Early to bed late to rise

The Pacific Mall

To Recap...
I went to sleep early this morning. It was about 7am when my body decided to call it quits after spending 20 hours playing the World of Warcraft, or as Darryl calls it, "WarCrack". This wasn't as bad as the 16 hour stint where I didn't get up to even go to the bathroom. No this time it was a bit better. I had timed it so whenever the character had to make bandages, walk across the map, fly to another part of the continent, or do something equally time consuming, I went out to get groceries, cook the roast (as described in the last blog), eat, assemble a hard drive, test the hard drive, start a very long 7 hour copy session on said hard drive and yes go to the bathroom.

My body had started to feel like rigor mortis was setting in. It didn't matter how I sat in front of the computer, my body started to ache. My left hand started cramping and my legs were getting sore. I had been sitting for most of the twenty hours in the lotus position. Thanks to the portability of the laptop I could play sitting on the corner of my bed using a foldable TV table. Tired, full of food and ache ridden, my brain finally gave in to my body's wishes and fell asleep.

As a result of pushing myself (into being a couch potato) I woke up at 2:30pm. Technically I woke up at 11am to a phone call from Marc seeing if I wanted to go for dim sum. I was in zombie mode when I answered the phone, pretty understandable, so I politely shooed him away off the phone and fell back into bed for a nice snooze.

Upon waking up the second time (at 2:30) I called back Marc to figure out what was going on. He had called because he was bored and wanted to do something. I wondered how doing something with me would be that much more interesting. After all I was getting pretty good at the whole living off the corner of the bed playing warcraft and testing computer equipment.

Since the drive tests worked and I needed to get more enclosures. I had six more drives sitting around so I invited him to join me to the Pacific Mall where the Vantec drive enclosures were being sold. The computer store downtown that I know of ran out of these particular units since my last visit.


Canada Computers in the Pacific Mall

After picking up two drive enclosures (that's all they had left) I got sucked into having a $6.50 bubble drink. I fit right in with the other consumers in the pacific mall drinking their bubble tea. I picked the "mango chiller" out of a long menu of variations. Was it worth $6.50? No. It was okay but I'd say up to $4 worth. Actually even $4 seems like a lot.

The pacific mall was packed with people from the moment we arrived. Parking the car was crazy. We thought if we just drove to the far side of the parking lot there would be free spaces. Nope. Packed, every car space taken. Inside the mall it was cramped and congested. I noted that you could buy bootleg HD-DVD movies for only $4 each. Sheesh. From Casino Royale to Garfield 2. How long has HD-DVD been out? Normal format DVDs were selling for 8 for $20.

In North America there are ads against bootlegging movies. One ad has a stuntman complaining that bootleggers are taking money out of his pocket. Not the movie production company or the movie distributor but the lowly stunt guy. It's almost as cheesy as the anti-pollution commercial with the native indian chief crying next to the highway.

Why you should not buy these bootleg movies...

1. The video quality is usually poor. Some movies are taken from footage from a guy with a videocam sitting in a movie theatre.
2. The sound quality is not as good as the commercial DVD.

While looking for the prefect bubble tea place, there's a lot of them in the mall, we passed by a model shop. It's been a long time since I'd been in a model store let alone put together a model kit. They were selling a 1:350 scale model of the Yamato (a spaceship from the TV cartoon series "Star Blazers"). It came complete with a life size hand trigger mechanism that when pulled lit up the wave motion gun. Cool.

Another store worth mentioning but I can't remember the name sold Anime outfits. Full sized for "real" people. I use the term real very loosely. This was probably a convention fan's dream. Upon a quick glance the clothing seemed simple. That is not a lot of detail. "Well, they are cartoon based.", I thought to myself.


Marc in the WalMart parking lot.

After dragging Marc around to get the drive enclosures we went on a quest to pick up a new kitchen garbage can. It's incredible the exciting, wild life I lead (dripping with sarcasm).

A few weeks, maybe months ago, my garbage can broke. The hinge snapped off. Since it was plastic the whole garbage can had to be replaced. I had been putting garbage into a plastic garbage bag that just sat in the hall of my kitchen. While it worked it looked a bit unsightly. Plus there was always a problem of the bag tipping over with the contents falling all over the floor.

There's a lot of work looking for a garbage can. Can in be cleaned easily? Is it made well? Does the lid take up space where the garbage could go? How long will it last? Are the hinges of the lid tiny little plastic tabs that will break off? How tall in the garbage can? What colors are available?

I ended up purchasing an oval shaped plastic bin with a spring loaded pop up door. The roundness would make it easier to clean than that of something with corners.

To end off the night we ended up seeing "Ghost Rider" at the nearby theatre. A truly bad movie. I'd give it a quarter bagel rating. I've said this once and I'll say it again "Really amazing visual effects does not a good movie make." and as far as visual effects goes, there were some really mediocre computer generated effects and some really great CG fire. I didn't notice any cameo with Stan Lee, so how good could the movie be? Flat acting, bad dialogue, bad script in general, but some really nice CG fire (Did I mention the fire?)

Something interesting to note... While in London, Enzo mentioned that here in North America we have huge vista-like scenic places. While I really never gave it much thought before it dawned on me today while standing in the various large parking lots. We do have a lot of space here.

To pork or not to pork

The pork roast BEFORE

I spent the day trying to catch up on my blogging while at the same time sticking a hard drive into a USB 2.0 enclosure, testing the hard drive, and baking a pork roast. I had bought the roast about a month ago for a mere $4.27. The roast before baking was 1.942 Kg (or 4.3 pounds).

When I bought it the expiry date was far in the future. The roast had lived in my freezer for the last few weeks. I contemplated cooking it for a me and a guest but ended up cooking it just for me. I suppose eating really is the theme for this week.

Being my first pork roast I wanted to be sure it was cooked properly. The book I have reads that the roast should be in the oven for 25-35 minutes per pound at 325° F. Just to be sure I had it in for three and a half hours. Aside from the burnt apples it turned out great. The cover on the casserole dish kept the pork moist. Upon taking it out of the oven the meat just fell off the bone and melted in your mouth.


The pork roast AFTER

There seems to be a theme this week...

Gudrun looks like she's sneaking out some papers for Nat to sign

If there was a theme this week it would be food and eating said food. I ended up meeting Gudrun and Nat at a Vietnamese place near King and Dufferin (north west side). First time I've been to this place. The food's not bad but I still prefer pho88 on Broadview and Gerrard.


Nat(asha) signs her life away.

I will work for food... so it seems.

A snowman in the neighbourhood

Today was pretty slow. I had met up with Leah who for the longest time had been waiting for some roller derby photos I shot (see the blog entry from a long time ago). I was going to just give her the photos but she insisted on taking me out for Indian food... again the buffet.

I suppose she called at a good time as I was hungry and any food sounded good.


Leah feeds me Indian food in exchange for some roller derby photos

Hours later I received a call from Robin. She was trying to get some pictures taken of a few blankets to enter some art show/exhibition. I thought it would be easier to just go over with my camera and flash and shoot away rather than trying to figure out why her camera wasn't focusing properly.

She reminded me that she still owed me dinner for something else I helped her out with... I think it was the T-shirt shoot (click here for even earlier blog entry).


Robin holds up a sock monkey blanket


A sock pigeon

Web daze

My garden gnome half buried in snow

Leanna popped by again today to work on the web stuff. We went to the local Indian buffet restaurant for lunch. I ate enough to feed a small army. When Leanna eventually went home I immediately fell asleep... most likely from over stuffing myself with food.


Another photo for Leanna's wall-o-food.

Meanwhile back in Toronto

Leanna walks towards my apartment passing over the broken water pipe under the side walk.

I woke up this morning at 6am (or 11am London time). My nose was bleeding. It's dry here thanks to it being winter and possibly because there's a dehumidifier down here in the basement. It's -15°C today in Toronto where as it's 11°C in London.


My neighbour, Lisa and her new pup.


Leanna and I stuff ourselves at Occasions, the local restaurant.

I spent the day with Leanna going through photos and working on some graphics for her website. It feels odd being out in the cold.

Returning Home

Josie waits for a cab to the airport

We managed to get to Heathrow airport an hour before our flight. Despite getting to the airport late and having problems with the high tech machines not reading our passports properly we managed to sneak in under the deadline and get our plane.

Our first stop within the airport was cafe Italia. It's the third time I've flown out of Heathrow and the third time I've had food there. They have great food. Today was the "pollo verde", a chicken sandwich with avocado (pollo = chicken, verde = green).

The flight was seven and a half hours. We didn't have the high tech monitors behind each seat this time around. Instead there were a few large monitors scattered throughout the plane. "The Guardian" was playing. It started while I was napping and I missed the beginning. Instead of watching the movie I decided to read the book I bought a week before at the Toronto airport, the Three Musketeers. It's one of the many books that had escaped my reading as a kid. Yes I've seen the movie, read the fat little book, and even had read the Classics Illustrated comic book a few times, but the actual book... no.

The Plane food...

at least the food that I was served while I was not sleeping.







A view of Toronto from the air... geez there's a lot of snow.

At the airport while picking up our luggage I noticed my camera case was opened. Unfortunately it was while I was picking it up off the treadmill that I found out when all my lenses and gear started falling out. "What the ___ hell???". Someone had gone through my luggage at Heathrow and couldn't put the stuff back properly but at least they closed the case. It was probably customs, which is fine. Here in Toronto not only was my equipment not placed into the case properly the case was not latched!

After a $60 limo ride home I was greeted by a slippery drive way covered with about 15 centimeters of snow and ice. I almost fell on my butt trying to navigate me and my luggage around the neighbour's car.

It's good to be back... As I hope that I didn't return with any six legged guests.

I'm a Tourist

The Star Kebab House, the local curry place

Being the last full day visiting London and now with all my London Fashion Week shooting complete I decided to spend the day walking around. You might say that today was my official sightseeing day. To start off, I walked west along the street from the hotel (located near Earl's Court) to grab some food at a local curry place. It's the same curry place, the Star Kebab House, that I frequented last season. I found out that it's been in operation for more than 30 years.

From the curry place I walked up past the local super Tesco to a bridge, took some uninteresting pictures (which is why they are not on this blog) of railroad tracks, then slowly made my way toward Oxford Circus where I'd eventually meet up with Derya (although when I started trek I didn't know that's where I would end up).

It's interesting to point out that most people I talked to about walking this distance (including Enzo a few days earlier) thought this was nutty.


Congestion charges going into effect February 19th, 2007

On my way from the bridge I noticed some signs indicating to drivers that there would be a new service charge for using the roads in town. I heard they wanted to do something like this in Toronto. While it's a great idea to decrease the amount of car emissions within the city, Toronto in my opinion, does not have the intricate transit system or suburban parking lots to support this idea at this time.


Stopping to 'smell' the flowers. It's still snowing in Toronto?


A crime stoppers ad

I thought this was interesting. The sign tells you what kind of crime was commited and obviously where it took place is specified by where the sign was placed. "Armed Robbery"? Sheesh.


The museum entrance

The first official stop on my tour was a museum, any museum. This being the third time I've been in London I had never stopped into any of the museums for more than 10 minutes. During my first trip I stopped in the Science museum long enough to point at a large dinosaur skeleton while Angie took a picture of me. Because of the tight schedule we had to run out of the building in order to cover other parts of the city in our 45 minutes of rushing around.

While waiting for a catwalk to start, earlier on in the week, I had met a London photographer named Patrick who told me "This is the worst time to go to museums.". When I asked "Why?", his answer was that kids are now out from school, something equivalent to spring break in North America. It figures. Note: Toronto Fashion week also takes place during spring break. Coincidence?

There was a long winding line that came out of the Natural History Museum. Despite this, I was determined to get in, to see something, anything. It is important fact that the reader know that to visit most museums in London the admission price is 0. Yes, that's right, free. When comparing the cost to the tiny Toronto based Royal Ontario Museum with it's exorbitant admission of $18.00, seeing museums in London is great! This also explains the grief of not seeing any of the museums during the last two visits.


The escalator into the "Molten Earth"


A big fat rock. So okay I forgot what the little label said that was placed under the rock. (Quartz?)

The next stop was a building that reminded me of the Ontario Science Centre. There were a bunch of nifty gadgety things with hands on items that kids could play/interact with.


A two and a half story circle lined with Light Emitting Diodes


"You've driving me up the wall"

I suppose the thing that impressed me was this car bolted somehow to the ceiling. It reminded me of those fake movie sets that are made upside down so when the camera is flipped over it looks like someone is walking on the ceiling.


A jacket made from steel wool


I liked the micro net

After the museums I walked over to Hyde Park. There were people playing hockey of all things. The hockey night in canada theme played in my head while I took some pictures.


The Albert Memorial


Entering into Hyde Park


A bird that looks like it's starting to doze off.


A statue of Peter Pan


Bird sitting on a post


A tree that has fallen over


Bear Hug fountain


"Feeding Pigeons is not permitted"


Sunset in Hyde Park


The subway map

In case you hadn't picked this up from previous blog entries, it's interesting to note that a subway in London is a underground walkway for pedestrians. Unlike the subway, or public train system here in Toronto the train in London is referred to as the tube.


A subway entrance


A subway exit

Exiting the park on the north east corner I made my way over to Oxford Circus via Oxford street. Traffic lanes are a lot more narrow in this city, yet they're way more congested. I'm not really sure how the bus drivers do such a great job of navigating without causing accidents.


Fruit stand


An accessory store with Lily Cole plastered all over their display.


Gearing up for Chinese New Year, the year of the "golden" pig.


Tap dancing for money

While waiting for Derya across the street from the Topshop department store I noticed these tap dancers. They were pretty good but were eventually shooed away by a police officer.


Topshop window display

After a barrage of text messaging Derya and I finally met up. I don't use text messaging in Toronto so much but in London it seemed second nature. We ended up eating at a Thai buffet restaurant. We were drawn in by a coupon some guy down the street was waving at us.


Thai buffet


Derya foreign news corespondent


Derya with a copy of the newspaper she writes for.