I went through an old bin of stuff I've saved for decades, throwing some stuff out and keeping a few priceless gems. In this bin of memories I found a couple of guides I received 25 years ago. One is entitled "Cycling Skills" and taught me the rules of the
My kids will never know a world without the internet. As far as they're concerned, it's always been there, a pervasive connection to a massive database of facts and myths. Periodically, I'll remind them that I didn't surf the web until university. When I was 13, my buddies and I
Do you remember the first time you spun Nirvana's Nevermind? I do. I'd pop it in the CD player, and after "Something in the Way", I'd start it again. At some point I realized there was a whack of time left in the final track, after "Something in the Way"
Over 11 years ago, I wrote about Magic Numbers. Trust me, there's nothing supernatural about this magic. Here's an excerpt of what I wrote back then. My fondest memories are of the Magic Number. The Magic Number is simply the number of games that the team leading a division needs
As a kid, summers meant collecting baseball stickers. This was a very big deal to me in the 80s. I've held on to some of these sticker books, and here's the photographic evidence.
The Confederate flag is under attack. A symbol of slavery and racism, the South Carolina legislature is finally removing it from its State House grounds while stores are busy removing the emblem from shelves. Back when I was young and innocent, I played with the Confederate flag daily. My favourite
Black's (now stylized as BLACKS) was founded in 1930 with a store in Toronto on St. Clair Ave. Yesterday it was announced that the last 59 stores will be closed for good on August 8. The digital revolution has most of us taking photos with our phones (count me in
I loved my clock radio. I'd fall asleep to the sweet sounds of Tom and Jerry calling Blue Jays games, but waking up to CJCL 1430 meant "music of your life" mouldy syrup, so I'd wake up to this: This is my current alarm on my LG G3. It's called
And here's my mid-90s bookshelf.
At some point, cereal boxes stopped containing toys. Now it's all about web codes and such. That's too bad, as getting the toy out of the box of cereal was a staple of my mornings in the early 80s, but that was a different time. In the early 80s, I
When I was a kid, I thought these graphics were amazing. I mean look at that basketball game! And check out the detail of that golf course! The future arrived to my home in 1981. These games were part of my Atari Catalogue featuring 45 games available for the Atari
With the 33rd annual Pride Parade taking place in our city today I thought I'd jump in the time machine and remember that time I was quoted in a textbook called "Perspectives on Ideology" alongside Ayn Rand. Happy WorldPride day!
Throughout primary school, we had a French teacher who would pop in our class for 45 minutes or so on certain days of the week. I'm sure there was (and is) a minimum number of hours French must be taught in Ontario, and we got that minimum. Looking back, we
In grade 5, I wrote a speech about dreams. My teacher awarded me a spot delivering this speech in front of the entire school. That competition, however, was weeks away. During that gap, I started tweaking my presentation. One day, out of the blue, my teacher asked me to deliver
Zach (or is it Zack?) was a Lego maniac, or so the ads told claimed. I remember seeing this ad in 1987 and thinking the kid was pretty full of himself. Look at him stacking away like it ain't no thing. As a card carrying member of the LEGO Club
Over seven years ago, I wrote about that Zoodles ad. I've known the words by heart since 1980 and I've never forgotten. FInally, thanks to Retrontario, I can see this old ad for Libby's Zoodles again. Here it is. Related: I uncover the Alpha-Getti Gobbler ad.
Yesterday's Super Bowl was awful. The Broncos were terrible and the game was as one-sided as possible. I didn't have a horse in this race, so I was rooting for a good game, and I didn't get my wish. Exactly 10 years ago today, the post-Super Bowl chatter was all
Not to brag or anything, but I led our "small Separate school" to a "Metro-wide second place showing" in the 1986 W5H competition. This article appeared in the Bloor West Villager. I'm the cool looking guy in the front row who needed a haircut and tucked his shirt into his
This picture was taken in late 1974 near St Clair and Atlas Avenue in Toronto. It's just me and my mom.
Christmas is coming, and that means getting out the Consumers Distributing catalogue and circling the gifts you desire. Sure, that Citizen brand stereo you want will likely be out of stock, but what are ya gonna do? If you're curious as to why Consumers Distributing didn't survive, read the comments
I must have watched this Sports Illustrated commercial a hundred times back in the '80s. I had no idea the guy looking for the all new Not-So-Great Moments in Sports video was a young John Slattery, best known as Roger Sterling on Mad Men.
Confession time... When Wayne Gretzky was promoting Great Western Garment jeans in the early 80s, I thought GWG stood for Great Wayne Gretzky. I believed this for quite some time, actually. This ad from '82 shared by Retrontario brought this memory roaring back. The Great Western Garment Company was founded
The CNE opens tomorrow, and it always brings back a ton of memories. I worked at the CNE for three summers as a game booth attendant, from 1989-1991. That gave me a unique perspective. If you want to revisit my many Canadian National Exhibition memories, visit my CNE page where
Ten Years ago today, we endured the worst black out in North American history. This is what I wrote when the lights came back on. 24 hours and 12 minutes. That's how long the power was off at my humble abode.Of course, the worst black out in North American
