California Dreaming

November 24, 2007 - I really should be sleeping but I'm either too tired (beyond my sleep threshold) or too excited! So I'm off to the sunny warm California and Las Vegas in about 4 hours. Hopefully by the time I get back, the weather here will have warmed up a bit! I can dream eh?

Look after my B for me while I'm away guys! =D

Parents Back / Countdown to California

November 19, 2007 - My life goes back to being normal this week as my parents have finally returned from their month-long trip to Asia. While I did enjoy spending all that time in my Markham house, the 6 am wake up calls, the 1.5 - 2 hours daily commute, plus those long days at work were slowly killing me. The past four weeks did help in changing my sleeping pattern, and hopefully I can maintain this early bedtime/wake up schedule. It actually does feel good to be at work before everyone gets there (now if only I leave when I should, that would be great).

This normalcy won't last too long as I'm off to Las Vegas, San Diego and Los Angeles this Saturday. A part of me is very excited about the trip (Vegas! Grand Canyon! Shopping!) but I do feel bad that B couldn't go with me and I hate leaving him here by himself. But no fear, he will be really busy with his school work and it's only for a week!

So now I just need to survive the next four days...

Union Station Renassiance

November 14, 2007 - Today, Mayor Miller unveiled the City's plans to revitalize Union Station, the most important transportation hub in Canada. Serving up to 200,000 passengers on a typical work day, Union Station handles more passengers than Pearson International Airport, and is "the crown jewel" of the City's transportation network.

Union Station has certainly seen better days. Opened in 1927, the station was once home to train companies that provided service to all parts of the continent. The Great Hall has names of Canadian cities that were once served by trains pulling out of Union Station. With the decline of continental rail travel, the Great Hall is now largely underutilized. Parts of the station even got converted to other uses like retail and offices.

The GO Concourse underneath the Great Hall is a different story. Tens of thousands of commuters rush through this concourse each and everyday. The concourse was originally used as a mail depot, and when GO began service at Union Station 40 years ago, no one predicted passenger flow would reach today's level. The GO Concourse is dark, over crowded and architecturally ugly. With GO ridership expected to increase over the next 20 years, something needs to be done.

The originally revitalization plan was put forth by the Union-Pearson Group, which wanted to build a new rail link to Pearson Airport from Union Station. When the deal fell through, the City took it upon itself to come up with a new revitalization plan. Highlights of the plans announced today include:

- Excavating the lower concourse to make it all one level from the GO Transit east concourse to the west concourse (though walls will still be in place to mark the VIA concourse). This will provide a direction connection with no grade change from the existing PATH and TTC subway station (currently there are a few steps you need to climb from the subway to Union Station).

- A new retail concourse beneath the lower concourse; retail development will help pay for the revitalization.

- Increase use of the Great Hall by directing GO passengers through the Hall into the GO concourse.

It would be interesting to see which private developer the City will team up with to develop the retail component. So far, the City has not named a specific developer, and public funding through senior levels of government remains a possibility. If developed properly, Union Station has the potential to become a star attraction in our city, similar to Grand Central Station in New York, Washington Union Station, and the great train stations in Europe.

Since I work on this file at work, I shall refrain from commenting on the City's plans, but you can check them out and provide your own comments here.

Mormons Exposed

November 13, 2007 - I was on youtube the other day and a few clicks and there led me to the Mormons Exposed website. The website is promoting a 2008 "Men on a Mission" calendar featuring 12 former Mormon missionaries posing shirtless in very suggestive positions. The producer of the calendar argues that in addition to the eye-candy factor, he hopes the calendar can help reshape perceptions, heighten awareness and encourage and inspire a broadened acceptance of human religious diversity. In addition to the steamy pictures, the calendar also talks about each missionary's journey to other parts of the world.

For those who don't know, in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (or the Mormon church), when a guy turns 19, he submits his name to the church to prepare for a two-year mission in a different part of the world. This rite of passage is paid for entirely by the family and often, the missionary will take time off school or work to fulfill his missionary requirement. Called Elders, you may have seen them on the subway or on the street, in their dark suits, white shirts and tie, with their trademark black name tag. In addition to preaching the Gospel wherever they go, missionaries are required to also participate in local volunteer work, which could include everything from teaching English to working in a homeless shelter. Missionaries are only allowed to call home twice a year - on Mother's Day and on Christmas Day - so for most the two years, they have very little contact with the world that they know.

The returned missionaries (RM) featured in this calendar traveled to all parts of the world for their missions. While I think the intention to change the image of Mormons (often ridiculed as polygamists or uptight traditionalists) is of value, I don't think having RMs pose shirtless as male models is sending the right message to the public. The Mormon church believes in modesty and this calendar has got to go against that believe. Is the calendar saying that Mormons are also hot sex objects? Is that the image the Church really wants ? Could they not just pose with their shirts on, like GQ or any other fashion magazine?

I'm not sure if this is right path to go - what's next? Nuns in swimsuits calendar? I guess the bottom line is - sex sells and having these hot young RMs pose semi-naked will get people talking, which will generate more sales.

Having said that (and being the hypocrite that I am), the site is worth checking out, if not for the incredibly hot guys (Matthew and Kenny are my favourites and yes, you get to vote for yours too!), but for the interesting testimonies. In a way, you can say the calendar was successful - at least it got me reading and blogging about Mormons.

B22

November 10, 2007 - Most of my friends know I'm not a big birthday person, but when it comes to someone special, I can always make an exception. So today, we celebrated B's 22nd birthday! Yes, he's only turning 22 - and yes, I can't remember what it was like when I turned 22 anymore - it was THAT long ago (/slap). So by celebrating his birthday, it was like I turned 22 all over again (well at least I could pretend).

We actually have been celebrating his birthday for the past week now, given how his actual birth-date was on Monday. But because we all had school/work that day, we couldn't do very much other than cutting a tiny cake that I bought at Dominion. The rest of the week flew by and on Saturday, we did a dinner thing with all his friends (close to 20 of them!) at the freezing cold Moxie's at North York Centre.

As for what I got him for his birthday - I don't think I will disclose it here (no - it's not dirty or anything like that!) - I'm sure he will blog about it at one point or another. I will say that watching him opening his presents was like watching a child opening gifts on Christmas morning! It was really really cute - him and the whole situation =D

So happy 22 again!!