Wagons west

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Hello children. By the time this post is published, Nellie and I will be on our way to the airport, all sleepy-eyed and rumble-tummied. Barring anything interesting happening while waiting for our flight to take off, this will likely be the last substantial blog post for a while. The first four days of our trip will be spent just out of range of Bell’s wireless coverage, judging by their map. [pdf]

Hopefully when we reach Kamloops (on the 25th) we’ll have an internet connection and some time to sort through the hundreds of pics we’re sure to take around Field. Keep an eye on my Flickr photostream (or the RSS feed, if you have a reader) for the first few; when we get back to Toronto I’ll create a proper summary set like the one from the last trip.

Until then, stay tight, tigers. We’ll see you on the other side of the continental divide.

[tags]rockies, lake o’hara, field, kamloops, flickr[/tags]

"What seems normal now will have become unthinkable."

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Christopher Hume has an excellent column in today’s Toronto Star. Ostensibly about the fate of the Gardiner Expressway, which runs scar-like across the city’s waterfront, it’s really about politics and “civic cowardice,” as Hume calls it.

Last week, the board of Waterfront Toronto voted to launch an environmental assessment to study dismantling the east end of the Gardiner. Mayor David Miller, a board member, declared that this was the first proposal he’d seen that was doable. He was talking about the politics of demolition, not the reality.

It seems that Miller, not known for vision or boldness, won’t be the mayor who leads Toronto into the 21st century. With leaders such as Prime Minister Stephen Harper and federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, he will be remembered as one who tried to prolong a period of history fast winding down. It will turn out to have been a blip, a mere two generations whose lives were based on utterly implausible assumptions about endless cheap energy and land.

It really is sad, what’s become of David Miller. There was such optimism when he took the mayor’s office, and it’s been slowly beaten down by the bureaucracy of city hall, despite the hopes that he might climb out of the quagmire.

“The reasonable man adapts himself to the conditions that surround him… The unreasonable man adapts surrounding conditions to himself… All progress depends on the unreasonable man.” -George Bernard Shaw

Time for David Miller to get unreasonable.

[tags]toronto, gardiner expressway, christopher hume, david miller, george bernard shaw[/tags]

62.5%

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My free DVDs from the special Blu-Ray savings offer (free DVDs when you bought a Blu-Ray player back around Christmas) finally arrived…and they got one wrong. I know, I know, they’re free, but…six months later and they don’t even deliver the one I really wanted? Not great.

It was the kind of offer where you had to pick one film from each of five groupings, and some of those groupings contained naught but rubbish. Here’s what arrived, in order of me giving a shit:

  • Full Metal Jacket
  • American Psycho
  • S.W.A.T.
  • Pirates Of The Caribbean
  • Hart’s War

Full Metal Jacket: yay. No question, I wanted that one. American Psycho…sure. Whatever. S.W.A.T. I’m only keeping because Nellie wanted the eye candy. Pirates of the Caribbean…bleh. Hart’s War? Hell no. I ordered The Prestige, but I guess they ran out. I’ll probably sell or trade those last two. Anybody want?

As it happened, these arrived on the same day as my most recent order from Indigo: No Country For Old Men and Juno (both on Blu-Ray), and Once (which, unfortunately, is only in lo-fi). Even if I don’t keep Pirates and Hart, my Blu-Ray stock just went up by more than half.

[tags]blu-ray, free blu-ray movies, full metal jacket, american psycho, s.w.a.t., pirates of the caribbean, hart’s war, the prestige, no country for old men, juno, once[/tags]

Eternal Maiden Actualization

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From the BBC: 50 office-speak phrases you love to hate

“My favourite which I hear from the managers at the bank I work for is let’s touch base about that offline. I think it means have a private chat but I am still not sure.”

I can’t believe they missed “Open the Kimono.”

.:.

Speaking of opening the kimono*: from MSNBC: Japan makes robot girlfriend for lonely men

She is big-busted, petite, very friendly, and she runs on batteries. A Japanese firm has produced a 15-inch tall robotic girlfriend that kisses on command, to go on sale in September for around $175, with a target market of lonely adult men.

Clearly, this is going to end in electrocution.

* I did not plan that segue, I swear to you.

[tags]office-speak, robot girlfriend[/tags]

I have the coolest 5-year-old niece ever

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Today is one of my niece’s fifth birthday. My brother sent over some pictures of her party, including one where she’s holding a spoon like a lightsaber. He also included a video of her, in the back of their minivan, clutching a stuffed sheep (I think?), singing along with the Foo Fighters. Not well, mind you, but she’s givin’ er.

This gives me faint hope for the musical taste of the next generation of Dickinsons, which I had all but written off when he sent me video of my nephew dancing along to “Bootylicious.” The time before that it was Great Big Sea.

I guess all my prayers for their souls are finally starting to pay off. Hear me now, kids: “Dylan…Dylan…Dylan…”

[tags]foo fighters, cool niece[/tags]

Frank, AB

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I recently discovered the Rural Alberta Advantage, and I think I like them. Partly because they (or one of them, at least) looks like this, but mainly because they sound like this. And this. And this. And this. And this.

Thanks to Chromewaves for pointing the way.

Oh, and I have come to love “Waiting Game” by Lightspeed Champion.

[tags]rural alberta advantage, lightspeed champion, chromewaves[/tags]

A good hobble wasted

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All the drama of the US Open was almost enough to make me want to watch golf.

Calling it “probably the greatest tournament I’ve ever had,” Tiger Woods outlasted a determined Rocco Mediate on Monday, finally defeating him on the first hole of sudden death to win the 108th United States Open.

Woods again came back from the brink of defeat, with a birdie on the final hole in the 18-hole playoff to pull even with Mediate at an even-par 71 and then a par on the first hole of sudden death to win.

Almost.

Oh, and notice that I have not checked the ‘sports’ category when submitting this post.

[tags]golf, us open[/tags]

Do you WANT me to move to Montreal? Because I will.

Dan Dickinson

Reading the phrase “Rob Ford’s mayoral candidacy” just caused me to do that weird thing you see in movies, where someone starts out laughing and ends up crying, all in one breath. You know? You know that thing? ‘Cause I just did that.

The [road tolls] issue undoubtedly gives a big boost to Ford’s mayoral prospects, as it rolls his two pet peeves into a single, politically explosive package: taxes and the persecution of drivers. The unthinkable campaign—Rob Ford for Mayor!—has taken a giant leap toward reality.

From Toronto Life’s City State blog

[tags]rob ford, toronto, toronto life, city state, philip preville[/tags]

Best! 16 days! Ever!

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I didn’t just finish my assignment tonight, I proof-read it & submitted it, and then I finished the work I was supposed to do tomorrow night. That means I can spend the next five days relaxing and dealing with any office complications. And packing, I guess.

Then…10 days in BC and a couple of days to recover after we get back. No more schoolishness until July 3rd. Dammit, I’m gonna enjoy this.

Speaking of BC, here’s the plan:

Our travel plan

[tags]mba, british columbia[/tags]

Enough already with the Seattle Thunderbirds!

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In advance of Saturday’s NHL draft, Mike Boone has an article on Habs InsideOut about the 25 years of horrible drafting (in the first round, at least) of the Montreal Canadiens.

Without doing a scientific comparison, I suggest that from 1975 through 2000, no team in North American professional sports squandered more first-round draft choices than your Montreal Canadiens.

I remember seeing a lot of these picks fizzle into nothing year after year, but to see a list of so much squandered opportunity…well, it’s a wonder the Canadiens won cups in ’86 and ’93. Thanks goodness for the ’84 draft.

[tags]montreal canadiens, nhl draft[/tags]