Saturday, March 20, 2010

CBC Information Morning, Steve Brockley, Pacifico, Waverly Loop, the Market and Biking in Bedford



So a lot has been going down recently. My in-hospital clinical sessions have re-started. Just seven more weeks until I get paid for doing this. Needless to say, I'm working the equivalent of full time and am getting paid $0/hour.

This feels like post-modern slavery.

Meeting a lot of people at the hospital though. Couple major cuties that I am working with! But let's keep this professional. One of our patients came back from the Operating Room the other day. It was obvious that this person was still a little loopy from the drugs as they were talking in a very convincing Australian accent (not from/never been to Australia). When they saw me lurking in the room cleaning things up, they proceeded to blurt out (to one of the other nurses): "Who is that? Why... why it's a little digeridoo!" Aussie accent all the way. In this case, I was the digeridoo. I thought it was hilarious!

Will keep you posted on other school-related going's on.

My bike group and I have been circulating a petition for an Active Transportation corridor that would span the Halifax Peninsula. It's been a lot of work to go around and collect signatures. We have over 500 now, and it's climbing slowly everyday. To help promote this, we I did a brief (maybe too brief) interview with the CBC Information Morning folks. It was pretty cool to be on the radio, and they had a good view of where our proposed corridor will end up! However, I would have liked to get to the kernel of the issues surrounding the benefits of cycling. Not enough time to do so however.

Here is a picture of CBC radio's inner lair!

A few days ago, my new roomates took me out to see one of their friends perform. This guys name is Steve Brockley, and I thought he was pretty great! Kind of reminded me of Timber Timbre a little bit (slightly Macabre). The three of us drove our bikes to Just Us! Cafe on Spring Garden Road to watch the show. I bought a steamed milk with a shot of caramel. It was a pretty radical evening.

Last weekend, I went to Pacifico for the first time in maybe four or five years. To be honest, I was having a good time... until some skanks and their fatass boyfriends told the bouncers I was dancing next to them and got me kicked out. What a bunch of assholes! So after spending like $40 there through the night, I was just tossed out, no ifs, ands or buts.

I am never going back to Pacifico again. Neither am I going to suggest it to anyone considering going.

The weather has been pretty great recently! I took this opportunity to take my bike out to do the Waverly loop, which is a 50k run around the Harbour (through Bedford), out to Fall River (nearly) and back through Dartmouth via Waverly Road. It is my favourite route! I've done it in less than 1:30 before, however the head winds on this day made the entire trip VERY rough! I was not the only one on the roads that day though. A good 20 cyclists were out enjoying the great weather! It was nice to see them passing me by (going in the opposite direction).

Here is a shot taken from Lake Banook in the Dart.


Jabes and I spent the day together trying to collect more signatures for our petition today. We had a great time! The market was bumpin, as usual, and we got a lot of support. I hope these folks start writing in to their councillors about this!

Outside the Market, this trio was casting a spell on folks! They were pretty great!

Finally, Jabes and I went out for a nice bike ride today! It was a 30 min ride not very far, but we took our time, as Jabes was still getting used to the bike we made together last summer. It still rides like the wind!

We found that a TON of people in Bedford were out enjoying the weather today! It was really great to me to see so many people being active. Thank God car culture hasn't completely choked us out! More people need to enjoy the outdoors though, or else my job is going to get a hell of a lot more difficult.

This park in Bedford (pics below) was pretty amazing. It has a good 1.5 km trail right next to the water, a nice playground area for the kiddies, lots of green space. Would definitely recommend that everyone in HRM spend some time in Bedford checking this place out!
Sometimes HRM staff can design and plan for very awesome green-space! This is something I think we should thank them for a little more. I think I will write a letter to the Coast about this.

Sorry to make this so long and neglect you, my darlings! I will try to make more posts, and get batteries for my actual camera (right now, I am using my iPhone).

Monday, March 1, 2010

Canada Mens Hockey wins gold

So against my shut-in, recluse personality, I decided to head out to the Oasis to watch the Canadian Mens Gold Medal game (Vancouver, 2010 Winter Olympics). Man what a night! I got there about halfway through the second period and watched it in a room jam-packed with red and white jerseys, face paint, Canada flags, hats toques, scarfs, etc.

When the US scored in the last 24 seconds of the game, there was definitely a collective groan from the audience, and a ton of complaints among the smoking crowd. But it all worked out in the end.

In fact it may have worked too well! After Sid's goal, everyone rushed for the door and spilled out into the street. After about 20 mins, the Bubba Rays, Victors and Gastby's crowds joined up with us and a street party ensued. The street was blocked off by the cops who were oddly cool about us being there. I've thrown in some photos of the street party from the thick of things. After about an hour of cheering and craziness, I decided to get on the bike and ride home with a couple people. Good conversations ensued!

Enjoy!









To all the friends that I called in various parts of Canada: Truly wished you could have been here!