For the past few weeks, we've been getting the Globe and Mail delivered to our home each morning. There's nothing particularly interesting about that fact, except we don't pay for it. We pay for the Saturday Globe and Mail, but I'm guessing they've been sending us weekday papers in the hopes we'd get hooked and order a full week's subscription.
Tonight, as I read both the Star and Globe, I came across William Houston's article about Bob Cole. Here's what Houston has to say about Cole.
There is no middle ground when it comes to the senior play-by-play voice of Hockey Night in Canada.
He is either liked, a lot, or not.
I've always been a big fan of Bob Cole. I've heard others tell me how confused he gets and how often he calls the wrong name, but this has never bothered me. Cole has a fantastic voice and gives a game drama. If the Leafs are playing game seven of the Stanley Cup finals, there's only one man I want doing the play by play.
He'll be 139 years old, but he'll still call a great game.
Doctors are debating who would die in a pandemic. A list of new recommendations have appeared in the May edition of Chest, the medical journal of the American College of Chest Physicians.
To prepare, hospitals should designate a triage team with the Godlike task of deciding who will and who won't get lifesaving care, the task force wrote. Those out of luck are the people at high risk of death and a slim chance of long-term survival. But the recommendations get much more specific, and include:
People older than 85.
Those with severe trauma, which could include critical injuries from car crashes and shootings.
Severely burned patients older than 60.
Those with severe mental impairment, which could include advanced Alzheimer's disease.
Those with a severe chronic disease, such as advanced heart failure, lung disease or poorly controlled diabetes.
This has raised all sorts of ethical questions. Can doctors ethically let someone die? Is it fair to value one life more than another? Does this strategy discriminate against the poor?
I'm glad these discussions are taking place and that we're preparing a blueprint for hospitals when pandemic flu or another widespread health-care disaster hits. That's when it hits, not if it hits, because it's just a matter of time before doctors are forced to refer to such rules.
The fact is, if there are two people and only one can be treated, both lives are not equal. It's not easy to admit, but it's a sensible truth. Why work on reviving a 70 year old man with heart problems if there's a healthy 30 year old woman to treat? When it's time to make these tough calls, I want everybody on the same page.
And yes, I write this as a healthy 30 something year old, but sincerely believe I'd feel the same if I were a sickly 80 year old. Just ask me in 50 years.
Call me old school, but I don't believe in hitting the streets in celebration until your team has won it all. In years past, when the Leafs would win a playoff round or two, I'd cringe when I'd hear about the mini-parades and street celebrations. I've only hit the streets in celebration twice in my life: when the Jays won the World Series in 1992 and 1993.
The Montreal Canadiens, seeded 1st in the East, took out the 8th seed Boston Bruins in seven games. After the victory, street celebrations in Montreal turned violent as vandals torched and smashed more than a dozen police vehicles and damaged local businesses.
Where do I start... It's the first bloody round. The Canadiens haven't won anything yet. Eight team will advance this far. Street celebrations are for championships, not for winning a single series against the 8th seed.
As for the violence, I've never understood that aspect of sports. I suspect there's a group of mayhem seekers who look for any opportunity to torch a cop's car. I remember a GNR concert getting cancelled at the old Forum and Montrealers did the same thing then. Maybe it's a Montreal thing?
Whatever it is, it's embarrassing. I hope the Habs bow out in four next round. I hope Cristobal Huet shoves crow down their collective throats. Go ABM go!
I don't like Steve Avery. I don't know many hockey fans who do. He's a grade A jerk and nothing he does surprises me anymore.
I alluded briefly to the latest Avery silliness in this recap of night five of the NHL playoffs. Avery pulled some school yard stunt where he waved his arms and stick in front of Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur. No, there wasn't a specific rule against the act, but no sensible person would want this unsportsmanlike behaviour in the game.
In the comments of that entry, Al defended the act as "harmless". My brother piped in hoping Avery "gets what's coming". It's a pretty hot topic of debate around these parts, so I wanted to give it a little FPP exposure.
The ball hockey team I played for as an 18 year old wouldn't have tolerated Avery's antics. I'm reminded of A-Rod's bush league play against the Jays last May. A-Rod yelling "mine" in front of Howie Clark was against the rules, as is Avery's rodeo clown jig the other day. You don't have to make physical contact with a player to be guilty of interference.
He's a class-less bum. It's more predictable Avery bullshit. I didn't like him before, and I like him even less now.
Humble Howard is trying to promote use of the term vagenius when referring to "a good looking, smart chick". His examples include Tina Fey, and that got me thinking about the wonderful world of stock photography.
In my 9-5 world, I spend a lot of time with stock images. I'm always needing an image for the web, a direct mail piece, a brochure or flyer. When I need a smart looking women, the universal sign of intelligence in the stock photography world is the wearing of glasses. Glasses make people look smarter, it's as simple as that.
At some point over the past few years, the price of concert tickets in this city jumped. I used to attend plenty of big shows, and it wasn't that long ago that $50 was a pretty expensive ticket. That's changed, especially with festival shows.
Virgin Festival 2008 tickets go on sale tomorrow. The lineup is great, with the Foo Fighters, Oasis, Bloc Party, Paul Weller and others, but the price put me in sticker shock. They want $159 for a two-day ticket.
This may come as a surprise to many of you, but I don't have that kind of cabbage in my concert going slush fund. I'm still hearing about the $80 Edgefest 2008 is setting me back and the $118 I'm spending on slo-pitch. Coughing up 200 bones for the Foo and friends isn't an option at this point in my life, and by the time I can afford it, a two day concert on the island will likely be the last thing I'm up for.
If Sir Richard Branson is reading this, I'd love to cover this event free of charge. You just have to send me a couple of tix for the September 6 & 7 weekend. Drop me a line and I'll give you the address where you can send the Virgin Festival 2008 tickets.
Over five years of blogging has taught me a thing or two about Google Adsense, the program responsible for the ads you see on the left of this page. I closely monitor traffic trends and how it relates to monies earned from Google Adsense and I now believe I know where the cash comes from..
Before I tell all, let's break traffic into two distinct groups: The Regulars and The One Hit Wonders.
The Regulars - The Regulars are those who return on a regular basis because they like the content. Most have this site bookmarked or click on over from the same blog as part of a routine. It's not unusual for a regular reader to visit ten times in a single week.
The One Hit Wonders - The One Hit Wonders account for the bulk of traffic to this site. In fact, about 90% of visits are by these folks who have clicked through following a Google search or via a link on a site they read regularly. It's likely they were seeking the Edgefest 2008 lineup, Bill Barilko's statistics or perhaps good songs for a wedding, and they've clicked through to grab what they wanted and then disappeared in cyberspace. They won't be heard from again.
I get paid by Google every time somebody clicks an ad on the left, and when the amount owed to me exceeds $100, Google mails me a cheque. In my experience, almost all cash made from this blog has come from The One Hit Wonders. The Regulars simply don't covert.
When you stop and think about it, this isn't surprising. The Regulars are just here for the content, so why would they click an ad? The One Hit Wonders, however, are looking for something, and if I don't have what they're looking for, they very well may find it in a Google ad served up on my site.
It's been two years since we lost The Canadian Tire Guy, and I'm missing him now more than ever. Love 'em or hate 'em, you remember the Canadian Tire ads featuring Ted Simonett as the bearded, neutered male. Quick, tell me about a Canadian Tire ad you've seen since CTG left our screens?
The absence of The Canadian Tire Guy hasn't made anything better. In fact, it's made things worse. After two years, it's time to resurrect this poor bastard and make things right again.
Fred Patterson, one half of the former morning show tandem of Humble & Fred, wrote an entry on his blog this morning about viral growth. Fred understands content is king, and he was writing about what someone wrote about his blog on Facebook. Here's how Fred ended his entry.
I put a lot of work into this site. I figure if you're going to do it, you might as well put some effort into it. Rather than fill it with useless crap off the internet or nothing but a steady stream of boring shit about myself.
Exactly one hour earlier, Howard Glassman, the other half of Humble & Fred, wrote an entry on his blog that pokes fun at his blogging style. Beneath a cartoon with the caption "I have nothing to say, I say it regularly", he wrote the following.
This pretty much sums up the world of Blogging. Yes I know I'm the only one who puts up drivel most days. All the other Bloggers out there are saying relevant, issue based-life changing things that their friends are already sick of so they have to foist them on us! Yes sir I said foist. I'm not even sure if that's a word. It should be. Maybe I should blog about it. Or not.
Those two entries say everything about the blogging styles of these two radio personalities. Fred spends a great deal of time and effort managing his blog entries, touching on current events and expressing pointed opinions on various and sundry items of the day. Howard, I know for a fact, prides himself on how little effort he devotes to his entries. He throws down what he terms "drivel", which is stream of consciousness thoughts about whatever and "what I had for breakfast this morning" type tidbits. Howard is also a fan of OPC, or "Other People's Content" in which he'll toss up a YouTube clip he received from a reader or borrowed from another blog, usually this one. Fred rarely does that.
The blogosphere has room for both styles. I love reading Fred's opinions on heavier topics, even though we rarely agree with one another, and I love reading Howard's humourous drivel and quirky observations. Fred's blog can be some pretty heavy lifting and Howard's blog is an easy and breezy read. They complement each other perfectly, which might explain why their on air chemistry isn't matched by any morning show currently airing in this city.
As for me, I like to think I swing both ways. But make no mistake about it, it's still all about Mike.
A life long baseball fan, I've never seen a pitcher as good as Rocket Roger Clemens. When it comes to offensive prowess, I've never seen a hitter as good as Barry Bonds. As far as I'm concerned, you can take a big ol' eraser and scrub the marvellous careers of both men from the record book.
In a sense, an entire era has now been erased. I'm sure both Clemens and Bonds were stellar before they took performance enhancing drugs, but a little juice spill ruins the entire meal. The steroids era, as it will be called by future generations, has claimed the greatest the game has to offer.
Many will shrug their shoulders and look forward. I can't help but look back, at what was and what wasn't, and wonder how the hell I'll ever know the difference. Does it matter? Yes, and if you're asking that question, you're not a fan of baseball.
I don't currently subscribe to any magazines now that I've let my subscription to Rolling Stone lapse, but I've got a buddy who saves every copy of Sports Illustrated and ESPN The Magazine for me. I read both from cover to cover and what I'm about to write might surprise you.
ESPN The Magazine is now my sports magazine preference. I'm a Sports Illustrated fan from way back, having subscribed for years in the late 80s and early 90s, but ESPN The Magazine has Sports Illustrated beat today. ESPN The Magazine has larger pages, which enables it to be far more visually powerful, and the articles and observations are far more fun to digest. They both say similar things (it's easy to root for the Celtics again, Brett Favre is the sportsman of the year, baseball is full of cheaters, Tiger Woods is really good), but the difference is in how they say it and how it's presented.
Before Drew started giving me his ESPN The Magazine issue, I didn't know there was an ESPN The Magazine. Now I'm wondering why I still bother to read Sports Illustrated.
When you're on your 7134th blog entry, it's likely you've covered a lot of ground. Although I don't have any facts to back this up, I'd guess the most popular subject of blogs is Britney Spears. She's prime gossip fodder with mass appeal and everybody loves staring at a train wreck. I've been going out of my way to not blog about Britney, because I fail to see the blogging delight in gawking at a young mother screaming for help at the top of her lungs.
I'm not suggesting I've never written about Britney Spears, I've just intentionally avoided writing about what's happened these past few years. Searching this site I see I joked about the fact she married a guy named Jason Alexander and I reviewed her recent performance at the MTV Video Music Awards, calling it "sad". That's the word I'd use to describe this society's complete fascination with following every detail of Britney's public fall from grace.
The AP tells me Britney Spears was taken from her home by ambulance early this morning and escorted to the hospital by more than a dozen police officers in cars, on motorcycles and in helicopters. When you want your next Britney update, or Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton and Nicole Ritchie updates for that matter, you'll have to go elsewhere.
I spent eight hours yesterday putting up drywall in a basement with my brother Ryan. Eight hours in the same room with him is guaranteed to result in a series of arguments / debates. One that's still upsetting me was our debate about Mats Sundin and Daniel Alfredsson.
Ryan arrogantly stated that Daniel Alfredsson was better than Mats Sundin. When the two careers are over, he feels that Alfy will be viewed as the better Swede. In fact, Ryan believes everyone already thinks Alfy is better than Sundin because when I told him I thought Sundin was better and it wasn't even that close, Ryan told me I'm the only one who thinks that and I'd be hard pressed to find someone to agree with me.
For the record, I think this is as crazy as his bold statement that Mark Bell would score 40 goals this season. We eventually put $50 on the line with him saying Bell would score at least 20 goals and me saying he wouldn't. I'm going to win that bet easily.
If I remove my inherent Leafs bias and look at Mats Sundin vs. Daniel Alfredsson objectively, I still believe the vast majority of people will agree Mats is the better hockey player. When all is said and done, Mats will have accumulated more points having played with mediocre players like Jonus Hoglund and Nik Antropov. Alfy plays with stellar all-stars like Heatley and Spezza. Mats not only secures more points, he captained Sweden's gold medal winning team. Sundin is always called to captain Swedish teams that include Alfedsson, because Sundin is considered the better captain. Love him or hate him, everyone agrees Sundin is a class act and his abundance of overtime goals suggests he scores in the clutch.
At this moment, neither player has won a Stanley Cup, although Alfredsson's team is currently a contender. I'm not doubting Alfredsson is a great player, I'm merely confidently stating that Mats Sundin is a better player. Great evidence is this season. At 27-10-4, Ottawa is leading the Northeast division. At 16-18-8, Toronto is last in that same division. 37-year old Mats Sundin is Toronto's offensive juggernaut with 48 points, a full 13 points ahead of our 2nd leading scorer and 21 points ahead of #3. 35-year old Alfy, with 55 points, is tied with Dany Heatley for the Senators lead in points, only 3 points ahead of Jason Spezza. On an awesome team with plenty of awesome support, the younger Alfredsson is only 7 points ahead of Sundin.
In my humble opinion, Mats Sundin is the second best Swede to play our game. Pound for pound, I believe Peter Forsberg is the best, but I sincerely believe Sundin is definitely better than Daniel Alfredsson. Is my brother right when he says nobody would agree with me or am I right when I say he's completely out to lunch?
I used to rant more on this site. Something would irk me, and I'd ramble on here sharing my two cents with the world. It felt good getting it out there and I'm not sure why I stopped ranting so much. I think things just stopped bugging me.
This, my friends, will be an opinionated rant. It's not a clean point, that is to say, it's a reaction to an overreaction. There will be some dots to connect, so don't even bother reading this until you've had your morning coffee.
When I was young, this was Christmas. It was "Merry Christmas" everywhere. Most Torontonians were Christian and celebrated Christmas, so we called Christmas trees what they were and had Christmas parties and Christmas gatherings. We celebrated the season named for the birth of Jesus Christ.
At some point, this became politically incorrect. After all, those of the Jewish faith don't celebrate Christmas, and many new Canadians aren't Christian and don't celebrate the birth of Christ. The word Christmas was weeded out of the public sphere. It became "Seasons Greetings" and "Happy Holidays". "Merry Christmas" stopped appearing in ads for fear of alienating and offending non-Christians. This is how it's been for some time now.
I'm sensing a growing voice from those who feel the pendulum has swung too far in this regard. I sensed this in comments left on this entry I wrote yesterday. Those who celebrate Christmas don't like "Seasons Greetings" or "Happy Holidays". They want "Merry Christmas", after all, it is Christmas and the majority of Canadians are Christian. As anonymous just wrote on that entry:
I am so sick of this political correctness! This time of year, the tree represents the wilderness that Mary and Joseph were in, the gifts represent the gifts from the Wisemen etc… this is all about Christmas. The direct translation is Christ’s Mass. Christ the Christian/Catholic leader and the Mass is a celebration of his life. Why do we Christians have to shut-up and give up the true meaning/name. Why do we have to transform and be made to change or be beaten down for the name of our celebration. We do not ask that of any other religious group and we sit back and take it in the name of correctness, and that is just plain wrong. No one seems to have a problem with taking the time off that companies offer in the name of Christmas, or if they work making double or triple time. So if someone wishes you a Merry Christmas that is a blessing not a slap in the face. I see no problem with the card or the message it was from their heart and their belief's and that is what matters, it's not a message that is being forced down anyone throat it's a wonderful shared gift.
I am so sick of people who are sick of political correctness. I'm not the most religious guy, but I was raised Catholic and attended Catholic schools all of my life. I even went to St. Michael's College at the University of Toronto. I'm also totally comfortable with the removal of "Christ" from the public sphere. I don't need to hear "Merry Christmas" in governmental communique, at public school recitals or at company parties. I'm totally fine with "Seasons Greetings" and "Happy Holidays".
If you have an issue with this new wave of political correctness craziness, learn to live with it. When you send cards to your friends, you can say "Merry Christmas". When you have a party at your home, you can call it a Christmas party. If you're surrounded by secular holiday greetings understand that it's not all about you. It's about us, and we don't all believe what you believe.
Let's keep religion where it belongs, in our homes and hearts. Outside of our homes and hearts, let's not only be cool with the absence of Christ, let's demand it.
There's something that hasn't settled well with me since I heard the Red Hot Chili Peppers were suing Showtime over the name "Californication". What I don't get is Red Hot Chili Peppers singer Anthony Kiedis saying "Californication" is the band's signature song.
"Californication" is a fine song, but does anyone actually consider it to be their signature song? I don't even think people think of it as that album's signature song. I think "Scar Tissue" is the signature song on Californication.
As for RHCP's signature song, most would agree it's "Under the Bridge". I'm not suggesting that's their best song, but I'm pretty sure it's their signature song.
What's Kiedis smoking? And why am I almost a month late with this rant?
Did you have a pen pal growing up? I'd always hear about kids maintaining long term long distance relationships with pen pals. They'd exchange birthday wishes, holiday greetings and well wishes over years and years. I always thought this sounded like a great idea.
I never had a pen pal like that but I gave it a shot a few times. In the days before the Internet, pen pals were our Facebook friends. You didn't know them in the real world and they might live far away, but you could follow their lives from a distance and considered them "friends". That's Facebook in slow motion. I wonder if email has killed the pen pal star?
This week both Greg Maddux and Curt Schilling signed deals to continue their baseball careers with their current teams. I was glad to hear it.
Both players started their long careers in the 80s: Maddux in 1986 with the Cubs and Schilling in 1988 with the Orioles. I'm now of an age when players are wrapping up long careers and I was a teenager when these careers began. In the case of Maddux I was twelve when he debuted, but the point is still the same. 20+ year careers are coming and going under my watch.
Next thing you know, youngsters like Chris Chelios will be hanging up their skates.
On September 20th I wrote about our Canadian dollar reaching parity with the American dollar. That hadn't happened since 1976 and I thought it was kind of neat but wouldn't last.
Today our Loonie passed $1.10 U.S. This is getting loonie. How high will it go?
My 9-5 gig, the one that pays my mortgage, bleeds money every time our dollar goes up against the American dollar. It's the same old story, the majority of the customers pay in U.S. dollars while the expenses are paid in Canadian dollars.
It's that time, folks. It's time for my annual rant against the move from Daylight Saving Time. Before we go to sleep tonight, we'll all move our clocks back an hour to Standard Time. It's dumb.
Anticipating my annual rant, Ajax Mike has sent me a little ammo.
"The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety of Arlington, Virginaia, in earlier studies found the switch from daylight saving time to standard time increased pedestrian deaths. Going to a year-round daylight saving time would save about 200 deaths a year, the institute calculated, said spokesman Russ Rader."
It's official, Standard Time kills!!! :)
I want my hour of sunlight in the evening, not in the morning. Let's skip this year's fall back.
There's a Starbucks on every corner and I don't understand the allure at all. I just don't get it. I enjoy coffee, but have you ever gone into a Starbucks and asked for coffee? They look at you like you just asked for an oil change. Starbucks doesn't sell coffee. They have blends like Joya del Dia, Arabian Mocha Sanani and Ubora.
I like to walk into a coffee shop and ask for an extra large double-double. I don't know how to do that at Starbucks. I don't know how to do that at Second Cup, either, which may explain why I spend most of my coffee drinking moments at Tim Hortons.
At Tim Hortons, they know exactly what I want when I ask for an extra large double-double. They know I want coffee.
When I got home from my 11k run yesterday morning, I got down to work. Two of us were going to redo the porch and after a trip to Rona for supplies we were set to tackle the project. We worked non-stop for nine hours, hooked up again this morning at about 11 and just finished up about an hour ago.
I did all the drilling and screwing (insert joke here) and as I type this my entire body is just plain tired. I'm sore from head to toe, there are blisters on my hand and I'm wondering how the hell people do this for a living. The manual labourers amongst us deserve some mad props because 12 hours in their shoes this weekend have me feeling completely wiped.
Sitting in front of a computer for 7.5 hours a day hardly feels like work in retrospect.
I just watched video of University of Florida police officers using an electronic stun gun to subdue Andrew Meyer who was questioning Senator John Kerry at a campus forum. The video is so disturbing I'm sorry I viewed it. Meyer was asking a question, didn't threaten Kerry at all, and was quickly cut off, arrested and eventually Tasered.
What disturbs me is how quickly it escalated. You'd think in a University what Meyer was doing would be encouraged instead of punished. It's shocking they cut his mic, disturbing they arrested him and sickening that they used the stun gun.
More than 8.9 million accounts have been registered with Second Life, the Internet-based virtual world that gained serious steam about a year ago. That means a whole bunch of us are living as avatars in this other "world". I must confess, I have absolutely no interest in Second Life.
The reason is quite simple. I need more time for my first life, so why would I want to dump spare hours into my second life? Isn't it tough enough to get one's first life right?
You can have your second life. I'm still working on this one.
As threatened, I tuned into the MTV Video Music Awards last night. While it's fresh in my mind, and because you're dying to know what I thought, here's my two cents.
The Brit wasn't ready for prime time. Bless her heart, she didn't look bad considering her diet of Doritos and Pepsi, but her lip syncing wasn't even close and her choreography was so safe and boring, my three year old daughter could out dance her. I've seen Britney Spears kill at award shows like this, but last night I just saw her die on stage. It was sad.
The format was a fairly ballsy change for MTV, and it eventually grew on me. I applaud the decision to air more performances and less awards, but many of the "private party" peeks were simply too short. For example, I'd just get into a Foo Fighter's performance and they'd be moving on after about a minute. It was a sweet taste, but it wasn't enough. It was one giant tease after another.
Other than the fact many of the aired performances were too short, it was pretty slick. I'm just sorry they didn't air the Kid Rock vs. Tommy Lee episode. I was rooting for Kid.
I loved Back to the Future. Scratch that, I love Back to the Future. It's as good today as it was when I first saw it back in '85. Whether I'm watching it 22 years ago or today, I take serious issue with the portrayal of cereal in this otherwise fine film.
When they show George McFly at his weakest and nerdiest, he's always eating cereal. The insecure McFly would shovel the cereal into his mouth whereas the confident McFly would eat a "proper" meal. Cereal is treated as a food for nerds. It appears very uncool and I have a big problem with that.
I love cereal. I could eat cereal for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Heck, I could do all three in the same day. We have proper dinners now as we set an example for the kids, but prior to their arrival I would sometimes do just that. If I wanted a big bowl of Rice Krispies for dinner, dammit, I'd do it and I'd love it.
George McFly had issues, no doubt about it, but his decision to enjoy cereal at dinner time wasn't one of them. That choice took balls, and for that, I applaud and respect the man.
As sad as it is to admit this, I'm getting used to hearing my favourite tunes exploited to sell products. For a long time I had a serious issue with this and bitched every time an artist sold out. Now I'm okay with it so long as it's a fairly appropriate product and the original recording is used instead of some watered down cover by studio singers. I'm okay with it until I hear "Smells Like Teen Spirit" used in a deodorant commercial or Pearl Jam's "Wash" in a shampoo spot.
I just saw an ad for birth control using a re-worked girly version of Twisted Sister's "We're Not Gonna Take It". I know Dee Snider is an astute business man, but is this the right product and arrangement for his biggest hit? I cringed listening to the thing, and then I called my doctor about alternative oral contraceptives.
The video for "We're Not Gonna Take It" was killer and totally made by Mark Metcalf's performance in the intro as the abusive dad. Metcalf went on to create another stellar character, The Maestro, but here he is in the role that first made him famous.
As I surf the web tonight reading the latest news I'm seeing articles from legitimate news outlets suggesting Fidel Castro may be dead. These legitimate news outlets are crediting Perez Hilton as their source.
Perez Hilton, a blogger with just a little more traffic than me, is claiming to have an exclusive here and the mainstream media is biting. Fidel Castro very well may be dead, it's no secret his health has been deteriorating, but when your only source is celebrity blogger Perez Hilton should you really be running with the story?
I'm sure this is a sign of an impending apocalypse. Have mercy on us all.
Kids, gather around. Toronto Mike is about to spin a yarn for y'all. You see, I've been blogging daily for almost five years. When I started blogging, there was no YouTube. I actually had to create content.
YouTube is a blogger's crutch. When you're busy, or when you've just got nuthin', there's always YouTube. Yesterday alone I shared four different YouTube video clips. If that ain't a crutch, I don't know what is.
It's a crutch, but it benefits you as much as it benefits me. Would you rather read several paragraphs from some Toronto blogger bitching about YouTube as a crutch or would you prefer to watch that awesome scene from Almost Famous in which they all sing Elton John's Tiny Dancer?
I may be finished with Facebook, but I'm lingering long enough to throw one more Facebook beef at y'all. On Facebook, everyone is attractive, even when they're not.
All of your friends in Facebook are represented by 50 pixel wide profile pictures. If you visit their profile, this same picture becomes 200 pixels wide. This picture, which they have chosen, always shows them in their best light. Sometimes it's a wedding photo or a shot at the perfect angle with wonderful soft lighting and showing off their best features. You start to think of this friend as their profile picture, and everyone looks their best in their profile picture.
To take this image association one step further, I now forget that my profile picture isn't even me. I've tricked myself into thinking I'm better looking than I actually am, so you can imagine how I'm thinking of others on Facebook. The shock is when you see a Facebook friend in real life and remember how they actually look. They're not nearly as aesthetically pleasing as their Facebook profile pic would have you believe, and that's always disappointing.
Facebook is that dark club after a few drinks. Everyone appears better looking than they actually are. Consider yourselves warned, and be careful who you poke.
My wife can watch a news report about 100 innocent people being slaughtered without visibly responding, but if she sees someone kick a dog in a movie, she becomes visibly shaken and upset and has to turn her head. I haven't told her about Michael Vick, and I don't think I will. I know she won't be able to handle it. There's something about people and dogs.
It must be the centuries of loyal companionship that makes it easier for us to hear about a person being murdered than a dog being killed. Much like we've bred dogs to protect and serve us, we're bred to care for them and treat them as members of our family. It's easy to dislike a person, but it's difficult to dislike a dog. I can vouch for this fact from personal experience.
I never wanted a dog. Shortly after we got married 11.5 years ago, Taryn begged me to let her get a puppy. I stopped fighting it and we bought Booner, a Maltese/Yorkie blend. I always thought of Booner as Taryn's dog, even though I've shared the bed with Booner every night for 11 years. Although she still looks like a puppy, Booner is getting older and I know she won't be around forever. I often joke about the day we get our freedom back, but the fact is I know I'll miss her. She's always there, she's awfully loyal and she's a part of the family.
Last weekend we loaded up the van and hit the road for a little road trip. It was about a six hour round trip, so I filled up my new iPod Shuffle, plugged it into my FM transmitter and shuffled my way to Pinery and back.
Never underestimate the positive effect of a good music mix on a road trip. I was singing along with every track, loving every minute of it. I didn't even notice I was driving, it was heaven. I never heard the same song twice and I started wishing the road trip was longer just so I could finish the 1GB of music I had lined up.
With the right music, everything is tolerable. It makes all the difference in the world. It's everything.
I was just reminded that Live Earth is taking place this weekend. I'm just not feeling it. I think I'm suffering from benefit concert fatigue.
After 9/11 there were a few big benefit concerts, then we had SARSstock, the tsunami, and then Live 8 which was sort of a Live Aid redux. I was down with Live 8 because I dug the line up. Neil Young, Our Lady Peace, The Hip, Gordon Lightfoot, BNL, it was fantastic. Just this past weekend I think they had a benefit concert for Princess Di, but I totally missed every second of it.
Al Gore says Live Earth is to mark "the beginning of a three year campaign worldwide to deliver information about how we solve the climate crisis". I'm totally down with the cause. In fact, I've been making fundamental changes in the way I live my life just to please Mother Earth. I dig the planet, I just don't care about the concerts.
Reviewing the confirmed performers, I'm not overly impressed. I see the Beastie Boys and Foo Fighers are in London, but so is Madonna and the Pussycat Dolls. I'll pass, thanks.
I'm all benefit concerted out and I don't need the Black Eyed Peas to remind me we're poisoning the planet.
I remember when I first saw them. It was about two years ago and I was in the waiting room of my kids' pediatrician. An entire family came in wearing these colourful shoes that looked like plastic Dutch clogs. I snickered to myself and shook my head. These things looked very uncool.
Shortly thereafter, I learnt these shoes were called crocs, and they were becoming very popular. I laughed at croc wearers. Then, Taryn bought me a pair and I tried them on to see what all the fuss was about.
They're both convenient and comfy. They're ideal if you're around water, and they're breezy and cool on summer nights. This is the great croc conundrum. They look nerdy, but they feel good. What's a guy to do?
My self imposed rule is that I won't wear my crocs more than 15 feet beyond my property limits. In the house and backyard is cool, but if I'm going out I'm switching into my sandals. That's just the way it has to be.... for now.
I recently bought a new car. It's actually not a new car, but it's new to me, and when I bought it it came with a certificate proving it had recently passed an emissions test. If you look at the test results, you'll see it wasn't even close.
This morning I visited the MTO because these emissions tests are only good for one year and this one expires tomorrow. My birthday is later in the month, and I figured I'd get my sticker early so I didn't have to get this car tested again. Because the emissions test will be over a year old by the time my birthday rolls around in a couple of weeks, the MTO wouldn't renew my plates.
Now I have to fork over another $40 to get another emissions test that this automobile will pass easily. If I don't do this, I can't renew my plates. I have to do this every two years, as most of you know.
This, my friends, is a scam. The old time stinkers are already off the road. Failing this test is a great deal more difficult than passing it.
I see Paris Hilton is dominating the news again this morning. She was released from jail after three days and now there's word she might go back to the pen. Every time Paris Hilton hits the news I have to remind myself why this is news.
She was born rich, she's attractive and she appeared quite bored and disinterested in a popular sex tape a few years back. She managed to parlay this "fame" into a reality series, an album and a successful career appearing at parties as Paris Hilton. Let me know if I missed anything.
I don't care about whether Paris Hilton serves three days or 300 days. I don't care about Paris Hilton. I do, however, care about Sarah Silverman, and I loved her little jab at Paris during the recent MTV Video Awards.
Prior to our ball game last night, Kic was telling me he napped. For a period of time between work and our 8p game he actually went to sleep. Jordy tells me Kic frequently naps.
I must confess, I've never been a napper. Once I'm awake, why would I want to drift away into a nice sleep when there's a day to finish? Where does one find time to sleep before nightfall? Who are these nappers and what's their real agenda?
In all seriousness, I've read quotes from successful leaders who praise the nap and I'm sure there are many benefits, but I can't do it. Once I awaken, I'm sticking it out in the conscious would until it's time to crash again.
Somebody took video of their television airing that A-Rod play last night at the ballpark formerly known as Skydome. I embedded the video here, because in this instance a video speaks more than a thousand words. About a half an hour after I embedded the video it was pulled by YouTube due to a copyright violation.
Yes, MLB owns that broadcast that was illegally shared via YouTube. It's called copyright, and it's becoming increasingly frustrating in this YouTube age. Last July I put all of my favourite YouTube videos in one entry. I actually spent quite a bit of time on the entry, but in the year that has followed I've seen my list erode. Today, only 9 out of 18 videos are still online.
The Sweater (NFB short) - No longer available
The Log Driver's Waltz (NFB short) - No longer available
Touch 'Em All, Joe (MLB footage) - No longer available
Jays Win 1992 World Series (MLB footage) - No longer available
The Anthems in Edmonton (NHL footage) - No longer available
Hockey Night in Canada Opening (CBC footage) - No longer available
Terry Fox Documentary - Still online!
Gold in Salt Lake City (CBC footage) - Still online!
Live 8 Barrie Footage (CTV footage) - Still online!
A Tribute to Doug Gilmour (CBC footage) - Still online!
Gretzky Highlight Video (Fan made)- Still online!
A Tribute to Mario Lemieux (Fan made)- Still online!
Wayne Gretzky Legends of Hockey Segment - No longer available
The Simpsons in Canada (Fox footage) - Still Online!
New Orleans is Sinking (Fan made) - Still Online!
Great White North (SCTV footage) - No longer available
Joey and Caitlin (Degrassi footage) - No longer available
The best YouTube clips are shared illegally and embedding such a clip here is always a gamble. You never know if it will play ten minutes later. It's a brave new world, but we've got a lot of work to do before I'm happy with it.
I've been doing this for almost five years now, and I monitor the site statistics fairly closely. I think I've got a pretty good idea as to who reads this content and the raison d'etre. People typically fall into one of six groups.
1. Family, Friends and Acquaintances
These are people who know me in the non-virtual world. Family will visit to see what I'm up to, see pictures of the kids, etc. Friends and acquaintances will do the same, because they play ball with me, run with me, are fellow playoff poolies, work with me or are just buds or buds of a bud. This type of visitor is almost always a repeat visitor, often dropping by at least once a day.
2. The Locals
As you may have noticed, there's a rather Toronto-centric quality to this blog. Fellow Torontonians enjoy reading about other Torontonians and keeping up with local happenings. The "Toronto Blog" crowd drops by for a second opinion on Toronto topics and usually returns on a regular basis.
3. The Former Locals
There's a group of visitors that used to live in Toronto, and enjoy checking in on what's happening back home. Some of these people now live elsewhere in Canada, have moved to the States or are now living overseas, but they're naturally curious as to what people are talking about in their former city. Again, these visitors either subscribe to the RSS feed or drop by regularly.
4. Those With A Specific Overlapping Interest
Because it's all about me, there are certain topics I cover more frequently than others, because they're personal passions. Someone who is a die hard Toronto sports fan may keep their eyes on the category pages for the Leafs, Raptors, Jays or Argos. Fellow Hip fans watch related entries and my Hip page. Simpsons fans enjoy Homer's Quote of the Week and related entries. You get the idea...
5. Toronto Mike Fans
This is my favourite group, because these people don't know me in the non-virtual world but somehow stumbled upon this blog and liked it enough to bookmark it and return regularly. Some leave comments, most don't, and some have became friends in the non-virtual world by way of this virtual world. Often these people discover the site via a Google search or a link from another blog, but the fact they return means there's something here they enjoy, and that's pretty cool. Interestingly enough, I find people in this category are far more likely to leave a comment then those in the first category.
6. The One Offs
These are people who come here via a Google search, get the information they seek, and disappear into that good night never to be heard from again. This is the majority of traffic on this site, people hunting for wedding playlists, a particular Homer Simpson quote, information on whatever happened to Humble Howard and Freddie P, an MP3 of Gord Downie's Hallelujah, a celebrity death watch or the Alphagetti Gobbler. Sometimes these visitors fall into the 5th type and become fans of the site, but more often than not they stay in #6. That's okay, I've usually got the information they're looking for, and if I can help just one person learn a little bit about Bill Barilko, I sleep well at night.
There you have it, the six types of Toronto Mike visitors. Some fall into more than one category, but typically you're in one of these six. Which one are you?
It's been about four years since I complained about this, and in the blogging world four years is an eternity. My complaint has to do with this holiday weekend.
Once again we're taking Monday off in honour of Queen Victoria's birthday. Queen Vicky's full title was By the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Queen, Defender of the Faith, Empress of India, but that would take too long to type. The bottom line is, we should celebrate a more Canadian persona and rebrand this holiday.
In the past I've made suggestions, but now I'm thinking it's time we take this long weekend in the name of Terry Fox. Wouldn't it be great if Monday was Terry Fox day?
Everybody loves a hero. People line up for them, cheer them, scream their names. And years later, they'll tell how they stood in the rain for hours just to get a glimpse of the one who taught them how to hold on a second longer. I believe there's a hero in all of us, that keeps us honest, gives us strength, makes us noble, and finally allows us to die with pride, even though sometimes we have to be steady, and give up the thing we want the most. Even our dreams…
Speaking of Terry, I'm running The Terry Fox Run in September and it's never too early to cough up a little coin. Make your donation here. And happy Terry Fox Day.
This past week, I've had an internal debate about which event would be more upsetting: an NBA championship for Vince Carter's Nets or a Stanley Cup championship for the Ottawa Senators. These are two events that I'm passionately rooting against, but if I had to pick my poison, I'd rather the Sens win than Vince Carter.
With Carter, it's far more personal. You can read my letter to Vince for a taste of my venom. He disappointed me in a way the Senator never have.
The Senators have been nothing more than playoff fodder for my Leafs. In 2000, the Maple Leafs beat the Sens in six games. In 2001, we swept them in four. In 2002, we beat them in seven and in 2004 we beat them in seven once more. I love the Sens for bending over four times in five years, but I want them to lose for strictly geographic reasons. Ontario is Leafs Nation, and if the cup is coming back to this province, the parade should be in the T.Dot.
Hopefully, neither will happen, but if one has to occur, I'd let the babies have their bottle. And I hope they choke on it.
They launched http://www.flickoff.org yesterday, with the backing of the Ontario government, environmental organizations, Virgin Mobile and MuchMusic. Environment Minister Laurel Broten and British billionaire Richard Branson launched the campaign aimed at encouraging people to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
It's sort of tough to discuss the controversy this campaign is causing without showing you first the font they used. As you can see, it intentionally looks like "Fuck Off". The site also uses such phrases as "Go flick yourself," and "Are we flicked?" On the homepage, a call to action says: "We need you to FLICK OFF, and tell everyone you know to FLICK OFF. The more you do it, the cooler it gets. The planet, that is."
I'm not offended by this campaign. In fact, I dig it. It's kinda neat in an "FCUK" sort of way. At the very least it's got us talking about it and will appeal to the younger crowd it's aimed at.
Every kid who will be exposed to this campaign has seen and heard the F bomb many, many times. I've watched episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm with the kids around and they know there are just some words you don't repeat because they will offend some people. It's time we give our kids some credit and trust them to know the difference between vulgarity and this humourous approach to helping them reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Grow the flick up and take a flickin' chill pill. It's no worse than shiatsu for your shitz tsu.
There's a new catch-all excuse that's a kin to a "Get out of jail free" card in Monopoly. Blame it on the software. Go ahead, everybody's doing it, and it works.
When Toronto residents Doris and Douglas Moore got their new couch from Vanaik Furniture, they were offended by the label that described the colour as "nigger-brown". Vanaik Furniture blamed Cosmos Furniture in Scarborough who blamed the Chinese company that manufactured the couch. The Chinese company blamed it all on Kingsoft Corporation's translation software. Kingsoft says the Chinese-English dictionary they use with their software lists nigger as a synonym for dark brown.
So you see, nobody is actually at fault here. It's not Vanaik Furniture's fault for selling it to the Moore's this way, it's not Cosmos Furniture's fault for selling it through Vanaik Furniture, and it's not the Chinese manufacturer's fault for applying the offensive label. It's the software's fault, and that means nobody here is accountable.
They're all sorry, but being sorry and being accountable are two very different things. When in doubt, blame it on the software. It never fails.
Tim O'Reilly, a fellow blogger, has shared a draft of his Blogger's Code of Conduct. This is a response to the Kathy Sierra affair. Sierra suspended her blog in March because of death threats on her blog and threats of violence posted on other websites. Here are the six parts of O'Reilly's code.
We take responsibility for our own words and for the comments we allow on our blog.
We won't say anything online that we wouldn't say in person.
We connect privately before we respond publicly.
When we believe someone is unfairly attacking another, we take action.
We do not allow anonymous comments.
We ignore the trolls.
I don't want the blogosphere to become a police state. I blog according to two simple rules.
Everything I publish must pass through my "acceptable for the public domain" filter.
Comments that cross the line will be deleted.
These two rules are intentionally vague. The "acceptable for the public domain" filter prevents me from revealing anything too personal, sharing something about another that shouldn't be shared and posting anything that could jeopardize a job, safety or anything else that matters more than this hobby. There's a line, and I know it when I see it.
I believe O'Reilly's Code of Conduct for Bloggers could have stopped after the first item. "We take responsibility for our own words and for the comments we allow on our blog."
Former Leafs' tough guy Tie Domi was "like a beast" as he screamed obscenities at his 11-year-old son Max's peewee hockey coach at a North York arena last night.
Witnesses say Domi's profane tirade happened in front of a dozen stunned and scared young players, parents and fans.
An enraged Domi was apparently upset at Max's lack of ice time.
I'm not going to bash Domi in this entry, because that's just too easy. I'm going to put myself in his shoes. If my son James were 11, had forgotten his hockey gloves and didn't get enough ice time as a result, would I be upset enough to leave the stands and confront the coach leaving with "You're a fucking shitty coach. What the fuck do you think you're doing ... You're just playing two fucking lines"?
Of course not. I can't even imagine a situation of that nature that would get me yelling at James' hockey coach. It's peewee AAA and the players are pre-teens. There's no place for rink rage and there are no exceptions.
Tie Domi's rapid fall from grace has been startling, and I don't think it's complete. You've got to wonder what's next.
The Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board has removed David Guterson's novel Snow Falling on Cedars from school library shelves and English class reading lists. Apparently there were complaints about the book's sexually explicit content.
In this world of sex and gore filled video games, accessible Internet porn and instant digital/satellite/on-demand XXX movies, the idea that some kids may actually read a prize-winning novel for a dose of smut is refreshing.
I say, if the kids stumble upon a little sexually explicit content while reading Snow Falling on Cedars, they've earned it.
20th Century Fox blames Canada for film piracy. "Canada has become a hotbed for film piracy," Bruce Snyder, Fox president of U.S. distribution, said in this article. "It's a serious problem."
Apparently it has something to do with the fact we can't get arrested for bringing a camcorder into a movie theatre. In the USA, you can. As a result, we're all recording movies Kramer-style and flooding the world with bootleg copies of new releases.
Fox is even threatening to release movies in Canada at a later date. They're completely serious when they suggest we're the root of this film piracy evil.
Go ahead and deprive us of your crappy films. I'm sure that will clear this problem right up. I know I'm always hankering for a camcordered copy of "Stomp the Yard" or "The Hitcher".
If you listen to "new rock" radio, you've probably heard Fall Out Boy's new single This Ain't A Scene, It's An Arms Race. It's not a bad tune, it's sort of catchy, but I can't stand hearing it on the radio. The reason? It's far too heavily censored.
I understand radio singles with the F bomb removed or maybe the S word changed to a lingering shhhh, but the version of This Ain't A Scene, It's An Arms Race they play on Edge 102 deletes the expression "god damn" and that expression is rather prominent in the chorus, repeated three times.
In 2007, are we still unable to play a rock song that says "god damn"? I'm sure this isn't Edge 102's doing and they're just playing the version they were given, but what does this say about our society. Fall Out Boy probably rightly assumed a number of stations would be afraid to play their single if they didn't censor "god damn". Yikes.
I just realized that I know a lot of Mike's. I suppose with a name that popular, everyone knows a lot of Mike's, I probably just notice it more because I am a Mike.
Mike Kic, I'll let you know when I'm dropping by to peruse the goods. I know that neck of the woods very well. Mike Hollick, this entry was inspired by something you said a few years ago. Let's get to it, I've got a game to watch.
Almost three years ago I wrote about how I've never owned a mobile phone. This fact remains true today. I don't want a cell phone that's just a phone. I've always said I'd buy one when there was a phone on the market that would do everything I felt it should. I'm looking for a mobile device that's not only a phone but a decent digital camera, an MP3 player with acceptable storage space and has an operating system that would allow me to jump on another desktop and use it as I would a lap top. I've yet to see such a device that nailed all these fine points but I've been reading quite a bit about the Apple iPhone. I think the Apple iPhone is the one.
While excitedly telling Taryn about everything the iPhone will do I was deflated by her lack of enthusiasm. She told me she just wanted a phone to be a phone and didn't care about the other stuff. That reminded me of when I had my epiphany back in 2003. I was looking at the towers of CDs in our living room and I realized I had to digitize the entire collection and get the disks themselves out of sight. She fought me on that too, telling me CDs were fine and there was no need to rip them and free ourselves from the inherent limitations of such a medium.
That got me thinking about 2003 when I started ripping the first of 1232 complete albums and 19123 individual songs. Like someone who had just found religion, I was preaching to everyone I knew about how this was the future and we wouldn't truly be free until our music was digitized and everywhere on demand. Mike Hollick disagreed. He couldn't foresee a time when he'd have to do the same. He had his CDs and thought I was crazy for wanting more. Recently, at an Argos game, he admitted he was wrong. I forgave him as I've forgiven Taryn. Some people just need a little more time to realize what they thought was freedom was actually an oppressive state of format slavery.
The neo-luddism revolution will be televised, and I'll probably be watching it on my iPhone.
For the past couple of days I've been having issues with my Rogers Internet connection. You might know what I'm talking about because I hear it's effecting the entire GTA. Some domains are not available, others are sporadically available, it's a crapshoot.
Calling Rogers means having to talk to that robot for a while. He peppers questions at me and I answer. Why am I calling, what's it about, what's my home phone number... I keep thinking of Kramer saying "Why don't you just tell me the name of the movie you'd like to see."
I hate jumping through those hoops just to get a human being on the line. I miss the good old days when you called a toll free number, chose the English stream and spoke to someone about your problem.
What do you know about Vancouver Canuck Rory Fitzpatrick? I know he's pointless in 19 games this season. I also know he's second in all-star voting behind Scott Niedermayer.
This is what I love/hate about the web. Fitzpatrick has no business representing the Western Conference in the all-star game but he'll likely get voted in thanks to a fan campaign that's just starting to gain steam.
I remember reading Archie comics when I was knee high to a grasshopper. On preview, that's really short. That would make me about 3 mm tall. Let's just say, I remember reading Archie comics as a very young kid and they were always around the house when I was growing up. Archie, Jughead, Reggie, Betty, Veronica, Big Moose and Ethel were all a part of my childhood.
If this is correct, the Riverdale gang is getting a new look in the new year. They're modernizing the appearance of the characters, giving them a more contemporary style. In other words, they're ruining what works about Archie.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the allure of Archie the 1950s innocence of it all? They don't belong in 2006, they're cut from a different cloth and that's okay. They've looked a certain way for decades and there's no point in changing that now.
If Archie Andrews and his pals aren't sacred, what is?
We are the media. At about 11:30am, a kitchen fire started at Sassafraz, a Yorkville hot spot for celebrities and celebrity watchers. Local bloggers started covering the event immediately. Even yours truly was on the scene filing this report.
I was about to go on a rant about how we have to roll our clocks back an hour tonight. Before I published my rant, I checked to make sure I wasn't repeating myself. Of course, I was. Three years ago today I wrote pretty much the same thing.
We've essentially taken an hour of sunlight we'd experience in the evening and moved it to the morning. Wouldn't it be more beneficial for our society to keep that hour of sunlight in the evening where it can be enjoyed? Does anyone really care if there's light at 7am?
We first introduced Daylight Saving Time during wartime as an effort to conserve fuel needed to produce electric power. It's time we stay there. The average citizen is no longer a farmer who follows the sun's lead in determining an appropriate hour to wake up and go to sleep. Typically, we're working from 9 to 5, Monday through Friday, and Standard Time is no longer our best option.
I still feel the same way. When we spring forward in April 07, we should stay there.
When Grand River Hospital in Kitchener-Waterloo shut down its emergency ward, Health Minister George Smitherman sent in a team of troubleshooters from St. Joseph's Health Centre. Apparently, St. Joseph's has one of the best emergency wards in the province. Only a few months ago I experienced the St. Joseph's emergency procedure first hand and wrote "Hurry Up and Wait" about the ordeal.
The lack of wait at St. Joe's is really an illusion of sorts. You're periodically shuffled from one wait to another as opposed to suffering through one long wait at the very beginning. The benefits are that you get to see a triage nurse right away and I only had to wait about two hours before I got to a point where they offered me pain killers. Here were the eight waits, totaling approximately five hours.
Wait #1: Triage Nurse - Upon arrival, you've got to check in. I was third in line which made this wait bearable. If you show up with something clearly life threatening, you get to move to the front of this line!
Wait #2: Registration - After checking in with the triage nurse, you get to sit down for a while and wait to be called by the registration desk. This was only a half hour wait, but keep in mind it was really early on a Monday morning. On the bright side, they had a TV in this room and they were airing live action from the French Open.
Wait #3: Ambulatory - Here you leave your chart and sit down for an hour or two. Luckily, there's a TV in this area airing CBC Newsworld. 60% of the broadcast was about the terrorist bust this weekend and 35% was about the Stanley Cup final kicking off tonight. The other 5% was the weather forecast. This wait is to see a nurse, not an actual doctor.
Wait #4: The Doctor - After being reviewed by a nurse in a little room I was actually sent to a different little room to wait for a doctor. I'm now in my fifth waiting location and about three hours into my hospital stay.
Wait #5: Blood Work - After finally seeing a doctor I was asked to wait for another nurse who would take my blood. In the meantime, I'm asked to give a urine sample.
Wait #6: X-Ray - After giving up a couple of bodily fluids it was time for an x-ray. This wait takes place in the same place as wait #3 which means more news about the terror arrests, more shots of the CN Tower, TSX and Peace Tower and more discussions with police officers, RCMP and Muslim community leaders.
Wait #7: Results - This was supposed to be the last wait. I was back in front of CBC Newsworld awaiting word from the doctor regarding my urine, blood and x-ray. From what I could tell, they were looking for something related to my kidneys which could explain the back pain. The next time my name is called, I'd be done... or so I thought.
Wait #8: Results II - They called my name after wait #7 and told me they needed more blood. Did they lose the original vial? Were they double checking because I tested positive for something serious? Why were they tapping my poor veins for more juice? I was afraid to ask and just did what I was told like a good Canadian boy.
Remember, this is the best our province has. Other hospitals are actually worse. Some, like the Grand River Hospital, even lock their doors.
On July 3rd, I decided to list and link to my favourite clips on YouTube. Three months later, many of the clips I linked to have been removed. This is the problem with YouTube, the best clips are posted without consent from the copyright holder.
The National Film Board of Canada had YouTube remove "The Sweater" and "The Log Driver's Waltz", Major League Baseball had Joe Carter's '93 homer and the final out in '92 removed and "The Great White North" was simply removed because of an unnamed violation. All CBC footage or hockey footage remains, thankfully. Either the CBC and NHL understand the marketing potential of these videos or their lawyers just haven't got around to mailing that cease and desist letter yet.
Last week, Mark Cuban made waves when he stated that only a moron would buy YouTube. "The only reason it hasn't been sued yet is because there is nobody with big money to sue", he said. Cuban has a point. If every stitch of copyrighted material was removed from YouTube today, I'd have little interest in returning. I'm there for the music videos, the old television theme songs, the episodes of "The Simpsons" and that goal / home run / slam dunk that everybody is talking about.
Lawyers screaming about copyright violations suck the fun out of everything, especially YouTube.
There's a 25 Signs That, Sadly, You've Grown Up list making the rounds, and it's pretty spot on. I recently started pro-creating and I've since left my 20s behind for good and this list is a staunch reminder that aging only goes in one direction.
Here's the list and my two cents tagged on the end in parenthesis.
Your house plants are alive, and you can't smoke any of them. (I never smoked my house plants - do people really smoke cacti?)
Having sex in a twin bed is out of the question. (When I first married, all we had was a twin bed. In fact, James sleeps in that very bed today. Taryn and I could probably have sex in it, but sleeping in it is out of the question. I would change this to "Sleeping in a twin bed is out of the question".)
You keep more food than beer in the fridge. (This one doesn't apply to me - I've yet to make a single purchase in The Beer Store. You're shocked, aren't you?)
6:00 AM is when you get up, not when you go to bed. (Bang on.)
You hear your favorite song on an elevator. (I hear tunes I loved in University while shopping in grocery stores. That's just as depressing.)
You watch the Weather Channel. (My witness at my wedding appears on The Weather Network!)
Your friends marry and divorce instead of hook up and break up. (Very true.)
You go from 130 days of vacation time to 14. (Sad but true.)
Jeans and a sweater no longer qualify as "dressed up." (Bang on again.)
You're the one calling the police because those damn kids next door won't turn down the stereo. (It would depend on what they're listening to.)
Older relatives feel comfortable telling sex jokes around you. (It's about time!)
You don't know what time Taco Bell closes anymore. (No, I don't.)
Your car insurance goes down and your payments go up. (I'm not sure I get this one. If my insurance is going down, why are my payments going up?)
You feed your dog Science Diet instead of McDonalds leftovers. (Poor Booner.)
Sleeping on the couch makes your back hurt. (Most definitely.)
You no longer take naps from noon to 6 PM. (I've never been a napper. I can only sleep during the night.)
Dinner and a movie is the whole date instead of the beginning of one. (It's been a while since I've had such an extravagant date. At least my anniversary is only three months away. That's a good excuse to get out and enjoy some ribs.)
Eating a basket of chicken wings at 3 AM would severely upset, rather than settle your stomach. (Another winner.)
You go to the drug store for ibuprofen and antacid, not condoms and pregnancy tests. (Or even worse, stuff for your kids' runny noses.)
A $4.00 bottle of wine is no longer "pretty good stuff". (Again, I can't relate to this one. I've never had a bottle of $4 wine, $40 wine or $400 wine.)
You actually eat breakfast food at breakfast time. (This is the definitive sign you've grown up.)
"I just can't drink the way I used to," replaces, "I'm never going to drink that much again." (Again, I abstain from commenting.)
90% of the time you spend in front of a computer is for real work. (Sad, but true.)
You drink at home to save money before going to a bar. (No and no.)
You read this entire list looking desperately for one sign that doesn't apply to you and can't find one to save Your sorry old ass. (If I were a typical Irish Catholic who drank like a fish, I'd be agreeing whole heartedly.)
In a little over a year, the Louisiana Superdome has gone from unspeakable horrors to hosting tonight's Monday night clash between the New Orleans Saints and Atlanta Falcons.
In that entry from September 1, 2005, I wondered how they would ever return to playing football in the Louisiana Superdome. The Seattle Times described what was happening at the time where the Saints of football play.
A 2-year-old girl slept in a pool of urine. Crack vials littered the restroom. Blood stains the walls next to vending machines smashed by teenagers.
"We pee on the floor. We are like animals," Taffany Smith, 25, said as she cradled her 3-week-old son, Terry. In her right hand she carried a half-full bottle of formula provided by rescuers. Baby supplies are running low; one mother said she was given two diapers and told to scrape them off when they got dirty and use them again.
At least two people, including a child, have been raped as the arena darkened at night. At least three people have died, including one man who jumped 50 feet to his death, saying he had nothing left to live for.
There is no sanitation. The stench is overwhelming. The city's water supply, which had held up since Sunday, gave out early yesterday, and toilets in the Dome became inoperable and began to overflow. "There is feces on the walls," said Bryan Hebert, 43, who arrived at the dome Monday. "There is feces all over the place."
I recently watched Spike Lee's "When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts". Lee suggests humanity has failed the victims of hurricane Katrina. They are still rebuilding, many have been chased out of their city for good. I now know why the Superdome can once again host something "as frivolous as a football game". The alternative is not acceptable. New Orleans deserves this, and a great deal more.
The Flickr MT plug-in I use for the home page displays the last seven pictures uploaded to my Flickr account in the sidebar. On every other page you'll see ads, but on the home page you see pictures. You'll see pictures, unless the image uploaded to my account is a screen capture and not a photograph. When I upload a screen capture, you'll see an ugly Flickr message explaining that the image could not be displayed.
This is Flickr's ugly photograph bias. They won't allow screen captures to be viewed in searches or other public realms, including displays from my little plug-in. In fact, if the majority of your pictures are screen captures, they'll label your entire account NIPSA, which is Flickr speak for "Not in Public Site Areas".
Personally, I don't see the harm in allowing screen captures in public areas. When I took a screen cap of myself as a South Park character, it was blocked from public areas. That's just wrong!
Flickr is my favourite social networking site, but this photo-only policy paints an ugly picture.
Everyone I know calls me Mike, but it wasn't always that way. My birth certificate shows my name as Michael and for the first ten years of my life, my parents, teachers, classmates and friends called me by my given name. I was Michael until I realized I might have a say in the matter.
I remember as a pre-teen preferring the name Mike to Michael. As a teen, I started asking teachers and friends to call me Mike, when they weren't calling me Booner, or something worse. Eventually it got to a point where just about everyone, including my brothers and mom, called me Mike.
I dislike the name Michael. To me, it sounds stuffy, conservative and boring. Michael is a name for accountants or opera goers or Bible thumpers. Mike is cool, open minded, fun and funny. Mike is me.
I've been Mike so long, I hardly react when someone calls me Michael. I practically forget that's my name, and I sometimes forget to use it when filling out banking or legal documents. When I picked up this domain name in the late 90s, I didn't even consider michaelboon.com. Heck, it's probably still available. Go ahead and grab it, it's no use to me. I became a Mike long ago and I don't intend to turn back now. For me, it was an easy call.
For the past few weeks, we've been getting the Globe and Mail delivered to our home each morning. There's nothing particularly interesting about that fact, except we don't pay for it. We pay for the Saturday Globe and Mail, but I'm guessing they've been sending us weekday papers in the hopes we'd get hooked and order a full week's subscription.
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Doctors are 
Call me old school, but I don't believe in hitting the streets in celebration until your team has won it all. In years past, when the Leafs would win a playoff round or two, I'd cringe when I'd hear about the mini-parades and street celebrations. I've only hit the streets in celebration twice in my life: when the Jays won the World Series in 1992 and 1993.
Humble Howard is trying to 
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I don't currently subscribe to any magazines now that I've let my subscription to Rolling Stone lapse, but I've got a buddy who saves every copy of Sports Illustrated and ESPN The Magazine for me. I read both from cover to cover and what I'm about to write might surprise you.
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I spent eight hours yesterday putting up drywall in a basement with my brother Ryan. Eight hours in the same room with him is guaranteed to result in a series of arguments / debates. One that's still upsetting me was our debate about Mats Sundin and Daniel Alfredsson.
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On September 20th 
It's that time, folks. It's time for my annual rant against the move from Daylight Saving Time. Before we go to sleep tonight, we'll all move our clocks back an hour to Standard Time. It's dumb.
There's a Starbucks on every corner and I don't understand the allure at all. I just don't get it. I enjoy coffee, but have you ever gone into a Starbucks and asked for coffee? They look at you like you just asked for an oil change. Starbucks doesn't sell coffee. They have blends like Joya del Dia, Arabian Mocha Sanani and Ubora.
When I got home from my 11k run yesterday morning, I got down to work. Two of us were going to redo the porch and after a trip to Rona for supplies we were set to tackle the project. We worked non-stop for nine hours, hooked up again this morning at about 11 and just finished up about an hour ago.
I just watched video of University of Florida police officers using an electronic stun gun to subdue Andrew Meyer who was questioning Senator John Kerry at a campus forum. The video is so disturbing I'm sorry I viewed it. Meyer was asking a question, didn't threaten Kerry at all, and was quickly cut off, arrested and eventually Tasered.
More than 8.9 million accounts have been registered with Second Life, the Internet-based virtual world that gained serious steam about a year ago. That means a whole bunch of us are living as avatars in this other "world". I must confess, I have absolutely no interest in Second Life.
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I loved Back to the Future. Scratch that, I love Back to the Future. It's as good today as it was when I first saw it back in '85. Whether I'm watching it 22 years ago or today, I take serious issue with the portrayal of cereal in this otherwise fine film.
As I surf the web tonight reading the latest news I'm seeing articles from legitimate news outlets suggesting Fidel Castro may be dead. These legitimate news outlets are crediting Perez Hilton as their source.
Kids, gather around. Toronto Mike is about to spin a yarn for y'all. You see, I've been blogging daily for almost five years. When I started blogging, there was no YouTube. I actually had to create content.
I may be 
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I remember when I first saw them. It was about two years ago and I was in the waiting room of my kids' pediatrician. An entire family came in wearing these colourful shoes that looked like plastic Dutch clogs. I snickered to myself and shook my head. These things looked very uncool.
Prior to our ball game last night, Kic was telling me he napped. For a period of time between work and our 8p game he actually went to sleep. Jordy tells me Kic frequently naps.
Somebody took video of their television airing that A-Rod play last night at the ballpark formerly known as Skydome. 
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Barry Bonds hit his 744th career home run today, moving within 11 of Hank Aaron's record of 755.
20th Century Fox blames Canada for film piracy. "Canada has become a hotbed for film piracy," Bruce Snyder, Fox president of U.S. distribution, said in 
I just realized that I know a lot of Mike's. I suppose with a name that popular, everyone knows a lot of Mike's, I probably just notice it more because I am a Mike.
For the past couple of days I've been having issues with my Rogers Internet connection. You might know what I'm talking about because I hear it's effecting the entire GTA. Some domains are not available, others are sporadically available, it's a crapshoot.
I remember reading Archie comics when I was knee high to a grasshopper. On preview, that's really short. That would make me about 3 mm tall. Let's just say, I remember reading Archie comics as a very young kid and they were always around the house when I was growing up. Archie, Jughead, Reggie, Betty, Veronica, Big Moose and Ethel were all a part of my childhood.
We are the media. At about 11:30am, a kitchen fire started at Sassafraz, a Yorkville hot spot for celebrities and celebrity watchers. Local bloggers started covering the event immediately. Even yours truly was on the scene filing 
In a little over a year, the Louisiana Superdome has gone from 
The Flickr MT plug-in I use for the home page displays the last seven pictures uploaded to 
Everyone I know calls me Mike, but it wasn't always that way. My birth certificate shows my name as Michael and for the first ten years of my life, my parents, teachers, classmates and friends called me by my given name. I was Michael until I realized I might have a say in the matter.