The Texan Canadian

I'm Back, or How I Met My First Draft Dodger

2006-02-19T14:23:00.000-08:00

Hey y'all. Yeah, I know it's been a while. As Gimpy wrote to me, Blogspot called, and they want their bandwidth back. The last month or so has been a doozy. Work has been pretty crazy, and my father underwent an aortic valve replacement surgery and isn't doing so well.

Anyway, I have a whole list of Canadian-related topics that I'm planning to start working through, and I'll begin with a story from last night....

Last night I went and saw local guitarist Jason Fowler, who was playing in the Acoustic Harvest series in Scarborough. Jason is the teacher of my guitar teacher and a phenomenal player and musician. At the concert, I shared a table with a couple and a friend of theirs, all of whom appeared to be in their mid to late 50s. We struck up a conversation in which I learned that the friend was American and had moved to Canada from Chicago. I asked what brought him here, and he said, "Well, it was 1968, and there was the Vietnam War and the Democratic Convention in Chicago...." Yes, my first draft dodger from the '60s!

Best of 2005

2006-01-02T10:28:00.000-08:00

The time has come for pop-culture writers to post their best-of lists for 2005. Because he wouldn't want to deprive anyone, The Texan Canadian brings you the definitive list of his favorites from the year (in no particular order):

Walk the Line

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Capote

Serenity

The 40 Year-Old Virgin

Wedding Crashers

King Kong

Batman Begins

Downfall

There you are. Take it or leave it.

Back in the 416

2005-12-31T11:16:00.000-08:00

I'm back in Toronto for New Year's Eve. Though the weather was fine when I arrived last night, it's been snowing all day today. Snowy days always look kinda funny from my apartment, because you mainly see a lot of white:

The holidays in Texas were quite nice. My brother cooked up a serious Christmas dinner, we installed a new garage door opener for our parents, and I went to Austin for a few days to see some folks. All in all a fairly relaxing time and a welcome respite from the job.

Merry Christmas

2005-12-24T12:58:00.000-08:00

Just a quick post to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy New Year, and anything else. You know, I just love how someone's seasonal greeting has become such a politicized thing.... Great.

I'm currently hanging at my brother's house in Katy, Texas, for Christmas. I'll head to Austin in the middle of next week for a quick stay before heading back to the Golden Horseshoe for New Year's Eve.

A few things have happened since I last posted. We had our company holiday party at the CN Tower. It was a gorgeous night and a great party. When travelling back from Austin on my last visit (the one with the ice storm), I was on the same plane as Karl Rove and his family. Who knew Turd Blossom flew coach? And I've seen some great movies that I recommend, namely King Kong and Capote.

All in all, I'd say 2005 was probably one of the more eventful years of my life. I suppose any time you make an unplanned move to a new place, it's a pretty big deal. It certainly has been for me.

Brrr...in Austin!

2005-12-07T19:31:00.000-08:00

So I'm hanging out in my Austin hotel room with some Canadian colleagues while there's an ice storm going on outside. Nice. It's cold as hell in Toronto, and the frigid air has followed me down here. Of course everyone is blaming it on me ;)

It was good though, for the Canadians to see that it actually does get cold here and that it isn't hot all of the time.

Breathless

2005-11-22T16:33:00.000-08:00

One of the real downsides of living on the 36th floor is when the elevators break. That's quite a climb and not a welcome thing after a long day at work.

Thumbs Up

2005-11-21T09:12:00.000-08:00

I saw both Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Walk the Line this weekend and highly recommend both of them.

I thought this new Harry Potter was the best of the series. The first two were okay, and I really liked Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, but I thought this one was even better. It was well-paced, beautifully filmed, and dang exciting. Lots of edge-of-your-seat moments and some pretty scary parts.

The performances in Walk the Line were both fantastic. I've never been much of a Reese Witherspoon fan, but she was awesome as June Carter. Joaquin Phoenix was very convincing as Cash, and the fact that neither of them sang before starting work on the film is simply amazing. They both sounded great. I also learned that June Carter wrote "Ring of Fire", a song you can't go to Lovejoy's in Austin without hearing at least twice from the jukebox. Did not know that.

First Snow

2005-11-19T06:15:00.000-08:00

Yesterday in the afternoon we had our first snow of the season in the city. It snowed for a few hours and accumulated at most about an inch. Though the temperature didn't get above freezing all day, the streets and sidewalks are still pretty warm, so not too much stuck around there.

National Transportation Safety Board Research

2005-11-17T12:53:00.000-08:00

My mom sent this to me, and I thought it was pretty funny....

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recently divulged they had covertly funded a project with U.S. auto makers for the past five years, whereby the auto makers were installing black box voice recorders in four-wheel drive pickup trucks and SUVs in an effort to determine, in fatal accidents, the circumstances in the last moments before the crash.

They were not surprised to find in 44 of the 50 states the recorded last words of drivers in 61.2% of fatal crashes were, "Oh, Shit!"

But the states of Tennessee, Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Alabama, and Kentucky were different, where 89.3% of the final words were, "Hold my beer, I'm gonna try somethin'."

Brrr....

2005-11-17T07:57:00.000-08:00

It was 30 degrees on my walk to work this morning with a wind chill of about 18. Apparently I'm going to think that's warm come February.

Sportscentre

2005-11-16T16:52:00.000-08:00

Yeah, I don't think I need to say anything more.

Winter Sports

2005-11-13T08:30:00.000-08:00

Winter is almost upon us. It's apparently been a very mild fall, but we should start having highs just above freezing pretty soon.

I've gotten a lot of advice from folks on how to handle the long and harsh winter, and I think some of the best has been to engage in winter activities. I'm already planning on learning to snowboard. Ontario has a bunch of hills that, while not great, are perfect for learning. So I expect to be making a bunch of trips to Mount St. Louis and Blue Mountain over the next months. I'm also thinking about learning to ice skate. The free public skating rinks have already started opening, and there's no way I'd go to one now, seeing as I've only been ice skating a few times in my life. You can take lessons, though, so I'll probably be doing that soon.

If anyone has any advice about skate buying, I'd love to hear it.

Remembrance Day

2005-11-13T08:19:00.000-08:00

Friday was Remembrance Day in Canada, which is the same thing as Veterans Day in the U.S. I thought it was interesting, though, that Remembrance Day is much more important here than Veterans Day at home. A significant majority of the population of Toronto has been wearing poppies for the last week, and there were loads of television specials and ceremonies to commemorate the day. We even did a minute of silence at work.

Considering the number of wars and conflicts that the U.S. has been involved with in its history and with the general "Support the Troops" sentiment, I think this contrast in observance is pretty interesting. I wonder why this is.... Could it be that by having a more actively engaged military, people in the U.S. are not so focused on the events of the past?

Overheard in Toronto

2005-11-13T08:01:00.000-08:00

Last night on the streetcar on the way to see fingerstyle guitar master John Knowles, I sat in front of two older French-Canadian women. They were loudly debating (in English) what movie to go see, and their conversation was hilarious. Things I learned:

Richard Gere and Tom Cruise are sissies.

George Clooney is a real man.

Nicole Kidman looks like a walking skeleton.

Something is wrong with Renée Zellweger's mouth.

They ended up choosing Good Night, and Good Luck, which I hear is quite a good film (and stars George Clooney, of course).

The concert, by the way, was fantastic. Knowles is great musician and player and a genuinely funny guy with tons of great stories about hanging in Nashville with the greats. It's not often you get to hear someone tell stories about how he was hanging out with Chet Atkins, Les Paul, and Lenny Breau, and how Lenny pawned the guitar that Chet gave him.... If you are a reader in Toronto and like fingerstyle guitar music, you should check out the Toronto Fingerstyle Guitar Association. They're bringing some great players to town at amazing prices.

Random Stuff

2005-11-07T17:32:00.000-08:00

A few random things:

Does anyone know how to format text and pictures in Blogger correctly for Firefox and Safari? If you've noticed, the formatting of my posts that include pictures is less than ideal if you're using one of those browsers. Internet Explorer 6 shows the pages like I intend, but Firefox and Safari don't. I've tried linebreaks and new paragraph tags to try to make the text sit correctly in relation to the pictures but haven't gotten anything to work.

There's a new tanning salon in my neighborhood. Its name is "Tanada".

Toronto's own CN Tower is a member (a "member tower"?) of the World Federation of Great Towers. Wow, that's quite a federation they've got there. I wonder if our next FEMA director will have been its executive director....

Check out my friend Tino's pictures from the wedding in Alpine. He's an amazing photographer and got some great shots.

While you're on his site, you should also check out Tino's pictures from Vietnam. These blow me away every time I see them. He should work for National Geographic.

Stewed Meat

2005-11-07T17:26:00.000-08:00

Last night I made a delicious carne guisada from Robb Walsh's The Tex-Mex Cookbook, which is something every person who can cook and who professes to like Tex-Mex should own.

Anyway, while it was cooking, I called my friends Omid and Amy in Austin. I mentioned to Amy that I was cooking up some carne guisada, and she asked me whether I thought it was possible that I was the only person in Canada cooking carne guisada at that exact moment. I thought for a second and agreed that this was indeed a possibility. It's a pretty regional dish, which means there probably aren't that many people in Canada who even know what it is much less would make it at home.

Tejas del oeste

2005-11-07T16:48:00.000-08:00

Well, it looks like it's time for me to quit my job and move to West Texas. I went out there for Marty and Tex's wedding, and let me tell you, that place rules. Despite the fact that I've lived in Texas my entire life, it was my first visit to the part of state that actually looks like the stereotype of Texas. I'm already looking forward to my next visit.

At the barbecue before the wedding, we got to chill with good friends like Big John, who brought his impressive appetite all the way from Farmington, New Mexico.

Not to mention our very own New Orleans refugees, er, evacuees, a very pregnant Emily and Catfish Palit.

Now that's a serious outfit.

The wedding itself was quite the spectacle. About 400-500 guests on Marty's family's ranch outside of Alpine. The crowd was an amazing mix of Rice weenies and old Texas ranchers and oilmen in $5000 boots and white Stetsons. Congrats Marty and Tex!!!!!

The day afterwards, Oren, Julie, and I drove back to Midland via Marfa.

Marfa is a tiny little West Texas town that has become something of an artists' colony in recent years. The town is an odd mix of historical West Texas and Manhattan art scene.

And perhaps one of the coolest things I've ever seen is on US 90 outside of the even tinier town of Valentine: Prada Marfa.

Unfortunately it looks like it's been vandalized (again) since it originally opened at the beginning of October.

No, it's not actually a Prada store in the middle of the Chihuahuan Desert. It's an art installation that's a replica of a Prada store in the middle of the Chihuahuan Desert. Yeah.

All in all, it was a fantastic weekend and a wonderful trip. And that's even considering the fact that I got to meet a nice Texas State Trooper on Interstate 20 outside of Odessa ;)

From Midland it was on to Austin for some business meetings and good hanging out time with the friends there. Damn I love Casino El Camino.

Yes, Hell Hath Frozen Over

2005-10-23T15:04:00.000-07:00

Or, at least Canada is getting close. Yes, it's my first post in over a month. We've transitioned from summer to "fall", which feels a lot like winter to me. Last night it was 45 degrees and raining. Real nice.

So what has happened since my last post?

Hurricane Rita was making a beeline toward my hometown of Dickinson, Texas, in the middle of September but veered toward the north before making landfall. Lucky for people in the Houston-Galveston area, certainly, but not for those on the Texas-Louisiana border.

I've seen a few shows: Bloc Party at The Docks, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club at Phoenix Concert Theatre, and Bob Mould at The Mod Club.

Hockey season has started. Go Leafs! Let me tell you.... People here are insane about hockey. It's like small-town Texas football, but over a whole country.

In early October, I went to Las Vegas to celebrate my friend Tex's bachelor party with a bunch of friends from Rice and Austin. We stayed at the Monte Carlo, caught the shows Crazy Girls at The Riviera and Avenue Q at Wynn Las Vegas, and had some great food at BOA Steakhouse and Commander's Palace.

Enjoying brunch at Commander's Palace are, from left to right, Drew, Ray, me, Booth, Gimpy, TonyChen, JJ, Tex, Dave, Greg, and Andrew. An impressive group for sure.

Next weekend I'm heading down to Alpine, Texas, for Marty and Tex's wedding. Should be a blast, and I'm looking forward to getting back to The Lone Star State.

And, last but not least, the Houston Astros are in the World Series for the first time ever. Go 'Stros!!!!!!!!

The Mod Club

2005-09-03T11:11:00.000-07:00

Went to my first show in Toronto last night. Louis XIV at The Mod Club Theatre. They played a great set, and the place was pretty cool. The biggest thing I noticed is that the club is really nice. After being in Austin for eleven years, where even the best live music venues are pretty much dumps (yeah Stubb's, Emo's, and the late Liberty Lunch, I'm talking about you), it was interesting to see a show at a place with hardwood floors, video monitors, and real glassware at the bar. Another surprise was that no one was toking up! A Louis XIV show (pretty much any show, actually) in Austin would have been cloudy with marijuana smoke. I wonder if it has anything to do with the smoking ban in Toronto. A similar ban just started in Austin on September 1.

Visitors!

2005-08-30T17:19:00.000-07:00

It's been quite a while since my last "real" post. Since then, I've had visitors for two weekends and made my first trip back to Texas.

At the beginning of August my brother Todd visited for a long weekend. We had a great time.... Dinner at Cafe Brussel, a couple of Blue Jays-Yankees games, an aborted trip to Niagara Falls (the traffic was horrendous), Cuban cigars, and St. Lawrence Market.

The trip to Texas was mainly for my company's annual convention and user conference, but I was able to visit almost all of my friends in Austin and make a trip down to Dickinson to see the folks. Activities included visiting Melanie and her new baby, some great meals (Hoover's, Smitty's Market in Lockhart, Star Seeds Cafe, and sliders at Reido's), drinking on Sixth Street, and tubing on the Guadalupe. All in all it was a great trip, and coming back to Toronto was pretty difficult.

This past weekend Booth and Mako made the journey from Washington, D.C., to the Great White North. Cafe Brussel (yeah, I like that place), Pomegranate, the CN Tower, The World's Biggest Bookstore (except that it's not), a Blue Jays game from the bar at the SkyDome Renaissance Hotel, and The 40 Year-Old Virgin all made for a great time. But I'm not through.... The trip to the CN Tower (holder of the Guinness Book of World's Records title for World's Tallest Building) yielded some beautiful photographs:

View of the tower from below.

View of the SkyDome and my apartment building from 147 stories up.

Downtown T.O.

The tower casts a long shadow over Toronto.

That's 1122 feet (342 meters) straight down!

Mako runs from the Glass Floor in defeat.

I, on the other hand, am master of all I see ;)

The tower prepares to eat Booth and Mako. They are unimpressed.

Hurricane Katrina

2005-08-30T16:56:00.000-07:00

My heart goes out to the people of the Gulf Coast hit by Hurricane Katrina. I'm sitting here watching the coverage on CNN and can't believe what I'm seeing. I've ridden out many storms (notably Hurricane Alicia in 1983 and Tropical Storm Claudette in 1979) and still can't fathom what's happened to New Orleans, Gulfport, and other places in the area.

Gimpy Bites

2005-08-08T17:45:00.000-07:00

Bonjour,

The obnoxiousness of "tagging" someone aside, I, too, shall comply
with your request Msgr. Guptone. But, it'll be via e-mail. I completely
agree with Greg about the whole "blogging" fad. Besides, would you really
want to read about my boring ass life? I can sum up it concisely: lotsa
cycling, lotsa visits to the local pub and lotsa gettin' no play from the
ladies whatsoever.

At any rate, here's your list:

"The Beast and Dragon, Adored" - Spoon
"After the Dance" - Marvin Gaye
"Somebody's Gotta Do It" - the Roots
"Pussy Galore" - the Roots
"Transatlanctism" - Death Cab for Cutie
"A Man/Me/Then Jim" - Rilo Kiley
"Get Up" - Sleater-Kinney
"What's Mine Is Yours" - Sleater-Kinney
"Climbing Up the Walls" - Radiohead
"The Way" - Jill Scott

I don't know how accurate it is that these are the ten that I'm "digging"
*the most*, but I think it gives one a general idea. Hmmm ... I'm seeing
lots of overlap with other similar lists; makes me feel rather unoriginal.
I should also give honorable mentions to "Outstanding" by the Gap Band and
"Rock and Roll Ain't Noise Pollution" by AC/DC.

And, ketchup-flavored potato chips?!!? Are you flippin' kidding
me? THAT is some of the nastiest shit of which I've ever heard!! Must be
a white person thing, which makes sense seeing as how so much of Canada is
pretty white (literally and figuratively).

"What he said I said has been said before,
Just keep doing your thing, he said,
Say no more,"
--- Gimpy!

PS - Sorry it took me so long to getting around to this, Kyle; I've been
meaning to, but I haven't been very good about returning e-mails as of
late.

Toronto: City of the Future?

2005-08-04T10:22:00.000-07:00

When I drive or walk out of my building, I often joke to myself that I live in the "City of the Future". From that vantage point, I can only see very new condo buildings, the SkyDome, and the CN Tower, which makes me feel like I live in some futuristic space-city.

But while walking through Kensington Market and Chinatown the other day, I started to ponder a bit more this "City of the Future" idea and think it might be true. When I say this, I mean nothing about the architecture (Toronto architecture generally blows, btw). I'm talking about the culture and the identity of the city.

One of the most significant things I've noticed about Canada is that Canadians and the Canadian media (probably more the latter) are very interested in establishing an identity separate from that of the United States. One of the things that seems to be sticking in this search for a unique identity is Canada as the "place someone emigrates" (I hope I got that usage correct - someone please correct me if I didn't).

At one time, the United States was the place to go if you wanted to, or were forced to, leave your homeland. All you had to do was show up, and you were in. Over the last hundred years, it's become progressively more difficult, to the point where now the US isn't much thought of as friendly to outsiders. It seems that Canada has jumped in to pick up that slack and is building its identity around it.

In the United States, we traditionally talk about the "melting pot", where lots of cultures go in, and something uniquely "American" emerges. In Canada, they speak of the "mosaic", where people are able to retain their cultural identities but exist in harmony with one another.

And that's where the idea of Toronto as the City of the Future comes in. Toronto doesn't really have a unique identity. It's sort of like New York, Chicago, or Boston, but doesn't really have the unique identity that any of those cities have. This lack of an identity seems to be a point of concern for many Torontonians (again, mainly as expressed through the media). What's interesting, though, is that this lack of an identity and lack of an "identity momentum", is allowing the city to construct its identity right now. That's pretty interesting to me, as it's not something that most American cities have gotten to do in a while. Their identities are largely set. They do change, but only rather slowly.

Toronto's identity, however, is changing (emerging, really) rapidly. And what it's growing towards is one of a truly multicultural mosaic. This new emphasis on being a mosaic of cultures rather than a melting pot of cultures, coupled with the tremendous human migrations underway in the world, means that what Toronto is becoming is what many other cities will become in the years ahead. Thus, I think it's legitimate to call it the City of the Future.

Greg's Response

2005-08-04T10:17:00.000-07:00

Greg the Curmudgeon, who "snarls at he faddishness of the blog", won't start one, so he sent me his response to my tag via email. With his permission, I post it here:

I dunno about this "blog" thing and I sure as hell ain't gonna waste my
time starting one. But I will respond to your "tag." And no, I'm not
signing up on blogger to enter them in the comments section...

In no particular order:

1. Bloc Party, "Banquet," from the album Silent Alarm

2. Brazilian Girls, "Pussy," from the ST album

3. Peaches and Iggy Pop, "Kick It" single

4. Pelican, "GW," from the album Australasia (this is some heavy shit
from Chicago, you dig?)

5. Phantom Planet, "Big Brat," from the ST album (I hate their hit
single from the OC, but they've got some other great tracks)

6. ACDC, "TNT," from the album High Voltage

7. Sleater-Kinney, "What's Mine is Yours," from the album The Woods

8. Air, "Universal Traveler," from the album Walkie Talkie

9. Babasonicos, "Pendejo" from the album Jessico (great Argentinian
pop/rock band)

10. Caetano Veloso / Gal Costa, "Baby," from the compilation Tropicalia

Thanks Greg! And thanks to Barbara too for responding to the challenge!

More Canada Stuff....

2005-08-01T07:42:00.000-07:00

Can you tell I'm on a holiday today? It's Simcoe Day here in Ontario, a day to celebrate the accomplishments of John Graves Simcoe, the founder of Toronto.

Random Canada thoughts here on this day:

Went to World's Biggest Bookstore on Friday night. Don't know whether it's actually the biggest bookstore in the world, but it's pretty dang big and has some great stuff. I picked up a couple of cookbooks: Rick Bayless's Mexico One Plate at a Time and Jane Bamforth's Cooking With Trout. I like trout.

There are ketchup-flavored potato chips in Canada.

I've Been Tagged

2005-08-01T07:10:00.000-07:00

My friend Melanie, who may be giving birth at this very moment, has tagged me. Here it is:

List ten songs that you are currently digging ... it doesn't matter what genre they are from, whether they have words, or even if they're no good, but they must be songs you're really enjoying right now. Post these instructions, the artists, and the ten songs in your blog. Then tag five other people to see what they're listening to.

My list (in no particular order):

Wilco - Hell Is Chrome

Spoon - The Beast And Dragon, Adored

Louis XIV - God Killed the Queen

Wilco - Spiders (Kidsmoke)

The Roots - Rock You

Jason Fowler - My Daily Burden

...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead - It Was There That I Saw You

David Bowie - Life on Mars? Also, Seu Jorge's cover of this song, both on the soundtrack to The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.

J.S. Bach - Prélude from the Suite for Violoncello Solo No. 1 in G major, BWV 1007, as performed on solo guitar by Andrés Segovia

The Arcade Fire - Haiti and Rebellion (Lies). Yes, I know that's two songs, but they go together as a set.

I now tag Tim, Dipu, and Barbara. Sorry, I don't have five friends who keep regular blogs.... Oren and Gimpy, get yer asses in gear! I want to see y'all's lists. Actually, I tag both of you, as well as Greg, Booth, and Omid. Now, not only do you have to make your own list, but you have to start a blog.

Lollapalooza: We Came To Rock, And We Rocked

2005-07-25T08:17:00.000-07:00

Ah Lollapalooza.... I attended the travelling music festival of the 1990s in '92 and again in '94. In the late '90s the festival fell apart. Perry Farrell revived it in 2003, but lack of interest led to its cancellation the following year. Now, here in 2005, we have the festival once again. This time, however, it was recast as a one-time-only 2-day event in Chicago at Grant Park. Seeing as I love both Chicago and many of the bands playing, I couldn't miss it. It was also a fantastic chance to hang out with good friends, all of whom I miss greatly.

Day 1

Not too hot. A little warm and humid, but nothing unusual. The rain later that afternoon helped keep the temperature down.

To kick off the festival, I really wanted to see ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead, but alas, we didn't make it to the park in time. By the time we all got up, went to eat Mexican food, and headed downtown on the El, we were a bit late and missed Austin's own stage-destroying wunderkinds.

Note: I just used "wunderkinds" because I think it's funny.

Instead of Trail of Dead, we started off the show with Liz Phair. Though she was panned by pretty much every reviewer, Oren, Julie, and I enjoyed the set.

Oren and Julie look adorable framed by the Chicago skyline.

Next, we went up front for some Cake. Great set. Don't know what Greg was talking about.

After Cake, we went over to Blonde Redhead. Not a band I was familiar with before the festival, and I really dug them. Definitely my new band find of the weekend.

You know, I like Pixies and all, but I've seen them three times in the last ten months, and I don't need to see them again.

During Pixies, the Chicago skyline started to look really good.

Finally, we finished up the day by chilling on the grass and listening to Weezer.

That evening, we repaired to Piece Brewery and Pizzeria for (guess what?) pizza, beer, and...LIVE BAND KARAOKE. It's karaoke, but with a live band. Awesome. My favorite was the dude with the Don Clinchy haircut, buttoned-down oxford shirt, and Dockers who rocked the house with his Axl Rose impersonation on Welcome to the Jungle. Wow. That guy was gooood.

Not to be outdone, our Greg and Christie mowed them down with their version of Mudhoney's Touch Me I'm Sick.

Day 2

Damn it was hot. 102 deg F (that's 38.9 deg C for my metric-system-saavy readers). Hottest day in Chicago in 10 years. Still, for whatever reason, it wasn't as hot as the Austin City Limits Festival last year, even though the temperature was higher. I chalk that up to the blazin' Texas sun.

A bit of an earlier start today, but we still didn't make it into the festival until about 2:30. We started with Louis XIV, whom I liked a lot. I've been enjoying their album that I picked up a week or two before the festival, and I like them even more now that I've seem them live. They'll be in T.O. in September, and I'm planning to check 'em out.

After Louis XIV, we decided to take a break and listen to Tegan and Sara . Poor Tegan (or Sara - can't remember which one) couldn't handle the heat and passed out in the middle of their set. Ah Canadians... ;)

Greg, Angie, Oren, and Julie took off to a bar, and Christie and I caught the Drive By Truckers. She described it to me as Southern Gothic Lynyrd Skynyrd. Pretty much dead on.

Next came The Arcade Fire, the band I was most looking forward to seeing. I'm happy to report that they didn't disappoint. Their set was the highlight of the festival for me.

Even though most of them are from Montréal, The Arcade Fire handled the heat just fine in their waistcoats and suits.

Lead singer Win Butler (who is from Houston!) took a tour of the crowd at the end of the show.

Afterwards, Greg and Tony led us through the crowd to check out Spoon.

Spoon was in great form, and it's good to see a local Austin band having success and sounding so good.

Wrapping up the festival, we lounged on the grass and listened to The Killers.

Christie and Angie are tired but happy at the end of Lollapalooza 2005.

But, it's not over yet.... Because we were with Greg, some random event had to take place. This time, it was Tatami Mat Wresting (TMW).

Greg and Oren battle for the first TMW title of the day.

Later, I challenge Greg for supremacy on the Tatami Mat.

At that point, the gang was tired, a little embarrassed, and ready to head home for the evening.

Lollapalooza I

2005-07-24T08:58:00.000-07:00

Lollapalooza is going really, really well. The bands have been fantastic, it's easy to get to, and the backdrop of downtown Chicago is fantastic. In fact, you can see yours truly comment on that in a Chicago Sun-Times article.

Off to Chicago

2005-07-22T10:09:00.000-07:00

I'm heading to Chicago this afternoon for Lollapalooza in Grant Park. Will be hanging with Greg, Angie, Oren, and Julie, so it should be a giant blast. I'm looking forward to checking out Austin favorites ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead and Spoon, as well as catching Pixies for the third time in the last year. And as always, I'm looking forward to seeing some bands that I've not heard live before, including Montréal favorites The Arcade Fire. Now, if Wilco will just make a surprise showing to close out the festival on Sunday, we'll all be set.

Also, there will hopefully be some White Castle action in there as well to round out the weekend.

Money Transfers

2005-07-21T13:30:00.000-07:00

You might think that Canadian and US banks are hooked up pretty well. You'd be wrong. Canadian banks might as well be in Thailand. This is problematic becuase I'm paid into my US bank account, but I have to pay some bills out of my Canadian account. This means that I regularly have to transfer money between the accounts. The standard way to do it is a wire transfer, but that can cost around $40 becuase of fees on both sides. If I were to deposit a personal check from my US account into my Canadian account, there's a 30-day hold on the funds. That's just ridiculous.

But, I have found a solution: PayPal. With my Canadian PayPal account, I can link it to both bank accounts and then move money between them via PayPal. And so far, it's looking like it'll be free. That's more like it.

Mexican Food and Summerlicious

2005-07-21T13:03:00.000-07:00

Tried my first Canadian Mexican food last Friday when a friend from work and I went to dinner. We first tried to get Persian food at Pomagranates, a place Omid and I had tried to go when we first got here but that was closed at the time (it was Monday, and lots of places seem to be closed on Monday). Hungry and ready for some gormeh sabzi and tahdeeg, we drove over to College Street to find that Pomegranates was yet again closed, this time for what looked like summer vacation.

I then mentioned that I'd wanted to try Jalapeño, which seems to be the best-reviewed of the Mexican restaurants here. So, we headed back down to King West to give it a shot. It turns out that Jalapeño is participating in Summerlicious, which is a local food festival where good restaurants set aside a certain number of tables each night to serve a low-priced prix fixe menu. Even though we didn't have reservations (pretty much a necessity during Summerlicious), we were able to get a seat indoors and order off of the prix fixe menu, which turned out to be the only menu they had. For $20 you got an appetizer, entree, and desert. Not too bad.

The real question of course is whether the food was any good. And you know, it wasn't half bad. Jalapeño wouldn't survive very long in a Mexican-food-saturated Texas city, but it made a reasonable showing with some interesting homemade salsas (one of which was very similar to the Ninfa's green sauce) and a decent plate of chicken enchiladas with a tomatillo sauce. I bet the restaurant does even better with the seafood selections and dishes like the cochinita pibil. Certainly not an impressive meal, but better than I expected. I shall likely return to Jalapeño in the future.

Updates Coming Soon

2005-07-20T06:08:00.000-07:00

I know, I know. I've already fallen victim to the disease of letting my blog lie fallow. I have a few updates to make but just haven't had the opportunity. Also, I'm off to Chicago this weekend for the Lollapalooza festival, and I'm sure I'll have lots to report from there.

All Hail Poutine

2005-07-14T06:31:00.000-07:00

Tried my first poutine yesterday, a local Quebec dish of French fries, brown gravy, and cheese. I don't really need to say much more. Mmmm.

What the hell is "Thon"?

2005-07-06T05:50:00.000-07:00

Another grocery store story for today....

Most all products here have labels in both English and French. On a lot of items, the English label is on one side, and the French is on another. That means that I'm forever turning cans around to find out what's inside. Hence, I had to turn around the can of thon to learn that it's a can of tuna.

My favorite is Toilet Duck: Le Canard du Toilette. Cracks me up.

Canadian Joke

2005-07-03T12:28:00.000-07:00

I heard a Canadian joke last night, relating to how law-abiding Canadians can be (see previous post on crosswalks). Here it is:

How do you get 10 Canadians out of a swimming pool?

You yell, "Hey, Canadians, get out of the pool!"

Didn't say it was a great joke ;)

Toronto Streetcar Tip

2005-07-03T12:23:00.000-07:00

Toronto streetcars have two doors: one and the front and another toward the back. You're supposed to enter through the front door and exit through the back. One thing that's a bit confusing for new riders (i.e. me) is that the back doors don't open automatically. You have to step down the steps to cause them to open.

Yesterday on the way to my first guitar lesson I went through two stops that I had called for without knowing how to open them. Of course no one around me bothered to tell me what to do, even though my bewilderment was obvious. I then pushed my way to the front of the crowded car with guitar in hand to ask the driver what was up. Some of the people on the car didn't appreciate my pushiness and let me know it. Anyway, the driver then told me what to do. Luckily we were then at the end of the line, so the car was about to turn around and go back the other way.

Now I know, and if you find yourself on a streetcar in Toronto, you'll know what to do.

Canada Day, Part Deux

2005-07-01T14:15:00.000-07:00

Celebrating Canada Day at the Ontario Provincial Legislature.

The Canadian flag flies proudly on its nation's birthday.

Happy Canada Day!

2005-07-01T09:57:00.000-07:00

Happy Canada Day everyone! For today's posting I finally have some pictures of the view from my condo.

Here's the main view if you look straight off of my balcony. That's Lake Ontario and the Gardiner Expressway.

Looking to the left, you can see one of the Toronto Islands between my building and the neighboring one.

Across the street we can see the hole in the ground that will become another condo tower. Unfortunately, it looks like it's going to completely block my view :(

Looking to the right we have the Queen West neighborhood, which is a pretty cool place.

And finally, the view straight down. Yeah, my balcony is actually kind of a scary place to be.

Crosswalks

2005-06-30T14:24:00.000-07:00

One of the things I noticed the first time I visited Canada (Vancouver in September 2003) was that people really respect the walk/don't walk lights. Also, people don't tend to cross in the middle of the block.

The same thing is true in Toronto.

I'm astounded by how people will just refuse to cross against the light even when there are no cars in sight. It's much like the scene in "Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle" just after Neil Patrick Harris ("NPH wouldn't do that!") steals Harold's car. My Lonely Planet Toronto has a quote by someone saying that people are so law-abiding here that not even the imminent explosion of an atomic bomb will cause people to ignore the crossing signal.

I'm thinking there's a good rule of thumb for identifying Americans here. If you see someone crossing against the signal or in the middle of the block, 9 times out of 10, that person is an American. I know it's true with me.

Toronto Skyline

2005-06-26T06:32:00.000-07:00

I found this great picture of the Toronto skyline on
Wikipedia and thought I'd share it. My building is one of the high-rises immediately to the left of the big white dome on the left side of the picture.

Go Argos!

2005-06-26T05:58:00.000-07:00

Went to my first Canadian Football League (CFL) game last night. The Toronto Argonauts played the B.C. Lions at the Rogers Centre (formerly the SkyDome).

All in all a very enjoyable experience, even though the Lions bested the Argos 27-20 in what was a rematch of last year's Grey Cup championship (which the Argos won, by the way). The Rogers Centre is also a pretty nice place and works well for football. Haven't seen a baseball game there yet, but I bet it's good for that too. The roof was closed when I showed up, but they opened it up right at the beginning of the game.

So, as you probably already know, there are a few differences between Canadian and American football (some were obvious and some I had to look up online):

1. 12 players per side rather than 11. On offense they usually use two "slot backs" instead of a single tight end. On defense (er, "defence") there is additional linebacker or defensive back.

2. The field is larger. 110 yards long (the 50-yard-line is not the center of the field!) with 20-yard-deep end zones. Also, it's 65 yards wide instead of 53 1/3 yards.

3. 3 downs rather than 4. Otherwise gameplay seems to be about the same.

4. The possibility to score 1 point independently of another score. This was the most confusing one, because it happened several times, and I couldn't figure out why. Well, it's called a rouge and happens when a receiving team can't return a kick out of their own end zone. The kicking team gets one point. Also, the ball is live after a field goal attempt if it is missed.

Also, here are a couple of pictures from the evening.

This first one is just a general shot of the two teams coming on the field.

There's the CN Tower peeking out from behind the open dome.

Check out that end zone!

Find the center of the field....

And finally, guess what the Argonauts mascot's name is.... Yep, you guessed it: Jason.

Burrito Boyz

2005-06-22T14:39:00.000-07:00

Burrito Boyz? What is this, a gay burrito place? Nope. It's a Mission-style burrito shop (think Freebird's) across the street from my office. And you know what? It's pretty dang good. Went there for the first time today and got the steak burrito with everything. This included fresh jalapenos and a very tasty habanero-based sauce. Not too shabby. Now, I must admit that I'm a bit skeptical of the halibut burrito that's on the menu....

Y super gracias a Goya.

2005-06-21T05:59:00.000-07:00

Okay, Pink Beans are okay in my book. I opened the can and thought, "These look and taste just like pintos." I looked online, and though they aren't the same thing, several cooking websites noted that pink and pinto beans can be used interchangeably in recipes. Good to know, and a little cooking tip for you, gentle reader.

Also, I neglected to point out some of the good surprises from the grocery store experience. The main one is that the store stocks real Indian basmati rice (in a burlap bag). I need it to make Persian rice, and in Austin you have to buy it at an Indian or Mediterranean specialty store. Very nice.

The Grocery Store (or: Uh Oh, Metric)

2005-06-20T06:14:00.000-07:00

Made my first big trip to the grocery store yesterday. Nice store, but there were some things that were a bit tricky:

1. The Metric System. Yes, I know they use the metric system here (the weather forecast is basically useless to me), but it really hits home when you're trying to buy food for a recipe. Also, there's kind of a weird mixture of metric and Imperial units. For example, meat is all priced by the pound, but it's packaged by the kilogram. Huh.

2. Milk in a Bag. What??? So I walk over to the dairy section to get some milk. They have milk in cartons just like I'm used to, but most of it was in plastic bags. I stood there for a while poking at it just to be sure what it was. Apparently people buy it and pour it into their own containers.

3. No pinto beans in a can. That was troubling, as the recipe I was buying for calls for a can of pintos. You can buy raw pinto beans, just not any in a can. I ended up going with Goya "pink beans". We'll see how that works out. Now you can buy canned tomatillos, so I don't think I'm completely out of line to expect canned pintos. I'm sure they're available somewhere....

4. No Rotel products. I must admit that was a long shot. Will end up making my own out of canned tomatoes and green chilis. Yes, I've been forced to buy an Old El Paso product. This is what I've been reduced to ;)

5. Maple. Damn there are a lot of things with maple syrup in them!

2005-06-19T07:16:00.000-07:00

Quilt rack and Persian calligraphy

2005-06-19T07:14:00.003-07:00

Bathroom

2005-06-19T07:14:00.002-07:00

Entrance

2005-06-19T07:14:00.001-07:00

Office Again

2005-06-19T07:14:00.000-07:00

Office

2005-06-19T07:13:00.001-07:00

Kitchen

2005-06-19T07:13:00.000-07:00

Bedroom

2005-06-19T07:12:00.002-07:00

Living Room Again

2005-06-19T07:12:00.001-07:00

Living Room

2005-06-19T07:12:00.000-07:00

My condo

2005-06-19T07:10:00.002-07:00

Border Crossing

2005-06-19T07:10:00.001-07:00

Bridge to Canada

2005-06-19T07:10:00.000-07:00

White Castle Detritus

2005-06-19T07:09:00.001-07:00

Kyle and Omid Go To White Castle

2005-06-19T07:09:00.000-07:00

The White Castle is in our sights!

2005-06-19T07:08:00.000-07:00

Omid and me outside bar in Urbana-Champaign, Illinois

Toronto is Home Now

2005-06-16T18:21:00.000-07:00

Well, as you might guess, I'm here now. Sorry for the long delay between posts, but things have been rather hectic. This is the first big move I've ever made, and let me tell you, I didn't enjoy it at all. Here's the quick run-down of the move:

Tuesday, May 31: Movers moved my stuff out of my house in Austin
Thursday, June 2: The last Guy's Night Out (GNO). It was a doozy.
Friday, June 3: Departed Austin (but not before having a massage first!)
Saturday, June 4: Arrived in Chicago. Thanks Greg and Angie for the great time! Those were the best fries I have ever had.
Sunday, June 5: Departed Chicago. Stopped in Ann Arbor for a drink with TonyChen. Arrived in Toronto. Checked into hotel.
Monday, June 6: Picked up keys to condo. Put Dot and JP in condo.
Wednesday, June 8: My stuff departed the warehouse in Round Rock, Texas. What the hell??? Omid went back to Austin.
Friday, June 10: Checked out of the hotel and moved into the condo.
Monday, June 13: Started work.
Wednesday, June 15: My stuff arrived. Finally. Jesus.

As soon as I unpack my camera cable and get the place set up, I'll post some pictures from the trip and of the new pad (which TonyChen called a "wolf's lair").

Timbits

2005-06-16T18:15:00.000-07:00

My friend Omid made the drive from Austin to Toronto with me. Somewhere in rural Ontario (between Michigan and Toronto), we decided to stop at a Tim Horton's to pick up some donuts for a snack. Tim Horton's is an omnipresent donut/coffee/sandwich chain here. I stood in line while Omid went to the restroom. Here was the exchange with the clerk:

Me: "I'd like a half-dozen plain glazed donut holes, please."
The clerk looks at me strangely.
Me: "Six plain glazed donut holes."
Clerk: "Our Timbits come in packs of 10, 20, and 30."
Me: "Um, 10 then."

We then completed the sale, but I of course had further questions...

Me: "Now what did you call them?"
Clerk: "Timbits.... Are you American?"
Me: "Yep."
Clerk: "I thought so. Americans always call them donut holes."
Me: "Ah. I'll have to remember that."

So now I'm standing there with a box of "Timbits" waiting for Omid to come out of the restroom, which he does...

Omid (looking at the box in my hand): "TIMBITS?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!"

Of course, all of this is even funnier if you know (or know of) our friend Tim Hampton.

2005-05-01T13:14:00.000-07:00

View from my office window

2005-05-01T13:13:00.000-07:00

My office building

2005-05-01T13:04:00.000-07:00

Street outside my apartment. See the SkyDome?

2005-05-01T13:03:00.000-07:00

My new apartment building

I have an abode

2005-05-01T12:55:00.000-07:00

Found an apartment last week. It's a condo in a high-rise in the CityPlace development, right next to the SkyDome (er... Rogers Centre) and CN Tower. I've wanted to live in a high-rise ever since I was a little kid. Though it exists, high-rise living isn't too popular in Texas, so I figured that this was a good chance to try it out. Plus I can walk to work, the SkyDome, the Air Canada Centre, the Entertainment District, and about a million restaurants and bars.

What's going on here?

2005-05-01T12:48:00.000-07:00

Well, basically I'm moving to Toronto. My employer recently acquired a small Toronto software company, and I'm heading to the great white north to work there for a few years. I want to keep my friends and family updated as to the goings-on in my life, so I figured a blog would be a fun and convenient way to do so. Thus, I bring you "The Texan Canadian".