tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-70078412024-03-13T18:08:45.612-04:00Thoughts on the WorldAnd some other things...
Your source for interesting links, political commentary and generally exciting things from a Canuck with too much time on his hands.Guidohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09433419867806449471noreply@blogger.comBlogger236125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7007841.post-19709976211817930582012-03-15T07:48:00.004-04:002012-03-15T07:51:47.126-04:00Moving on...Well. Blogger has been a trusty friend for quite a number of years and I've been rather neglectful of this blog over the past while. I've decided to hop onto the newest craze and start up a blog/site/thing on my own domain so that I can make it more of a photo blog / clearinghouse for my thoughts.<br />It's been fun, Blogger, but it's time to move!<br /><br />You can now find me at <a href="http://gord.spencenet.ca/">http://gord.spencenet.ca/</a> where I'll be posting photos, sermons, and general thoughts on life. I'm really pleased with the template that I've got going there now, so do check it out before you add the RSS feed and never look at the site directly again!Guidohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09433419867806449471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7007841.post-87864194637073612442011-04-11T23:00:00.001-04:002011-04-11T23:00:10.227-04:00They've started!<div style="margin: 0 0 10px 0; padding: 0; font-size: 0.8em; line-height: 1.6em;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/rev_aviator/5612121460/" title="Orange for Green"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5226/5612121460_9d6ee4cdda.jpg" alt="Orange for Green by Reverend Aviator" /></a><br/><span style="margin: 0;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/rev_aviator/5612121460/">Orange for Green</a>, a photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/rev_aviator/">Reverend Aviator</a> on Flickr.</span></div><p>Well, there was no fanfare or big press conference that I heard about, but it looks as though they've started to prepare for construction on the (temporary) siding for GO train service to Kitchener. This is fantastic news for all of us in KW!</p>Guidohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09433419867806449471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7007841.post-52139508260274689792011-01-03T09:34:00.002-05:002011-01-03T09:54:06.529-05:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_xQ-uurWB5SQ/TSHegUekCPI/AAAAAAAAD8s/_9zhDAKR3lc/s1600/Snoooooow.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 530px; height: 148px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_xQ-uurWB5SQ/TSHegUekCPI/AAAAAAAAD8s/_9zhDAKR3lc/s400/Snoooooow.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5557968061985982706" border="0" /></a><br />Ah.... now that's more like it!Guidohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09433419867806449471noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7007841.post-25809993533095331882009-11-20T10:43:00.003-05:002009-11-20T10:49:41.724-05:00Absence<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_xQ-uurWB5SQ/Swa6DzvpcTI/AAAAAAAADsA/7gBW0BcnPjM/s1600/259.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_xQ-uurWB5SQ/Swa6DzvpcTI/AAAAAAAADsA/7gBW0BcnPjM/s400/259.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5406212977297289522" border="0" /></a><br />Someday I'll get around to writing for fun again.<br /><br />I just wanted to drop a note to say that I haven't forgotten about the blog entirely, rather I've been swept up into school in a big way. Five classes, two jobs, a wife, and a cat... plus I try to see my friends once in a while too.<br /><br />Life is great right now, just very busy.Guidohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09433419867806449471noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7007841.post-72398955491078127782009-07-07T20:47:00.002-04:002009-07-07T20:54:09.411-04:00Thank You Big MediaAt the best of times I find that the mainstream media is lazy, hypocritical, and low-brow, however this past couple of weeks has really taken the cake. After listening to CBC Radio 1 begin their hourly 5-minute news segment with a full minute and a half all about Michael Jackson's funeral followed by about 15 seconds on a helicopter crash which killed two Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan, I nearly lost it. This is about as coherent as my ranting can be at the moment.<br /><br /><br /><br />Thank you all (CTV, CNN, CBC, NBC, etc.) for dropping all of the rest of the going ons in the world for the last two weeks to keep us all in the loop that Michael Jackson is <span style="font-style: italic;">still </span>dead. I don't know what I would do with my life if it weren't for you. Oh, I'd probably be informed.<br /><br />Did you know that there is a revolt happening in Iran? Did you know that there are civilians being shot and killed by police and the army in China this very moment? You'd never know it given the news networks' coverage.<br />Oh, and FYI, there are still two major wars going on. Iraq and Afghanistan ring a bell? Yeah, I hear a couple of brave Canadian soldiers lost their lives yesterday in a helicopter crash.Guidohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09433419867806449471noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7007841.post-29671677883640228472009-01-28T18:11:00.003-05:002009-01-28T18:32:25.261-05:00Intelligent Waterloo? HA!Warning, a rant that many have heard from me before follows. Tune out if you don't want to hear me bitch about stupid drivers and stupid city officials.<br /><br />-------------------<br /><br />Waterloo bills itself as one of the smartest (if not <span style="font-style: italic;">the</span> smartest) city in Canada. I would contend that this is an outright lie.<br />Newsflash, Waterloo-ians : when you have 15 centimeters of snow on your car - CLEAN IT OFF! No, not just the front windshield (with your wipers), no not the windshield and back window, NO not the windshield and front door windows.<br /> Clean the hood. Clean the windshield. Clean the rear window. Clean ALL of the side windows. Clean the roof of your car. Clean the headlights. Clean the tail-lights! And lastly (not that I care, but the police might) clean off your license plates!<br /><br />Why do I care so passionately about this, you might ask? I don't want to die because you are too damned lazy to take two minutes and clear off your car. Not only are you a danger on the road because you can't see anything, but <span style="font-style: italic;">I</span> can't see the oncoming traffic because there's a blizzard blowing off your car into the oncoming lanes.<br /><br />Point number two regarding the "Intelligent City".<br />It has been snowing since at least 7:30 this morning when I drove to work. It's a 45 minute drive in this weather to my job. It took 50 minutes to get back home. I drove to school this evening and it took me another 45 minutes. So far today I have been on the road for 2 hours, 20 minutes. How many municipal snowplows have I seen today? Zero. Zip. Zilch. NONE. I think I may have seen a section of the expressway that was scraped once, but other than that I haven't seen evidence of snowplows being on the roads either. All the city streets have 4-5 inches of slippery dirty snow on them. In some spots it's actually track-bare, but in the middle there's still enough snow that I can hear it rubbing on the underparts of my car (ooo! underparts!).<br /><br />Guess what folks. We live in Canada. The Great White North. It snows in the winter. It happens every year. Deal with it, and learn to leave a few extra minutes to clean off your car. And to the cities of Kitchener, Waterloo, and Guelph. You have snowplow drivers who you are either not using properly and having them on the roads in daylight hours, or they are not doing their job. FIX IT.Guidohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09433419867806449471noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7007841.post-88398060327404929752009-01-13T23:17:00.006-05:002009-01-14T16:21:49.467-05:00A little bit of NerdityI just thought I'd share a bit of the nerdiness that occupies my mind.<br />As anyone who has ridden in my car knows, I keep track of the mileage of my car along with the cost of each fill-up of the gas tank in a little book in my glove compartment.<br /><br />What you may not know is that I take that data and play with it!<br />A year or so ago, I found a website called Swivel which will take your data and make all sorts of fun graphs and charts with it. I've been keeping this spreadsheet since I bought the car, so I can call it fairly complete data. It shows me things such as the cost (in gas-cents) to run my car per kilometre (averaging 8.3 cents per kilometre),<br /><a href="http://www.swivel.com/graphs/show/26402370"><img alt="Cents/Km" src="http://www.swivel.com/graphs/image/31355529" style="" title="Click to play with this data at Swivel" /></a><br />the number of litres of gas that I use per 100 km (average 8.49 L/100 km),<br /><a href="http://www.swivel.com/graphs/show/26402369"><img alt="L/ 100km" src="http://www.swivel.com/graphs/image/31355531" style="" title="Click to play with this data at Swivel" /></a><br />and with the graphs and charts, I can see how this changes over time, and see trends - i.e. my mileage is decreasing, so there may be something wrong with the engine, or I can follow the gas prices over long time periods. If you look at the gas price chart particularly, you can see the slump in prices that began this fall preceded by the inflationary bubble prior to that.<br /><a href="http://www.swivel.com/graphs/show/26402351"><img alt="$/Litre" src="http://www.swivel.com/graphs/image/31355515" style="" title="Click to play with this data at Swivel" /></a><br /><br />All from my own data!<br /><br />Obviously there are some spikes in the data and it can be a bit lumpy, but for viewing general trends it works really well. For all the time it takes to write this stuff down, it sure gives me something to chew on when I enter the data into my spreadsheet!<br /><br />Check it out the full data here: http://www.swivel.com/data_sets/show/1011726Guidohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09433419867806449471noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7007841.post-23068978568784037512009-01-08T21:23:00.002-05:002009-01-08T21:46:25.770-05:00New YearI suppose I should make some sort of update!<br /><br />Life was a bit overwhelming for the last month of 2008... final exams, final papers, working... it just all seemed to come together in a mass... and then it was over!<br /><br />I passed everything, with fairly decent marks and I'm pleased with the results.<br /><br />Between the finish of exams and Christmas, I worked full-time at my job, which helped to refill the coffers a bit, and it definitely kept me active for the time before Christmas.<br /><br />On Christmas Eve, I made the journey home to my family's home (and Vanessa). We had a great Christmas gathering with all the usual suspects in attendance. Two days later, Vanessa's family gathered at V's parents' and we had <span style="font-weight: bold;">Christmas Dinner part II (The Revenge of the Cranberries)</span>. It was a nice get-together, and I really do think that I'm going to fit into the family quite comfortably.<br /><br />Oh yeah, I'm getting married in four months. Less than. May 2. I guess we'd better get that guest list finalised. I'm constantly torn with who I can invite because, unfortunately, the hall where we're having the reception (my church) isn't overly large, and we're limited to 180 or so people... which really isn't very many when you take into account the large size of both our families, and our copious amount of friends. Do any etiquette experts have any thoughts on how to gracefully approach this? perhaps posting this thought on my blog is a bad / good idea...? I'm in a bind, either way... the church where we're having the wedding would probably hold everyone we'd like to invite, but the reception hall is just too small. Blah. And no, changing the reception hall location is not an option...<br /><br />Today on my way home from school i was considering the irony of having ads for car dealerships on the side of public transit buses... advertising on the competition. Genius.<br /><br />I was thinking about the railway today as well. In Canada there's a strong affection for the railway because it was this "iron ribbon" that brought Canada together in Confederation... it's what made it possible. When someone rides VIA Rail these days the trains are (not irregularly) delayed by freight trains passing especially if the passenger train was behind schedule. Apparently passenger trains are a second priority on the rails. So anyways, this thought ran through my mind and suddenly it clicked that the rail line that is so revered in Canadian history wasn't built to move people across the continent as I'd often assumed... it was built to move goods. Trees. Ores. Coal. How disillusioning to think that this symbol of Canadiana is simply a tool for business... maybe I'm just naive, but that realisation disappoints me greatly.<br /><br />Sorry for the randomness... just had to get those thoughts out!Guidohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09433419867806449471noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7007841.post-28490273035836871722008-11-25T16:37:00.002-05:002008-11-25T16:41:45.127-05:00Post-humanismI sure as hell hope that post-humanist literature is meant to show us that we can do better, and that we will... because it's friggin' depressing otherwise.
<br />
<br />I just finished reading <span style="font-style: italic;">Watchmen </span>for my Science Fiction Literature class, and frankly I thought it was a huge turd. Supposedly it's the epitome of graphic novels (read: comic books), and it really didn't live up to the hype in my mind... the characters were confused, confusing, and it left me disappointed as a whole.
<br />
<br />Here's the journal I wrote on it:
<br /> <blockquote><meta equiv="CONTENT-TYPE" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><title></title><meta name="GENERATOR" content="OpenOffice.org 3.0 (Win32)"><style type="text/css"> <!-- @page { margin: 2cm } P { margin-bottom: 0.21cm } --> </style> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family:Tahoma, sans-serif;"><span lang="en-CA">Reading </span><span lang="en-CA"><i>Watchmen</i></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">, was a new experience for me, as I've never been all that interested in comic books, so I haven't sought one out to give it a try. I found it to be more like watching a movie, than reading a book... perhaps “reading a movie” would be an accurate description. Whereas giving a close reading to a regular text involves just looking for trends in an author's prose, this medium lends us to having to watch for details that are visually present – repetitions, allusions, etc. The fortunate part of a “graphic novel” is that the pictures don't move or change as in when watching a film, so you are given a long time to study each frame for intricate details. This advantage may be why it took me the better part of two weeks to read this novel in its entirety.</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" lang="en-CA">
<br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;" lang="en-CA"><span style="font-family:Tahoma, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">When considering the stereotypical understanding of comic books, I tend to imagine superheroes, and supervillains, all moral issues are black and white, and superheroes are only limited by their conscience in their actions. </span><i>Watchmen</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> attempts to counter this by presenting the heroes as not only tragically flawed, but totally useless. None of the “heroes” of the story actually accomplish anything heroic (excepting a short rescue from a burning building). The only character who seems to manage any sort of change ends up vaporised shortly thereafter – I mean the newspaper salesman, not Doctor Manhattan. Ironically, the one who manages to bring about world peace is the hero turned supervillain, Ozymandias.</span></span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.03cm; margin-right: 0.03cm; margin-bottom: 0cm;" lang="en-GB"> <span style="font-family:Tahoma, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">The other main expectation in comic books is that there is always a happy ending – the hero saves. This story brings us so close to that ending, but then snatches it away in the last frames. This is another way that Moore works to turn the idea of superhero comics on its head. However, it is not a satisfying story in any sense for me. There is little resolved by the end of the story, and I can only assume that it is self-referencing the comic book genre as a whole. This meant that much of the depth in the story was likely lost on me – leading me not to enjoy it as regular readers of comic books might have. I didn't know what to expect when reading it, so I was left confused and disappointed with the story.</span></span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.03cm; margin-right: 0.03cm; margin-bottom: 0cm;" lang="en-GB"> <span style="font-family:Tahoma, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">I think Moore's goal with this story was to critique the story telling quality of the comic book genre, by showing that there are other routes that a story can take. Again, not knowing much of the history of comic books, I can only speak from stereotypical references, so I think that Moore was saying that there was a lot more potential for the graphic novel genre than was currently being utilized, despite laws which limited the story telling capacity at the time.</span></span></p> </blockquote>This novel makes me want to retreat back to reading all the classic authors - Heinlein, Asimov, Pohl...
<br />Guidohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09433419867806449471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7007841.post-28506414947365805712008-10-19T22:34:00.004-04:002008-10-19T22:40:17.140-04:00Boy oh boyDreaming about the future is about the only thing getting me through school right now. Midterms suck.<br /><br />However, I'm dreaming about:<br /><ul><li> The next time I get to see Vanessa.</li><li> November Rally</li><li> Christmas Holidays</li><li> Getting married</li><li> Taking impossibly awesome roadtrips (Click <a href="http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=d&saddr=425+Wilson+Ave,+Kitchener,+ON+%28Home%29&daddr=South+Baymouth,+ON+to:Edmonton,+AB+to:Red+Deer,+AB+to:Kelowna,+BC+to:Vancouver,+BC+to:Seattle,+WA+to:Eugene,+OR,+USA+to:CA-211%2FMattole+Rd+to:CA-1+to:CA-1+to:San+Francisco,+CA+to:CA-1+to:CA-1+to:CA-1+to:San+Diego,+CA+to:roswell,+nm+to:425+Wilson+Ave,+Kitchener,+ON+%28Home%29&hl=en&geocode=%3B%3B%3B%3B%3B%3B%3B%3BFcw2aQIdPiSW-A%3BFUJTVAIdgoqg-A%3BFaBYRgIdStSs-A%3B%3BFdjsOAIdDD20-A%3BFabPKAIdaAS--A%3BFfopBwIdAsDq-A%3B%3B%3B&mra=ls&via=8,9,10,12,13,14&sll=42.682435,-102.304687&sspn=31.376892,79.101563&ie=UTF8&ll=44.590467,-101.162109&spn=30.441707,79.101563&z=4">here for that one.)</a></li><li> Moving to a new apartment in Waterloo</li><li> Getting through these bloody exams.</li><li> Finishing my undergrad and getting into the real "meat" of my education</li><li> Moving to Kingston</li><li> Buying a house</li></ul><br />Back to studying, I suppose... stay well everyone!Guidohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09433419867806449471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7007841.post-23658872237695488022008-10-16T20:20:00.002-04:002008-10-16T20:37:21.514-04:00Update time!<br /><br />Wedding plans are coming along steadily. We'll be getting married on May 2 (2009) at Dunlop United in Sarnia, then there'll be a reception at High Park United that will be a potuck (mmmmm.... potluck). Ummm... that's the gist of it!<br /><br />Life right now is a bit hectic for me. I'm working as a frontline tech for an Ontario crown corporation in Guelph. This means that I've got a half-hour commute, and I'm working Monday to Thursday from 8-12, and all day on Fridays, then I have school in the afternoons the first four days of the week. My first two days of the week I'm basically gone from 7:30 AM until 10:30 PM... but Wednesday and Thursday make up for it because I'm done by 3 or 4, plus my weekends are relatively free. The paycheques are a nice change, though. I'm actually starting to be able to afford living here while I'm paying down my line of credit.<br /><br />Vanessa and I have been fortunate to have a fair amount of time to see each other since school started. She's come to visit a couple of times, and I've been home two or three times as well. The last trip was for Thanksgiving weekend, which was thoroughly busy trying to make time for both of our families as well as for eachother. We did manage a trip to the Pinery with Tim and Val, which was a ton of fun - you can find some pictures of that trip on my Flickr page.<br /><br />School's been pretty good, although I don't think I'm able to put in quite as much effort as I'd like... my marks aren't showing it, though. I've gotten two great marks so far in my Science Fiction Literature class, as well as a decent showing in Social Psych (70%) and an 80% on my first test for Christian History. I have a midterm test next week for Juvenile Delinquency which should help me gauge how well I'm absorbing that class. I'll admit that I haven't taken a lot of notes in that one, so it may be interesting.<br /><br />That's about it from KW for now!Guidohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09433419867806449471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7007841.post-6880646076930253632008-08-12T17:21:00.001-04:002008-08-12T17:25:15.115-04:00SporeSo... <a href="http://www.spore.com/">Spore </a>is being released <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spore_%28computer_game%29">September 7</a>. The day before I start school.<br /><br />Well, I guess school will have to wait a few days then, won't it?<br /><br />http://pc.ign.com/objects/735/735340.htmlGuidohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09433419867806449471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7007841.post-36701844906587790102008-08-01T20:19:00.001-04:002008-08-01T20:20:25.420-04:00EeeshGonna be an expensive semester books-wise... <br /><br /><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="6"><strong>Fall 2008 (1089) ENGL 208B: Section 001 (DEMAN)</strong> </td> </tr> <tr class="cartalt"> <td><br /></td> <td valign="top">TX.9780930289232</td> <td>MOORE ALAN ET AL: WATCHMEN </td> <td valign="right"> 1 </td> <td align="right"> $19.99 </td> <td align="right">$19.99</td> </tr> <tr class="cartnorm"> <td><br /></td> <td valign="top">TX.9780441569595</td> <td>GIBSON: NEUROMANCER </td> <td valign="right"> 1 </td> <td align="right"> $10.99 </td> <td align="right">$10.99</td> </tr> <tr class="cartalt"> <td><br /></td> <td valign="top">TX.281108913791B</td> <td>ENGL DEPT: ENGL 208B SEC 001 SCIENCE FICTION </td> <td valign="right"> 1 </td> <td align="right"> $42.50 </td> <td align="right">$42.50</td> </tr> <tr class="cartnorm"> <td><br /></td> <td valign="top">TX.9780415366687</td> <td>ROBERTS: SCIENCE FICTION *2ND ED* </td> <td valign="right"> 1 </td> <td align="right"> $23.50 </td> <td align="right">$23.50</td> </tr> <tr class="cartalt"> <td><br /></td> <td valign="top">TX.9780812505153</td> <td>WELLS H G: WAR OF THE WORLDS </td> <td valign="right"> 1 </td> <td align="right"> $5.99 </td> <td align="right">$5.99</td> </tr> <tr class="cartnorm"> <td><br /></td> <td valign="top">TX.9780553293357</td> <td>ASIMOV: FOUNDATION </td> <td valign="right"> 1 </td> <td align="right"> $11.99 </td> <td align="right">$11.99</td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="6"> <strong>Fall 2008 (1089) PSYCH 253: Section 001 (LOGEL)</strong> </td> </tr> <tr class="cartalt"> <td><br /></td> <td valign="top">TX.9780070952027</td> <td>MYERS & SPENCER: SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 3RD CDN </td> <td valign="right"> 1 </td> <td align="right"> $118.95 </td> <td align="right">$118.95</td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="6"> <strong>Fall 2008 (1089) SOC 222: Section 001 (CARRINGTON)</strong> </td> </tr> <tr class="cartnorm"> <td><br /></td> <td valign="top">TX.9780195168457</td> <td>SHOEMAKER: THEORIES OF DELINQUENCY *5TH ED* </td> <td valign="right"> 1 </td> <td align="right"> $42.95 </td> <td align="right">$42.95</td> </tr> <tr class="cartalt"> <td><br /></td> <td valign="top">TX.9780802086242</td> <td>DOOB ET AL: RESPONDING TO YOUTH CRIME IN CANADA </td> <td valign="right"> 1 </td> <td align="right"> $32.95 </td> <td align="right">$32.95</td> </tr> <tr class="cartnorm"> <td><br /></td> <td valign="top">TX.9781552210574</td> <td>BALA NICHOLAS: YOUTH CRIMINAL JUSTICE LAW </td> <td valign="right"> 1 </td> <td align="right"> $44.95 </td> <td align="right">$44.95</td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="6"> <strong>Fall 2008 (1089) RS 240: Section 001 (TATARYN)</strong> </td> </tr> <tr class="cartalt"> <td><br /></td> <td valign="top">TX.9780534546625</td> <td>VAN VOORST: READINGS IN CHRISTIANITY </td> <td valign="right"> 1 </td> <td align="right"> $93.95 </td> <td align="right">$93.95</td> </tr> <tr class="cartnorm"> <td><br /></td> <td valign="top">TX.9780495097266</td> <td>WEAVER MARY JO: INTRODUCTION TO CHRISTIANITY </td> <td valign="right"> 1 </td> <td align="right"> $83.95 </td> <td align="right">$83.95</td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="6"> <strong>Fall 2008 (1089) PHIL 328: Section 001 (OREND)</strong> </td> </tr> <tr class="cartalt"> <td><br /></td> <td valign="top">TX.9781551114361</td> <td>OREND: HUMAN RIGHTS CONCEPT & CONTEXT </td> <td valign="right"> 1 </td> <td align="right"> $34.95 </td> <td align="right">$34.95</td> </tr> </tbody></table> <table width="100%"><tbody><tr> <td class="contentbar1" align="left">Subtotal: </td> <td class="contentbar1" align="right">$567.61</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="titletab_small" align="left">TOTAL:</td> <td class="titletab_small" align="right">$567.61</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><br />To the Used Bookstore!!Guidohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09433419867806449471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7007841.post-23379837800079361892008-07-28T17:39:00.002-04:002008-07-28T17:52:20.589-04:00Car Ownership SucksIf you don't feel like reading a bitchfest about my car, feel free to skip this entry...<br /><br />I like my car. I really do. I try to take good care of it. I don't drive it roughly, I give it a regular oil change, I fix things when they break. So why does it have to treat me this way?<br /><br />The last little while it has been giving off a wonderful gasoline smell in the passenger compartment when it's idling or after I turn it off... lovely if you like that sort of buzz, but I'm not a big fan... also it has been a bit difficult to start every now and then for whatever reason.<br /><br />So today I took it to Mazda to have a look and see if they could figure out where the smell is coming from (yes, I looked for leaks under the hood, and checked for puddles beneath the car - nada). Turns out the top of the gas tank where there's a little distribution thingy has been leaking. This is located directly beneath the rear passenger seat... the showed me what was happening and it wasn't pretty. Ok, fine... so we've gotta replace the gas tank and the distribution thingy ($1200ish).<br /><br />Next he shows me a leak that's coming from up inside the engine... the water pump is leaking. Onto the timing belt. Oh good. So those need to be replaced... another $1200. The timing belt needed to be done about 10k ago anyways, so it's not that huge a deal... annoying nonetheless, but mostly just a catch-up repair.<br /><br />Now he shows me an engine mount... it's cracked... needs replacing. Woo. More money.<br /><br />Add on a few other things - a burned out running light, leaky oil cap, rear brakes needing a cleaning, front brake pads nearing their time for replacement, air filter replacement, exhaust pipe starting to corrode, oil pan rusting... my car is apparently a piece of crap... oh, and the bill? Nearly $5,000... I'm going to do the most pressing stuff right now, then get the other stuff done as I can afford it... Sometimes I really hate having a car.<br /><br />Grr...Guidohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09433419867806449471noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7007841.post-13451272773507795602008-07-21T19:16:00.002-04:002008-07-21T19:22:10.695-04:00Please Welcome...A new addition to my family. Sexy McBasserson (still working on a name!):<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/rev_aviator/2690880412/" title="Just chillin' to a funky bass... by Reverend Aviator, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3121/2690880412_686f77e3d7.jpg" alt="Just chillin' to a funky bass..." width="288" height="500" /></a><br /><br />(I bought it after returning from Europe - just got around to taking a picture today). <br />She sounds wonderful, and I'm going to be selling off my oldest bass - an Ibanez Roadstar II - if anyone's interested. Part of me hopes I won't find a buyer, though - I really like the Roadstar, but I rarely play it since I got my five string the summer before last, and I'm sure having the new addition it'll be neglected even more... :(Guidohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09433419867806449471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7007841.post-12085842023627731432008-07-14T13:35:00.002-04:002008-07-14T13:43:37.824-04:00Shifting to NightSo I started training at my new job last night - I'm working at a distribution centre for a grocery store chain. My job is to go up and down the warehouse aisles and pick out stock to send to the grocery stores while driving <a href="http://www.crown.com/usa/products/usa_electric_forklift/rider_pallet_trucks/PE_4000_Series/index.html">this</a> and using an audio system which tells me where to go and how much to pick up from each place. It's voice activated... pretty cool stuff.<br /><br />Anyway, my first night was fun, I learned how to drive the "jigger" and got to know a bit of the routine for nightshifts. As long as I can get the rest I need, I think I'm going to enjoy this.<br /><br />That's all for now! :)Guidohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09433419867806449471noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7007841.post-20168483527440968522008-07-04T09:13:00.005-04:002008-07-21T21:27:20.118-04:00EuroTrip 2008 Picture RoundupAlright, here's a link to everything. I've put it all on Facebook simply because it's easy (and they have an unlimited space for pictures). I'm going to be posting my very very favourites onto my <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/rev_aviator/sets/72157605775194321/">Flickr</a> page as I have time as well. Enjoy!<br /><br /><a href="http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=30473&l=3fa91&id=514730957">Part 1: Pearson and Flight</a><br /><a href="http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=30474&l=dd9c6&id=514730957">Part 2: Paris</a><br /><a href="http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=30486&l=319dd&id=514730957">Part 3: Arras / Vimy</a><br /><a href="http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=30487&l=59975&id=514730957">Part 4: More Paris</a><br /><a href="http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=30490&l=f9fcd&id=514730957">Part 5: Munich (Dachau)</a><br /><a href="http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=30502&l=1cc9b&id=514730957">Part 6: Salzburg</a><br /><a href="http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=30507&l=e1a06&id=514730957">Part 7: Prague</a><br /><a href="http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=30514&l=7f0d4&id=514730957">Part 8: Dresden</a>Guidohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09433419867806449471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7007841.post-613200228105105812008-07-03T11:15:00.002-04:002008-07-03T13:11:41.780-04:00Dresden - Frankfurt - Toronto - KitchenerNow, I'm going to ruin the ending for anyone who has been reading along on my adventure, so prepare yourself. I'm home, safe and sound!<br /><br />On Tuesday afternoon I caught a train from Dresden to Frankfurt. It was a highspeed ICE train, which travelled around 300 km/h... very cool stuff. It was an entirely uneventful journey, where I finished reading <span style="font-style: italic;">Fluke</span> and started typing up a blog entry only to have my computer lock up after two pages, losing everything. I was not pleased, let me tell you!<br /><br />Anyway, once I arrived in Frankfurt I made my way to the hotel I was staying at which was only a few steps from the station. The area was a bit sketchy, but I'm sure I've stayed in worse areas before. The hotel itself, on the other hand, was clean and comfortable. As it was about 7 PM by the time I arrived in Frankfurt, there wasn't much of anything still open as far as tourism goes, so I just stayed in the hotel and relaxed for the evening, until about 9:30 when I went back to the train station to get dinner. Usually I try to avoid train station food, but this place had a surprising variety, and I ended up getting fish and chips, so I was pleased! Also stopped at a bookstore that was there and didn't really see anything good in the English section, so I didn't end up getting anything. The last errand I needed to take care of was buying a ticket for the S-Bahn to get me to the airport first thing in the morning. After I bought that, I noted that it had the time and date that I had purchased it on it. Kind of strange, since every system we'd used in Europe (except Paris) had been a case of where you buy a ticket, and then you'd validate it either on the train or before getting on. Oh well...<br />I went to bed that night pretty late so that I could get a start on beating the jet lag from the trip home.<br /><br />The next morning I was up at 6:30 (even though my alarm was set for 7) and I took my time packing up and was out of the hotel well before 8. My plan had been to catch the s-bahn at 8:17, but I managed to catch the one prior to it, and was at the airport just before 8 for my 10:45 flight. When I got on the train I noticed that they didn't have validators... soooo... I may have travelled on a ticket that was expired. Fortunately, there are only inspectors on the trains very rarely, and otherwise it's the 'honour system', so I didn't get checked, or fined!<br /><br />Tim had told me that the airplane would probably be leaving from Pier B in Terminal 1, so I made my way to the set of ticket counters that were labelled as "B" and for the life of me I couldn't find the Air Canada counter... though I did find an automated check-in where I got my boarding pass... now I just needed to get rid of my bags. After a solid 10 minutes of walking up and down considering my options, I finally found a sign which indicated where I had to check in... the C counters! What the heck? Oh well, so I got over there, dropped my bag off, then made my way out towards the gates where my plane was waiting (B pier, as Tim had indicated). I was pretty early, but after clearing security and passport control, I only had about 45 minutes to kill before boarding. I bought a salad and some juice at a little store to finish off the last of my Euro cash (I paid cash for the hotel that morning as well to help get rid of most of them). I sat in a McDonalds on the second level which had a great view over the apron and runways... it's a shame I wasn't able to stay longer. Oh well!<br /><br />Boarding the flight was a piece of cake, and I ended up seated next to a fellow from Ohio who was returning home with his wife (who sat in the row ahead of him) and a lady who lives in Edmonton and was originally from Poland, returning from a trip there. The flight took off about half an hour late, but managed to catch it up enroute. The three of us in my row had some interesting conversations regarding the role of the church in European and North American society, this being before I mentioned that I'm planning on becoming a minister... The man wasn't a fan of the church in the least, and the lady was Catholic, but didn't really agree with a lot of the teachings of the church. Made for interesting talks. Over the course of the nine-ish hours, I also managed to type out three blog posts, watch two movies - <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0423977/"><span style="font-style: italic;">Charlie Bartlett</span></a> and <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0472062/">Charlie Wilson's War</a> - the first of which I'd never heard of, and was extremely impressed with, the second I'd been wanting to see for a while, and was not disappointed in the least.<br />The flight was generally alright, though we ran through some pretty decent turbulence that I'll admit left me feeling a bit queasy (I hadn't been feeling well since I got up, anyways).<br />Customs was a breeze, and I had nothing to declare so I was through all that pretty quickly, and Tim met me at the exit. Then we drove home, and I spent the afternoon unpacking, doing laundry and trying to stay awake until 10 to beat the jet lag. I went to bed at 10, and woke up at 10 this morning, so I think I've done well so far! Now I've been working on uploading pictures and writing up this entry for three hours, so it's time for a break.<br />Have a wonderful day everyone!Guidohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09433419867806449471noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7007841.post-85620292587015639582008-06-30T11:12:00.002-04:002008-07-03T22:10:04.861-04:00Dresden Day 3 - Alone... so alone!Pictures here: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=30514&l=7f0d4&id=514730957">Dresden</a><br /><br />So, in reality this is the first day that I was totally on my own – no Tim, no random companions picked up along the way. I had planned to take it easy, but I couldn't resist at least getting out of the hostel and seeing a few things that I hadn't been to yet.<br /><br />Of course, I let myself sleep in until about 10 AM, then after showering, said goodbye to the Persian dude, who had decided that he was going to give up on the (now) ex-girlfriend and go back home to spend some time thinking about life. Not a bad idea, if you ask me!<br /> Back in our room, Katherine was just finishing packing, so we decided to have breakfast at the hostel together before she headed off to her camp. We had one of those nice conversations about our plans for the future, which was quite enjoyable. We shook hands after breakfast and I headed out into the town.<br /><br /> I started off heading back to the Altstadt, in search of a tower that was supposed to contain an exhibit detailing the damage done to the city after the firebombing in February 1945. I never did find that one. Instead I ended up at the Rathaus (great name for city hall, eh?) which had a newly re-opened tower and an excellent view from just beneath the clockfaces. I could see all the areas that we'd visited in the city, and of course many areas that I hadn't been to. There was still a bit of morning mist hanging over the city, so the view was a little bit limited, but worth the two bucks I paid to go up.<br /><br />I'd read about an overhead railway that was near the outskirts of Dresden, which is apparently the oldest of it's kid in the world, and with my affinity for public transit, I thought I'd go out to check it out. I caught a tram, and half an hour later plus a ten minute walk I found a funicular (inclined railway) that led up the side of the mountain – no sign of the overhead railway, so I began to wonder if my guidebook was out of date... no matter, I took a ride up the hill on the fuicular and was shortly in a neighbourhood of very big and expensive looking houses... I wasn't quite sure where to find the spectacular views that the guidebook had talked about, so I ended up walking around for another half hour or so, eventually finding a small platform where you could see a bit of the view toward the city through the trees. Not spectacular exactly, but it was nearly deserted, and I took my shoes off and sat on a bench to read for an hour or so. It was a good way to spend some time.<br /><br /> Around three o'clock I went back to the funicular and then caught a tram back to the Altstadt because there was one last place I had yet to visit – the inside of Frauenkirche! I tried a number of different entrances (the building is relatively circular outside), and finally found one that was allowing people inside... but for an admission! It was one of the few churches that I'd seen charge admission – but this was a church that seriously interested me so I thought “what the heck!” and went in... turns out that it was the entrance to go up to the top of the cupola! And there was an elevator! And very few stairs once up the elevator, just a inclined path that circled upwards between the inner and outer roofs of the cupola. All the way up within the cupola, there are windows facing inwards where you can see that they''ve created an extra level inside the cupola with a normal floor with a large hole that you can see down into the sanctuary through – I'm not an acoustic engineer by any means, but I would guess that with the design the way it is, you could situate a choir up here and it would sound like angel voices coming from on high... but that's just a guess!<br /><br />Once you reach the top of the path there are two steep flights up stairs which lead outside to the covered area at the the peak of the cupola... the view was fantastic and well worth the admission. Different than the view from the Rathaus in the morning, but now the mist had burned off and I could see all the way to the horizons. I think I stayed up there for a solid 40 minutes just taking in the view and getting pictures of it all!<br /> Once I came back down to the ground, I found the regular entrance to the sanctuary, and made my way in. This church is simply amazing, and that says a lot after all the cathedrals and churches I'd seen on the trip. Still a bit overdone i my taste, but less so than many of the churches I had visited. The interior was relatively modern (due to being rebuilt in 1995), but still had touches of the old world. The altar was HUGE, and depicted Christ walking to Golgotha, I believe. It was one all in stone with gold accents. The organ, which was above the altar seemed to be spotless, its pipes were a gleaming silver. The structure itself was impressive. Above the main seating area in the sanctuary on the ground floor there were three or four levels of balconies looking downwards to the chancel.<br /><br /> I sat in the sanctuary just enjoying the beauty of it all for a full hour, before I decided it was a good time to call it a day. I headed back to the hostel to rest up, as I would be catching a train to Frankfurt the next day.<br /><br /> About 9:30 or so, I went out to get some supper, and stopped at a place for a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%B6ner_kebab">donër</a> (not a donair). While eating my supper, a group of men (probably late 20s, early 30s, came in with one who was in a skirt and girly hat in the lead. Bachelor party, I'm betting – they started cheering while the one in the lead started doing a goofy dance to the electronic music that had been playing in the restaurant... then as quickly as they'd arrived, they disappeared again! And with that little bit of strangeness done, I called it a night, and went to bed early!Guidohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09433419867806449471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7007841.post-66199765238693051082008-06-29T23:59:00.001-04:002008-07-03T22:08:03.148-04:00Dresden Day 2... Dragoon JarsPictures here: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=30514&l=7f0d4&id=514730957">Dresden</a><br /><br />Day two in Dresden started especially well because I ended up having the room in my hostel all to myself – a very nice change from the last week and a half. After breakfast at the hostel, I headed out to meet up with Shyla and Natalie a little way from our hostels. We caught a tram down to the Altstadt, and began our day of sightseeing with a visit to a couple of the Zwinger museums. The first was the porcelain collection of August the Strong – a king, I think. It was alright, porcelain doesn't really turn my crank to be honest. My personal favourite was a dozen or so large jars that August traded 150 soldiers for. Weird. Next we hit up the museum which houses hundreds of suits of armour and swords. This was a little more in my line of interest, I'll admit. Though, the display showing two nights charging at each other with lances kinda drove home just how barbaric and how little life meant in those days.<br /><br /> Next we visited the painting portion of the museum... wow. I'll admit a few of the paintings were boring... more than a few really, but some of them were just amazing to see. Don't ask me to recount all the different artists, but I know Raphael was one, and his portrait of the Madonna with the two cherubs at the bottom indicating the break between heaven and earth was one. Probably the most famous. Another was a painting of the tower of Babylon... I have no idea if it's famous, but it's one I'm familiar with and never thought I'd see in a museum. By this point it was nearing lunchtime, and all three of us were starting to feel more than a little exhausted, so we decided to take a break and grab some lunch.<br /><br />After lunch, we made our way to yet aother museum, this one known as the “Green Vault” - yes, really, a vault, with thick doors and combinations. It contained the royal collection of precious gems and their various settings, as well as a variety of hand crafted clocks and table settings. Cool stuff. There were rooms and rooms of stuff, varying from a table decoration which rolled down the table with two figures on it (Apollo and Athena?) who would fire arrows when it stopped, to an award made for the king with the only know green diamond (41 Karat... FORTY-ONE) surrounded by a number of 3-4 karat diamonds and hundreds of medium-small diamonds. Sparkly is an understatement for this thing.<br /><br />This took most of the afternoon, and it was seriously hot outside, so we headed back to our hostels again to recover for a bit, then met up for supper at a little pub near my hostel before going to watch the soccer match. While we were there, Natalie and Shyla noticed a family who were gathered round a table (presumably who were going to be going to see the match as well... they all were painting each other's faces with German flags, and the girls wanted to see if they could get in on the action – they debated it for a bit, then went to ask if they could borrow some facepaint, which the family happily obliged with... what a friendly group!<br /><br />Once the girls were all decked out, we made our way down to the banks of the river where the “Fan Zone” was, and we discovered that it was full already!! We took a look at the crowd, and decided that we should head back into the city and see if we could find some space at a bar with a TV. After two or three, we found a biergarden that had just enough empty chairs for us, and we settled in to watch the match. All through the match, there were random bursts from what must have been fireworks, though they sounded like small bombs going off... every five or ten minutes we'd hear a BANG! and everyone would jump, but quickly return to watching the game. Very weird... there were police out in force to keep any eye on things in case they got out of hand, but they didn't seem perturbed by the explosions, so I guess everyone followed their queue.<br />I was torn throughout because I'm truly a fan of Spain at heart, but at the same time, I wanted to cheer for the “home” team. I think I settled on quietly cheering for both teams – turns out that Spain won the game, so the crowd was pretty bummed.<br /><br />After the game, we headed back to our hostels, and bid each other farewell – exchanging e-mails so that we could keep in touch via Facebook. They were taking a train back to Prague, then flying to Barcelona for the week.<br /><br />I went back to the hostel and holed up with my laptop to catch up on some blog entries... not ten minutes after sitting down on my bed to work, a fellow came into the room (it seemed I was going to have company in the room this night) who I got talking with, and he proceeded to tell me his life story and why he came to Dresden – that being because his girlfriend had decided to break up with him (he lives in England, but is Persian) and he wanted to convince her to take him back. Yeah, a mess... but possibly for the better, who knows.<br /><br />Anyway, there was another person in the room that night as well – a young gal from near Stuttgart, Katherine (Pronounced “Kat-arin”) who was on her way to work at a camp for people with disabilities near Dresden. She was a distinct contrast to the Persian guy who talked non-stop from the moment he arrived. She was quiet, but still confident, ad she participated in the conversation as well, offering a womans viewpoint.<br /><br />About one o'clock we turned out the lights and went to sleep... My plan for the next day was to take it easy, as it was my last fully day in Dresden, and my poor feet were killing me – I'd been nursing large blisters near my big toes since Munich....Guidohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09433419867806449471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7007841.post-51884614843527939572008-06-28T23:06:00.001-04:002008-07-03T22:07:38.841-04:00Prague - Dresden, with a bit of an introduction to Dresden!<dl><dt>Pictures here: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=30514&l=7f0d4&id=514730957">Dresden</a><br /></dt><dt><br /></dt><dt>So, Tim left this morning about 3 AM and since I don't think I slept more than an hour before left, I was quite happy to sleep in until 9 AM or so. I had breakfast at the hotel, repacked my backpack, and headed for the train station by 10 or so. My train wasn't leaving until about 12:30, but I'm quite happy to partake in some people watching and train stations are great for that. Random fact – the train station I left from (Praha Holesovice) was built in 1985 and sports some partiularly dull Soviet architecture. Very straight lines, and low ceilings... what a depressing place. Nonetheless, I enjoyed hanging around waiting for my train. I staked out a spot about halfway down the departures hall, and leaned back against my bag while reading a book (<i>Fluke</i>, if you're wondering, and it's fantastic). After a while, a pair of young women took the seats just behind me, and somehow they knew I spoke English (so much for blending in) – the first thing one said was “Keep a close eye on your bags – an American guy just down the hall was just robbed when he turned away from his bags to give someone directions!'</dt><dd><br /></dd><dt> So, we got to talking, and it turns out that they were from Canada (Vancouver), and were also headed to Dresden – kind of a random stop on the train we were taking. We decided to stick together on the train, and it turned out that our hostels were near eachother in Dresden too – about a block apart, in fact. We took the same tram to get there, then decided we'd meet for dinner after we'd had some time to unpack and settle in a little bit. We wandered around for a bit trying to find a place to eat, and finally settled on an Italian restaurant that had a patio with big umbrellas and a nice view of the street. The waiter (owner?) was hilarious. He was native Italian, and was singing to us with a great sing-song manner, and always referred to the girls, Shyla and Natalie, as “m'lady” - his English was probably about as good as our German, which made ordering even more of an experience. Lots of fun, and the pizza I ordered was delicious.</dt><dd><br /></dd><dt> After supper we decided to go check out some of the sights in the Aldstadt (old town). We visited the courtyard of the Zwinger Palace, as well as the giant square where Fraeunkirche (Church of our Lady(?)). Next we walked along the promenade that runs along the river (The Elbe) where there was an art exhibit comparing Germany and China in a series of simple drawings – pretty neat. I got some awesome pictures of the city's skyline here at sunset. Also, we were able to see the Euro football “Fan Zone” - a big stage and a number of big screens that were set up for fans to watch the soccer games – the next evening was going to be the final game (between Germany and Spain), so we figured we'd head there to watch it after sightseeing for the day.</dt><dd><br /></dd><dt> As it was getting dark, we made our way back to the tram stop nearest to the Aldstadt, and enjoyed some ice cream before we heaeded back to our respective hostels for the night.</dt></dl>Guidohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09433419867806449471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7007841.post-81578314079307378472008-06-28T18:31:00.001-04:002008-07-03T22:07:01.771-04:00Prague day numero deuxPictures here: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=30507&l=e1a06&id=514730957">Prague</a><br /><br />I must apologise that I've fallen behind on these entries... I'm on vacation, so it's hard to keep a steady schedule! Some of my memories of the morning of this day are a bit fuzzy, so bear with me.<br /><br /> We started out around 10:30 after breakfast at the hotel, and headed for Prague Castle so we could see some of that end of town. The walk to the castle from the metro stop was decidedly beautiful, giving us a good feel for the architecture in this end of town. Lots of terra cotta roofing and clay finishes on the outside of the buildings. There were a number of embassies in the area as well as some public and private gardens.<br /><br />Another feature is the multitude of streets... this is a place that has no regard for strict city blocks... or blocks at all! There doesn't seem to be a parallel street in the whole place! It certainly makes for interesting navigation. Gradually with a combination of following people and referencing the map, we made it to the long flight of stairs that leads to the castle itself. As we climbed we again were treated to a wonderful view over the city... and people wonder why I like being a pilot!<br />The castle was overrun with tourists, and the lines to get within the large chapel were very long on top of exorbitant admission prices, so Tim and I decided we'd see what we could see without going into the buildings themselves. I've seen a lot of churches and castles on this trip, I'm sure we didn't miss a huge amount. The church itself was in the process of being scrubbed of some of the grime that had accumulated over the years, so there was scaffolding all around it, obscuring a good chunk of the architecture. Kind of a bummer, but they need to take care of these things to make them last as long as they do I suppose.<br /><br />Outside the castle, we wandered into the royal gardens as well as visiting what's known as the Bellevediere.. all I could think of was an 80s sitcom with that name, and I'm still not entirely sure what the building was for. Next we were planning to go to the other hill that has a small viewing tower on it that looks out over the city. We weren't planning on going up, but we just wanted tos ee it up close.<br /><br />On the walk over, we took a roundabout route that took us through a peaceful ravine which is probably part of the flood control system for Prague.<br />Also along the way we arrived at a monastery where there was a supposedly large theological library as well. We had a snack outside to rest up after our long walk, then went in to the library because I'd seen pictures which made it seem pretty cool. Turns out that it was alright... but not really worth what we paid. Not enough to see, and it was actually quite small. Oh well, at least I saw a few books I recognised.<br /><br />Then we continued on to the mountain/hill that had the tower on it. It was a fairly long walk, and steep in a few sections. I don't know why it is that we haven't learned to avoid walking up mountains but we do it anyways (see stories from our trip to Barcelona).<br />Once we finally reached the tower, we were both pretty pooped but being the smart beings that we are, we decided to climb it anyways. It turns out that the tower was built for an exposition back in the late 1800s and it's a 1/3 scale tribute to the Eiffel tower in France. The view, as usual, was spectacular! Lots of pictures were taken, we could even see the stadium from when the Olympics were hosted in Prague (did you know that Prague hosted the Olympics? I didn't!).<br />Eventually we walked back down the mountain and made our way back into the city itself by crossing one of the bridges, and we headed for the Jewish Quarter after a quick stop at the Opera house. While we were walking along a road with lots of shops, we noticed that just ahead of us were two girls who looked strangely familiar. The pair from Austria that we'd met on the train! Prague is a small city. We tapped them on the shoulder and they immediately recognised us. We decided that since none of us had any specific plans, we'd spend the afternoon sightseeing together. We ended up walking through the Jewish Quarter, then to a gigantic working metronome that was on a hill (it was 30 meters high, I kid you not!) then back towards the castle near which we had dinner at Subway (our first North American food since arriving). We walked through across one of the bridges across the river just as the sun was setting, letting me take some awesome photos, then made our way to Wenceslas Square, where we finally bid eachother goodbye, and promised to keep in touch by way of Facebook.<br /><br />All in all, a fantastic day!<br /><br />Tim and I made it back to the hotel around 10:30, and Tim went to bed right away because he was to catch his flight first thing in the morning... he had to leave the hotel at 3 AM in fact. He got out just fine, and on time, so that's good news!<br /><br />Tomorrow's update will be of my trip from Prague to Dresden, Germany!<br />Stay well, all!Guidohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09433419867806449471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7007841.post-78584348223551859502008-06-28T10:36:00.004-04:002008-07-03T22:04:08.386-04:00PraguePictures here: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=30507&l=e1a06&id=514730957">Prague</a><br /><br />What a city!<br /><br />After the muck-up on the way to Prague, both Tim and I were feeling a bit wary about what kind of experience we'd have in Prague. Turns out that our fears were unfounded. The language barrier that had caused us much grief on the train was much less of a problem in the city. This was because a) we didn't need to ask as many questions, and b) being a place of tourism, many more people spoke at least a little bit of English.<br /><br />Once we'd arrived, we both crashed until the early afternoon. Sleep is my friend, let me tell you! Around 2, we decided it was time to go out into the city and see what we could see, specifically in the Old Town - we started out at what is known as the Astronomical Clock - not really sure if I can explain this one in entirety - it had two different face, neither of which seemed to show time. I'm guessing that one showed the phases of the moon, and the other, Earth's position around the sun (the date), but I'm not sure at the moment - more reading needs to be done! We just so happened to be there when the clock struck an hour and there were some little animatronic saints (I think) who came out of doors on the tower and blessed the crowd. The onlookers were impressed. This clock was built likely in the 1600s...<br /><br />We visited a number of churches around the old square as well - many were hosting concerts in the evening, frequently based around Mozart and Handel. Cool stuff. The decoration and ornamentation inside the churches in Prague is decidedly different than those of Germany or Austria. Where in those countries everything seemed to be coated in gold leaf, here things were a bit more toned down - wood and [Bohemian?] crystal were the biggest decorative materials (lots of big chandeliers!).<br /><br /> Later we walked across the Charles Bridge - probably Prague's most famous attraction. There are statues of saints on either side of the bridge, an also statues of moments in the life of Christ. Very beautiful stuff here. Also, the bridge was chock full of tourists and salesmen hocking everything from portraits of the tourists themselves to buskers playing music to jewelery.<br /> From here on the bridge we went to one of the towers that are on either end (fortifications at some point, no doubt) and there was a tourist office in the lowest level... and stairs going to the top! It seems that these towers are not as popular as some of the other attractions, or they just plain get missed when walking by, so we paid the small entrance fee to climb to the top and see the view. Totally worth it. The view from up top gives a close-up view of the entire Old Town, and you can watch all the action around the area.<br /><br /> I think it was at this point that we made our way back towards the Old Town Hall Square (where the clock was, as well as a huge church with gigantic black spires) where there was a "Fan Station" set up for people to watch the Euro Cup together - two giant screens as well as a stage for musical acts to perform. We had a couple of sausages for dinner, and leaned against the old town hall for a while and listened to the three musical acts that performed before the main event. The first was a kind of emo-punk-alternative band (they reminded me of Three Days Grace or maybe Relient K) who sang in English and Czech. They were very good. The second was two guys who played guitars over top of pre-recorded bass and drums while one of them sang in Czech... not great, but not bad either. The singer/guitarist was enthusiastic at least! The final act was a burly, blonde muscular dude alone on the stage in leather pants singing to some very cheesy pre-recorded anthem rock. Blech. I highly suspect he was lip-synching. There's just something that seems illegitimate to me about singing or playing to recorded music... But I digress!<br /><br />After the third act, the semi-final game between Russia and Spain began. The square filled up gradually, and near the front was a large contingent of Russia fans waving flags that sometimes blotted out a large portion of the screen we were watching from our vantage point at the rear of the crowd. It was a pretty intense first half, with both sides getting close shots but no goals. The crowd was excited, but not violent by any stretch. Cheering for Spain, I didn't feel like I'd get beat up for liking the wrong team ;) Partway through the half, a group of about 40 school kids from Spain gathered near where we were and began chanting in Spanish different songs to cheer the team on. It reminded me how much I enjoyed visiting Spain on our last trip... gonna have to go back there someday.<br /><br />So, after the first half ended it was getting close to 10:00, thus Tim and I headed back towards the metro and our hotel to avoid the crowds that would doubtless form later, and because, well, we were tired after the last night's adventure.<br /><br />When we got back to the hotel, we watched the last half from the common-room. Spain won 3-0, by the way! WOO!<br /><br />And that's how our day ended. It was a good one!<br /><br />More stories to come about our second day in Prague - later tonight. I'm heading out for dinner now (I'm in Dresden, Tim flew home this morning)Guidohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09433419867806449471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7007841.post-37043319459496910042008-06-26T17:47:00.002-04:002008-06-26T17:56:21.116-04:00Salzburg –> Prague... somehow! <meta equiv="CONTENT-TYPE" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><title></title><meta name="GENERATOR" content="OpenOffice.org 2.0 (Linux)"><meta name="CREATED" content="20080626;23563900"><meta name="CHANGED" content="16010101;0"> <style type="text/css"> <!-- @page { size: 8.5in 11in; margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } --> </style> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal;"> June 25 / 26</p>
<br /><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">So the last day has been a bit trying, but overall things seemed to work out. We left our hostel in Salzburg around 9 in the morning to check things out at the train station – we were thinking we might catch an earlier train than the 3 PM train that we'd been planning on taking. It turned out there was one leaving for Linz (where we planned to catch our train to Prague) at 9:30! Thus, we hopped on the train and rode out to Linz with our railpasses. We'd have a long layover in Linz, but we'd seen just about everything we wanted to see in Salzburg, so there wasn't a lot of point in hanging around for most of the day. The ride to Linz was fairly uneventful, and we hung out at the seemingly brand new train station, reading books and listening to music... generally just relaxing (just what we needed after going pretty hard the last few days).</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> The train that would take us to Prague arrived a few minutes late and we climbed aboard... turns out this lateness was an omen. The first hour or so, heading towards the Austrian border everything seemed to be running alright and we were happy to watch the scenery passing by outside our comfortable compartment in the train. Once we passed into the Czech Republic, the scenery became more forested, and the quaint wooden houses of the Austrian countryside became smaller houses with a stucco-type finish and wooden shutters around the windows... somewhat rundown, but still full of life and character.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> Perhaps it was just my mindset, but you definitely got the feeling that rural parts of the Czech Republic are still working to catch up with the living standards of Western Europe. Nonetheless, it was all beautiful!</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> Soon after entering the Czech republic, the train stopped and we were told that we'd need to switch to a bus because they were doing maintenance work on the tracks ahead – they had a bus waiting outside the station and we rode it for about 30 minutes to the next station where a train was waiting to continue...</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">It was at this station, after rushing to catch the train because it was scheduled to leave minutes after we'd arrived (this is around two hours into our (planned) five hour journey,)we took a 40 minute delay, apparently because we were waiting for a group of young teenagers to arrive at the station after a biking trip. First it seemed they weren't all there, second it took them forever to load the bikes into the baggage car of the train... finally, they got everything and everybody aboard and we continued on. The weather so far that day had been very hot and with just a few clouds in the sky. At this station, the weather seemed to be preparing to turn – the wind was picking up and some ominous clouds were out on the horizon. Rain was coming it seemed. </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> Continuing along we stopped at a number of stations along the line, some were quick stops, and yet others seemed to take a long time for no apparent reason. We were getting further and further behind, but Tim and I still estimated that we'd make it in plenty of time to get onto the metro in Prague to get to our hotel (it closes at midnight and we were scheduled to arrive at 9 i.e. 10 or 11 with all the delays).</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> Sometime about 9:30 or so the train stopped on what seemed to be a small siding (He<span style="font-family:DejaVu Sans,sans-serif;">ř</span>mani<span style="font-family:DejaVu Sans,sans-serif;">č</span>ky), next to another train. I thought maybe we were picking up more cars, or some people were transferring from one train to the other – especially after a large number of people left our car and began walking up past the train – and in fact a number of the students we'd waited for earlier got their bikes and rode off. The conductors didn't ever tell us anything, as the one in our area spoke zero English, and we speak zero Czech... Tim stopped a girl passing by in the corridor and she told us that some passengers were getting off to catch a bus to another station for some reason, but those going to Praha (Prague) were staying on the train. Okie dokie... that's fine. 45 minutes passes... no word on what's holding us up – people in the train next to us seem to be bedding down for the night and our car is nearly empty. After we'd been sitting for more than an hour I was frustrated because we had no idea what was going on and we had no control over whatever was happening, so I decided to seek out a conductor to find some answers... I never found a conductor, but in the next car up I met some folks who spoke English – a middle-aged Canadian couple, a pair of girls from Korea, and another pair of girls from Austria and Bosnia – they had found eachother a little while before and were sticking together as a group because of the lack of help from the Czech train officials... I asked if they'd mind if Tim and I stuck with them and they were happy to have us. We came up and sat with the young ladies from Austria and Bosnia (Amara and Christina)... the four of us got along very well, and their English was nearly flawless. Amara's accent made me laugh a bit because sometimes she sounded as if she came from New York city... not what I was expecting from Bosnia! </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Soon after Tim and I joined the group, we all moved up to the “first” class coach – not really first class, but it has better upholstery and was 100% less sketchy than the car we'd been sitting in.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">My nerves subsided greatly at this point, having some others to commiserate with and make jokes out of the situation. We learned that somehow a tree had fallen across the tracks somewhere ahead of the train, so we were not going anywhere tonight it seemed – we figured that would mean probably around 7 we'd start moving again. We sat talking and joking for another hour or two... around 12:30 we decided it'd be good to at least try to get some sleep and quieted down. It was moments later that a conductor (the good one) stopped by and told us there was a bus waiting to take us to Prague! We all clambered out of the train and discovered that we were at not just a siding, but a tiny station in the middle of nowhere, and there were two buses waiting to take everyone away – one for Prague and one for another station nearer up the line. The girls from Austria and Bosnia, and the Canadian couple just managed to get onto the bus to Prague... Tim and I were too slow apparently because we went to put our bags in the cargo compartment of the bus. So.. the us was too full to take us, and we were left standing at the station. Supposedly another bus would be coming to get us. The time is now 1:00... an hour later, standing in the dark with the two dozen other people who didn't get on the bus, we finally got onto another bus that should have taken us to Prague. Well, it turns out they either didn't understand me when I asked - “Bus to Praha??” or they just lied... but they dropped us at another train station “to catch a train to Prague”... nearer to Prague, but still a solid hour and a half away by car. And here we wait from 2-3:30 AM when not a train arrives, but another bus! This time they take us to ANOTHER train station where there's an actual train waiting. At the last train station we met a fellow from California and the three of us stick together – he's met some locals on the train who speak enough English to help us get clues as to what's going on, although they seem to be in the dark as well. We get on a commuter train that stops for half an hour, and all of us who are from the first train are either half or all asleep waiting for it to take us to Prague's main train station. At this point, it's 4:45 AM and I've been awake somewhere around 23 hours... </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">So, another 45 minutes on this train, doing my best to stay conscious, we finally arrive at the main station in Prague, and sort things out to get onto the metro and to our hotel at about 6 AM. And then we slept! Until 1 PM myself. Details of our afternoon to come!</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">PS – I've been meaning to apologise for the formating of these blog posts, not to mention spelling. I'm typing on a miniature laptop and sometimes my fingers tend to mash things, especially at the end of the day!</p>
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<br /></p>PPS - It seems that these problems were all caused by a major storm rolling through the area prior to our arrival. Since this is the case, I'm not terribly angry with Czech rail for getting us here so late, however I'm still a bit miffed about the lack of information provided to us in any language. Blah!
<br />Guidohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09433419867806449471noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7007841.post-14059918638684242462008-06-24T14:55:00.003-04:002008-07-03T22:01:37.247-04:00The hills are alive... Or full of ice anyways!Pictures here: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=30502&l=1cc9b&id=514730957">Salzburg & Werfen</a><br /><br />Salzburg, Austria. It's freakin' hot! The days have been 30 degrees plus since we left Paris... and humid as a southern Ontario summer. So much for a vacation from the weather!<br />We arrived in Salzburg yesterday morning after catching a train on the spur of the moment - we were scheduled to go later in the day but arrived at the train station a bit early, so we ended up down here in Austria a few hours early. Crashed at the hostel for a bit, then we went out and painted the town red.<br /><br />If you believe that you don't know Tim and I very well. We wandered through the altstadt (old town) and took in some gardens that were a playground built for the child of a former Royal in town. Very pretty - also stumbled upon the Pegasus fountain, though we weren't really sure if it was the one from that movie they filmed here years ago, or not... turns out it was. Neato.<br />Then we walked through some especially touristy areas, a giant cathedral that I don't remember the name of... Dom? Dome? Dam? Something like that. Very pretty, not as big as anything in France that we saw, though. A good chunk of the aldstadt is being taken up by the "fan zone" for Euro 2008... which makes an already touristy place nearly unbearable. Thank providence that there were no games here at the same time we are.<br />Next we took a funicular up the mountain to the Salzburger fortress - the largest fortress in Europe apparently, it was run by the catholic bishops over the years to protect the arch diocese of Salzburg (Salzburg was a country, you see) - never lost a battle, except to good ol' Napoleon. That was a cool tour... I think we saw just about every inch of the place including the view from the towers - beautiful view out over the city - you can see everything all the way to the airport.<br />Then we crashed for the night!<br />Today we revisited the gardens and sat by the river for the bit. On the way we stopped in at a church that was playing organ music inside (a nice change from the silence we've had in every other church). Turns out it was a Presbyterian church (or at least I think so - St. Andrew's doesn't sound very Catholic anyways and the interior didn't have any Marys around that I saw)... I must admit that it made me feel a little more at home. No offense to Catholics, but I'm still a little thrown when I enter a cathedral. Outside the church there was a booth for a tour company that offered trips all around the Salzburg area - there was a tour to ice caves near Werfen. Tim wasn't keen to spend the money, so I decided to go on my own and he hung around town for the afternoon.<br />My trip took me about an hour south of Salzburg, into the Alps... those are big pieces of rock. I don't think my pictures will do them justice. This is also the area where the Eagle's Nest is - Hitler's super-secret hangout... I can see why he liked the view.<br />Anywho... ice caves. There's a huge cave that's full of ice that's seeped through the top of the mountain. The science isn't complicated, but i don't want to bore you. It's awesome anyways. The air inside is around freezing and it's awesome. After the heat we've had here, it was a welcome change... the formations inside the cave were amazing, and well worth the 700 steps up, and 700 steps down. I took a few pictures, not sure how well they'll turn out as it was dark because every second person carried a lantern and the guide burned what I think was magnesium strips to increase the brightness at certain points. AWESOME!<br />I met a few folks on the tour - the guide was Canadian (from Montreal) and we had a great chat, also met some folks from Britain , and some dudes from the US.<br />The guide inside the cave was native Austrian, I think, but he learned from someone from Britain because he sounded just like when one of the Monty Python characters did a German accent... A few of us were cracking up after he said his first sentence in English. Hilarious.<br />And now we're back at the hostel and we're leaving for Prague tomorrow afternoon. Not sure if I'll find internet there or not. Hope so. Stay well everyone!Guidohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09433419867806449471noreply@blogger.com0