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!

New Years 2011

So like many other Haligonians, I celebrated New Years last night by getting a little bit slizzard. And by a little bit, I mean only about 10%. Work in the morning and all... gotta bring home the bacon. Instead of heading down to Grand Parade Square as I usually do, this year I drummed up enough energy to meet a special lil' lady down at the Lower Deck.

Of course I took advantage of the free bus service all night to get downtown, because mainly I find walking to be one of the most boring modes of transportation that currently exists. Anyways, as you can see by the pictures, free bus days are not surprisingly the busiest day for Metro Transit busses. These mothers were packed!

Major disclaimer: You still have to show up 15 minutes before your bus is scheduled to arrive to make sure you actually catch the busses that can sometimes arrive either 10 minutes before or 20 minutes after said departure times.

I really thought it was going to be a typical celebration style Friday night, full of drunkards and yelling and the odd tussle, but Lower Deck was actually pretty good. For $45, we got some free finger food and good music, although the booze prices were still pretty average, considering the above average door charge.

So with 2011 upon us, I'm searching for a goal to work towards for the year. In fact while doing so, I'm realizing that I already have a fair deal of projects on the go. The Crosstown Connector, SPOKE (cycling newsletter), and Bike Week plans for this year. Perhaps one of my goals should be to have less goals... although how do I track the success of that?

Happy New Year everyone!

PS - the SPACE channel is running a Star Trek marathon all day (TNG versions)!