stepping out
Spent most of Saturday and Sunday with Rob (urbanpringle) at his place in ze beeg Toronto. Actually, the suburb where he lives reminds me a lot of Kitchener/Waterloo -- a distinct lack of those painful skyscrapers and all.
Saturday we went off in the afternoon to go and explore the downtown. We wandered Young Street (I think) and all, after having taking a bus and the subway to get there, stopping in at the Lawrence Street market to look around. Tantalizing raspberries and desserts, but thankfully we avoided them (they would've been a bit much to carry given what else we ended up doing.) Then walked back towards the subway stop, but we'd established earlier that neither of us had ascended the CN Tower... and there it was poking upwards various blocks ahead of us. Funnily enough we both had the "hey... an idea... CN Tower" thought at the same time, so we went off and did that. Unfortunately there's no free climbing up it anymore... you can only take the elevator. =( Up to the Sky Booth, then down to the lower Lookout Level and Glass Floor level, with various lines in between. Neat view, for sure... and watching the Blue Jays vs Mariners game from a ways above was really kinda cool, actually. If you had binoculars you'd probably have an interesting view of the game. Though only on days when the Skydome "Rogers Centre" is open, of course.
Any real fear of falling through the glass floor was swept aside when the elevator guide person informed us that the glass can bear the weight of 14 full-grown hippos or 20,000 squirrels (for anyone [Aussies, probably?] who's not familiar, here). So Rob and I had great fun with that... unconcernedly walking over to the part that was the furthest away from solid ground and then both jumping on it at the same time, much to the fright of people around us. =D Then there was also the "jump to the 'thud' noise type things in Eye of the Tiger." (You know, at the beginning - the part of the song virtually everyone recognizes...) That was fun... Rob also suggested that the Riverdance crew ought to really come up and do Riverdance on the glass floors... that would be fun to watch... =D
Afterwards was return to Rob's place and pick up pizza on the way. Dinner and TV watching, then we found Unbreakable running on some channel and watched that; I fell asleep on the couch around 10:30 and Rob kindly didn't wake me, so I found myself on there around one before unrolling my sleeping bag and curling up more properly for the night.
Sunday (today), we had a stick around day. Video watching online, random conversation, and a game of Cross Country Canada -- anybody remember this? (old one or demo of version 2.) Ah... computer game nostalgia.... =P Stumbled upon Glory playing on the History channel, a movie which I have (after today) seen most of twice, but never the whole thing. =P Good movie, though. Then dinner (of the spaghetti + veg + sauce + cheese Rob special variety) and then off to get me to the Greyhound station to get back to KW. There was a power outage issue or something with one of the sections of a subway line, so we took an alternative route to get into the downtown. And then we hiked down Bay street to the station, managing to hit green lights one after another for most of the walk -- at one point, we'd only stopped once in 7/8 blocks!
Funny thing on the subway, though -- the subway announcer was telling us that we couldn't keep travelling on the subway and would have to take a bus or whatever. The message finishes over the PA, but then ~15/30 seconds later, "Ha ha ha ha ha ha" suddenly just is broadcast over the PA. Hehehe indeed. Managed to make my 7 pm bus back to KW, dropping me off at the Charles street GRT terminal for quarter after eight.
All in all a fun weekend!
Location: Back home now.
Mood: Little sticky. Good, otherwise. Sort of tired.
Music: Firefly and Serenity soundtracks [thoroughly magical]
Reading:
Silicon Snake Oil by Clifford Stoll, most appropriately subtitled "Second thoughts on the information super highway" -- Reflections on what our "inter-connected" and virtual life has done to our real lives. This is the second time I've read this book, and it's even better this time through. Perhaps it's because I'm ready to listen, and not just hear.
And recently I finished Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom -- I can't remember the last time a book broke my heart so severely. And it's worth every tear (that's crying, not ripping the book). Thoroughly touching reflections on life by an old sociology professor who is dying of Lou Gherig's disease.
Plants: I think they're all right. I ought to check.
Saturday we went off in the afternoon to go and explore the downtown. We wandered Young Street (I think) and all, after having taking a bus and the subway to get there, stopping in at the Lawrence Street market to look around. Tantalizing raspberries and desserts, but thankfully we avoided them (they would've been a bit much to carry given what else we ended up doing.) Then walked back towards the subway stop, but we'd established earlier that neither of us had ascended the CN Tower... and there it was poking upwards various blocks ahead of us. Funnily enough we both had the "hey... an idea... CN Tower" thought at the same time, so we went off and did that. Unfortunately there's no free climbing up it anymore... you can only take the elevator. =( Up to the Sky Booth, then down to the lower Lookout Level and Glass Floor level, with various lines in between. Neat view, for sure... and watching the Blue Jays vs Mariners game from a ways above was really kinda cool, actually. If you had binoculars you'd probably have an interesting view of the game. Though only on days when the Skydome "Rogers Centre" is open, of course.
Any real fear of falling through the glass floor was swept aside when the elevator guide person informed us that the glass can bear the weight of 14 full-grown hippos or 20,000 squirrels (for anyone [Aussies, probably?] who's not familiar, here). So Rob and I had great fun with that... unconcernedly walking over to the part that was the furthest away from solid ground and then both jumping on it at the same time, much to the fright of people around us. =D Then there was also the "jump to the 'thud' noise type things in Eye of the Tiger." (You know, at the beginning - the part of the song virtually everyone recognizes...) That was fun... Rob also suggested that the Riverdance crew ought to really come up and do Riverdance on the glass floors... that would be fun to watch... =D
Afterwards was return to Rob's place and pick up pizza on the way. Dinner and TV watching, then we found Unbreakable running on some channel and watched that; I fell asleep on the couch around 10:30 and Rob kindly didn't wake me, so I found myself on there around one before unrolling my sleeping bag and curling up more properly for the night.
Sunday (today), we had a stick around day. Video watching online, random conversation, and a game of Cross Country Canada -- anybody remember this? (old one or demo of version 2.) Ah... computer game nostalgia.... =P Stumbled upon Glory playing on the History channel, a movie which I have (after today) seen most of twice, but never the whole thing. =P Good movie, though. Then dinner (of the spaghetti + veg + sauce + cheese Rob special variety) and then off to get me to the Greyhound station to get back to KW. There was a power outage issue or something with one of the sections of a subway line, so we took an alternative route to get into the downtown. And then we hiked down Bay street to the station, managing to hit green lights one after another for most of the walk -- at one point, we'd only stopped once in 7/8 blocks!
Funny thing on the subway, though -- the subway announcer was telling us that we couldn't keep travelling on the subway and would have to take a bus or whatever. The message finishes over the PA, but then ~15/30 seconds later, "Ha ha ha ha ha ha" suddenly just is broadcast over the PA. Hehehe indeed. Managed to make my 7 pm bus back to KW, dropping me off at the Charles street GRT terminal for quarter after eight.
All in all a fun weekend!
Location: Back home now.
Mood: Little sticky. Good, otherwise. Sort of tired.
Music: Firefly and Serenity soundtracks [thoroughly magical]
Reading:
Silicon Snake Oil by Clifford Stoll, most appropriately subtitled "Second thoughts on the information super highway" -- Reflections on what our "inter-connected" and virtual life has done to our real lives. This is the second time I've read this book, and it's even better this time through. Perhaps it's because I'm ready to listen, and not just hear.
And recently I finished Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom -- I can't remember the last time a book broke my heart so severely. And it's worth every tear (that's crying, not ripping the book). Thoroughly touching reflections on life by an old sociology professor who is dying of Lou Gherig's disease.
Plants: I think they're all right. I ought to check.