No Viva Rock Vegas

January 30, 2007 - So it looks like my Las Vegas trip isn't happening after all. As much as I'd love to go see Vegas and re-visit San Francisco, the truth is that I simply don't want to travel by myself. Initially I thought I could do it - I mean, it's not like I won't be able to speak the language or understand the culture - but after some serious thinking, I know I won't enjoy the trip. Part of the traveling experience is to share that "first time" seeing, experiencing and feeling something new with another person (or persons) - and going alone just doesn't cut it, at least not for me.

So how did I end up in this situation? well when I booked my flights over a year ago, I didn't know my life would take such a big dramatic turn last year. There's a lesson learned right there: don't plan too far in advance, since life does happen. And I tried to get someone else to go with me - but everyone seems to be either busy/broke/or is going away in February as well!

Well I guess it works out for the best too - as my mom says, why spend close to $1000 for a trip that you don't really want to go on anyway, especially given my current financial situation? and she's right about that. That $1000 could be spent wisely on other things - like to pay for new furniture in my future condo!

So now I'm stuck with a ticket to Las Vegas that I probably won't get to use. It's too bad - especially since the ticket was a gift from my grandmother using her air miles. I feel badly about it too. Maybe the airline will let me postpone my ticket - or change my destination?

As for my future vacation plans, well it looks like NYC (again) might be my next calling :)

Pyramids no longer a "wonder"?

January 26, 2007 - Here's an interesting article that I read this morning at work: Egypt apparently is pretty upset over a world-wide competition to choose the "new 7 wonders of the world". The Egyptian government argues that the competition is "a marketing stunt that demeans the Pyramids of Giza, the only surviving ancient wonder."

Personally, I don't think Egypt has anything to worry about - who in the world would exclude the Pyramids off a list of wonders of the world? that's like leaving London and Paris off the list of the world's greatest cities.

Anyway, here are my votes for the "new 7 wonders" out of the final 21 that made the list. It was definitely hard to narrow it down to 7:

- The Acropolis, Greece (the Parthenon alone says it all!)
- The Colosseum, Italy (no explanation required - it's Ancient Rome!)
- Stonehenge, UK (still one of the world's greatest mysteries?)
- Great Wall of China, China (how could anyone not include this?)
- Angkor, Cambodia (truly amazing - though it's falling apart as we speak)
- Taj Mahal, India (the symbol of eternal love)
- Pyramids of Giza (again, how could anyone not include this?)

Runners-up: Eiffel Tower, France; Machu Picchu, Peru; Neuschwanstein Castle, Germany

The new 7 wonders of the world will be announced on Saturday, July 7, 2007 (07/07/07!). You can also see how Bernard voted - though I think our lists are pretty similar =)

Ripped from the Headlines

January 24, 2007 - One of the things that I had to do in my first job out of grad school was to scan newspapers from around the province and compile media clippings for the entire division every single day. The task felt like a chore at times, but it really gave me an opportunity to know first hand what's going on around the province. These days, I kinda miss not doing the clippings - but the habit of reading a newspaper (or a couple of different newspapers) is now hard to break! So here are a couple of interesting articles that I came upon:

Jane Jacobs influenced me, Harper says
The fact that Jane Jacobs and PM Stephen Harper were mentioned in the same sentence is somewhat surprising. Here's another shocker: our PM claims that he even owns a copy of "An Inconvenient Truth" at home!

London transit most expensive in the world
A single journey on London's buses and tubes now cost £4 in cash- that's $9.28 Canadian dollars! According to a friend from work, there are possibly 2 reasons for this: 1) to help pay for the repair and maintenance of the over 100 year old tube system; 2) to encourage more commuters to use the Oyster card (a smart card ticketing system), which is not affected by the fare increase (the increase only applies to cash fare). By comparison, Tokyo, the 2nd most expensive transit system, charges £1.37 ($3.17 CDN) in cash for a single journey.

The Undertow: The Hart House Pyramids
Despite having spent 6 years at U of T, I have never really paid much attention to the Hart House Pyramids. That is until I read this article. Bernard and I went to check it out yesterday - the tip of each pyramid does line up with the tip of the CN Tower!

Isaiah? Shut up and act
So this isn't exactly "news" news, but hey a lot of people are talking about it. Isaiah Washington (Dr. Burke on Grey's Anatomy) is definitely digging his own grave here. I don't see him or his character surviving past this season.

On the Airport Link

January 14, 2007 - As part of our "Pier F" experience yesterday, B and I also checked out the new monorail system at the airport - the "Link". The Link is an automated, cable-propelled train that links terminal 1 with terminal 3 and the discount parking lot on the edge of the airport.

The stations themselves are pretty cool - bright, spacious, and definitely have that shiny new look (granted they are indeed new). There are digital screens that tell you when exactly the next train will arrive (they run approximately every 2 minutes). The entire station is also enclosed, with doors that line the platform and only open when the train arrives.

The trains are fairly sleek as well, with large windows and automated stop announcement (and the voice sounds nice too, unlike the TTC's). The ride was a little shaky though but nevertheless, still very cool. It was my first monorail experience since Disneyland when I was 11 or 12?

So the whole trial and airport experience was tons of fun =) I have to say that the GTAA did a great job in coordinating the event. We even got a free breakfast (which Bernard flocked to naturally) and a free lunch (I kept dropping chicken pieces all over the floor)! And what better way to spend a cold January Saturday morning than to watch planes take off and land?

So the next time I'll be at the airport should be for my Las Vegas/California trip in February - and that's not even at T1. Boo. Well I guess that just means I will have to wait till my next Europe trip (I hear Greece and Italy calling) to test out Pier F as a real passenger!

Thanks B for an awesome day and oh the capital of Maine is Bangor right?

The Pier F experience

January 13, 2006 - Bernard and I woke up at the crack of dawn this morning (yes, on a cold January Saturday morning!) to participate in the Toronto Pearson Airport Terminal 1 passenger trial. The purpose of the trial is to test the operations of the new international wing (Pier F) of the terminal, which is scheduled to open on January 30, 2007 (following the closure of T2). Pier F will consolidate all Air Canada domestic, trans-border and international flights.

The architectural highlight of the new Pier is the Hammerhead, the area at the end of the pier that resembles the head of a hammer (hence the name). The Hammerhead is where AC and its alliance airlines will depart for international destinations. Travellers will no longer have to take a 10 minute bus ride to the infield terminal.

So when we arrived at the terminal, we were greeted by several GTAA officials who promptly asked us which airline we would like to fly on today (B picked Lufthansa). Before you know it, we were passengers Ali Changi and Chris Cetindis on LH477 to Munich. We were given a script and we were told to play the role of the passengers - from check in to boarding.

So we proceeded to the huge check-in hall, where real airline officials were there to check us in. We were even given fake luggage to make our experience more authentic. We were issued real boarding passes, with assigned seats, a specific gate number, and boarding time. See pictures of us with our boarding passes =)

We then went through security - where again, they took it pretty seriously (though I was allowed to keep my water bottle) - and into Pier F. Pier F is a long corridor that connects the main terminal with the hammerhead. To facilitate travellers, two moving walkways were built, including one that will "travel at speeds upwards of 2 metres/second" (apparently the world's longest and fastest moving walkway).

Upon arriving at the Hammerhead, we saw the huge "Tilted Spheres" sculpture, which passengers will have to walk through to get to their gates (see picture below). The sculpture was ok - I would have picked a different material i think (perhaps aluminum or even glass). B was also quick to point out that the sculpture resembles a vagina - perhaps comparing travelling to rebirth (or am I thinking too much here?). Also in the hammerhead are the 17 retail concessions - including a Virgin music store (do we have that even in downtown?).

We proceeded to Gate 173, which is actually one of the 2 gates in T1 that can handle the new double-decker A380 planes. The passenger boarding bridge can handle both the upper level and the lower level of the plane. Again, the airline officials made the whole experience extremely real by announcing boarding priorities and collecting our boarding passes. And before you know it, we were walking down the gate to our plane to Munich! (except of course, there was no plane, and we were told to make a detour and make our way back to the terminal).

The whole experience took about 3 hours but it was a lot of fun - perhaps because both B and I are into planes, airports, architecture, etc! It was also really cool how they took the trial very seriously and made our experience feel so "real". At one point, we weren't sure if the pilots, the flight attendants and airline officials that we kept seeing are real (as in that's really their job), or if they are part of the trial.

The terminal itself is stunning - large bright windows along with a high ceiling create a sense of openness that just wasn't there in the old T1 and T2. The Pier is also filled with various art work (in addition to Tilted Spheres), including various bronze statues and wall drawings. All in all, Pier F is just as impressive (if not more so), than the existing Pier E of T1.

B and I also rode the new airport monorail - but I think I will blog about that later, since that was a cool experience in itself.

So overall, it was a lot of fun and I'm glad we did it - even though we both had to wake up pretty early to get there by 9 a.m. We weren't sure how we had helped, but we did have a lot of fun checking out the building and pretending to be passengers to Germany (does that mean Lufthansa will start flying to Munich too?)! Apparently this will be the last trial at the airport until the next expansion (which probably won't be for another 10 years), so we were glad to be part of Toronto's aviation/airport history.

B and I took lots of pics and will post them online soon!

Cleaning out my parents' basement

January 7, 2007 - This afternoon, I was kinda forced by my mom to go through all my junk in the basement. When we moved to North Markham about 2 years ago, I had about 40 boxes (yup, 40!) of stuff - but only 20 boxes or so were eventually unpacked. So I took a couple of hours today to go through the remaining 20 boxes (I only managed to get through 5 boxes though) and see what I want to throw out.

I have to say the chore was a lot more fun than I thought it would be. I had no idea I have so much stuff down there. I also found a lot of stuff from when I was growing up that certainly brought me back to a time when things were a little simpler. Among the items that I fished out from the basement:

- My journal from fifth grade: my favourite part was when I wrote about my trip to L.A. and Disneyland. Couldn't have captured my excitement of meeting Mickey any better! hehe (and yes, I was a pretty bad speller back then too).

- A ticket to the top of the World Trade Centre in NYC when I visited it for the first time when I was 13. I wonder if that's going to be worth any $ now.

- My journal from my junior high and high school years: again, wow - nothing like reading about your own teenage angst 10 years later. The thing that made me laugh the most were the large number of entries about girls :S

- My karate certificates and belts: too bad I can't remember any of the moves. I did find a nice picture of myself in full uniform after receiving my yellow belt though. I think I was 12 or 13 then.

- My high school notes: boy, was I a nerd back then or what (still am I guess)? I had the most fun reading my French notes, since I couldn't believe how good I was back then (now, my French is restricted to the usual bonjour and comment ca va?)

- My stuffed dog from when I was a baby (picture above): I found it stuffed inside a box. The poor doggy was my favourite toy when I was a a kid. It needs to be washed though - but it's going on my bookshelf at home!

- My mixed tapes from 8th and 9th grade: ahh, remember those good old days before mp3s and cds?

- My postcard collection: it was fun reading all the postcards that I made my friends send me when they went on vacation.

Too bad I still couldn't find my GGR323 notes nor my notes from when I was the TA for the course! Well there are still more boxes to go through I guess - so perhaps next weekend?

T2: Death of a terminal

January 6, 2007 - Yesterday, I had the opportunity to visit Terminal 2 at Toronto's Pearson International Airport. The terminal is scheduled to be put out of service next month and will soon be demolished as all Air Canada and United flights to the USA move into the brand new Pier F at the new Terminal 1.

T2 was originally a freight terminal that got converted to passenger use in the late 1960s and was famous for it's long, stretched layout (and for having the first moving sidewalks in the city). T2 is definitely a far cry from its golden days when it served both domestic and international Air Canada flights. I personally have used T2 on many occasions, the first time was probably when I first arrived in Toronto as an eight-year-old kid, and the last time was probably when my our family went on a trip to Vancouver in 2001. Today, the terminal is eerily quiet. Half the terminal has already been shut down due to the lack of traffic. There are no stores, no souvenir stands and barely anyone walking around past the Air Canada counters and the passenger arrival area.

The gray concrete parking garage in the centre of the terminal, designed with lush plants to hide the cars and built like a step pyramid, was busy only on the first floor (I went all the way up to the fifth floor and it was completely empty up there). The building, while not an architectural wonder, was still kinda cool to check out. It's kinda cool to think that the neon orange lighting and the many ramps that go up and down the garage marked the first "Toronto" experience for hundreds of thousands of visitors over the past 40 years.

The terminal today has a sense of abandonment to it - kinda sad - but I think everyone is excited about the new T1 expansion. Next week, B and I will hopefully be among those that will get a first hand look at the new T1 Pier F!

On a personal note, I have to say that signage for public transit at the new T1 is very very poor. Who knew that you have to go down to the basement level to catch the TTC? Can they not put up a sign somewhere on the arrival floor? is that too much to ask?

Check out these other articles about T2: Terminal 2 Twilight (from Spacing Wire) and Stroll (from Eye Weekly).

On the GO!

January 4, 2006 - I rode the GO train for the first time today! I have wanted to ride the GO for a long time - but never really had the opportunity. For one, I don't live near a GO train station (Richmond Hill station is about 10-15 minutes from my parents by car, and there is no GO service anywhere near Yonge/Eglinton), and second, I also don't work (or back then, went to school) near a GO station - so what's the point of riding the GO and then still have to transfer on to the subway?

So anyway, I have to say that the GO section of Union Station is pretty crappy - dingy lights, ugly tiles, bad architecture. It's hard to believe that this is part of the same beautiful complex that holds the Grand Hall for the VIA trains. The display boards are also kinda cheap looking - compared to those massive display boards that you see in other large train stations around the world. It's definitely a far cry from the train stations of Europe (where most of my train riding experience occurred).

The trains themselves remind me of the S-bahn in Germany - with the two floors, seats facing one another, etc (but no "next station" signs). Our train was pretty empty - given it was the last train up to Stouffville. We sat on the top floor and I have to say the ride was fairly comfortable, though not as fast as I would expect. Because it was pretty dark, it was hard to check out the view (though I was promised that we will do this again in the summer!). Half an hour later though, we arrived at the new Milliken Station - the station was typical of the majority of GO stations: a platform surrounded by a huge parking lot (has no one heard of transit villages?).

The whole experience was lots of fun - and now I can say I've been on the GO train! Thanks B, for riding the train with me so I could share this silly yet fun "first-time" experience with you. =) And thanks to Jenny as well, for putting up with our silliness (I can think of more "ation" words now!) and for taking our pictures! haha - let's do this again soon guys!

Note: I kept my ticket from the ride and will scan and put it on here soon!

2006 Movies Recap

January 2, 2006 - I saw 74 movies this year at the theatre or on dvd (that's an average of 1.42 movie/week)! I'm pretty sure that's a personal record that won't be broken any time soon. Some of my favourite movies from this year, in no particular order (and these are movies that were released in 2006):

An Inconvenient Truth
Borat
The Departed
Happy Feet
Little Miss Sunshine
The Prestige
The Queen
Thank You for Smoking
The Devil Wears Prada
Volver

New Year Resolutions

January 1, 2007 - Happy New Year! It feels kinda weird typing "2007" already but I'm also totally psyched about it. My new year countdown (or countdowns - since I actually did two of them) is definitely memorable - my friend Erica and I counted down together, on MSN, to the ball drop at Times Square. Now I don't know if I should laugh or cry about it (since it is somewhat pathetic) - but hey at least it was kinda fun and I wasn't alone. 3 hours later, I was counting down to midnight at Pacific Time with B, which was also really nice =). Seriously though, next year can I please be with someone - like physically be with someone - on New Year's Eve? the home-alone-bored thing is getting kinda old.

So 2007 New Year Resolutions:

1. Move on from all that has happened in '06, learn from what happened, work on my own issues and enjoy '07 as a fresh start (that's a mouthful right there).

2. Be a better friend and make better effort to (re)connect with friends.

3. Take a class (cooking class anyone?).

4. Start running again/go back to the gym.

5. Learn to use my camera better/take more pictures.

6. Write an article for the Planners Journal.

7. Go skiing in January/February.

8. Buy Wii for my birthday.

9. Get a new cell phone - hopefully soon :S

10. Be a bit more generous to myself (and to others too) - aka stop being so cheap felix!!!

11. Go to work earlier (and not work so late?).

12. Travel whenever I can.

Hopefully I can at least accomplish some of them! I don't think I'm asking too much here.

Here's to a great '07!