fuZion
Shiraz-Malbec
Mendoza, Argentina, 2007

Recently, the Argentinian shiraz-malbec, fuzion, has been causing quite the stir. It’s simple note, not too fruity, and dry aftertaste has made this wine a great casual drinking wine, especially at a price of only $7.25.

I’ve heard and read about this wine that I decided to try this out for myself. Not surprisingly, the wine was sold out at almost every single LCBO store that I phoned. Even calling their info. line, the person told me that this was one wine that has been so popular that it is immediately sold out as soon as it comes in stock.

He recommended I try the store in the Atrium in downtown Toronto. So I tired my luck and phoned them. Surprisingly, the voice on the other end said, “yes, we have lots of them.”

Without hesitation, I made my way downtown after work, even calling my brother that it was available here.

Being the Christmas season, I figured I would need some good wine at upcoming dinner parties. I bought 6 bottles of fuZion that night and decided to use it sparingly. Not even knowing what this wine tastes like, I was sure I wouldn’t be disappointed with this when it came time for me to taste it myself.

A few days ago, I decided to open up a bottle; after all, what good is bringing a bottle of wine to a party if you don’t even know how it tastes like!

I took out my rabbit bottle opener getting ready to open the wine, only shortly after noticing that this was a twist top bottle of wine. Ooh, how unwine-like.

After my first sip, I was mildly impressed. With an unsophisticated taste, a slight fruity aroma, and dry aftertaste, this was one wine that could be easily drank. Hmm… I thought. I suppose this is an OK wine at $7.25 a bottle.

The true surprise of this fuZion wine was not found on the first sip. I left the bottle sitting on my kitchen table for the next few days. On the fourth day after opening the bottle, I decided to have some more. What I had sipped that evening was not the same as what I had the day I opened it. In fact, it was better. Much better.

With a more robust aroma, and flavour to the palette, this wine had matured incredibly into a more lively and wonderfully entertaining beverage. This was now definitely worth the $7.25 price tag, and much more.

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I went to a coworker’s wedding this past weekend. It was held at the Doubletree hotel and conference plaza. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the red wine of choice per table was this fuZion shiraz-malbec. What an ingenious wine to serve at an event. At such an inexpensive price tag, and great flavour, this was a perfect wine to use at any event.

So if you ever get your hands on the 2007 fuZion Shiraz-Malbec, from Mendoza, Argentina, open it, take a couple of glasses of it, and store it away for another couple days. The flavour matures and you get a much more satisfying wine out of this bottle.

LOL…

On my way home from work today, I got a rather unusual phone call. The phone call, coming from a RESTRICTED phone number, started off by an Indian-accented gentleman, very eager to make an appointment with me, telling me that I my ballot with my phone number was chosen, and that I was guaranteed to win one of four prizes: a TV, an all inclusive trip for two, $1500 cash, and another prize. All I had to do was to come down to their gift pickup centre to choose a prize.

Simple enough, and sounds great! But wait. I don’t recall ever filling in a ballot anywhere.

He continued to ask me questions by telling me that he had to confirm the information that was written on the ballot:
“Are you aged between 27-59?”
“You are coupled?” - meaning, I had a spouse, a partner or whomever
“Your total net household income is greater than $50k?”

He was quite persistent in trying to make me come to the gift pickup centre as he told me that I had to make an appointment in order to come in. Hours were Tuesday-Thursday, 6pm or 8pm. Saturdays and Sundays at 10:45am, 12:45pm, or 2:45pm.

I told him I didn’t know my partner’s schedule so I would have to confirm later. He said, ok, that’s fine, and that he will call me back tomorrow at the same time. He then asked to confirm my name. I thought it a bit strange that he would ask. I asked him, “isn’t my name written on the ballot?” To which he replied, “yes, the ballot information is on my laptop and I closed it in order to have a more detailed conversation with you.”

Whatever. So we hung up.

Later that evening, I googled the phone number, and name that he gave me for contact information. Sure enough, a few entries came in with all signs pointing to the fact that this was a scam operation, trying to target women, and/or trying to make unauthorized long distance charges by making you answer, “YES” to any one of his questions.

After telling this story to my HN, she laughed at me surprised that I stayed on the phone for so long listening to a joker like him. At the very least, it entertained me during my commute home, and made it seem that much shorter.

You can bet that he will call again tomorrow, trying to make an appointment. HN tells me to simply ignore the calls and don’t answer it no matter how often he calls. I really wanted to do something else, but for security purposes I suppose I should just go the safe way and ignore all calls.

If you ever get a phone call similar to the above, don’t even think twice about going any further and simply hang up the call, even if it is in mid-sentence.

Hopefully I’ll be able to get rid of him with relative ease as I’ve read some stories online where people had hard times with these guys.

After all of this, it turns out I’m more of a loser than a winner.

You learn a few interesting things by watching Breakfast Television in the mornings. Just the other day they informed me of this website: www.bedbugregistry.com. The site essentially lists, by geographical location, if your apartment or abode has been infected by the notorious bed bugs.

Recently in Toronto, there have been an overwhelming number of incidents affecting residences of all ages. The city plans on targeting residences who otherwise can not handle the task of eliminating these critters due to their physical conditions. The rest of the city can fight for themselves apparently.

In any case, I went to this site out of curiosity and although I was frightened to find out whether my apartment was listed or not, I took a breath and searched for it. Entering the address in the field, it came out with a result of: There are no bedbug encounters on record for this address.

With a huge sigh of relief, I was happy to see that I was living in a clean place… besides the other critters that lurch around every corner of this apartment, that is.

The reason for the sudden increase in the number of bed bugs is that the city made the decision to change the method of attacking these common critters. While previous methods targeted the likes of cockroaches, bed bugs, and other creepy crawlers, the new method targets cockroaches but lets the bed bugs inside. What a shame… you have to wonder why the change in the first place. To save a little bit of money for the city, perhaps? I would gather treating the aftermath would cost more money!

Is your place clean? Go check it out. Just remember, you won’t be invited into my apartment should you find yours infected!