Thursday, January 29, 2009

Toronto in Real Time

(Well, from this morning actually.) This is our car outside of Amado's daycare, which is a couple of blocks from where we live. The snow looks worse when you actually have to drive around in it. And parking sucks, because, as you can see, almost all the parking spaces are piled with shovelled snow. And there's no sun.

I know, poor us.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Happy 3rd Birthday Amado!

It's hard to imagine that three years ago, the kid looked just like this!

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Notorious Big


I watched half of the new movie "Notorious" today. Heavy stuff. I'm not really a rap fan, but I like his sound. Another sad story from the streets of America's inner city.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Do Over

Just to be sure:
Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. re-administered the oath to Mr. Obama on Wednesday evening, one day after the two men stumbled over each other’s words during the inauguration ceremony at the Capitol. For their do-over, the two men convened in the White House Map Room at 7:35 p.m. for a brief proceeding that was not announced until it was completed successfully.
But right-wing conspiracy theorists are still going to be obsessed with this in the future, mark my words!
...only nine people witnessed the do-over. There were four aides, four reporters and a White House photographer present on Wednesday evening. Mr. Obama raised his right hand and did not use a Bible.
Emphasis mine.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

January in the Park



Come hell or high water (or deep snow), this kid is gonna get to the slides one way or another.

Yesterday

"On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord. On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas that for far too long have strangled our politics."

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Cow

Words Amado can recognize:

cow
ball
pig
dog
kite
sun

We play with vocabulary flash cards with Amado and he can "read" these words without seeing the picture. I bet he's recognizing the shape more than reading, though he can read numbers up to at least 14 (though he refuses to say "13" - bad luck I guess), so who knows.

How Writers and Artists Get Things Done

How Writers and Artists Get Things Done:

http://dailyroutines.typepad.com/daily_routines/

(h/t Guy Kawasaki)

When Salt Loses Its Savour

Great. That's all we need is for the salt to stop working. You wouldn't believe how our civilization here in Canada depends on it. (I'm speaking now to my Californians.)
Police are warning motorists to drive cautiously during this cold snap, saying road salt loses its ability to melt the ice when temperatures gets low enough. [Around -10C. As I write this it is -19C.]

Friday, January 16, 2009

Christina's World

This picture by Andrew Wyeth, who died today, has always reminded me of my Mom. Although the title, Christina's World, is close to my Mom's original name, I don't think that's the reason. It's something else I can't quite put my finger on. Something about her always having been an outlier, I think. (And that's a compliment, in case anybody wonders.)

Massive Power Outage!

We survived, but it was so COLD in the house! The only good place was in bed with all three of us huddled together. Brrrrr.

Canadian Press: TORONTO — Toronto has opened seven city-run facilities to help people keep warm until a major power outage that hit the city overnight is repaired.

About 22,000 Toronto Hydro customers lost electricity when a broken water main flooded a power station at about 10 p.m. Thursday night.

The power went off in sub-zero temperatures in a mostly residential area just west and north of the downtown core.

Toronto Mayor David Miller could not say when power would be restored. Toronto Hydro earlier said it would take 18-to-24 hours.

Miller asked residents in the affected area to check on their neighbours, particularly seniors, and help them get to a warm place. He also urged homeowners to prevent pipes from freezing by running the tap at the lowest point in the residence.

The outage forced a closure of some east-west subway stations in the affected area (from the Keele to Bathurst stations). A fleet of shuttle buses was being employed to carry passengers through the morning rush.


Thursday, January 15, 2009

Al Rescate!

At -30 it's so cold it burns your skin, which makes you think it is actually pretty warm outside. At least I do anyway. (Ok, send in the St. Bernards, I've had enough cold snow ice.)

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Architects of a New Dawn


Carlos Santana continues his transition from rock star to spiritual leader...

Architects of A New Dawn is a project, born from the dream and vision of Carlos Santana, to create a new global network, driven by extraordinary music and powerful media content. It is designed to engage people of all walks of life to work together to create positive change in the global community where love can replace fear and where peace can replace conflict.

Wednesday, January 07, 2009

Black Holes Came First

Emptiness first, then galaxies developed around it. I know regular readers of Alma's Soulfood are looking for more baby pictures, but this just intrigued me on a philosophical level. Ok, read more here:

http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-na-black-holes8-2009jan08,0,3006703.story

Monday, January 05, 2009

One year in 40 seconds.


One year in 40 seconds from Eirik Solheim on Vimeo.

One year in 40 seconds. Beautiful. And just one reason I love living in the east. Via eirikso.com.

Thursday, January 01, 2009

Happy New Year 2009!

It's too cold to play outside, so this morning we built a little tent for Amado in the house. He loves it. He also is loving sticking his tongue out these days. So there.