Barking Space

Nothing makes a blog more popular than genitalia.

Well, at least it appears so from my Valentine’s Day entry. Considering I never mentioned anything overtly related to genitalia, I think that is quite an amazing feat. I wonder what would happen if I actually wrote about genitalia. Weird.

However, today’s rant is about the NHL, which has just kicked a lot of season’s pass holders in the genitalia.

I really don’t understand some people. First of all, they whine about how much hockey players get paid. And then when the hockey players are called on it, and denied an opportunity to play, these same people whine about how there is no hockey. Again, this doesn’t apply to all hockey fans. But it does apply to a good number of them

It’s entertaining that people complain during teacher strikes about how teachers are spoiled because they work only three quarters of the year and get a decent pension and summer vacations. Yet some of these same people think hockey players do not get a fair shake. Um….Yeah….

In general, professional sports are overrated. Seriously.

Does a person REALLY need to get paid millions of dollars to have fun? I mean, if this is the case, then maybe I should become a professional Jedi Academy or Battle for Middle Earth Player.

Not to mention the fact that the NHL (among other professional leagues) is not (in my opinion) the greatest place for kids to look for role models. I mean, you have conspiracy, assault, drunken antics, and that’s not even naming half of the crap that goes on.

As far as I’m concerned, it’s a good thing for rabid fans to cool their jets for this season. It might bring things into perspective.  Perhaps amateur sports would make entertainment.  There is more heart there.

Just think that those unfortunate professional hockey players are not getting paid their normal salary. The poor chaps are are getting merely $8000 to $10000 a month for doing nothing now.

Nice…

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Riding the subway every day usually creates a callous on the soul for most people. I don’t know why it doesn’t seem so for me. Most of the time I just like to watch people, and some of the things they do amuse me. Some things I see are plain stupid, and I’ll become a little annoyed. I can’t seem to turn the emotions off and become a zombie like some people. I’ll give some examples.

One thing that bothers me a little are some of the younger crowd that need to sit.

They make their way onto the subway, and seach for any available seat. This act is not something horrible in and of itself. It is the fact that a lot of these kids don’t get up when an elderly person enters the subway. I rarely take a seat, as I prefer to stand. But if I happen to be sitting, and someone wanders into the car who needs a seat more than I do, I’ll give it up. No questions asked.

Another thing that irks me are the people who have the need to get off the subway before everyone else.

Even before the final approach to the station, a lot of people will elbow and nudge their way past everyone else, just to be in front of the line to get out. What is funny is the fact that half the people they shove past are usually getting out at the exact same station.

In places like Japan and China, the trains are packed to capacity. But from what I understand there is still a fundamental respect for others. There is just a smaller zone of personal space. People pack themselves in like tuna, and flow into any and every empty space possible. No one really cares. People get off at their station when the train stops, because there is nowhere to go.

The worst are those fine, upstanding people who sit down, and then get up and try to get to the front of the exit queue halfway through the ride. This is just silly. And it’s almost always teenagers that do it. As far as I’m concerned a person waives their right to get out of the train first if they are too lazy to stand up near the door.

It’s only fair.

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Scenario A – I wake up in the morning (later than I should), and make my way through the morning rituals. I leave the house, and walk down the street to the corner, where my fellow commuters are waiting for me. The bus arrives, and we get on, and I get to work at a reasonable time.

Scenario B – I wake up in the morning (later than I should), and make my way through the morning rituals. I leave the house, and as I walk down the street to the corner, I see a bus go by. And I think to myself, I should be ok to make the next bus. And just as the thought is compelted, three more buses fly by, making their way towards the subway station. I shake my fist in the air because I know that the next bus will take longer to arrive than if I were to just walk to the station.

Scenario B happens a lot more than Scenario A, I assure you.

Now please, before fans or employees of the TTC become annoyed, I’d like to state a few things. I take public transit pretty much every day. I really admire a lot of the folks that work there. I am quite certain that most of the problem is because of scheduling and organization more than anything.

Why do buses seem to travel in herds? Why are most of my homeward-bound subway rides these days plagued by tons of delays and several declarations of my train being out of service?

A friend of mine commented that it takes her the same amount of time to bike to the airport as it does to take public transit. A direct ride would be quite fast, but add a bunch of transfers at connection points, and you are looking at significant delays.

How to solve the problem?

I am not really sure. I think that something has to be done to reduce the “herded bus” syndrome. It seems that there is a delay between the arrival of a bus to the station and the departure of it. If it is the matter of reducing driver fatigue, perhaps they could have a rotation. Have one spare driver waiting at the station who would replace the next driver. That driver could take a short break while waiting for the next bus, while the rested driver could immediately depart the station in the waiting bus.

I also think that it would be good to extend the subway up to the airport under Highway 427, and across Sheppard to the airport area as well. I think that this would reduce the number of cars on the road by a good number, and a lot of people would be able to go downtown a lot easier. However, his would require some funding, I would think.

There is always a struggle to fund our public transit system. I think that if we wanted to secure funding, we should force the members of Parliament to attend a series of important meetings in Toronto, and make them take public Transit to get there. They would be late, and grumpy. I am certain that this tactic would secure the funding we need.

Keep in mind that my ideas could be totally wrong. Most of them are based on playing a PC game called Transport Tycoon Deluxe. Perhaps not the best research tool for the job…

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Why do most of the critical tasks at work seem to pop up just before I leave? I’ll never understand this. I think this is the general rule for everyone. The most dire emergencies happen when you are on your way out the door to go home.

These emergencies affect the way people think, I believe. The rationality seeps out and leaves a big pocket of illogic. Observe the following conversation that I experienced once a long time ago…

Person: [Looking perturbed.] Why did you send me this document?
Jorge: Pardon?
Person: You sent me this document at lunch, and I don’t understand why you did it.
Jorge: I still don’t know what you’re talking about.
Person: [Becoming impatient.] This document for job X, you sent it to me.
Jorge: I didn’t. I haven’t even sent it out yet.
Person: I can show you. Hold on, I’ll go get it. I need to print it out.

[Person runs back to their desk on the other side of the floor to print out an e-mail that they could easily just read the header of. Person comes running back, paper in hand looking disappointed.]

Person: Oh. You didn’t send it. It was another person.
Jorge: Okay.
Person: Do you know why he sent this to me?
Jorge: [Incredulous] Huh?
Person: Do you know why this person sent this to me?
Jorge: I’m afraid I can only tap into the mental collective of people that share my name.
Person: [Looks up from deep thoughts.] Huh?
Jorge: Nothing. You should just e-mail that person and find out.
Person: [Trundles off.]

Wow. WHAT THE HELL?

Filed under: Rants, Spaces Archive | 2 Comments »

The word “gourmet” is an interesting word. As a noun, it indicates “a connoisseur of food and drink”. As an adjective, preceding the word “meal” it would denote some kind of sumptuous delicacy. It is also a deceiving word. It is so much larger than the word “food”. Three letters larger in fact. So you would expect a gourmet meal to be much better than a meal.

However, this is not always the case.

– We interrupt this rant to bring you some important background information –

During the end of January and first few weeks of February, Toronto is abuzz with Winterlicious. A gastronomic celebration of cuisine all across the city. During this time, a lot of high-end restaurants have a prix fixe menu to allow mere mortals who don’t have a lot of cash to sample their food (this is not the only reason, but this is the reason that my wife and I go). It is excellent, as the average entrée cost at some of these places can be twice as much as the Winterlicious prix fixe menu price (usually including appetizer, main and dessert). The wine pairings are also well done. A couple can walk out of there spending a cool $100 or so for a decent meal and wine.

– We now return you to your regularly scheduled rant –

We went to a “high class” establishment on Saturday for dinner with some friends. Mrs. J made the reservation back in January, and it was going to be a nice night out. I suppose we should have been duly warned when she read a review stating that the portions were small at this place.

We arrived, checked the menu (usually they offer different choices for appetizers, mains and desserts), and ordered our meal.

I will briefly sum up my own experience by saying that the goat cheese tart was small but okay. The main course (duck) was succulent, but too small. The dessert (créme brulée) tasted like charcoal, and was about 2 tablespoons worth of dessert. Not exactly worth $30 in my opinion. It’s a good thing we ate before we went (just some appetizers, but they helped to fill the void).

I suppose it was disappointing because the place looked great. Sophisticated, even. And while the background noise was a bit loud (you can’t fault people for yapping at the top of their lungs. Oh wait, you can…), it was still comfortable.

The simple fact remains: It can be the coolest looking eating establishment in the world, but if the food tastes like excrement, then it is going to fail. Well it should, anyway. Lucky for them, not every critic cares for taste. Some critics are blown away by the presentation, rather than the taste. I, for one, would rather eat a simply designed cube of food that tastes good than have a meal that looks likes a portrait of the last supper but still tastes like doo doo.

A lot of these new places open up with the promise of a wonderful dining experience. When they get their positive reviews, the food quality goes down the toilet (or perhaps the food now comes from there).

This is, by no means, written to dissuade people from trying “nice places”. In fact, we have had great experiences with other restaurants. But keep in mind that there is a lot to be said about some of the less chic places, too.

Support your local hole-in-the-wall!

Filed under: Rants, Spaces Archive | 7 Comments »