We Saw a Chicken …

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  • dino out

    Aargh, I hate finishing an Eric Garcia Rex book. I don’t get lost in too many books, but Eric’s ones do that for me. I’d finished Hot & Sweaty Rex, then re-read Anonymous Rex ‘cos I couldn’t get enough of that dino-noir (dinoir?)

    Garcia’s books are clearly works of fiction. I mean, to say that 5% of the population are dinosaurs in heavy disguise — the real number’s much higher …

  • down on the ‘farm

    The view from Golf Course Road …

    Kingsbridge Wind Farm, near Goderich

  • the mayor is back in town (or will be)

    Mayor McCA is touring in Canada soon!

    May 4-Ebar Guelph ON
May 5- The Jane Bond. 004 Princess St, Waterloo ON
May 6- Music Gallery- The Over The Top Festival Toronto ON (advanced tics recommended for this one).
May 7- Casbah. Donut Rock City (Hamilton) ON,
May 8-10- TBA
May 11- The Paramount. Moncton NB
May 12- World Cafe 2412 Agricola St , Halifax NS
May 13- Gus' Pub 2605 Agricola St, Halifax NS
May 13-17- TBA

  • Big Salt Ship

    Salt Ship, Goderich Harbour

    The freighter Algorail loading salt in Goderich Harbour. One of the crew shouted for me to e-mail the photos; this is the best I can do for now!

  • timwin

    Don’t want no car, don’t need no barbecue… But I can always use another coffee from Tim Hortons.

    (for those outside Canada, every spring, the Tim Hortons donut chain has a prize promotion. It always provokes a national response little short of hysteria. You can win big things, but winning a coffee is just dandy by me.)

  • I’m going in a field …

    … To survey.

    It’s lovely weather for it. Just a few weeks ago, it was bitter up here.

    Strange coincidence: one of the surveyors, Joy, knows our friends the Bowyers.

  • Greater Toronto Area Bloggers :: The GTABloggers mailing list returns!

    Greater Toronto Area Bloggers :: The GTABloggers mailing list returns!

  • first groundhog of 2006

    On the rockery at the ex-Beaver Lumber place on Warden just north of Dennison. I used to see ’em here when I worked at Gandalf.

    It was big, fat, and looked a bit grumpy.

    Just after seeing this one, I saw another at a familiar haunt at Warden and Dennison. It’s springtime!

  • i really do remember when all this were fields, lad …

    Off to markham, to are some of my old haunts. The sweetcorn and pumpkin truck farm is now buried under a mall. Gandalf Graphics is now a self-storage, after Larry Downey and the few remaining staff went to Total Graphics in Vaughan. Most of the fields where I watched groundhogs gambol are now building sites.

    Is nostalgia supposed to cut in after less than four years? At least one thing remains the same; Markham Delight in the 1st Markham mall still does the best fried beef rice noodle you can get for $5. And that soymilk they have!

  • misfiled, maybe

    In the humour section at Chapters: George W Bush & his Family Paper Dolls book…

  • big box

    I’m in Costco, and it’s a very small vision of hell.

  • 1656 days from PR application to Canadian Citizenship

    I found my old misc.immigration.canada post where I gave the timeline of our application. I’ve now got a few dates to add to that line:

    01 Jun 2001: Sent forms with all fees
    13 Jun 2001: Receipt acknowledged
    26 Jun 2001: Medical forms and interview waiver received
    07 Aug 2001: Took medicals
    01 Sep 2001: Visas received
    02 Apr 2002: Arrived in Canada
    18 Mar 2006: Took citizenship

    It’s been hard work, but worth it. Canada’s a decent place to live.

    Some observations on how immigration worked for us:

    • We did the application ourselves; all you need is on cic.gc.ca.
    • Research ways of getting your money into Canada without incurring swingeing foreign exchange charges. This was perhaps our single biggest cost, and I’m sure we could have avoided some of it.
    • Canadian banks are rather stuffy and inefficient. Expect to pay bank charges, and also expect the “free banking” banks to turn you down until you have a credit history.
    • It takes several years to become credit worthy in Canada. It took about a year before we had a credit card at all.
    • Get to know and love your public transit system. Most Canadian cities have decent transit, and living near a busy transit hub gets you around quickly.
    • Join the library. Books, internet access, and information of what’s happening — and free, too.
    • Owning a car is quite expensive. It’s not the purchase price or the fuel cost; insurance for new immigrants with no insurance record is unbelievable. If your employer can put you on their policy to drive one of their vehicles, you’ll find that it’ll cut your insurance premiums drastically.
    • I ended up changing jobs more than I thought I might.
    • Volunteering helped me get into the industry I really wanted to be in.
    • Professional qualifications don’t import well. Ontario is getting a bit better at accepting foreign qualifications (my UK CEng counted for nothing) but there’s still a long way to go.

    Not long after we arrived, I remember being slightly irritated when a fellow UK immigrant said, “The first three years are difficult, then it gets easy.” Looking back, I now agree with him.

  • Free the Laserjet 4!

    I love the HP LaserJet 4+. Built like a tank, good print quality, and now available used/refurb for pennies. Sure, they weight about as much as a Sherman, and suck power like there was no tomorrow, but one of my 4+s has nearly a million on the page count, yet prints crisp and clean.

    Last weekend I scored a 4+ with built in duplexer from eBay for very little. It didn’t want to print at first (giving a cryptic 13 PAPER JAM error), but removing the rather beat-up full-ream paper tray fixed that. It may need a new cartridge (at almost twice what I paid for the printer), but I’m happy.

    Wonder if I can direct-connect one of them to the ethernet port on Catherine’s eMac? I know my router won’t talk AppleTalk, so we can’t network just one printer.

  • no standard offer goodness for WindShare

    Tallking to the OPA today, it seems that WindShare doesn’t qualify for SOC because it’s behind ExPlace’s meter. Aargh!

    Update: I got a call from the OPA; they were wrong. Grandfathered embedded generation such as the WindShare turbine will be eligible after all.

  • Landscape – “Einstein A Go Go”

    And we thought this was teh k00l v1d in 1981: Landscape – “Einstein a Go-Go”

  • Ontario SOC is here!

    Standard Offer Renewable Energy contracts were announced in Ontario today. I’m reserving my third cheer for when I see the pricing and terms.

    … Third cheer is definitely go. I’ve been having a think about this, and some words with the folks at the OSEA reception, and I think it’s good. Very good. There are still some details to work out, but this is pretty much exactly what I could hope for.

  • run to the LCBO

    Innis & Gunn Oak Aged Beer

    … for they have Innis & Gunn Oak Aged Beer. I haven’t had this since I was back in Scotland.

  • a wee corner of Scotland at Ellesmere & McCowan

    Serendipity: took a wrong turn coming out of the
    federal building, and found ourselves in Scottish culinary heaven (which is not an oxymoron, I assure you). At the corner of Ellesmere & McCowan is The But ‘n’ Ben Butchers; they sell all sort of quality Scottish foods. So far, we’ve sampled and can approve their butcher’s pies, plain bread and empire biscuits. They’ve also got a supply of UK Heinz Beans, which knock the gummy North American beans into a cocked hat.
    Next door but one is St Andrews Fish & Chips. They’re amazing. I think the chips (hand cut, of course) are deep fried in some unhealthy, but tasty, animal byproduct. And they have Irn Bru, too …

  • SCO – The Campaign For a .SCO Internet Domain

    This is good: SCO – The Campaign For a .SCO Internet Domain

  • my home and adopted land

    I became a Canadian citizen just after 10:00 today. I was the only Scot out of 107 new Canadians.

    My planning’s excellent; my UK passport expires today…