Sushi = Bad???

Okay, what the heck is up with this news story? And how true is all this. I have a feeling that his is going to be a truly loosely monitored law. It just doesn't make sense. Are city councillors (or perhaps provincial people) trying to tell me that Japanese people (WHO HAVE BEEN EATING RAW FISH in SUSHI) for centuries are getting more sick all of a sudden cause of the fish? I find that very hard to believe. I can't see this sticking around. Or better yet, I can't really see hardcore Japanese chefs following this process to the T. I am sure there will be some "creative interpretation of rules".

Stalled Productivity?

I just saw something funny on CFTO local news. They were talking about that huge crash on the 401 today. At the end of the news story, this funny graphic was shown. They said that it was estimated that the delays caused by today's accident resulted in $280 Million in lost productivity. What the heck does that mean? They have nothing to compare that too. They didn't state of their assumptions or reasons for choosing certain parameters to come up with that calculation. That is just such a random number...purely for shock value. One of those "Oh my god, that accident cause a loss of $280 Million??? Wow, that is crazy!" It's not yet certain if there was driver fatigue that caused the driver of the truck with garbage to swerve and eventually hit the truck with the paint. It is amazing to see how dependent this city is on the 401 though. Check out all the people that were negatively affected by the accident today...

Random TV Moments

So, before I blog...let me just say that the last couple months of blogging on my part has been sub par at best.

I just watched a couple of things...

1. The Apprentice
2. The last home game of the Montreal Expos

In terms of the Apprentice tonight, that was a good, but very annoying episode. Actually, this is now two annoying episodes in a row. Cause, last week Stacie J got ganged up on and booted off the show when she shouldn't have. This time around, the leader Jen C was an absolute fool and deserved to get dumped. As Trump said - "That was easy". Trump's Associate (Carolyn Kepcher) was all over Jen C, telling her that she failed and that she brought in people to the boardroom for personal reasons. Jen C also kept interuping everyone and she just wouldn't shut up. She was very very very annoying. The girls teams keep losing. Man, that is pitiful to watch. They are so katty and just can't get along. It is quite sad. On the other hand, the guys team is really kicking it....last week Kevin led them to victory and this week, the man with the boy tie, Raj pulled out victory this week.

This week's task was to come up with an idea for a restaurant, make it happen and score higher in the Zagat survey. That was an awesome task and I really wish they showed more of the work that went on behind the scenes cause I was totally interested in the task...not all the BS that the girls' team was putting up with. I would love to do something like that. Well, most of you know that I want to do that at some point in my future. But if I was given that task and I had to turn it around that fast...man, that would be awesome.

Now, let's talk about the Expos. They lost 9 - 1 to the Florida Marlins tonight but that doesn't really matter. What does matter is that this was the last time the Monteral Expos will be playing a game in Montreal. They just couldn't sustain the team in this city. Attendance was horrible and as a result, gate revenue was down and thus, they couldn't get very much talent. The Expos have been playing some "home" games in Puerto Rico for the past two years so the writing was definitely on the wall. The team started in 1969 and moved to Olympic stadium in 1977. The most glorious year for them was in 1994 however that ended up being the strike shortened season. That year...the Blue Jays were looking to 3-peat and were at the top of the American League at the same time as the Expos who were the best team in baseball, and leading the National League. Unfortunately, there was a strike that year and the Jays and Expos didn't get a chance to play for the World Series. In 1995...the year after the strike, the Expos started up and had lost Grissom, Hill, Wetteland and Walker (the core of their team) so there was no chance for them to do anything more...

Over the years, the Montreal Expo farm system was kick ass with people like Tim Raines, Andre Dawson, Moises Alou, Gary Carter, Larry Walker, Dennis Martinez, Pedro Martinez and Vladimir Guererro but the crap thing is that they just turned into a "feeder team" for the rest of the league. And that is just the way it was.

Really, I guess I am being a bit of a hypocrite though cause I haven't supported baseball in years. I watch every now and then (especially in the playoffs) but I haven't bought a ticket to a baseball game in a long time. I guess though...people say that the strike of 1994 really took it's toll on this game. And the other problem that exists is that there is a two-tiered system in this league with no revenue sharing. Constantly, teams like the Yankees and Red Sox can spend so much money to buy players. That said, the Twins and A's continually play well and make the playoffs so money isn't the total answer.

I guess the other thing that upsets me is just to see a Canadian sports franchise getting shut down. We've already lost the Jets and Nordiques in the NHL. The Grizzlies in the NBA and now the Expos in MLB. The crap thing is that there are so many struggling American teams that won't shut down (especially in the NHL) and that is definitely one of the causes of these problems.

Guess who's back...

What you can't guess? Well, let me give you a hint. I HATE him and want to shove speakers down his throat? Still can't remember? Well, how about the TOOL that I want kick repeatedly in the head? Oh...now you have it...the stupid-ass neighbour with the loud music. On Saturday night, he went out and left his damn CD on. I think he purposely left it on. Anyway, it was on all night from 11:00 pm until 6:00 am the next morning (when he got home). CAN YOU #@#%$#@%@# believe that? And right now, it is so loud that I can hear his music clearly and can't even hear my own which is on in my room right beside my damn computer.

I am not that impressed at all. It actually was a quiet summer. BUT NOT ANYMORE.

Crime at the Beaches

For those of you that live in Toronto, you've probably heard about the story that broke yesterday. For the rest of you...check out this link.

I was playing beach volleyball on Saturday in that same sand but we all played pretty poorly that day. Sunday was supposed to be our day of retribution so Tchao, Danielle, Stan and I hopped into the car and drove down to Ashbridges. We met up with Mike who told us there was police tape all around the courts and no one was allowed to play. Confused and interested...we went over to the courts and began to walk around. We slowly started hearing stories and seeing news reporters talk about the crime. Seeing the cops out there with there metal detectors and rakes was quite weird. The process was taking forever too. In the time we were there (30 minutes), they probably covered at most 2% of the whole beach volleyball court area. They continued all afternoon and apparently today, they are back out there (This time with more manpower, metal detectors and a high strength magnet).

I was listening to the Bill Carroll show on CFRB this morning and it was very interesting. He was calling this an act of Terrorism because it had the deliberate intent to hurt (or kill) someone and has caused a sense of fear among residents of Toronto. The crazy thing was that no one was calling in. He compared this to the issue from a couple months ago when someone poisoned the park so dogs got sick. The lines were jammed and people couldn't stop talking about it. Now, in this case when it affects humans - no one is calling and there just isn't that same sense of fear that there was with the dog incident.

I am not sure what to think about this crime. Someone actually conceived this plan. Bought wood and cut it up into 2 by 3 inch pieces. Then, cut grooves in the wood and glued pieces of razor blades into the grooves so they would stay face up. Then, they went to the beach late at night b/w Saturday and Sunday and proceeded to lay these things (blade side up) under the sand in the courts. Who would do something like that?

What a crazy story. I'm glad no one got hurt though...



http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1095631809993&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154

Trip Update

Sorry guys but I don't think I got a chance to tell you about my Europe trip. I went to Amsterdam, London and Budapest and had a blast in all three cities. All were unique and had their own little charm. Stories in Amsterdam are funny. It all started with my crap $2 dollar shop umbrella that I bought for my trip on the day I left. It was raining in Amsterdam and quite windy the whole day I was there. So, as I was walking - my umbrella kept getting blown inside out and I was getting laughed at by all these local Dutch people. The coffee shops in Amsterdam are EVERYWHERE and the redlight district is right in your face too (no matter what time of day) - would you like something else with that breakfast of yours? Generally the people were quite nice and easy to get along with. I didn't go to any of the "shows" cause I thought they were too expensive and I also didn't want to go alone. Overall...I got a good feel for the city and don't think I need to go back anytime soon. Visiting a coffeeshop was a must and I did that. Ordering was interesting but I eventually figured it out.

London was grand. Raj was TOTALLY surprised when I knocked on his flat door and he opened it. He couldn't believe that I was there standing right in front him. Definitely a great surprise and awesome to see someone's jaw drop like that. I totally wished I had my camera ready...that would have been a priceless photo to have. My first couple days of London on this trip were spent celebrating the London Caribbean festival called Carnival. It's just like Caribana in Toronto but I think it might even be bigger. Raj's flat is located right on the parade route so it did get quite loud at times but the views were amazing. We would just sit in his chair on the window ledge so it was great. Throughout my trip to London we ate amazing food - italian, middle eastern spanish (the best tapas and paella ever), indian and english. And, I also had several other toxins throughout my body at various times during the trip.

Now, as I was in London - I was looking to find a cheap flight somewhere else so I could take off for a few days and check out another part of Europe. I found a flight for 90 pounds to Budapest so I took it. My trip to Budapest actually started on the wrong foot cause I was late leaving Raj's flat. I left the flat and was walking to porchester road to hop on Bus #36. I waited for a couple of minutes but realized it was going to take WAY too long... so i hopped in a cab. the cab driver raced and got me to Victoria station by 12:46 (so i was 1 minute after the Gatwick Express train left) so I had to wait until 1:00 pm. The cab cost 9 pounds. The train ride is about 30 mintues to Gatwick airport. I got off, ran to the above ground subway that took me to the North Terminal and ran to the British Airways check in desk. Got checked in at around 1:51 and then raced to the customs line. Got through that...saw that I was 10 minutes from my gate so I had to run to the gate for my flight (that was already boarding). I got there with about 3 minutes to spare (wow, that was close)...

On my flight, I was sitting beside a nice Hungarian woman who was just in paris/london visiting her daughter and niece. She spoke limited english but managed to tell me a couple of things to do while I was in Budapest and give me some good tips. She corrected me on some of the Hungarian i was trying to learn...like "kosonom" which means "thank you". I wasn't pronouncing the "o's" correctly. When we arrrived at the airport, she told me to wait for her and she would take me to the correct bus (which you ride for 25 minutes to get to the subway). After we passed through customs and she got her bag...we both changed some money. The currency there was quite low in value. 1 HUF (Hungarian Fuiret) = ~250 euro and ~195 USD.

When we got outside, the ladies' son was waiting for her to greet her (cause she had been gone for a month). Together, the three of us made our way to the bus (they bought me my ticket which was very nice of them). We chatted on the bus and then when we got to the metro station...the lady helped me buy my travel card for the metro. We then said our goodbyes (took a photo and exchanged e-mails (the son had e-mail, not the lady)) and that was it.

I got on the subway and within a minute, started talking to a guy from Israel who was flying home from Portugal. He had about 7 hours stopover in Budapest and decided to go in and check it out for a few hours. He came with me to my hotel...and i dropped off my stuff. It was a clean hotel, had a huge courtyard right in the middle with live gypsy music. I had a HUGE room (with 4 beds in it) but they only charged me the Single room rate (27 euro/night) which is really cheap compared to a lot of the others I saw that were 50 and 60 euro per night. Also, It is very close to the main city centre which is awesome. Me and the guy (Varana) left the hotel and walked around the city for the next few hours which was great while partaking in some "extra-curricular" activites. The sun was just going down and the skies were clear so we got to see some neat stuff. After dinner, Varana and I parted ways and I made my way back to my hotel. Prior to doing that, I stopped at an Internet cafe and then after, I ran into a nice Irish couple from Cork (southern Ireland). They were good fun and we had a blast.

More about Day 2 of my trip in a subsequent post.

World Cup of Hockey?

Well, it's that time of year again. You know...there is that traditional sports tournament that travels from country to country every 4 years and celebrates the competition within a wonderful sport. Well, this year it's Hockey and who is thw host country you ask? Well, actually it's Canada and the US this year. And yes, Canada made it to the Championship game. Canada played Finland tonight for the final and I must say - the game just lacked a certain level of intensity. I was finding that I couldn't really concentrate on anything. It was a fun game to watch and Canada pulled out a 3-2 victory in the end. So, then again - watching Canadians win at hockey is always a good thing. One sad thing was the trophy. It was designed by Frank Garret (sp?) - a world famous architect. Methinks he should just stick to building commercial and residential structures. The funny part was watching each player do their little skate around with the trophy (as if it was the Stanley Cup) but they all had the same "what the hell am i holding up and i don't think it's out of it's packaging yet" kinda looks. Strange. Very strange.

Have a good one...I defintiely have loads to write but I can't even keep my eyes open right now.

Back to School

Wow my friends. It is that time of year already. 1 more day of the CNE. Labour Day Long weekend or one of the busiest days at the airport - you take your bet but this year...September 6 is that day. i am in London right now, just finished packing and I'm heading to bed soon.

Sadly, my vacation is over and I must fly home tomorrow. It's been a great time hanging around Amsterdam, London and Budapest - had a blast everywhere and met a tonne of great people from all over the world. I've got some funny Budapest stories about meeting random people - including the Irish couple who taught me how to pour the perfect pint of Guiness. The Israeli guy that I chilled with. The Mexican architect who shared a lot of history. The Hungarian 16 year old boy who ended up being my impromptu tour guide for about 4 hours. And lastly, the American girl who was originally from Scarborough but who now lives in San Francisco. I'll share more stories with y'all at a later date.

I've gotta leave my brother's flat tomorrow morning by about 9:00 am and I don't reach Toronto until something like 8:30 pm in the night. I don't have a direct flight (the wonders of Aeroplan) so instead, I am flying via Pitsburgh and I've got a 3 hour lay-over there. :o(

Time for bed. See you when I get back.