Sicky

In real time....

Good Morning Toronto XXVII

Sunrise from our place at -16C.

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.

Happy 3rd Birthday Amado!

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

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.

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.

Alma's Soulfood Sinks to All-Time Low

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Mexican wrestling. (h/t Andrew Sullivan)

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."

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.]

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.

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.)

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.

Balcony Cairn II

Click here to see Balcony Cairn I (2007)

Spiderman and his Daddy

Ok, maybe it's not the best picture of either of us, but I like it.

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

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.

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.