That up there, that’s the rainbow after the storm a few days ago.
.:.
I got 3 good hours of work done on my paper, ran 3 miles and had a great dinner (courtesy of Nellie). It was a good second half to the day. I needed it.
[tags]rainbow[/tags]
Category: Toronto
The gathering storm
A thunderstorm rolled in over Toronto in the early evening. It came in over the lake, providing this awesome contrast. There was crazy lightning too, as well as a giant rainbow (picture to come another time).
By the time, the title is also the name of a Godspeed You! Black Emperor song. Well, part of a 20-minute song called “Storm”. You should really download it. It’s brilliant.
[tags]toronto, thunderstorm, godspeed you black emperor[/tags]
2 down, 17 to go
Nellie took this last weekend. It was such a perfect view of the full moon on the inner harbour that we sat on the balcony, had a drink and just stared at it. You can click on the picture for more sizes.
.:.
Fatblogging check in #1:
- Original weight: 233
- Weight this week: 231
Mild success. About what I expected, considering I had two veggie burgers and half a pizza in the span of 24 hours this weekend. As my friend Joe pointed out, if I can lose 2 pounds a week for 9 weeks I’ll be doing pretty well. To that end, I just got back from another 2.5 mile run. I’ll keep going at this easy clip for maybe another week or so, then I need to push it. As it is I’m running those 2.5 miles in ~27 minutes and not even breathing hard, so I either need to speed it up or add a second exercise (we have a 30-minute limit on our treadmills). I think I have a jump rope around here somewhere…
[tags]toronto, full moon, harbour, fatblogging[/tags]
If you're depressed and have ADD and you know it, download these (and clap your hands)
If you’re in need of a song that’s less than two minutes in length and guaranteed to put you in a good mood, here it is: “Quito” by The Mountain Goats.
Ah shit, I’m feeling generous. Here’s another: “Half-Empty Halls” by The Evaporators.
You’re welcome.
.:.
Nellie’s away for the night, and part of tomorrow. I lazed around for a bit, did some errands, went to the Nike store (as I was paying I realized Jason Spezza was standing next to me, buying a stack of stuff as tall as my wife), went for a run, ordered some pizza, watched JFK (just ’cause), cleaned up and am now listening to music at a volume that seems to frighten the cats.
.:.
I needed a drink last night after work, so we met up with CBGB and a friend at The Auld Spot. The veggie burger was extra tasty, the beer was cold, the waitress was hot and the conversation was lively. It was just what I needed to ease into the weekend.
.:.
As of today I am 5/7 of the way through my MBA.
Aweso.
.:.
Two cool bits of news courtesy of the two best Toronto-centric blogs: Torontoist points to the new and improved driving directions on Google Maps (which is very helpful if you’ve ever tried plotting a scenic route) as well as a neat little mashup called Taxiwiz that predicts your Toronto cab fare. BlogTO, on the other hand, discusses the recent decision that permits street vendors to sell more than hot dogs.
.:.
Finally, I leave you with this hilarious little comic my friend Dino sent me.
[tags]mountain goats, evaporators, nike store, jason spezza, auld spot, fun with fractions, torontoist, blogto, taxiwiz, google maps, vegetarian zombies[/tags]
Happy Canada Day!
What a nice weekend so far. Yesterday Nellie and I slept in a bit, then got up and went back to our old neighbourhood to have some breakfast at Eggstasy and buy some new a/v-related furniture (stands for my side & rear channel speakers, and a new TV/component stand) at Bay Bloor. It was a beautiful day, and one of the first we’ve had in a long time to just spend at our leisure. We ran a few more errands, chilled at home for a bit and went to Fieramosca for dinner with Nellie’s mom and her boyfriend. When we got home the full moon and the wind created an amazing effect on the lake, so we sat outside (despite the cold wind) before heading to bed.
Slept in once again this morning before finding some brunch at the Irish Embassy — I was craving fish and chips, of all things — and saying goodbye to Nellie’s mom. Since then we’ve been trying to muster the energy to finish putting together the TV stand and set it all up, but have been unsuccessful so far.
.:.
According to Gothamist, the Copacabana is closing. This truly is the end of an era in Manhatt…wait a second. The fucking Copacabana is still open?
[tags]canada day, eggstasy, bay bloor radio, irish embassy, toronto, copacabana[/tags]
The best defense against ribs
Normally after I write an exam I’d just come home and crash, but today I had things to do. I dropped my stuff and went up to the office; I wanted to get moved into my desk so I could hit the ground running Tuesday morning. I shared a brownie with T-Bone, caught up on some email, waited for Nellie so I could show her my new floor and then headed home. On the way I bumped into two of my classmates on Bloor; they’re hanging around the city for the weekend. Now I’m home, catching up on a bunch of stuff, waiting for Nellie and her mom (who’s visiting) to make pizza. Tomorrow, when I have more energy we’ll visit the Distillery District.
.:.
If I lived in London today, I’d buy one of these t-shirts.
.:.
Thank goodness the Toronto Ribfest has moved out to Centennial Park (wherever the hell that is). I don’t think I could bear to have it just around the corner on Front Street this year.
[tags]keep calm and carry on, london bomb, toronto ribfest[/tags]
Can one glamp in Central Park?
This is my favourite time of night. Not day, but not night yet either. That’s St. James Cathedral, by the way. It’s the structure that inspired my building.
.:.
Apparently I’m even further behind the time than JR, ’cause I’d never heard of glamping either. But I like the sound of it. Someone needs to make a canoe with a Bang & Olufsen stereo in it. I’m also in the market for an inflatable 5-star bathroom.
.:.
Porter is now cleared to fly to New York. Well, Newark airport, but close enough.
Montreal, Ottawa, Halifax, and now New York; I may never fly from Pearson again. Uh, until September when I got to Europe.
[tags]st james cathedral, glamping, porter air[/tags]
Is 36,000 BTUs enough to cook eggplant?
It’s been a busy weekend. Yesterday we got up early, went to St. Lawrence Market to pick up some shrimp and scallops and fruit, ran a few errands, picked up some shirts we ordered from American Apparel, did some work (schoolwork, in my case) and went over to CBGB’s place for a barbeque. The barbeque fun didn’t stop there; we zipped around the corner to Home Depot and ordered a barbeque of our own: this one by Vermont Castings [pictured at right].
.:.
The party at CBGB’s (in belated honor of GB’s birthday) was a lot of fun…a packed front porch followed by a packed backyard patio, great food, cold beer, many laughs, and a slight overindulgence in the desserts. What’s better than that?
.:.
Today’s been great so far too: I slept in until 9:00 (the cats practically kicked me off the bed after that), got up, read the paper, went out to find some breakfast and came back raving about the perfect weather: it was warm but not hot, and breezy enough to keep the smog off. I collected Nellie and we headed off on a stroll to the Distillery District. We had a peek in a few galleries, stopped at the Mill Street Brew Pub for some brunch, got some amazing chocolate at Soma and wandered home along the Esplanade, popping up to Front Street so that we could see all the dogs at Woofstock. Now, sadly, it’s back to reality as Nellie has to work all day and I’m catching up on a bunch of stuff. It was a great way to spend a Sunday morning though…
.:.
My comment spam problem is getting worse and worse. Most of you never see it (unless you subscribe to my comment feed) because the comments are buried in old posts, and the vast majority of it gets caught, but when you get 1300/day a few are bound to slip past my spam filter. What does slip past is often very nasty too, so if you’re reading the comments and you see unpleasantness, I apoligize.
[tags]st. lawrence market, american apparel, home depot, vermont castings, distillery district, mill street brew pub, soma chocolate, woofstock, comment spam, akismet[/tags]
I wonder how her husband feels about that
Today is my friend Marney’s birthday. Today is also Old Maid’s Day. I’m sure those two things are just coincidence.
.:.
Sad, Rebecca Eckler, sad. Only someone deep in the throes of hubris could think that someone stole the plot of Knocked Up from them. Quill & Quire offers their own take on the [ahem] story:
“A warning to comedy writers out there: if you’re working on a gag in which someone has to buy something embarrassing at the supermarket and the cashier calls for a price check on the store PA system, you better make sure Eckler hasn’t used that one – if she has, she’ll think you nicked it from her.”
Tee hee.
.:.
For the sake of my blood pressure, Christopher Hume needs to stop writing articles like this one about the Toronto waterfront.
[tags]old maid’s day, rebecca eckler, christopher hume, toronto waterfront[/tags]
Fire in the sky & day 2 of mesh07
Ummm…what the hell is going on over there? And what’s going on with the moon?
.:.
Today was day 2 of mesh, led off by keynotes Richard Edelman (consensus: kind of boring, but eminently quotable…which is about right since he runs a huge PR firm) and Jim Buckmaster, CEO of Craigslist (consensus: half of the people in the room thought this dude was an alien, since he seems to care little for the profit motive, and a lot about the ways his company runs is antithetical to established business doctrine. Me, I wanted to hug him.).
My optional sessions for the afternoon — “New Media – Teaching Old Markets New Tricks”, “Building a Community – How and Why it Matters” and “Is Fake the New Real? Transparency and Trust” — were all okay, but all kind of ran together for me. Good thing I took notes; I can’t remember anything specific about any of them.
Right after the conference finished many of us went to a pub just down the street, which a) was already packed, b) wasn’t expecting us, c) seems disorganized at the best of times and d) had malfunctioning draft taps. As a result I stayed for only one drink, with the eminently delightful Amy Rae who is beyond any doubt the coolest, most interesting, most fantabulous living being ever to inhabit the earth. She’s smarter than you (whoever you are), she can juggle swords and I believe she invented the monkey. She also goes by the name LiquorPig; look her up.
I’m not sure if I’d go again next year. I’m not learning a whole lot of new stuff and, given my introversion, I’m not meeting a lot of new people. What I am getting is a lot of quotes that I can use to persuade my company to get on this bus, so maybe that’s reason enough to keep going. It doesn’t hurt to be re-energized once a year, being surrounded by people who get it.
[tags]mesh07[/tags]
Skirl | Dan Dickinson 