Living A Nightmare

I woke up today and my dad was still dead.

(On a softer note, this is what I posted on Facebook this morning.)

A Hunger Break From Lemony Snicket

I went out to see the second Hunger Games movie on Friday and it was amazing! So good in fact, that I decided to put my reading of the A Series of Unfortunate Events aside for a little while to read the Hunger Game books. The two series are both Young Adult (YA) novels and both incredibly written. Events is smart and funny, I have been savoring each book. Games is riveting, I flew through the first book in a day and a half. However, both cover rather depressing and/or morbid themes, even with that in the back of my mind I can't help but think of them all as these great treats of literature. I love YA, wait, correct that, I love WELL WRITTEN Young Adult novels. (And no I would not consider Twilight to be in that category.)

Game For My Commute

I am too groggy most mornings to read on my almost hour-long transit commute to work. (I always read on my trip home, which sadly is shorter, and then seems even shorter because I am reading.)

Before she traveled over to Stockholm to do her Masters, Anne visited Toronto for a little while this past summer. One thing she said she noticed (besides the fact that Toronto smells, which is unfortunately true most summer days) was that there seemed to always be sirens going and emergency vehicles rushing around. She would point them out to me as another fire truck, EMS, ambulance, or police car drove past and I kept saying, "It is strange, I swear it isn't usually this bad."

I realized though, that maybe I had gotten used to it. In Paris, we lived a couple of blocks from the train tracks; I got so used to the light window shaking and noise that accompany the trains I could even tell you how many passed during the day/night. Perhaps it had become the same with the noises of Toronto.

So, I now play a morning game with myself - Can I make it to work without sirens? Well, turns out for the most part, I can't. They seriously happen all the time. I get excited if I am a couple of blocks from work and haven't seen/heard one - then in most cases I see cops rush past (we have a station near work.) So, near work it is usually police and closer to home it is fire trucks, either way there are a lot of sirens happening in this city! But I want to start winning the game more!

More Than A Mayor

Over the past couple of weeks the world has been witness to, what I have found to be, a sad and frustrating political scandal. The Mayor of Toronto, Rob Ford, is a joke on the global stage. The recently released documents detailing his appalling behavior while in office, as well as, his recent behavior in City Council and in front of the press - disgusting.

However, yesterday, the Ontario Premier spoke on the issue and I found the end of her speech to be a nice light in what has been a very dark couple of weeks. I see truth in her calm, beautiful, and optimistic statement:

"Toronto is a great city in an amazing province. We have a proud history and a bright future. Toronto is greater than one politician or one government. Ontario is greater than one politician or one government. I understand that people are affected by what is happening at this moment. But I want the people of Toronto to know that we will not be defined by this." 
- November 14, 2013 - Kathleen Wynne - Primier of Ontario

More Milestones

I can't believe that this is the second time I am writing about a odometer milestone for Jason's Yaris, but on a recent trip up to Ottawa (it always seems to happen on Ottawa trips) the car hit 123,456 kms. Jason was pretty excited that it was going to happen soon so we kept an eye on it to make sure we didn't miss it.

An even bigger milestone is that last night our cheques came from the ING Direct Joint Chequing account we recently opened together to help us better manage splitting housing costs. The cheques have both our names on them, it was pretty intense seeing it there in print, over top of the Rrunuv Bayit address. I guess it is getting serious, as they say.

Remembrance Day 2013

Sometimes in war you find peace and sometimes in army training you find love. On this Remembrance Day, I give many thanks to past and present veterans, especially my brother and sister-in-law. Lest We Forget.

Mike and Aimee's Wedding

July 29, 2012

Photographer - Aimee's Family Friend

Foiled By Ford

I had every intention of going to the basement at work and running for a bit on the treadmill. I joined this really nice gym that is just steps away from my office and I have gotten into quite a good routine of going at lunch, working out for 20 to 30 minutes and then having a shower before heading up to work for the afternoon. It has been really helpful for my mood and I can tell that it is slowly giving more energy.

Well, today, just as I was standing up to head out - Rob Ford, the Mayor of Toronto, admitted to smoking crack. I have been following this story from the start. Even before all the crazy drama I follow city politics and policy quite closely because it has a direct connection to my daily work. So, the gym will not be happening this lunch hour as I spend the time reading up on this latest update. Man, this city is crazy sometimes.