Waiter I'd like my fries "hair free" if you don't mind.

The title says it all . When I went to Yorkdale's Pickle Barrel yesterday to dine with my family I ended up finding a surprise within my food. As I was about to take a bite into a couple of my fries that came with my turkey club ,what did I come upon ,you may ask?. A couple of strands of hair not belonging to me nor any of my dining companions. ( since I am a blonde and no one at the table nor our waiter had red hair ) Red long frizzy hair to be exact. Well you can guess I wasn't very hungry after that. I let my father know who called the manager over at once and pointed out the hair.The manager first picked at the hairs with his fingers and then finally took my plate away as my father told him I had lost my appetite ,and he better take that meal off our bill.Other diners sitting near us who heard the mention of me finding hair in my meal seemed shocked but still continued to eat ( they were a group of preteens so I guess that didn't really phase them).

They ended up taking it off our bill but never apologized nor acknowledged it. It seemed funny to me that the manager wouldn't be concerned over hair landing in diner's food. Clearly someone in the kitchen is not following safe food prep or wearing a hairnet which quite frankly sickens me.

I have been going to this location since it opened at Yorkdale. It's sad to say but in this writer's opinion,the food quality and service has gone down the drain. Our waiter who was serving us became quite rude to us in the end especially after the "hair incident" as well as another incident which had occurred.He seemed to just want us to get out as quickly as possible.The second incident wasn't as bad as finding hair in a meal but was just as irritating. One of my companion's meal took an hour and half to come after we had all received our meals.We kept asking when it was coming and was told by this same waiter it was on its way.Finally they brought it in a takeout container since it was late and we just wanted to get out of there.A different waiter brought the meal as well as the bill saying he would just leave that for us. My dad laughed as he was handed the bill ,clearly frustrated. I for one and my family remarked that we would not be returning to this Pickle Barrel in the near future. The other locations have not only better service but better food quality as well.

If you have been reading The Toronto Star lately you may have noticed two stories about unsanitary conditions at bakery and a pizza joint near UFT.I want to congratulate and commend The Star for writing these stories and alerting the public .

I would like to advise the public to avoid going to this location . If you can't help it I advise you to just be on the look out for hair in your meal (particularly in your french fries).

Hopefully I won't be seeing anymore unwelcome surprises in my meal the next time I go out to eat.

Brittany Murphy passes away at the young age of 32

This may come to many as shock , and to some who may shake their heads and say they saw it coming.

I was just as shocked when I learned earlier today that Brittany Murphy , actress most known for her role in Clueles passed away :(. It is reported widely she died from a heart attack , there is however other speculation that she was dealing with a possible eating disorder and drug related issues. Hospital staff and the the local police force are now investigating but will not go into details. According to an article by TheStar , she was found unconscious by her mother in the shower this morning,paramedics could sadly not revive her :(.

Is this another case of a celeb misusing drugs? Its sad because she is soo young and to have a heart attack and that age is just a shock and horrible :(

Her ex boyfriend Ashton Kutcher tweeted about this earlier saying ""2day the world lost a little piece of sunshine. My deepest condolences go out 2 Brittany's family, her husband, & her amazing mother Sharon."

Brittany will be missed not only by her family and friends but by her fans....

RIP Brittany I will miss your beautiful smiling face on the bigscreen <3

HACKER ON FACEBOOK AND HOTMAIL BEWARE!!

HI EVERYONE

THIS IS AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE

I WAS RECENTLY HACKED ON FACEBOOK AND HOTMAIL .

THIS IS WARNING THAT THERE IS A CRAZY SUPER HACKER OUT THERE , AND TO MAKE SURE YOU CHANGE ALL YOUR PASSWORDS RIGHT AWAY.

IF YOU ARE HACKED SCREENSHOT EVERYTHING THE HACKER DOES AND PRINT IT OUT

CALL THE AUTHORTIES AND REPORT IT TO FACEBOOK AS WELL.

CALL THE NON -EMERGENCY NUMBER FOR YOUR LOCAL PRECINCT.

HELP STOP THIS BAD GUY FROM HARMING ANYONE ELSE.

-TB

THS described as "House of Horrors" by the OSPCA and the media

As most of us have heard by now The Toronto Humane Society (THS) was raided yesterday and 4 people (including the president of THS) have been arrested and charged with cruelty to animals and other criminal charges. They were released on bail last night.

Today Police found a mummified cat in the ceiling at THS in a live trap ... i watched the video on thestar.com and must warn you its very graphic and disturbing that this could have happened.

Also according to The Star the spokesperson for THS Ian McConachie said that this was a stunt pulled by the OSPCA in order to make the shelter look bad because they have a history of not agreeing with one another.

But one has to wonder if what he is saying is true because with what CTV news showed in its videos today when media was allowed inside some of the animals were in pretty bad shape and clearly neglected.

What do you think Toronto? this certainly has come as a shock to many especially staff and volunteers.

Guess we will have to wait and see what else happens but hopefully they dont find anymore

horrific things as they did today with the cat ... as an animal lover that especially makes me sick and my blood boil.

Lets hope the OSPCA and Toronto Police can get to the bottom of this.

Judge says Rogers can;t say its "Canada's Most Reliable Network" from now on

So its official , Rogers isnt the top dog in being the most reliable network anymore, at least according to a recent Toronto Star article.

A Judge in B.C ruled in favour of Telus Corp which was asking the court to stop Rogers from saying its canadas most reliable network.

Rogers wasnt asked however to pull all of its current ads with that slogan but from now on it seems they have lost that claim to fame.

How will this affect their company and their reputation?

What will their current Rogers customers think now?

What do you think Toronto?

Personally i find it kind of funny ,being a rogers customer myself I cant really say much on the matter but its probably a huge slap in the face to people who have switched from other companies ....

New Logo? What do you think?

Hey everyone as promised here's the new logo for Speaking Out ! Hope you enjoy it !

Next post will be up asap!

Thanks for viewing my blog

Sorry for lack of posting

Hi everyone , I want to apologize for lack of posting , haven't been well the last 2 weeks , I will be posting a new post sometime soon.

Also wanted to say keep an eye out for the new logo for Speaking Out: Telling it like it is about Toronto and more.

Hope all is well with everyone and thank you for viewing my blog thus far.

-Tarah

Cdn's not the ugliest people says BeautifulPeople.com (dating site)

Well according to a recent article in The Star about a dating site called BeautifulPeople.com

Canadians really aren't all that bad looking.... infact we fall in the middle according to them .

In order to get onto this site you post your picture and members vote for 48 hrs about whether or not you are "pretty enough" to gain entry. Oh my god give me a break this is ridiculous , why should it matter what you look like or what nationality you are in order to gain access to a dating site? It shouldn't be up to current members about who gets in and who doesn't based on their looks , in fact it shouldn't be up to anyone period. If you want to post a pic of yourself on a dating site it shouldn't matter how good looking you are ,this can even be compared to high school life (popular vs not popular).

What really irritated me the most was according to The Star article the managing director said that if you are British you are not going to make the cut. I found that offensive that they would even suggest that . According to Greg Hodge Britain is not making the cut because they arent spending enough time on their appearance. ...wow.

Well this is a site I will most likely not be visiting anytime soon ....

What are your thoughts?

Here is the full article: http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/724765--this-just-in-we-re-not-the-ugliest-people-in-the-world

TTC restricting tokens give me a break

Well everyone don;t expect to go to the store and pick up 10 tokens if your a TTC user chancers are there wont be any left , as I found out this morning.

I went to my local 7/11 to pick up some tokens only to find out that they were out! So I had to use cash fare instead which is quite annoying.

As I was driving I heard on the radio that TTC collectors are now only allowed to sell 5 tokens per customer as opposed to 10 as was said last week.

Who else thinks this is ridiculous?

This is all in an effort to prevent people from hoarding tokens after hearing of a potential fare increase . Please TTC give us a break ! Torontonians who rely on the TTC daily should not have to pay the price because they are facing a budget crisis or whatever it is they are dealing with and putting the brunt of it on the riders. Go Tranist announced this morning it was putting a freeze on fare hikes because ridership is down , well who's to say that wont happen with the TTC? On Facebook an event called Rider Strike Day is supposed to take place this friday where people will refuse to take the TTC . What do you think? My main concern is the stupid restriction on Token purchasing ....

What else do you expect from the TTC , we have no choice it seems as we rely on it as one of our main sources of transportation so we somewhat accept these fare hikes and restrictions because we need to use it. I think its unfair....and I know many torontonians feel the same way. It's time for the city council to get involved (even though they probably won't) to help put a stop to this nonsense...

Police to knock on doors

If you live in the neighbourhood where Mariam dissapeared over the next 2 weeks expect a knock on your door from police . Police will be going to approx 6,000 homes over the next 2/3 weeks asking people about Mariam and asking to look inside your home for a quick check to make sure you dont have anything to do with the case.

This is another attempt by police to find the missing now 18 year old who has not been seen or heard from since September 14th 2009 . This was just after a couple of days after starting her new school Forest Hill Collegiate Institute.

Again I ask the question? Where are you Mariam? You have been missing for almost 2 months!

What has happened to you? Why was the last thing found belonging to you , your backpack ?Also why was it not opened up until almost 2 weeks after it was first found?

I do not know Mariam or her family or friends. I am a concerned citizen and young adult the same age as Mariam who sympathizes with what her family is going through. I know the area pretty well having a good friend who lives in that area as well as it being a favourite area of mine to walk around in. I am hoping to use this blog to get the message of this missing teen out there and to enlist the support of other bloggers to do the same .

Again I will say as others are saying : SOMEONE KNOWS WHERE SHE IS AND WHAT HAPPENED TO HER! People do not just vanish without a trace . We know she has no money and no passport but she still could have possibly left the country through other means. I am sure police are looking into this. I continue to pray every night and day that we will hear she has been found safe. I pray this will not end in another tragedy like Tori Stafford.

MARIAM PLEASE PLEASE CALL THE POLICE IF YOU SEE THIS , PLEASE LET SOMEONE KNOW YOU ARE ALIVE AND WELL !!!! YOU WILL NOT BE IN TROUBLE , A POLICE FRIEND OF MINE HAS POSTED THE SAME MESSAGE ON FACEBOOK AS WELL.

THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO WILL HELP YOU DONT BE AFRAID !

I want to encourage people to speak to the police when they knock on your door , please help them as much as you can, put yourself in her family's position . Imagine if it was one of your own who has been missing for almost 2 months without a trace, wouldn't you want them home? Wouldn't you want people to help find him/her? Please do not be afraid to talk to the police , they appreciate all the support from the public ,as any new information would help them out.

One tip is all it takes to help bring her home.

Thank you for reading my blog again I want to say that I welcome all comments on this entry and others I have written.

Please come home Mariam !

-Tarah

UPDATE IN MARIAM CASE !

Hi everyone , as you all know I (like many of you ) are keeping up to date with the case of the missing now 18 year old Mariam from the eglington and bathurst area .

Police today announced today they will be using an OPP helicopter to search 2 parks in order to find new information that will help lead to the discovery of Mariam.

They were searching Earl Bales Park(*again) and Sherwood Park.

UPDATE: According to a couple articles I just read on the CBC site as well as National Post police didn't find anything and if they did they are not releasing that information to the public. So both searches of the two parks left them nowhere :(

Mariam has been missing since September 14th 2009 . She is a student at Forrest Hill Collegiate in the 11th Grade. Please help bring this girl home , her family and friends and neighbours are very concerned for her as she has been missing for almost 2 months. She is new to Toronto and doesn't know her way around . If you have any information ,tips or sightings of her please call CRIMESTOPPERS !! you can also tweet and txt tips anonymously !

If we all ban together we can hopefully help bring her home to her family.

Someone knows where she is or what happened to her and they can be the key to her safe return.

Again I will say picture yourself in her family's shoes , wouldn't you want your child home safe and not rest until they were found? I will continue to post updates on this story and hope that it has a happy ending, I want to give a shout out to the neighbours of Mariam's family and other residents in the area for being so caring and helpful in the case .

Feel free to post your comments on this new development ,

Praying for her safe return ,

Tarah

Warning to TTC users who use the 96 wilson or 165 Bus routes

Hey everyone sorry I havent posted in a few days , college has been busy!

Just thought i'd share this story with people who are regular TTC users.

I was coming home on the 96 A Wilson bus from York Mills Stn the other day and came accross a woman i will describe as "out of her mind" , i have had a couple encounters with her before . My first encounter was a couple months ago:

Previously this woman has come onto the bus and demanded that I get out of "her" seat , she just stomped onto the crowded bus screamed at me to get out of her seat and wouldnt stop yelling at me till i got out ,so i obliged as I was traveling alone and was terrified of her , I thought hey no big deal i;ll just put my bag down on the little thing near the door , as i did this she literally picked up my bag and tossed it aside to put her own dirty little kid backpack in its place , as i saw her doing this i grabbed my bag from her and said "dont touch my ****ing bag" , as i was getting really annoyed. As i did that she hit my arm . I decided then and there to get off the bus . The second encounter happened 2 weeks later , I was sitting in the front on the driver side across from her , she put her bag in the empty seat next to her ( as many of us are guilty of doing ) as the bus was filling up an older lady came on and asked the woman to move her bag not once but 3 x. The lady who was talking to herself ignored her , but as soon as the older lady moved her backpack off the seat the crazy woman started smacking her on the arm , i was starring shocked and open mouthed , another passenger who had seen it got up and offered her his seat as everyone started mumbling how nuts this woman was.

The most recent encounter with her happened on Thursday of this past week , I was in the front of the line waiting again for the 96 at the station , she comes out of nowhere and buds right infront of me , i start laughing and shaking my head at her rudeness looking at the long line up behind me thinking "how can no one say anything to her ?" Again she goes to her usual spot on the door side first seat , and throws her bag on the seat next to her , again another older lady taps her on the shoulder to ask her to move her bag , the lady ignored her and taps her back 2x , feeling frusturated the lady looks around for another place to sit and again another passenger in the middle offers her his seat. I shoot her a dirty look and shake my head again.

This woman happens to live near me and gets off at the same stop so as I was leaving the bus I happen to say something to driver and what I said in a kind of undertone adding to my thank you is "you might want to watch out for her" i nod my head in her direction , he shoots me a blank look and I get off.

I want to warn fellow passengers of this women because she is dangerous and can act violently ,

this is what she looks like :

Approx 5''7 , short brown hair , wears a navy blue puffy coat with a pink stripe , and black and white striped toque . Also carries a backpack or shopping bag.

Anyone else had similar experiences with her? I was advised by a police friend to call police if she acts violently towards me.

Just want to warn people to not get too close to her or sit near her. Dont ever ask her to move her stuff she wont , and dont touch her as this provokes her.

Police Seize Computers from 2 Local Libraries Mariam Frequented

Its been 44 days and still no sign as to the whereabouts of Mariam Makniashvili, the now 18 yr old teen missing from Toronto.

After the discovery of her backpack, Police have now on the day of her birthday gone to two libraries Barbra Frum and Forrest Hill. They have seized computers from each of these branches to see Mariam's online activity .

Mariam may have been using the computers there sometime between her arrival in Toronto in June from Georgia up until her September 14th disappearance.

I am in a bit of shock to see they went to Barbra Frum Library as I used to go there a lot.

I was also shocked when they searched Earl Bales park since that park is very close to where I live. I really hope they find her soon, If you have any information PLEASE CALL ,TXT , TWEET FACEBOOK /or whatever to CRIMESTOPPERS !! You can remain anonymous , any information would be helpful to police and investigators , imagine if this were your friend , daughter , niece grandchild and they have been missing for that long. Please help bring her home !!

I will continue to post updates about Mariam as they come out.

Thank you !

Are You Kidding Me ?

So in the age of Facebook, Myspace and Twitter I thought id post and comment on this funny article I happened to come upon on Yahoo .Basically a woman in the U.S issued a restraining order on another woman because she "poked" her ( Poking is basically the facebook way of saying "hey whats up")

What I wanna know is why? Why would any court issue a restraining order because of virtual poke?

There has to be a resaonable explanation for this , but I guess in the age we live in even online poking someone is seen and acceptable as "harassment" I wonder whats next?

What are your thoughts on this?

I as a regular facebook user think its ridiculous and hilarious at the same time..

Here's the article

http://ca.tech.yahoo.com/blogs/the_gadget_hound/rss/article/3920

Enjoy :)

-Tarah

What a great start to the week after the loong weekend

So haven't really written much on this blog in a while since i started college at Centennial for Broadcasting and Film but thought I would get into it again ,

Had a pretty interesting morning after the long weekend , was in my 1st class of the day when at about 11:20 am approx . we were all told to by our Prof to "get out" the whole school was beign evacuated for the day due to an investigation as we were told by police. I heard a few students outside saying it was a bomb threat ,later on after searching the internet I found that was infact the case .Its really ironic that this happens less than a month after the incident at ashtonbee campus with the huge evacuation that took place. I dont think the incident today was as bad as it was last month but its still pretty scary. 800 of us were all told to leave the building and told not to come back untill tommorow. I havent had to deal with bomb threats since I was in elementary school and we had approx 3 threats happen where we had to evacuate in less than a year. One of the evacuations took place the day after 9/11. This made the news already today so Im assuming we will hear more about it later on today and probably tommorow. I have to admit it was pretty freaky getting on the #25 bus to go Pape Stn when 5 fire trucks come screaming down the road and heading for the school and one of the cafe staff who got on the bus was screaming on the bus" theres a bomb in the school!!" . Hope Police and Investigators can get to the bottom of it and find the one responsible for this , if it was a sick joke thats just sad.. anyways it was not the way me and my fellow students wanted to start our week after the long weekend...

Its just a doll!!!

With Barbie celebrating her recent 50th birthday and March being women's history month much conteversay has come with it.

Mattel's newest Barbie doll "Totally Stylin Tattoos" Now girls can put tattoos on their barbie doll and themselves since the doll comes with an tattoo applicator and sheets of cute tattoos that girls can put on themselves.( all are of course washable with water)

So why the outrage from parents?
Its just a doll , a doll that has been around for 50 years!!!
Its freedom of expression as Mattel has stated it allows girls to be creative and be an individual , and lets face it temporary tattoos have been around forever and we have accepted them so why the fuss over a doll?

- At every theme park and carnival there are henna tattooo booths offering cool designs that all wash off in a couple of days and parents seem to be ok with that so they should be ok with this too.

Barbie allows girls to be creative in their own unique way and I applaud any item that allows the freedom to be creative and unique.

I think parents need to stop worrying about this and worry about the much more important matters that are out there.

- If you can recal a couple years ago Mattel came out with a doll from the Barbie line that was pregnant who was in fact not Barbie herself but her friend Midge. That caused quite an uproar so Mattel removed the dolls from stores.

In my opinion its a great addition to the Barbie line !!

Finally some progress!!

After starting the campaign to fight to re-open my school's library we are finally getting attention from the media and the student body.
With almost 500 signatures to date and growing we have made tremendous progress in such a short period of time.
A local magazine/paper was kind enough to take on our story and we are truly greatful for their concern in the matter . It was a bit discouraging at first with two major newspapers rejecting the idea it was great to finally see someone pay attention.

I want to thank all the students at YM who have signed the petition and for your support
though a sollution may not happen right away , this is a step in the right direction and after all doing something is better then doing nothing .

As Gandhi once said " We must be the change we wish to see in the world"
So taking his advice we decided to take matters into our own hands and so far we are making progress.

Hopefully we can have our library back open before school , if not this year then at least for the new school year the regular hours should be brought back so the students in grade 10 and 11 will be able to benefit from having the library open before school like the current grade 12s did for two years.
Keep your fingers crossed and check back for updates !

Thank you so much again for your support !

-TB and CF