Randy "New Goal: No More Unachievable Goals" G.'s Profile

As I've said on multiple occasions, there's only so much you can talk about when reviewing a chain restaurant like this. In this particular case, there was nothing wrong with the food itself - the Canadian slice tasted much the same as any other Canadian slice from Pizza Pizza that I've ever had. The rest of it, however, was somewhat lacking.

We'll start with the restaurant itself - very clearly recently upgraded, however I has issues getting in the front door. Much like the location near my parents' place, the outer door was a push, and the inner one was a pull. I was always under the impression that doors leading to the outside had to be pull from the outside under the fire code, but there you go. I just don't appreciate looking like an idiot from my inability to open the stupid door - the only label on the inner door was a small, peeling sticker, and the handle itself was a push-type handle. I think I'm kind of railing on them for this, but it annoyed me greatly.

The restaurant itself had a decent number of tables, all of which were empty at 8pm on a Wednesday. Empty of people, at least - all but one were in unusable condition for eating due to the leftovers of previous customers, which the guys behind the counter seemed in no hurry to clean up. Otherwise, floors and what not seemed clean.

Service was OK, but the guy behind the counter was near-inaudible, making ordering frustrating. He also didn't listen closely to me - as I'm paying, the following exchange took place:

"So, chip towards you in the machine?"
"Yes"
*insert card with chip towards him*
"No, the other way"

It was at that point that he took my bank card from my hand and switched it around. Not cool.

I'm also sick and tired of Pizza Pizza's stupid Interac machines - they never seem to work right. They seem to be the only place my card ever gets declined, and it's never a real decline - the card often works on subsequent tries, or works fine anywhere else. They also look really stupid, but that's just a personal stance.

Final verdict: I wish we'd gone to Gino's a block over.

I took the MegaBus from Toronto to NYC for a whirlwind 34 hour trip - travel time included! - in September 2011. It wasn't completely unpleasant.

PRICE: Excellent. I think I was under $150 round trip including taxes.

THE TRIP DOWN: Could have been better. We were around 1.5-2 hours at the border - a long time to wait at about 1am. The bus was fairly empty until we hit Buffalo, at which point it filled up completely. The Wi-Fi never really worked on the bus. Not a very comfortable trip, but I was able to get a couple hours of (much-needed) sleep.

WAITING FOR THE TRIP BACK: Megabus' "facilities" in New York are an interesting sight. They consist of a hodgepodge of tents behind what looks like a construction site's wall, with small signs and ropes to line up along. There's really nowhere to sit, so don't get there too early. The whole thing gives the impression of a temporary setup that's been there a while.

THE TRIP BACK: Better than the trip down - the 10:00 PM departure on Saturday night was about half full, and emptied considerably in Buffalo. I nearly had a panic attack on the way out - the driver didn't come on with his announcements until we were well into New Jersey, and I was slightly unsure as to whether I was on the right bus or not. There's one stop around 3:00 AM near Syracuse - make sure you have cash if you want something, as the McDonald's at the stop was cash only at that point, and not making tons of food. Vending machines were half functional. Customs was a quick affair at the Peace Bridge on the way back. Decidedly more comfortable with the bus half empty, but the seats still aren't exactly ergonomically correct.

OVERALL: An inexpensive way to get from Hogtown to The Big Apple, but if you can spare the cash, flying's a *lot* more comfortable, and doesn't eat up ten or twelve hours each way.

I'm going to start off saying that I realize there's little in terms of authenticity to this place. I, for one, don't care - I still love it.

The Great Burrito Bifurcation of Let's Call It 2009 let the area with two chains where once there was one. Of the two, I'd have to say Burrito Bandidos beats out the Boyz. Why, you ask? The location certainly isn't it - cramped at the best of times during the day, it's downright insane at night. The expanded selection of meats certainly helps - sometimes you just want some pulled pork or a chicken-steak blend. But overall I do find that the Bandidos are a notch above the Boyz on Adelaide in terms of overall taste.

I find service to usually be friendly, but slow. Call ahead for group orders or later at night - saves time, especially on clubbing' nights.

Price-wise, you're looking at 8 to 10 per person, more depending on size and meat selection.

I don't think I need to go over the basics of a Shoppers Drug Mart - by now, virtually every Canadian is familiar with who they are and what they sell.

The layout of this store feels very odd to me - not sure if it's because of support beams to hold up the structure above, but the overall effect is like being in a labyrinth. This also leads to me having issues finding what I'm looking for, which is annoying. Maybe I'm just accustomed to the more box-like stores in the suburbs with their standardized layouts - but I don't have the same problems with the one at King and Peter. The place also has a just-picked-over look in the food section every time I come in - like they're having trouble keeping stuff in stock. A little disconcerting.

Also disconcerting is the lack of checkout staff on my last visit - as in 100% lack. If you want to feel like you're living in a post-apocalyptic future, a store with customers milling about, no staff anywhere to be seen, and a food section in (slight) shambles is a good start.

So yes, Shoppers, you freak me out more than you should, but you're close to my house, so if I'm in a hurry, I'll likely be back.

If you're interested in robotics, electronics, science, crafting, computers, woodworking, or anything else that involves doing things... get thee to Maker Faire, post-haste.

I've been to six such faires so far - two NYC, two in Detroit, one in Toronto and one in Ottawa. The NYC ones were once as an exhibitor, and this past one as "merely" and attendee.

I'd have to say that of all the Faires I've attended, the New York ones have been the best. It attracts a lot of the big names in the Maker community - Sparkfun, Makerbot, Chumby Industries, the Arduino team - the list goes on. It's a slate of rockstars that the other, smaller faires really can't match. In addition, you'll find a lot of local people with projects ranging from sustainable agriculture to biodiesel, from home-built UAVs to lighting displays, and more 3D printers than you probably knew existed. There's also a couple of excellent speaking tracks - teachers, researchers, inventors, and all sorts of other interesting people.

This is an ideal event for kids and adults alike - you're bound to find something you're interested in, and people there eager to help you try it for yourself

I've stayed here with friends for Maker Faire for a couple years now.

The good:
- Not a bad price. I think it was $99 per night the first year, and maybe $120 per night this year.
- Plenty of parking
- Not a dump. Not in the best of shape, but I've definitely paid more to stay in worse.
- I rather like the interior decor
- Staff is friendly and helpful, as you'd expect from a hotel staff.
- Breakfast place is decent, but a bit pricey
- If you're here for Maker Faire, free shuttles to the Henry Ford.

The bad:
- Clearly needs work. Corners on walls were scuffed up a bit, towels weren't great, outlets can be a bit flaky. You really get the sense they aren't spending as much on upkeep as they could.
- Internet access costs money. I'm kind of used to this by now actually - pricier hotels charge for wifi, cheaper ones don't. It makes no sense, but it's true. I had no issues with the wired connection though.
- Bathroom was cramped. I can't tell if they've renovated them without resizing the doors, but closing the bathroom door requires... maneuvering.

A reasonable store. At Maker Faire in July, we needed some cables and some rubber feet, and by gum, they had 'em. I can get ten of the same cable online - shipped - for the same price as try charge for one, but I'm not so picky when it's Friday afternoon and I need it for Saturday morning.

Store was clean, and had a decent stock of the geeky-type stuff that I always make a beeline for at the back. Staff was helpful and not too pushy - though I fail to see the point of even offering a warranty on a 6 foot stereo audio cable, even if it did cost $10. Not a bad experience as far as The Shack goes.

Being from Canada, I'm not used to having a Kinkos / FedEx Office nearby to have my document needs addressed at odd hours. Given our lack of preparedness for Maker Faire Detroit this year, this came in very handy indeed.

The first night we were there was to do up some colour laminated labels for our display. This location really knocked it out of the park on this one - sixteen colour labels printed (on letter paper), cut, laminated and trimmed in about half an hour, all self serve, for around ten bucks. This was off of PDF files from a thumb drive. Very convenient, and definitely a life saver.

The next day wasn't as great an experience. We decided we needed business cards to hand out after that first day at the Faire, so we headed back to make some up. The staff really didn't understand our timeline on this - hours, not days - so that led to much confusion and discussion. We finally figured out the best way to do this was laser-printing on pre-perforated Avery business card sheets from an Adobe Illustrator file we made up. Half an hour later we had artwork ready to print, and another 15 minutes later we had business cards for 3 people for about $25 - not bad, but it was a struggle to get there.

When we got back to the hotel, we found that about 10% were misprinted on the sheet and useless - and that they hadn't given back the thumb drive. We didn't have time to go back and get it.

Overall, very convenient, and reasonable prices for services and supplies. Staff ranged from helpful to not so helpful, but don't get creative with what you want unless you're looking for delays.

I'd checked the reviews here before coming, and somehow wound up here anyhow. Those other reviews? They don't lie.

A few things to note:
1. The waiting area is located between the kitchen and the rest of the restaurant, so as you wait for a table, you have to be careful to stay out of the way of wait staff delivering food that isn't yours. Annoying.
2. Once we were finally seated - they use a slightly longer definition of "minute" than I'm used to for wait times - drink orders took forever. I think the two glasses of water we asked for at one point took a good ten to fifteen minutes to appear.
3. Once we were able to order food, that took close to an hour to come out.
4. Service at the bar before eating was atrocious too - the bartender walked by us so fast each time that it was literally impossible to get her attention to order a drink. That's at least one more beer you could have sold me.
5. That burger was NOT worth $17.

Next time, I'll either leave the casino to eat, or wait until I get home - none of this crap again.

Harbor Freight has quickly become one of my favourite places when visiting the US. See my review of the one on Niagara Falls Blvd. for reasons why, but the upshot is second rate tools at third rate prices. Such a deal!

I find this one is usually a bit less organized than the Niagara Falls Blvd. one - which is saying something. Other than that, same great selection and tools. Well worth a visit if you need - or even just like - tools.