Got a new bike

Yesterday Brigitte and I went for a walk downtown to look for a new bike.  We decided to try Canadian Tire since they tend to have a decent selection of bikes.  We tried two stores, both that had terrible service and a very poor selection of bikes.  I found one that wasn’t bad but it of course was not put together very well, none of the gear shifters were set properly, the brakes either didn’t work well or were rubbing on the rims.  I checked out a few different ones of the same model and found the same thing for every one of them.  With a price tag of $250 plus tax I had to think about it a bit.  This afternoon I deceded to go up to the Trek Bike store on Yonge street.  They actually specialize in bikes, nothing else so I thought I would get a better idea what I wanted out of a new bike.  I noticed that their prices were quite a bit higher then Canadian Tire and soon realized why.  The cheapest bike they had was $360, going all the way up to about $5000.  I checked out a few bikes and was helped by a very nice guy who actually knew what he was talking about.  He told me all the differences between the bikes and suggested the Trek 4300 model with a 21 inch frame.  He actually went down the basement for me, brought a new one out, put on the peddles and straightened it all out and let me take if for a ride around the block.  I was amazed at how well it worked even without any adjustments. The brakes worked amazing, the gear shifters worked very well and the bike just seemed to glide down the road.  I told him I needed to think about it and he was fine with that.  Brigitte and I went back after dinner to check it out again. I decided after a second trip around the block (from a different staff member I might add) that this was indeed worth the price (it was $460).  

They needed a day to get it all tuned up for me so I’m going to pick it up after work tomorrow.  I’m sure as hell not going to be chaining it up downtown Toronto.

Transit Strike…20 minutes…stolen bike

So, transit strike in Toronto today.  I had to go to work downtown today so I decided to take my bike to work.  I was a bit early since it’s all downhill from where I live so my wife and I decided to go for a coffee at Starbucks.  We locked both of our bikes together to one of the designated bike locking stations along the sidewalk and walked in to have a coffee.  20 minutes later we emerged, happy with our coffee experience. I looked down the street to see my wife’s bike where it had been left, my bike was no where to be seen.  I immediately knew what had happened, my bike had been stolen, in the middle of the morning at a busy intersection (Yonge and College).  I was shocked at the balls the theaves had shown.  They managed somehow to unlock the not so cheap lock that we had just purchased the weekend before and take off with my bike. They did however leave my wife’s bike since it was kinda cheap (or maybe it was a solo gig).  I of course was not too happy.  I called the police who were more then willing to tell me that Toronto was the worst city for bike theft in Canada…nice.  

 

On the upside, I wasn’t mugged at gunpoint nor was I injured or mentally or physically abused, I guess that’s always good.  A bike can be replaced, and it will but hey, it still sucks.  I did notice that most bikes chained downtown have not one but two locks associated with them, an interesting strategy that I’m sure I’ll copy when and if I ever decide to park a bike in downtown TO again.

My wife had to go to work as well but now she didn’t have a lock for her bike.  She decided to ask the security guard at her building to watch her bike for 10 minutes while she went to Canadian Tire to buy a new lock, he told her “it’s not my job” and shut her down.  She then tried the same thing at Canadian Tire, one again the lazy security guard who was sitting there waiting for nothing to happen turned her down as well.  She then had to ride her bike all the way home and walk back to work, a 1.5 hour round trip.  Needless to say we’re not impressed at the asshole residents in this city.

City of Condos

City of Condos, originally uploaded by Marc T Jones.

This is a picture of a new condo being built at Yonge and Eglinton that I took with my new Nikon D60 digital SLR camera. I’ve been dying to get out and take a few more nice spring pictures but spring just hasn’t come yet so everything is brown. I figured I might as well turn it into black and white and it turned out very well.

I also took a bunch of pictures in the Mound Pleasant Cemetary…until the security guard came up and told me that I couldn’t take pictures in the cemetary…who knew.

First Digital SLR camera

So I decided to get a new camera a few weeks ago since our point and shoot canon was about 7 years old.  It’s been a great camera but was in need of an update.  I decided on a digital SLR camera and did quite a bit of research before settling on the Nikon D60.  It’s a 10.2 megapixel entry level digital SLR that has many advanced features.  I have been amazed at how easy it is to operate and how great it feels in my hands.  It’s not unbalanced at all and feels quite natural.  As can be expected from such a high-tech piece of equipment there is a bit of a learning curve.  I have been doing alot of reading about camera theory, aperture, shutter speed, depth of field etc and I think I now have a much better understanding about what the camera is capable of, now it’s just a matter of finding some nice stuff to shoot in Toronto.  Because it’s spring most of the city is locked in a horrible shade of brown, but with the recent nice spring weather I expect this will change quickly.

 

If you want to check out some of my photos so far I have put them on my flickr account, it can be accessed at http://www.flickr.com/photos/marcjones/

More Toronto Snow…Still can’t drive

We got another 15cm of snow today in Toronto and for some reason people here still seem to think that 15cm of snow is the end of the world. I guess I understand that snow results in lots of travel problems but come on, why don’t people here just learn to drive a bit slower, take your time, be courteous and help each other out. there were about 400 car accidents in Toronto in about 3 hours today during rush hour, most of which I’m sure could have been avoided by slowing down. I was watching the news this morning and something really caught my attention. They were showing a traffic camera view of the 401 and I was looking specifically at how much snow there was on the roads. In Nova Scotia when the snow gets heavy everyone sticks to the slow lane, plows a nice two wheeled path and everyone follows that. I noticed that in Toronto all the slow lanes were still covered with snow and the only lane with those two well used tire tracks was the fast lane…strange isn’t it. I’m just glad that I can walk to work and not worry about the hassle of fighting through traffic every day.

My advice to people, SLOW DOWN, take your time and be courteous….this city is really lacking in it and every little bit helps.

Car fire…4:30 am Evacuation…yay

Last night we got woken up by the fire alarm. This is the first time that I had heard the fire alarm in our building so I had no idea what it was. I had to ask my wife what that horrible sound was. I am not the kind of guy who likes to get up at the crack of dawn to do anything so I just curled back up and tried to get back to sleep. My wife on the other hand was a bit more concerned. She came in and woke me up about 5 minutes later telling me that she could smell smoke and we had better get going. I threw on some sweat pants, socks and a t-shirt, grabbed my coat, hat, mitts and wallet and took off out the door. We had to take the stairs of course, all 21 flights of them to get to the bottom. As we headed down the smoke got a bit more intense but it was not visible or overwhelming at all. It smelled like burned out wires at that point. Once outside we found ourselves amongst other who had also just woken up and threw on whatever they could find. There were lots of cats and dogs around too (we had decided our cat would be better off in the apartment). Word on the street was that there was some sort of fire in the first level of the parking garage. There was smoke (or steam/smoke combo) coming out of one of the garage vents so this seemed to be logical. After about 15 minutes standing out on the sidewalk the fire department let everyone back into the building. We had to make the trek up 21 flights of stairs this time which was way more exercise then I wanted commit at that horrible time of day. By the time I got up the stairs to our floor my heart was jumping out of my chest and I was exhausted. I sure was glad today was Saturday and I could go back to sleep.

Noisy Neighbours

What is it with people in this city playing their music and what not extremely loud at any time of day? Over the past few months we have been woken up by loud music, hammering, sawing, domestic disputes, slamming doors, and some unidentifiable thumping. The other night the “woman” who lives below us (who we have had troubles with before) decided that she was going to play some Caribbean music very very loud and try and play the bongo drums with the beat. Needless to say we were not too pleased with that one. We called building security that showed up about 10 minutes later. About 15 minutes after that the music and bongo drums started up again. This time I called the Toronto Police that came to investigate. I just can’t understand why people think that they can do whatever they want in their apartments at any hour of the day. I sure hope that the girl downstairs gets the message this time. I’m planning on writing a letter to the property owner and see what they can do, maybe a strongly worded letter threatening eviction will smarten her up.

Bed Bug Update

Well, looks like the bed bug situation is now officially under control. Some pesticide company came in and sprayed all around our apartment (mostly in the bedroom of course). We had them spray the mattress and box spring as well so that this was never an issue again. After the pesticides dried we put a sealed cover over both, taping up the zippers to ensure that none of the stink or bugs could escape. I also got some of that spray expanding insulation and plugged up the water pipe that provides heat to our apartment as there was a huge gaping hole from apartment to apartment. I still think the bugs came through the plug sockets as this is the only spot that I have found the tell-tale bed bug “leavings”.

We’ve got Bed Bug(s)

About a month ago our neighbour came over and asked us if we had seen any bugs in our apartment.  We had not seen any at that point.  He let us know that he had bed bugs and that he had to have his whole apartment fumigated.  He had to replace his mattress, box spring and other things to get rid of the little beasts.  After our initial encounter we kept our guard up and inspected the mattress, sheets etc on a daily basis.  We thought we were fine…until Monday morning.  My wife was making the bed and noticed a bug on the sheets.  She collected it in a napkin and showed it to me.  I had been doing a bit of research into bed bugs after the neighbour came over so I recongnized it immediately.  We called the property owner that morning and she did not seem completely surprised (thanks for that eh!).  They are now going to be coming over this Monday to fumigate our place.  I’m hoping that they will be paying us for all the hastle that this entails.  Here is a list of things that must be done prior to the fumigation:  

1. Clean out all closets, drawers, cupboards, cabinets 
2. Wash all clothing in hot water, dry on high (dry cleaning is also permissable)
3. Move clean clothes into sealed garbage bags and move outside of “infested” area
4. Move all furnature 2 feet away from walltake down all pictures/mirrorsvacuum area completely
5. remove all bedding, wash and put in plastic bags
6. dismantle bed and frame Aparently they will be spraying only the immediate area and adjacent areas since bed bugs don’t travel far from their food source (my wife and I).  

We also have a cat to worry about, he can’t be here for 4-6 hours after the fumigation or he’ll die…great.   We are going to be moving him to a vacant apartment for the day on Monday, I’m taking the day off work to keep an eye on things.  Needless to say this situation sucks.  I can’t wait to move out of this building when our lease is up.  To date we have done 18 loads of laundry at $3.50 a pop (wash and dry), bought $35 in garbage bags and Raid, spent $40 on two vinyl mattress/box spring covers for post spraying…and of course countless hours washing laundry and not sleeping for fears of being eaten by bed bugs.   If anyone has any words of thought please post them, I’m in need of “perking up” 

Toronto…city of Christmas stress

I decieded to do a little grocery shopping tonight so I walked up Mount Pleasant to the Sobey’s up by Eglinton.  I was amazed at the traffic at 7pm on a Thursday night.  There were cars everywhere, all of them in a hurry to get God know’s where.  In the course of about 2 city blocks I heard about 15 horns honking.  I seem to recall the Ontario Christmas stress from my youth and have now begun to realize it once again.  Why do people get so stressed out a Christmas?  Isn’t this supposed to be a nice relaxing time to spend with family, enjoy some good food, a drink or two and open a few presents?  Maybe I’ve been in the Maritimes too much but that’s what Christmas is really about.  I think it has become a marketing triumph designed to keep retailers open for another year.   I guess Toronto is “horn” city to begin with so maybe the number of horns I experienced tonight was normal but who knows…seemed a bit excessive to me.   There was an story on the news this morning about re-gifting that caught my attention.  The news story said that the scented candle was to blame for the whole re-gifting phenomenon.  What I want to know is why is it necessary to give everyone you know gifts just for the sake of giving gifts?  I understand the need and the desire to give people you really care for a gift but most of them are well thought out in my opinion.  Why would I get someone a scented candle to make them feel better?  Are you hoping to get a gift in return?  Maybe that’s it.  Anyone have an opinion on this?