Another Trip to TO

So I went back to Toronto for another visit to my friends Jabes and Thomas. Pretty great time overall! Got to see Thomas's new kiddy and catch up with him and whatnot. Went out for a good ol' fashion guys night on the town --drinks, music, shisha (non-tobacco version), etc. Was good seeing Jabes and her roomie again. I'm just going to throw up some pics below of the wonderful time.

Of course returned to Allan Gardens in the Downtown Core to see what summer foliage they had. These two plants were REALLY psychedelic! I think I may make the above one my iPhone picture. Trippy, no?
What a lovely shade of blue!

A night out at a bar called "the Local". Probably my favourite bar in TO. Good food, cute layout, fun music. Also, the proximity to Jabes' place factors in bigtime. I think we would have gone crazy here if it weren't for a bully of a head-cold that hit me halfway through the bloody trip! Goddammit!

My first full tour of Casa Loma! Some people may remember this place from my fave movie of all time: Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. Really great audio tour, and a crazy-whicked castle near the heart of TO.

Of course I had to take a picture of Jack's former HQ. What a great guy. Gonna miss him. He did a great deal for TO and Canada! Missing a big hole in Parliament with him gone.

I've been noticing that I'm spontaneously picking up a Newfoundland accent. I would have to assume it's somewhat due to all the Newfish people I work with on a weekly basis. It could have to do also with this new video I found of a lady named Stacey Tuttle. I don't know why I find it so funny. Maybe because I identify instantly with her Kit Kat troubles (I also likes the waffer and the crunch!) But after I asked around about her, I've found that Stacey is literally an official sight of St John's Newfoundland! (Like Mastodon Ridge is to NS). When I further nail the info down on this lady-type, I will re-post.

Take 'er easy, folks!

Hello everyone! It's been a really long time... since January even! Sorry not to have been posting. Have been going through a pretty crappy time. It's crazy how some people want to really bring you down as low as you can go.

Enough about that.

What has been going on over the past several months? Well Bike Week has come and gone. I helped to plan a couple events. Doing that can be stressful, but at the same time, very rewarding! Here is a picture of a couple of our volunteers at the Bike Week Open Street Party. It was a hell of a time!

I took the next weekend to go on a long hike around Long Lake. It was tough. The path kind of stops after a while and you have to bushwhack it. But still a lot of things to see. Lots of green. But most of all, lots of walking!

ANNNNNNND finally, about a month ago, I found Halifax's one and only Hookah Bar along the Bedford Highway. I went in with a friend to try it out and I LOOOOVED it! I went out and got my own a little while ago and have been enjoying it ever since! It's essentially a VERY flavourful tobacco mixed with molasses and various fruit concentrates. There are a lot of flavours you can get including double apple, mango, grape, watermelon and many more. You can also get tobacco-free stuff, but that usually burns a little hotter than the regular stuff.

Anyways... other than that, I've been working a lot and still trying to pay off the ol' student loans. My unit is closing soon too, so there will be a little bit of change coming soon, but something that I'm looking forward to.

'Till next time, folks!

Skate Night!

Just posting some pictures of my skate night at the Halifax Oval on the North Commons. If you haven't been there yet, I totally encourage you to check it out! It's definitely the best thing that has happened to Halifax during my time here (which has been about six years now).

I've been there twice already, using the free loaner skates available on-site. When you get a good pair, it's just a total treat to be there with so many people having fun! Also, I am by no means a great skater. Even so, this thing is a blast!

The Canada Winter Games are taking over the ice however, and public skating is on pause for the next two weeks or so. I can't wait for things to open up again!

Otherwise, nothing much going on these days. My bike group and I are working on some "end of year" events that we could throw around town. Just to clarify, our year-end is in June as this represents a full year for our Board of Directors. I've also been looking into entering another couple races this summer. I am not in as good shape as I was last time I made the effort to get into racing... but we'll see how I'll do, here.

Adios, all!

Trip to TO

After looking down the barrel of a two week vacation, I asked myself, "How can I make the most of my time? You know, do something new." The answer invariably came to me in a dream in which everything in the world was being sucked into a black hole in the centre of the universe. When I woke up, for some reason, Toronto seemed the most logical choice as a place to visit. I would later make sense of this dream. While I was in Toronto, I learned that many Ontarians consider Toronto the centre of the universe.

After taking a Porter flight to Toronto City Centre Airport (quick note: if you are flying to City Centre, expect a choppy landing!), and making my way to Jabes' place in the west end (yes, my friend Jabes now lives in TO while completing a Forrestry degree), my week started off with sushi, cheesecakes, Chinese baked goods (sweet and meaty), casseroles... pretty much a weeklong food extravaganza. In fact I wound up gaining about two pounds per day while there. But I was also able to visit the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Royal Ontario Museum, various bars and pubs, and (possibly my favourite attraction) the Allen Gardens Conservatory.

I was also stunned to see that traffic in urban Toronto, ever during peak hours, is incredibly tame compared to Halifax. After taking a couple days brainstorming how a city with about 10 times the population of Halifax could have about 10 times less traffic, I've come to the conclusion that --even though subways are helpful in reducing use of the single occupant vehicle use-- Toronto streetcars are the answer. They penetrate the entire urban core (and the 'burbs to a lesser extent) so much and run so often that if you live in the catchment area of a streetcar, it would make ZERO sense to use your car for the majority of trips you'd ever have to make in your weekly schedule. As a result, you get an urban core that has a markedly reduced incidence of using their cars and clogging up the streets during peak hours when suburbanites are making their ways to work. HOWEVER, because public transit poorly penetrates the suburbs, traffic usually builds up in these areas more readily during peak hours. I really think that adding light rail transit to help people get to the more transportation-diverse urban core is a great idea. Unfortunately, it looks like the newly elected Mayor Ford is putting the kibosh on this idea. Kind of a shame, but I can't say I'm surprised.

Similarly, Halifax has a network of streetcars buried under a lot of our streets. Up until car culture invaded Canada, you could grab a streetcar from downtown Halifax and ride it all the way to the Halifax Shopping Centre. I wonder if we will ever see a mayor, or council interested in digging these things up and actually putting them to good use again. Hmmm.......

All in all, Toronto was fun and I'd like to go back in the summer sometime. Maybe grab a bike and go on a tour of Toronto (ToT?) and visit Jabes again.

Enjoy the photos!