May 29, 2006 - A wildcat strike shut down the TTC today and like thousands of Toronto commuters, I was caught off-guard and didn't even know about the strike until I woke up this morning. I ended up walking to work (from Yonge & Eglinton to Yonge & College) - the journey took a little over 1.5 hours, but with today being one of the hottest days of the year so far, the walk was pretty brutal. Coming home, I had to spend 10 bucks for a cab - 10 bucks that could have been used elsewhere (i.e. a really nice meal).
Now I'm not entirely sure why the strike happened. The media has reported it was due to a number of issues: the safety of front line workers; the fact that some cleaners were going to be moved to night shifts. No matter what the issues are behind the strike, one thing that's for sure: the strike was illegal and it was wrong.
Usually I have deep sympathy for TTC operators. While some of them are indeed rude and not very helpful, the majority of them are actually fairly nice (the 94 Wellesley bus drivers are the nicest I've found). I completely understand that labour relations have been strained lately, but if the TTC Union really wants the public to understand their issues, having a wildcat strike is NOT the way to do it. The Union held the city hostage by their action - and commuters, the ones that support public transit in the first place, became the losers. Instead of sympathizing with the Union (and the operators), we now feel cheated and betrayed.
Who knows how much money the City lost because of this one day strike. The City (and anyone who lost wages, missed school and appointments) should sue the Union for every lost dollar. This will then tell the Union that we will not put up with illegal unlawful strikes by workers of an essential city service!
May 28, 2006 - So I have moved into my new apartment!! The move went really well - actually better than I thought it would! I guess it really helped that I had all my stuff packed up the night before (thanks to Jason of course, who literally packed up my apartment for me!). I was a bit surprised by how much stuff I had accumulated but compare to most people , I'm sure it's nothing! It only took 3 trips to move everything over.
So far I'm really liking my place - it's a lot smaller, but at the same time, it's cozier and it feels more like home. The place is really clean, so that's good and I like my landlady already. Hopefully if everything goes well, I will be staying here until my condo is ready - which reminds me I still need to blog about that!
The only con is that there is no air conditioning at my place and it looks like the next few days will be pretty hot! Better start shopping for an air conditioner asap!
May 16, 2006 - So I'm moving again! After some drama (which of course, involves my parents and an ugly experience with a possible landlady), I'm finally officially moving out my current apartment and into a smaller, more affordable, and in my opinion, much cleaner and nicer place.
In a way though, despite the cockroaches, the ants, and the dust, I have to admit that I learned to adjust to my current place. I'm not sure if I would use the term *like* to describe my feelings for it, but I definitely will always remember it. I will probably miss the direct access, snow-free subway connection the most!
But it's a new and exciting chapter - and I'm looking forward to making my new place a little bit "homey", which is what my current place lacks (and which probably explains why I never really got attached to it). And the $300+ that I will be saving will help finance my Europe trip!
So yay for a new apartment! :)
May 13, 2006 - With it being the most anticipated movie of the year, you would think that the marketers for The Da Vinci Code could come up with better posters! Seriously, is blowing up Tom Hank's unshaven face the only way to sell the movie? How about a picture of the Louvre? or a Da Vinci painting? or even just a picture of Paris? We all know this movie is going to make hundreds of millions of dollars, so why not spend a few bucks more on creative and attractive movie posters!? I mean this is the best that they could come up with?
May 7, 2006 - Well, I did it - and I didn't pass out either!
This morning I, along with 7000+ other people, ran the Sporting Life 10K. This race is said to be the easiest 10K course in Canada, primarily because it's pretty much a downhill run from Yonge & Eglinton to the CN Tower. Money raised from the race helps support a summer camp for children with cancer.
So rather than sleeping in like I normally do on a Sunday morning, I woke up bright and early and joined three of my friends for the run. I have to admit that I asked myself several times what the hell I was doing as I was getting ready, but once I got to the start line and got to see the crowd, I was actually hyped and ready to do it.
Now I'm definitely not an athlete and it has been a long time since I have ran long distances (those good old high school days when I was on the x-country team seem so long ago...), so why did I do it? well partly to challenge myself and to get myself back in shape, and also partly to cross one thing off my to-do list!
The run turned out better than I thought - it was really motivating to run with a large group of people of all ages. It was also nice to have people lined the street to cheer you on! The only thing that sucked were all the angry drivers who kept honking and at one intersection, were literally yelling and swearing, at the runners for blocking off the streets - sheesh, didn't you check the traffic report before heading out?
I ran the whole race without stopping and without really being too tired out either (I guess those runs at the gym helped?) - my time was something like 1:03:24 - definitely a laughable time, but the fact is I actually went out there and did it, and I'm proud of myself for doing that :)
So what's next then? For one thing, I hope to keep running and perhaps run another race this year (there were talks of us doing a short 5K some time in June). For now though, I think I would just let my legs rest.
May 29, 2006 - A wildcat strike shut down the TTC today and like thousands of Toronto commuters, I was caught off-guard and didn't even know about the strike until I woke up this morning. I ended up walking to work (from Yonge & Eglinton to Yonge & College) - the journey took a little over 1.5 hours, but with today being one of the hottest days of the year so far, the walk was pretty brutal. Coming home, I had to spend 10 bucks for a cab - 10 bucks that could have been used elsewhere (i.e. a really nice meal). 
