no one of consequence.

OK, first a little background.

Toronto and Hamilton are two longtime rival-cities. One, an old manufacturing city, that has been slowly crumbling into disrepair, the other an upstart attempting to ape the cultural and financial capitals of the world.

Currently, Hamilton is fighting to gain an NHL franchise. A worthy enough goal for a city attempting major recovery as the manufacturing sector dies all over North America. But a particular columnist from Toronto has decided to comment on this movement with the following words:

Dear Hamilton: You misunderstood.

When I called your city a “dump,” I meant it would be a worthy place for Toronto to send our garbage during the looming public-sector workers’ strike.

I mean, who’d notice, thereabouts?

Of course, this leaves me repressing giggles. Oh, Toronto, you are so goddamed cute in your big-girl pants, thinking you’re some kind of player in the grand scheme of things.

Now, I wont claim Hamilton isnt a city in crisis. There are some major issues that both are and remain to be addressed here. But Toronto’s egotism knows no bounds if it’s denizens really think this way.  Maybe it’s my New Yorker ego comming into play, but to me, TORONTO is the real joke. Hamilton is what it is, and doesnt make claims otherwise. Oh but Toronto seems to think it’s the Paris of the north. Which of course has me giggling again.

Paris, London, Rome, Tokyo… and yes dammit New York .  One could possibly include St Petersburg, Luxembourg, L.A. and Vienna.  These are cities rich in culture, history, art. Notice Toronto isnt in that list.

I admit to not spending much time in TO. To be honest, there hasnt been a reason for me to do so. To my eye, Toronto is just another second rate city, but this one has such pretensions of grandeur as to make it laughable.  Pot, meet kettle.

Silly little Toronto. Keep your arrogant yuppies, annoying hipsters and your “I’m the best” mentality. You remind me of my little sister during her most obnoxious pubescent stage, full of bravado and ignorance while slavishly aping whatever fashion will make you popular. Hang on to that darling little ego.

We’ll call you when we need a second stringer to fill in.

Life | 1 Comment »

Frustrations piling up nicely.

Cant do dickall to help Lee get over the most recent hump, all of my ideas have been exhausted. I dont have the energy to do anything active, and my passive pursuits are mostly on hold untill something happens somewhere to our financial status. Hello TV. *disgusted snort*

Long term goals pretty much boxed for the foreseeable. Im back in survival mode.

Work is unsatisfying. Unchallenged, underused, and of zero value to the company other than as a live body to throw at the schedule. Christ, even IntaBoro made us feel like we were of *some* value, and they paid us shit and gave us no benefits.

Just keep going, just keep walking, cuz I cant even run anymore.

Life | No Comments »

I work in a call center. I spend five-to-ten hours a day talking to people who are confused, upset, bereaved, and downright pissed the fuck off. It tends to color my view. It brings out my most cynical side. Often it leaves me disgusted with humanity as a whole.

But today, when I came home cranky and annoyed with the world, I sat down, and accidentally clicked on the stumble button on my toolbar, rather than the google button. And my browser showed me THIS.

I smiled.

Every once in a while the universe decides to stop and remind me that humanity does still have a better nature. It isnt always entitlement whores and the ever-shrinking universe of the self centered. Sometimes, people will just do something nice. For no real reason. Not big flashy, I saved your life when I dragged you out of a fire nice. But a three second moment when someone randomly decided to help.

Hold a door. Help a parent get a stroller off the bus. Give someone directions. Do something goddamned nice. Dont even tell me about it, just do something. For my sake.

Because I need to know that somewhere, out there, people are behaving in a way that gives me back my faith in humanity.

Life | 1 Comment »

The key to putting claw covers on a cat seems to be doing it in the morning while he’s sleeping.

Also, want something deep-fried.

Life | No Comments »

I dont write here much anymore. Well done, Dawn, you win today’s Captain Obvious badge.

Part of it is work. I used to be able to blog from the old office. Commenting on my life, the world and the people around me… An almost constant stream of consciousness log of whatever caught my fancy.

I cant do that at my current job… probably wouldn’t be able to even if I had access. The pace is all wrong for it. Before I had hours of slow time, now it’s a heavy enough that I doubt I’d be able to string more than a few sentences together. Then, when I get home, im tired of talking, tired of thinking, just looking for a little quiet, if only in the recesses of my own mind.

Add to that this… disconnectedness.

Like today. I loaded onto my trusty iPod one of my oddball music play lists. An old one, I used to keep burned to cd before, for listening to on the way to work. It’s a crazy mix of old upbeat pop tunes. In the mix is this old tune most folks would only remember as ‘that song, from that Melanie Griffith movie”. Used to be, that listening to that, while weaving through the city streets, I’d feel connected. A tiny cog in the huge machine that I lived and worked and played in, but yes, a cog that helped, in some small way, to make that machine run. I dont get that feeling here.

Even after all these years, my heart beats to a different rhythm than the one that surrounds me here. Sometimes I still feel it pulling at me.

There was hope in it too, because there was always the chance that one could break through the ceiling into managment. Get out of the grind. Make some real money. Make a difference. Not here. Not in this job, maybe not in this city.

Back home, folks rooted for the underdog, not to win the lottery, but to make it to the executive suite by working your ass off. It feels like in this town, you’re expected to work your ass off and just STAY in the rank and file. Never have ambition to get further, never want to. Maybe it’s just the mentality at this particular company, but part of me wants to think that this is how Canadians think, if only because i’m surrounded by it. Maybe that’s not fair, but it feels like that, a lot. I dont mind being dispensible, I mind being wasted. Right now, I dont know if I’m being wasted, I just feel like this is some kind of treadmill that I’m never going to get off of. No way to get up.

I dont mind giving my time and energy and nervous system to a job, but I need to feel like I could possibly get somewhere. I dont feel that here, I just feel like im being punished for going at my work in the spirit intended, rather than the letter. Dead End, despite the recruiting hype.

Blogging, Geek, Life | No Comments »

I want my cat back.

Fucking bastard drivers. Have to treat this stretch of road like a speedway. The guy across the hall had his dog hit a couple of months ago. I should have shut the cats up then. But Lucky is such a madman, if i keep him in for a day he goes berzerk, usually leaving me bloody to the elbow. And how do you keep one cat out of two in?

So our sweet Charlie, who used to come sleep on my pillow at night is gone.

Edited to add:

Funny how people scold the pet owner about letting their cat out. You never hear anyone scolding the fucking scumbags behind the wheel who dont pay enough attention to avoid hitting a fairly light colored animal on a well-lit city street. I’ve seen drivers who can and do stop for fucking sparrows and squirrels, let alone a cat.

Murderous bastard, whoever you are, I curse you to get *EVERYTHING* you deserve.

Life | No Comments »

Coolness. chack it out here: http://www.edar.org/

Life, News | 1 Comment »

John Barrowman, Your Song live.

Life | No Comments »

Sue me. Im a traditionalist.

cooking | No Comments »

We tried this once before, but I was unhappy with the results.

That particular recipe called for potatoes. Now I understand the use of potatoes in a pureed vegetable soup. Potatoes give a soup like this body, and richness. However, the recipe itself was rather flawed in that it called for the potatoes to be cooked in the soup base. This both caused the entire soup base to taste heavily of potato starch, and destroyed my hand-blender when I (despite misgivings) tried to puree the soup in the time period described… when the potatoes in fact were still way too hard to blend up. End result: many unblended potatoes and one perplexed husband saying “I broke your thingie”.

It was edible, after a wild rummage through the cupboards and fridge in search of ingredients for a major doctor-up. But that doctoring happily led to the recipe below, which I am quite satisfied with.

This time I think I’ve gotten what I was looking for.

Read the rest of this entry »

Life, cooking | 1 Comment »