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The 2014 Calgary Stampede

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Logo Credit: The Calgary Stampede Foundation 2014

Ah, the Calgary Stampede – When the population of Calgary increases by almost a million people for ten days of cowboy hats, deep-fried food and twangy country music.

Toted as ‘The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth,’ the Calgary Stampede does not disappoint. Held on the Stampede Grounds for 102 years, there are so many things to see and do. People come from literally all corners of the map to participate. Two of our favourite reasons to keep coming back: The Rodeo and The Midway (food and fast rides. What could go wrong?)

The temperature almost every day we went surpassed 30 degrees Celsius with only a few clouds to give us a well-wished break from the searing torment of the sun. If you don’t have something that closely-resembles sun stroke by the end of the day you’re not stampeding properly.

The Stampede always kicks off with a monstrous parade that blocks off most of downtown for hours. We got wise and went down to the parade route the night before to set (read, tape) chairs down in order to get front-row seats, went home for some excited ‘squee’s’ and a quick sleep before returning at 5:30 the next morning to defend our turf. The parade didn’t start for another four hours – Queue over-caffeination and screaming children.

When the parade did start, we had a really good time. Took lots of amazing pictures and got to wave at William Shatner, the Parade Marshall. You can check out the entire parade album on our Facebook Page.

Our main goal of visiting the grounds was to try all the wicked new food that had been posted on the Calgary Stampede website for months prior. We saddled up and headed down to the grounds. You can always tell when Stampede as the ratio of cowboy hats and boots goes up wherever you look – trains become more difficult to board and suddenly the view for shorter people like me turns into a sea of pressed felt and plaid.

There are so, so many things to do at the Calgary Stampede. I’ll be concentrating on food for this blog post. Sorry if you were looking for reviews on the rodeo and Super Dogs, but I’m sure there are lots of other blogs out there for you to imbibe.


Let’s get to it!

Red Velvet Mini Donughts

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Photo Credit: D. Koch 2014

I was really excited to try these little wonders. Everyone who we had talked to prior exclaimed how rich and dense they were. I’m a fan of true Waldorf red velvet cake which, due to food rationing during World War II, was coloured with boiled beet juices and was extremely moist and sticky.

These were neither moist nor sticky. We were handed a stick of doughnuts that looked suspiciously like regular mini-doughnuts and were assured ‘the red was inside’. Nope. No red. More like a light-tinted rose on the insides of them. The flavour: Less than that of a regular mini-doughnut with the only saving grace being the cream-cheese frosting they had dunked the entire stack into before we received them.

We still ate all of them. Why waste food?

Ranking: 1 out of 5 Cowboy Hats

   

Takeaways: Disappointing reality after reviews, no colour


Deep-Fried Cheezies

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Photo Credit: D. Koch 2014

What could go wrong? Oh, right – Everything. These looked and smelled delicious upon receiving them. Battered lightly with some pieces of that mystery green vegetable you find in instant soup broth. Things were going great until we took the first bite.

Did they mistake Cheezies for Styrofoam peanuts? These were horrible! I tried eating the breading from around the now rock-hard remains but the ‘cheeze’ in the Cheezie had melted, gone nuclear and created some sort of biome inside of the battered-atmosphere. It was like lighting an aerosol can of cheese on fire and devouring what’s left (don’t try this at home). At least the fried bits of dough on the bottom were tasty.

Ranking: 1 out of 5 Cowboy Hats

    

Takeaways: Alien environment contained by breading, styrofoam-like squeaking on my teeth


Deep-Fried Cookie Dough

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Photo Credit: D. Koch 2014

I was so happy to find the booth selling deep-fried cookie dough! Delicious little balls of sweet goodness dusted with confectioner’s sugar… until you bit into it and realized there was a molten mass that resembled a microwaved tube of Keebler Elves. The dough collapsed, my mouth, face and shirt were flooded with goo of all shades of brown and my only reaction was to cough powdered sugar all over everyone within a ten-foot radius. The dough was sweet and resembled a chocolate-chip cookie but the fact that the treat drooled all over the place after the breading was broken was a total ‘nope’ for us.

Ranking: 1 out of 5 Cowboy Hats

    

Takeaways: Brown goo, a new take on the ‘cinnamon challenge’ with confectioner’s sugar


Scorpion, Mealworm & Cricket Pizza

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Photo Credit: D. Koch 2014

Maybe I’m rating this higher than a 1 because I was really hungry (read, hangry). I’ve eaten bugs before on purpose; Candied grasshoppers and cockroaches, teriyaki scorpions and centipedes among other weird things so my expectation for the pizza was fairly positive. I ordered a slice for $10 (TEN DOLLARS!) and was greeted with mealworms standing up on their end, wingless crickets and one dilapidated scorpion. I don’t know what tasted foul, the cheese or the bugs. Everything was dry and dirt-flavoured. For ten bucks, you could at least put some bugs on a primo piece of pizza. The scorpion still had some substance, but the crickets and mealworms were so dry and hollow it was like biting into a stale chip filled with air. This is the only food I did not finish simply because I could have gotten better pizza from a garbage bin.

Ranking: 2 out of 5 Cowboy Hats

    

Takeaways: Tastelessness, legs stuck in my teeth, high price


Maple Bacon Doughnut Cheeseburger

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Photo Credit: D. Koch 2014

This was both fulfilling and disgusting all in one quick-serve meal. I’m one of those horrible Canadians who dislikes anything maple. This bad-boy was a cheeseburger with maple doughnuts acting as buns. The patty, cheese and bacon were all pretty tasty. The fact that the grease from the meat was melting away the maple glaze, creating a sticky coating of sweet/savoury that made my palate shriek with confusion and horror was enough to keep me from eating the entire thing. Thankfully I had two other members of my team to help. It was actually fairly comical how fast I requested a hand-washing station once we were through with the ‘burger’.

Ranking: 2 out of 5 Cowboy Hats

    

Takeaways: Maple, proximity of hand-washing station from food stall


Flower Cotton Candy

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Photo Credit: D. Koch 2014

Another high-priced item, ringing in at $10 for a whopping $0.10 of sugar, the remainder of the value was found in the labour (each piece took about five minutes to craft). I got to pick my colours and watched the master at work. They were using coloured brown sugar rather than white which gave the flower a very robust, deep flavour. The three of us destroyed the bloom in under a minute. R.I.P., cotton candy art.

Ranking: 3 out of 5 Cowboy Hats

    

Takeaways: Complexity, high price


Perogie Poutine

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Photo Credit: D. Koch 2014

Oh my gosh, perogies. This in itself is enough to get me intrigued. Smother them with fries, cheese curds and gravy? Where’s the wheelchair because I’m going to be too large to walk myself off the grounds. The perogies were pretty tasty, along with the sausage that was smothered in sour cream and gravy. The poutine portion itself was a tad disappointing. Poorly-cooked crinkle-cut fries, very little cheese and watery gravy lapped in the bottom of the cardboard tray after we had massacred the meal. I’d go back for a second one, just no fries please.

Ranking: 3 out of 5 Cowboy Hats

    

Takeaways: Limp fries, perogies in anything (mmm…)


Mini Doughnuts

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Photo Credit: D. Koch 2014

Ah yes mini doughnuts. A midway staple no matter where you are in North America. The company who technically invented these little treats and patented the machine they use graces us with their presence every year on the Stampede midway for $5 a dozen. Best use of money ever! They’re hot, sweet and greasy. A perfect balance of cake and crisp, fried outside. Everyone knows the smell of mini-doughnuts, I hope you don’t pass these up the next time you smell them.

Ranking: 4 out of 5 Cowboy Hats

    

Takeaways: Deliciousness, price, midway classic


Deep-Fried Macaroni & Cheese

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Photo Credit: D. Koch 2014

Triangles of Heaven is what these should be called. Delicious, piping hot macaroni and cheese breaded in fine crumb served with nothing but napkins. They’re not too saucy to be a mess but not too dry to be disappointing. We all burned our mouths on them though, so be careful because I’m pretty sure they’re baked in a nuclear reactor. They were pretty greasy, served in a tray of seven with four napkins. I used a napkin per and was still whining for another hand-wash station. If it wasn’t for the last entry, I would have gone back for a second order. Mmm cheese…

Ranking: 4 out of 5 Cowboy Hats

    

Takeaways: Perfect little triangles, brings me back to my college days, grease


Turkey Dinner Poutine

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Photo Credit: D. Koch 2014

Literally just like Grandma used to make. Delicious hand-cut fries, thick gravy, aromatic bread stuffing, real cranberries and a mound of juicy, well-seasoned turkey breast that reminded us of Christmas and Thanksgiving rolled into one takeaway container. This was another dish served directly from a volcano-oven, so we had to take turns playing ‘hot-potato’ with the container until it decided to cool down. (Side note: You don’t place your food down at the risk someone else will smell what’s cooking and approach asking to share). This had all the right herbs and spices, the fries were golden-brown and crisp, the gravy had an amazing fat ratio that made it stick to everything. Oh – and cheese curds! Hello.

Ranking: 5 out of 5 Leopard-Print Cowboy Hats (because why not)

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Takeaways: Turkey. Poutine. Cheese.


All in all, we spent a lot of money on food that would make any nutritionist have nightmares and cold-sweats. But it was totally worth it. My jeans are tighter now than ever and I’m proud of my Stampede Belly. Want to see our Food & Fun gallery? Check out the Facebook Album.

Tickets for the 2015 Calgary Stampede (July 3rd-12th) go on sale October 6th, 2014. Hope to see you, cowboys and cowgirls!

 *dk

eBilling – Easy as 1, 2, 3!

Wait! Who said you didn’t have super powers?! Whoever it is, go tell them off!
I’ll wait here!

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Seriously, though. You most definitely can do your part to make the world a better place. Heck! You’re probably already doing so! However, some of those many ways combine the useful with the pleasant. Take electronic billing for instance. Not only you get a notification through email as soon as your invoice is issued, but you also contribute to reduce the amount of paper in circulation. It’s somewhat like planting a tree with every electronic invoice you get. A green environment is a healthy environment! Hey! Put down that paintbrush and that green paint bucket! That’s not what I meant.

If we want to successfully make the world a greener place, we need to take the little details into account. After you sign up for electronic billing, you might want to have a personal account on our website. When we send your monthly billing summary via email, it is good practice for you to click the link to the detailed bill. That way you will be kept in the loop if we make any announcement. Besides, there are tons of things you will be able to do once you create an account online. Things like changing your programming, making a payment, viewing PDF versions of your invoices (those are very printer friendly), etc.

You can top it all off with an automatic withdrawal. The ways you can do this are literally endless. You can contact us to have it set up or… take a wild guess… Yup! You can also set up preauthorized payments through your personal account online. With instant invoice delivery via email, automatic payments through credit card or your bank account, the ability to manage your account online, all the power is yours.

Now you can simply sit back, relax, and let it all flow smoothly on its own. You can see more details here.  We thank you for your efforts towards a healthier environment.

By Rykselson H. A.

The 86th Academy Awards

 

The 85th Academy Awards® will air live on Oscar® Sunday, February 24, 2013.

The 86th Academy Awards aired Sunday, March 2nd on ABC and CTV (for us Canadians!). Getting nominated is simply an honor; receiving a coveted gold statuette is considered one of the greatest achievements in the industry! The 2014 Oscars were hosted by Ellen DeGeneres, known for her fabulous sense of humour and entertainment qualities – She broke Twitter for a short while with that selfie and ordered pizza for everyone. The night went on smoothly with performances, among others, from Pharrell Williams, Karen O and Idina Menzel (aka Adele Dazim, if you’re a slightly-off John Travolta).

The Oscars are organized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). Movies, actors and actresses, music scores, directors and other behind-the-scenes components are nominated into different categories and voted on by over 6,000 Academy members. You can learn more about the Oscars’ history right here.

Bottom line: What we care the most about these events are the winners, those who should have won (we’re looking at you, Leo), and how good-looking everyone was in their outfits! Take a look at the gentlemen here and the beautiful ladies here. They looked ever-so-glamorous during the ceremony, but also at the after party – Pictures galore here!

The complete list of nominees and winners can be found on the Oscars Site. Many of the nominated and winning movies are already available on Shaw Direct Pay-Per-View (channels 951-983) or Shaw Direct Video On Demand:

  • 12 Years a Slave: Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress (Lupita Nyong’o).
  • Dallas Buyers Club: Best Actor (Matthew McConaughey), Best Supporting Actor (Jared Leto).
  • Blue Jasmine: Best Actress (Cate Blanchett).
  • Frozen: Best Animated Feature.

If you wish to get more information on our Pay Per View or Video On Demand services, don’t hesitate to chat with a member of our eCare team via our Contact Us page, available 7 AM to 9 PM MT Monday to Friday, or contact our Social media team on Facebook or Twitter.

*Marie-Eve T.

Do you want to see more posts like this?


Golden Globe Awards – What Did You Miss?

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The Golden Globes were presented on Sunday, January 12 on NBC, and kicked off this year’s annual Awards season (with a February intermission for the Super Bowl and Olympics). Presented by Amy Poehler and Tina Fey, the best movies, series, music, actors, and actresses were nominated in different categories, the winners being voted by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

Here are some of the highlights:

You can find the list of this year’s nominees and winners here.

Five memorable moments, according to CBC can be found here. Emma Thompson was hilarious indeed!

The Golden Globes’ best jokes, as listed by EW are here. Amy and Tina did a great job this year again!

What we were really interested about: THE DRESSES! Here are slideshows from Entertainment Weekly and the Huffington Post, a list from Buzzfeed, and many more all over the internet. Jennifer Lawrence (American Hustle, The Hunger Games) is quickly becoming a meme with her Dior outfit, which is said to resemble Ariel’s dress in The Little Mermaid.

Many of these movies hit theaters in the last month or will be premiering in the weeks to come. They will eventually make their way to Pay Per View for those who prefer to enjoy movies at home. While you wait for them, why not take a look at the selection of series we offer through Shaw Direct On Demand? The Ray Donovan, Masters of Sex, Behind the Candelabra, Michael J. Fox Show, The Good Wife and other House of Lies are available and most free with your subscription to Shaw Direct (additional subscription to a movie premium might be required, depending on the show). If you wish to get more information about a subscription, don’t hesitate to chat with a member of our eCare team via our Chat feature, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. MT, Monday to Friday, or to contact our Social Media team on Facebook and Twitter.

*Marie-Eve T.

Bundling with Shaw

Interested in bundling your Shaw Direct satellite service with Shaw Internet and Shaw Home Phone? If you’re in a Shaw-serviceable region, you may be eligible to receive up to $15.00 off your services per month!

With Internet speeds up to 250 Mbps, access to thousands of complimentary Shaw Go WiFi sites,   free Shaw-to-Shaw calling, and the ability to check your home phone messages from any computer or mobile device, you simply can’t go wrong. Pair all of this with the most HD channels in Canada and 10,000 (and counting!) Shaw Direct On Demand titles, and you have a winning combination!

Not sure if you’re in a Shaw area? Check out Shaw’s website, and select your location up at the top of the page to see if Shaw Home Phone or Internet are available where you live.

If you’d like more details on this great bundle discount, call our One Shaw Care team at 1-855-237-8904!  They’re available from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday, and on Saturdays from 10:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.

If you don’t live in a Shaw area, you still may qualify for a discount on Internet with Xplornet. Find out more about this offer here.

*rg

The Shaw Fire Log

It’s that time of year again. A time for hot chocolate, woolly toques, building snowmen, and of course, the Shaw Fire Log.

You can enjoy it on channel 299 (in between regular programming), in HD on channel 955 (you’ll need a 600-series receiver), or on Shaw Direct On Demand. Can’t wait until you’re at home to bask in the warm glow of the fire log? Fear not: Today we introduce the Shaw Fire Log online, available exclusively on our Facebook page! Whether you’re on your laptop, tablet, or smartphone, you can see all of the ember-y goodness.

Did you know that the original televised fire log was on New York’s WPIX in 1966? It was inspired by an animated Coca Cola commercial that showed Santa in front of a fireplace. WPIX CEO Fred Thrower wanted the channel to be available to New Yorkers who lived in apartments or homes without fireplaces.

And, who can forget the hard-hitting feature The Daily Show did on the Shaw Fire Log?

Whether you’re curled up at home, or trying to stay warm on your morning commute, don’t miss out on the Shaw Fire Log.

*rg

Refer-a-Friend

Did you know that you can refer your friends or family members to Shaw Direct and receive a free month of service in return? With our Refer-a-Friend program, it’s simple!

If the person you refer opens an account with us and keeps it open for at least 60 days, we’ll cover your bill for one month. Do you have a bunch of people you’d like to refer to us? Go right ahead! For as many people you refer to us that sign up and stay for 60 days, we’ll give you the same number of free months. Pretty cool, right?

So, how does our Refer-a-Friend program work? All you have to do is fill out a form on our website. Once we have the information, we’ll take care of contacting your referral and getting them ready to go!

The day their equipment is installed and their service is turned on is the day the countdown to your free month begins. We automatically go through all of the referrals we receive, and assign the credit for your account once the 60-day period is up.

There are a few things to bear in mind with the Refer-a-Friend program:

–          Referrals can only be brand new customers, or former customers who have not had service for at least six months.

–          The programming credit is non-transferrable, so it can only be applied to your account. It also has no cash value.

–          The programming credit covers your base programming package (so, if you have Digital Favourites with a Take 2 added on, we’ll cover the cost of Digital Favourites only), and excludes applicable taxes.

–          In order to receive the credit, your account (the referrer) will need to be current with payments.

Have any questions about our Refer-a-Friend program, or anything else? Let us know in the comments!

*rg