Just My Luck

A whole month without rain and I happen to pick the one week that it rains everyday to have work done on the outside of my house -- go figure.
This is day one and what happens when you let a crack in the foundation go too long.

Yes that is the inside of my basement on the other side of that hole.

Day two, a form built to repair the damage to the foundation. Phase one of the concrete gets poured. Good-bye hole.

Things That Bugged Me This Week

The TTC is 17 million dollars in the hole, because ridership is up and the transferable metro pass is too successful. Fares likely to rise because of this. Say what now?!
Can't these clowns at the TTC do anything right?

Need I really ask?

The TTC is asking the province for 450 million dollars more, after it has already given the TTC 450 million dollars towards this very project, to cover the cost of the new streetcars the federal government wouldn't (and rightly so) pay for.

St Clair right of way streetcar line 2 years over due and millions of dollars over budget.

The better way?

Not even close.

The save my swimming pool debate rages on and on and on.

Four more pools were spared this week, but nine others, located in lower-income neighborhoods are still on the chopping block.

Why are we still arguing about this. If money to keep them open is the issue, then charge a user fees and be done with it. It works with hockey rinks, why not with pools.

This should not have to be an issue every single year.

The Toronto Zoo wants to open a Panda exhibit. It would cost about a million a year for each panda, plus the another 15 million to build a suitable enclosure. But to do so would require the zoo the redevelop the zoo's northern sector which is where Canadian animals are displayed. This means that the grizzly bear and the beaver displays would be on the cutting block.

What?!

That just doesn't seem right. I'm from the school of thought that says, animals native to this country should have a permanent display for foreign visitors to see them in all their natural glory.

Panda's are cute and all, but I'm pretty sure that the grizzly bear can kick a panda's ass.

Mayor Miller Will Not Run Again, Just Run Away

Finally mayor David Miller does something right. He just announced that he will not run for a third term in the next election. Too bad the damage has already been done.

You took this great city of Toronto and totally destroyed it and now you are going to leave the mess for someone else to clean up.

Buddy, not even Barack Obama could undo the mess you created.

Perhaps you saw the writing on the wall and realized that you didn't stand a chance in the next election. I mean even a blind man could see that.

For once I can say you finally did the right thing.

Good job.

Say Cheese!

Good-bye Summer

Today at 5:06pm, summer (if you can call it that), officially ends and Fall begins.

Time to put the sandals away for another season and time to break out the socks.
If it hadn't been such a shitty summer weather wise, I would almost feel sad to see it go.

Death By Squirrel

What do you think the biggest danger is that I face when I'm out biking?

Cars and their doors?

No.

Bikes or other people walking on the bike path?No.

Parks and Rec. pick-up trucks?

Sewer drains? No and no.

My biggest danger while biking is squirrels. Yes, that's right, squirrels.

(Look closely, top right, for the squirrel about to pounce)

These rodents will sit right in the middle of the bike path and see you coming. But instead of running away, the squirrel will just stand there in the middle of the path, pretending to be invisible. And then, just as you are about to ride past, the squirrel will realize that I can in fact see him and try to run. But before taking off, the stupid squirrel has to decide which way to go, darting back and forth a couple of times before running right into the path that I am usually travelling. And then I have to jam on my breaks to avoid hitting the dumb squirrel.

Why is this so scary?

Because unlike a car, which can literally run right over the damn thing,if you hit one on a bike YOU WILL CRASH -- HARD.

The little fucker will get caught in your wheel and throw you off your bike, in effect, killing itself and you in the process. I kid you not.

U2 At The Rogers Centre

U2 was in town this week for two sold out shows at the Rogers Centre. We caught the second show yesterday and I have got to tell you, it's a good thing the retractable roof was open, because they would of blown it off. Yes the show was that good. Too bad the seats we had were kind of shitty. We were on the second level in the last row up against the wall. And the third level was above us, so the sound bounced off the walls above and behind us and sounded a sort of muffled. Even with the shitty seats and crazy price I paid for them, it didn't stop us from enjoying one of the best concerts I have seen in awhile. Here are some shots from the show, enjoy.
The boys arrive to a full house. Our seats.Playing for a packed house of 60,000 plus screaming middle-age fans.Yup, that's Bono, over my shoulder on the right.The crazy stage.My favorite song of the night had to be Ultra Violet (Light My Way), which was played in the first encore. Bono came out in a red neon jacket and a red glowing mike drops from the ceiling and they begin to play with Bono doing his thing for the camera -- awesome. And I loved it when they turned the Rogers Centre into a huge disco ball and used the lights on the CN tower as part of the their stobe light show in a way that only U2 could pull off. And apparently, Blackberry really does love U2. No one uses lighters anymore, they use their cell phones.Only one of the biggest bands in the world today could of pulled off a concert like this. U2 did it and they did it well.

Get On Your Boots

Finally, the day has arrived. Going to end this summer with a BANG! Going to see U2 tonight. Check out some pix from last nights show. Ohh, this is going to be good!
pictures courtesy of www.Citytv.com

That Didn't Take Long

What was that, like 30 seconds...LOL.
Still a Douche.

Douche

And the Douche bag of the year goes to Kanye West.

There is a time and a place for everything, and Kanye West has proven time and time again that he doesn't have a clue what either one of those are.
You got a problem with the awards show, take it up with them, instead you show how bad ass you were and embarrassed yourself and Taylor Swift.
What a Douche.

Did You Know?

Who has the busiest airport in the world?

And where does Toronto's Pearson International measure up?

Well according to The Economist, Atlanta has the distinction as being the busiest airport in the world, handling 90 million passengers last year.

Chicago O'Hare was second, and London's Heathrow third.

Rounding up the Top 10, Tokyo Haneda, Paris Charles de Gaulle, Los Angeles LAX, Dallas/Fort Worth, Beijing, Frankfurt and Denver.

Toronto no where to be seen...

info courtesy of The Toronto Sun, picture courtesy of me!

Toronto History: Did You Know?

Anyone who travels Toronto's University Ave. cannot help but be impressed with the magnificent Canada Life Building located on the west side of the street, just north of the Queen St. intersection. The company had been established in Hamilton, in 1847 where business was good. But things could be better and it wasn't long before company officials decided to take advantage of the possibilities afforded by opening a small office on King St. W., right in the heart of the provincial capital, Toronto.
The plan worked and before long unprecedented growth made it necessary for the company to seek even larger premises. A new building was the only answer and it was into this six-story structure at 40-46 King St. W., soon known far and wide as the Canada Life Building, that the company head office was relocated in 1900.
Throughout the teens and twenties, business continued to grow, and in late 1928 the company announced it had acquired property at the northwest corner of University Ave. and Queen St. (University had yet to be extended south of Queen to its present terminus at Front) on which another Canada Life Building would rise. On January 28 of the following year, a sketch of the proposed new building, prepared by the distinguished Canadian architectural firm of Sproatt and Rolph, appeared in the local newspapers. However, for whatever reason (or reasons) the structure looked significantly different when it opened for business in mid-March, 1931.
Aside from the impressive appearance of the building, its best-known feature is the 13.7 m. (45 ft.) high weather beacon that towers 97.8 m. (321 ft.) above University Ave. It consists of 1007 bulbs in 19 rows of lights and was first illuminated on August 9, 1951. The colour of the top beacon indicates the weather (Green = fair, Red = cloudy, Flashing Red = rain, Flashing White = snow) while the up and down direction of the lights forecasts the variation of the temperature (Up = warmer, down = colder, steady = no change). The forecasts (7:00 a.m. to midnight) are based on Environment Canada information and are updated four times a day.

courtesy of MIKE FILEY, Toronto Sun, Canada Life Building photos courtesy of Google images.

My Hero

There are a few things Jane Raham, alter ego "stunt-driving granny," would like to make perfectly clear.
First and foremost, she is not a legal maverick. It was never, repeat never, her intention to "take on the law," as some media outlets have suggested. "This granny did not, and would not, even though I felt a great sense of injustice," the 62-year-old woman said yesterday.
Raham found herself at the centre of a landmark legal ruling earlier this week, after an Ontario Court judge overturned her guilty verdict and ruled a section of the province's stunt driving law is unconstitutional. She had been charged under the law for passing a truck near Kaladar at more than 50 km/h past the limit – the speed at which drivers receive an automatic conviction.
As happy as she is, Raham said she can't take credit for the decision. That belongs entirely to a paralegal association, retained by Raham to help guide her through the court process, and lawyer Brian Starkman.
"The paralegal said the association really wanted to appeal this case because they thought the law was written badly," said Raham. "I said, `You can appeal it, but I'm going to pay the fine.' Based on what had happened, I had no hope that there was going to be any room to manoeuvre there."
Enter Starkman.
According to court documents, Raham's paralegal filed a motion that included the lawyer's submissions from a similar case. Fearing the paralegal was in over his head, Justice G.J. Griffin invited Starkman to take on the appeal.
Ten months later, Raham received a call from her paralegal, who congratulated her for making "provincial history."
"I said, `What?'"
Raham hadn't paid Starkman a cent; he did it for free. Nor had she heard from him until after the appeal was won.
"The law defines stunt driving in several different ways," Starkman said. "One of them is driving a car while you're not seated in the driver's seat. I'd say that's a pretty good definition of stunt driving.
"But why should driving 50 (km/h) above the speed limit be stunt driving? It's speeding. There's another section that deals with speeding, and it already includes penalties for going 50 past the limit and more."
At this point, what worries Raham even more than the stunt driving law is the lack of regulation around impound lots in Ontario, where private operators are free to charge what they please.
She said she was quoted a fee of $100 a day, a price she challenged after a local taxi driver told her it was far above average.
In the end, said Raham, she paid a total of $588 over the course of a week. The cost was knocked off the $2,000 fine she paid before the LPA launched its appeal. "If the municipality has enlisted operations to (impound vehicles), why aren't they regulated?" she asked.

I've been saying this since this law came out. You want to fine me for driving above the speed limit, no problem. But take away my licence and impound my car for a week for doing nothing but speeding, well that's just plain wrong. It was a bullshit law from the start and now finally someone is doing something about it.

Good work, "stunt-driving granny".

picture and story courtesy of the Toronto Star.