions for places in or within a 3 hour drive of Toronto at this time of year (early December?)

My husband and I have been discussing whether or not to have children. I think he'd be a great father. He's fabulous with our niece and nephew and he's never forgotten how to be a kid. He's also a logical, sensitive and insightful guy who has thought a lot about parenting.

He has expressed concern in the past about not being a good father because his parents weren't ideal parents.

Recently he said he wasn't sure if he wanted to risk having children because he was afraid he wouldn't love them and that he'd spend their childhoods miserable and pretending and they'd figure it out and resent him for it.

He's had a rough relationship with his father lately. We initiate contact with his father and never hear back etc. so I sometimes wonder if he's just afraid he'll do the same to a kid someday.

Is this a normal fear that lots of people have had before they become parents - especially those with dysfunctional families? Or is this sort of concern a major sign that he should not become a father?

This is a literal question. I've only gotten a few manicures in my life and I always find it awkward to get out my money and pay while I have wet nails.

Any suggestions from manicure veterans? How do you make the process smooth...or is it just normal for it to be awkward?

I've been exploring real estate in Toronto and this area is a touch more affordable than many of the other areas on the subway lines. I've read that it was a rough and sketchy area but that it's changing. I can't find much written about it in the last few years though.

Anyone live there or know the area well who can weigh in on it?

I just got one of those little Acer computers and I would like to download itunes on it. The requirements listed on the download include a screen resolution of 1924 X 768. My max resolution is 1024x600.

Anyone know what happens to itunes at this size?

I don't need to watch videos or anything.

Thanks for the insight.

My husband's father is, to put it bluntly, a subtley manipulative control freak.

My husband's parents split when he was young enough he has no memories of them being together. He used to spend summers with his dad but they've had a fairly tumultuous relationship in part due to comments made by his mother that caused him to be quite angry at his father throughout his teen years. My husband tried to rebuild his relationship with his father in his early twenties and has sort of succeeded although his father got drunk one night and told my husband that he was a disappointment because he didn't turn out the way my father in law imagined he would. My husband tried to ignore that night and still worked to know and spend time with his father.

My husband finished school, met me, is climbing the ladder in his field of choice (although not the field his father wants him in). We got married. By all accounts my husband is a caring, loving, hardworking man and he is successful. His father somehow doesn't think so though.

My father in law has remarried and has a toddler with whom my husband would like to have a relationship but his father makes it difficult. He complains that we don't work hard enough to maintain family ties but ignores any invitation we send and barely makes effort to make contact. When we do make contact and get together the situation is always manipulated in such a way that we come out as the bad guys for him to snidely remark on.

He comments that he does not want the relationship to be all about money but other than buying us stuff, he has no interest in seeing us. Dinner invitations from us are ignored (not even a "sorry we're really busy right now") but if he wants to buy us a couch he calls and sets it up. And then tells us that we're not trying hard enough to stay in touch or that we only want him around for his money.

It's as though the rules are always changing with him.

The first time I visited, he picked us up (his plan) so we had no way of getting home unless he drove us. At the end of our visit he told us that it was not fair to his new wife to have to drive us back to where he picked us up.

The next time we visited, we planned not to stay too long out of concern for his wife who was pregnant and ill only to be shamed by him for planning to leave early.

He gave us inadequate information so we were not prepared for get togethers that turned out to be gift giving events. We sat there feeling like jerks because we didn't bring presents which we would have happily done had we known that we were coming to a present giving visit.

This frustrates both of us. My husband sees it as being punished for being angry with his dad when he was a teenager and he just takes it as something he somehow deserves.

I know he doesn't deserve it. I hate seeing him be hurt and confused by his father.

Normally we would just maintain distance from his father, but he would like to have a relationship with his brother so we have to try to have some sort of relationship with the dad at least until the child is old enough to be independent.

Any advice on how to handle this man?

Does anyone know a store in the city that sells pieces of leather to use to make leather clothing?

The Ontario Landlord tenant act indicates that a unit is to be kept clean to a level that normal people consider acceptable. The act also allows for a landlord to make periodic inspections of a unit should they suspect damages.

Now this is touchy because cleanliness is somewhat subjective but my landlady insists on inspecting our apartment once a month because she found dust behind the doors and dirty dishes in our dishwasher on a previous visit (she came for a legitimate purpose and proceeded to snoop. The dishes had been sitting in the dishwasher for less than 8 hours, we do not run a half full dishwasher). She also yelled at my husband because we own some freeweights (35 lbs are the heaviest) which she believes will "wreck everything".

We have been putting up with this knowing that we are planning to move at the end of the lease and we have given our notice of non renewal more than 60 days before the end of the lease.

I feel though that she has been unreasonable and worry that she will continue to be unreasonable as we move out. I am worried that she will expect us to pay for things that qualify as normal wear and tear such as marks left by furtniture sitting against the walls. We are good tenants. We pay our rent on time, we follow the building rules and we are courteous to the neighbours.

Do I have any recourse if she continues to do this sort of stuff or does other unreasonable things? I've been trying to figure out if this qualifies as "interferring with our enjoyment of the unit" or not. I feel like it does but technically she can argue that she has the Act on her side.

I can't figure out which one of us is crazy.

I've been working out a lot this past year and I've been using some pretty good fitness videos and doing some running. The trouble is, I have now managed to develop tendonitis in my left foot (I have pronation problems as well) so suddenly I can't run, jump, do jumping jacks, or many of the other cardio activities that are generally found in a high intensity workout. I also can't stand on my toes on that foot. I have been trying to get some swimming into my routine but I can only do that on the weekends because of my schedule.

I'm looking for a video or two that would get my heartrate up without further damaging my foot. All I can think of is something perhaps a bit more upper body focussed like boxing or taebo, but I'm wondering if anyone here has any suggestions.

Okay, gotta be blunt, I'm not a big Twilight fan but I'm reading them because my niece loves them and I want to be able to talk to her about them. I'm working my way through Breaking Dawn right now.

What I would like your thoughts on is the description of Edward. He's definitely described as sexy... but he's also always described as having a cold touch and feeling like marble and other cold things. When I read this, I kind of shudder. It does not make me want to touch him. I mean one thing I like about my husband is that he gives warm hugs.

But lots of the members of Team Edward clearly think he's the sexiest guy out there and would love to touch him. I know it's a matter of taste but how does the fact that he's always described as cold affect how you think and feel about him? Does it make him seem sexy or attractive? Do you not notice the cold thing in the description?

Just curious

Edward Lear wrote the nonsense poem The Pobble who has no toes. Is a "pobble" an actual term for a person (polite or not) or is it a nonsense word he made up (like 'runcible').

If it is an actual term, I'd love details.

When attending a board or council meeting governed by Roberts Rules of Order or a similar system, is there a particular format I'd be expected to use for giving my officer's report?

I heard this book read in installments on "Between the Covers" on CBC radio back in the fall of 1994. The fact that they were reading it there makes me pretty sure it's a Canadian novel and that there was probably something important about it or the author although I have no idea myself.

I've asked this on librarything and no one knows. I've searched the net and I've emailed the CBC archives with no luck. Does anyone know anything about the book with this basic plot to it?

It was basically a murder mystery. The lead character was a woman who played the piano, although this was not her full time job. She is scheduled to play at a relative/friend's wedding. The murder victim was a colleague. Over the course of the book she has an almost romantic entanglement with a guy who keeps asking her to play Gershwin.

I remember the ending most clearly.

Everything is going very badly, no one knows who the murderer is. She goes home to her rather secluded house and decides that watching a cheery movie will help. Right at the beginning of the book she had borrowed a video tape from the office labelled "The Sound of Music". She puts the tape on and curls up on her courch. But instead of seeing Maria singing in the Alps she sees a homemade video of a couple in a...rather compromising position. The murder victim is one half of this couple. She is suddenly able to put all the facts together and she realizes who the murderer is. She looks up and he is standing outside her window!!

So she grabs her keys and races out the back door, through the woods to this old log barn, gets there in time and locks herself in. In the barn is an old boiler and an old organ. She hooks up the boiler to the organ as the murderer tries to get in first by driving his truck into the door and then with an ax.

Somewhere in the process she knocks herself out, and when she comes to she sees that the boiler is just about to blow, so she sits down in front of the organ and plays the Hallelujah chorus over and over again. It's heard for miles around and she is rescued just as she passes out.

When she wakes up, she is in the hospital. All the details are sorted out and her friend/relation whose wedding she is supposed to play at comes in and fusses about her injuries and how she can wear a hat at the wedding and no one will notice the stitches on her head.

Has anyone read this? Anyone know what it's called? You will be answering a question I've had for 15 years if you know the answer to this.

We're not looking yet (renting for now), but what sort of financial situation should we make sure we're in before we go house hunting and mortgage seeking?

What do lenders look for in applicants? We're in Canada if that helps.

My family is looking at moving to the Humbermede/ Emery area in Toronto to be closer to my husband's job. I know the area has a rough history but the street we were looking at seemed comfortable enough (I didn't feel uneasy). What's it like out there these days?