West vs. east; Vancouver on the left and Toronto on the right. December 2008.
It feels like I’m trapped in the Twilight Zone in some sort of crazy weather spiral. However, the weather I’ve been experiencing over the last several years has been so drastically that crazy weather seems to be the norm.
When I arrived in Whistler earlier this month, it was warmer than usual and there was not enough snow to ski. Then it became too cold and snow started to fall slowly. When I returned to Vancouver before Christmas it started to snow – and snow it did. I think there was a snowfall warning issued daily for over a week on Environment Canada.
I flew from a snowy Vancouver to a rainy Toronto on December 24th – barely making it because there was a shortage of crew available in Vancouver because many flights were canceled from several centres in the west. Toronto is now enjoying spring-like weather. It reached almost +15c yesterday. Warm enough not to require a hat or gloves – something that I was never without in BC this month.
Much of what I do is dependent upon the weather so I will be glad when things return to what we once knew as normal – except in the mountains where it should snow as much as possible!
As I was going through some things tonight, I ran across two posters that I had forgotten that I had. The first one is of Björn Borg as he won the finals at Wimbledon in 1978. This was a pretty famous image in its day. I got it autographed in the 1980s when he made a promotional appearance in Toronto. The poster has been rolled up in a tube since then. I was lucky enough to watch the finals live at Wimbledon in 1988 when another Swede, Stefan Edberg defeated Boris Becker. I’ve been to Wimbledon (twice), the French Open and the US Open. I’ll have to complete the grand slam in Australia soon.
The other championship that I watched was the Whistler World Cup in 1995. Me and some friends traveled there for a weekend to ski and watch the race – but we all know we like to watch it for the wipe outs. We stationed ourselves at a corner where many skiers lost it and sometimes hit and bounce off a snow fence in midair like Spiderman might do. It’s a crazy sport, but it’s fun to watch. I was at Whistler in 2008 for the World Cup race but it was canceled due to fog. Hopefully the weather will cooperate in 2009.
While walking from the curling club to the subway station this evening, a friend mentioned the unattractiveness, incongruity and randomness of the landscape in the area. Just as he mentioned that, I turned and saw these four houses. In this area of the city, East York, there are many such houses with architecture that resemble barns.
However, this was not the real topic of discussion. It was the accessibility of the Toronto transit system. Had we been on a bus, we would not have seen this landscape. However, buses on this street do not run beyond 7:00 p.m. on Sunday evenings. Even on weekdays, it does not run past beyone 10:00 p.m. This seems to strand or marginalize people – especially the elderly or people with limited mobility. The schedule presents even more challenges when the weather is inclement.
The local transit authority, the TTC has an initiative underway, Transit City: Moving Toronto Into The Future.The plan is to extend the transit system into the suburbs. Having such a plan seems counterintuitive when the TTC does not seem to provide adequete transportation within the city.
The lack of transit in this area of East York made it seem neglected and in despair. If proper transit were provided to poorly serviced areas, would the area improve? A hypothetical question that probably will not get answered anytime soon – but should be asked.
It’s been four years in the transformation of the AGO from mild-mannered art gallery to a world class art gallery. This is Frank Gehry’s first major project in Canada. It doesn’t look like it will disappoint anyone. It even looked spectacular during construction. There was a reception tonight but it was a private one. It is scheduled to open to the general public in just over a week. We will see what the critics think then.
My images from the past year. Click on the larger image to advance to the next image.
I recently read some articles about the imperative for businesses to become green. It still seems that being green is still a fad among most people and that short term benefits and cost is a major factor – despite the potential savings over the long term.
Being green has been always been a focus for a small segment of the population because of the inherent desire to consume only when necessary, not be wasteful and ultimately save money. If all consumers had these ideals in mind when consuming, we likely would not be in the predicament we find our planet in today.
Lack of Awareness – people claim they do not have enough information
Negative Perceptions – green products are less effective
Distrust – people do not trust the message of government and business
High Prices – people do not understand the long-term benefits
Low Availability – business do not really want to sell these products
It is a bit of a chicken-and-egg game. However, the Internet is a wealth of knowledge and consumers can find the information with some effort. Consumers must also decide on their own what is right for them rather than wait for the market to decide what is right for them. Otherwise consumers will be at the whim of marketers – the very ones that help put us in the position we find ourselves.
Businesses that take a leadership role in such areas will be rewarded by loyal customers and not have to catch up when the mainstream realizes that being green is better (and essential). Whole Foods Market did this in the 1990s by stocking organic and local produce as well as other environmentally-friendly products. They are now a leader in the grocery business with strong growth by attracting informed customers.
I’ve worked in the retail business for more than 15 years (almost all of my working life) and I’ve seen what attracts customers. In North America, consumers are addicted to cheap stuff – period. We are intent on obtaining the best deal and not necessarily the best value or product. That’s why Wal-Mart is so popular.
Europeans are more concerned with obtaining the best value or product and not necessarily the lowest price. The North American strategy does not retain customers as they will flee once prices are not the lowest. However, the European method retains customers because of the value delivered through a superior product.
Unfortunately, marketers have created this problem because of the short-term pressures. Hopefully they can dig us out of this problem without more consumption. The actual answer is through reduced consumption.
A McKinsey & Company chart that illustrates that perception is very different that what is effective in reality. A surprising point at the first position is driving a more fuel-efficient car; driving less is at the fourth position. However, the biggest and most surprising gap is with eating beef – consuming less is the third most effective action people can take – vegetarians have know this all along.
I always like to try new things. Tonight it was some natto. I actually have had it in my freezer for several months, but I finally made the time to try it.
The first thing that I noticed when I unpacked it from its single portion container was the gooey stuff on the beans that resembled cheese. When I dug the fork into the natto – the gooey stuff was very stringy – like cheese. It actually was fun to eat. I didn’t eat it with anything. Apparently, it’s eaten with rice, soy sauce, mustard or even a raw quail egg.
Afterward, I discovered that it is high in nutrients and vitamins. It’s also supposed to have a strong smell. However, I didn’t notice the smell – because I like most fermented foods or perhaps I was eating it too fast. It was gooey but good!
For World Vegetarian Day, the Toronto Vegetarian Association held a baking contest – the Totally Fabulous Vegan Bake-off in Grange park in downtown Toronto.
Some of my friends suggested that I enter one of my chocolate cakes or pies in the contest. However, I’m not big on contests or being judged so I didn’t really think about it much at first. However, when I thought more about it, I thought that a pumpkin pie would be good for the time of year. And so I decided to enter a raw pumpkin pie into the contest. I still had my doubts about the contest though. I didn’t decide to go through with it until three days before the event.
I’m still not sure why I entered it – maybe I just wanted strangers to try my creations to see if they liked it – and find out if my friends were telling the truth or just being polite.
The contest was judged by some vegan cooks from Toronto. They were judging on taste, texture, creativity and presentation. When I showed up at the event, I was pretty sure I was going to fail miserably. All of the other desserts looked – fabulous. My pie looks very plain. There was but five pumpkin seeds on top of the pie. I was left with taste, texture and creativity.
Miraculously, my pie was the first runner-up in the pie category. Here’s a slice of a pumpkin pie – but not the pie I entered into the contest. I actually did not take a picture of my pie – but they all look the same.
Here is a selection of the desserts at the Totally Fabulous Vegan Bake-off from my flickr. Click on the large image to advance to the next one.
The first shot where I noticed the difference between my new camera (not the one in the previous post) and my old camera. The above image was captured at dusk, untouched – except for some minor cropping – and at ISO 1600. The higher ISO captures images better in low light conditions – but also produces lots of image noise because the sensor that captures the image is not sensitive enough and the software makes up for that deficiency.
I rarely took shots above ISO 800 on my previous camera because the noise made it look like a snowstorm. Bring on the night!
I sold my D-SLR last week and then purchased a new D-SLR to replace it. However, the purchase that was most notable for me was the purchase of medium format camera at a camera show over the weekend.
Following up on my last post where I spoke about my affinity for square images; I purchased a vintage Yashica A. For the price of a moderately expensive meal, I got the Yashica, a vintage leather case and 10 rolls of film.
It will be interesting to see how the first images turn out. I’m excited about the possibilities!
Banner Image, Environment, Flâneur, Neighbourhoods, Photography, Recreation, Skiing, Toronto day by day, Travel, Vancouver, Whistler | Garry December 28, 2008 | 
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