This should make The Big Seester happy

Many weeks ago (actually, it may have been last week, I can’t remember) I was tagged by The Big Seester for the “Six Weird Things About You” meme. Now that things have slowed down a little, I have some time to share with y’all those things that make me different from the rest of the world ….

• I’m about 9/10 of the way towards having full-blown OCD
  • This shouldn’t come as a major revelation to either The Clam or any of my co-workers. I don’t really have any of the “must touch the doorknob six times before and after passing through the door’ OCD traits, but I am most definitely a creature of habit. In fact, I probably wrote the book on being a creature of habit. I have a very set morning routine (and, to be honest, the day doesn’t feel right if it’s disturbed in a significant way). I have pens scattered all around the lab so that I don’t have to go searching for one when I need to write something down (and yes, I do get a little irritated when one goes missing). I’m sure others could offer up many more examples (feel free to in the comments), but I think you get the point.
• In some respects, I’m a pretty un-Canadian Canadian
  • I get teased mercilessly by The Clam’s family about being Canadian and it got much worse when they found out that I prefer coffee over tea and baseball over hockey.
• Even though The Clam got her nickname because some believe her to be quite secretive, I take her Clam-ness to astronomical levels. I should be called The Black Hole rather than The Canuck
• I don’t know if this is weird or not, but I really (and I mean REALLY) want everyone to do things exactly as I do them.
  • If someone at work leaves a clipboard in the ‘wrong’ spot, I get irritated. I see some clueless person blocking the aisle on the bus (even if I’m nowhere near my stop) I get irritated. My neighbours’ inability to properly close the (*&$)(*&$# door – infuriating. And so on.
• I have a remarkable ability to reference ‘M*A*S*H’ in almost any situation
  • Thanks to The Clam for pointing this out. I’m a big fan of the television show ‘M*A*S*H’ and have seen every episode countless times. As I’m sure The Clam will be happy to tell you, I can spout appropriate quotes and references for nearly any situation one might encounter. I wish I could think of an example right now, but my brain is operating on 25% power right about now.
• I love to speak hyperbolically
  • See the new blog title? That’s a reference to another quirk that I have. I’m not sure when it started, why it started, or why I keep doing it. It’s ‘just one of those things’.

Transit City, baby!

Well, the TTC and the city of Toronto have completely blown all the rumours out of the water. Yesterday all of the speculation said, “$2 billion and 60-80km of LRT line”. Today, the official announcement read “$6 billion and 120km of LRT line”. That’s damned impressive. What’s also impressive is that they’ve put up an entire website devoted to the project. Now if only London Transit and the city of London could make the full report for their proposed reorganization of transit here available online …

I may have more to say about the details of the plan in a day or two. In the meantime, visit this link for the scoop

New sport idea – vertical curling

There’s a giant patch of ice clinging to the side of the CN Tower (what’s left of a bunch that’s been falling off since this past weekend) and I think we should put it to good use while it’s still around. Put some safety harnesses on some curlers and let them have at it (photo courtesy The Toronto Star)

Scenes from the old neighbourhood

As some of the faithful readers may know, I used to live in Toronto. One of the neighbourhoods that I lived in had a wonderful theatre (only about 2 blocks from my house) that played second-run and foreign films. It was great. At a time when the big movie chains were charging about $7 or $8 admission, The Revue (and others in the chain) were charging only $4 ($2.50/film if you purchased a 10-film pass). Sure, the seats weren’t the most comfortable, the screen wasn’t enormous, the sound wasn’t deafening, but it was a great place to watch movies. And it was close to home. I could decide 15 minutes before showtime that I wanted to see a movie and still be there with plenty of time to spare. Here’s how the theatre used to look:

I recently heard that the entire chain had been closed, which was sad to hear. Just a few minutes ago I was reading a transit-centric blog and there was a post about how the marquee had collapsed (apparently due to the weight of snow and ice). What a shame. Here’s a photo of the collapsed marquee:

From both the ’stupid’ and ‘people will buy anything’ files

I swear, you can’t make this crap up.

 Breath Capture

Someone found yet another way to rip people off – get them to pay for a test tube so they can (I kid you not) “capture the breath of a loved one or friend and keep them close. Forever.”

For crying out loud! I can’t even begin to explain how monumentally stupid this is! I wish I could, but I’m speechless.

<sigh>