Category: Toronto

Morning subway

The number of people on the Bloor subway line spikes dramatically after 7:30am. At that time, it is likely there will be some seats available out at the Runnymede stop. Twenty minutes later, completely packed trains leave people standing on the platform, waiting for the next one.

I suppose it is this morning crush that subsidizes all the hours when trains are near-empty. The distribution of people leaving work seems to be less concentrated, compared with the ubiquitous 9:00am start time.

#movingtotoronto Apartment hunting

I am currently in Toronto trying to find an apartment with these general characteristics:

  • Two bedrooms (ideally not side-by side, ideally one of them quite large)
  • Located near a subway station (ideally on the western portion of the yellow line)
  • Available soon
  • About $1200 plus utilities

These areas would be most appealing:

If you know of any such places, please pass word to me. I know most of the best places never even get advertised publicly when passing from one occupant to the next.

Pedaler’s Wager photos

Thanks to the generosity of a fellow photographer, I had access to a MacBook Pro for a few hours tonight and I was able to process and upload my photos from the Clay and Paper Theatre Company’s 2011 summer show: The Pedaler’s Wager.

The show was very colourfully and professionally put on, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. At the same time, I think it may have glossed over some of the hardships of pre-industrial life and some of the benefits of the current global economy. While there are certainly many critical problems with it, and much that needs to be done to make it sustainable, I do think it serves important human needs and that those who are most critical of it are often those who benefit from constant access to its nicest features. That includes things like modern medicine, communication technology, and transport. It seems a misrepresentation to say that the Industrial Revolution and its aftermath have transported the average person from a blissful pastoral state into a situation of agonizing bondage.

Of course, the purpose of art is not to carefully express both sides of every argument. By provoking us to think in new ways, art can give us a better overall sense of context and an appreciation for important facts that were previously concealed.

Six more hours in Toronto

I dropped by Toronto and saw Rebecca’s play, which was thought provoking and well done. It is quite something to watch giant symbolic puppets fight to trombone accompaniment in the middle of Dufferin Grove Park.

Now, I have a 30 day ticket for unlimited Greyhound travel and a bus to Detroit to catch at 1:00am. With the unlimited ticket, I need to line up and get a new ticket at each city. That is a pain, but I think this will be a cheaper way to do Toronto to New Orleans to Washington to Ottawa to Toronto. I wish I had bought the unlimited ticket in Ottawa this morning. I would have saved myself $75.

The route to New Orleans runs through Detroit, Nashville, and Atlanta.

Will anyone be around downtown Toronto tonight between now and 1:00am?

#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.