It’s nice to see our taxes working

As I was walking on Yonge St. at 9:00 on Thursday (rushing to get to work on time) I saw this pothole by a brand new patch of asphalt. I thought “it’s incredible that they just patched it and it broke again so soon”. While I was walking back home at 6:30 (after working late… yet again), I saw that it had been patched during the day. I had to take another picture to compare both (sorry about the so-so quality, the first one was taken on Thursday July 29 at 9:00 am and the second one was taken at 6:30 pm on the same day).

I just uploaded a couple of more pictures of the Cinderella Man movie set. The Russell Crowe and Renee Zellweger movie is being filmed in Toronto. My three readers can access the pictures at http://photos.yahoo.com/mariadpdavo just click on “Cinderella Man”. Enjoy.

So I came back from my GTA Bloggers reunion at C’est What?, I was going to meet a friend at a place called 7 West on Charles Street. But I just got a message from him saying he can’t make it. So at the end I’m not going. I might go to the Flatiron, though, just because I was all worked up to go somewhere tonight.

UPDATE:  Among the people that were at the GTA Bloggers meet-up were Ryan and Graig. It was a pity that I didn’t accept the ticket for the Prince concert at the ACC that Carrie was giving away, thinking that I had plans for later that evening. At the end I ended up just going to the Flatiron and playing some NTN.

Fat Man in Trunks

So Fat Man is out this evening. He is wearing his trunks, and he is drinking a beer. I can’t see what kind of beer he drinks, but I can see that he’s paler than ever. Hasn’t he gotten any sunshine? It’s like the middle of the summer!

Flashback

I just had a flashback to my summer days in California. In 1984 (oh my god, 20 years ago!), way before my brother was born, we made a roadtrip from San Diego to San Francisco. Those were the days when things were easier and -as far as I know- my grandfather paid for everything. My uncle even bought a van for the trip. It was my uncle, my mother, my grandmother, my grandfather, my sister, my two cousins and myself in the van. It took us about a week to get to San Francisco, after visiting Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Morro Bay, Monterey and Carmel, Sacramento and Fresno (or did we get to Sacramento and Fresno after San Francisco, I don’t remember that well).

When we got to San Francisco, the Democratic Convention was taking place, and it was my first encounter with street demonstrations, marches and rallies (and as it turned out, the first of a whole bunch, but my readers will have to wait for a more suitable opportunity to hear about the things I did before coming to Toronto). I was amazed to see that people could make fun of the president (in this case Reagan) without fear of being arrested or punished. It really impressed me, just a kid, to see all this going on in the street.

It’s all coming back to me, what a weird sensation.  I haven’t thought about it for a really long time, and I am just remembering now after reading about the National Democratic Convention going on in Boston right now and seeing pictures of people wearing a George W. Bush mask. Jesse Jackson was contending for the nomination, but Walter Mondale and Geraldine Ferraro were elected to run for President and Vicepresident (those are the things that stuck in my mind and I think I’ll never forget, those two names). As we all know, they did not win the election, but they left a lasting impression on me.

Cinderella Man

This is not actually Madison Square Garden in the 40’s (or 30’s or something). It is the set of Ron Howard’s new movie “Cinderella Man” with Russell Crowe. They are filming it in Toronto.

More pictures available at my yahoo photos account. Click on Cinderella Man to see them.

 

I just came back from rollerblading and from visiting Clarissa and Greg at their place. It is so cool, they have a new fridge with a keg of beer inside it. It is a kegger-fridge! We had a great time drinking draft beer and eating pizza.

Delicious Cakes

 

Farmer’s Market, Saturday

 

St. Lawrence Market