095 - A Tale of Two Buses

There's this one space near my house where I can hear if a bus is coming, but I can't see it. And when I hear a bus, I better be running, because to make it to the bus stop, I need to cross a fairly busy road.

Yesterday, I was in just that predicament. And I ran. World record running. I could have bested a Jamaican sprinter. Granted, that sprinter is probably 73, had one too many rum and cokes, and is missing a toe due to an unfortunate fishing incident... but still, pretty fast. And the bus stopped! Good thing there is someone getting on at that stop, embarking on an adventure that very well might have changed his life.

I zip across one side of the northbound lanes, which thanks to a light that just changed a couple hundred metres away, has zero traffic. As I reach the island, the southbound traffic in both lanes actually stop for me just so that I can make it to the bus. If Ottawa drivers get a bad rap, certainly the rap-givers never saw that sight!

Just as I run right behind the bus and start to head for the door, I hear that all familiar engine churn. "he can't be serious!" Slowly, but just fast enough, he takes off. Those cars that stopped for me star honking to no avail. Seconds later, the bus, now in the far turning lane, stops at the red light - the one that allowed me to cross the street in the first place, where he waits over a minute before he can turn.

Waiting 4 seconds for me to board would have made no difference. Especially when he was already three minutes early.

If that wasn't enough, the bus I used to get home from work was eight minutes late arriving at the stop, the one just after the start of a route. Usually at night, the driver will leave a few minutes late just because there are few stops made, but not eight minutes.

OC Transpo claims that their "on time" percentage, the number of buses that are not early, but no more than five minutes late, is a whopping 58%. Their goal is to have 90% on time service. I'm not sure about the frequent buses I used to get between school and work, but certainly I would consider today to be a poor day for bus service. They really need to start using time points use synchronized onbaord clocks, set up more time points, and watch mirrors for people who are running! Especially if that same mysterious "they" want to justify the second (and a whopping one at that) fare increase in a year, both off the heels of the cold, cold winter '09 bus strike. Yep, I'm still displeased about that one.

Of course, I've had wonderful experiences. There are some remarkable drivers out there that go out of their way to just be nice to us poor public traniters... some even on those routes that I use all the time. I just didn't get them yesterday. Those are the drivers that should be coaching everyone else.

And on a completely unrelated note, here's why you don't give kids markers when they ask for them in your store (that doesn't sell markers). Especially not permanent ones:



No, I didn't give the marker.

092 - OC Transpo Strike Started a Year Ago

So the OC Transpo strike started a year ago. And looking back at it all, I still have these annoyed feelings about the fact that it happened, and they didn't really get anywhere, since the reason for it ending was originally on the table as a way to prevent it. And lately, I've been getting more and more annoyed with the service. I actually called and made a complaint about an issue, but that doesn't go far enough. Maybe I'll write them a letter old-person-style, stamps and all.

That first day of the strike wasn't unlike today - blizzardy. It felt like the first true day of winter - just in time for the Christmas season too! And only 9 more days until I'm done school for the year. Then a bit longer.

Then what? I do have some ideas, some of which (unfortunately) involve even more school. We'll see what grows to fruition.

Speaking of school, here's a sequence I worked on with my teammates for one of our final projects:

Dave, our model, is part of an ad campaign for Gillette's line of hair care products. We got a picture of him holding the bottle. While this was a start, it lacked what experts call "oomph". To fix this, I took a close-up picture of his hand holding the bottle, and with some Photoshop magic, made his picture come to life. Maybe I'll showcase all the ads next time.

And yes, I had a Wall-E cake for my birthday.

090 - OC Transpo gives me a headache

The conference room at NewCap radio, home of Hot899 and LiVE885, have very comfy chairs.I was there yesterday with my fellow group work team for a school project. It was a wonderful experience... I secretly wanted to see the actual offices and recording areas, though, possibly to make funny faces at John Moran while he's on the air. Or, you know, not.

I finally backed up my Disney photos to a dvd, so that I could finally delete them off my memory cards. I didn't want to risk losing them to technological snafus, even thought they are on two different hard drives. I did have a hard drive die on me, after all. But I bet losing all those pictures would give me a great reason to head back! Supposedly, Halloween is pretty fun 'round those parts, and then the next day, like magic, it's Christmas.

The other pictures, above, are various ones from the summer. Yes, I finally had breakfast at Cora's! It was quite delicious, and so big that it was worth my while to take the rest home.

Now I'm craving pancakes.

I read three OC Transpo-related articles today: One, Two, Three. I can't believe that deep into all these transit plans (that I personally think are taking far too long), the city never really got any formal approval from the NCC to expand on their land, especially given that the next leg of the transitway to be built kinda needs it. And the new bit that just opened to help save time and traffic actually uses up more time? Makes sense to me! And there won't be a Quickie at the new Baseline station. Silliness.

This city is so ineffective at getting anything done it scare me. Maybe everyone should go and learn how to make a plan and do research. I guess they should be in my classes!

089 - It's like walking into your bedroom only someone else's stuff is there. And they repainted.

Yesterday, I was at the mall when I was greeted by Mickey Mouse! I thought it was nice that Mickey was around the mall, especially since the store that replaced Disney had opened the day before. And that escalator that would take me there! It has been broken for a long time now. Just like The Bay with its broken door that doesn't open, Bayshore is kinda slow at fixing things. And then I eventually made it up and saw the new, open-for-business Ricki's. Walking in, I felt like it was familiar, but not. The pillars, now plain white, the ceiling, now way low, the wall bays now squarely recessed into space-maximizing walls... and a huge company logo where the projected screen once displayed Hannah Montana music videos and The Little mermaid singalongs. I'll have to go in and tell them to enjoy the scent of Subway bread and horrible fat vat smell when KFC cleans out their reserves. Oh, and that the place is haunted.

And pictured above is a guy who was rapping beside me.

083 - Three Words...

Three words...



There's something too awesome about this picture. Is it Mary's (left) hair and smile-with-attitude? Is it the weird alphabet-ball-with-mouse-named-Mort that Ruth (centre) is holding? Is it David's (right) hurry-up-and-take-the-picture attitude?

This was taken circa 1967. Wonder what they look like now?


Ruth (mid-left), David (centre), and Mary (mid-right), with even newer brothers James (far left) and John (far right), July 2009.




Also, vintage MJ the first time it was cool to wear his face on a sweater. Oh and that's me, Dec 1984. The stylin' guy is my then-four-year old cousin, Matt.

081 - Disney Day Four

On the first night, we checked out Downtown Disney, but only really went into a place to eat. Today, our first down day, we decided to take to the shops and, in a nutshell, spend a ridiculous amount of money. The stores here are crazy awesome! The World of Disney Store, the biggest character store in the world, is easily 20x the size of my store at home. If not more. And despite the heavy traffic, it was still very organized and neat looking. Imagine how many hours they get! And the stitch outside likes to spit on people. Not surprising...

Also, our store has been starting to get products made of recycled materials, reusable bags, organic cotton shirts, and the like. The same lines of product are here too. With cooler designs!

The candy store is amazing as well. I couldn't decide what to get because I wanted it all. Disney gummies are seriously the best ones I've had ever. If there are any pockets of space in my luggage (ha!), then I'm filling it with candy.

Another amazing store is the Holiday store - all Christmas 365 days a year. Unfortunately I dont' want to bring back anything breakable, so everything stayed there. But it's pretty cool. You could get a monorail set for the tree, instead of the more traditional train set. But It doesn't say "Por Favor Manténgase Alejado de las Puertas" (the monorail says to stand clear of the doors in english and spanish). If it did, I would seriously ship one home.

We had also checked out the Boardwalk, but sillily did so in the morning when it's pretty dead. Will have to scope out later at night - Jellyrolls, amirite?

I think this was also a swimming day. I can't remember, but I'm starting to get used to pools.

AND PINS. Stupid Pin Store.

080 - Disney Day Three

After a long day at Magic Kingdom, Cat and I took a trip to EPCOT. You know, the park with the big expo-style ball? By the time the park closed, we had only really done the first half of it, doing Futureworld and just barely visiting the Canada part of the world showcase. We're going to have to go again.

Spaceship Earth was perhaps my favourite thing at Epcot. Inside the huge ball, there's an attraction that goes through the story of communication, from cave wall paintings to Matrix-style letters falling on the ceiling. And stars. And matrices of lights that look like they go on forever. We did it twice! My close-second fave attraction: Mission Space. Wow. Have you ever been to Mars? I went twice! Thanks, Gary Sinise! The simulated G-Forces were off the huzzle (bonus points if you just laughed there). Test Track was also amazing. It's accelerating in a car, round and round, dodging obstacles - basically human crash test dummies. It's a roller coaster that doesn't feel like a roller coaster, which is alright in my books!

I made my own paper, recycled lots, and got stuck in an ill-prepared house during a severe weather storm. The 3-D shows are tricky with their water and air effects.

NEMO! The Seas was actually a little disappointing, because there wasn't much to it, and it's nowhere near as exciting as the other shows at the Magic Kingdom. talking with Crush was was funnier than Mike's Laugh Floor, if only because kids ask the weirdest questions.

"how do you talk?"
"uh, with my mouth!"
"the turtles I know don't talk!"
"*blank stare* strange, all the turtles I know talk, dude!"

That one's probably very different each time.

"How do you swim?"
"uuh, in water, dudette! If I swam in the air, then I'd be flying!"

That one was funnier because one girl mentionned that she flew to Disney in a plane. Crush's rection? Priceless.

Soarin' is a hand-gliding flight over California. It was pretty exciting, and very convincing, but it would be better if it had seamless transitions though, lighting and locales change gradually. Honey I Shrunk the Audience was another 3D show. I thought it took too long to get to the good stuff, but it reminded me of how fun that universe is. Also the mice got me good!

And then the day was over. The Canada restaurant was reserved for a celebration of some sort of anniversary. And there's no Tim Horton's either. Seems like a missed opportunity!

And yes, there was more pin trading. And pin buying. I think I'm addicted.