Abandoned Stuff by Saskboy

I left Toronto on Thursday afternoon amid a drenching thunderstorm downtown. With only one umbrella between Ashley and I, we got a little wet running through the pouring rain and flooding Bay Street. We got to Via in plenty of time, picked up our tickets from a good natured Via employee, and dried off in line for the train. The trip to Kingston was fast, especially since we slept through most of it, and woke up in Belleville and one other town before we stopped to be picked up by my uncle Robert.

He had a rented PT Cruiser, which we took down the edge of the city, the 401, and #2 highway to Gananoque to stay at his cottage by the St. Lawrence River. Supper was roasted chicken and salad, and for the evening I started to fight off a cold and not drown from my constantly teared-up eyes.

In the morning we went down to look at the river for a few minutes, and went to Enterprise to rent a car for a trip north of Kingston to nearly Moscow, to see my cousin Don and his family on Folly Springs Klein Farm. After lunch we got a tour of the farm, and watched a video yearbook that Holly made. Kate had to jump off of the donkey she was riding as Don walked it around, because it started to bolt, but she wasn’t hurt. I juggled some soccer balls to entertain the kids after they heard I could juggle more than just the dolls they brought me first. I lost a jumprope contest, and couldn’t make a hoolahoop work. It wasn’t my fault – it was too small for my waist.

We headed off in the rented Kia Rio [Aieee!] and proceeded to get lost after half the trip, but I realized we’d get back to highway #38 if we continued down the road we were on. We asked directions, but the local kid didn’t know where the 401 was, but we found it 2 minutes later and were back on track.

The Kingston Pen. was the first stop on our very short tour of Kingston. Bernardo might have been inside, I don’t recall if that’s the exact jail or not. Queens University was closed at the first entrance due to road work, so we drove downtown by the water, and stopped for a picture of RMC, City Hall, and later for food at Pizza Pizza. I’d eaten there last time I was in Kingston too. We drove up a very long Princess St. and finally got back to Enterprise well after our planned 4:30, but were able to get a ride to the bus depot with an hour to spare anyway.

In Kingston bus depot, a male traveller asked if the Coach Canada employee could “do him a huge favour” and “give” him a pen. The traveller meant to keep though, and the employee said no, and the traveller got huffy as he walked away disapointed. I wonder why Coach Canada couldn’t give up a pen, they probably find 5 pens a day on their busses. There were many other tourists headed to Ottawa on the bus June 30th, and I phoned my brother from Lincoln Fields Transitway Station.

Zack’s Blog: Straight edged shaving

One of life’s major annoyances is facial hair. Either let it grow and it gets in the way, or don’t let it grow and the equipment to remove it gets in the way too.

The First Annual MySpace Stupid Haircut Awards

MySpace is the home of teenage bloggers who are too “edgy” for Live Journal. Venture to the link for a laugh, but be warned the commenters use potty talk.

I’m in Richmond Hill right now. The Greyhound bus from Winnipeg to Toronto was a bit of a long haul, and would have been more comfortable if the seats were allowed to fully recline to their normal reclining capacity. “Raising Helen” [6/10] got shown twice on the TV but I only watched once. A movie with Jamie Foxx about a breakup book was on and was amusing [6/10], and “Taxi” [5/10] might have been better if I cared about Nascar racing one iota. Perhaps that lunatic minivan driver in Thunder Bay saw Taxi too, and figured running the red light, driving toward Ashley and me, was ok as long as she didn’t hit us or any vehicles.

The trip has been fantastic so far. I was dive-bombed by a red wing blackbird in Whitewood, as it chased me out of the province. I met some friends of my relatives in Sanford, my girlfriend’s aunt’s family in Winnipeg, and saw my Grandma while in the Peg. We watched a busker eat fire and escape a straight jacket in a blatent attempt to make money (all of the requirements for the Liberal Party leadership, if you don’t count speaking french).

My first 256MB CF camera memory is starting to fill up, but I still have 99 3Megapixel photos left on it. I have room to get a shot of the Shamrock Inn’s sign, which last time said something like “You can thank Chretien for the weather heated pool”, and this time has something like ”Never trust the Fiberals”. The Old City Hall looks more significant since watching it on This Is Wonderland. And I did not go up the CN Tower this time, preferring to save my $21.50 for another day punless I do it tomorrow while waiting for the train. It’s unlikely since I’ll be lugging my backpack, unless we find lockers like they have at the bus station. In 2003 they had lockers at Union Station, and I couldn’t find them this time. Asking the information desk lady where they were, I got the boringly familiar excuse, “They were removed after 9/11.” “I stored bags here after 9/11, in 2003,” I had to reply. “They were just slow in taking them out,” apparently is the reason for that. Ain’t progress great? Excuse me while I go blow up the bus station instead…

So Ashley and I hiked, no wait, we go smart and took the subway, since you can still take backpacks onto a subway train, just not store them away from the trains, and got off at College to grab some maps from CAA, then walked a couple blocks back down to the bus depot where we safely stashed our luggables. Taking our breakaway bags with us, we went to the Jays game and scored some tickets for less than face value.

Shocked that I managed to get Ashley to attend a Jays game, [unfortunately not the cancelled Iamnotafraid.ca game, but the one two days later] I enjoyed seeing the Jay’s whupp the Nationals, due in part to the pair of guys sitting behind us in right field who on about 3 separate occasions started a rhythmic clap that struck out several Nationals batters.

I was just out for beers and wings (over 105 flavours at All Stars), and I had Bloody Mary’s, Pandora’s Box, and some normal flavours. There are “apocalypse” wings where if you finish them you get your picture put onto the wall. The A bomb and H bomb wings sound bad enough, but the “cracked earth” logo gets the point across well. I also got my first ride in a Smart Car today, and it was surprisingly roomy, although the two seats meant that my aunt picking us up from the Viva bus stop had to make two quick trips.

Tomorrow it’s off to Von Mills Mall, or the Eaton Center before a Via train to Kingston and a night in Gananoque.

From the road, this is Saskboy signing off.

Power saving tips & tools from Saskpower. Enter to win a fridge that doesn’t eat enregy like it’s the 1970s.

Daily Kos: Welcome to the world of non-net neutrality

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Remember that Sidekick phone that was taken out of a cab by a 16 year old girl who refused to give it back after being contacted by the phone’s owners? She was arrested and charged with possession of the stolen phone. Evan, the writer of the website was on Good Morning America on Friday June 23rd. He might be sued by the family of the thief.

Antonia Zerbisias – Suicide bomb the messenger

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Energy is a funny thing. It’s a bit like a kid with candy. What does a kid do when they are told their candy maker will one day go out of business? Eat the candy faster of course. Wait? Really, why would they do that?

Highways are crumbling in Saskatchewan with no real plan to stop that from continuing, coming from the government. They are retreating from maintaining our network of transportation. Where is their desire to serve rural residents, and to help generate the wealth rural areas bring to the province?
-Tourism

-Manufacturing

-Export/Import

-Agriculture

Every industry you can think of needs roads, and gavel roads for cars just doesn’t cut it. Hopefully Premier Calvert wakes up on his bus ride this Summer and realizes that he has to put money into rural Saskatchewan, NOW. But after so many years of him sleeping at the wheel of government, I hold no high hopes.