Receipt Diary 

Dig a little deeper and you can expose the complete EXIF data for every photo taken.

For years I’ve kept receipts. They have piled up on dressers and side tables. On the surface I keep them in case I need proof of purchase for a return but more deeply, they are a record of my life. Paper print-outs of data that record where exactly you were at what time, doing exactly what. Paper fossil records of a day in the life. I’ve definitely missed some including items purchased where I refused a receipt or lost an inconsequential one (ice cream bought at a truck, items at a corner store, a fast food meal purchased with the tap of a debit card), not to mention use of things procured within a mobile phone app or on a tap-to-use transit card. Yet this marks a journey of just some of the data bread crumbs I’ve left behind. You can even garner the exact time the photos were taken (somehow that seemed like overkill - or I was too lazy to note it). I’ve added notes where I remembered the transaction but amazingly you forget what it was you were thinking or even doing despite having an actual record of it in your hand. This seems a little strange to share how much I spent and what I bought but it also feels “truer” if that makes sense? I’m not sure why I’m starting this on August 5? Maybe it was the first August receipt I could find. I’ve also included my activity data to fill in when I wasn’t buying something. It’s strange how there are very little impressions from these moments yet it feels like it adds up to something. This is how I spent August including a week on vacation in Québec.
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Laid Bare 

Weegee: Murder is My Business. Image via The International Center of Photography

I don't understand the incoherency of the mentally ill. I don't understand the hunger of the addicted. I don't understand the entitlement of the affluent. I don't understand the hate of the angry. I don't understand the broken hearts of the dispossessed and the lonely. I don't understand the stupidity of the dullards, nor the pain of the afflicted.

I also don't understand the kindness of the open-hearted nor the awe of the open-minded. I really don't understand those that see the beauty in the chaos. I don't understand the hope of the faithful. I don't understand the logic of the powerful or the economics of the monied.

I'm starting to think I don't understand this city.
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Holiday Home Run 

Just a few photos from the last couple of days.

Of the Feathered Kind 

Blue Cochin Bantam Pullet. Photo by Tamara Staples via Slate.com

More beasts - chickens this time. Take a look at a few photos of some fancy chickens at Slate.com. Is there anything these fine fowls can't do? Okay, I'm sure there are plenty of things they can't do. Still, the eggs and the "tenders" are pretty good, right? They provide protein and look good doing it. Tamara Staples scouted them at various county fairs before going to the birds' homes to create portraits for two books, the latest, The Magnificent Chicken is available this week. I guess there's no Westminster Show for these birds but it'd be fun if there was. They'd give Banana Joe a run for his money (and why yes, Banana Joe is my new ham radio handle! Though Bearded Buff Frizzle Polish is a close second.)

Koo Koo Bananas Beautiful 

Toronto in October from rowdyman on Vimeo.

“...I'm like a boy in boxing gloves grasping at a butterfly”

I've never been accused of Toronto boosterism but I've come to terms with this city and realized that many of its problems are the same as any city of over 2 million people. Yet other problems are uniquely its own – poor transit infrastructure, an oafish mayor, the strange suburban nature of many downtown neighbourhoods and the weirdly high-rise landscape of its isolating suburbs. I also never really think of Toronto as a "pretty" town, but it does have its moments. The city still has a lot of 19th century lingering industrial buildings, quiet side streets and, when you can get there, a wonderful waterfront. October, full of rainy days and saturated colours, is when Toronto looks its best. Dusk on a rainy day just when the clouds are breaking create some crazy beautiful skylines. Really crazy beautiful, like koo-koo bananas beautiful. I love running on the waterfront on a day like that near sunset. You get two sunsets; the real one in the west and the reflected one from downtown's glass towers in the east. That can sometimes be just dumbfounding. The sky in the east will be deep dark purple billows, while the buildings, reflecting the western sky's setting sun, will be blazing golden molten shards. I've tried to capture it, but I'm like a boy in boxing gloves grasping at a butterfly. Too clumsy and too euphoric to know it.

Sometimes, you can just point your phone at the sky and things turn out alright. The idea that my phone is the best camera I've ever owned is still odd to me. I know on the photo sharing site, Flickr, photos taken by phones outnumber those taken by cameras. We live in an era of "phone-ography". Video is becoming more common too, so instead of a slide show of stills, I thought I'd assemble a slide show of video clips. I think I enjoy these brief vignettes more than stills. Little living dioramas captured in my phone. What would Alexander Graham Bell have said about that? Probably something like "Mr. Watson, come here. I want to show you something." – which nowadays might get you in trouble.

To see much better photography of Toronto's waterfront, like the one below, go see Uncharted Waters at the Harbourfront Centre.

Johan Hallberg-Campbell, Terminal A, 11:14pm; March 17, 2012 – Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, image via Harbourfront Centre

To the Cape & Back 

A tour operator's wet dream; views, breezes and whales

Duration 2:36:35 hr
Distance: 54.4 km
Max Speed 65.3 km/hr
Avg speed 20.2 km/hr

Like many people, I am a creature of, nay, a victim of inertia. Like Newton's First Law: every object continues in its state of rest, or of uniform motion in a straight line, unless compelled to change that state by external forces acted upon it.

When you spend too much time sitting at a desk, you continue in that state; when working hard earning a living, you continue in that state; when lying on a couch after a holiday meal, you continue in that state. That's why I sometimes find it hard to do anything on a day off. You can get stuck doing errands or in front of a television watching a game but I didn't want to do either. Thankfully Mike has an "extra" bike of some quality so when the opportunity came up to do a challenging ride with another person, I was up for it.
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Dad in Plaid 

I remember how angry Dad would get priming the Coleman stove. How angry? This angry. My brother looks so pleased he might just pee his pants.

My Dad as Ron Swanson.

2011: A Space Legacy 

After watching some promo videos of Apple's new iPad 2 it struck me how the FaceTime app looks like something from a sci-fi movie come to life, then after seeing the white version, it really reminded me of a Dieter Rams Braun creation or something from 2001: A Space Odyssey. When I did a quick look for images of A Space Odyssey, it was obvious the influence that film has had on art directors ever since. Not just art directors but designers of technology who are still trying to catch up to Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke's vison ever since.

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

It's All There in Black & White 

Jake Rogers, Ruth Ross circa 1960

I spent a few minutes rummaging through some photo albums yesterday, picked out a handful of pictures and took them to the local pharmacy to scan them. Those Kodak photo kiosks are a real dog's breakfast of memory card slots, output trays and scanner drawers. Eventually, I managed to scan almost a dozen photos of my parents and relatives taken between 1955 and 1960 or so.
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Secret City, NYC

I'm sure there are plenty of lost or secret places in a city like New York, but none quite like this one.

Visit Scouting New York to see more photos of this incredible abandoned building full of stunning details next door to City Hall. It's amazing to consider a building like this survived without being razed for something new years ago, never mind thinking that it has been abandoned for a decade. Incredibly, much of the building's original details are salvageable and there are plans to renovate it to be a hotel.

Hold me a spot at the hotel bar.

Further to all that.

Further to the earlier discussion of song books and Rugby, this site:KEGGERS OF YORE revels in the absurdity of party photos from a more innocent time. No flashing for the video cameras, no grotesquely inappropriate displays of vanity, just modestly inappropriate displays of drunkenness. Simpler times.

Electric City

How fortuitous! While Thursday night technology let us down when the power went leaving us in the cold for 24 hours. Today there was redemption. Here's how techology won me back.

I leave White Squirrel Coffee Shop on Queen Street W; enter Chippy's and order the Haddock and chips; I'm told the order takes 4 or 5 minutes. I pay and proceed next door to peruse the selection at Type Books; I set my iPhone timer to 4 minutes and check the Red Rocket app to see when the next 501 Westbound on Queen; the answer: less than 6 minutes. My phone alarm goes off, I pick up supper just as the street car arrives. I get home while my fish 'n' chips are still warm. Consume fried fast food while watching the ball game.

Of course, all of this could've happened without the phone but not without beautiful flowing electricity.

Thank you, Mr. Tesla.

Why Phones Have Cameras

This is the reason mobile phones have cameras.

NOTE: I just had to fix the missing image of this post not just because it's such a weird Toronto image but also as it marks the day I started using an iPhone and it was the first photo I took with it. What this really means is that I'm not quite two years through my three year contract and I'm already on my third iPhone. Not such a great record. What this also says to me is that as your contract will certainly outlive the device, I would advise getting a two year contract rather than the three-year one (about a year too long) and as I got one phone replaced under warranty and the third heavily discounted it's still better than getting a phone unlocked outside of a plan as you'd be paying about $400 more than with a contract. Also, for me, the likelihood of changing providers within two years is slight. In 10 years I've only switched twice, from Bell, to Rogers to Fido. Take that as advice, if you care to.

August, 2010

Christmas Pics


Enjoy these photos, some taken in Newfoundland, some in Toronto, of our holiday shenanigans. Speaking of which, my getting back to the Big Smoke was an awful kerfuffle. My 6AM flight (which we woke up at 3:30AM to catch) from St.John's (YYT) left late which mattered little because my connecting flight in Halifax (YHZ) was cancelled (ostensibly due to weather - 20 flights were cancelled, mostly Air Canada ones). Thoughtfully, Air Canada went out of their way to offer me a piece of paper with a phone number on it. After oscillating between the customer service desk and trying the phone number (I never did speak to an agent) I discovered I had been placed on standby, along with everyone else on two afternoon flights and reserved on a flight for January 1st. Rather than passively accept whatever crap they handed me, I decided to connect to Halifax airport's wi-fi (thank you Internet) and find another flight. WestJet came up empty but Porter Air had a flight leaving early the afternoon that went through Ottawa (YOW) and landed at the downtown Island Airport (YTZ, not YYZ which is Pearson Int'l). I booked it, I took it, and I landed terra firma at 4PM local time (30 minutes late due to head winds) which was only 6½ hours later than I should have arrived. 45 minutes later, I walked through my front door, over 30hrs faster than had I accepted Air Canada's offer. I later calculated I had travelled by car, jet plane, prop plane, passed through 4 airports (though only 2 security checks), took a ferry (probably less than 300ft separate the Island Airport from mainland Toronto), a bus, the subway and finally, a streetcar. I suppose if I'd taken my bicycle or hitched a ride on a donkey I would've covered every mode of transport. I'm like the armed forces (by land, sea and air). Ah well, that only leaves me to try to recoup my losses from the indubitable scoundrels at Air Canada (hereby known as Air Cannot). I will say this, while I'm opposed to an airport on Toronto Island (It doesn't make sense economically or environmentally and unbelievably, can take the same amount of time to get as Pearson), flying Porter does feel pretty glamorous. You get all the little perks such as complimentary lunch and Stella Artois and when you land on the island you see Toronto's skyline stretched out before you. All this while stepping out of a small twin prop plane onto the tarmac, followed by a short boat ride to shore. It's like you're in an old film noir movie or something ("this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship" kind of movie). Shameful isn't it? Me enjoying glamour over principles.

The following video shows the storm that scraped over Halifax that begat my mini-epic odyssey in the first place.

Christmas Double-Oh-Seven

Is it true that you can never go home? I'm starting to believe it. For so many years the only place I could enjoy Christmas was in the house I grew up in. No matter how inviting another house was, I remained a guest in an alien place where everything seemed out of place. Now that alien place is the house where I grew up. For years I tried inventing traditions only to discover you can't. Traditions are just things that happen every year with only a minimum of effort. The more you force something, the more forced it feels. For the last seven years we've woven a Christmas that is tiring, full of eating and leftovers, new experiments and old favorites, and generally, I look forward to a few hours of bustling madness, followed by a few hours of intoxicating quiet. Best yet, our Christmas days are ones we make with very few obligations. We've been lucky. A Christmas in Toronto involves little travel, a lot of food and is pretty much done by midnight, December 25th. I had forgotten how Boxing Day can be drawing out Christmas a little too long (even if it's only 12 hours too long).

I can honestly say, that working over Christmas is actually not bad at all. Due to the absence of most everyone else, you can actually get a lot done with no interruptions, go for leisurely lunches without guilt, and get home easily because there's no traffic. Best of all, because you can't spend the day asleep with an unread book lying open on your chest, the Christmas hangover is, if not avoided, at least minimized. This year, I'll have to depend on James Bond, coffee and shoveling to stay alert while tiptoeing around the food, drink and ennui-induced Holiday Coma that results in the common amnesia that makes so many Christmases blend into one another. This year, while some will mourn the loss of Oscar Peterson, and Benazir Bhutto I'll mourn the loss of Christmas Past.

Hey everyone, I finally posted some Christmas pics which you can see here and if you're interested in hearing my dulcet tones I recorded a list of the kind of things we ate during Christmas week. I didn't intend on making a list, it just turned out that way.That's what happens when you work without a script. To hear my sotto voce click on the "play" icon.

New Porch Rail
Originally uploaded by rowdyman.

Here's the latest of the 'home improvements' - actually installed in November. We discovered that all of our neighbours had installed porch rails, usually temporary ones, because their insurers insisted upon it. Ours never has and probably never will, but after two different people took a slide off the steps last winter (I believe alcohol may have been involved - I can't say for certain), I thought it would be prudent to install a railing. I figured that a lot of these temporary things become more permanent the longer they are left, so I wanted something nicer than 2x4's but I also wanted to avoid going into the ground becuase a vertical post between the porch steps would be impossible to clear of leaves or snow. The solution, which isn't perfect, was to use these stainless steel connectors from a marine supplier. I also got the aluminum tube to go with it (which doubled the cost) but I didn't really like how it looked so I simply swapped out the aluminum for 1" dowel (oak is my guess, not sure really). I added some stain and voilà - instant porch rail. It only took about 10 minutes to install and probably less to remove. So at last we have the required railing and I'll assume our liability lessened.

Advent Calendar
Originally uploaded by rowdyman.

Not too long ago I was having the last two eggs for breakfast when I noticed how the container, once empty, reminded me of a depleted tray of chocolates. Taking this notion further I thought, if you trimmed the box a certain way, you'd be left with a tray with 24 compartments. For some time I'd wondered how there might be a way to easily make a customized Advent Calendar and here it was. Fill an empty egg carton with chocolates, and make your own box.

Unfortunately, I spent too much time making the box and getting the contents that I left precious little time to create the fun part - the cover. so I nicked some artwork from J. Otto Seibold (author of Olive the Other Reindeer and other fun stories). Still, something tells me penguins will be popular this year. Et voilà, just in time for the first Advent Sunday, I've managed to produce a couple of these things.

Hey, I'm not going to break Nestlé's tenacious grip on the Advent Calendar market or World Famous Chocolate's fascistic hold over scholastic almonds covered in shellacked waxy chocolate, but I just thought I could squeeze a couple of Advent Calendars out of my magic workshop.

I only had time to make one to mail it out in time for Sunday so that one went to Lucia in Seattle, and the other one, well, it may not be really sturdy enough for Canada Post's mauling mitts, so that one will be hand delivered to Gina. A third (forming a Trinity, if you will) will stay here in our T.O. manger - for there is no room at the inn.

Hopefully, this will begin a month long deluge of chocolates, licorice, cakes and tarts (but no hard toffee, I hate hard toffee - to hell with hard toffee - it's Christmas for God's sake, do not force me to put that English, tooth rotting gunk in my mouth!)

So this is Christmas...and what have you done? I made an Advent Calendar, what have you done, Mr. Lennon? Didn't think so.

By the way, click on the image above to see a few more pictures of the Advent Calendar

bread
Originally uploaded by rowdyman.

I've never claimed to be able to cook or bake only to be able to eat. Yet, when I watched this video for a simple bread recipe on NYTimes.com, I could barely believe what I was seeing. It's just a traditional water/flour/salt/yeast bread recipe.

I guess watching Mom bake bread for all those years, it just seemed kind of a big production and a lot of work. Even today when I tell people I was raised eating my Mom's homemade bread they are usually surprised. For urban folk, nothing could be easier than buying fresh baked bread - it's so easy that no one thinks twice about paying $3-$5 for a loaf. A neighbourhood is often graded on it's proximity to a good bakery. Our area, in particular, is embarrassingly rich in the fresh rye bread department. I met one neighbour who sighed, "Finally, there's somewhere on Roncesvalles to get a baguette." So, the thinking goes, why on Earth would you want to bake your own bread? It would take years to perfect and who has the time. Well, it appears, time is all you need. About 12-20hrs worth. Of course, you could do a whole bunch of things during that time. This recipe really only takes about 10mins of your time - the other 12 or so hours, the dough you make is doing all the work itself. Basically it shows how Bread Making machines work. There's really nothing to it - by that I mean, why own a bread making machine when you already own one - your very own oven?

The feeling of satisfaction of popping fresh bread out of the oven on a Sunday morning is unmatchable. Not to mention the affect of telling someone, "Yeah, I made this bread... no biggie." It's funny, re-reading the recipe now, it seems a lot more complicated than what I did. I just watched the video and did that. Mixed the ingredients on Saturday night, plopped it in the oven the next day. It's great and is almost like a sour dough (I suppose the whole 'natural sponge' thing is at work here). I actually went online to check out some forums (uh oh, BREAD GEEK ALERT) and I guess, using plenty of water and leaving the dough for longer, more like 18-20 hrs. even gives a better result.

I like that this is such an 'olde-tyme' traditional recipe, but it's so foolproof and no-fuss that it's completely anti-Martha Stewart. Bake and be joyful, and hopefully we can all break bread together soon.

PS. I noticed that this was the most e-mailed article on NYT the day it was posted, so I'm obviously not the only one fascinated with easily baked bread.

curtains drawn.jpg
Originally uploaded by rowdyman.

When we moved in, the first thing I wanted to change was the curtain in the living room. Well, three years on, we finally replaced that with a blind and finished it off with these curtains... ah relief.