Richard

Ending up at York University to attend a symposium on open source software at the Seneca College campus on York (after mistakenly going to the campus in Markham), I got off the bus and proceeded in entirely the wrong direction. I ended up at the gym (the one with “York Lions” on the building”) and asked for directions. The lady at the counter gave me a map and told me to go in a diagonal line that she charted out, and to ask people if I’m going the right way. I said “so people are nice here, then”. She agreed with that statement, and sent me on my way, clear across campus. Moral of the story: when looking at maps on in York, the red arrow is not the “you are here” symbol, but rather you have to look at the blown up part in the corner.

Blast! No power outlets, so bring your spare battery if you have a laptop. I dig the aesthetic though: brick walls, booths, portraits on the wall. And it’s a Wireless Toronto access point, so if you have the juice, then you can at least get connected.

We drove up to the gift store and after we asked if we could (should?) walk down the wooden plank, one of the employees suggested driving down to the waterfall (“500 meters that way”, he said). It was the windiest spot I’ve ever been at!

We flew in from Toronto at Terminal C and we are just about to fly out to Reykjavik. E Terminal is really beautiful, of course with requisite Homeland Security checkpoint gauntlet. Comfy chairs and pricey wireless are hard to beat, though!

On this, my third visit, yet again for a delicious brunch, I find out (on the bottom of the bill), that the pub has wifi.

I went to see the Warhol exhibit, and it was pretty good: David Cronenberg, the guest-curator of the exhibit, did the audio for on the Tour-Mate® hand-helds. (Everybody looked like they were having a phone conversation where the other party did all the talking. I’m sure someone will make an art project out of video of us experiencing the same thing but not talking to each other.) It was an interesting exhibit, and I basically came to the conclusion that Andy Warhol is famous because his art was about fame. Or, essentially, he is now famous for being famous.

As we walked out, Governor General Michaëlle Jean walked in with an entourage. Very rarely do I recognize celebrities, and of course, this time was because she is a political celebrity (at least I know her as such). I only saw her briefly, but I went up to the ticket booth and asked to make sure.

Second time in as many years visiting, where today we bought fancy coffee-which I ended up spilling on the counter-and croissants with ham inside. Outside we ran into the Robots, whom we met almost exactly a year ago today.

Second time visiting the pub we watched, on two large, optimally-placed flat panel TVs, Brazil beat Australia 2-0 in World Cup soccer action (the Aussies had a lot of great chances though, making it an enjoyable match to watch). I had the weekend brunch and my gf had the Irish Fry (which was exactly the same but with baked beans and ham). The family beside us had their order messed up a bit: something about the pub’s ordering system being down, which the family complained about. The manager came out and gave them a discount and some coupons for future visits.

We were happy customers though, taking in the match, my explaining some of the intricacies of the game watching little kids in Brazil uniforms running, passing around their soccer ball.

My girlfriend and I went here for our six month anniversary, though we did no research other than taking the streetcar to the end of the line in The Beaches and walking around. A little on the expensive side, but delicious. I had the fettucini alfredo (with chicken) which had mushrooms, peppers, and peas and she had the the butternut squash agnolotti, and we shared a transcendant Belgian chocolate mousse with raspberry sauce.

While waiting for dinner, Karen “hacked” her dress, the right strap of which broke.

The sound, at least when I went to the Lyrics Born concert in May of this year, was awful. Not so much the music, but the vocals were unintelligible. J-Swing and Flipout were on the wheels of steel in between the acts, and at one point played a set in homage to Jay Dee, but I couldn’t hear what any of the rappers were saying onstage.

Also, one day I will figure out (or someone will tell me) when to go to a rap concert and not have to wait 3 hours for the headline act.