Trip to the Nut House

The Nut House

Spent some time with Irmena and the kids walking to the Dufferin Mall and stopping by at the nut house. No, not a place for the insane or mentally challenged, but an actual place that sells nuts and other food items. The place has a pretty cool sign made to look like a giant walnut.

I bought some almonds for the Captain but ended eating more than half of them before getting home.


Finn and Asha in a motorized tow truck ride at the mall.

Welcome to the neighbourhood

The oatmeal waffle door to door delivery

The highlight today was getting a house warming gift from Irmina. While taking Finn (her son) to school she dropped off some oatmeal waffles, blueberries, syrup, biolife dish soap, cleaning fluid and a homemade cotton dish rag. Not only would I have something to eat today but I'd also be able to clean up after myself should I be a slob. All while being environmentally conscience - the dish rag was hand knitted. I must put emphasis on this as there was probably a lot of effort going into this. Can we say "Wow!"?

This was great, even better than getting rolls of bathroom tissue¹. Not only because the food tasted great but because in the move all my cookware, dishes and food have been hidden from me. Hiding in moving boxes that have been dumped in random order in my new apartment. Looking for a can opener I found a Wii steering wheel. Chaos would be one word to describe my belongings.

Making breakfast was looking grim without any cookware, or utensils. That's about the time Irmina called to say she was going to drop by. It was a bonus that the stuff she was dropping off was food.


The waffles, the syrup in a cup, underneth blueberries in a Chinese take away container, environmentally friendly cleaning spray, and dish soap, with a hand knit dish rag.

Awesomesauce!

The new place

It works like a mug

Having just moved... yet again... I'm in the phase where I don't know where anything is. All my stuff (food, cooking gadgets, computers, entertainment, clothing) is packed away into boxes. Also the new place has to be learned. Where to put your hand to turn on or off a light switch, the odd noises the house makes, the ninja cat, water temperature, faucet water flow, and the geography of the apartment in general (placement of stairs, doors, things that can be tripped over).

I wanted to drink something other than water and managed to find the powered hot chocolate container. Found the kettle. The only thing missing was a spoon and a mug. Eventually I found the spoons, forks, knives, and sporks in a labeled tupperware bin. I couldn't find my mug. I only have one. It's an extra large mug that I bought in San Francisco while eating sushi at the airport. I did eventually find a measuring cup.

cool.

Did I mention the sushi?

Downtown one of my friends was having a fund raiser to find a cure for breast cancer. I had offered my services as photographer to record the night's event. Girls in lingerie, a guy on stilts dancing, and sushi made out of a marshmallow rice crispy square like recipe. It made for an interesting night of photography.


guy on stilts


Sushi candy

Morning photo shoot

The world of Sanjay Burman (click on photo to make bigger)

I had an idea to photograph a panoramic photo of the apartment but due to rescheduling and an enormous amount of people in the apartment on sunday I volunteered to come back and shoot the empty apartment today.

The last photo I did like this was of Emmanuel in his apartment before he moved. I like these photos even if there's a bunch of post work involved.

Fat Snow Flakes

A snowman a few doors north of the apartment.

Was snowing today. I figured I'd take some photos of the neighbourhood before I move.


Looking northward along Euclid toward College.


This photo almost has a postcard feel to it.

ToRD Gore Gore Girls versus Death Track Dolls

Land Shark of the Death Track Dolls puts the squeeze on Dust Bunny of the Gore Gore Girls

While the Death Track Dolls were pummeled by the Gores there were moments where the Death Track Dolls fans went crazy cheering on their team. One of the exciting moments was when Land Shark out skated Dust Bunny while competing for lead jammer.

For more coverage of this event (and photos) check out the Derby Nerd.

SpitFist

Spitfist

It's been a while since I was sandwiched in a mosh pit taking photos of a band. The dim light, the loud ear splitting speakers, the sticky beer soaked floor (with glass), the people jumping/dancing/standing in the way of a photo capture. This is the fun I've missed since I can't remember when.

It's definitely a different type of photography. Different from taking photos of skating girls zipping around a track, or photographing some thing outside. Inconsistent lighting, microphones and stands blocking the musician's faces, the odd fist pump blocking your view. This is what separates the great photos from the crappy ones. Timing and location is everything.


Spitfist on stage at the Garrision

As a few of the girls in the band are in ToRD I''ve heard of the band before but until now didn't get a chance to see them play. They're pretty awesome. I liked the "Meow" song. Being pretty impressed with their performance and thinking that I actually had a good time getting outside, I compared notes with other people in the crowd. The majority commented that this was the band's best performance ever. Really? Maybe this was a good time to see them then.


Alicia Marie, bass


Caitlin Watson, Drums


Dee Prescot, guitar


Stacey McCool, lead vocals

Captain Hill VS The Dinosaur

Captain Hill 'examines' the toy Dinosaur

Is it just me or are there companies that make toys for kids, then if the toy isn't successful they repackage the same toy for animals? Are manufacturing rules for making toys for animals less strict compared to making toys for human kids? If I buy a squeaky hamburger toy for a friend's five year child that was made for a dog is that toy going to decompose into hazardous chemicals compared to the human toy equivalent?

If so then I address the receiver of said hamburger to stop using it. Your boy has probably gotten too old for that toy anyway.

For the past week or so, Captain Hill has been gnawing away at the plastic cage (dubbed Space pod one) and making a huge racket. Almost like clockwork I'd be up at 4am wondering why the hamster chose that particular time to start munching. To fix this I bought a few hamster chew toys.

Some multi-coloured triangles made of lava rock and this dinosaur on wheels made of wood. The wheels actually work, the dinosaur can roll. The idea being that Captain Hill would work on the toys leaving the cage alone and make less noise. For all I know the hamster is just filing away the plastic to make a grand escape.

I've placed one triangle into the cage and for a night it stopped the gnawing the plastic. I woke up instead to the sound of rocks being thrown around. That's what I thought it was. I turned on the lights to find the triangle wedged into Captain Hill's mouth. The noise was from the Captain charging into the tube hole and bouncing back due to the triangle being wider than the tube opening. It must have been about an hour that passed before I stopped hearing the noise. Either the hamster had given up or I just fell asleep from exhaustion.

The next day the triangle wedge had disappeared and the plastic pod gnawing continued.

Tonight I have put the other two wedges into the cage along with the dinosaur. Will keep you updated.

Snowmageddon

The school bus that parks in front of my house

So there's this big snow storm that's been hitting people in the States (Minnesota, Chicago, to name a few) quite hard. I know this through my friends on facebook. The weather guy said Toronto would get 30 centimeters today. Schools have closed, businesses have told workers to stay at home, and I had to go back to the production office to pick up some gear that had been accidentally packed into luggage being shipped off to British Columbia.

It was time to break out the winter boots. In my case giant Sorels, boots that I don't wear much because they somehow managed to move my socks to the toe area where they bunch up into clumps leaving my feet bare.


Looking down Euclid avenue


Snow boots

I was kind of disappointed. The last time there was a big snow storm here in this city, the army was dispatched to help dig senior citizens out from waiting at bus stops. Snow levels were at least knee deep and cars that were parked on the streets were buried in snow and wouldn't be moved for days.

This blog entry is for my friends that are in those sunny places around the world. While it's no where near the snow accumulation of Chicago or the iciness of Indiana it's somewhat annoying to wander around with the slush on the road.


Toboggan day instead of school also note the wipes on the car (smart)


not completely snowed in


Dundas street


Dim sum at T&T


Looking out at the Docks (next to the T&T parking lot)


Waiting for the bus


snow dozer



Back in the downtown core


Toronto cyclist