Author: Dan Dickinson

I'm a real Torontonian now

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I’m a little sore right now.

This morning I had to take a cab to a meeting north of the city. As we drove east on Adelaide, moving at a pretty good clip, we approached the light at Parliament. I could see that it was red, but we were driving like it was green. I don’t think the cabbie clued in; around the time that I started to say, “Hey, that light…” a dump truck came into view, heading south into the same intersection that we were about to cruise into. The cabbie jammed on the brakes and tried to curl left around the truck, but he didn’t quite make it. The cab slammed into the truck’s rear tires.

I had plenty of warning; I clearly figured out that the red-light situation before the driver did. I had lots of time to brace, and we were probably only doing 30km/h or so by the time we hit the truck, but I still went into the seat belt pretty hard. Fortunately I didn’t hit my head on anything, and didn’t feel whiplash-y at all. It didn’t even freak me out all that much; I just angrily told the cabbie (who was fine, but clearly a little disoriented) to call dispatch and send me another cab. The front end was pretty much trashed. I crossed the street to the south side and talked to the truck driver. He was fine, obviously, and so was his truck. He was just annoyed at being held up with the accident report. Anyway, I still had to get to my meeting, so I climbed in the replacement taxi and headed north.

Midway through the day some soreness started to set in. No muscular pain or pinched-nerve feeling (which is something that would worry me), just some soreness through my shoulder and chest muscles. Really, it just feels like I lifted a whole bunch of weight all at once, from tensing up and bracing like that. My boss sent me home from the meeting early; I decided against a sitting in the chairs at a walk-in clinic (or even Advil) and just laid down for a while to straighten out. Felt fine after an hour. My back hurts a little now, but I actually think that’s ’cause I don’t have my new chair adjusted properly yet.

Anyway, I guess being in a minor accident makes me just a little more Torontonian, even if I wasn’t driving. Thanks, Beck Taxi #725.

[tags]beck taxi, accident, adelaide, parliament, dump truck[/tags]

If there were a market for sleep, I'd be a buyer

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I’m tired. More tired than I should be. We went out for dinner last night with my old friend CBJ and his wife. They swung by to see our new place first, then we supped at beerbistro. We weren’t out that late, but I just couldn’t get my ass in gear today. I’m feeling awfully lazy and run-down. Apart from taking out the recycling and starting some laundry the most ambitious thing I did today was watch Jaws. Nellie, however, went to the One Of A Kind Show with CB; now that they’re home GB will come over to join us and we’ll watch the new Battlestar Galactica movie.

Oh yeah:  an hour ago the Snowbirds were flying around over Lake Ontario, and they actually swung around right in front of us…closer than the air show planes in the summer. I guess they’re here because it’s Grey Cup Sunday.

[tags]beerbistro, jaws, one of a kind show, battlestar galactica razor, snowbirds, lake ontatio[/tags]

Seven lean years…

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Thanks, Stephen Harper. Way to improve our image on the national stage.

MUNYONYO, Uganda – Canada appears to have got its way at Commonwealth talks on climate change.

The 53-member organization has produced an agreement stripped of any reference to binding targets for greenhouse gas emissions.

Canada and Australia had been the lone holdouts against an earlier resolution that would have included such targets – and the Australian government has just been defeated in an election.

.:.

The home improvement continues. Last night we picked up the framed poster that we bought in Paris (well…saw at a restaurant in paris, ordered here at home and had framed down the street) and hung it on the wall. The drill we bought finally came in handy; this sucker’s about 36″x48″ so we needed to sink some screws into the studs. We moved around some other picture, put up some shelves, through out some old pictures…it’s like we’re moving again.

Today we dropped a bunch of stuff at Goodwill, then picked up a counter-height dining table (which Nellie’s being eying for about a year) and a Herman Miller Aeron chair (which I’ve wanted since about 1999). My ass is firmly planted in it as I type this and I think it might just be the best thing I’ve ever bought.

Next up were some new chairs; a place just down the street had some that we liked so we ordered them in for next week. Time to get rid of that old cushy beige one and get some grown-up chairs. We bought some frames for our  diplomas too; after nine years I guess Nellie figures it’s time to hang hers up.

Now Nellie’s off shopping for a dress for my company’s xmas party next weekend, while I unpack the new stuff and wait for the cleaning service to finish up. It’s been a busy 20 hours!

I think we’re going through this mad decoration phase for two reasons: first, we’re entertaining tonight and next Saturday, which gives us some incentive to finally do something; we’d been too busy and complacent after moving in to finish everything off. Second, we went years without buying any new furniture, or painting, or hanging new art, because we were waiting for the condo to be built. I’ve been sitting on the same $40 office chair since my fourth year of university, so I don’t mind dropping the dough for an Aeron to make up for the 11 years of sore-ass.

[tags]canada, commonwealth talks, climate change, stephen harper, condo decorating, herman miller, aeron[/tags]

Aren't book-banning parents becoming tired of being clichés?

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Dear Halton Catholic school board: why would you think that the best example to set for your children would be one of ignorance, censorship and religious intolerance?

Halton’s Catholic board has pulled The Golden Compass fantasy book – soon to be a Hollywood blockbuster starring Nicole Kidman – off school library shelves because of a complaint.

“(The complaint) came out of interviews that [author] Philip Pullman had done, where he stated that he is an atheist and that he supports that,” said Scott Millard, the board’s manager of library services.

I say it’ll be back on shelves in less than a week. Takers?

[tags]halton catholic school board, book banning, golden compass[/tags]

The only day of the hockey season that I don't hate Boston

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I got home from work late and I still have to read 25 pages of corporate finance, so tonight’s a link dump night:

.:.

This story makes me feel good each November: every year the people of Nova Scotia send a giant Christmas tree to the city of Boston. They do this in perpetual thanks to Boston for sending doctors and medical supplies to Halifax after the Halifax explosion in 1917. However, what I didn’t know until today (thanks, Wikipedia) is that this annual gifting didn’t start until 1971. Not sure why it took 54 years for the tradition to begin. Anyway, it just warms the cockles of my heart. Thanks Boston.

Oh, and thanks for beating the Leafs last night too.

[tags]jellyfish, giant scorpions, edgar bronfman, music industry, cristobal huet, chris higgins, nova scotia, boston, christmas tree, halifax explosion, bruins, maple leafs[/tags]

I wonder how it would handle DeSagana Diop?

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Closed captions are funny. Sometimes when I’m studying I mute the TV, and the captions come on automatically. A minute ago I saw a basketball highlight, Tony Parker passing the ball to Manu Ginobli under the net for a layup. However, the speech-to-text software (or maybe it’s still humans?) must’ve been confused by the Argentinian name ’cause the caption read “Parker to a monitor nobly.” Apparently Philip K. Dick was calling the game tonight.

.:.

Dylan Reid at Spacing Magazine published what must surely be the definitive guide to the rules governing pedestrians crossing mid-block in Toronto. I specifically avoided using the term “jaywalking” as it suggests an infraction and, as Mr. Reid points out, it’s simply not illegal to walk across the street in Toronto.

It is legal for pedestrians to cross the street mid-block anywhere in Toronto as long as:

a) they are not adjacent to a marked pedestrian crossing, and

b) they yield to traffic.

This legal situation is a combination of Ontario law, through the Highway Traffic Act, and City of Toronto by-laws.

I like this. I cross the street away from crosswalks all the time, and I occasionally even do it right in front of a police car, but I assume I’d never gotten a ticket because the police were too busy with more important matters. Turns out I’m not doing anything wrong. It’s not even very dangerous; I’m very careful about crossing mid-block, and any Toronto pedestrian knows that drivers in this city treat crosswalks as loose recommendations, so it’s not like crossing there offers safety.

.:.

Today Nellie did something that made my very happy. She booked the linchpin in our spring trip: two nights at Lake O’Hara Lodge, high up in the mountains of Yoho National Park. We hiked there last year (description | pictures), but we had to take a bus up the mountain at 10 and down at 4. This way we can get a full two or three days of hiking up there. Plus, just look at the view!! Whatever else comes of the trip I’m happy. I’d fly to Calgary just for that.

By the way, it might seem like we’re booking obsessively early (we’re not going until late June) but this place fills up fast. They started taking reservations yesterday and by today they were nearly sold out for all of next season.

[tags]closed captioning, manu ginobli, jaywalking in toronto, crossing midblock, spacing magazine, lake o’hara, yoho national park[/tags]

God help him if he'd brought I Married A Communist

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In reaction to this story in The Independent…

In a world where terrorists can strike anytime, anywhere, eternal vigilance is a must. This is why we must applaud the initiative of a Cairns, Australia, bouncer who, according to this story in The Independent, kicked a man out of a pub for reading Richard Flanagan’s novel The Unknown Terrorist. (The novel, by the way, is about a woman who is wrongly identified as a terrorist.)

…the Quill & Quire looks for other books that bouncers should be on the lookout for. Funny.

[tags]quill and quire, richard flanagan, unknown terrorist[/tags]

Maybe I should invite a personal trainer over next

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Nothing like hosting a few social gatherings to put our asses in gear. After painting last weekend we spent this weekend acquiring new lighting and hanging pictures. It’s actually starting to look like someone lives here.

.:.

Yesterday, when I called No Country For Old Men one of the best movies I’ve seen all year, it got me thinking…what other 2007 films did I see that were good? It’s hard to think back to January…fortunately I keep my feathers numbered a database for just such an emergency.

The five best I’ve seen this year would probably be The Bourne Ultimatum, Gone Baby Gone, Superbad, Zodiac and, of course, No Country For Old Men. I saw others that were pretty good, but those are the ones I’d consider really good films. I was about to say that it seems like a pretty light year, but I guess I haven’t seen any of The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford, Control, The Darjeeling Limited, Eastern Promises, Inland Empire, Into The Wild, Iraq In Fragments, The Kingdom, Lars And The Real Girl, The Lookout, Michael Clayton, Once, Sicko, This Is England or We Own The Night yet. So I’ll get back to you.

[tags]condo decorating, no country for old men, best films of 2007, bourne ultimatum, gone baby gone, superbad, zodiac[/tags]

"It's been traveling twenty-two years to get here. And now it's here."

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The sun was almost piercing this morning when it first came up. Came right through the blind at me.

.:.

Last night Nellie and I went to see No Country For Old Men (imdb | rotten tomatoes) at the Varsity. My god, what a movie. Probably the best I’ve seen all year. The writing — adapted very closely from the novel, I’m told by a co-worker who read it — was incredible. It was tense and engaging and funny in that Coen Brothers way.

It was also brutal. Very, very brutal; if you’re the kind of person who’s uneasy about film violence, you might choose to avoid it, but man…the characters and scenes evoked by this film are just unforgettable. I’m fairly certain my next nightmare will feature Javier Bardem in a pageboy haircut. If you can take the violence* and you generally appreciate Coen Brothers films then I can’t recommend the movie enough.

Ooh…before the film started we saw the trailer for There Will Be Blood, the new Paul Thomas Anderson film starring Daniel Day-Lewis. While it’s not a horror film, the preview could best be described as chilling.

* Comparing it to other films, I’d say it’s more violent than The Departed; maybe more like A History Of Violence.

.:.

We bought a laser level / stud finder this morning. I figure this makes me about 3% more domestic than I was yesterday.

[tags]toronto sunrise, no country for old men, there will be blood, javier bardem, coen brothers, laser level stud finder[/tags]

Starter this, you GoDork

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I had my eyes checked today for the first time since I was…I don’t know, maybe 12? I’d probably have to ask my mother.

Anyway, it turns out my eyes are still primo quality. I did all the little tests and he told me that, barring any accidents, my vision should be fine for at least another ten years. I was actually a tiny bit surprised; I figured that 28 years of looking at computer screens had probably taken a toll on my eyes. Then again, neither of my brothers wear glasses, and they’re both older than me. I guess we should thank our parents for making us eat all those carrots as a kid…

.:.

Some music-related goodies for you:

  • Download this Rebekah Higgs song. It’s the catchiest thing I’ve heard in weeks. Oh, and…girlfriend du jour. [via Chromewaves]
  • For a while now Carrie Brownstein, of the late lamented Sleater-Kinney (one of the very few great rock bands to go out at their peak) has been blogging for NPR. It’s been a good read so far. She even made with the funny today. Check out the blog.
  • Download this Mogwai cover of The Pixies’ “Gouge Away”. It’s about six different kinds of good. There’s just something sublimely menacing about Black Francis lyrics sung with a Glaswegian accent. [via Stereogum]

.:.

The Toronto Star threw together a very sloppy piece today about the condo boom. The piece is subtitled “As the cost of homes skyrocket, more prospective homebuyers are giving up dreams of bungalows with white picket fences and are seeking alternatives,” but nothing in the piece supports this notion. There are tons of stats about how many condos are being sold, but apart from two anecdotal stories there’s no research to suggest this is why people are buying condos.

I own a condo. I know other people who own condos. I’ve never, ever spoken to someone who really wanted a house but just couldn’t afford one and, in desperation, bought a condo instead. I’m sure lots of people want to own a house and still be downtown, but when that doesn’t work out they don’t sulk and buy a condo. They move to Whitby. The condo owners I know bought one because they want to be downtown. They want ten minutes on the subway instead of 90 minutes on the 401. They don’t want to shovel walks and prune dead branches. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with living way out there (though it’s clearly not for me); the people who really want a house are willing to do it, and good on them. It’s exactly my point.

Condos aren’t low-priced substitutes for expensive houses. The suburbs are. Unfortunately the Star perpetuated that myth without backing it up, which means I’ll have to put up with the occasional condescending remark from a suburbanite (e.g., “Oh, well, everybody needs a starter home!”) when I mention I live in a condo.

[tags]eye test, rebekah higgs, girlfriend du jour, carrie brownstein, mogwai, pixies, gouge away, toronto condos[/tags]