Non-stop shit parade

See title.

Better day

Today has been ok. Last night at the Gladstone with Zab was fun. Such an old friend makes for good company anytime. Ours was the only table with a spontaneously built, papercraft farm complex. We were not there to meet people.

Got some studying done at Future's with Ali; Air came by for lunch. I recognized the girl sitting at the table over from us from last night. Felt more bashful than I have in a long time when I caught her looking at me, and dumb for not saying hello.

Now Hiring: Torontoist

Torontoist, a city-blog and part of the quickly upsizing Gothamist network, is hiring. The site is looking for contributors of all sorts who, it seems, will be mostly unpaid -- they mention a financial ability to buy coffee when addressing monetary compensation for works submitted, but, on the bright side, whose posts will reach a broad audience, and sit alongside the posts of a jolly assortment of other Toronto lovers.

The job description also mentions 'accreditation.' I'm not certain what this means, but am momentarily enjoying the thought of it having something to do with wearing a multi-pocketed vest* or overcoat, and a press badge around one's neck.

*related to previous post

Tags: Toronto, now hiring, ksavo, kslog

Nokia plunges two stories, survives

Those of you who know me know that I'm a bit of pack rat I don't travel lightly, and I use my pockets. Pockets are good; they exist to transport things. But there exist various types of pockets, and not all pockets are created equally useful.

For example, the back pockets on the jeans I've worn a number of times in the past seven days excellently contain my loose change, identification cards, and money cards. The exterior pockets on my well worn, black coat, however, are fairly deep, but angled awkwardly enough that phone-sized objects are easily jostled out when I sit down with the coat done up, or when I remove other objects. (Also, the lining in the left pocket of the black coat has ruptured, and a tricky blackhole has been opened. Things like keys and coins can no longer be stored in that pocket, as they will end up in that cloaked invisible part of the universe which lays between coat lining and filling; it mostly carries an iPod, these days.)

This evening, I experienced the black coat's most extreme pocket failure to date. Leaving school, I reached into r-pocket and knocked out my dependable Nokia 6585. Off the phone went on its uncontrolled descent of two levels, hitting walls and windows on its way before smashing on the granite-styled floor of the school's basement.

Have you ever seen a car's windshield shatter, but break into little chunks, instead of more dangerous shards? My Nokia is made of brittle-seeming plastic, but, instead of shattering and being destroyed, it broke apart like it was constructed to be undone in such a way as dropping two floors, and then be put back together again. (I'm amusedly surprised, now, that a little parachute didn't deploy.) All that was needed to reassemble the phone were three easy snaps and a friendly security guard who unlocked the door to the basement for me (the battery had slid underneath).

So, there you have it. The phone fell, broke, was put back together, retained its memory, and continues to work. The Nokia 6585 is an extremely durable phone, suitable for my level of attention and care. Also, I need to sew the lining of my coat pocket; a winter coat is no place for a blackhole; Nokia phones do not come equipped with miniature, automatic parachutes.

Tags: Nokia, Toronto, daily life, ksavo, kslog, ksavo, kslog

One of a Kind

An outing with Mom and Jeanette to the One of a Kind show yesterday afternoon was really nice. It was good to spend some time with Mom out of the house, out of the Beach, doing something we both enjoy. Since tickets are valid for the duration of the show (so long as you remember to pick up a readmission stub on your way out), I plan on going back this weekend. There are a few things that caught Mom's eye, I noticed.

Cloaks, scarves; plush, woolen, wooden things; and candies. One day, when I have a real, paying job, all my friends and family will open beautifully crafted Christmas and birthday presents bought at shows such as Toronto's One of a Kind.

This season, the show opened on November 23 and will continue until Sunday, December 3: So, if you haven't been yet, you still have a few days to enjoy exploring a mini universe of pretty things :) If you're in town, consider joining me this weekend.

Below is a short list of artisans who you might enjoy as much as I have.

• Helen Yamashita & Co. (epoh.ca)
  
• Jack & Marjorie (jackandmarjorie.com)
  
• Andre Ouellet (ouelletcuir.com)
  
• Yarn Point Knitters (yarnpoint.com)
  
• Katherine O'Mally Greer
  
• PMO Designs
  

Pride sing-off surfaces on YouTube!

Coolest Development of the Week goes to the surfacing of "TORONTO PRIDE 'GREASE' singing" on YouTube!!

This wicked video was shot on Yonge St in Toronto this summer, while waiting for the Pride Parade to start. At street level, you'll see -- but mostly hear -- a group of young ladies singing their response to a lively group of young guys atop the roofs across the street.

Thanks to April and Dora's social network, Constance and I had the funnnn pleasure of being part of this awesome sing-off. You won't be able to see us, but Conk and I were standing by the chimney just left of the McDonalds sign.

Tags: Video "Toronto Pride", ksavo, kslog

UCLA authorities LAPD use taser on student

Here's video of security police officers at UCLA repeatedly using a taser weapon against a student at one of the school's libraries. Turn down the volume if you're at work or in class.

Christmas Party

Conk's work put on an enjoyable Christmas party on Saturday. Although I spent the first half of the night worrying that my dress was far too short, I had a great time. The company is quite a generous one: Return cab fare was paid, employees received gift certificates to the LCBO, there was a decent band, and the bar was open. I learnt that ceasars are also very good with gin, instead of vodka.
This was our first outing with Conk's work, kind of a big step, for me, at least.

Missing: Picture of Constance

There used to be a pretty picture of a very pretty girl, happily kept in my wallet.

It stayed there when love was young, gone, and back again.

Months ago, the picture went away.

I'll have it back now, karma permitting.

Tags: lost&found, ksavo, kslog

Please be advised, kslog is watching you

If you scroll down this page, with your eyes on the sidebar, you'll find two buttons, one for IDCounter, one for SiteMeter. Both badges have been on kslog for more than a year (not sure of the date details) and have logged more than one thousand visitors to this site. In fact, kslog is just three hits shy of having welcomed two thousand visitors. Pretty neat, don't you think?

Something in the air

Every time I drive along the section of the Gardiner Expressway between the Air Canada Centre and the Sky Dome Rogers Centre, the radio signal scrambles. Anybody know what the deal is with that?

Tags: Toronto, ksavo, kslog

So this huge reptile stomped on my modem...

Haven't posted in a monthly while -- but here I am. Instead of offering my own excuse, here's a list of reasons for having not posted lately, as given by various truant bloggers.

A few minutes ago I sent a brief email to Jess, hoping that she won't consider me a long lost friend who has no reason to be emailing her anymore. She sent me a typically lovely letter last winter, along with a of beautiful pair of wool mittens that she knitted. I never said thank you, I never wrote back. Every time I started a new letter to her, all that I had to say crowded to the top of my mind and in the end nothing flowed out. What I really want is to meet at a tea shop in the middle of winter and talk like we used to.

Do you have a pencil?

ROSS: Dean, do you have a pencil sharpener?
DEAN: No.
ROSS: Then how do you sharpen your pencils?
DEAN: I don't use pencils.

Ross instructs design and production classes.
Dean instructs account management classes.

Noted in the Ad Lab at Centennial College, Toronto.

Tags: overheard, ksavo, kslog

Olbermann responds to Rumsfeld

I am absolutely impressed with Olbermann's broadcast speech. The YouTube file is posted below in the hope that you will watch, listen, and regain some sense of pride and hope in network television. My best wishes to the Fifth Estate and us all.

WiFi and WinXP

I've been having a hell of a time trying to maintain a 'net connection, lately. Found a simple (probably very short term) fix at Wired. The helpful article is entitled Windows XP Bedevils Wi-Fi Users. The workaround is found on the second page, at the very bottom; here it is, copy and pasted:

• Go to Control Panel.
• Choose Administrative Tools.
• Select Services. A two-pane window comes up.
• In the right-hand pane, scroll down and click Wireless Zero Configuration.
• Click Stop the Service. A progress bar may come up briefly.
• Click Start the Service. Again, a progress bar may come up.
• Close the Services window. At this point, Fleishman said, the connection should come back.

Tags: technology wireless wifi howto, ksavo, kslog

Writely, DeviantArt

Writely, now another Google-owned service, is once again accepting new user accounts. I suggest you check it out.
This is going to be very handy for me once school recommences. No more cutting and pasting, uploading/attaching to hotmail, saving to USB device. All my written assignments will be composed and saved online.
Type, print, hooray!

DeviantArt, on the aesthetic side of things, has been updated. The new look is, gladly, no drastic change, but all the menus and graphics seem smoother and a little glossier now. DeviantArt -- Now less dreary than before!

Blogger vs. WordPress: Competition heats up

Three weeks ago, kslog was assigned a second home (really, more like a zen garden) at WordPress. The toe-dip experiment got under way when this typer desired an updated set of features (in addition to the Blogger standards), such as

• tags for entries,
  
• post categorisation,
  
• templates to choose from which didn't look as common as Blogger's,
  
• a super simple/obvious off the bat way to post RSS in a sidebar,
  
• customizable template CSS.

WordPress has much to offer kslog and was slightly ahead of the game, thanks to its early adoption of tags. Until recently, I've had to keep an extension installed in Firefox in order to easily tag my Blogger posts.
And then Blogger picked up the pace (a bit).
An announcement, dated August 14, informs readers that the service will be available in beta, with added features such as 'labels' (why not stick with the rest of the 'net and just call them tags??) and mouse (vs code) template customization. Sounds interesting; it's nice to see some advancement. Problem is, my perception of Blogger over the past while has been shifting toward juvenile, clunky, and basic. Now that owner Google seems to have the ball rolling at its blog company, maybe the dillydallying will cease and Blogger will pull itself up to date.

Question for the reader:
Which publishing service do you use for your website?

Tags: blogging, technology, WordPress, Blogger, ksavo, kslog

Commercial: XBOX 360

Here's a television spot advertising Microsoft's XBOX 360. The ad's concept is one seen relatively frequently on tv: one person performs an action, sets off a chain reaction, eventually leading to a large group of people who have spontaneously joined in and are performing a similar action. Brands such as Fido cellular and Addidas (soccer) have used the idea recently in their television spots. But where there is usually some sort of wholesome activity tinged with a joie de vivre in other ads using this concept, the XBOX commercial depicts a make believe mass gun battle. It strikes me as rotten, a depressing extension of our culture's psyche into reality. For gamers, the idea of finding themselves in the midst of a real world-fantasy world crossover might be thrilling and fun. It just seems too much, too close, and too violent.

Watch the video and see what you think. Keep an eye out for the especially creepy scene toward the end of the man who exits the building onto the street to pantomime the shooting death, using what would be a sort of pump shot gun) of a (willing participant) taxi driver.

Moore tours Canada, scratches bum

Brett Moore, of Can-Aqua fame, has uploaded a gallery of photographs taken during his recent tour of western Canada. As the artist suggests, A Thought Provoking Image.

kslog joins WordPress

a version of kslog is now being published using WordPress. The new blog's unique content will be similar to this one's, and it will include this one's RSS feed. Check it out here to see the difference in layouts and functionality.

kslog gets tagged

Thanks to Improbulus at A Consuming Experience for his informative post explaining how to incorporate Technorati tags into Blogger posts easily.

Readers of kslog will now find appended to each post a short list of 'tags' which describe the content of that post. Click on a tag at the bottom of this post -- say, 'webdesign' -- and the page will jump to Technorati's list of posts that have been tagged with webdesign also. To learn more about tags and folksonomy, visit this wiki.

Tags: webdesign, technorati, folksonomy, tags, ksavo, kslog

Le Jazz Hot

The Beaches International Jazz Festival is in full swing down on Queen St, this afternoon.

By 11 o'clock this morning, the temperature outside had already surpassed 30 degrees C. Even with the lake effect cooling the neighbourhood, this year's festival is going to be a sweltering one. I suggest hydrating frequently*; particularily good, local wet spots are Castro's and The Lion on the Beach, Murphy's Law. See you there.

The Anonymous Message Server

The Anonymous Message Server

Inspired by the letter W

Looking into WordPress as an alternative blogging tool. Sharing this with you because I love the front page - Serif fonts have really been tickling my fancy lately.

Performancing

This post is brought to you by the WYSIWYG, Firefox-friendly blog editor, Performancing.  I've just downloaded the extension.  Click here to give it a try.

Wired News: Young Coders Summer on Google

Wired reports on Google's Summer of Code initiative. This is one of the coolest youth employment programs I've heard of in a while. Successful applicants spend their summers developing open source code for Google. Pretty good for the resume. But the best of it is that each student is hooked up with a Geek Industry mentor of their very own!

Top 35 Torrent Sites of 2006

About.com hosts an up to date list of the most popular torrent sites here.

montrealshows.com -- montreal's indie resource/gossip center

Googled upon montrealshows.com
while trying to get my weekend trip to Montreal(did you guess, you clever goose?) rolling. Can't visit one of North America's most vibrant artistic centres and not see any bands play. Wouldn't be right.

The site has looks going for it, with a graphic rivalarly with StillPoste to boot. Unfortunately, all the shows were from May and before and the last blog update from made in the cold months.

If you can reccomend a show in Montreal this weekend, please let me know. Email me at ksavo at the hotmailio or leave a msg on Conk's mobile.

1GB free web storage: Box.net

Have just created an account at Box.net for a gig of free web storage. I didn't read the Terms of Use page, so maybe I've just signed away the rights to anything I store there, but for now the service is (hopefully) a way of storing a set of images that will be used in the upcoming re-templating of this blog.

Fantastic feature of the site is a little applet that opens a window into which you can drag and drop your files and folders instead of the hassle of selecting them one at a time.

Parkdale stole my saddle

My initiation into Parkdale life and culture began two nights ago when my bicycle saddle was stolen by a thief roaming Queen St W. It seems the cyclaphobe also had an interest in my front wheel, but thankfully didn't take that as well, for whatever reason. Biking home without a seat was tiring at 2:30 in the morning; walking a seatless, one wheeled bike all the way back to Lansdowne and Bloor would have been worse.

The next day at work, Madison informed me that his and Air's bikes had been vandalized/damaged while we were all drinking at the Beaver. Madison's chain had been derailed and Air's tire had been slashed/deflated. Bike vandals suck.

Now, about the Beaver. You should go. There are local and regional beers on tap; $13 for a pitcher of any of them. You can eat a delicious bowl of fruit, yogurt, and granola costing $4.95 for breakfast, or have a simple side of bread and olives at the same cost later in the day. The staff are low key and friendly enough. Artists like the place, and the crowd is social and interesting.

Lansdowne sketch

Behold the view from my room on Lansdowne Ave. Vegetable gardens on either side and many, many rooftops.

(Pardon the crumby framing job.)

Lost phone means I'm email-only for now

Automata Emily has promised to have a Bell Canada customer representative call me back between twenty-two and forty-seven minutes from now. At that point, I will ask the rep to 1) locate my phone using its GPS signal, then, if they refuse/are unable to share the GPS information with me, 2) I will ask him/her to put my SIM card on lock down until it either resurfaces or I buy a new one.

I'm sorry to have missed your calls and txts.

Challies Dot Com: I'd Like My City Back, Please

I sometimes forget about the darker, more oppressive pits (and people) of the 'web. Check out this entry posted at Challies.com, entitled I'd Like My City Back, Please. A man named Tim writes that he didn't take his son to a Jays' homegame because he felt it wrong to expose the boy to all the nearby sin of Toronto's Pride celebrations this past weekend.

Also of interest are the supportive comments the entry receives from Tim's readers -- and there are over 1300 who subscribe to his RSS feed. May peace be with you, Tim et al.

Comments left at Tim's site

From Ian Clary: "Why not get discusted [sic]? Could it be that your [sic] becoming tolerant (not to the sin of homosexuality) but to people who are not only NOT ashamed of their sin or being open about being gay, but who celebrate their rebelion for all to see?"

From Derek (I kind of like this one): "...We should be more suprised by the fact that we are not acting as they. If it were not for grace I would be standing on the street dressed in drag..." If it weren't for grace, Derek, if it weren't for grace. Amen.

From Seeker (an opportunistic fellow): "The best thing I can say about this, it is a mission field. For every 100 prideful gays, there may be one ready to hear the gospel. Certainly there are many young, hurting people in such a crowd."

Terms which Tim encloses in quotation marks

Pride
Dyke March
Pride Parade

Olympic Island & Pride

Last Saturday included Olympic Island concert with personal highlights of Feist, Bloc Party, and Brocken Social Scene. Feist had some kind of virus but put on a good show regardless. Would much rather see her and her band play at a small venue in the evening next time (or in a cafe during some swoony afternoon), though. Bloc Party had the best stage presence, by far. The band seems to be remarkably friendly and concerned with whether or not its audience is feeling involved. BBS's sounds proved to be even better/refreshing live than recorded; I'll be looking for bootlegs.

After the show on the island, Conk and I headed over to Church St to check out Toronto Pride. We should have remembered from last year that the lines would be unending and the entrance procedures chaotic. So no bars for us. Instead we stopped by the Church St Diner where Ariel and Madison eventually joined us. I'm not in the village often, but this Diner might draw me back with its really friendly staff and owner, and its breakfast menu. Hallelujah challah French toast, indeed!

Sunday, after that good breakfast, we met up with April and Dora. With the great luck that social networks spread, our meeting with the two ladies ended up on a rooftop overlooking Yonge St and the parade. It was amazing seeing firsthand the thousands of people crowding the sidewalks as far I could see looking both south and north. Paraders of special note: Fuck Corporate Pride; U of T's percussionists marhing for change. Paraders I wish hadn't been there: Motorola lackeys; branded-vodka pole dancers.

The parade was great. Lots of water fights and comraderie. (Re: water fights and comraderie, The rooftop we were standing on was over an apartment. The renter of that apartment had a long hose hooked up to his kitchen faucet and pointed at the crowd outside his living room window. The crowd below was good natured for the most part and the mischief was fun to watch. The best part was watching the crowd retaliate through one guy who managed to aquire water balloons and went ahead lobbing them at the hosers above. At least one got right into the second floor window. The local crowd was very pleased and there was much cheering. Also a lot of fun was the sing-off our rooftop had going with a small group of young women accross the street.)

Issue: According to the Toronto Star's coverage of Pride 2006, the affair was dominated by corporations and only gay men participated. Out of all the fantastic imagery the parade, and the entire weekend, manifested last weekend, the Star chose to make its front page photo one of a group of rainbow coloured, full-body Motorola promotions. The stories neglected to address many of the issues presented in the parade and throughout the week; I need to recheck it, but I don't think they interviewed more than one woman; the Dyke March was not mentioned. So, is Pride just becoming the next meaningless, commodified spectacle in Toronto? I hope the Star assigns someone who has some insight and interest in the event next year.

Nanna at the Cottage

Drove up to the cottage for the day on Tuesday with Nanna. She hadn't been up in more than a year -- maybe three?

Such a kind and contented woman.

Bike Week 2006

It's Bike Week, everybody! Just in time to celebrate and take part in the activities happening in Toronto, I've had Cycle Solutions ready my bike for the season. It was really nice to go back there and see the place thriving. There were even a few faces I recognized and one that recognized me -- Matt, the guy who helped me to pick out and buy my current bike about five years ago. He and an associate (not from Cycle Solutions) are also busy at work on a charitable foundation they've created.

The organization, Canadian Children's Cycling Foundation, aims to get underpriveledged youth interested in biking as a healthy and competitive past-time by providing the equipment and the motivation. The org's first event, a fashion show of active wear sponsored by MEC, is to be held on Friday, June 2 at Revival (783 College St).

I'm off to replace my rear brake pads and then lunch with Shane on Queen. I hope you're all having a great, sweaty day and that you manage to enjoy some good single-track/bike path time soon. Happy riding!

I Am Robot and Proud CD release

The I Am Robot and Proud CD release show for The Electricity in Your House Wants to Sing took place last Saturday at The Old York. Preceeding IAR&P was 6995 whose music went from super-quiet minimal electronic to saw-toothed industrial.

Met Scott. Re-met Marianne of Salem's potluck (find her email -- pocket of blue cardigan?).

Now that's a jacket

The Buzz Rickson MA-1.

This is the bomber replica that Cayce Pollard wears and admires so much in Pattern Recognition. For some reason including my moderate idolization of C.Pollard, I think this thing is really cool.

If the world were to blow up and all things become dark and starkly standardized, this is what your torso would look like as you warmed your dirty hands over the fire lit in that old oil barrel. This jacket is a jacket -- an archetype.

If I look at it long enough, I'm going end up EBaying it. Offline I go.

[Photo by punyfig]

Monthly Expenses

Car Insurance: $220.00
Car Warranty: $180.00
Gasoline: $100.00
Mobile Phone: $45.00
Possible Rent: $420.00
----
----
$965.00



905 507 4855 x207

My birthday ride!!

2005 blue chevrolet optra
Originally uploaded by w_yvr.

This year my mom has given me one of the best, and certainly the most extravagent, birthday gifts I have ever received -- a 2004 Chevrolet Optra! (The photo at right shows the '05 model and colour of my car.) I can't believe that I have a car. So many years in the wanting, and now there's bright blue one sitting in our driveway. :) My autotrader days are over!

I've actually had the sedan for a couple of weeks now, and I've been driving it to school every day. If I said that I feel extreme guilt over abandoning the TTC, it wouldn't be true. Driving to and from school in my own car is sooo much better than waiting for two busses and a subway. (As I say this there is some guilt coming up, but I'll address that once the euphoria of my new car has ebbed.)

- Now taking suggestions for a road trip in late August.
- This car is drive-through friendly.

Workin' it in the a.m.

Gudentag! This morning I'm finishing up some very basic research on research (ACNielsen wah wah). Mornings are better than evenings for my productivity (despite the fact that I'm momentarily blogging instead of schooling myself).

The reason I blog is to inform you that I Am Robot and Proud's latest album, The Electricity in Your House Wants to Sing, is very, very good. Its sound is more compact, minute than those heard on Grace Days; it fits somewhere between The Catch and the Spring Summer Autumn Winter album. If you live in Toronto, you can buy I Am Robot And Proud CDs at Soundscapes on College (my absolute favourite place to find music).

zat is all. now back to work.

Olympic Island

Got a great call at work today -- Constance phoning to say she bought us tickets to the Broken Social Scene/Feist/Bloc Party/etc show at Olympic Island this summer! Takes place June 24, 2006. I want my old camp friends to join us.

In other news,

• my Holga is missing; the basement may have swallowed it
  
• Femme Generation is playing at the Boat tonight. attending with Ariel and her new boyfriend Madison.
  
• This is the first of my photos on flickr to be favourited by another user. this occured because the user collects images of tea, and mine was of a tea shoppe.
  
• this is Easter and I don't care.
  

April 6, 2006

Beloved, bright, good Dana,

April 6th will always be your birthday, and you will forever be a great part of my heart and mind. I love you and miss you. I'm so sorry.

Your Kyra

Parisian Chimmneys

Parisian Chimmneys
Originally uploaded by Kyra Savolainen.

Photo taken out a window at Hotel Ducs d'Anjou, Paris.

Bunker entrance

Bunker entrance
Originally uploaded by Kyra Savolainen.

Shooter window

Shooter window
Originally uploaded by Kyra Savolainen.

You've won a peach coloured sunset

You've won a peach coloured sunset
Originally uploaded by Kyra Savolainen.

Photo taken at the apex of a day's walk in the English countryside.

Google gobbles Writely

After sending a great number of work-attached emails to myself this school year, I've belatedly discovered online word processing. Unfortunately, the phenomenon has entered my sights just as Google acquires Writely ( seemingly the most accessible WP service), and promptly suspends new account registration.

With my interest in online WP piqued and Writely's current unavailability, I've set out to find an alternative. Now onscreen is ThinkFree Office Online (beta).

Reminder to Self

Find Thortons/Thornley(?) toffee for "Eric at school". (Met on Thurs morning, offered London suggestions, shared PMB for comparison.)

58 Wetherden Street, Satellite View

Well morning to you. Let's do some spying together.

As I still have a little more than an hour before my first class starts, I thought I'd link to Google Maps' satellite image of Wetherden Street. When you zoom in, you can get a pretty good view of the backyards; but I'm left wondering if any of the bomb shelters remain from the blitz. This wonder leads me to question whether most homes in London and its surrounding area have uprooted their shelters. I guess the corrugated metal domes would have been eyesores and space-wasters to many, and Ivy described her family's shelter as already leaky and flooded during the bombings. When she talks about things like that -- her family having to run to the bomb shelter for protection during air raids and inciendiary bombs -- she doesn't show any rememberence of fear, and I wonder about that, too.

Between Mile End and Bethnal Green

When I'm in London next week, one of the things I want to do is find the house where my Nanna, Ivy, grew up. She's told me the address a shameful number of times, but, right now, I can only remember that her row of houses was -- hopefully still is -- between Mile End and Bethnal Green. I think the street name is Walthamstow. If it's still standing, I'll be taking pictures to share with her when I get back to Toronto. Visiting the place where she grew up and spent most of world war two will be so good. Hopefully the current residents will be home and friendly and not mind letting me into their backyard...or maybe even touring their house! Hah, think that's pushing it?

Attention all residents of Walthamstow and vicinity: Please prepare yourselves for company!

Edit: fifteen minutes later
Alright, so I was way off and totally wrong. Nanna's old house is out in section three nearest the Leyton station. She said there used to be a bus -- the 38 -- that would take her from home to Piccadily. I think bussing it out to her area would be much better than going the distance underground. I'd love to see how London is made and how it changes through the districts. Walthamstow is where Nanna's family sometimes got their mail from. The true address to find is 58 Wetherden Street, Leyton (off of Markhouse Rd and Leabridge Rd). I've promised photos. So pardon me as I reissue my warning:

Attention all residents of 58 and 60 Wetherden Street: Please prepare yourselves for company!

Behind the Name

Imaging class this morning is full with all sorts of forgery tips. But they're being disseminated very slowly, so I've been enjoying a name etymology site called Behind the Name.

The proposed meaning of my name, Kyra, matches up closely with what I've read elsewhere. Kyra from Cyrus, Kyros...far sighted, bright light, sun.

England, England, Jordan

Received an email from Zandra this weekend: Congratulations are in order as she has been accepted onto this summer's dig in Jordan! Zab and I haven't seen eachother much at all in the last year+ due to work, school, and travel schedules (as well as some sloth on my part); hopefully we can spend some time together when we're both back in Toronto. (Zab is currently visiting friends in Nottinghamshire over reading week, and I will be leaving for Heartfordshire in less than two weeks.)

My upcoming trip to England will be with, and funded by, my mother. Relations between us are often strained. I'm unsure as to how much fun(/relaxation/enlightenment) this reading week vacation of ours will be, but I hope to make the best of it...and I've already suggested that the two of us spend some time pursuing our individual interests while in London and Paris. Thank god for June, our semi-host and tension de-fuser extraordinaire.

Creative Brief: SmartCar

Target: Upper-middle class. 35-50. Looking for a second car. University educated. $120k/yr.

Benefit: SmartCar is great/best on gas. 100k/L

Proof: Great milage. Easy to park.

Product difference: Really small.

Medium: TorontoLife

Link your way to a better day

Pop Montreal.

Ask for these days off

June 24 & 25 (Pride Toronto, 19th-25th)
July 1,2,3 (Canada Day weekend)
July 28 & 29 All day (Beaches International Jazz Festival, StreetFest 27th-29th, MainStage 29th-30th)
Labour Day weekend?

Read It

Read: "It's the Crude, Dude" by Linda McQuaig.

Kensington Brawl

The Toronto Star's front page photo comes from a site I, along with numerous others, was reading last night. I was linked there from BoingBoing. Loads of opinions are being tossed around at Citynoise; a surprising number condem the bike courier for her retalliatory actions against 'psycho driver.'

I applaud the Toronto cyclist.

Make 2006 the Year for Proportional Representation

Let's put electoral reform at the forefront of the national agenda every chance we get.
With more than 17% of the popular vote, the NDP should have come away from yesterday's election with a much more powerful position in the Commons.

Stock Photography Sites

FirstLight.com

FreeFoto.com

FreeStockPhotos.com

GeekPhilosopher.com

iStockPhoto.com

MorgueFile.com

Morning, Music!

The time is three minutes past eight-am. Kanye West scored my public transit way to school and then passed the job of further shaking and waking me to Lady Sovereign. LS makes my bitter coffee better -- and I hope to hell I never meet her.

20 mins 'til Copywriting. Bring on the headlines.

Last ditch

Constance and I have been in Wallaceburg for the past two days. This afternoon we drift eastward to London. Hello Meghean and Hasdeep!

The Christmas break is close to over; I'll be back in class on Monday where I'll learn the basics of Photoshop and more about integrated brand comunication (or is it promotion?). The past few weeks have definately been relaxing: my mind is now way too used to sleeping almost until noon and staying awake until three the next morning. But I don't feel like I've wasted my time at all. I got to spend quite a lot of time with Ariel, saw my dad's cottage (for the last time). My plan to get some good reading in over the holidays has worked out pretty well. The sylabus included The Tipping Point, Culture Jam, and Nexus. Mmm...books.. There's still a shelved stack waiting for me at home. My mom decided to go the literary route this Christmas and I'm all the happier for it. After Nexus, I could read Buddist critques on consumerism (Hooked); what looks to be a NoLogo-type book on Walmart and its rot (Walmart); or a brief history of the unutterable "N-word" (Nigger).