KAPOW!

I was hooking up a new ceiling light that I bought over the weekend. Not knowing which breaker was the right one to turn off, I made sure the switch for the light was turned off. I took my usual precautions, making sure not more than one wire is exposed at a time, and hooked up the light. After wiring it up, and fastening the fixture to the box, I went to install one of the light bulbs, to check that it worked properly. As I inserted the bulb, I found out that the wires were live the whole time that I was installing it, so I reached for the switch to turn off the light. As I switched it off, KAPOW!, a blue flash came out from behind the light switch, and my place went dark.

I went up to the electrical panel, switched the tripped breaker, and again, KAPOW!, there was a blue flash from behind the breaker.

I typically don't like working with electricity, giving it much respect, so by this time I was feeling a little nervous, as to what my next move should be. I went back down, and reversed the wiring procedure for the light, and put the marrets back over the exposed wires. I went into the kitchen, got my fire extinguisher, then went back up to the electrical panel, hoping that it would turn on without incident. I apprehensively reached for the switch, and did a quick flick, and it was back on.

Phew, what a relief.

I called my Dad, and told him what had happened. He said that there must be a short circuit somewhere, either in the light, the switch, or someplace else. For the time being, I said that I would leave it be, until I spoke to one of my electrically inclined friends, or had one of them come over to try and help me with this predicament.

Schumey dethroned

Today was a historical day in Formula 1,
in more ways than one..

It was the first time in 5 years that somebody
other than Michael Schumacher has been World Champion.

Fernando Alonzo became the youngest F1 World Champion,
at 24 years of age.

He also became the first Spaniard in F1 history,
to become World Champion.

Next year will most likely be Schumacher's final year
in Formula 1, so he has one more chance to try and win
his 8th championship.

It looks like the next decade will be dominated
by the duel between Alonzo and Kimi Raikkonen.

Raikkonen, a Finish driver, is arguably the best
driver in F1 at this time, although Alonzo is right up
there talent-wise.

It should make for an exciting decade of Formula One.

DB

Lovely Rita Hurricane

She's definitely more than a 'meata made'.

Another strong hurricane is bearing down on the Gulf Coast of the U.S.
It is the second strong storm in the region in a month.
This time it is headed for Texas, but the storm surge has already
broken though already weakened levees in New Orleans.

I wonder how many more storms like this, the U.S. can handle this year.
The season still has another month or two to go.
If large cities, and refineries keep getting damaged like this,
the economy will take a major hit.

Although there has been much more preparedness in Texas for this storm,
because of the lessons learned in New Orleans,
it's still to be seen what the damage will be like in the morning.

Millions of people were ordered to be evacuated from Houston,
and the highways have been jam packed with cars ever since.
People are getting stranded because they run out of gas.
If Rita is as bad as the forecasters say, then these people stuck
on the highways will be sitting ducks.

Hopefully there will be no disaster.

But think of what these storms cost these areas, not only in lives lost,
or property damage, but in shutting down these huge cities.
Houston is basically a ghost town, and has been for a couple of days.
Who knows how long it will be like this, even considering they
are not going to receive a direct hit.

I guess these are the consequences of building these large cities
in paradise.

DB

TURN OFF THE LIGHTS!!!

Along the Gardiner Expressway, running past my windows,
there were large highway lights installed, on high steel posts,
about 2 1/2 years ago.

Until now, these lights have not been working.
The 'old' lights that are closer to the ground,
have been used during this time.

Last week workers came and installed shields around the tall lights,
which have now been turned on. The 'old' lower lights are standing
dark, not used anymore.

The lights stay on, night and day.
I'm sure the timers, or light sensors aren't set up properly yet.
Eventually somebody will come by to adjust them,
or somebody will call into the city to complain about the waste of electricity.

None of this bothers me.
These lights are very bright, and I'm sure they make driving on the Gardiner much safer.

The problem I do have, is living next to them.
They are really bright, and make it almost as light as day outside.
There are new townhouses across the highway, that are not occupied yet,
and these lights are standing right over them.
Although I am not as close as those people will be, the light does shine through my windows at night.

With the 'old' lights, the light shined up towards my ceiling.
The 'new' lights actually shine down towards my bed.
Fortunately my bed is situated so that the light doesn't hit my face,
but it is still very bright.

I never bought blinds or curtains for my place,
mainly because the 17 foot tall windows make the cost a little high for coverings.
I think I will now buy some blinds, not only to darken my place at night,
but also to hopefully make it easier to sell in the future.

The last thing I would want, is somebody deciding not to buy,
because it is too bright at night.

DB

Car Free Day...

Is it supposed to be a care free day as well?

Does everybody get a car for free too?

Today after work, I waited for the Queen Street West
501 Streetcar, at the corner of Queen and Soho,
in front of the Black Bull.

I was listening to my Zen Micro,
but could hear the beat of drums in the distance.

I looked West, towards Spadina, and saw a
crowds of people marching, under a large tarp.

As this crowd of marchers approached,
I could see a sign indicating that they were marching
for Car Free Day.

Of course, they were marching at a very very slow pace,
holding up traffic behind them, for as far as I could see.

It was an interesting crowd, walking, inline skating,
and riding bikes, at this unbelievably slow pace.
Most were the long haired, hippy type, that looked like
they would be familiar with a certain herb.

After they had gone by, and the traffic was moving behind
very impatiently, I was thinking that what they are doing
is probably not doing much for their cause. Instead of
trying to get drivers to leave their cars at home, they were
just aggravating them, creating a hostile environment between
the two parties.

I'm sure most of those drivers, especially the cabbies,
were cursing these marchers for holding them up,
and thinking that they will drive their cars just to spite them.

DB

TTC

What I am not looking forward to,
with the coming Winter season,
is more than just the cold and slush.

I was tired this morning, so I decided to skip
the bike ride to work, and took the TTC.
The forecast also called for rain in the evening,
and I didn't feel like riding home in the rain either.

It did rain in the evening,
so the Streetcars were busier than normal,
and later than normal.

The wait is supposed to be 15 minutes or less,
but I ended up waiting 30 minutes for a car,
and the first two were packed with people.
I waited for the third, which allowed me a seat.

If you haven't been on a Streetcar when it's raining,
the smell of mould, and wet people permeates the air.
Even with the windows open, and the ventilation
humming, you can't escape the smell.

And a crowded Streetcar with wet people
almost smells worse than if they were all
wet dogs.

I decided tonight,
that I will ride my bike as far into Winter as is possible,
not stopping in November as I did last year.

Only when it snows,
or the temperature dips below freezing,
will I stop riding.

DB

Autumnal Equinox

The golden hew of the low sun in the sky.
The gold and red and brown of the leaves.
The smell of decay rising from the ground.

The early evenings,
and coolness in the air.

Thanksgiving dinner.
Halloween memories as a child.
The coming Christmas season.

Even the raking of leaves...

...this is why I like Autumn.

DB

Lords of Violence

What is with all of the gun violence in our city this year?
I have only seen statistics from last year,
and the number of shootings and killings is up.

The violence is mostly gang and drug related,
and is occurring in specific neighbourhoods of the city,
and although I don't live in those neighbourhoods,
it is very disturbing.

People that live in the city,
are happy that the violence is confined to these certain
neighbourhoods, because it doesn't affect them.

It's no different than the wide gap in New Orleans
between the rich and the poor,
that was seen after Katrina blew through.

Suburban people are happy that the violence is in the city,
and the wealthy people in the city are happy that
the violence is in 'those' neighbourhoods.

I know the Police, and some community leaders
are doing more to end the violence,
including a large gang bust just the other night.

But do the people of the city who live outside of these areas,
really care?
I'd hope so,
but I'm not sure that they do.

And I'm sure that most suburbanites don't care,
as long as it stays in the city.

How wrong is that?

Are we really that uncaring?

What's really going on?

DB

Vegetable

Today was a very unproductive day for me.
Last night I was feeling ill to the stomach,
from what I can guess was too much yogurt,
and the tapioca from the bubble tea I had.

I awoke this morning with cramps and sweats.
We were supposed to have our annual golf day at work today,
but there was rain forecast for the entire day.
I went back to sleep, and woke up at around 8:45.
I called the office, and told our receptionist that I wasn't feeling well,
and that I wouldn't be in today.

I'm not sure if they did go golfing or not,
but I doubt most people would have wanted to,
since most of them had never golfed before.

I then slept more, and woke up at around 12:30.
I spent the rest of the day watching t.v.,
and sorting my garbage and recycling.

I wasn't hungry, because of my upset stomach,
but scrounged what little food I had remaining,
and drank fluid to keep myself hydrated.
I made a list of groceries to buy, and planned on going later in the day,
but I didn't go out of my place,
except to take the garbage and recycling out,
and to get my mail.

I just came down from folding laundry,
and getting my things ready for the weekend.
I was thinking that I could have been more productive today,
even with my stomach being in knots.
There is so much I'd like to accomplish that doesn't involve physical activity,
and I regret not working on any of that today.

DB

U2 in T.O.

Last night was the first of four U2 shows at the ACC,
and I was lucky enought to go to the show.

It was FANTASTIC!

I have been a U2 fan for decades,
and this was the third concert of theirs that I have seen.

The first was in 1987 for the Joshua Tree,
which was held at Exhibition Stadium.
Our Seat sucked, but the show was good.

The second time was in 1992 for the Zoo TV tour.
That was also held at Exhibition Stadium,
but this time we had the best seats in the house,
and the show was awesome.

The set list for last night was:
(Songs in Red were my favourites)

Vertigo
I Will Follow
The Electric Co.
Elevation
Beautiful Day
In a Little While
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
City of Blinding Lights
Miracle Drug
Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own
Love and Peace or Else
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Bullet the Blue Sky
Miss Sarajevo
Pride
Where the Streets Have No Name
One - Ol' Man River

Encore(s):

Zoo Station
The Fly
With or Without You
All Because of You
Fast Cars
Yahweh
40

My favourite live song from U2, as always,
was "Where the Streets Have No Name".
Last nights rendition was as good as ever.

During "With or Without You",
Bono pulled a girl out of the audience
and sang to her while hugging her.

Some reviewers and others said that Bono was too political.
I didn't see anything wrong with him expressing his thoughts and views,
as he is an activist,
and always has been.
He was telling everybody to take out their cell phones,
and call Paul Martin to give 0.7% to Africa.
When he asked this, people pulled out their phones,
and there was a sea of blue throughout the ACC.

I just really enjoyed the whole show.

DB

Random Babble Part II

The other night, I was walking East along Adelaide to the St. Andrew Subway station, following 3 guys who had just come out of the Technology Academy College. They were talking pretty loudly about their first day of school, and were walking a little slow, but not slow enough to get around them.

I finally got down to the Subway, and was able to get a seat on the train. As the train began to move, these three guys appeared in front of me, and stood right next to my seat. They then were gesturing vividly, coming very close to hitting me. It was quite annoying, because they were right in my face. When I transferred at St. George, I was sure to wait far enough down the platform for the Bloor train, so that I wasn't on the same car as them.

When I transferred at Royal York onto the bus, I got a seat, and there were lots of other seats available, but this man decided to stand next to my seat. As the bus was moving, and rocking back and forth on the bumpy road, he kept hitting me in the shoulder with his @$$! What an annoyance!

DB

Random Babble

I was just in the washroom, and some guy was in there washing his arms and face. He kept mumbling under his breath, saying things like "Stop it!" and "Shut up!" Then, when he had finally washed up, he took about a mile of paper towel from the roll, dried up, then took another mile of paper towel, dried up some more. Then he stood back, looking into the mirror, then he washed his hands again, kept mumbling, then took another mile of paper towel. He kept wiping his arms and face, then finally took a smaller piece of paper towel and opened the door with it.

DB

You too.

I am going to see U2 at the ACC on Monday night,
and am excited to be seeing them.

I saw them over 10 years ago, for their Zoo TV tour,
at the Ex, and it was one of, if not THE best concert
I have ever seen.

I will write my thoughts of Mondays show after seeing it,
and let you know if it is now THE best show ever.

DB

Red Head

I was dumb today.

I went to Peterborough to visit a friend over the weekend, and we went golfing today. The weather was perfect for golf, with temperatures in the low 20's and a nice breeze, with a cloudless sky.

The golf course was a new one, opened just this year, with the front 9 like a wide open links type course, and the back 9 a more enclosed course, with lots of trees and too many hills.

The problem today, was that I forgot to bring along a hat, my hair isn't as thick as it used to be, and now I have a red head and face. I can feel the burn, and the heat radiating from it.

DB

How bad.

I think the death and destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina will be much worse than anybody would have thought. It looks like many people stayed behind, for various reasons, and are either suffering right now while waiting to be rescued, or are dead.

People in the poor areas of New Orleans didn't listen, or couldn't leave, and were trying to ride it out at their homes. Many bodies have already been found, and with the water continuing to rise tonight, people that are trapped in their homes may not make it.

It's hard to believe that this could happen, especially in a wealthy country like the U.S., where warnings were broadcast for days ahead of time. Maybe the warnings should have been more urgent, because there is no reason for people to die in a storm like this, which allows for such early warning.

DB

Katrina

I've heard comments on "New Orleans is sinking man, but I don't wanna swim.",
but I haven't heard anybody comment with "Katrina and the Waves."

I guess the people of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama aren't
"Walking on Sunshine" at this moment.

DB

New Orleans is sinkin' man...

...and I don't wanna swim.

What a crazy Hurricane that is in the Gulf of Mexico right now.
When you look at the satellite images, it covers 2/3 of the Gulf!
And the sustained winds are over 160 or 180 mph,
making it a category 5, which is the strongest on the scale.
The temperature of the water in the Gulf right now is in the high 80F,
which is fueling this storm to it's massive size.

And the storm is headed right for New Orleans,
which is below sea level,
and may actually be doing what the Hip sing.

DB

Wat a krazee wirld

Just when you think things are crazy enough,
they get even crazier.

Things all around the World seem to be so unstable,
at least it all looks unstable.

It seems to be all of the fundamentalists,
not just one, but all of them (well, some of them?).

Then today, Mr. Robertson says that
Mr. Chavez should be assassinated.

Crazy!!!

DB

Another crowd at Ontario Place

Coming home today, I saw a guy and his girlfriend
walking along the Lakeshore wearing Motley Crue
T-shirts.

As I came around the corner to Ontario Place,
there were huge crowds parking cars,
and walking to the Amphitheatre.

I figured that it must be a Motley Crue concert,
and I was right. They are playing with Sum 41,
and other bands.

I was thinking that it's unusual that the most
well known member of the band is Tommy Lee,
and he's a drummer.

There aren't many drummers that are the most
famous in the band.

There are exceptions, like Phil Collins and
Don Henley. But typically it's the lead singer
or lead guitarist that get the most exposure.

Coincidentally, Tommy Lee's reality show
where he goes to College was on TV tonight.

Now I am known by everybody to hate
'reality' TV, but I got caught up in this so
called 'reality' show tonight.

I haven't watched it before, but it is kind of funny.
It is very scripted, like all 'reality' shows are,
but they do a funny job at it.

I think that's enough 'reality' for a while...

DB

Sweeping...

Every night at around this time, 23:00, street cleaners go past in the Westbound lanes of the Gardiner, cleaning the sides of the highway. First two tankers go past spraying the dirt to the sides, then a line of 2 or 3 sweepers go past, followed by two crash trucks.

This is the first year that I've noticed them doing this each night, and I have been wondering why they do it so often. You wouldn't think that the highway would get that much debris every day, requiring it to be swept each night.

The process leaves a traffic backlog along the Westbound lanes for around 10 to 20 minutes each night.

DB