Category: Ottawa

Posts about Canada’s capital city, and the experience of living there

#movingtotoronto Farewell to Ottawa

With my Beaver Barracks apartment fully packed, I am leaving Ottawa tomorrow. In parting, I would like to thank all the people who made my four years in Ottawa such a worthwhile and pleasant experience. That includes everyone who I have worked with as well as my friends. I will miss caffeinated meetups, spring cycling along bike paths, and Tuesday night trivia.

I would especially like to thank Lauren, Andrea, Mehrzad, and Evey. I am incredibly glad to have gotten to know you all here, and appreciative of all of your friendship and generosity during my time here. You will all have to come visit Toronto, once I am set up with an apartment there.

I wish it were possible to move without adding distance between myself and friends. You will all be deeply missed.

#movingtotoronto How am I still packing?

Packing has become a task that seems to involve odd metaphysical complexities.

For days and days now, I have been packing and packing. Boxes get filled and added to the pile in the corner. Papers are sorted and then either filed or discarded. Closets are cleared. Food is eaten, packed (for stuff that has unusual value per unit weight and/or volume), given away, or discarded. Books are stacked and packed and tucked away, and then new caches of previously forgotten books are discovered and given the same treatment.

And yet, through all of this, there always seems to be the same amount of packing left to do. Back on August 5th, I was supposedly 50% packed. That number still seems basically right six days later, despite having spent more of the intervening time packing than doing anything else.

Hopefully today will be the day when 50% mysteriously and near-instantaneously becomes 100%, when I can throw a few critical items into a suitcase, and when I can get on the bus to Toronto/New Orleans/Washington D.C.

#movingtotoronto 50% packed

Six months after the last time I moved (with much very appreciated assistance from Andrea, Mehrzad, and Lauren), I am packing everything up again.

I guess my life in the Beaver Barracks will never involve the stage between when you have unpacked everything from moving in and when you start packing it up again to leave. Some boxes that have remained packed since I moved in are just being added straight to the ‘moving out’ pile.

I wish my scheme for an international storage services company had already been implemented by someone.

Dewar letter regarding asbestos

Around Canada Day, I wrote a letter to Paul Dewar, my Member of Parliament, about Canada’s export of crysotile asbestos. It seemed classier than holding up a giant “Shame on Canada, Asbestos = Cancer” sign during the Royal Visit.

Today, I got a response setting out his position on the issue:

Any pro-asbestos residents of Ottawa Centre should start bombarding him with strongly worded letters immediately. I am curious what sort of response they would get; hopefully, the same statement of policy with an explanation of why Dewar disagrees with those who favour Canada’s current policy of asbestos support.

It’s good that he has staked his colours to the mast on the issue. Constituents who are concerned about the issue of asbestos should make sure he has voted along these lines the next time the issue arises in the House of Commons. By then, I expect, I will have a new MP (due to me moving).

Asbestos export is an issue I first raised here some time ago.

#movingtotoronto

Everything seems to have come together for me to relocate to Toronto by early September.

There will be much to do, winding down life in Ottawa, sorting out the move, finding somewhere new to live, and applying to doctoral programs for the fall of 2012. I am still not sure if I actually want to do a doctorate, but the only cost associated with applying is work and a modest amount of money. It seems like a good idea to give myself another option for a year from now.

Does anybody know of any good housing options in Toronto available for September? A place of my own is one possibility. Cool roommates would be another, as it would make sense to save some pennies for potential future tuition payments.

Chess in Ottawa

Previously, I mentioned the idea of free informal chess in Centretown.

Tomorrow – July 19th – I will be at the Bridgehead at Bank and Gilmour at 5:30pm. I will bring along one chess set and my chess clock.

Anyone who is interested is encouraged to stop by, bringing gear if possible. I will be around until just before eight.

[Update: 30 July 2011]

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