Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - February 09, 2014, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE 1 MISS LONELYHEARTS MAUREEN SCURFIELD lovecoach@ hotmail. com WIRED Concerts J. P. Cormier West End Cultural Centre, 8 p. m. Tickets $ 17 at WECC, Ticketmaster. Vocal Ascent St. Peter's Anglican Church, community choir directed by Deborah McLeod, at 7: 30 p. m. Tickets $ 15 at 204- 488- 8093. Winnipeg Singers Crescent Fort Rouge United Church, 3 p. m. Icons and Incense IV: Music of the Orthodox Tradition . Tickets $ 10 to $ 25 at 204- 944- 9100. Theatre ChekhovFest 2014 Various venues, tickets $ 10 or $ 85 pass. Tickets at 204- 942- 6537, masterplaywrightfest. com. Chelsea Hotel The Songs of Leonard Cohen Prairie Theatre Exchange, tickets $ 26 to $ 47 at 204- 942- 5483, pte. mb. ca. The British Invasion Celebrations Dinner Theatre, to March 29, 5 p. m. Tickets $ 30.95 to $ 69.95 at 204- 982- 8282. Comedy Larry the Cable Guy Centennial Concert Hall, 7: 30 p. m. Git R Done Tour. Tickets $ 69 at Ticketmaster. Out & About Music ' N' Mavens Rady Jewish Community Centre, concert and lecture series, to March 13. Information and ticket prices at 204- 477- 7510, radyjcc. com. Arctic Glacier Winter Park The Forks, to March 31, ( weather permitting). Canopy skating rink, snowboard fun park, river trails, etc. Literary Dr. Guy McPherson McNally Robinson Booksellers, 2 p. m. in the atrium. Speaking and signing Going Dark . Nightclubs Finn's Pub ( 210- 25 Forks Market Rd.): Performance Anxiety Open Mic Comedy Night King's Head Pub & Eatery ( 120 King St.): All The Kings Men Palm Room ( Fort Garry Hotel): Farro Montanino Times Change( d) High & Lonesome Club ( Main St. & St. Mary Ave.): Jam hosted by Big Dave McLean THE LINEUP ENTERTAINMENT A15 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2014 INSTEAD of a messy whiteboard to keep track of chores, a fridge notebook to list groceries and a spreadsheet to track bills, make life easier for yourself and your roommates with HomeSlice, a free and cross- platform app. HomeSlice lets you create a room, set a password, and invite your roommates to join it. There are four main parts to the app. Supplies is for all the " items" you need, from milk and bread to toilet paper and dish soap. Slide the item left for a green flag to indicate the item is at home; slide right for a red flag to indicate missing. Bills, obviously, is where you track all the bills. For both Supplies and Bills, you can add an amount to specify how much you paid. The third option, Chores, doesn't let you add amounts but again, it's pretty self- explanatory. The " Whiteboard" is the fourth option and it acts like a dashboard, showing all the entries made by anyone in the house. You can sort the Whiteboard by category to filter the developments as well. In essence, the Whiteboard is the activity tracker while Supplies, Bills and Chores are lists. And of course, there's a handy chat option too. Being cross- platform is an important criterion for an app like this because not everyone in your house is going to be on Android or iOS. It ensures all your roommates will be using it and stay updated. Lifehacker. com App spotlight One hot device THE iGrillmini from iDevices is a slimmed- down version of the iGrill, an app- enabled Bluetooth meat thermometer. It measures an inch and a half rounded and sits in a rubber base that can be angled for easy viewing. A smart LED on top indicates when it's paired with a smartphone or tablet via Bluetooth 4 and flashes a ring of different colours for different temperature ranges. The hardware works with a free iOS app and Bluetooth 4 technology, giving you a range up to 45 metres. The app displays the temperature of your meat as it cooks and allows you to set alarms and custom temperatures along with a minimum and maximum temperature range required, depending on what's cooking. It has recipes and if, for some reason, you wish to share your cooking information on social media, there's a direct connection for that as well. Using the iGrillmini is simple; just plug one end of the included thermometer probe into whatever is being cooked, the other into the iGrillmini. Then watch the temperature until the meat needs to be flipped. The probe is attached to a 1.2- metre fireproof cable, which you can wind up for storage on the included probe wrap. It runs off a quarter sized CR2032 battery ( included) which should be good for about 150 hours of cooking. Details: $ 39.99; http:// idevicesinc. com/ igrill Obama's on the line RINGTONE Director is an app created by No Tie ( www. notiesoftware. com) to do something the iPhone and Siri don't - actually tell you who is calling. The app lets users create a ringtone to broadcast whatever you type in, from more than 50 text- to- speech voices. This includes talking caller ID for incoming phone calls, email, alarm clocks, text messages and more. According to No Tie, the popularity of the app has resulted in users creating more than seven million custom talking ringtones using the variety of text- tospeech voices. The app recently added the classic voice of Apple's Siri, which is called Appy ( for legal reasons, I'm told). You can share ringtones with friends, which will work on different platforms including the unthinkable of having the voice of Apple's Siri announcing a call on an Android phone. In a recent email the company pointed out that " The ' uncensored' nature is appealing as well, leading to many ringtone scripts that cannot be printed here." For the politically correct calls, there's the Ringtone Director Presidential Edition to create talking ringtones using U. S. President Obama's and president ( George W.) Bush's voices. Ringtones Euro is loaded with more than a dozen European voices, including French, German, Italian, Russian and Spanish. In addition to iOS, the app is available for Android, Black- Berry, and Windows Phone devices. Details: 99 cents each; the Presidential Edition is free until Feb. 21; http:// ringtonedirector. com For listening to your gold records I haven't tested this - and you'll see why - so I'll have to take the company's word that Happy Plugs 18- carat solid gold headphones, created for those who like luxury, sound great at $ 14,500. The functional jewelry takes five weeks to produce and is individually handcrafted by a Swedish goldsmith in Stockholm. The earplugs are formed by pouring 25 grams of solid gold into a mold. For that low, low price it even includes an in- line mic for handsfree calling and music controls along with speakers for both ears. A 3.5mm connection at the cord's end makes them compatible with most any portable device. Plus, you even get a user manual - making it well worth the splurge. Details: www. happyplugs. com Compiled by GREGG ELLMAN Twitter. com/ greggellman DEAR MISS LONELYHEARTS: I'm a 31- year- old female and have been dating a really great guy, who's about my age, for five months. I'm quite happy, except it's starting to bother me I haven't met any of his friends, nor has he met mine. He is open to meeting my friends and I have invited him to various get- togethers, though he hasn't been able to attend any due to his rigorous work schedule. I have not been invited to anything involving his friends. He mentions this or that event or person or group of people, including names and details about how much fun it's going to be, but the invitation to me is never extended. Tonight when we were making plans for the weekend he said, " I'm supposed to have plans with friends Friday or Saturday, not sure yet. But whatever night that is, I'll see you on the opposite night." He is actually making it obvious now that I am a separate part of his social life and I can't understand why. I don't know if he is embarrassed about me, even though I can't think why, as I am a normal person with a career, house and hobbies, nothing to be ashamed of. I think we should be at a point in our relationship where we are socializing with each other's friends. How do I bring this up without sounding petty, jealous, psychotic or any other negative thing? Am I right to be upset or am I overreacting? - Invisible Woman, Windsor Park Dear Invisible: If this guy is so busy with work he can't accept an invitation to see your friends, where is he getting so much time to see his friends? A guy who is falling for a woman wants to show her off to his friends and family within the first weeks or couple of months. It sounds like he doesn't see this relationship as a keeper, so he can't be bothered to get anyone else involved. Either that, or he has another girlfriend that all his friends know. Curious sorts would argue it's time to put on your Sherlock hat and find out what he's up to. Others would say it's enough to call an end to this, after the insulting offer he just made to you - you get the time that's left over, after seeing his " friends." He might has well have said, " Honey, you come second." As long as you don't know his friends personally, you can't check up on him, and you also don't know if one of those friends is his other girlfriend. Dear Miss Lonelyhearts: My confidence has crumbled in a heap. My boyfriend and I had too much to drink and decided to play truth or dare. One of the truths he told me was he doesn't really like my body. When asked him why, he drunkenly said " It's too, uh, lumpy. but I love you anyway! Now I don't want to get undressed in front of him or have sex with him. He says I'm overreacting and being too sensitive. Last night he asked why we hadn't had sex in two weeks. I opened my mouth and this came flying out: " Because you don't excite me any more. You're too small!" He said, " That was dirty payback." Then he walked out the door and hasn't called or texted since. Is it over? - Lumpy, West End Dear Lumpy: That should do it. There are lines you can cross in a relationship where you just can't get back. The lumpy word has stung you so deeply you're even signing yourself that way. Telling him he's small - and we know exactly what you meant by that - will have wounded him deeply. Saying you're sorry doesn't obliterate the insults you have hurt each other with, and it sounds like you're young and can start fresh elsewhere, with a check on both of your tongues and your liquor consumption. Dear Miss Lonelyhearts: I'm so hungry I can hardly stand it, all the time. I'm on a strict diet for my diabetes and I crave sugar constantly. I can't take a lot of those fake sugars in the diet candies because they make me run to the bathroom. I waste a lot of time eating other stuff instead of sugars, and don't get the sweet taste I want so badly. - Crazy For Sugar, Winnipeg Dear Sugar: Just because you're diabetic doesn't mean you should be constantly hungry and jonesing for sugar all day. You need the services of a dietitian to address your nutritional needs - and your desire for comfort food. Ask you doctor for a reference to a reputable one. If you're looking for a natural sugar, Stevia comes from a plant and doesn't have an aftertaste. There are even soft drinks made from it now, called Zevia, available in the big- box grocery stores and some health- food stores, plus you can buy it in packets for coffee, and boxes for baking. Talk to a dietitian ASAP, so you don't start sneaking chocolate bars for big hits and doing harm to your body. Hmm. Have you been doing that already? Usually a person's craving for sugary treats dies down after a week or two of being off them. Please send your questions or comments c/ o lovecoach@ hotmail. com or mail letters to Miss Lonelyhearts c/ o Winnipeg Free Press, 1355 Mountain Ave., Winnipeg R2X 3B6 There's no good reason for guy to keep you away from his friends A_ 15_ Feb- 09- 14_ FP_ 01. indd 1 2/ 8/ 14 6: 12: 40 PM ;