personal | this year.

Archive for the 'personal' Category Page 2 of 3

3 Days In Halifax

Published at April 12, 2005 in personal and travel. Closed

What can I not say about Halifax. I love this city. We made a huge score on hotels, staying at the Holiday Inn Select, near downtown on Robie and Quinpool. I called them from the road, and talked to a wonderful girl Faith, who dropped the rate from $140 to $109 a night (with parking thrown in). They had a wonderful hot tub and sauna.

We spent 3 days in Halfiax (sat, sun and mon). To be 100% truthful, it was sort of a bust. It may sound contradictory to say I love Halfiax, and this visit was a bust, but it’s true. Saturday we had to attend the bar we were supposed to execute at and tell any patrons why the event has been cancelled. The bar, Key Largos in Sacville was unique.

A plane comes through the wall of Key Largo.

We showed up at 7pm, and walked right into an auction, at which point we went for dinner and Steve broke the law.

Lives by his own rules.

It seems the auction was scheduled till 8m, at which point we were supposed to do our event. Only thing is, our event takes 2h to set up, so it would have been a logistical nightmare. Also, the auction was still going at 9:30 when we left. This put a giant hole in the night, and no one really wanted to go out, and my friend Sarah, who is doing her masters at Dal had to finish a paper. So in we stayed, took a hot tub and sauna, and called it a night.

I got up early on Sunday to a sunny, cloudless sky. It was to good to pass up, so i got myself out of bed and onto the streets by 10am. I just wandered around the city, checking out the north part of the harbour that I did not explore last time out. It was interesting to run across the Canadian National Navel Defence buildings, and see a submarine in dry dock.

We all live in a dry docked submarine.

Cruising the pier I grabbed a coffee, relaxed on a park bench, and made some phone calls (mostly to gloat to some friends that I was having a coffee, and looking out on the Harbour of Halifax). The pier is not as busy as it was last July, when i was out with a few buddies on a road trip, but it was still an enjoyable time. Brisk, cool, refreshing breeze, sun, some ships, and funny signs.

Ironical.

The red twins.

Sunday afternoon saw the group partake in the Keith’s Brewery Tour. I say partake because it is a interactive experiences. I was on it last summer and I recognized at least one of the actors from then. Having had camera experience since then, and knowing what was coming up, I was able to grab some photos I wanted to take the last time through.

The Stag Head, Mr. Keiths semi-private bar.

Just one right hook, please?

All bars need the ‘knave’ stamp.

Sunday night was to be the big night out, but as things go with large groups, it was a slow start. In the end we finally made it to Lower Deck for 11:30pm, and it was rammed. In this sea of people, that were only parted by smartly placed elbows, I was able to find Sarah. Me and the crew found a corner to the right of the band, got some ice cold pints of Keith’s, and took it all in. The live band was awesome, and the electricity in the air was stellar. It’s a shame the pub closes at 1am. However, we had to head up to The Palace to meet up with a girl that does some work for Mosaic (the company i work for) as she was taking us out on the time. It’s just not my style to travel all the way to Halifax, a city rich with heritage and character, to spend my time in a club that could easily have been transported off the streets of TO. To end the night me and some folks cruised down to Pizza Corner to grab some donairs. I walked into King Of Donair, only to learn they were out of meat. It was a shock, and an utter disappointment. Luckily it is Pizza Corner, so we had 2 other options, and they did not disappoint. In the end I’m not sure who was more upset, me or Brent Taylor who received a disgruntled phone call from me at 4am AT (3am EST).

Monday was another laid back day. grabbed a coffee, grabbed and soak, and grabbed a sauna. The sun had left us, and its evil brother overcast took his place. To end our Halifax blitz we went for a wonderful dinner at The Keg. It was spectacular, and we were all on the verge or exploding. Most folks were tired, but Ali wanted to go out for some drinks on this last night in Halfiax. I was more then happy to oblige, so we went down to some Shoe Shop bistro type place a friend of hers recommended. It was quaint, and the live jazz was soothing. It’s on Arglye St. and connects to another place called Diamond. A relaxing night to a great city. The weather man is promising 15-25cm of snow for Moncton and PEI, right in our path of travel. We’ll see what develops.

Next stop PEI.

Up Top In Sydney

Published at April 10, 2005 in personal and travel. Closed

Night crossing on the ferry from Newfoundland to Sydney was uneventful. It was a cold, clear night, with very calm seas. We slept it away, leaving the Rock at midnight,and arriving in Sydney about 7am. We checked into the Days Inn just in time to catch the start of continental breakfast. After that it was time for the first soak on the trip. I can whole heartidly declare this hot tub was the absolute hottest tub I have ever been in. I do beleive i could have boiled an egg.

The sunrise reflects off the ship in a lovely pink hue.

The sky is alive as we pull into Sydeny, Nova Scotia.

The life boats of the MV Caribou.

The ship opens to let its cargo drive off.

The walk back to the car.

We got some bad news in Sydney. It seems the Nova Scotia Alcohol and Gaming Ogranization had second thoughts about our Labatt Blue Chip Poker Tour, and requested we not run the promotion. The venues, not wanting to tempt fate, quickly cancelled the event. It was a sad day, and placed on an extended break.

Sydney is not the best town to party in. We didn’t really locate any pubs, but did attend this club two nights in a row. I think it was called Capri. On the Thursday it was pretty dead, but friday it was jumping. I do beleive UCB is near by, but still, Sydney is not really a student town. All in all I can say it was an enjoyable time.

Next stop — Halifax.

48 Hours In Newfoundland

Published at April 7, 2005 in personal and travel. 1 Comment

We blew across Newfoundland under veil of darkness and quiet of night. The ferry from NS took a little longer then scheduled due to fog and rain. We slept away much of the 9h crossing. Laying in my bunk, eyes closed, I could imagine what it was like to cross the ocean on a wooden ship. The roll of the ship, and the crash of the waves, and the creak of the wood was enough to allow me to slip in and out of sleep.

We rolled onto The Rock around 9:00pm. Having lost most sense of time, I have no idea what time zone that is reported in. We had about 576km to drive from Port aux Basque to Gander. We had talked about making the push straight to St. John’s — a trip of about 886km. It was my turn to drive White Lightning, and I was stoked.

The Town of Port aux Basque, as seen from the ferry as we pull into port.

Rolling off the ferry dropped us into rock. It is obvious where the island gets its nickname from. The air was thick with fog and rain, not ideal for night driving, but typical for the island. I was feeling right awake from napping all day, and didn’t want to have to make any pee stops. We were pushing though. Much of the drive across Newfoundland is 2 lane highway, with 3 lanes on hills to assist passing. The lines are faded, which makes it a challenge to stay clearly in your lane. With few cars on the road, it doesn’t pose much of a problem. The further east one travels the better the roads become. They have sectios of 4 lane divided highway around Corner Brook, a ski town. Because of dark and fog we didn’t get much of a view, just silhouetted mountain tops against a cloudy sky. We stopped in Gander and chatted it up with some local girls who happened to be hanging at our hotel.

The final 330km push to st.john’s was made in yet another cloudy/raining day. A few ice laden bays could be seen from the highway, but on the whole visibility was limited.

My hat doing its part to label this picture pure Canadiana.

We had our first execution of the Labatt Blue Chip Poker Tour at ETOMIK on George St. The following are images of our setup in the bar, and of the bar itself. It was a pretty cool looking place.

It is at this point I had planned to write, “it is a shame to travel all the way to St. John’s — the oldest city in North America — and not stay and experience it.” Our original plan was to work, pack up, then try and make a 10h drive in a time span of 8h. Luckily smarter heads prevailed and we spent the night in St. John’s. I was extremely happy. I have heard so much about the hospitality of the Newfoundlanders, and after a night of socializing, I was not disappointed. They did more than anyone could ever ask, and more than any one group should deserve. My team and the bar staff of ETOMIK met up after the poker event at Greensleves. There is a series of pubs that are owned by the same individual. They had live music and great suds. I was overjoyed to toss down some Blue Star and Jockey Club — two fine beers from a great brewer. Being 1:30am when we arrived, we didn’t have much time till last call. In any normal town this would be a problem, but in Newfoundland they just open up another bar. So, off we went across the way to a 3rd pub owned by them. This pub was a more traditional George St. Pub — a bar, and a square room with a pool table. This tab was taken care of by the wonderful Labatt TM Jeremy. He even ordered us pizza. It was a wonderful night, and fun was had by all. I think St. John’s has one more roadblock then it had before we arrived.

I really, really, enjoyed this coffee.

Up and on the road at 9am after a 5am bedtime makes for a long drive back across 886km. Luckily it was the best weather we had seen thus far — sun with cloudy breaks. It truly is a beautiful province, and I thank the habitants for their hospitality and cheer.

Some bay on the TCH back to Port aux Basque.

The ski resort in Corner Brook, Newfoundland.

An image that shows ‘the rock’ in its full rocky glory.

The MV Caribou, our transport back to the mainland.

Port aux Basque in twilight.

Next stop Sydney, Halifax and the province of New Brunswick. St. John’s has set the bar high. I’d have it no other way.

Middle Of The Atlantic

Published at April 4, 2005 in personal and travel. Closed

Well, I never thought I’d be doing this, but I’m accessing the internet from the Atlantic Ocean. The ferry has a satellite hook-up. It’s a bit of a streach, cause I think we’re actually only crossing Cabot Strait, but it’s salt water, and if the captain hung a 90 degree reggie we’d be heading straight to England. It’s a classic east coast day today — foggy, rainy and cold. probably around zero. Before I know it i’ll be driving across the tropical island of Newfoundland. So, I’ve been keeping some notes on paper that I was planning on transfering to this blog, but I’m just not in the mood to pull it out and transcribe. So I’ll give the short story.

Our first leg of the trip took us from Toronto ON., to Levis Quebec. Total driving time was about 10h. We were tired. Hit traffic in Montreal of course. That first leg was not without its share of problems.

Driving across Quebec on way to Levi.

Just outside the border of Quebec the mini vans ‘transaxel’ warning light came on. Not really knowing what the transaxel I looked at the transmission fluid levels, and they were good, so i was plum out of ideas. If we turned the car off, then back on the light went out, and stayed out from betwen 10min and 2h. So the solution? Put a glove in front of it. Out of sight out of mind.

Driving across Quebec on way to Amhurst, Nova Scotia.

Day two took us from Levis, Quebec, thought New Brunswick, and into Amhurst, Nova Scotia. It was a foggy rainy day again, so the drive was pretty boring. Took us about 10h, and we were again pretty tired. The highlight of this leg was one of the team girls Ali needing to stop for a washroom break RIGHT AWAY!! So, we pulled into the next restaurant, which turned out to be a XXX dance bar. We laughed, I have a picture of the sign to post when i have access to picture posting. For those interested in stopping, this bar is in Quebec, just shy of the New Brunswick border on the TCH.

The trinity of road trips: rest, food, and dances.

We stayed at the Wandlyn Inn, and they had one of the best parking signs I have seen. I thought these only exisited on TV.

Probably the next employee of the month.

Day 3 took us from Amhurst, Nova Scotia to north Sydeny Nova Scotia. Again, this was a very pictureque drive — so i’m told. It was foggy, so when we stopped at the look outs I wasn’t very impressed. this drive only took about 5h, so we got into town with an afternoon to kill. We drove around a bit, but being Sunday nothing was open. We stopped at a bar Chandlers, and its spelt like the TV show Friends title. he gave us some tips, but none really panned out.

Bar in downtown Sydney, Nova Scotia.

That brings us back to today, Monday April 4, 2005. Boat time 12:00 Atlantic time, 12:30 Newfoundland Time. It’s raining hard, the fog is in, and the wind is blowing. Liz and I were the only people on the deck of the boat when we pulled out of dock — guess you can tell we’re the tourists. It was tons of fun getting on the boat, as I was driving the cube van and was required to back it onto the boat. Luckily there’s nothing I can’t do in a cube van.

MV Caribou. I backed up the ramp on the left.

Ice filled port were we are docked.

MV Caribou leaves dock and heads for Newfoundland.

Arrived in Port aux Basque, departing the ferry.

The boat is tossing that much yet, so i think i’m gonna be fine for sea sickness. It’s mostly rollers, no white caps or waves. They look to be about 3-4 foot swells, but as i look again they are growing. I don’t tend to get sick while moving. As i look out the window now i see that land has left us behind, and we chug across to Port Aux Basque. There are only really tiny ice chunks in the water, but i’m hoping to run across some full blown icebergs, and maybe some sea life. I’ll be back up on deck just to breath in the sweet sea air. it’s approx. a 6h ferry to Newfoundland, then 500 miles (880km?) to St. John’s. We’ve decided to try and make the push to it tonight, so they we can make last call, then sleep in tomorrow. Our pre-scheduled itintery has us stopping in Gander.

Liz in our living quarters for the 9h crossing.

I’ll be on George St. tonight, kissing some fish, and drinking some screach. Life is good.

The ‘East Coast Or Bust’ Tour

Published at March 30, 2005 in personal and travel. Closed

We’re really doing it.

In 48 hours a crack team of carefully selected individuals and I will depart on a 20 day Atlantic Canada Road Trip, in support of The Labatt Blue Chip Poker Tour. I have officially dubbed this trip: The ‘East Coast Or Bust’ Tour. We’ll be driving from Toronto Ontario to the tip of Newfoundland and the city of St. John’s. From there we will back track to Sydney, Nova Scotia, then down to the city of Halifax. After Halifax we take the bridge over to Summerside, Prince Edward Island, then back across to finish the tour in New Brunswick, stopping in Moncton, St. John, and Fredricton. 20 days, 7 stops, 1 ridiculously good time.

There isn’t to much to say about the trip currently, as we have yet to leave. I can say we have been working diligently over the past few weeks to make this event the highlight of the summer. Our equipment is top notch, and our execution sensational. We swarm into bars and turn them into the set of The World Poker Tour. Once we return from the east coast this promotion will be running across Ontario. Dates and locations are published on line at the Labatt Blue website. The grand prize, being awarded June 16th, 2005, at the Liberty Grand in Toronto, is a Trip for 4 to Las Vegas, and a seat at a WPT event for the winner. That’s about a $20,000 value. I almost wish I wasn’t working on this event, because I would love to have a crack at that prize. Going all in against Doyle Brunson or Johnny Chan would be wild (and very matt Damon from Rounders).

So, look forward to updates from the road. I plan to chronicle this experience through words and photos. You’ll probably meet the team, share in some of the hijinks that are sure to occur, and hopefully get a few good laughs. I’ll try and make it entertaining and witty, with a sprinkle of thoughtfulness.

“I paid 25 cents to light a little white candle”

Published at March 9, 2005 in photography, personal and travel. Closed

Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris | 2003

A Maze By Any Other Name

Published at February 23, 2005 in personal. 1 Comment

This labyrinth vs. maze thing has thrown me for a loop. I had always thought a labyrinth was just a fancy maze. Since the brief tirade in my last post, and some google work, I have learned there is a difference. From some brief (and some long) discussions on the topic today, it seems many people shared my oblivious view. A true labyrinth is a single path that leads to the centre, and must be retraced to exit, while a maze is a series of choices, dead ends, and potential misfortune.

Some great labyrinth information can be found here:

The labyrinth has been making a resurgence as a spiritual exercise, as walking a labyrinth can be seen as, “a symbolic journey to the centre of ones self.” Many of the labyrinth locations listed at the Toronto Labyrinth Community Network are associated with churches. Anyways, I continue.

I trace my misguided views on labyrinths to my literal, and close minded interpretation of the Minotaur mythology. It’s a spectacular story, and goes on to prove my point that every good story has already been told. The end of the story has Theseus venturing into the labyrinth to slay the Minotaur. In order to find his way out he marks his path with string. Hold on. If it’s a labyrinth, and labyrinths are single path things, then how could he get lost? Couldn’t he just turn 180 degrees and walk out? Okay. I already found a plausible answer to this question, but I still felt the need to ask it. Not every language makes the distinction between labyrinth and maze, so in actual fact the Minotaur lived in a maze. I’m not sold on this explanation, as I think I read that mazes didn’t exist until much later in history. Unfortunately it’s the only explanation I could find, so it will have to suffice.

This brings us to a brief discussion of the movie Labyrinth, and its title character: The Labyrinth.

Now, I don’t know about you, but from what I have learned this afternoon, the labyrinth in Labyrinth is not a labyrinth. It looks to be more of a maze. Perhaps they should have called the movie MAZE. In its defense I draw upon my sketchy recollection of the plot, and I recall a female protagonist making a ‘journey’ to the ‘centre’ of the labyrinth to save a baby. Along the way she makes ‘realizations’ about herself. That seems to jive with the spiritual side of labyrinths. So maybe Labyrinth is a fitting title for this movie after all. But don’t get me wrong, she walks through a maze.

I suppose this whole debate can be boiled down to one statement: as long as you just stand outside some black hole labeled ‘ENTER HERE‘ you have no way to guess what type of thing is before you. In this respect all mazes are initially labyrinths — your first and only choice is to enter, or not.

Rip the cord. Bust the crud. Smash the pow.

Published at February 1, 2005 in personal and sport. 2 Comments

Have you ever had a bright idea, that just didn’t quite pan out in practice? I did, and it involved skiing. Now, don’t get me wrong, skiing is a fantastic idea, but sadly it’s pretty hard without a hill. My hill of choice? Glen Eden. Tucked away in the once sleepy town of Milton Ontario, and cut into the wilderness that covers the side of the Niagara Escarpment, this ski area taught me to ski, and also did its part in teaching me to run gates. What did I discover upon my grand return to my breeding ground? Not much has changed. Sure they changed the T-bar into a chair lift, and added tubing runs and a much needed bridge over the train tracks (don’t fear, the tunnel still exists), but aside from that it could have been circa 1997.

First, I was mildly surprised to discover that my equipment still stands up to current styles. A ski jacket still looks like a ski jacket, and the only real cosmetic difference that has come along for skis since 1998 has been the twin-tip ( so skiers could do more tricks in the park). Which brings me to my main point — the terrain park.

This photo is taken while riding the chair-lift. It looks like my skis are on the ground, but I’m actually 15 feet high.

When I started skiing circa 1990 you could not jump. Oh, and snowboards were purchased at Canadian Tire, and strictly forbidden to be brought within 10 sq.km’s of any ski area (this restraining has since been lifted, as a settlement was reached though mediation). We’d try and find anything to jump off. That lip that got built up next to light poles. Deposits of snow left by poor grooming. Any path though the trees that provided a drop to the run below. We’d even try to build jumps (off to the side of the run where no one would be bothered). We wanted to jump and we’re willing to pay the consequences — and we did. Often. They had the nerve to punch your ticket if you got caught jumping. Two punches and they cut your ticket right off. Couldn’t they see what we were trying to do? Was our vision that unique? Suffice to say that when we did elude the authorities and take to the sky, we sucked. It ware rare for me and my friends to pull consistent and stylish 360 — just a whole lot of spread-eagles and twisters going on.

Circa 2005. Snowboards are allowed at Glen Eden. Jumping is allowed within the terrain park. Wonderful. Great. Bring it. Hmm? What? People still can’t jump? They get 1 foot of air? But I don’t understand. You have constructed kickers, bad-ass spines, and snakey rails. Why do you all suck? Needless to say, I was a little disappointed. I felt the need to show these kids what they should be doing with the gifts they have been provided, so I set down a little demonstration. People are still impressed by a laid out 360 thrown over a 6 foot box. My advice to them? Get off your butts and out of the prime line. If you’re gonna hit it, hit it. If not, let me enjoy what I fought so hard for. I don’t feel like repeating myself.

I always believed that Glen Eden provided great downhill skiing. It’s close, convenient, somewhat variable, and is lit for the night. I now see that belief was somewhat skewed, by the fact that whenever I went in high school, it was with a bunch of people. Skiing alone can be fun if the terrain is exciting, big, and demanding. Skiing Glen Eden alone blows. That being said, it was nice to get on the skis again after a 3 year hiatus.

Returning home I got stuck at a train-crossing. I missed the boxcars, and had to settle for the cylinder ones. Was taken with a 2.5 sec shutter speed.

Tourist In My Own Town

Published at January 31, 2005 in photography, cityscape and personal. Closed

Sometimes I have to laugh at myself. I live 20min from Toronto, yet I probably know London and Paris more intimately. So today I decided to fix that. I was downtown for some job opportunity stuff and grabbed my camera. What a day for it. Blue Skies and 1C weather. So here is my little walk around Toronto (from King and Spidina, down to Front St. then up Bay St.)

First stop was to reflect upon iPods continuing romp across the universe, to become the only meaningful brand. How does this ad not make you want to buy an iPod? Honestly.

Next, the perennial favourite, and everyone’s number one phallic symbol, the CN Tower. Just look how it dances above the buildings.

Just to provide some perspective, the thing really is huge. I’m still waiting for the day it rockets off into space — all 553.33 m of it.

In the pointy shadow of ‘The Tower’ sits the pudgy SkyDome. This is a picture of the figures that adorn the north end of the stadium. Look, the guy is taking a picture of me taking a picture of Him. As my buddy Tim would say, “Sure is a lot of camera filming camera going on here.”

A great example of the diverse theater one can attended in the City of Toronto. Forget about Phantoms, Lions and Cats. When you have Bats, you have it all. “Bat Boy Finds Love in TO”. Good job Bat Boy, good job.

The downtown core as seen from that street that runs between SkyDome and the ACC. Looks nice during the day, and stellar at night. It might be small, but it’s ours.

Coming back up Bay St. I dropped into BCE Place. This is a fantastic example of modern architecture in TO. They enclosed a city block, that was then renovated into office space.

This is a picture from the concourse beneath the picture above. I was grabbing a coffee and looked up to see peoples feet.

At Bay and Queen is a great example of one stop shopping. I don’t know how many times I’ve been doing my banking and had a sudden urge for a cup of java. From what I hear they can transfer funds while making a triple mocha latte, skim milk, extra mocha. This is a medicore rip-off of this photo. I blame the time of day for the differences in reflection and composition. I never pretended to be original.

I end my journey at Bell Trinity Square (directly east of Nathan Phillip’s Square). The vibrant colour of the building compared to its surrounds really caught my eye. I don’t know art, but I know what I like I suppose.

Well there you have it, my walking tour of a little slice of Toronto. Not being one to try and impart words of wisdom, I’ll just say, go take a walk and open your eyes. It really puts things in perspective. Everywhere has something unique to offer.

Postcard Perfect

Published at January 30, 2005 in photography, personal and travel. Closed

With the cold months of winter in full swing I went looking through some photos and found this beauty of the PEI coast. I always thought it looked like a postcard, and if I wasn’t so lazy maybe I’d make it happen, though I’m sure there are a million similar photos out there already. C’est la vie. It really was a great day. I had to fix the image up a bit, as the soil just didn’t look rich enough. A little work, and this dull image suddenly looked like a window to a great trip. If only PEI had the great party atmosphere that exists in Halifax. That would be a deadly combination. Who knows, it might, all I know is that I didn’t find it.

What a great island.

this year.