Searching for Tao, 7573 Kilometres from Home

June 14, 2007 03:22 +0000 | Toronto Weather 0

I know, it's been a while since I posted anything here. Conveniently however, the reason for my absence is directly related to the topic of this entry: I blame the weather.

The hot, sticky, soup that is Toronto's "weather" between the months of May and September is the single strongest force pushing me out of this place and back to Vancouver. I've complained about the heat a lot here previously, so I won't bother going into it again. Instead, I thought I'd remark on the strange sort of sensations I've run into as a result of said stickyness.

For starters, suddenly everything feels harder. Riding my bike is more painstaking, walking down the street suddenly feels like a chore, and even sex carries the risk of passing out from the heat. The thickness in the air becomes a major barrier to everything you do in this city... even blogging.

It does lead to some interesting physical manifestations though. On days like this, I tend to take a shower after I get home, not to wash off the dirt, but to cool down and "un-sweat". However, because of the fluctuating body temperatures all over my skin, the shower feels differently depending on where it's targeted. On the back of my neck, it's cool and refreshing, but when it comes down on my head, it feels as though the temperature has gone up at least 3 degrees... The heat on the surface of my scalp is actually warming the water -- it's crazy.

The nice part though is that I'm using less hot water now. The A/C however is indispensible.

May 06, 2007 18:58 +0000 | Melanie Toronto 8

So, as mentioned in my previous post, I'm here at High Park enjoying the cherry blossoms. It's not as party-ish as I remember it from last year, but in all fairness, it's considerably earlier in the day than my visit back then.

I had an interesting revelation this afternoon. At this time last year, I was still working at Rydium. I was enjoying my brand new laptop so much so that I was taking it everywhere, just so I could blog about stuff.... As far as my laptop goes, not much has changed, but my personal life is considerably different.

My relationship with Melanie has been amazing so far. She keeps asking me to blog about how awesome she is, and I guess now is about as good a time as any. Melanie is pretty damn fabulous. It's a strange thing to spend a year with someone like her. You're still two very different people, but you both work very hard at trying to understand the other person better. I know that when she's upset, the best way to cheer her up is popcorn and diet fountain Coke with two straws, and she knows that I strongly believe that the Moulin Rouge soundtrack improves on any situation... even when you're laying quietly under the trees.

I guess that it's an inevitability of being with someone for this long: you start to get them, despite the giant walls we build around ourselves... It's a wonderful experience and one I'm happy to share with her.

Happy (belated) Beltane everyone.

May 06, 2007 16:07 +0000 | Toronto 0

There is a Cherry Blossom Party all day today in High Park. I went to this event last year and had a lovely time. I encourage everyone to come out to Toront's Cherry Blossom Party:

April 30, 2007 02:23 +0000 | Toronto Urban Design 5

Looking to take a tour of a neighbourhood in Toronto? Or maybe you're just curious about the history of a pretty building on in Parkdale or Cabbage town? Whatever your interest, Jane's Walk is a free guided tour through the neighbourhood of your choice by a knowledgeable Toronto resident. Prominent Torontonians such as John Sewell and Adam Vaugn are on the list of tour guides, and some the list of neighbourhoods is also really diverse.

I'll probably be going to one, though I'm not sure which one yet. If you're interested in a particular trip, let me know and maybe we'll go together.

Thanks to Stephen for the link :-)

April 25, 2007 13:58 +0000 | Environment Toronto 0

The Mayor has a plan to make Toronto greener. And while he thinks it's ok to install thousands of street furniture that use coal-fired energy to broadcast ads, he also has some good ideas too.

On the list are:

Doubling the size of the tree canopy to 34 per cent, which would at least triple the number of trees the city plants every year from around 60,000 to 175,000.
Cutting water consumption by requiring all homeowners to install a low-flow toilet, which uses 6 litres of water per flush. A conventional toilet uses 13 litres.
Conserving 90 megawatts of electricity by 2012 -- enough to power more than 60,000 homes.
Implementing an annual parking or motor vehicle registration fee to fund retrofits and renewable energy

All important goals, to be sure, but increasing the tree canopy has to have the greatest effect since it will reduce load on the sewer system (water retention in the soil), reduce energy use due to natural cooling in the summer time, and increase air quality... not to mention make Toronto prettier.

Anyway, the Star is doing an online poll on the above options, so if you're interested, you should check out their in-depth article (from which I copied the above items).

April 22, 2007 14:50 +0000 | Cycling Friends Toronto 1

A Google-map of our adventure. [High-res version] [Google link]

Toronto's weather these past few days has been amazing. With clear blue skies and 15°-25°C weather, the city was screaming for bike riders. Everywhere you looked, people were dusting off their old two-wheelers and partaking on a relaxing roll through the city... but not us. No, I called Stephen Saturday morning and said: "Lets ride to High Park!" and so I hopped on Syria and rode West to Spadina & Bloor, picked up Stephen and started our killer journey.

Now it should be mentioned that this sounds like a really big deal, but an experienced cyclist would probably fall over laughing at the way I'm describing this trip. I make no claims that this is an exceptional journey for everyone, but for an out of shape programmer, this was tough run. We rode out to High Park, back along Roncesvalles, down Dundas West until we ran out of working road (they're doing construction), to Spadina, down to Queen (NOT fun), down Queen to Church, up through the villiage to Wellesley, where we parted ways and I went to Pape & Bloor for Lukie's birthday party.

Along the way, we stopped for some tasty ethnic food in the Polish sector (Roncesvalles & Queen) and had some ill-conceived icecream in the villiage. Total trip distance: 26km. Total time spent: 6hours. ...and I hurt. I'm sitting on Stephen's couch right now blogging this and my feet STILL hurt. This must be how people who go to the gym feel :-)

March 29, 2007 03:16 +0000 | Homelessness Toronto 2

On our way out of Metro Hall tonight after a long TEV meeting, Melanie and I stopped in on a rather large town hall-style gathering in the rotunda. Apparently, the city wants to build a homeless shelter in the Entertainment District and they were getting an earfull from the residence and business owners of the area.

It was maddening to listen to these people try to mask their prejudices with claims of property value decreases and (a favourite) "hooliganism" from the homeless. Some people even tried to claim that there were no homeless there, and that this centre would "draw them in". I got so mad that I shouted out at one idiot: "Why don't we just put 'em all in a truck and ship them up to North Bay?", only to have one woman respond: "Why not?"

Seriously, these are the kinds of people who would prefer to build a wall and moat around their neighbourhoods if they could.

But despite all of the chaos and stupidity, Adam Vaughn was up there, fielding questions on top of accusations and slander... and he took it. Not only did he stand there and take it, but he responded with eloquence, civility and a solid understanding of the situation along with what needed to be done. He was amazing.

He may be a fan of CCTV, but even despite that, I'd still vote for him if I lived in his ward.

March 14, 2007 01:20 +0000 | Moments In Time Multiculturalism Toronto 3

The snow has finally melted. The air is actually warm again, and wearing a tshirt out without 3inches of down between you and the elements is no longer a risky idea. I'm working rather late at my desk, and as 8:30pm rolls by, I hear banging outside in the city streets below. A few more explosions and I hop over to the window:

There are fireworks in Mel Lastman Square

I do a quick check through my brain's limited list of special calendar dates and find nothing. Regardless, the boom-booms stop and I get back to work: only a few more lines before this ini class is finished.

I clear up my desk, make room for the cleaning lady to vacuum beneath me and saunter out the front door of my building at about 9pm to bask in the cool/warm weather the city has granted me... and then, I hear music.

The streets of North York are strangely busy at this time of night. Busier, I might say, than they were at lunch time earlier today. There's music down near the square and people are jay-walking all over the place. Traffic is at a standstill and for a moment, Yonge in North York looks like Bloor in the Annex. I follow the crowd and the music to a giant mob filling up the square and start looking around for a clue as to the occasion.

People are dancing, socialising, and making out, and nowhere is there a banner or a sign to help an ignorant guy out. The crowd is largely multi-racial, ranging in ages 3 to 93, and so I ask a complete stranger: "So what's the deal here?"

The guy explains that today is the Iranian New Year's eve. As Iran works on the Lunar calendar, this is the last Wednesday before the Spring Solstice -- the start of the year in Iran. He apologises for not having more detail; his memory is foggy having moved to Canada over 30years ago and he doesn't have all the information on hand. I smile and thank him for the info, linger for a little bit but head back so I can be home on time to meet Melanie on time. But as I walk up the steps away from the square, I turn and see something that makes me smile: there, surrounded by thousands of dancing Iranian expats, is a steel big menorah, erected when the square was built years ago.

This is why I love Toronto.

December 31, 2006 23:16 +0000 | Melanie Primus Riptown Rydium The Toronto Public Space Committee Toronto Why I'm Here 2

Note that some of these links lead to private posts.

2006 was a big year for the planet. Americans woke up and realised that their leader was insane (well enough of them to kill the Republican dominance in the House and Senate), Europe and China gained momentum on the world stage and the "War on Terrorism" did little more than make more terrorists.

Canada ousted one leading party and invited in a new one that promised to be much the same and our reputation as an environmental leader is now in the toilet. The air is dirtier, the water murkier and we're all trapped in this handbasket of our own weaving.

But contrary to what some might think upon first reading this blog, this site is not about the world, it's just about me and what I'm doing in it. ...and on my own front, a lot of good things happened this year.

On the personal front, some wonderful ladies made their way into my life. Most notably of course would be Melanie who I've been with for over 6months now. We've had our ups and downs, but I'm quite happy with her and I'm glad she's here for the New Year.

I also made a good many new friends through my activist work, not the least of which is Stephen, who I've come to hang out with outside of my responsibilities to the TPSC.

On the professional level, I hopped around a lot this year. February saw me start my career in network administration at Rydium. I loved working there, but couldn't stay for my own moral reasons so I moved onto Primus who treated me so poorly that I chose to leave after only 3months, where after a couple months of job hunting, I found Bodog, a place in which I'm currently quite content with my working arrangements.

I'm proud to say though that the biggest changes for me this year rest in the Why I'm Here section. I joined the Toronto Public Space Committee, a "within the lines of legality" political action group devoted to making this city a place for people not cars or corporations. It's been a great place to get into politics from the bottom up. I've come to learn how City Hall works, talked with councillors directly, given deputations (albeit badly) and most importantly come to understand what needs to be done, and where the power to make those changes rests.

I've worked on campaigns opposing the selling off of street furniture to companies like CBS, helped write the philosophy document for the group, wrote the code for the TPSC website that made headlines during the municipal election and now I'm heading up a very high-profile campaign to fight police cameras on the streets of the city. It's exciting work and its exactly why I came here.

So while we're all still trapped in this handbasket heading straight to hell, I suppose I can still be an optimist. I'm doing what I can to get us out of there, and I suppose that's all I can really hope for. I'm looking forward to 2007.

August 23, 2006 05:07 +0000 | Public Space Toronto 0

Since becoming involved in the Public Space Committee here in Toronto I've started looking at the city in a new light. I remember reading about the "reclaiming of public space" back in the late 90's when I was reading Adbusters a lot, but I don't think I really got it until I moved out here. It probably had a lot to do with growing up in a crappy suburb, but I just didn't understand why someone would like to put a couch in a parking spot and sit out under the sun in the middle of 7th Ave...

But now I get it.

I was walking home tonight after Lee-Anne's birthday shindig and realised that despite it being an absolutely beautiful evening, there was nowhere for me to sit down and blog a bit before going home to bed. On my right was a bunch of closed retail stores, and on my left was a 4 lane, busy road. No benches, no greenspace, nowhere suitable for a person just to sit an enjoy the city.

When people talk about "The Liveable City" from now on, this is what I will have in mind.