The Old Lady and the Cop

April 12, 2006 - Check out this article below on how a 82 year old woman got ticketed for crossing the street too slowly! Seriously, how low can this LAPD officer get? and I definitely do not buy the whole "we were looking out for our seniors" excuse - I mean, if the officer really wanted to help the lady, he would have stopped traffic and helped her cross the street! Aren't cops supposed to work for the people?

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Officer cites 82-year-old woman for being too slow to negotiate busy street
Dana Bartholomew, Staff writer

Sunland- Mayvis Coyle, 82, was shuffling with her cane across busy Foothill Boulevard while a traffic police officer watched and waited.

And watched and waited.

Even before Coyle finished crossing the intersection at Woodward Avenue, he had scribbled a $114 ticket for crossing against a don't-walk signal. "I entered the crosswalk, it was green," said Coyle, of Sunland, who is fighting the infraction issued Feb. 15. "It turned red before I could get over. There he was, waiting, the motorcycle cop.

"He said, `You're obstructing the flow of traffic."'

Click here for the full story.

Vancouver - the most livable North American city?

April 10, 2006 - Zurich, the financial capital of Switzerland, was named the most livable city in the world yesterday in a report that ranked 215 cities based on the highest quality of living.

Another Swiss city, Geneva, was named second. Vancouver was ranked third. Not surprisingly, Baghdad was ranked last.

The survey was conducted by a company called Mecer Human Resource Consulting, which looked at 39 criteria for quality of living, including personal safety, health, transportation, education, political stability, and environmental factors.

Vancouver has consistently been ranked as the top North American city (last year, it was also ranked #3) - that's not really surprising: Vancouver's natural beauty and its excellent planning system make it one of the most attractive cities on this side of the Atlantic, especially compared to the U.S. cities.

So how did Toronto do? Not too bad - at #15. We're still way ahead of the larger American cities. The top U.S. city is Honolulu at #27.

Here's a list of the top 10 cities, click here for the full list

1. Zurich, Switzerland
2. Geneva, Switzerland
3. Vancouver, Canada
4. Vienna, Austria
5. Auckland, New Zealand
6. Dusseldorf, Germany
7. Frankfurt, Germany
8. Munich, Germany
9. Bern, Switzerland
9. Sydney, Australia

On a side note, it's nice to know that I could be visiting 4 out of the 10 cities this fall!

Cool Subway Maps

April 9, 2006 - Check out these two google maps showing the New York subway system and the London Tube combined with the city's streets. I like the London one better since you can actually zoom in/out and move around. Notice how both systems don't exactly follow any particular street - unlike Toronto's - they just seem to go criss-cross throughout the two cities. Another thing I noticed was how far the London Tube actually travels. Some of the lines (Central, District, Metropolitan) go way into the suburbs and truly define the Tube as a regional system.

London Tube Google Map: http://tubejp.co.uk/

New York Subway Google Map: http://www.onnyturf.com/subwaymap.php

The End of an Era

April 2, 2006 - All good things must come to an end, especially when that ending has been long overdue. This weekend marks the last time that I will be stepping into the tutoring centre as an employee. After 7.5 years of tutoring math (and at one point science and social studies as well) part time at the tutorial school, I have finally decided to call it quits!

Looking back, the job hasn't always been bad. Granted it was my first "real" job and I still remember when I started, I was only 18 years old, still in high school, and was the youngest staff member there. Today, not only am I one of the oldest, I'm also the one who have been teaching there for the longest.

There were good and bad times of course. Aside from having met a lot of cool people (and some really annoying pathetic ones), the job was at one time, quite satisfying. I have to admit, seeing those kids finally "getting" it, or having them tell me that they are actually improving in their school work, is a great feeling. Sure, I might be just their tutor, but at the same time, you do build a relationship with them - and you in a way, do play a role in their lives. Particularly with some of my earlier students, I was able to become their friend. It's kinda hard to believe that some of these kids are already in their third or fourth year of university (and I still bump into them all the time on the subway and on the bus!).

But I guess the past couple of years, with grad school and now with a full time job, the tutoring job has become more of a chore. Sure, I could use the extra money, but I would rather have my weekends off. The teachers that I started working with have all pretty much left and the new teachers are so young that it's actually hard to relate to them. The students have changed as well - the majority of the kids today are spoiled, arrogant and quite frankly just don't give a damn. Maybe it's because of the increasing age gap between us. The job is no longer satisfying and to be quite honest, has gotten boring. The interest is gone and it's definitely reflected by how much effort I put into my teaching...

So finally, I have decided it's time to go. I have worn out my welcome a long time ago. Will I miss the place? Well, I think a part of me will, but at the same time, I'm also glad that I'm finally done with it. The job has played an important role in my life - without it, I don't think I could have paid my tuition, or accumulated enough money to put down a down-payment (that's for another blog), or paid off my student loans less than 3 months after graduation. So in a way, I'll always be thankful for it - but I also think I have paid my dues.

Well now I can look forward to my weekends even more, but really it's the end of an era. Now what I am going to do with my Saturdays?