Isn't it Gr8

Below is what I would've submitted at around 2:30pm but things have changed since....

Intermittent rain, the helicopters are still buzzing around and the tally has certainly climbed since I last checked. So far we've got police cars torched, store fronts (BMO, Scotia Bank and even a Starbucks) smashed, 150+ people arrested and for what ?

Now I'm all in favor of people expressing their displeasure. Hell, a good protest march is a civic right and in some cases, almost a duty but this type of crap is a bit over the top. I could almost forgive some of the violence if it were directed with a reason (I said I could ALMOST..but not quite).

For example, I'm pissed at Starbucks. I think that the prices they charge for coffee is outrageous let alone one of their speciality drinks but smashing their window ? Same goes for the banks. Hell, I'm pissed at getting screwed by service charges but smashing their windows won't change a thing. Now if these protesters had any brains they would've left behind some kinda message other than shards of glass...Something like a spray-painted

"Give me cheap java or give me death !!"

or

"Service charge this....."

would've been fine with me but just smashing for smashing's sake is idiotic, not to mention un-Canadian.

One question I do have is why didn't the cops just build their fence and then put 5,000 coppers inside the perimeter and have the remaining 14,000 who've been called in for the G8/G20 doing their usual jobs around the country ? Would've been cheaper I think, less provocative, less invasive & imposing. With the fence up, tear gas guns at the ready and a clearly communicated stance that if you climb the fence you get gassed and arrested, things might've gone more smoothly.

But noooo.... Instead let's screw up the core of Canada's largest city, negatively impact the citizens, cost businesses thousands, cost tax payers hundreds of millions etc..etc..

Well, here's Toronto in the middle of a world summit.

Sitting here typing away and the sound of helicopters is droning overhead. Now for those of you who don't know me, I live downtown. Usually a buzz of traffic, people...the city is prevalent but not this time. The city's a ghost town, unless you count the HEAVY police presence.

Last night, after dinner with my mom we decided to take our respective dogs for a walk over to the Red Zone (Security nexus here in T.O.)

Again, for the un-initiated, Toronto is Canada's largest city. Total population is about 3.5 million. Friday nights are usually busy on the streets with traffic and people. Last night, nada. Sure, there were a few gawkers like my mom & I. People who strolled close enough to the summit venue to see the hub-hub if any but other than that, civilians were out numbered by a huge margin by the police, the roving mini-vans with tinted windows and I am sure by the snipers, surveillance cameras, heli-eyes in the sky and probably more than a few predator drones overhead.

Now I don't mind the security precautions being taken by the politicos. After all, theirs is a life fraught with danger. The proletariat might get close enough to touch them or god forbid, scold them. But 19,000 cops in a ghost town, 3m fences and a police-state law...sheesh....

Canadian's in Exile

the Atlantic
Menachem Kaiser
Canadians in Exile Rejoice Over Hockey Win
MAR 1 2010, 8:12 AM ET


Canadian politeness might be legendary, but it has its limits: Do not mess with a Canadian and his hockey, even on your own turf.


That's what a brave handful of USA hockey fans discovered at Van Diemen's, a bar in the Murray Hill neighborhood, in New York, during the U.S.-Canada Olympic gold medal game Sunday night. None, wisely, came alone, as nearly 300 die-hard Canadian hockey fans (i.e., Canadians) piled in to cheer, drink, yell, drink, agonize, and, ultimately, celebrate. USA paraphernalia was viewed askance, the wearer subject to the most withering look a Canadian could muster, like a raised eyebrow, or even worse.


The Canadian Assoiciation of New York had organized the event, along with the owners of Van Diemen's. Officially, it was a neutral Olympic-watching zone—both a Canadian and American flag were draped behind the bar—but realistically, it was about as American as a dish of poutine. The pregame mood was a strange mix of cockiness and anxiety—the Canadians wanted revenge, to re-assume their rightful place on top of the hockey hierarchy.


A full hour before the game, the place was full. Or so I thought. Armies of Canucks kept marching in, somehow squeezing themselves a place. The bar across the street, Arctica, was used for spillover. The crowd was a sea of red and white, to the point where the casually clothed felt awkward and underdressed. The crowd was decked out not just in hockey sweaters (or "jerseys" to boorish Americans), but also in toques, kangols, capes, scarves, mittens. It was a bit surreal: people came inside, got settled, and donned winter apparel. One fan, for reasons unclear, had a Boba Fett helmet with a Canadian toque taped onto the top. I asked why. He looked at me as if I had asked what an offside was, put the helmet on, and yelled a muffled but hearty, "Go Canada!".


I was accosted by a heavy-set guy, beer in hand. "You know," he said. "If Canada loses, we execute the players in the town square." It wasn't clear if it was a joke, a wish, or some strange combination thereof.


By the time the puck dropped, the crowd was restless. The news that the bar had run out of Canadian beer was taken in stride; the new buckets and pitchers were filled with "foreign piss," as I was informed. No one seemed to slow their intake.


Whatever anxiety and worry there might have been—the US had won the previous game, after all—dissipated as soon as the game began. Petty conversation was pushed aside; you had to focus. The mood was long stretches of modulating anticipation, punctuated by extreme elation (Canadian goal) or extreme disappointment/anger (American goal). When the Canadians scored, the crowd went into a frenzy. Arms were raised (no easy feat, considering the density), and a flurry of high-fives and embraces ensued. Beers flew. And cowbells—just loads of cowbells—clanged furiously. When that other team answered with goals of their own, lonely squeals of "USA! USA!", emitting from corners of the bar, would be buried in an avalanche of counter-chants.


Confidence was running high throughout the game. The Canadian scored early and led, and seemed to be in control. But, with just under 25 seconds to go, the hockey gods struck with a vengeance, and the Americans tied it up. The place became, briefly, a funeral parlor. Breathing tightened. And then they needed a scapegoat. Who to blame? Names whizzed by.


"Neidermayer left him open, that bastard!" "Luongo! Argghh! Brodeur would have had it!!" But this was replaced with a fierce pragmatism, a knowledge that victory would be that much sweeter now. Overtime: the Americans deserved to lose in it, to have their hopes raised and quashed.


And then something exceedingly rare, an event most assume is myth, happened: The Canadian fans were momentarily hockey-ignorant. How did Olympic overtime work? Was it sudden death? Twenty minutes, like playoff hockey, or five like in the regular season? And then a shootout? Blackberries and iPhones were brought out en masse. This was life and death.


A four-year-old girl stood up and clanged her cowbell to the time of CA-NA-DA. The crowd went berserk.


Overtime started, and the entire country was standing on the thin precipice between national tragedy and redemption. Heads were clutched, knuckles whitened, beers forgotten, breaths held for entire shifts. Even the waiters, who had incessantly shoved their way through with sandwiches and drinks, stopped to watch.


And the Canadians scored.


And the heavens opened and beer came down in torrents and the place dissolved into a puddle of hugs and tears. All was okay in hockeyland.

Otto resting up for Canada vs. USA hockey

The world according to GARP...well, actually me

Ok, some of you may be confused by the title, suffice it to say, I'm dating myself with that reference.

Anyways, what's been happening in the world for the last week or so. Let's see.....

1. US aid to earthquake stricken Haiti is declining...Yippie !! Just what the Hatians need, more of less. Now I will commend the US for their quick response and no doubt, they have saved lives but is this really the time to be backing off on major disaster relief literally in your own backyard while the World's watching ? Ehh...Mr. Nobel Laureate ?

2. The US has just released their budget for F2010 and it's a whopper !! $3.5 Trillion dollars and a good chunk of that is in additional borrowing. Hrmm...when I was about 18, I got a credit card and remember racking up $2000 on it and having to bust my ass off to repay it. The US just got a credit limit increase and they can't even make the minimum payments. But they can afford to spend $750 Billion on the Pentagon this year. Sure, the recession / economic meltdown has kicked them in the shins and they need to get jobs money flowing, fight 2 wars etc. but sounds to me like insolvency is just around the corner. Wonder how long it'll be till they're asking the IMF for aid themselves ?

3. The 2010 Winter Olympics are a week away and Vancouver has had to resort to trucking in sown in order to effectively host the games. Thank god that Global Warming's a myth and not really a concern. See, there is no such thing as Global Warming, afterall, it snowed somewhere and we can still truck it in.

4. Israel just paid the UN $10.5 Million (that's right, I said MILLION) and now says that all claims are off the table following it's little January 2009 war in Gaza. The money is supposed to be compensation for them having blown up a UN school in Gaza (illegally). So let's see if I have this right....they illegally target and then destroy a UN factility but as long as they can pay a token amount then no harm no foul ? Nice to see the sanctity of the UN is intact and our sense of Global outrage have held firm. Meanwhile, let's pray that the government of Hamas can come up with a matching amount to buy their own "Get out of Jail Free" card.

5. China & the US are having diplomatic problems stemming from a few minor hiccups. The scoring so far is......
- Chinese hackers try to break into Google (among others) and steal data or tamper with their systems...
- US is selling $5-6 Billion on military hardware to Taiwan, that pesky breakaway province whose been around as long as the
current Chinese government... But the Chinese sell arms to places like Iran and North Korea ?
- China is pissed cause Obama is going to meet the Dali Llama and this could highlight the whole Tibetan issue ?
- Obama wants to get tough with China on enforcing the trade agreements between the two nations. Sounds like blustering
sound-bites to me. Afterall, in light of #2 above, and the fact that China's basically the global Sugar Daddy, what leverage
does the US actually have ?

So those are the few things that pop into my mind on this early Sunday morning. Just needed to vent. But on a lighter side...

I found a shiny nickel on the pavement outside my apartment today. My retirement fund is well on it's way !!

Workout Mania

Christmas came and went (BAH HUMBUG !!) but Santa was nice enough to get me a membership to the local Rec. Centre that has a gym and pool. So merrily on Dec 27th I trundled over and got my card and went in for the first day of a healthy me.

Now the place has the usual assortment of the instruments of pain and torture and as usual, my first days results included among other immediate results, pain in my arms and legs to the point that the following morning necessitated a HOT bath just to get me moving. It doesn't help that puppy Otto sleeps with me and at 7:00am he's full of energy looking for his morning walk regardless of my discomfort.

But on I went and I have continued to do so for about 4-5 days a week. My routines are getting longer but more organized now with a certain routine to them and it seems to be paying off a bit. Now I've got no delusions that I'm an adonis in the making but I am slowly making progress. The weights lifted are slowly increasing, the duration of my lifecycle / elliptical bouts are increasing and 'lo and behold, the pain is actually a thing of the past (mostly). As an added benefit, I've actually lost some weight (about 10 lbs in 4 weeks) and my sleep is improving but DAMN....slow going......My membership will carry me through till the summer at which point I hope to have shed somewhere in the vicinity of 30 pounds and firmed up whatever's left.

One strange thing though that bothers me about the Centre where I workout. You see here in Toronto, they are city buildings, staffed by city employees and in every ward of the city, there are free to the citizens....except in my ward. Now I can't exactly complain about the actual cost to me for a membership (it was a gift afterall) because at $96 for 6 months, that's 1/3 the cost of the cheapest gym in town but still....Why do we have to pay a membership to a facility that our tax dollars already paid to build, equip and staff ?

Can it be because it has a pool ? Nope, there are other centres with pools. Can it be because it has squash courts ? I hope not 'cause why then am I subsidizing the squash players when I don't play myself ? Can it be because it has a gymnasium ? Same as the previous point so I hope not. Add to this the fact that in my ward / neighborhood, it's all buildings (apartments & condos) so we have a pretty high population density which means lots of tax revenue from this area to pay for those goodies in the first place.

Something to take up with the government. Yet another example of Downtown Toronto residents getting fleeced.