I guess it’s fairly obvious, isn’t it?

After a while a blog becomes like a part of your body; it’s hard not to want to scratch it regularly. For me, every other day seems to work okay but a week — well, that requires one big-ass scratch.

So, in lieu of a bunch of back-dated posts, here’s a digest of what’s been keeping me busy for the past week:

1. I’ve started a new blog. Kinda. The first part is the domain registration and the setting up of all the hamster wheels and such. Then the blinking buttons and knobs and switches get put in, and finally you have the beginnings of a blog:

   RayJohnBlog.com

   Did I explain that correctly? What I mean is, you won’t see much but an empty blog sitting there, so don’t get all excited. But I don’t expect to take too long until launch — I’ve got an adequately pointy and antagonistic theme picked out and I’ll be keeping everything else pretty simple at the beginning.

   K, so who’s Ray John? I am. He’s an alias, a moniker, a nom de plume.

   Actually, he’s a bit more than that. Ray John is a personality that I hope to develop into results like money, loose women, and fame. Not necessarily in that order. Of course, since I’ll be penning him, and even more importantly, since I’ll be the face (and perhaps voice) of Ray John, he’ll have to be some well established part of my psyche that has plenty to say. So if you can sit through this drivel, you should be okay with Ray’s stuff too.

   I’ve known two Rays in my life; one saw my younger sister for a while and ended up being the assholiest of jerks, the second was a developer I worked with who was a thoroughly enjoyable fellow. Neither Ray was the inspiration here … I don’t even particularly like the name Ray to be honest. The name comes from “rage on”, the underlying idea that started me down this slippery slope. The combined name “Ray John” works phonetically, sounds like a ubiquitously ticked-off middle-class white dude, and also uses the most common spellings of  both names. The thing was hardly spontaneous; sorry if that bursts anyone’s bubble. You can go right ahead and pretend I beat the name out of a three-headed purple dragon named Elvis if it adds to the mystique.

   Since Ray is also a Torontonian I’ll be syndicating some of his blog on TCL. Ray’s blog topics won’t be limited to Toronto, however, which is why I needed to make this split. Besides, I want to give him room to breathe and grow.

   Be sure to check out “The Ray John Blog: I Got Beefs” just as soon as I post a big honkin’ link to it at the top of the sidebar.As for Toronto City Life, why, we’re just getting started here. ;)

2. Got me my first fully independent contract (and I gave myself a generous raise too). Okay, so technically the second contract, but who’s counting? I started on a portfolio site but didn’t have a chance to add any content before I landed the gig. Meh, maybe next time.

   Still, great excuse to get me a new ‘puter. Nothing fancy, mind you, but she’ll crunch the numbers I need crunched.

   

3. A couple of nights ago I notice a “drip drip” coming from somewhere around the bedroom when the upstairs neighbours were running their water. By yesterday afternoon, the leak had broken through the ceiling in my closet.

   
   I’d assumed that the water must either be coming from the shower or sink … it ran too long for it to be the toilet (thank God!) The plumber initially agreed with my assessment but after poking his head through the ceiling for about an hour, running the neighbours’ faucets, man-handling the pipes, etc., he concluded that it was the grout in the shower upstairs that was the source of the leak.

   Seems like older buildings like mine had grout applied right on top of drywall so once compromised, the thing just turns to mud. In this case, however, it isn’t merely the grout that’s coming away, the whole corner of their shower is apparently all puckered up and ready to fall off. Minor miracle that I’d just noticed it now, in fact.

   So, good news is that, for me, it means minor drywall work in my closet. And I learned how to fix common water pressure problems too! For my neighbours, it means that their bathroom (and especially shower), will be off-limits for a while.

… Continue Reading

angietorres has added a photo to the pool:

One of my favourite places in the city.

angietorres has added a photo to the pool:

angietorres has added a photo to the pool:

“Toronto waterfront skyline” by Cameron Ogilvie / musicandmotion

Right around this time of year my nose turns into a permanently open tap and shall remain that way until late May or so. The only thing that helps is warm Miso soup and ample Wasabi-based abuse.

Simple sushi joints tend to be cheaper but … c’mon … sushi on frickin’ conveyor belts?! That’s worth an extra few bob. I’ve seen a fancier place where the sushi floats around on a man-made stream on top of little boats but I bet you’d pay plenty for that little bit of theater.

Toko on Yonge Street (near Isabella), has a dual conveyor belt winding all the way through the restaurant past booths and counter seats. I’ve never seen sushi running the whole length but I swore that one day I would. Bet it’s a sight to see.

Here’s a section of the conveyor as it re-directs plates onto the return belt. Crappy cell phone video but, alas, I was too busy stuffing Salmon into my face to operate anything fancier.

Now that all the zombies have left Trinity-Bellwoods, the first wet snow has fallen briefly in warning, the squirrels in the park have grown fat, and sweaters are on almost permanent rotation, it can only mean that Halloween — gateway to the season of the setting sun — has befallen us.

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Do you remember David Chen, the Chinatown grocer who kept getting ripped off by the same guy so he decided to make a citizen’s arrest? Except that the cops slapped the cuffs on David instead with bullshit charges like forcible confinement and kidnapping.

Nearly a year later, all the charges against David have been dropped.

Justice!

…continued from previous part.

I’ve been trying to understand the appeal of zombieism — it does, after all, seem to be gaining in popularity. Is it simply a fad? Once the flakes start to fall will they just slow down and freeze, or will they have enough brains to wear parkas?

… Continue Reading

…the train has now arrived at its final destination. Please be sure you have all your luggage and please allow elderly passengers to disembark first. It was a pleasure being your sauce carrier of choice today, we hope you join us on the Gravy Express again soon. Please enjoy your stay in Mayor Elect Rob Ford’s Toronto.

I’m a bit disappointed but not because I’m necessarily against anything Rob wants to do. As I’ve said, I don’t think his plan reaches out far enough. But most of what he’s proposing can’t be a bad thing. Slimming down City Hall? Sure, why not? Revoking some of the privileges that councillors get? Can’t argue with that. Pulling away from the unions? Obviously a popular idea. That’s the “gravy train” that Rob’s ridden right into the mayorship.

But here’s the thing — if he does what he says he’ll do, and can also find the other tens (hundreds?) of millions of dollars needed to keep the city from sinking, can co-operate (or backroom deal) enough with councillors to get stuff done, and manages to do it year over year, I’d say that was a great start. This is a big city and there’s lots to be done. But sure, fixing City Hall can certainly figure into that so it’s not that I’m against Rob Ford. With the way some people were talking tonight you’d think that the seven horsemen were sharpening their scythes on the corner of Bay and Queen.

And for the record, Rob’s is the only hand I shook out on the street — he was pounding the pavement with his brother Doug shortly after the Ford-Doneit-Henderson thing broke out. I suggested it would work to his favour.

Huh?

Yeah, Your Worship, you’re welcome.