Beer

Tried a couple of local microbreweries out here. One is Alley Kat, a reasonably decent brew, but it's hard to find. Alberta has private liquor stores, which means they're open late, but sometimes the selection sucks. So far the best is Willow Park Wines, which reminds me of the LCBO. Its big with lots of selection

I've tried Wildwood Brewery, which makes OK micro stuff, but it's nothing great. I haven't tried it all, but I'm getting there.

Alley Kat. I sorta hoped this would be the brew, but it's so far been a disappointment. I haven't tried it all, but I'm close

Big Rock. It's good beer, nothing great, and it's local to Calgary. But it's not outstanding. And they sell beer in cans. Ugh.

Waterloo Region, which is home, is also home to some fine beer. One big reason is that the water is "hard" or full of limestone. Limestone ruins your clothes, leaves stains on your dishes and rots away your bathroom, but it's PERFECT for real beer. I used the term "water softener" out here and no one knew what the fuck I was talking about.

A friend of mine lives in Edmonton and has found a store that sells Waterloo Dark. Edmonton is 300 kms away, but I think it might be worth the trip to fill up the seats. U can't beat the boar man. Ain't nothing better.

Ironically, the first computer contract I did out here was at Labatt. Kokanee is king here.

Eating Out

Friday night, went out & had a pizza. I might have mentioned this before, but the pizza situation in Calgary is dreadful. There are no places within FIVE kms of my house to find a slice of pizza. I had a bunch of people tell me to go to Urban Pizza on Acadia Drive for it's "awesome" slices. It was 2 bucks and about the size of a large cracker. This is "award winning" pizza in Calgary. Seriously, I should invest in a Pizza Pizza, I'd CLEAN up.

Beer is also expensive here. So far, I've hit the price of 5.75 a "pint" for local beer. First of all, it's not even a pint, but shy of it. Secondly, 5.75 is a crazy ass price for a pint of beer. And this is at a pub.

And the wings. So far, the wing experience has been abysmal. I had wings tonight and they were small, like pigeon wings or something. I kept thinking of Huether or Morty's wings, or hell, how about wings from the Anchor Bar in Buffalo. They ship around the world, so maybe I'll order some. Big ass FAT and oversized breaded wings.

Yahoo Mail

My Rogers email is about to close, so I had to set myself up with email so after trying the usual suspects, I tried Yahoo. I was happy to find it has the same interface as Rogers email which is totally intuitive & easy to use. I usually use a mail program, but since I flipped to Rogers, I used the online mail program.

Yahoo has exactly the same program & I'm going to pay the 20 bucks a year to get a legit account with them, free of advertisements. One thing that sucks about email is transferring email accounts around and mailing people to tell them about your new address. Now I'll never have to do it, so I guess it's worth the 20 bucks a year. It's cheaper than a domain & domain hosting.

Opa

Out here in Calgary there is a food chain called Opa. It has all the fixings of a fast food place, but it sells Greek food. For 7 bucks, you get a a stick of meat, a potato, rice, flatbread, tzaziki & greek salad. From a health standpoint, I'd imagine the food is reasonably healthy which is a plus because you can grab it to go.

Someone should look into this franchise in Ontario, specially in the Toronto area. I'm sure it would be ultra successful for people that want something different from the usual McDonalds/Subway stuff.

There are also alot of A&W's out here. A&W was very uncommon in Ontario, there was one in Uptown Waterloo, but it was closed a few years ago when they blew up the shopping centre to make way for stores geared toward rich people. I don't really eat much fast food, but I find A&W to be different. It's also expensive vs say Wendy's, but the food quality seems to be a touch higher (in the context of crap junk food).

I also notice alot of Second Cup's. I don't like Starbucks & I don't really like Second Cup, but it's a better choice than the former. There is one on Stephen Ave which is a great place to go and read FFWD, Calgary's Arts Weekly.

Home?

I have found an apartment I want to rent until I buy a condo. It's in a cool part of downtown and ONLY costs 1400 bucks a month. I'm hoping no one else has 1400 bucks this month and I can get approved.

I'll now be working from home. Sometimes being a computer dood has it's benefits & one of them is sitting at home working. No bus pass for work. No business attire. And most importantly, I'll save gazillions of dollars because I won't have to buy lunch. No matter how hard I try, I CANT make lunch and take it. And when I do make it, I'm so used to not making it, I forget to bring and and STILL have to buy lunch. So, working from home is good.

I can't drive 55

So.....

I get a speeding ticket. It's not cool to speed here, but it's OK to drive like a dense fucking moron. THEN....I bought some beer, and put the Heineken cans in the front seat only to have one EXPLODE in my car. My car now smells like beer, which should help the next time I get a speeding fine (probably next week).

SOMEONE SEND SOME 401 PLEEEEASE

Calgary Farmers Market

So I've checked out two farmers markets here. Here's my thoughts.....

Crossroads Farmers Market: I guess this is the original farmers market in Calgary. It's located off Blackfoot Trail near Ogden road, which is on the east side of the city. The produce is decently priced, but not all of it is local. They have meat and cheese outlets as well. The rest of the market sells the usual t-shirts and farmers market stuff I refer to as junk. I personally wasn't overly impressed beyond the food. Parking is cheap 2 dollars for 1 hour

Calgary Farmers Market: Located at the Currie Barracks at the old Canadian Forces base, it's near Marda Loop. Driving in, the parking lot was this black mud, almost as if it was oil or tar mixed with dirt. Not cool. Inside, the market is very nice. It's organized, neat and the isles are large enough to get two people down (or more). The prices are higher, but they seemed to carry alot of local produce, which is a touch more expensive, but local = less enviro impact. They have a large organic area & there are numerous places to eat there. Parking is free

I was most impressed with the Calgary Farmers market. Note to you bus riders, neither appears to be easily accessible by transit.

Stupid Drivers, part whatever

I like this city, but people here cannot drive. Where do I start?

Fast Lane: There is no fast lane here. In Calgary, people drive at whatever speed they feel like. Nothing is MORE annoying than finding some guy doing 105 in the fast lane. These guys should try this on the 401.

Flashing My Lights: When I flash my lights at you, that means you can GET in the lane. Not here tho. It appears this is some kind of warning to NOT move into the lane. So people just sit there, waiting.

Missed The Lane?: when you miss your off ramp this does not mean you can stop your car on the highway and wait to get over. Go to the next off ramp and turn around or PREPARE for your trip. Buy a fucking map.

Pay Attention: It's no longer Saskatchewan, it's Calgary. Please pay attention to the world around you. There ARE OTHER CARS. There are also signs, so read them. That's why the government PUT them there.

I used tho think the morons on the 401 were idiots. But I've come to appreciate them. They were at least predictable. Not out here. Here, people are like ants that have been sprayed with bug spray, but not enough to kill them. Just enough to fuck their senses. U can never tell what they might do next. Back east, people were just plain out assholes in a rush. And I MISS IT.

Beer

Hi the Barley Mill today for a beer and some fish and chips. Beer here is expensive, 5.75 each vs say 4.50 at home. Fish and Chips were 12.50, but then again this place was in the "good" area

So I went to the Cactus Club on McLeod Trail. Same thing. 5.50 for a beer. Guess this is the price point

At the traffic lights, some guy pulls up beside me. Motions me to unroll my window. My first thought is who is this freak. I unroll the window and he shouts I"m from Ontario too man. Sometimes it feels good to meet people from where you are from.

Currently listening to Z103.5 in Toronto live from a club. Sometimes you miss home.

Weird Part 2

Sorry, make that 4.

Wierd

In the span of 10 minutes, I was just offered 3 jobs. I was hired by one firm without ever being interviewed.

Car Wash

I don't know why...but it's 10 bucks for a car wash out here.

Should you move here? Part 2

Comparing Toronto & Calgary if you're deciding to move from elsewhere. I used Toronto as a base point.

Education: From a part time standpoint, Calgary has some pretty damn good educational facilities. U of C, SAIT and Mount Royal College all offer part time course. SAIT seems especially good. Both U of C and SAIT are served by the C Train (stations on campus) so they're very easy to get to. Mount Royal has a downtown campus, but the main campus is to the west of the city. The courses here are VERY expensive. To compare, the same Windows 2003 Server course I took at Conestoga College in Ontario was 200 bucks. At SAIT, it's 550 dollars. I would imagine the SAIT name carries some weight and the technology they use is very advanced.

For full time studies, I can't really comment. U of C is a very nice looking campus, and in a very good area of the city but I don't know what they specialize in.

Should you move here?

The answer to that question is maybe.........so let's compare Toronto vs Calgary

Jobs: Calgary wins hands down. There are jobs at every corner out here BUT....the wages are often the same in mid level positions. If you work in Calgary at a Tim Horton's, you'll make much higher wages. If you work in a mid level administrative position, you'll get paid the same. If you work in a top tier position, stay where you are. You'll get nothing extra monetarily moving out here. If you're coming from a small town or the East coast....the wages are higher....but read on.

Housing/Rent: Calgary's housing market is more expensive than Toronto. I compared the cost of condo's in the core between the two cities and Toronto was cheaper. You won't find a decent 2 bedroom condo in Calgary for less than 300K. That can be gotten in Toronto for 230K-250K. Rent's are mostly the same, but in Calgary there is no choice. You'll find a place rather easily if you'll pay 1200 bucks a month for a 1 bedroom, but if you're looking for a place for 800, good luck. You'll find about 20 of them listed in the renters guide. They disappear the same day. I went buy a place with a for rent sign in Bankview, and there were a line of cars outside all filling out applications. There is also no rent control in Alberta, so that 800 dollar flat could easily become a 1200 dollar flat.

Taxes: Much is made by the right-wing about how much lower taxes are here. There is no PST on purchases. On the other side, the price of EVERYTHING is higher. Health Care is 44 dollars per person, so if you're living with your GF/wife, you'll pay 88 bucks a month. The transit system is passed it's capacity and pushed to the limits. When it snows, they do not plow any roads, but MAJOR roads. So if you get 30 cms of snow, you wait for the snow to melt. Get snow tires. If you have children, there are many areas in the new suburbs that have no schools. Some kids ride on the bus for 1 hour to get to school. The only public service that seems to be superior is the license office.

People: I find Calgarians to be a friendly group. They are far less cynical than those in the 401 corridor (Southern Ontario). They are also more friendly. BUT and this is a big BUT....they are less able to cope with the stresses of city life. Those in Tdot seem better equipped to deal with long lines, grumpy people & the usual bullshit that comes with living in a city. There are many Calgarians that have just relocated from small villages so they get the "bright lights, big city" mentality. BUT....there are more and more cosmopolitan city types living here than there was even 5 years ago. This has changed the nature of the city, so it has grown into a true urban centre. Calgary is also very young, but much less ethnic than Toronto, but that too is changing.

Nightlife/Things to Do: Calgary has a very good arts & entertainment scene. That might shock a few people who think this place is all about oil and burgers, but it's the reality. The major difference is that there is less "old money" and less pretentiousness in the arts community. I'd say the two are about equal, but as Toronto is a larger city, it's going to have more access to fringe arts groups.

Calgary is a lone city. The next major city is Edmonton, and outside of that, the only other place you'd go on a regular basis would probably be Banff. You are in close enough that you can fly to Vancouver in an hour, visit Seattle, or go to California, or if you love the true north, it's a short flight to the Yukon and NWT. None of these places are within a day's drive.

Toronto is different. In a single day, you can drive to Montreal, NYC, Chicago, Ottawa & see everything from the Pelee Island Winery to the never ending forest in Northern Ontario. Ontario is more diverse in landscape & because it's more populated, there are more places to go within a short distance.

Cinema: Calgary has 3 arts cinemas & a fairly good number of film festivals. U of C offers up film as well. The most notable theatres are The Uptown, Globe & Plaza. North East Calgary, which is the ethnic enclave, has cinemas that play Indian and Chinese films.

Radio: I'll give this to Calgary. mostly. From an FM radio standpoint, Calgary wins. The radio is a bit more diverse out here & the playlists a little larger. Toronto radio is very bland and takes no changes. Calgary has the usual country, rock & light rock stations, but also has decent alternative, pop and triple AAA stations (Toronto has none). I admit to missing Z103dot5. Vibe 98.5 isn't even in the same league.

Television: Both cities are covered by the usual Global, CITY and CBC...... I prefer the television media out here on CBC and Global, perhaps because it's new? CITY TV is taking some time to get used to. If you're from the GTA, it was a staple, so not seeing the same faces takes some time to get used too. Where Calgary totally is lost is ethnic programming. Toronto has OMNI 1 & 2 & Calgary has nothing. The solution is to buy Bell Express Vu. The time zones also make it easy so that you can watch Letterman at 9 30 if you wish, or a Leaf or Canadians game at 5 PM on a Saturday.

I'll write more later. This is already too long.

A very old record player

How music was heard almost 100 years ago.

The Day from Hell

So I had interviews today. I woke up to snow, lots of it. If you think Toronto creeps along in snow, try this city. At least the radio doesn't tell you it's a crisis 100 times an hour.

So I left 90 minutes early and was late for the first interview. No biggie, outside of running out of window washer on the Deerfoot. Not that it mattered cause we were only going 20 kms along. Interview ends, I go home.

I go to leave for interview 2. I stop to buy some bus tickets ,but no luck, so I proceed to the C Train station (Calgary subway). I park, walk inside with a 20 and go to buy a ticket. I can't. There is no change machine, no booth AND the C train machine only takes coins. No visa. No debit.

So. I start asking people for change cause I have to get downtown. About 5 minutes into this endeavour, along comes these two "C Train Police", who advise me begging is illegal and they'll ticket me for loitering. I'm wearing business clothes and good shoes. Apparently these guys have their head in their ass.

I tried to explain I was asking for change, but they stated they'd received complaints and I should leave the station immediately. I said to them I needed to get a train downtown and needed some change and that I thought it might be a WISE idea to put change machines so people could by tickets.

At this point, Mr Cop decided I was being a problem and stated that if I did NOT stop begging for change and leave immediately he would charge me. This is when I got pissed off.

Now those of you that know me know I'm a WEE bit sarcastic and abrasive at times. In short, I have an attitude problem. And I got pissed at the cop. I told him to go ahead and write me up a ticket in my Ontario address & that he could stick his fucking head in his ass. And I asked him, have you never seen a fucking bum you stupid tool. And do they WEAR BUSINESS ATTIRE? Then I proceeded to tell him to take his hayseed redneck Rambo attitude and shove it in his ass.

I was then escorted out of the C Train station and advised to temper my attitude around authority. The conversation ended with me standing at my car asking the Transit Cop how many fucking HOMELESS people own NEW cars too.

So, I drive downtown. Only to find that there are NO parking spots anywhere in the entire core. So I drive to the outer core and park there. Oh, did I mention that parking garages in Calgary don't have elevators. GUESS where I parked. On the top fucking floor.

And when I got back, I went to get in, but the door was locked. So I had to get security to let me in the parking garage. When I asked why, he said "it stops homeless people from sleeping in here" Brilliant. And the elevator? Non existent. So I walked up 10 fucking floors in business clothes. THEN, I get to the top, only to find the machine is BROKEN. So, I drive down some floors and I see a lady and ask here where I can pay. She says go to the 4th floor. So I drive there and I need to park to go inside. So I do...in a spot reserved for people that go to some hotel. ALL of the spots are empty.

So I go inside, pay my fee after finding the machine, come back to the car to find a parking guy about to ticket me. He proceeds to give me a lecture on parking in the hotel spot when I am not a guest.

At this point....I am now nuclear. I am soaked in sweat from running up and down stairs, walking 10 blocks in slush & NOT happy. I calmly explained to him again what had happened and that next time I would not pay, I would simply go downstairs, get out of the car and KICK THE FUCKING GATE OFF.

Parking in Calgary is fucked. Not everyone carries 300 bucks in fucking loonies in their pcoket. It's the TWENTY FIRST CENTURY. Can we get a DEBIT and CREDIT CARD machine?

Basement Apartments Part 2

Another benefit of basement apartments is that it allows regular people making less than 200 grand a year to buy a house. I kid you not, out here a house costs 400 grand and that prices gets higher as you get closer to downtown. Exactly who can afford a small house for 500 grand? No one I know, even those with incomes WELL into the six figures.

It just makes sense.

Basement Apartments

Unless you're living on another planet, you've probably heard that Calgary has a tight rental market. Calgary also has an unregulated rental market meaning there is no rent control. So if your landlord thinks he can raise your rent 500 bucks a month. He can. Just by giving you notice. So that creates for some high priced rental units out here.

Of late, the City of Calgary has been debating about allowing basement apartments. The pocketbook citizenry complain that allowing basement apartments will lower the value of their neighborhoods.

Really? I can't recall that happening in Toronto and area when basement suites became legal. What it did do is alleviate a tight rental market and give people choice.

The people complaining about this have no economic sense. There is a chronic labour shortage in Calgary & a rental crisis unless one is willing to pay 1200 bucks a month for a 1 bedroom. Think about it. Why would you move here if you can't find a place to live and it costs more than everywhere else, EVEN Toronto. The people of this city whine constantly about the shortage of workers, but give them no place to live. Does it take a rocket scientist to realize that people WONT come here because of the lack of rental choice?

And where does that leave Calgary? Well, it'll tighten the labour market, forcing wages higher for one thing.. Good for me, sure, but not good for business. There comes a point when the labour market becomes so expensive it's just easier to locate elsewhere.

And what about lower paid service businesses? If you can't find staff, you can't stay open. I've seen stores closed because of no staff. Not to mention a freaking burger, fries and a coke can cost 8 or 9 dollars in Calgary vs $5.50 elsewhere. When you're paying some fry cook 12 bucks an hour, the burgers gonna have to cost more.

But these people don't care. It's all about them. Who cares about the economic prosperity of the city. Of course that'll all change if this all caves in and this whole thing implodes. If you're worried about your precious property values falling because Ned the Newf moves into your basement suite, imagine what'll happen if the whole economy sinks because there aren't any workers. Just like 1981 all over.

Tools.

Recyling

Driving to the gym today, listening to CBC Radio 1. Could I first mention that everything in this city is SO far away. I can't wait to move back downtown.

Anyways. Of late, Calgary City Council is arguing over.....get this, a RECYCLING program. Yes, the city has a recycling program, but you have to drive to the depots which are located around town. Keep in mind that Calgary, pop. 1 million, is about the same size as all of NYC. In short, it's huge. So if you don't drive, so much for recycling.

Some folks here are against having curbside recycling. It "costs" too much. Of course, it never costs to much to widen the Glenmore or build more suburbans 3 trillion miles from the city centre. Nor does it cost anything to build giant landfills and buy up all the property 20 miles around it cause of NIMBY types. Nor does it cost alot to send 200 trucks to the dump everyday.

They have a bottle depot system out here. U take back your bottles and get 10 cents. It's alot like the beer store in Ontario, but they take all bottles back, even those cardboard juice ones. MAYBE......just maybe, they should consider the same thing for paper & plastic containers. It'll at least give the illusion it's a "free market" business so it'll appeal to the rednecks that can't get out of 1960. And at the worst, all the cities homeless folks can pick up used newspapers & plastic butter containers and make a few bucks on them.

I'm really tired of politicians, and I'm tired of how they cater to pocketbook citizens. It's gotten so bad for me I have trouble supporting ANY political stripe. In 2007, you've come to expect the same ole same ole from every politician. Nothing but the same tired bullshit.

The end of the British Pub

Reading today in the Calgary Herald that the British Pub is under threat. Apparently there are 60 000 of them in England, but 50 close each month due to a variety of reasons. One of them is that many food chains are taking over.

Back in Waterloo, this was starting to happen in Uptown. The south end of uptown had a coffee shop, gone when Starbucks opened. The eyewear outlet, long a fixture, closed the day the mainstream super eyewear store opened across the road in the new, really expensive plaza.

And I've noticed this in Calgary since last time around. Bad Ass Coffee, once a staple to the core is now a Tim's. KAOS, once a cool Jazz/Blues lounge is now "The Yardhouse" a place where drunk morons go on St Pats day to create problems. Numerous small cool stores have vapourized in the name of large fashion outlets.

In Calgary, most people think the North East area of the city is a less than desirable area of the city. Recently I went to a place in Kensington for a shawarma. The bill, including two drinks was 25 bucks. I found a hole in the wall place in Forest Lawn (not a desired area to live) and the price was substantially better and so was the taste. The place lacked the cool factor, but who cares? I personally think it's more cool to eat at something original than some contrived "cool" place to go.

The NE is also home to T&T and Lina's Supermarkets. The first is all Chinese & the new store is fascinating. It's modern & clean, and shows how many Chinese are in Calgary. Lina's is a small Italian shopping store at which I FINALLY found a good pizza. Artichoke on a pizza in Calgary. Thank you GOD.

It's really too bad to see the Brit Pub die, but it's just as sad to see the indie coffee houses & small stores. These create fabric in your neighborhood and are owned by people that live in your town. In short, they give a fuck bout your ass, unless multinational chains that give a fuck about their stockholders.

Condo's

I've started looking for condo's that are available. I just decided to do a quick comparison & Calgary's condo market is MORE expensive than Toronto's. I compared condo's in downtown Toronto vs downtown Calgary.

That really makes me raise an eyebrow. Either Toronto is undervalued or Calgary is overvalued. I'm starting to wonder if Calgary isn't at it's peak.

Stupid Tools.....

I like beer & I like bars. Today being St Patrick's day, I went down to 17th Ave in Calgary, the hotspot for pubs in Calgary.

I've never experienced a set of tools like I did on 17th Ave today in mid afternoon. It's cool to drink and have fun, but get over the retarded behaviour. Watching some drunk idiot run out to some chick with her mom and yell "wear more green" is retarded. I stopped doing that in Grade 10, long before I was 20 something.

It really turned me off the Yardhouse & Melrose Place. When morons come running out of your bar at 3 PM to dance in the street, dontcha think you should maybe control them? There are times I miss the Huether, Ethels & the El Mo. Today is one of them.

Calgary Skyline

Me promised a photo, here it is.

View from here

Right now I am staying in a house in Douglasdale. It's a nice area, but it's suburban & I have to drive my car everywhere. Even to the corner 7-11. It does have a nice view regardless.

The ice melts.....

Dell

A few months ago, I bought a Dell Laptop. I normally use Mac's, but alas, I'm an IT guy & I need to use Windows during the day, so I bought a high end Dell laptop.

Figuring it was almost time for Vista, I waited until Dell was at the stage where they gave you Windows but offered a free Vista upgrade. 5 weeks ago, I did the footwork to get the copy of Vista, but......nothing happened. Then I moved.

So I called today to tell them to re-direct the package to Calgary, not my old address. This is where the disaster starts.

If Dell has any wonders WHY it's business is sinking like a ship, it's service levels are the problem. I'm a patience person, but insource your call centre back to America. The guy on the other end could speak English, but it's clear it was not his first language. He had to spell my name, address & city several times to get it right. Thing is, he kept messing it up. I asked him, are you in India, but he wouldn't reply. I guess it's a hush hush thing.

The call lasted better than 30 minutes & all I had to do was redirect my copy of Vista. I'm not at the stage where I figure fuck it, I'll just go BUY a copy of Vista at the store. It's just less of a headache.

If you're going to out-source, do it in your own country. I understand how hard it is to learn a second language (seeing I have), but I'd never expect to be put in a situation where I was a CSR in that language. I simply can't speak that fluently.

And as I wrote this, I glanced at my Mac, sitting on the floor. I went to Carbon Computing to buy that thing. Turned it on and it worked. This Dell has crashed once & any support is based out of India. No wonder Mac does so well

Mac rocks. Too bad I can't get a job doing Mac support.

Job Hunting

I'm taking my time looking for work out here. There are alot of jobs, so I figure I might as well take a week and really score what I want to get.

Strangely, I am also bored. I've been here 1 week and I'm almost at the stage of being desperate to go to work. Go figure. I can sleep in. I can stay up all night if I want, but work seems to bring some structure to life.

Pizza

I love pizza. I admit to loving it, and knowing it's bad for you. In Waterloo, my favourite place to have a slice was the Gino's on Highland Road. For some reason, I love that pizza, even if it's corporate per se.

In Calgary, it's like impossible to find a slice. I found a place in a strip mall near the house, but they don't sell slices. In the major shopping areas, there are NO places to find a slice of pizza. This is retarded. The one place I did find, near my gym, was crap. The slice was 2 bucks and TINY. He asked me if I wanted another, but I was like, um, no thanks.

There is apparently a place called the Wicked Wedge on 17th that is supposed to be good, but I'm sure it will cost a small fortune. I had two chicken shawarma's last weekend in Kensington and they were 25 bucks with pop.

And I can't find Brio anywhere.

The Hour with Strombo

Having just moved and not working, I get to stay up late on school nights. Watching "The Hour" with Strombo on CBC and I'm pretty impressed. George interviewed Bob Lefsetz about music. Lefsetz is a guy you either love or hate but is undoubtedly on the money when it comes to today's music scene. He then spoke to Richard Branson, better known as CEO of Virgin (as in Virgin Mobile).

It's a different take on the news & isn't so stale and drab as a typical newscast, nor as old. Check it out. The Hour on CBC.

Wierd weather

So I arrive here and it's 17C, Sunday people were out on the patio having pints. I wake up today, it's snowing and cold. It is now mid afternoon &......it's warmed up and sunny. :?). It's bizarre, but sure beats overcast skies all the time in winter.

Went to the gym for the first time in 6 weeks today. The Goodlife here in Calgary is AWESOME. I go to one at Richmond Square on the west side of Calgary. Goodlife is still renovating it, but it's got brand new equipment, huge TV & the change room is very nice. They even have an ironing board for those business types that get a wrinkle in their shirt. Aside from being too far away (until I get my place in downtown), it's so nice, I want to go there.

Salt

Today it snowed, about 15cms. Alberta doesn't put salt on the road, which is GREAT. What that means is that your windows get wet instead of smeared with the grimy salt crap you get in Ontario. I drove over 10 kms and never once used my window washer fluid. I wish Ontario would adopt this plan and give up on the salt. Not me mention you're car probably lasts longer.

Drove to the C Train station. The C Train is Calgary's Subway system, but it's above ground. It's very very popular and horribly crowded and it was nearly impossible to find a parking spot at the station. The parking is, thankfully, free. 1.95 for a ticket if you buy a book.

All is good, X92.9 kicks ass.

Interviews

Had my first interviews today with a recruiter. There is no shortage of jobs out west if you're willing to look. Life is good.

Goodlife Fitness: Now a Calgary member

Like Tim Hortons, Ontario is full of Goodlife Fitness outlets. I went searching for one today, and it was at least 20kms from where I am staying till I move downtown. I was kinda surprised to find out Goodlife is new to the west & potential customers often asked if the gym was a fly by night operation.

The CSR at the gym was telling me that when it comes to work, I should make demands & get whatever I want. She said people also don't care about their jobs, so if they don't like something, they just stop showing up because they'll find another gig immediately. Not sure that's a cool thing to do in the long run, but it shows how buoyant the labour market is here.

Strangeways, here we come

Another thing I find sorta strange out here is that people go out and break up the chunks of ice on their streets. The City of Calgary doesn't plow side streets, so the snow gets compressed into this hard rock like substance. The locals go out and break this stuff up with shovels, I'm guessing to help it melt faster. ?

Not plowing side streets is probably an issue after really heavy snow, but it means you can park on the street all night without worrying about the parking nazi's coming by and giving you a ticket. In some downtown areas it seems like everyone parks on the street.

They also have alleys here. As in you don't have a front driveway, you park behind your house in this alley. Some brand new homes seem to have driveways, but this appears to be in higher income areas. The roads are also very wide here, even in residential neighborhoods. Downtown also has alot of one way streets making for an interesting drive when you don't know where you are going.

The Calgarian fascination with patios

The citizens of this city have a fascination with patios at pubs. Not that that is so odd, just they hit the patio when it's 10C. The pubs also appear to heat the patios with these gas heater things. Isn't that a little like leaving your patio door open in fall to warm up the deck on your house? Does it even work?

People here also wear shorts when it's like 12C. The number of people I saw out yesterday walking around in shorts was amazing. Like hundreds of people. Perhaps because it's sunny here? And I must add that it's always sunny here. I'm sure after a while my life will start to resemble the movie Ground Hog Day; everyday will be sunny.

Eight

Eight is the number of job opportunities on my plate right now. I started looking for work on Friday afternoon, figuring I'd take a day off. Life is good :?)

Exploring the Calgary hoods

So today I ventured out to re-discover Calgary's neighborhoods or at least some of them.

Kensington: Probably Calgary's most well known area, it's a place with a whole lot of coffee shops. I had to pay 2 bucks to park, but no biggie, it's tough to find street parking. The area is very nice, but it's also sorta upscale. I went to Shawarma Station to buy lunch, and it was pretty damn good, altho expensive. That's just a downfall of living here I guess, food costs alot. Kensington is really walkable, but the sidewalks are narrow in some places. It's a place I'd seriously consider living.

17th Ave: This is probably the de facto place to go in Calgary for nightlife, food, etc. Melrose Place, this upscale patio bar was packed at 6 PM, no seats available. Just up the road, what was once KAOS, a Jazz bar, was some new place, but had a patio and was also packed. It's surely the place to go. The Ship and Anchor patio was full, but that's normal. People here seem to have this wierd fascination with going to a patio when its above 5C.

I also drove around the Cecil Hotel & the Mustard Seed, the home to all things homeless in Calgary. The number of homeless people here is astonishing really. I'm guessing that's because of the lack of affordable accommodations. Calgary is a great place, but its a place best suited for people with good jobs. Otherwise, you'll find yourself in the situation where you can find a job, but can't find a place to live. What good is a decent paying job if you can't find a place to live? I saw an apartment that was available today for 825 for a 1 bedroom. Nothing I'd write home about, but people were lined up to get it. That's the situation here, so if you're thinking of moving to Calgary but only have a "decent" job, stay where you are. Unless you have friends here. really.

PS. Did I mention how good 92.9 is?

CITY TV Everywhere

Calgary has a CITY TV. It's about 10000 times better than when it was A Channel & sorta reminds me of Toronto's CITY TV. I used to think that CITY TV once defined Toronto media, but I give that to OMNI TV now.

Calgary Rocks...

This is a great city, it's got a positive vibe & I'm happy I moved here. The music scene is rich & robust & it really lacks the exclusionary snobbery that it does elsewhere. People seem interested in having fun, not proving how cool they are.

Private Liquor Stores

Ontario's beer, wine & hard liquor system is more or less controlled by the major breweries or the government. I don't have alot of use for the beer store; it always seemed to be sorta dumpy and not a place you'd want to browse & walk around. The liquor store, known as the LCBO, was different, usually very large, with a huge selection and very clean and pleasant. There wasn't alot of them in the city, but you could trust them to carry what you drank. They also had lousy hours, some closing as early as 6 PM on weeknights, but most open till 9 or 10.

In Alberta it's private. I've seen dozens of liquor stores in this city, some large, some holes in the wall, some very cheap, some not so cheap. Unlike in Ontario, prices vary from shop to shop, so you need to pay attention. The prices aren't much different, except for the lowest priced beer which is very cheap, sometimes 3.99 for a 6 pack. Assuming you like crap beer.

I'm not sure what system I like. I went to a store today to pick up a 6, and it was open 7 days a week to midnight. No more of that scheduling your life around when the liquor store is open. It's definitely more convenient. Yet, the stores do not have the selection and this is an issue if you like microbrewery beer (which I do). Shelf space is limited, so therefore it makes more sense to carry popular products rather than obscure beer by small breweries. The LCBO staff are skilled at "alcohol", and the selection is amazing. But the hours suck & you need to drive a lengthy distance to find a liquor store.

At this moment, I admit to liking the convenience. Tonight at 7 25, I thought, I could use a 6 to have with dinner. The local liquor store was open. That wouldn't have happened in Ontario.

Grocery Stores in Calgary

Back home I shopped at Central Fresh Market, this small indie grocery store that was at least 100 years old. Shopping took all of 30 minutes & there was never much of a line in the store. I also went to Highland Farms to shop, because it carried more than the typical white guy that eats at Kelsey's kind of food.

Calgary seems to have 3 major stores:

Safeway: Generally very nice looking inside, but really really expensive. The food is decent, but it's hard to find anything out of the ordinary. Bread & veggies are 25% more expensive than at home.

Co-op: Much like Safeway, I'm told this started as a local chain to sell farmers goods. It's now a high end shop complete (sometimes) with hardwood floors. Like Safeway, the prices are very high but the quality is good (assuming you like the same ole, same ole).

Superstore: These places have a larger selection & carry more ethnic food, but the places are huge. The lines are long at the cash register & you need to put in a dollar to get a cart. I can see this being a pain in the ass because I'll forget about the dollar coin. They are also spread out over town, so going shopping for food will take forever (aka it means a 10 km or longer driver).

Figuring these 3 choices weren't so great, I set out to find a few other stores. Here's what I've come up with

Community Natural Foods? - I think that's the name of it, but it's a health food store. It's not that bad, and very large, and they have two locations, both easily accessible without a car. Organic produce costs alot, 10 bucks for a pound of red peppers. Ugh.

T&T Supermarket: A fascinating place that's geared toward the Chinese market. Or should I say Asian. There were quite a few people that where white that shopped there, and the prices are reasonable. There are apparently two of these places so I will have to check out the other. They had 3 King Crabs live in a tank, which is something I've never seen. A king crab is about 3 feet long (1 meter) and pretty bloody ugly. They also carry a whole pile of live fish and interesting food.

Lina's Italian Supermarket: Centre Street and 21st Ave NE, it's a pretty cool little store. You couldn't shop there entirely, but they had a great selection of cheese, meats, real pasta, etc. Walking into the store, I immediately felt I was back in Toronto shopping, which I admit to being a good feeling. I had some gelato, which was really good, and the price was pretty decent. I couldn't buy everything here, but I think I'll frequent this place.

Right Angles

Further to my gripe on drivers here, people seem to have this problem with parking their car straight. Back in Waterloo, I lived in a student ghetto, and students often parked their car sort of crooked. I used to wonder how the fuck someone that could complete a degree in Math didn't have the sense to back up the car and straighten it out.

AH, but here it's even MORE common. In the IKEA parking lot, I witnessed better than 20 people who couldn't straighten up their car. How fucking complex is it? U pull in, then back up and pull forward. If you can't see the line then unroll the windows and look at the yellow line on the ground. Driving isn't rocket science regardless what the Germans believe

I can't drive 55

Back in Southern Ontario a person caught driving less than 150 in the fast lane would face ridicule, hate mail and numerous finger gestures by other drivers.

Here in Calgary, this is not the case. It's common to have people driving 110 in the fast lane, when the speed limit is 100. I'm guessing that "Slower Traffic Keep Right" isn't the answer to a question on the drivers exam.

I always considered myself sort of a slow driver. Until I moved here. Now it appears I'm the fastest "asshole" on the highway at any given time. Sometimes I wonder if these people believe they're still driving down some remote farming road in Saskatchewan & no one is around. Dood, the fast lane = just that. fast. Get the hell out of the way for impatience assholes like myself.

But I have come up with a plan. Individuals charged for poor driving under the Alberta Traffic act should be forced to drive a truck in Toronto in Toronto. Make them pick up deliveries in Oshawa, and take the boxes downtown to Chinatown on Spadina & have them do this all day, every day for 1 month. I believe this would be an effective method to change their outlook on the meaning of impatience

The Calgary Skyline

So tonight, I ventured off to Community Natural Foods near Chinook Centre. It's a health food store & for all intensive purposes, a pretty good one. This is Calgary, so I imagine it's pretty tough to get anything grown locally, outside of wheat and red meat.

Not wanting to come home, I took MacLeod Trail into downtown. You climb up this little hill & then head down into the city (which is in a valley). At this point, you can see the Calgary Skyline.

I'm into city skylines. I think New York, Hong Kong, Vancouver & Toronto have very cool skylines. I'll now add Calgary to that. It looks pretty fine on this hill on MacLeod Trail. I'll have to take a photo & post it. Or find someone with some photographic skills to do it for me.

The Registry

If you've ever lived in Ontario, you know that anything to do with car registration or your drivers license is pure hell. You venture off to this office that is open 5 days a week, 8 hours a day, like we live in 1930. The lineups are usually incredibly long & the wait tedious & the staff miserable because everyone they serve is miserable. It's a little more fun than going to the dentist.

Today, I went to the Alberta version of such. To start, they call it the Registry office and they're all over the place. Not just 2 in your city but 50. They are open at NIGHT. When you walk in, there is no line and the people were friendly and amiable. They quickly and happily answered my questions and went OUT of their way to help me out. No such thing would ever happen back in Ontario.

And you get 90 days to change over your license, unlike in Ontario where it's 6.

Tim Horton's

Back in Ontario, there are at least 100 billion Tim Horton's. In my old hood, you could find four of them, all within .5 kms.

That's not the case here. I drove around for 20 minutes this morning looking for a Tim's, and finally found one on McLeod Trail (the main big box shopping mall road from hell). Calgary has a labour shortage, and it was noticeable. The line was out the door, and there was 3 people working the counter.

I seem to have the luck of always finding some tool to stand in front of me. The guy in front of me wanted some sandwich but wanted the woman to pick out the onions. The stupid part is the sandwich was some mixed up goo where the onions where in it, egg salad or something. The guy seemed pissed off at the clerk & even more so at the oriental lady that wasn't willing to pick out the onions. Dood goes on to make a joke about her ethnicity to the clerk, and they both laugh. It was audible enough for everyone to hear, including the asian woman making his sandwich.

I have a real short temper & I'm a real mouthpiece. I was right behind him and when he turned laughing hoping I'd join in, I asked him if he'd like to work here and serve assholes like him AND how much chinese he could speak anyway? He didn't seem to get my point, but I didn't expect him too. I got my coffee & when I was leaving smiled at the asian lady and said "Ni Hao", the mandarin phrase for "how are you". She said nothing, just smiled at me.

I've been here two days and almost everyone I've meet has been nice to me. They're far more polite than people in the GTA, but of course.....you're going to run into some tool that can't get the world is more than an oasis of white people that eat at Kelseys.

People like that make me pro nuclear

X 92.9- Calgary's New Rock Alternative

Most radio pisses me off in the 21st Century. I guess that's sorta wierd because I have worked in it, and spent 6 years as a programmer at CJIQ FM. Most radio doesn't give a shit about music; it's all about advertising. Small playlists, announcers that are boxed and not allowed to be themselves, yada yada yada

In Calgary, I've found X92.9. It's a small alternative rock station owned by some company from Saskatchewan. It's pretty low key, but the music is pretty progressive for mainstream radio & the announcers are people. They're allowed to have emotions & state their opinions, rather than just be these castrated voices there to tell you what you already know (the name of the song).

It's been a long long time since I've listened to an FM station that plays Alt Rock that I like. I think I found one. I hope this station stays what it is, and doesn't fall into the trap of chasing the lowest common denominator.

You can find this station at www.x929.ca They have streaming, it's low quality, but streaming is expensive and this is a new station. They're cool.

Downtown

After getting warned to slow down, I headed into Downtown Calgary to check it out. I've been here before, and it's a very changed place. The skyline is very cool looking & the whole downtown is very urban. I drove down Centre Street through what appeared to be a Chinatown. It's not anything like Toronto's Chinatown, but it's still a Chinatown. I have a fascination with cultures & stuff like that. I dunno why.

I drove into the Mission, Marda Loop, Connaught & 17th Ave, the "hip" areas of Calgary. I've not seen this area for 3 years, but it's sure changed. I noticed that Bad Ass Coffee had closed and was now a Tim Hortons. That totally sucks, not that I don't like Tims, but I like indie shops. They make a neighborhood cool.

Downtown Calgary is incredibly vibrant for a city of 1 million people. There is absolutely no parking and people all over the street. The amount of building going on is incredible, and driving downtown takes some time to get used too. It's mostly one way streets and many of the people downtown don't seem to have much patience behind the wheel. I drove around for a while and decided I want to live in The Mission or Marda Loop. They're a bit off the main drag, but pretty cool looking. Marda Loop looks a little uppity near Garrison Woods, it's urban, but seems to lack that low key feeling it used to have. I also notice the Karma Arts House is gone. Karma Arts House was the home to Indie music in Marda Loop........but it's now gone. Ugh.

My first full day in Calgary

Calgary is 2 hours behind Ontario, so I woke up at 7 AM MST. Everyone in the house had left for work, so I washed some laundry (it needed it, believe me), had a shower and split. On my way up to visit a buddy in the NE of the city, I pulled up to the offramp and had someone knock on my window. Turned out it was an off duty cop.....his first words were "it's not the 401 anymore". For those of you that don't know what the 401 is, it's a major highway in Southern Ontario, and speed limits are optional. The cop told me he looked in his mirror, and saw my car race by so fast he couldn't get my plate. Turned out, he had lived in Peel Region (part of the greater toronto area), so he figured I had just arrived. He proceeded to ask me how I got my car to go that fast, then warned me I'd have a stack of tickets if I didn't slow down. He said that people out here drove slower & weren't in such a rush. He also told me to drive the speed limit through school zones...not 1 km faster than posted. People also stop here for pedestrians. To the point that if a person is standing at the side of the road, people will stop for them. The memories I have of trying to cross a road in Toronto are those of cabbies speeding up to hit me. It's sort of a game I guess. This is going to take some time to get used to. I grate my teeth at the people that drive 110 in the fast lane. And they seemed pissed at me for passing them.......

Day 3: Brandon to Calgary

Again, woke up very early, I was still on Eastern Time, so I had gained an hour. Headed up the road to the Husky Truck stop on the highway to eat. One thing about Husky Truck Stops is that the food always comes fast, even if it's nothing to write home about. Hit the open road and turned on Chris Moyles on BBC Radio 1 for the breakfast show to break the monotony. Sometime....you want to hear more than music on the radio. It's nice to hear humans talking.

Not much to say about Manitoba. It's very very flat, and the road seems like one straight line forever. The wind was blowing from the south and it was going to get warmer, which was a good thing...in that it was going to get warm, but I had to hang on to the car. The east side of Saskatchewan looks alot like the west side of Manitoba, it's really flat, there are few trees, and very few towns. You start missing the luxuries of an urban area, stuff like Tim Hortons every 10 feet.

Regina is a long drive from Brandon, and the first thing I noticed is how wide the roads are. Everything appears supersized, the roads, the shopping centres. I guess with all this land to pave over, there isn't really any need to make things more compact. I feel sorry for anyone that has no car in this town. It doesn't take long to leave Regina & I mentally set my sights on Moose Jaw, the next city. Who the fuck named this city anyways? Moose Jaw?

Once you pass Moose Jaw, the land isn't so flat, but it's completely treeless and desolate. It also started to snow again, but more blowing snow. There are tiny little towns with 100 people along the road, nothing else. I spent the time listening to this AM radio station that had "Trading Post" going on, where locals called up and tried to sell books & other such stuff on the radio. U know a place is tight when you can give you name and phone out on the air, and when the DJ knows the people by name. Something sorta cool to that, sans the whole hayseed part of it. It seems almost foreign to me to hear people giving out personal information on the radio, hell let alone on a city bus.

I stopped in Morse, Sask for lunch at Subway of all places, but it was closed down. So, with nothing else on the road, I headed for the next hamlet. It was called Herbert, and pulling into downtown (if that's the word) nearly every single store was boarded up. I found a diner called "Family Restaurant" and went in there. Ever get the feeling you're in a classic country video? The entire place was full of seniors who probably went there just to get out of the house and break up the boredom. I felt like I was on display when I walked in there.

The guy that owned the place started telling me he was from Ottawa & Edmonton and had moved there for cheaper housing. He paid 300 bucks a month for an entire house. Hey, I'm all for a deal and shit, but I kept thinking to myself, who the fuck would move ALL the way out here to a town of 200 people that had no grocery stores, etc. He sorta creeped me out, but the food was pretty good. He probably has a booming business because he's the only place to eat in the entire area.

The speed limit in Sask is 110, which makes doing 130 sorta easy. I have seen no cops at all on this trip, but then again, I haven't really seen many people. The place where I stopped for lunch is 65 kms from Swift Current, the last major "city" in Sask. I stopped for gas, and got out of it. Once you pass Swift Current, it becomes (if you can believe it), more freaking desolate. I kept looking for houses somewhere, anywhere, but they are few and far between. These farmers must have liek 10 000 acres of land for themselves. The terrain is these small hills, covered in grass & that's about it. I dont think you can grown anything out here, but there is a pretty big Wind Farm on this ridge in the distance. Here we are, worried about where to get out power, why not just put windmills ALL over this place. We'd produce enough power for the entire free world. I"m sure of it.

Crossing into Alberta, the first town is Irvine, which is my last name (now you can stalk me). It's very flat, and tumbleweeds blow across the road at times. It's also warm enough that I had to turn on the Air Conditioning in the car, lest I sweat till I was soaked. I had made the mistake of wearing a hoodie, and had no clean clothes so I couldn't change.

Drove into Medicine Hat, a city of maybe 50 000. Not much to say about it, but it looks reasonably modern. I wanted to stop for gas, but I waited too long and there were no more gas stations.

Leaving Medicine Hat, you drive what appears to be up a hill forever. I am now incredibly sick of driving and just want to get there. There isn't alot to see, but I can at least hear radio from Calgary now, in certain spots. The first song was Crazy by Gnarls Barkley on Vibe 98.5; a sign of my insanity for doing this perhaps? I stopped to pee in a place called Brooks, where some wierd guy in a suit walked up to the urinal and asked me if I wanted some literature on God. I told him to get lost, because I had to finish taking a piss. People like this freak me out. At least WAIT till I finish my fucking piss you moron. The bathroom in this place was so incredibly dirty it shocked me, I should have probably showered before I got back in the car.

After about 3500 kms, listening to Calgary's New Rock Alternative, I could finally see the city, mountains in the background & a sky that was partly cloudy, but looked almost surreal, sorta God-like really. It was still very warm, like 15C, which was nice. Hard to believe 2 days ago it was -40C. I got on to the Deerfoot Trail, and headed down to where I would be staying until I found a place. The locals whine about the traffic but it's really not bad. The radio kept talking about how bad the Deerfoot was, but it looked like normal traffic in Kitchener on Hwy 8. I think alot of the people that come to Calgary come from small towns in Saskatchewan or BC, so they've never actually seen a real traffic jam. Perhaps the legal system should hand out fines of "Driving in Toronto Rush Hour" instead of making you pay. That'll fix em.

People in Calgary also drive slow. Back home, the fast lane averages about 150 km per hour. Here, people drive 110 in the fast lane and they seem to have missed the part in driving school about SLOWER TRAFFIC KEEP RIGHT. This immediately becomes a bone of contention for me, but I arrive in SE Calgary where I'm staying.

Nothing feels so good as getting out of the car & walking around. 3534 kms in total. 3 days on the road. I am SOOOOOO sick of eating greasy food for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I'm awake till 8 PM when I pass out, still in my clothes.

Day 2: Wawa to Brandon

I woke up at 5 30 AM, earlier than my alarm. Turning on the TV, I noticed it was nearly -40C, so my first concern was that the car will not start. I have a new model car, but I don't think it was designed to be parked in Wawa at night when it's -40C.

Indeed, the car did start, but it didn't like it. I call my car Fritz, because he looks like a Fritz. And yeah, my car is a male. I'm not sure why. I had to warm up the car for better than 10 minutes, and then found the steering was nearly frozen, as was the oil in the manual transmission. Not that it was frozen, just very very thick so I had to drive up and down main street to get the fluid moving. It was around 7 AM, and there were NO people on the street at all, nor any cars. Even the Tim Hortons was completely empty, something I've never seen at 7 AM in my life.

The next 5 hours of driving to Thunder Bay are incredibly beautiful & incredibly desolate. Every hour or so, you hit a small village of a few hundred people, which has a gas station & a small store. Places like Marathon & White River are really small, quiet places, I'm guessing the locals work at a local lumber mill or something. I also drove thru this area which was obviously the aftermath of a huge forest fire. Nearly treeless, you could see some burned out stumps and it lasted for what seemed like 25 kms.

On the North Shore, the scenery is amazing. You climb up hills and overlook the north shore of Lake Superior. It's incredibly desolate, and beautiful, and if I had more time, would have spent time there taking photos. I'm glad I drove through there in the day, and if you're going to travel in this area, make sure it's sunny and nice out.

It seemed like forever to get to Thunder Bay, a city of about 123,000 on the North Shore. After hours in the woods, it was nice to see a city of any kind, complete with fast food & other such rubbish of the modern age. Turned off Sat Radio to listen to the local stuff, only to hear the same old classic rock on the radio. It's wierd how these radio stations find the most obscure rock songs and spin them. I guess without competition you can try that kinda stuff. In Thunder Bay it started to snow....alot.

The next few hours were incredibly annoying. High winds, bad snow, but the road was wide open. I still flew along at 110 km per hour, sans the times I was behind some lumber truck that would blow snow at the car. The land is a touch more flat, but still very desolate, a few small towns & alot of snow.

Coming into Northwestern Ontario, around Ignace & Dryden, it gets a little more flat with less trees. Dryden has this huge plant which produces something to do with wood & the emissions from the plant create this giant mushroom cloud over the town. It's not very large, maybe 7 000 people, but it sure feels good to see humans again. I am not VERY sick of driving in the forest. And, this town has a Tim Hortons. There are like NO Tim's up here at all, the only coffee you can get is this pisswater crap served at truck stops. It's wierd, but I was listening to CFRB 1010 in Toronto. It's sorta surreal to hear Toronto traffic in the middle of the bush, 2000kms from home.

After Dryden, the land gets back into the all trees, no human thing again. I am now doing at least 115 KMPH because I'm so sick of seeing nothing. Dryden to Kenora doesn't seem that long, but it sure as hell feels like a long trip. Kenora sorta marks the end of Ontario. I have now been driving for 2 days non stop, most of it through the bush. I love nature, but ENOUGH already.

Seeing the Welcome to Manitoba sign was cool, the road opens up to four lanes (finally) and you can hear Winnipeg on the radio. I was blown away to hear Jen Militia - Not a Test on Power 97 in Winnipeg. It was a song I was given back when I was at CJIQ FM & after playing it about 100 times, I always wondered why no other radio bothered to play it. It's just too good.

Coming into "The Peg" as the locals apparently call it, I was doing 140. I could see the city lights in the distance, and it sure felt good to see a real city. It had been two days since I left Toronto, the last time I saw a major urban area. Winnipeg has about 700,000 people, and had this intersting radio station called Freq 107 (they say freak 107). It's a hard alternative station that plays stuff like Disturbed. It reminds me of Faction 28 on Sirius. The chick on the air in the evening was cool, not that usual blah blah blah DJ, but one with personality. I don't really like really hard alt rock non stop, but I like the idea of it. Winnipeg seems to be a rock city & the concert listings were very big. Stopped for gas outside of town on the bypass.

Once you leave Ontario, the land gets flat, and near Winnipeg, all the trees disappear. So you go from non stop trees to no trees it all. I admit to being happy to be on a four lane road and letting the car go. It's wierd, but the trucks out here have 2 trailers on them, guess cause it's so flat? There isn't alot to see, but you can see towns in the dark that are miles away, so it's sorta surreal. Arriving in Brandon, I found a hotel for 70 bucks complete with Wi Fi internet. I sat on the bed, checked my email and .....watched CITY TV Toronto.....ice falling from the CN Tower.

Day One: Leaving Waterloo

It took at least 2 hours to load the car up with all the crap that was left in the townhouse. What a friggin nightmare not to mention the winter that started very late in Ontario surely must be a record for snowfall. It really REALLY sucks walking to your car 20 times in -20C shoving stuff in an overfilled back seat. On the way out of town, I stopped at Angie's Diner to have breakfast. Angie's Diner is a landmark in Waterloo, it's a bit small sometimes, and it's hot inside, but it's very cool. Least that is what I think.

Stopped for gas at the Petro Can on the 401 near Highway 6. Due to a fuel shortage in Ontario, you were limited to 75 litres of gas. I drive a Toyota Echo Hatch, so it's not really an issue. Pretty easy drive until I got north of Toronto where it started to snow. The Ontario Snowplow Crew seem to have this very annoying habit of putting 3 plows across the 3 lanes of the 400 series highways in Ontario. Then they slow down to 50 kms per hour and you and 10,000 other very impatient people have to drive behind them. On the way to Barrie this happened twice. Then I ran out of window wash fluid.

North of Barrie, stopped for gas and again the station was almost out of fuel and rationing. It's wierd that 140 kms north of Canada's largest city there are so few people out driving anywhere. I also ran into another wave of snowplows, further slowing me down.

The trip up to Sudbury was pretty uneventful, thank god for Satellite Radio in the car. Once you leave the Toronto airwaves, there isn't much to listen too, unless your a fan of radio pablum. Coming into Sudbury, it's not much different for radio, just the addition of a bad station that played bad 80s music, and a stoner rock station called Q92 FM.

The drive from Sudbury to Sault Ste Marie is even more boring, there isn't alot to see, and it was VERY windy. And freaking cold. Stopping for gas in some small remote village, I kept wondering what the hell do these people do for work & excitement? It's admittedly pretty nice looking up near Blind River....provided you like trees and water.

As I got closer to Sault Ste Marie, I turned off the Sat Radio to listen to what was playing locally. It seems like every station up there is classic rock, but I found a Top 40 station called Yes FM to break the monotony. Something truly warped about being in the middle of the bush hearing Rihanna & Sean Paul.

After driving for most of the day in the woods, I was happy to see Sault Ste Marie, just to see human civilization. The Sault isn't that large, maybe 100,000 people but feels very remote. Like it's the end of the world of sorts. I can't help but notice the number of trucks on the road. What a boring job that must be to do this day in and day out.

As I left the Sault, it immediately gets very desolate. 10 kms outside of town, you feel like you are in the middle of nowhere. This feeling increases exponentially as you continue driving. The scenery is very nice, Lake Superior on one side, forest & rock on the other. Around Batchewana Bay, you start climbing what seem to be huge hills which overlook Lake Superior. It's around this area that all signs of humans disappear. There are literally NO houses at all, just this empty road. No place to stop, no gas stations, no traffic. Nothing. By this time my car was covered in road salt, so my headlights were dirty, and the high beams did not work. There are alot of moose in this area, and I really didn't want to run into one. They usually win the battle.

219 kms from Sault Ste Marie, I arrived in Wawa. It's a very small town, perhaps 3500 people, obviously once the home to a mine of some type. If you're worried about a lack of hotels, don't be. Go downtown Wawa on Broadway (heh), you'll find many of them, all come with wireless internet & they're CHEAP, about 65 bucks C$ a night. There isn't alot going on in Wawa, so if you're hoping to go out and enjoy yourself, you might be disappointed.

I got to the hotel, fired up the laptop, had a few Waterloo Dark beers & went to bed.

Temperature -26C.

The end of life as we know it

Welcome. I decided to create this blog after deciding to pack up and leave Southern Ontario (Waterloo/Toronto) and move to Calgary, Alberta, Canada.