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This morning, while on my way to work, the bus was sitting at King and Dufferin for a bit, and I considered getting off the bus and heading over to the Hasty Market to see if they had the Premier Nutrition Protein bars I love. The light was taking a bit to change, so I opted to go for it.

Attempting to get off at the rear doors, I found them to be locked, so I walked towards the front of the bus. It was at this time that some dude decided to pick up all his hockey gear, and shuffle forward, so I had to skirt around him, and got to the driver before the light changed. I had my headphones on, and didn’t hear what he said initially, so I took them off and asked if I could get off the bus.

He looked up at me, and said “Waited long enough!”, and opened the doors. As I started off the bus, I then replied “I usually do with the TTC.”, which may or may not have been fair to say to him, but he was being an asshole, and I have issues with the TTC overall. For example, before I got onto his bus.

Standing at the Dufferin station bus stop, it is a common thing to see two or more buses arrive at the same time. I don’t know if it is due to traffic congestion as they claim, or if the bus drivers are just lazy and unorganised as some others claim, but it is somewhat irritating, as it usually leads to longer wait times. This morning, two buses showed up, but the driver of the first bus decided to stop in front of the station doors rather than down at the indicated bus stop where we were all waiting. The second bus stopped behind the first bus. So, all of us were standing at the designated spot, yet watched as people at the end of the line suddenly became the people at the front of the line. Bullshit. I then decided to walk down in front of the first bus so it couldn’t go anywhere, and along the side towards Dufferin St. so the second bus couldn’t go anywhere either, while at the same time avoiding the HUGE crowd gathering in an attempt to get on the first bus. Seems that others took my cue and did the same, as both buses couldn’t leave for a bit. In this instance, good.

I can understand that being a bus driver is probably not the best career in the world, but it is a job, with the TTC being one of the better paying transit organisations, as far as I’ve been hearing. The citizens of Toronto put up with a lot of their shit when they decide to go on strike, which has happened a number of times in recent years, so it leads me to wonder where their attitude is coming from. If you don’t like driving a bus for a living (because, let’s face it, who as a kid dreams of being a bus driver), then get a different job. Sure, there will be the odd jackass who will blame a bus driver for their travel woes, but I don’t blame the driver specifically, I blame the management of the TTC who are directing them to suddenly go out of service, or haven’t figured out yet how to properly manage a transit system as large as the one we need in Toronto. Still, just because a TTC employee has to deal with the odd jackass doesn’t mean that they have the right to snap at every other transit rider.

I don’t need attitude from a bus driver just for wanting to get off the bus while the light is still in our favour. I wasn’t holding anyone up, most certainly not like how the TTC holds up people each and every day.

It’s been a topic of Toronto for years: Should the Gardiner come down or not?

Personally, I think that the Gardiner is not only a landmark of Toronto, but it is also extremely valuable to Toronto as a means of transportation. There are some that say that it is ugly, or a barrier from the waterfront. Well, it’s a HIGHWAY. It’s not meant to look pretty, it’s meant to be practical and functional. It is also NOT a barrier to the waterfront; the actual barrier to Toronto’s waterfront is what my Father calls the “Berlin Wall of Condos”.

The Gardiner handles TONS of traffic each and every day, and that is not including Lake Shore Boulevard which runs below it for at least 2/3rds of it’s length. To bring down such an artery of traffic into Toronto only cause the city to suffer a mild heart attack, in terms of this analogy. Traffic would be snarled up all the way back West to where the QEW and the 427 meet up. The DVP would become what previously was just a nickname during rush hour: The Don Valley Parking Lot. All the roads that took the traffic from the exits prior to reaching the Gardiner would be flooded, and the lines to get off at those exits would stretch for at least a kilometer. Essentially, traffic within Toronto, which is already congested as it is, would become worse, and road rage would increase. All because David Miller has been brainwashed by the condo development companies into thinking that bringing down the Gardiner is the best way to develop more of the waterfront.

But, with all this said, something has to be done about the traffic situation on the Gardiner. On it’s busiest day, the Gardiner is usually at a standstill. It can’t be expanded, as all those condos now line to each side. Putting the Gardiner underground is the next best option, but in our politicians’ minds, that would require bringing the Gardiner down before anything could be done. Far be it for them to ever consider digging a new tunnel UNDER the Gardiner, which would make the most sense (if they can dig under the English Channel, I’m betting that digging under the Gardiner would be a tad easier). They focus on the costs of such a project, which is well beyond what they’re willing to commit to; it’s much easier, and cheaper, to piss everyone off by bringing down a highway, than to tunnel under it, and slowly transition between the two. Wake up guys: Sometimes, the cheapest alternative isn’t necessarily the best one. I’d be willing to pay more taxes for such a project.

Anyway, enough ranting.

Owen let me know that I apparently sent a letter to the Toronto Star with regards to this very issue. I must say, I sound quite articulate:

The wisdom of removing a section of the Gardiner Expressway must be evaluated by its concrete benefits and drawbacks. The abstract claim of “removing a barrier” ignores the roughly 10 lanes of pedestrian-level traffic that a grand boulevard would create.

We must ask ourselves: How is the Gardiner a barrier and how does removing it remove that barrier? A close examination will reveal that traffic and multi-stage crossings on Lake Shore Blvd. are the true barriers to waterfront access.

Evan Roberts, Toronto

Not bad, eh?

Thing is, while I told Owen that, yes, I submitted that letter (hey, I was bring praised about my vocabulary!), I must confess: It wasn’t me. Looks like there is another “Evan Roberts” residing in Toronto who seems to be on top of current events as well, yet appears to have been educated at a better school than I. I’d like to think that I can be as eloquent as that other Evan Roberts, but alas, my blog speaks for itself.

However, I’m sure that this other Evan Roberts and I have the same stance when it comes to the Gardiner; bringing it down is not the most viable option when it comes to dealing with this issue.

Today, I’m bringing my new Macbook, Prometheus, into the Apple Store to be repaired. Hopefully he’ll be up and about in no time, but this isn’t the first time I brought him in.

When I first got Prometheus, the space bar was not seated properly. Every time I was typing, it would seem that there was a dead zone where pressing the space bar would either register or not. As well, the feel of the space bar being pressed was enough to throw me off. If you’re reading this blog, you have obviously used a keyboard at some point, so I would assume you know what I’m talking about when I say it feels weird when a key doesn’t press down correctly. If you don’t… well… you don’t type as much as I do.

During my last visit to the Apple Store, they replaced the entire keyboard chassis (thanks Andy!), which fixed the space bar issue, but unfortunately introduced a new issue with the mousepad button; it felt weird when pressing down on it on the left side as it didn’t “click”. I took Prometheus in again to be looked at, and the Mac Genius I dealt with was initially skeptical that it was an issue, but she took it into the back room for a second opinion, and they’ll be replacing the part. I would have been somewhat irritated if this wasn’t going to be repaired on my less-than-two-week-old Macbook, but in the end they said it would, so all the rumours I heard about the Apple Store at the Eaton Centre having poor customer service are completely unfounded, in my opinion. Personally, I have had nothing but great service from them every time I’ve gone there, so those who have complained about the Apple Store’s customer service must be acting like jerks to them or something.

Anyway, since taking Prometheus in the second time, the mousepad button has become a bit more stiff, and it also squeaks sometimes when pressing it. Oh, and the left side still doesn’t “click”. Either way, I’m looking to getting this all fixed!

I’m not sure if this repair will take a few days, or even a few minutes, but I’m eager to get Prometheus back as soon as possible!

So, while playing Ultimate Frisbee yesterday evening, not only did I fall twice due to my useless cleats, but I ended up twisting my left ankle pretty badly, and watched the rest of the game on the sidelines. Naturally, that was the last straw for those clown shoes (they’re too big for me anyway), so I sentenced them to eternal suffering in a garbage dump somewhere… most likely Michigan, as I believe that is still where Toronto ships it’s garbage.

Anyway, it hurt to walk upon, but I didn’t think that it was that bad of a sprain. However, when I tried getting to sleep, my ankle would just NOT stop throbbing. It just seemed that no matter which way I lay in bed, it would just hurt. All in all, I think I got about two hours of sleep. I am a frikkin’ zombie today.

This morning, I asked my Dad for a ride to Toronto General Hospital to get it checked out, as everyone was telling me to do so. After waiting for two hours to be seen, I was told that it was just a bad sprain, that an x-ray was not necessary, and just to wrap a tensor bandage around my ankle, keep off it for a few weeks, and pop an Advil should the pain be too much to handle.

…so… pretty much do what anyone with a brain would figure you’re supposed to do should you sprain your ankle. Glad I waited two hours for that. Personally, I would have liked to have an x-ray done just to be sure, but what can ya do?

What sucks is that this means I’m not able to go spinning, ride my bike, or play Ultimate for a while. However, it does mean that I get to go buy some new cleats, ones that will actually grip the terrain I’m on, and also not have an extra inch of toe space like my last ones did. Also, the actual cleats were directly below my foot, and not distributed out to the sides at all, which made it feel like I was running with ice skates on. Useless, and an accident waiting to happen… which happened a few times too many.

Ah well. Guess I’ll just have to sit on my ass for a while.

Darn.

Two months into my diet, and in the last month I’ve lost 1.6 pounds. But, its been one hell of a roller coaster for the diet. A camping trip up to Algonquin, and then a trip down to San Francisco; both times not adhering to the diet, both times coming back with extra poundage, and both times losing the extra weight gained once I got back on track.

Not bad. Not bad at all.

Now that the warmer months are upon us, I’m sure it will be FAR easier to get more and more exercise. I already have Ultimate Frisbee and spinning classes to help get the heart pumping, so I guess now it’s time to start biking to and from work again. I stopped because we had a cold snap, and would have started again last week, but I had a bunch of things going on that were just easier to get to via the TTC.

Anyway, thanks again to all of you for your kind words and support. You all rock!

Sure, it’s my fault for going to bed at 4:50am, and everyone is entitled to freak out once in a while, but this dude seems to do it on a daily basis. I seriously think there is something wrong with him.

I woke up this morning at 9:02am to the sound of a closet door slamming, and muffled shouting. Not impressed.

There’s a good chance that I’ll be in a grumpy mood now thanks to him. WTF.

Dude, its Saturday. Save your meltdowns for the weekdays when I have to get up early anyway. Settle down, breathe deep, and maybe pop a valium or two… or three… better make that ten.

While not paying attention, I forgot to press “9″ to get an outside line when I was trying to call my Father for something. The call didn’t go through, but for some reason it screwed up my phone. The “FEATURE” button was flashing, which I found odd, and didn’t think anything of it.

However, Molly tried to call me after her shift, and she couldn’t get through to my extension. I tried from my cell, and it didn’t work either. Even more alarming, I tried to call my extension from a co-worker’s phone, and it didn’t even work then! So… somehow, I had knocked myself out of the phone system. I could still take customer calls (yay!), but other than that, I couldn’t be contacted via the phone.

Great.

The manuals we have here for the phone system are beyond useless, as they expect that you’ve gone through a course to be taught how to configure this thing with your eyes closed. Unfortunately, I have not taking such a course, and the manuals quickly made my existing headache worse. I didn’t want to have easyDNS contact the phone system company and have them send someone out just to fix this, thus resulting in a service charge, so I opted to see if I could figure it out myself (what the hell… I had to stay late anyway).

Turns out, the power of the internet has been proven to me yet again, and has saved my ass.

Thanks to this post, it would appear that I had inadvertently set my phone to “do not disturb”. Simply pressing “FEATURE”, then typing “69″ (hah!) on the number pad, and hitting “FEATURE” once more, returned my phone to it’s normal accessible self. Kick ass! Not only did I save a service call to the phone system company which might have cost us some dough, I was able to fix it and don’t have to fess up to ANYTHING!

…well, other than the fact that I wrote about this on my blog… but who cares?

I guess I can leave the office now!

It’s hard to believe that two years ago, Molly and I went on our first date. Time flies when you’re having fun… and in a great relationship.  

Babe, you are the light of my life. The one shining star within the sky. You make my world a brighter and better place. Your radiant smile warms my heart, and your laugh fills me with joy. We’ve had our ups and downs, but we’ve pulled through all hardships, and have come out stronger than ever. I can’t imagine my life without you.

I love you more than mere words can describe.

Two years… I look forward to many more.

I will admit, I like graffiti on walls. Not those stupid “tags” that some no-talent idiots draw with a marker on a door, I’m talking about nice colourful graffiti, which I usually can’t read, but at least can admire. Some of these guys are really artistic, painting impressive renditions of people on the walls, or even cartoons of characters doing things. All in all, as long as it looks decent, and that someone with talent was the artist, I think graffiti is quite nice to have on an otherwise drab wall.

It’s because of these no-talent dimwits that graffiti gets a bad rap. What is the point of “tagging” a door, or a wall, or even the TTC, with a scribble that a three year old could do, or even improve upon? That’s just plain and simple vandalism. Graffiti to me, is art.

On the subway between the Keele and Dundas West stations, there is a wall down in the parking lot on the south side that has some wonderful graffiti. There is a depiction of B.B. King. There’s a woman who looks to be from the 1920s. There are some amusing cartoon characters. All of it is colorful and while you can tell that this was put together by different artists at different times, it does flow together really nicely. For the longest time, I planned to take a panoramic shot of it, just so I could have it. Unfortunately, I never got around to it. Now, some fucking asshole has used a paint roller to put his idiotic moniker up over some of the best drawings on the wall. For what? What does that prove? If I knew who was responsible for this, I would happily kick the shit out of him.

Anyway, enough ranting.

Guy forwarded me a link to a short movie where some artists in Buenos Aires and Baden created an animation short using graffiti. The time involved to create this blows my mind, as they would have to paint each frame, then paint over it, and paint the next frame, and so on. Some of these frames are the entire sides of buildings, so this was no small feat. The animation itself is pretty good for what it is, yet the imagery is pretty messed up (people coming out of people’s mouths, etc), so some of you might not like it. That’s your only warning. View at your own discretion.

Also, as a joke, I sent the following to Mike as he watched it and noted how messed up it was:

Surgeon General’s Warning: Do not consume mushrooms or other hallucinogenics prior to watching this animated short.

Check it out: http://www.blublu.org/sito/video/muto.htm

If YouTube is better for ya, use this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuGaqLT-gO4

For the last few weeks, Molly and I had been planning to head down to San Francisco with the desire to surprise my brother. Even his wife Liz was in on it, which helped immensely, as we planned to meet up at one of his favourite restaurants, and eagerly awaited to see what would happen.

As it turned out, the look of surprise was only on his face for a split second, before he burst into laughter at how we just showed up, seemingly out of no where. I couldn’t have asked for a better reaction. 

Check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQVJEi_XQ3c

San Francisco was just as beautiful as I remembered it, but this trip we got to know the city for what it is: a city. Before, Molly and I walked away from San Francisco seeing it as a utopia, which is many ways it still is, but as with all cities, there are some shady aspects. There are a great many homeless people always asking for change, or urinating in the streets, and a number of mentally-disturbed people walking around shouting their heads off. This, of course, was mostly observed in the downtown region, and we also happened to be near the “Tenderloin”, which is a neighbourhood that is best described as “sketchy”. Every city has an area like this, so it’s easy to pass quick judgement, and I shall refrain from doing so.

All in all, it was a great trip down to San Francisco, and it was awesome to hang out with Greg and Liz again. Our two resident experts of the city (pun intended), they introduced us to new delights, and expanded our knowledge of the metropolis they reside in. Molly and I also found some new places as we wandered around, and wander around we did; on an average of 7km per day, we racked up at least 28km of travelling by foot. Going up the hills was a task in itself, especially while we journeyed with our luggage, but we enjoyed the exercise involved, which helped as we weren’t really following our diets… hey, we were on vacation, remember?  

As with any travelling, it’s always good to be home. My father was kind enough to take care of the cats while we were gone, and the little furballs welcomed our arrival with plenty of meows and excessive purring. Looks like they didn’t trash the place while we were away.

And so ends a highly-anticipated trip. I’ll probably write more as I think about it, as a lot of amusing things happened. Pictures are located in my gallery.