Neighbourhood #8: South Roncesvalles

It has been over 18 months since the last adventure, but the spirit behind the rediscovery of our city never died.  And last weekend Sim and I once again got out to explore another neighbourhood in Toronto.  And it was another great success!

I headed downtown midafternoon on Friday and picked up Sim and headed East on Queen until we hit Roncesvalles Ave.  I had it in my mind that we'd be going across College so I was prepared to not park on the street, so when a small lot came up down at Queen for $4 for the afternoon we popped in.

First stop was at the Knit Cafe.  It's come to my attention that the yarn I'm using for my scarf has been discontinued so I thought we could pop into the Knit Cafe to see if they carried it.  They were after all registered as distributors of the brand I'm looking for.  There was a small selection of yarn, but it was a rather cute place.  I could see us going back and having a good old stitch and bitch there.  Of course I would first need to find my project which I have....misplaced.  After this quick stop we dropped into the jeweler Sim used recently (for her MATRIMONIAL rings) to get one resized.  They had a cute little poodle breed that kept licking the back of my legs as we stood chatting with the jeweler.  It was a nice shop, and I have a feeling they're going to do another really great job.

Onwards and upwards, we popped into a neat little toy store where Sim shopped around for a toy for a friend.  It was this adorable little plush owl toy.  She let it simmer for a while and on our way back South to the car we swooped back in she picked it up.  The store offered free gift wrapping which was a nice surprise.  I quietly noticed later the stripped pattern on the paper lined up perfectly even on the ends to create a rectangle.  Perhaps a happy accident.  Next we stopped into a cute ecostore called Ecotique.  I really fell in love with some one of a kind shoulder bags made from recycled car parts but they were quite pricey.  The had some nice wares to browse.  And I did end up picking up some soap nuts.  I still have a ton of Borax and washing soda to use up, but this is an interesting alternative.  I've actually been using my back-up manufactured laundry soap instead of mixing my own so this should give me a kick back into the right direction.

After this I was in need of a refreshing bevvy so we stopped into Extra Butter Coffee.  I had an Americano and Sim a bottled juice.  And after eavesdropping on another customer she got a little jealous and picked up a chocolate croissant.  We sat and played a few rounds of BG.  I got off to a good start but Sim came back to win it all.

There are just so many amazing stores on Roncesvalles, it wasn't hard to find places to stop into.  We stopped into a cute flower store called Sweet Pea Blooms.  They had a lot of cute handmade cards.  Followed by another boutique called Dressers.  We stopped into the local bookstore, Another Story Bookshop.  I find I'm a bit jaded when I find bookstores don't have a Canadian Literature section.  So we browsed a bit and moved on.

One of the last stops was into a cookery shop called...Cookery!  I pointed out to Sim God's gift to cleaning pots, the pot scrubber.  We even got to use it the next night at her house as she was grumbling about something sticky not coming off the bottom of her pan.  Life changing.  We spied a cute rack of aprons, and while we finished our walk up to Grenadier Rd Sim did some more pondering and we snuck back into the Cookery to pick her up a new apron.  The store owner got a bit over zealous as she spotted us taking a photo outside.  "OMG, YOU HAVE TO PUT THIS ON OUR FACEBOOK PAGE."  Meh, lol.  It was a super cute shop though.  I could drop a loonie or two in that place for sure.  I do need a meat brush but it was like $15 so please.

I think this one was among one of my favourite neighbourhood walks.  Maybe because it's been so long since our last.  Maybe because I really knew nothing about Roncesvalles before this visit.  Maybe because I always enjoy a good street walking.  And after all that excitement there is still a Northern corridor for us to explore at a future date.  Bravissimo.

Oh Hai Thar

Well, I don't really have any good reason for not updating so shall we just glaze over that 2 month deficit and look exclusively towards the future.  I'm back!!

My brother and I went out to Cobourg to visit with our parents for Thanksgiving.  I hit the road early Saturday morning to avoid the traffic.  It was still fairly busy for that early on a weekend, but nothing too significant.  I helped my mom with the food prep while my brother and dad went up North to close up the cottage.  I just spent a few days up there first weekend in October.  I was hoping for at least some sunny days, but it was cold and gloomy right up until I left.  I spent most of the weekend curled up under a sleeping bag on the couch.  Yet I didn't have the desire to pack it in early.  I planned for one full day off in the city too to get the full impact of the vacation.  I'm up to 8 days off in the last 14 mos.  13 days off in the last 26 mos.  Still makes me cringe to put it in those terms, but it's never going to get up to a respectable amount, especially cumulatively.  My parents had picked up a pumpkin pie from a local farm that was to die for.  Best pie I've ever had, no doubt.

Work is a challenge as a coworker is working his way through immeasurably sad family circumstances.  All we can really do is offer our support, and keep our noses down to keep up around the office.

Not a lot of new stuff going around here.  AC is broken again, but just in time.  And if my heater isn't working I can just turn the AC on, as it's pumping out hotter air.  I'm a bit pissed.  I'll call back the same company, but this time I will have CLR in stock so I don't have to pay for him to leave.  I might also wait a few months to see if having it on heat resets whatever is screwing up with the cool.  I wish I wasn't such an air conditioning prima donna.  I just gots to get my chills on.  I'm getting slightly used to sleeping with the window open, which increases the sound by more than double.

I'm planning on spending my day tomorrow doing a comprehensive fall clean-up around here.  I think I need a checklist.  Then a quick coffee with Adam, while he's in town again.  And I've got another rack of ribs, I'm going to slow cook in my most favouritist bbq sauce.  There was an unopened bottle at the cottage so I tiefed it. 

I did some ribs last month but in a tomato soup dressing which was good, but I think it could be better with a proper sauce.  Nothing will beat the fine taste of bbq ribs but I have to work with what I've got.

That's all for now.  Hope to be back more regularly.

We Were Triumphant

A recent review of my yearbooks has made me happen upon a most hilarious year-end message.  Mary took an inspirational paragraph in the back and turned it on its head.  Oh Mary.

We were triumphant.
I failed...miserably.
We set our goals and then we met them.
My teachers told me to set goals and I said screw them!!!
We challenged our limits and then we made new ones.
I set my limits and sat at home watching tv and gave up on life.
We stood together as champions and we smiled at our victories.
I was a really big loser with no friends, and I never won....ever...I cried a lot over my losses.
We are proud of what we have done and of what we are doing.
I have no pride, no accomplishments, and I`m too lazy to do anything about it.
We played like champions in the classroom, on the court and on the stage.
I FAILED IN...the class (42%), the court (I lost that lawsuit), and the stage (face it, I was only a pre-show cop).
But we move on now to a new set of challenges and a new set of goals.
I can`t move on, life is over for me.
No matter where we go, or what we accomplish we wil always be....SPARTANS
No matter what happens, I suck majorly and will always be......A LOSER!!!

The Good, The Better, And The Most Awesome

I've seen them twice now, these two elderly gentlemen that walk around Elm picking up garbage.  They carry in tow a bag for their garbage, and a pair of kitchen tongs to do the grabbing.  Hopefully they are an extra pair.  It just warms my heart to see that sort of voluntary contribution to...city beautification?  When I was commuting from home to U of T I used to think about doing a clean up along the tracks.  I can't remember if it was right before or right after the gardens, there were these slopes of grass down from the main road, almost completely covered in litter.  Not a nice thing to see on a daily basis.  Or in my case three times a week.  I was a cheeky scheduler.

We have a new person at work!  One of the boss' sons has come to work with us.  I feel like I already know him, since he's been talked about a lot.  But I will have to build an actual rapport, and not rely on a fake one.  He's already won my favour.  We were quoting really lame sayings we have accumulated from emails or email signatures, and he jumped in with: "If you come to a fork in the road, take it."  Lol.

My major clean up kind of came to a halt after I posted, but the fire crew is coming in next week so I need to get it all finished up today.  I ended up getting the the absolute cheapest shoe rack from IKEA, but it turns out to have been the best choice.  The one I really wanted wasn't even in stock, so that helped my decision.  I've assembled the shoe rack and moved the arena bench into my living room.  Once I get everything in order and tidied up I'll post a photo.  I did do one other thing as well.  I went to Walmart and picked up some faux window frosting film, and threw that up onto my tv stand.    I was tired of looking through the glass and seeing an unorganized display of boxes.  Not that they could have been tidied any further, they were just ugggly to look at.  I'm fairly pleased with the results.

I was about a mm short on one of the panels, but it's barely visible if you are looking in passing.  It's also on the side that you can't see in this photo, so don't bother zooming in.  I would have just scrapped it and started again, but I wanted to pass on what was left of the roll to Nikki so she could frost her exposed shower window.  I wish I would have thought of this back in my bunghole of an apartment in Calgary.  That was an outwardly facing window.  And since all windows are, by that I mean it was facing onto another apt building where all tenants would have visual access.  Hers faces a building that's two feet away with only one other window if you crank your head to look out.  Either way, I'm excited to hear if that has worked out for her.

We had a funny email at work the other day.  Someone was requesting a spec document be in cms, and one of the Americans wrote back, "What is this unit of measure you refer to as "cm"??  Signed, An American.  And the best part was that people actually responded to him to explain it.  Gold.

I have a gift certificate for a yarn store burning a hole in my pocket.  I'm almost afraid to go back because I ordered some wool like 5 months ago.  They never called me so I never went to go back to buy it.  Errrr.  Kind of made me think they didn't order it?  Either way I'll find out soon enough.  And I'm thinking of using the cert to buy a yarn winder.  Not that I'm really actively crafting, but....I have no justification.  I just kind of want it.  Maybe I'll get yarn instead, and just wind it on a paper towel roll or something?

I finished rewatching Dexter.  Now that I know I can plug my passport into the tv and watch, my life has been changed.  Thanks to Sim and Spence for previewing their film on my tv and sharing this knowledge.  Me: "But I don't have a mouse or keyboard???"  Spence: "You use your remote."  OhhhhHHHhhhhh.  Brilliant.  I missed a few episodes as I just had it running pretty much non-stop in the background.  It's such an amazing series.  And knowing what's going to happen next lets you really focus on all the forecasting they do.  The entire script is just so solid.  The ending made me weepy.  Not the very end, but leading up to it.  I'm really tired of crying at tv.  Make it stop.

I just did a grocery shop.  If I can't get there before 8am, I don't really like going.  Plus if you go early, their freshly baked bagels are to die for.  It's like bread that melts in your mouth.  It's how bread should always be, but almost never is.  I think I'll toast one of those up and get started on sorting my bookshelf.  I'm about 2-3 hours away from having this place spotless.  If you don't go into my bedroom.  That would be maybe another hour.

Peace oot.

Geronimo!

Adam used to have this little rear view mirror car ornament named Geronimo.  It was a little blue translucent dolphin hanging from an elastic that would spring and bob if you pulled it down and released it.  Eventually the cord lost all elasticity and Geronimo just hung there with the occasional sway.  I don't know where the name came from, he probably just said it once in passing and it just stuck.  When the Lumina died, he died with it.  I'm not sure what made me think of him just now.  Weeeiiiiiird.

I'm on a mission today.  It started last night, and now I'm just taking it to a whole-'nother-level.  I'm talking about CLEANING.  We got a notice in the mail that the fire safety company that provides protection for our building is doing in-suite inspections later this month.  And nothing incentivizes me to clean like expecting company.  To top it all off, that company is one of our top distributors. I'm almost done the living room.  I've moved all of the furniture and swept and mopped the floors.  And I'm going through everything too, every single thing I own.  This shit is real and it's happening.  I even vacuumed the entire couch.  Last night I did maybe about half of the kitchen.  When I look around at what I have done vs what I haven't done it's overwhelming but I need to do this.  I think it's time for a to-do list.

I'm hoping Nikki will join me tomorrow for a trip to IKEA.  I don't necessarily need her there, but it's much more enjoyable with another person.  The plan is to get enough done today so I can have a complete list of what I need to pick up tomorrow.  I need to get a shoe rack.  I can't decide between two racks from the same brand.  One has a bench and the other is just for shoes.  I don't really want to spend the extra $40 but the bench does look nicer.

I'm coming up on a year that I've had my budgeting software.  I think this next year to come is going to be different.  After buying this place I felt like I was starting from scratch with my savings.  Every last penny aside for about 5K went onto my mortgage.  That 5 became my emergency fund, and I've had to start from the beginning for everything else, instead of having a massive pot in my savings account I could dip into at will.  The software demands that you "assign a job to every dollar."  So even if that dollar is sitting in the bank, my software tells me I have a dollar saved up for car repairs.  A year in I finally have a bit of a float in each of my savings categories.  And maybe now I'll be mentally able to start spending on myself.  Maybe I'll let myself get the shoe rack with the bench because it's the one I actually want.  But I also have thought about new savings goals.  Like starting a fund to buy myself a new car.  I can barely stand the thought of buying something else on credit, I'd rather buy it outright.  It would take me years to save any substantial amount of money.  I should probably just keep putting it all on my mortgage, and buy the car using my fancy line of credit when the time comes.  Money just really sucks.  Maybe it never gets better?

I helped Nikki move last weekend.  I helped her pack for about 4hrs on Saturday night until about 11:30pm, and then was back the next morning at 10am to ship it out.  Thank god Rossi had his truck there.  I told Nikki she needed to rent a truck but she said her boyfriend's SUV would suffice.  I guess I can't definitively say it wouldn't have, but having a proper moving sized van made moving a lot of the furniture easy.  The moving isn't the hardest part for me, it's the walk-ups.  Maybe one of these days she'll move into a place with an elevator.  We finished by 2:30 which is some sort of world record.  Last move took about 14 hrs end to end.  It helped that she had pre-moved almost all of the boxes she had packed up.  I met her work colleague that lives in my building.  He actually toured my condo while it was on the market but went with something else.  He said "Yeah they tried to sell me on the faucet saying it was a $500 faucet."  I was like, that faucet sucks, I hate that faucet.  He told me it extends down, and I said it didn't.  I've tried pulling on it before but it was always uncooperative.  Last night I remembered her friend's words and gave it a good yank.  Presto manifesto.  After 14 months of pure hatred I have a new found admiration for my kitchen faucet.  Small victories, they add up.

I think I'm going to make some banana bread, and some cabbage soup, and then get back to work!!

LEARN HOW TO DRIVE PLS.

Well I almost just got side swiped, if I can even call it that.  Some fucking moron who doesn't know how to drive almost backed out of his driveway into me while I was driving through a townhouse complex.  Of course my first outlet is to make a paint diagram.  Just about 10m into the complex there is a 3 way stop.  And I as I was pulling up to the stop I thought to myself, what a ridiculous place to have to have a stop.  The entrance to the complex has a massive speed bump that brings you down to to nothing.  So I come up to the sign, come to a stop, no one coming towards me, I check to the right and no one is coming.  And in defense of the crack pot lady who was yelling at me, I understand that I probably didn't come to an absolute full complete check all my mirrors stop, but I was going less than 20 after the bump and I did a 99% stop.  You know what I mean???  No traffic in either direction so I went.  And as I started through the "intersection" the asshole in the orange car backed up almost directly into me.  It came within cms.  He clearly did not look in any direction to see if anyone was coming and just went.  He didn't hit me so I carried on to pick up Adam.  On the way out the wife, I guess, was on the lawn talking to someone else.  And told me I didn't come to a stop, and it's so dangerous because no one ever stops.  Well you daft cow, I did come to a stop.  If someone is exiting their driveway it is one billion percent their responsibility to make sure no one is coming.  For argument's sake, if I had completely disregarded the stop sign he still should have seen that there was a car coming and not attempted to back out.  It's a three way stop, and I don't have to stop to let you back out of your fucking driveway.  I'm still pretty rattled.  And if you have any inclination that I'm wrong don't tell me lol.

Gangster Originaux

I took the elevator the other day with this reeaaaally crochety woman.  The wait for the elevator was slightly longer than normal.  But the other day I waited for maybe 8-10 minutes (unexaggerated) with a few fellow residents for one to come to P1, and we all managed to somehow survive.  Anyways, I step into the elevator and this woman is like mid-rant about how ridiculous our elevators are.  "I had to wait 5 minutes for this elevator.  And you call down and they never have a good explanation."  Yeah crazy lady, it's called bad timing.  When just one elevator is stuck or out of service the ripple effect is maddening.  But what are you going to do about it?  Take the stairs maybe?  But no, instead she says, "That's it, I've had enough, I'm calling an agent and moving out of this hell hole.  I'm going to be late for work!"  Now....as an expert in tardiness I know the deal.  Knowing the exact minute on your clock that if you leave a second past you'll be late.  I've actually changed my ways, if you can believe it.  Not completely reformed but at least when it comes to work.  If she wants to be a pooper good riddance.  You know the only time the elevator will stop at every floor is the day you push your leave-time to the max.  If a late elevator is the worst thing to happen you in a day you're doing alright.

I can't describe how amazing this AC is feeling.  I probably could have lived with a central fan, but I like to spoil myself on the hot summer days, or all the summer days really.  I picked up some lemonade last grocery shop.  I think some time this weekend if it gets nice and hot I'll do up some ice and sit outside for a while.

Dom got married last weekend so that was exciting.  Up at The Doctor's House in Kleinburg.  It was a really beautiful ceremony.  A lot of very interesting components.  I lucked out and was seated next to an floor vent, for which I was very thankful.  They served up some nice traditional Italian food. And the MC kept us entertained all night.  And Dom is super super happy, so yaaay. It was a good time.

I think I'd like to rewatch some 30 Rock seasons that I own.  It's just timeless humour.



I have a bit of a nerdy confession.  Since the Blackberry app store doesn't really exist, I've taken to playing one of the ones already installed.  It's kind of like Boggle, but the letters don't have to be connected.  And the longer the word the more points.  I was feeling pretty good getting some 11s and 12s, and then I knocked a 16 letter word out of the park, and haven't been able to come even close to that since.  What's the longest word you can think of?  And what is it?  And antidisestablishmentarianism doesn't count.

Adam's coming back for a visit soon.  C'est tres bonus total importante.

Chowders.

Here's The Thing

I may have said this before but I do very much love when life imitates music.  I was driving home over the weekend and as I pulled up to a yield, which I have no recollection of ever having to yield at before, there were cars turning from the other direction and I came to a complete stop.  And just as I did stop the chorus for the Mumford song on the radio came on, "I will wait, I will wait for you."  And that just made me laugh.

So after all of my life threatening home repair attempts, I still require a repairman.  The AC does not budge a tick below 77.  And that was only accomplished by leaving the screen door open.  Which honestly is not a great alternative because of how loud Hwy 10 is.  It sounds like every car is right beside my face.  I went out and bought some self drilling screw anchors, so I could properly hang my new thermostat and not look like a total boob.  They worked so beautifully, I just don't have any words.  They screwed right into the wall, and felt as if they had been cemented in.  I took yesterday off, and I'm taking today off as well.  The AC repairman was supposed to come yesterday but he had to cancel.  He rebooked for this morning bright and early.  Kind of a good thing I had both days off, or I would have been rather pissed off.  I'm not overly pleased as it is.  I want to do some shopping today, and I need to know how much of my income is disposable.  Dean was giving me a bit of a lesson at work about home repairs.  About asking how much a replacement would be, and if the repair is a certain percentage of the replacement I should consider doing it.  I get taken care of both Dean and Ross in different ways.  Ross' wife runs their household so he wouldn't be able to give the same advice as Dean.  But Dean would never get his hands dirty and help me change a bulb in my car.  Between the two of them I'm covered.

Ross went on a bit of a tirade the other day.  He had his transmission rebuilt less than 2 years ago and it has broken down.  He took it to a friend's friend's shop by his friend's recommendation, when he knows his own trans mechanics.  So he takes it back to that shop after it dies in the middle of traffic.  They basically took no responsibility for the trans failing after just 50,000km and were going to charge him almost the same amount as the full rebuild last time, but just to fix it.  The madder he gets, the more he loses his words.  He already has a wicked bad habit of replacing full parts of a sentence with "thing", but with his rage it only got worse.  And I had to write this one down just to make sure I didn't forget it, because it's a beaut.

"He's very thing.  You'll get along as long as you don't get into thing."

Ross has this really hardcore towing package deal.  I think it cost him something like $4000 for maybe 10 years.  And he can call his tow guy and have any car picked up and towed any distance for free.  No questions asked.  Doesn't have to be his car.  I don't think he even has to be there.  At first I thought he was crazy, but after hearing all the times he or his wife have needed a tow this year alone, it has been worth it.  And for example, he mentioned that someone like CAA might tow you to a shop, but they would never come and pick you up from a shop to take you to a different shop, for free.  Maybe that's true, maybe it's not true.  I would guess that's a true statement.  It's expiring this year, so he better get some coin saved up if he wants to renew.

Time to get ready for my visitor.  Hopefully after this I can go do a bit of shopping.  And then maybe nap under a blanket with cold air blowing over me.

Good Idea Bad Idea

Good Idea:  Avoid costly service calls, and attempt to replace the thermostat yourself.
Bad Idea:  Have little to no home improvement experience and end up with a thermostat that looks like this...

It's really going to stay like that until I can learn how to properly sink the screws.  The wall behind seems really flimsy.  But hey, I'm actually feeling cool for the first time in two weeks, having operated with a fan only.  And I did light wiring and didn't kill myself.  When I plugged in it was at 85F (really??).  Now it's down to 77F.  Once I need to use a blanket I will know it is a complete success.  Also, Ross replaced my headlight today that I picked up at Canadian Tire last week.

Go team.

**EDIT** - after all that, it's still not blowing cold air.  Something else must be wrong.  Wahn.

Asplozion

This Pepsi can exploded in my passenger seat while I was at a stop light on the way home.  Oh what fun.

I rec'd two texts from Nikki in relation to this incident before and after I provided photographic evidence:

1)  "Pictures or it didn't happen"
2)  "Ok.  It happened."

Happy Birthday, Canada

This year I would like to give a name to our celebration of the birth of this wonderful country.  It's called, "Ow.  Ow, it hurts everywhere.  Please make it stop.  Thanks."  I forgot my camera at home, so the only shots I can share are of the unbearable pain I'm experiencing right now.

Anything that looks embossed is my skin telling me to eff off and use more sunscreen next time.

You can actually see the blisters in this one.  So much pain.

I want to pick that yellow scab thing off so badly but I that would just make things worse.

Other than all that nonsense, I had a wiiiicked time.  By the last morning I was in too much pain to put on my swimsuit so I just went down and jumped in wearing a tank top and shorts.  They had a solid solid dock.  Apparently it's so deep that if you drop anything it's gone for good.  I guess the rock face just drops right off or something wild like that.  At one point a group of us were wearing life jackets like diapers and chilling having some drinks.  I went to take an in-water backwards dive to flip out of the leg holes and when I came up my prescription sunglasses were not on my face.  I reached down to my side JUST in time to catch them as they were about to sink into oblivion.  That would have been an unpleasant moment.  And Phil has some really awesome friends, so I hope to get invited back up next time.

Also at the moment I think my AC might be broken.  I like keeping it at bitterly cold levels during the summer and it's just not happening anymore.  It may or may not only be using the fan.  Which I guess I will have to pay to have someone inspect.  Either that or I might might MIGHT attempt to change the thermostat and see if the problem still persists.  MAYBE.  I have a two day vacation coming up where I could call in a repair person.  I like life when these problems don't happen.

That's all for now.  You keep it classy, Canada.

A Shade Shy Of True Wickedness

I think I can judge how much of a life I've had each month on my internet usage meter.  Ever since TekSavvy started metering usage I check on a regular basis.  If I have a netflix heavy month it could take me over my limit.  I could pay $5 a month and probably not have to worry about it ever, but I'll use a bit of restraint and keep that $60 a year. But time to get to le boeuf of the matter.  Much has been happening in the past little while.  I probably saw Adam more in the past two weeks than I have over the past year.  Which is amazing but may also make this new distance harder to transition into.  Of course as I write this he sits less than 5km away, yet to depart.  But his departure is imminent.  I met up with him one day after work to pick out some new glasses.  I laughed as he tried to text photos to his lady in Montreal.  The lack of detail in the photos on the iPhone rendered all the photos practically identical.  The last four contenders were all great, but I think he made the right choice in the end.  I don't think the salespeople were on commission, but the customer service at the Sq1 LensC is ridiculous, and not in a good way.  When I walked in there were 3 people surrounding Adam trying to offer advise and suggestions.  It was overwhelming.  I turned my back to them and said "Lets try on some glasses."  They hovered for a few more minutes before finally dispersing.  They didn't stay away long, but at least going fwd from there it was one at a time.  I think we had 5 different people tending to Adam, be it bringing over new choices or clearing away the rejects.  An old coworker from the 'Ridge came in to get some sunglasses.  I went over for a very awkward hello.  It was a lose-lose scenario for me.  I would have regretted had I not said anything, but I knew it wouldn't go over very well.  It started with me walking up to him exactly as he was entering his pin number and it went downhill from there lol.  At any rate.  As we waited for the lenses to be created I got a few text messages from Dean:

● I'm trying to vote but Rob Ford isn't on the ballot

● Do I just write his name in "other"

● Ok I'll just put his name down and check the box, thanks

I was a bit late responding but got back to him with, Lol I kill you tomorrow.  I went home and quickly voted as the polls were wrapping up within the hour.  I'm not committed to a certain party, at least not fully committed.  And if I ever feel there is a second adequate candidate I will have some pondering to do.  I may also next time delve a little bit further into the actual platforms.  Might still end up casting the same vote, but it will be a slightly more educated vote.

So what else.  I saw Sim and Spence for one night.  I was really bushwhacked though, as I am most nights.  Hosted a bowling night for Adam for the 'Sauga crew.  Bowling for Adambine....too soon?  Sushi with an old coworker.  A weekend up North, which was relatively uneventful but very peaceful.  I'm scheduled to go back up this weekend, but I will let the weather make that decision for me.  I'm also going away next weekend and have to watch my gas usage.  I have to watch my spending in general this month.

 I did splurge slightly on myself this weekend.  I've been wanting to have some more greenery in my life for a while so I told Nikki I wanted to go to Sheridan Nurseries at some point if she would be kind enough to accompany me.  She gave me the nod for last Sunday morning.  She also wanted to pick up some flowers to plant at her dad's grave.  I wish I'd had a chance to really meet her dad before he got sick.  We don't talk about it much.  She does let small tidbits slip from time to time.  Last time we took a trip out Hamilton way we ended up listening to Patricia the Stripper two or three times in a row.  She said she used to dance around her living room with her dad and sisters as that played in the background.  It's a nice memory.  Well at any rate, I picked out a fern and threw it into a planter that someone who shall not be named bought me.  She thought buying me a planter and a nice new shower mat from Winners would make my 400sqf crack-den in Calgary all better.  Have you guessed yet?  And 10 years later, I'm finally using it for its true purpose instead of storing random bits.  It does look pretty badass if I do say so myself.  Once I got it into my place it suddenly felt a whole lot bigger than it did at the store, but I'll find a way to make it blend in.

On the way home today, I was half-witness to a hit-and-run.  All I could think was thank goodness it wasn't me.  I was at a red light across the street from my condo and I heard a loud screech and the unmistakeable sound of car hitting car.  I looked back and all I could see was the 2nd guy back was kind of close to the guy behind me.  The passenger looked to be opening their door so I thought maybe it was just a loud car door slam.  As I'm trying to not miss my green and get honked at, I see the driver of that car get out, and the car behind him do the fastest 3-point turn I've seen in a long time.  Unfortunately there was enough room behind him for him to back up, flip it around, and peace out.  He squealed his wheels as he sped away in the opposite direction, and left the driver standing outside of his car dumbfounded.  The light turned green so I drove through and parked outside the condo on the street, just in case the driver saw me and wanted to stop to see if I could corroborate his story.  I had seen what looked like a platinum VW performing a highly illegal U-turn just before the green light made me drive off.  That's not much I know.  The hit car drove past me and I could see what appeared to be major bumper damage.  I don't know if it was fully cracked or just dented.  Probably a combination of both.  And bumpers aint cheap.  Just the thought of that happening to me is enough to incite desires to commit hari kari.

That's all.  I leave you with this thought provoking haiku:


Haikus are easy
But sometimes they don't make sense
Refrigerator