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  • Restaurant Review: Chick N’ Chill

    Restaurant Review: Chick N’ Chill

    Taste: 9/10
    Chicken was moist, nicely seasoned and the breading had a pleasing crisp. The fries detract only because they seemed like coated fare you could get anywhere.

    Presentation: 7/10
    Quite simple in compostable packaging and a brown bag. Simple and effective with no flash.

    Quality of Ingredients: 9/10
    Bun was soft and fluffy, chicken was fresh. I enjoyed the fries but they appeared pre-made.

    Creativity: 8/10
    As a chicken sandwich, it is on par with the only notable variations is the sauce.

    Value: 10/10
    As a promotional item on launch, the value is there. The regular price isn’t outrageous either.

    Service: n/a
    I did not visit this location due to disability.

    Ambiance: n/a
    I did not visit this location due to disability.

    Consistency: n/a
    First time, hopefully of many!

    Total Score: 43/50
    Score: 86%

    Dining Options:

    • Dine In: No
    • Delivery Service: Wife Takeaway

    Menu Item Ordered:
    Chicken burger, fries & drink

    Visit Date:
    June 1, 2024

    Would Order Again? Yes

  • Meal planning as a community

    Meal planning as a community

    A hot button topic these days is the cost of food, from the costs of growing, harvesting, transporting, storing, and eventual sale to consumer.

    But what if it was somehow supported by an open community framework that could help people with recipes based on seasonal availability and readily available staples?

    Let’s paint the scenario…

    I, a human, must eat. But what do I eat?

    I have a food pantry, which is linked to a database of food items within. I have a refrigerator with chilled items for consumption. I have a freezer for long term storage.

    I now am a human connected to a source of food. Now I should be able to view a dining menu for the day. I can select from a list of options based off a set of filters. You could list:

    • Show ready to go options, such as fresh fruit, to go snacks, or pre-packaged meals.
    • Show cooking options based on available skillset and ingredients.
    • Increase options with same day availability from local food vendors.
    • Search nearby food prep availability and options based on their food availability

    So whatever the skill level you have, is the options you’ll have available based on the scope of food listed.

    The food menu options could be weighted based on personal revues, and you could ad friends or critics with similar taste pallets to yours.

    Now it seems like an extreme scenario, but let’s make a favourite comfort food of mine in an example scenario.

    For a sandwich such as this, I would need bread, butter, peanut butter, and bananas. These items would either need to be currently in my house, or possibly sourced nearby. I would also need a bread knife, toaster oven, butter knife, plate, cutting board, and a paring knife. Now that exact template will have suitable replacements as house inventory will accommodate. Also, assuming I know how to operate said items safely.

    Now the data junkie in me wants to document everything, everywhere, all at once. I made my sandwich; it could’ve been prepared on weighted surfaces with digital assistants standing by to register weight change based on ingredients used at that time to give a near accurate nutrient consumption. The assistant could ask for ratings based off each ingredient, and the meal as a whole. You can photograph and attach the meal to a review, compare against friends or anonymous creations using the same or similar ingredients.

    Ok, but what if I was bored of this meal? Or wanted to incorporate these ingredients into another meal? Why not have suggestions based on the scope of food required, and available? Like lose the banana because they’re out of season and replace with strawberry preserve or honey.

    Clearly not quite perfect, but is that not cool?

    If you have a maintained food inventory with sourced history, recall notices could be directed directly to you without the need for direct communication with that governing organization. If your shelf life has lapsed on a product, a removal task can be assigned to you in house upkeep. Packaging would not need to be as eye catching as it is simply what was sourced and available. Grocery lists could be generated from menu and predicted needs.

    But food sourcing is another rant for another day.

    For now, we have a scenario where 1 human eats 1 meal. Add shared meals to the mix and meal plan away! You could operate on various scenarios given that all family dynamics and diets are different. Set some meals as suggestions and kind of play a ranked match game to reach consensus on meals.

    Mmm, sorry. I’ve been distracted with a DQ Blizzard, talk amongst yourselves.

  • Meet Caoimhe: The Parkour Kitten | Furry Gentle Adventures

    Meet Caoimhe: The Parkour Kitten | Furry Gentle Adventures

    Meet Caoimhe!

    This little bundle is currently six weeks old and absolutely loves to parkour up any stack of boxes or any vertical challenge. Wheelchairs prove to be no major obstacle as crawling up wheel spokes is a breeze!

    We love her, she’s furry and cute, and we look forward to many laughs and smiles from your adventures.

    What’s a Caoimhe? Well for us, a furry family member. In general, it’s a lovely Irish word that means “gentleness” and “kindness” but her claws are far from it.

    Anyway, enjoy the little video, because the kid and I sure enjoyed it happening live! What? It’s broken… Son of a biscuit. How about now?

  • Community-Driven Consumption: A Framework for Fair Distribution and Contribution

    Community-Driven Consumption: A Framework for Fair Distribution and Contribution

    I have mused and mused about the human framework and how it would work monetarily in order to promote engagement and prevent languishing with apathy and coasting through life.

    But how and why and even how would you make it fair for late comers?

    First off, 1 is a whole, and the amount of the day in a tangible form I suppose, so let’s start there. Every day, you have 1.

    How do you earn or spend that 1?

    Perhaps a historical “stock market” system where-in you’re the commodity and the trend of your effort leans on the weight of your 1. The more you have contributed to the world in progress/skills/development would increase the buying power of 1.

    This would obviously need a lot of rules and equations set in place to ultimately value the 1 and ensure a net 0 at the end of the day.

    Now the 1 as an item to be spent, that gets tricky. And that’s where I welcome ideas on any medium to flesh out the ideas. I have many means of communication as I do not hide, entirely?

    http://ubbus.ca to find me!

    So spending I feel would have to be based on consumption of goods and services. Weighted in consumption based in historical data.

    As an extreme and solitary view of things, if I streamed 8 hours of music, then the portion of 1 would by 8/24 or 33% of the 1. That would then be proportioned to reimburse the things that made that possible. From the artist to the means it was delivered. To the streaming device, internet provider, hosting service, and artist.

    What about the record companies??

    What about them? They played no transitory role in the listening of the music. If anything they have their own interaction with the artist, if they’re even needed at all!

    Oh, getting sucked into a hole, so lets step back.

    Everyone eats!

    Food and grocery will be available for all of course. Given that people would have control over their personal info in this framework, they would establish a relationship with the local grocery store or food prep kitchen, and then the communities food needs could be focused on only producing and transporting things that were actually a need for the people they served. So a weighted cost and contribution would be calculated to ensure no one over or under consumed.

    Let’s play hypothetical with the “atomic family”

    2 adult humans, 2.5 dependents, 2 pets?

    The family would have to meal plan a desired meal for a pre-determined future range to ensure item availability (seasonal, logistics, reliability of source…). You would want to have a system that showed frequent options and earliest availability to gamify the meal plan as a family puzzle to complete. Choices would obviously have to be weighted with fail options to provide random occurrences caused by unforeseen issues!

    OK, so you’re sinking again, back to the 1, you’re spending and not earning!

    Right, future me will delve into this further, hopefully!

    So we want to earn, easy…maybe? I guess we can go to a dependent child in the atomic family. They are 1. They, like anyone, need to live and will consume a 1 in activities, education, relaxation, and eating. In order to grow the next generation, they will need the support of the older populace, so they get 1

    Children are our future after all, so what, wanna fight about it?!

    Calm down… A child wakes, eats, learns, plays, sleeps, everything fun you can remember from your childhood. Cool, their day spent is to be earned by all. Teach a kid, earn from that kid, teach a class, earn from that class. Why not have a bonus based on outcomes?

    Yikes, you’re almost giving some loop holes to game a system to exclude low performers such as the neurodiverse like yourself!?

    Right right, and I forget where I heard this, but I think it was sometime in the last couple days when this nugget passed though my brain. Capitalists breads “neurotypicals” for their apathy and compliance.

    Oh now you’re getting opinionated!

    Well, to be fair, my human framework doesn’t fit in a capitalist world by definition! Fair remember.

    Right, teach the kids, make that money, gotcha.

    But not everyone can or wants to deal with children exclusively, what about everyone else!?

    Well work to earn and spend right? More or less.

    That then becomes the hiccup in pretend society building right? What would you keep and what would you try to give inspiration to trend the world forward while not stretching too far and bursting the bubble?

    Leadership earns rewards?!

    If you are enlarging your atomic family by some means, then the weight of dependents counts as a service that the dependent’s 1 goes toward. Even pets!

    Want to buy a zoo?

    Sure, a zoo or menagerie could be a means of earning. Let’s take a school excursion to a reptile zoo. The live animals would be community interest driven based on surveyed data per region, with multimedia exhibits of animals that are being promoted by the reptile zoo but they are either unable to provide live creature due to costs/viability/existence/wellbeing.

    Woah, want to reign in the ideas for future posts maybe? Maybe.

    Ooo, random idea… What if I post these as drafts, then produce a video of me narrating it, and then provide that as either a podcast of video? Woah… good idea…

    K, well kids, if you learn anything about this, I’m neurodivergent, do drugs, and wish life was fair.

    I’ll try to keep rambling on these posts, maybe do what the muses just suggested to me, or maybe I get my affairs in order and finish my own real life needs and ensure my family’s needs are seen to in whatever way I can!

    Please join me in talking about these topics on my Discord. If you know me you already know hot to ask for access!

    Ubbus out!

  • Database House?

    Database House?

    A house, in the human framework? Well, not necessarily, but overwhelmingly? Partially?

    Ah, I had a lightbulb moment, when the lightbulb in the fridge went out, and how that could fit in the human framework!

    To start, I have a house, it has rooms, floors, doors, and possibly more wheels than doors.

    That said, it all sounds like data and ways we can merge into the outside world. So then, I will spit out some ideas…

    • A house with dimensions and floor plan. I believe most of that will be found in some realtor database, but that seems unnecessary so snag that back to your personal data.
    • Each room would have its fixtures and outlets stored. Even get the actual readouts of the outlets in the room, for electrical reasons. House has a nervous system as well, why not test those outlets and store that value!
    • Appliances assigned to the room, and their applicable digital information, including a maintenance schedule, tutorial videos, and links to local parts suppliers that carry the parts.

    So that’s a bit of rough outline of things. All these thoughts spawned from the burnt out light bulb.

    I have a grand vision, this is true, and I have no drive to execute it so I am just throwing the random thoughts out in the ether and hoping something comes of it.

    How is this data applicable?

    Well a room layout is a given. I’ve played with the room builder at IKEA’s website and the most tedious part is building the room. If I could remotely load the room layout in question into their app, then it would be a quick and easy experience.

    In a non-commercial aspect, with room outlets and electrical diagrams of the house, you can use a 3d model of your house and move plugged in devices to get theoretical overloaded circuit warnings and the likes. I believe I’ve come across a product that works at measuring and controlling outlets remotely, which seem ideal to figure out where there is electrical waste.

    OK, back to a commercial application! Contractors! I want to get my bathroom renovated with accessibility in mind. If I could provide a current structural layout, and maybe a current fixtures included layout it would give the designer something to instantly work with. Here’s the drain, window, doorway, and outlet locations already on a layout format, that would be an open standard of course, to operate on.

    They of course would retain the plans as their work, and it could either be sold to you for a secondary company’s contractors or remitted to you to update your home layout upon completion of work.

    And, in an obfuscation use of data, a hardware company could run a search on what types of nuts, bolts, gaskets, pipes, etc to see what is in high demand and stock supply to fill these needs.

    So, Home Depot doesn’t need to known who has what kind of toilet, just that 12% of people have a type, and they could stock compatible accessories for it.

    Toilet accessories!?

    Sure, replacement seats, those butt spray tushy things, cleaners that work great on the material, washers and bolts, spray head attachments… Accessories!

    But back to practical me.

    Due to my disability, I do spend more time than I would like in a wheelchair these days, and there has been some struggles in getting in and out of rooms. The door frames are just slightly too narrow. The room where I am typing this is currently the home office and has had its door removed to allow for wheeling in and out.

    If I wanted to buy a new home, how cool would it be if I was given access to the house floor plans and was able to add a wheelchair object to see where the house narrows or becomes impassable. What if I could furnish it with my furniture and then do the virtual wheelchair tour??

    Jeez, this is starting to feel like some meta verse stuff?!

    What about the obfuscation thing I mentioned in the store searching things, was that a lie if we can load up other peoples houses through a realtor?

    Well, I would see it as a gatekeeper scenario where the realtor could assign a limited time access to the data stored at a certain address, and revoke the access as their agreement with the seller would stipulate. So temporarily given access with a person delegating the access. Not the public searchable front of “How many American Standard toilets are there in the town” scenario.

    Ok, I’ve gotten tired of my own rambling and the house stirs with activity. Time to go start the day.

  • All things connected, digitally?

    All things connected, digitally?

    These past few days I have been pondering about this unrealized “human framework” I have in my mind. I’ve particularly been thinking how it could relate to my day to day life.

    How do I see it implemented in say, my work scenario?

    Well, say I’ve working on a printer, remotely…

    I (user1) work at an IT company (org1). So, I get a call from a user (user2) at a supported company (org2). They are calling, requesting some support on a printer (dev1).

    I envision a series of handshakes in a 6 degrees of separation style..

    User1 -> Org1 -> Org2 -> Dev1

    Woah, user2 isn’t used? Well, not directly for the printer, but they’d both be elements in Org2 so they would have their own internal relationships and access rights.

    But anyway, they want their email address added to the printer’s scan-to-email feature for example. So User1 providing support has to navigate to Dev1. Seems straightforward, but every company is different, and I’ll be honest, I can’t remember how each company differs.

    Sure, maybe I should know that all off the top of my head by now. But what if I was a brand new employee at Org1? I did my training on how to work on devices and services, but the how to connect is shrouded in mystery.

    What if I had a hud or info panel that displayed contextually relevant information? I’m doing a support call over a digital system that could in theory transcribe the conversation and highlight keywords.

    In the initial verbal handshake with a service call, there is a lot of vague info provided by User2. User1 providing support on this call gathers the info as best they can and attack the issue as it’s presented. If the listening support system gathered the user2 name, org2’s name, and that it was a printer, a quick list of support printers would be able to be populated, with all their quick identifiable info.

    Once the printer has been confirmed, a relative path-to-connect would be presented to the user1 for support. How to connect, what hoops are needed, what credentials would be needed, and maybe even relevant step-by-step frequently performed tasks.

    In my mind, it looks like a bunch of octopi shaking hands and passing info along their tentacles.

    But which tentacles to grasp?

    A list of permissions granted by Org1 to User1 would be like a wall with holes punched out. And the holes that line up between the users, orgs, and device would be the paths of support.

    This is all in broad strokes, but I like possibility this random brain dump outlines.

    I’ve even been pondering about grocery lists, and local businesses interacting with customers to provide the items that are needed, and even anonymously gather the towns needs and wants. But that’s for another post.

    As for this brain idea, there is a lot of up front data entry and configuration that would be required after all the initial coding, but when it’s implemented, it would be seamless, and require little maintenance. Like, device replacement or staff churn. Seems like administrative work, right?

    But anyway, if it were part of the human framework I have in my imagination, then it would be easy for onboarding new customers and immediately being able to provide support knowing their entire network in a single probing handshake as it were.

    Org1 & Org2 have a big long talk, saying what services Org1 can provide and what services Org2 require.

    Anyway, that’s my brain dump for now. Hiatus over maybe?

  • Burger King – Nashville Hot Crispy Chicken Sandwich

    Burger King – Nashville Hot Crispy Chicken Sandwich

    I have recently tried this new offering from the Burger King.

    I haven’t eaten Burger King in a few years, and this recent menu offering has made me break my will to not eat there again.

    I did not love it.

    Sure, I ate the whole thing. It’s chicken on a bun. Dry chicken that is lightly spiced. It sure tried to take on the appearance of a Nashville chicken sandwich, but the entire bird was sadly dwarfed by the bun. It did not impress. It did appear like it had been dipped in oil, giving it a redder hue, but that was about it.

    I honestly don’t think I can portray just how bland and uninspired the chicken was, but I can say that those limited run McDonald’s McChickens were spicier.

    Pickles. I don’t like dill pickles. I don’t like slimy, limp dill pickles.

    This sandwich had them in spades. Yuck.

    Now there really isn’t much to a Nashville chicken sandwich, nor should you expect more in the way of toppings. I assume the heat and spice are centre stage, and in this case, they must’ve missed curtain call.

    Now, to say something nice about the sandwich.

    I ate it, it wasn’t beyond being edible. Pickles aside that is. I could’ve done without those bites. And, it did have a little tingle… Just not what you hope for when there is a normal, spicy, and Nashville hot. The menu evokes a mindset that this is the spiciest thing they have!

    Now that being said, would I order it again? Likely not. There is no offerings on their menu that would warrant a family meal, so maybe if it was the only choice, then maybe…

  • Where have I gone?

    Where have I gone?

    The short answer, nowhere.

    The long answer, also nowhere. Pandemics and lockdowns will do that to a person.

    In the vein of not going anywhere, my family has gone for the weekend. I have not.

    Why haven’t I gone with my family?

    I just came off a week of on-call, and while that isn’t particularly stressful at first glance, it just is for some reason.

    How?

    Well, if you know anything about me, I have a chronic illness or two and I tend to not handle the pressure as much as I used to.

    I have often touted that I was on auto-pilot with life, and that stress didn’t really get to me. In a way, that still holds true. I like routine, I like knowing how to do my job’s many varied tasks, and maybe getting too comfortable in a rut. I never cared for surprises, or unexpected eventualities. Things go up, things come down. The nature of things.

    If you didn’t just imagine a CBC spot of David Suzuki, then you didn’t grow up in Canada!

    Anyway, rut or not, life is starting to trend in a new norm that will permit us a few more social freedoms, but I don’t know what tomorrow will look like.

    I feel like perhaps I will need an outlet like this. I have tried it in the past and I went hard and scheduled at posting every day, but not every day seemed noteworthy. If you have read every post, I thank you. I hope you still kept an eye out eventually getting this post with that message!

    Now going forward, what will this be, who will I be, and what will I say?

    I like food, I could talk about that. I like games, but mostly boring puzzles. I like shows, but beyond the immediate family, who wants to watch with me?

    Honestly, I would consider scheduling a watch together night, but until the child gets to a regular and painless (for us) bedtime transition, can I really commit to any schedule?

    Let’s see where this goes. I’d love any input or criticism, so please don’t hold back. I’m also not above going back and fixing dreaded typos!

    I have no end to this, so I will leave off saying expect to see me featured in an interview on my friend’s youtube channel in the coming week! Head over to her Youtube channel Right Leg Down to follow her VLOG and interviews!

    Stay toasted my friends!

  • What even is religion?

    What even is religion?

    I have always had a view of it being a set of social rules that people are reminded of weekly. Is that not what it boils down to?

    I am going to say that I was once Catholic, and maybe Anglican? I currently am neither. I don’t even pray to the altar of the flying spaghetti monster.

    Am I agnostic? Sure, I guess.

    But is that really important?

    What is religion but an overly obsessed fanbase with a strict set of rules? I guess I’m not a fan of Jesus? No, and honestly, they paint a “perfect” picture when they talk about him in christian settings, but, really, that’s some extreme mentality that seems unwanted.

    So, where am I even going with this? I believe that there were good lessons learned from catechism class, but I never believed in a god. There are plenty of good morals to learn, and I can’t remember where they would’ve taught hate on non-believers.

    Why the sudden thoughts on religion?

    Well, if the past few years of news haven’t mentioned it enough, there is a lot of claims of things being “unconstitutional” and it really feels like religious zealotry! Holding up a set of rules and saying what it says without going beyond an amendment’s name, like just saying John 3:16 at everything!

    My first thought when a clearly conservative voice starts saying something is unconstitutional, it likely means it’s against my view of my religion. Clearly. I think I’ve heard conservatives call someone a god-less liberal.

    Ooo, missed separation of church and state by a mile!

    We are all one. Shit, did I smoke too much? I’m sounding all hippy!

    If I had a god, it would be in the TV. I grew up with shows that, in a way, may have been backing christian ideals of good and evil.

    But I take pause with the word “conservative”. I feel like that’s the kind of person that would drive straight into an obstacle and never try to diverge from the path the former person took. I see wheel ruts that become unforgiving to change. I see tracks of dirt trailing through small green urban spaces.

    Basically, no one way is right forever.

    Hank Green recently had a rant on TikTok about base 10 numbers, and I instantly saw his point of view because it was a trusted voice and the facts he provides are true. Also, he would be the first to admit he was wrong if it is proven false.

    Stepping around that obstacle in the path!

    Perhaps someone kept shaming a person who refuses to admit they were wrong? Like maybe an ultra religious right wing conservative upbringing? Or maybe teasing? Wait…

    Are bullies “negative-influencers”?

    Woah…

  • I want to be a number.

    I want to be a number.

    First off, I have been tired, and routines and such are all out of whack, but here I am.

    So I want to be a number. I’ll be first in line for chipping or whatever the end game solution is. And here’s a breakdown of a scenario as to why!

    I would like a new hockey puck. I go to the store to give them money for a puck. I go home with my puck.

    Now that seems simple, but the store may ask for personal info for marketing reasons. What if I had to pay debit? Yeah, now they technically could know more about you!

    Unless I have a personal relationship with the clerk selling the product, beyond the exchange of currency, there’s not much else that needs to be exchanged.

    OK, so you could change all that to be an illegal transaction of a controlled substance and more information would be required by law enforcement and all that. But the real villain in this scenario is the cash facilitating a nefarious transaction!

    But that’s getting ahead of things, cart before the horse and what not.

    Ok, let’s obfuscate!

    I am Human 1, the store is Company 1.

    Human 1 would like a hockey puck. Company 1 sells hockey pucks. There is no physical currency. How do I exchange currency for product?

    Debit or Credit right?

    OK, that takes a bank or some other form of financial institution. Maybe decentralized currency? So another party joins the dance.

    Human 1 has a relationship with Bank 1. Bank 1 releases funds to Company 1. Company 1 sends a puck to Human 1.

    OK, I don’t feel confused yet!

    The relationship with the bank was previously established as a good human wants to get paid and store financial wealth, so yay! So now lets say we take a look from the other side. The company side. Bank 1 is providing funds as a proxy for Human 1. So Bank1Human1 is buying the hockey puck. Not Human 1! Store doesn’t know you. Store trusts bank, accepts money and releases product.

    OK, I feel protected by a single layer of obfuscation. Now, what if I ordered that puck online? Wouldn’t they know where I live, my name, my phone number, etc?

    See, you are controlling the information, and you had a trust relationship with the bank. The bank would pass a shipping address token. That token could be a general area and that should be it.

    Bank1Human1 gives Company1 an Address1 token with City1.

    So, I tell the store “I would like 1 hockey puck, this bank will pay you, and you can send it to Ottawa.”

    Well, that seems vague!

    Sure, but if you have been inside my head, listen to this. I have a community, which is part of a city, and let’s say that is Ottawa. My City would know me to an extent and would be able to locate the community I’m in, and so on.

    So, Address1 would include my city identifier so they could pass along that info to whatever courier is used for delivery. See, I gave the city in the example because I’m still fleshing out the ideas, and this is just freeform consciousness that I am just dropping to text. Please point out pitfalls.

    OK, so if Company1 is in Ottawa, they would use a local courier, like Courier1. The courier receives the shipment of 1 hockey puck for a local delivery to Bank1Human1 in Ottawa. The courier may already have an existing relationship with the destination person, and that’s fine. They are going to query the city for Bank1Human1’s delivery address. and deliver the package.

    So, needlessly complicated right?

    Bank1Human1 pays Company1 to send Human1 a hockey puck in Ottawa. Courier1 is tasked with delivering a puck to Bank1Human1 in Ottawa. Courier1 requests delivery address from Ottawa. Ottawa queries for the preferred delivery address of Bank1Human1 and provides it to Courier1.

    Now, did I buy a puck? Maybe, maybe not.

    Company1 knows a puck was in demand in Ottawa. They can take that to the marketers!

    There was a lot of trust involved and that’s fine, if there is a solid framework, then it can really get obfuscated, and nobody knowns nobody!

    Anyway, poke holes in this, I welcome the debate.

    Just know, that I want to be a number, change my mind.

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