Living without a car

Living in downtown Toronto, I've managed to get by without a car. This is a far cry from suburban living in Winnipeg where I started driving at 15 and a half, got my full license (none of this graduated licensing crap) at 16 and one day (my 16th birthday was a Sunday), and I drove everywhere. I could have a car here, but it doesn't make sense practically, financially, or environmentally. I get by mostly by rollerblades, subway/streetcar/bus, and bumming rides off of other people (when going places outside of downtown). I'm actually quite adept at the latter. I got rides from 4 different people today :). I've also been able to get rides from people I only met mere hours before. I guess I have a non-intimidating appearance along with a look of desperation.


Why it's better not to have a car in downtown Toronto:

• Cheaper (no car, no insurance, no gas, no parking, no repairs, no maintenance, no car washes, no having to pay a locksmith to jimmy your car because you locked your keys in the truck). I keep my license though.
  • Money saved now means more money in the future because of the time value of money


• Less stress. Traffic aggravates me and having to find parking aggravates me even more.


• Reduced carbon and environmental footprint


• No need to worry about drinking


• You get to know people when they drive you around (outside of downtown)


• You get more exercise when you have to engage in human powered commuting


• Faster to rollerblade downtown since traffic, one way streets, and turning restrictions are irrelevant and you don't have to find parking or walk to your car

Why rollerblading is superior to biking:

• Cooler


• Funner (sic)


• No need to follow the street rules: do as a pedestrian would do, use the sidewalk or the street or both, no laws about wearing a helmet.


• Smaller profile so its easier to weave in between pedestrian and vehicle traffic


• Going over curbs is less jarring (just step onto the curb)


• Comparable speed when you take into consideration the time it takes to lock/unlock the bike (especially if you don't take off your rollerblades indoors)


• Cheaper and less maintenance


• Pant legs don't get caught in the chain


• Rollerblading inside of stores and buildings is like gliding on air


• You can carry more stuff (like 5 grocery bags in each hand)


• No need to worry about having your rollerblades being stolen (wear them inside, carry them with you, or even sneak them into a club and check them at coat check)


• I'm 5'10 with rollerblades


• Easier to blend in with pedestrian traffic (either on rollerblades or carrying them)


• One way trips are possible, where you rollerblade to the destination and bum a ride back home (subway/streetcar/taxi is also possible)

Tips for bumming a ride and being a professional hitchiker like myself (I can easily count 20 different people that I've gotten a ride from this year):

• Make nice with people that have cars, especially those that live near you or drive by your area


• Reduce the inconvenience imposed upon the driver (they should be going your way and if the ride is not for the immediate circumstance, you should be punctual at the pick-up location)


• Have no shame in asking for a ride (it's a common occurrence for me to ask everyone in the group if anyone is going downtown as we are about to leave to go home)


• Looking a bit hopeless or desperate helps


• Play hard to get by being a bit reluctant if it would overly inconvenience them (you need repeat drivers :p)


• Be good company in the car


• Show gratitude


• Don't think about how you're gonna get back, just get to where you need to go and figure out the next ride later (backup plans always include subway/streetcars/night buses/taxis

In all fairness, when I am driving, I do my fair share of giving other people rides, even if it is out of my way.

Random sustenance shopping blurbs

44lbs of cat litter that I carried while rollerblading

My brand new shopping cart that I can use instead of being a mule on wheels

Lugging a 44lbs (4 pounds was free!) bag of cat litter while rollerblading is pretty tiring. The people at the pet store looked at me funny as I rolled away carrying the stupidly large bag. The funny thing is that now I know what it feels like to carry 44lbs of stuff while rollerblading and I've definitely carried a lot more than that before.

Side note: I use organic, non-clay based, clumping, flushable cat litter now.

I typically procrastinate grocery shopping and will go only when I have to. This means every 2-3 weeks and I'll spend $100 - $150... and carry it all by hand by myself! I go prepared. I bring a large duffle bag and a backpack! I tell you, that's way heavier than 44lbs. 44lbs is a walk in the park compared to carrying groceries. When I go grocery shopping, the first thing that I think about when I see a product is not the price or it's healthiness, but rather, it's weight and size.

But no more! I finally bought one of those shopping carts from Chinatown! You know, the ones that the old women push, but I got the large, manly size. I've been thinking of getting one for a while, but just have been too lazy to do so. I tell you, it's amazing! Of course, the first thing I do is buy a 18lbs bag of rice and a bunch of groceries from Chinatown. Now, I can go grocery shopping without thinking about whether I can carry it back or not :). People look at you funny when you are rollerblading and pushing a shopping cart though. I had one guy in my apartment building audibly laughing.

In my shopping in Chinatown, I made some interesting observations:

• If you're shopping for a shopping cart, they speak to you in English


• If you randomly stop at a fruit stand and quietly pick mangoes, they speak to you in English to tell you to pay inside


• In the Chinatown TD Canada Trust, despite all their Chinese signs, Chinese tellers, and Chinese customers, they speak to you in English by default. I think the only non-Asian in that building was the security guard.


• If you buy esoteric dried food products, such as 茶魚 (tea fish), from a small shop where they only have signs in Chinese, they speak to you in Cantonese


• If you ask for Chinese vegetables (菜心) from the guy that grabs them and puts them in a bag, they speak to you in Cantonese


• If you're reaching to the top of the shelves for a whole box of instant noodles, and there are 2 boxes above the one that you can reach, they ask you in Cantonese if they can help


• If you're staring at the multitude of options for rice for 5 minutes, they speak to you in some language I don't understand (Mandarin?), and you reply in English

I think I'm burnt

It's mid-April and I think I burnt my face already :s. It's minor, but it's irritating. I think it's from me rollerblading around so much since it's been really nice outside. And I mean more rollerblading than just to my office. Like, going to St. Lawrence for pick-up volleyball and to the Russian Consulate. It hasn't been super warm (like up to 15ish yesterday), but it's been nice, clear, and sunny. I remember last year I got burnt around this time, but it was b/c I had hit the beach for volleyball and figured that I would be ok without sunscreen since it was April. I was wrong. When I go this weekend, I'll be sure to lather on the sexy white stuff.

4 different sports this week

5 if you count rollerblading (downhill on Bathurst is way more fun than uphill). 6 if you count beach and indoor volleyball as two separate sports. The others were ultimate, ping pong, and tennis. I don't play tennis, as evidenced by the blister on my hand, but I had fun anyways. Try new things, that's the new motto.

Rollerblading + volleyball + 5k run + rollerblading + beers + stairs + washroom = fun

See title.

13.65 km of rollerblading later...

Number markers indicate number of kilometres travelled.
From Google Pedometer

• Home
  Where everything begins




• Optometrist
  Prescription didn't change much, but needed to do it b4 I am no longer covered under my parents' health insurance plan.




• Running Room
  Picked up a Knee Pro-Tec Patellar Tendon Strap because my left knee has been hurting a little bit during volleyball since I went snowboarding in Seattle. It hurt quite a bit during and after beach on Saturday, but then on Sunday it felt great. I guess sand really is therapeutic




• Home
  Ate left-over tacos I made from the night before and did no work...




• Volleyball
  Seriously on the diagonally opposite side of downtown. Pretty good ball and a lot of familiar faces. I haven't been there for like a year and a half! The knee strap seemed to do the trick. I wore it under my kneepad. My knee didn't hurt while playing and there's only a little pain if I push on the tendon below the knee cap. I should really rest to fully heal, but at least if I'm going to play, the knee strap seems to help.




• Hot House
  Post-volleyball food (as opposed to drinking) is mandatory with this crowd (Donny, Christina, Abbey, Patrice, Tim). We went up-scale this time instead of the regular Timmy's and Wendy's.




• Office
  Made sign for the delivery guys to deliver to one of the secretaries if no one was there (I'm having my power supply replacement for my home computer shipped to my office at school instead of my apartment.... stupid FedEx)




• Home Sweet Home
  Currently blogging in my underwear (I'm hot after I shower...)

Sports tape is the new duct tape: Engineering design at its best

 

Engineering design
The best possible solution within the available resources

-- First year Intro to Engineering, U of M, 1999

Usually I get stares when rollerblading, especially in winter. I get even more stares rollerblading in snowpants with a snowboard strapped across my back while also carrying a duffle bag with my boots, etc.

Snowboarding was great today. I hopped onto the Saturday bus b/c they have space. In many ways, Saturday is so much better than Friday:

• get your own seat on the bus


• a lot less noise (i.e. no Marsha)


• people are considerate of others and are punctual


• good company


• bus driver drives fast (we even passed cars!)


• we don't make a pee stop for a 2 hour drive


• we get dropped off and picked up right at the lodge so we don't have to walk


• not having to rush b/c I'm meeting with Brendan right before and have to stop the meeting so I can make it onto the bus

Did pretty much every run that night skiing offered, except the double blacks. Erik was there again. This time I was also joined by John, Ian, and Winnie (the VP). I managed to convince John to try snow blades, thinking that that would slow him down for us, but it didn't really.

I came home and saw that one of the screws on my rollerblade had fallen off and my wheel was like mm's from falling off! This has never happened before. Screws have never been loose on my rollerblades. I checked the rest and they were all tight. The missing screw was nowhere to be seen.

Seeking a temporary solution, I remembered that I had a replacement brake in preparation for replacing my worn out one. I took the screw from there and surprisingly it fit, though it was too long and the axis would then be able to partially pop out, which would be bad.

So, I tied some string between the screw and the aluminium base to prevent the screw from being pushed in. Reinforced the ends of the string with sports tape and taped the other side so the axis wouldn't pop out.

If you look at the bottom of the left image, you can also see that I've used sports tape to reinforce my laces. They were fraying from being repeatedly pulled against the lace loops and was about to break. I've been using the tape reinforced laces for a few weeks now and they're working great. Rollerblades aren't quite in season and I haven't been able to find laces in stores. I'm going to need a new screw soon though...

Sports tape is the new duct tape. It looks better, is more flexible, sticks great, and doesn't leave as much crap behind when you peel it off.

Evidence against creation

Who would make such a messed up world where it's warm one day, then it snows, but is warm enough that the snow melts, and it gets all messy, then it's actually dry for a few days and I'm rollerblading around in December and it's pretty warm, then the next day it's fracking freezing and snowing and there's a windchill and then it's going to melt again and get messy again. Repeat.

Intelligent design my ass? What part of this is intelligent? Looks more like a shitty, quickly thrown together project by a procrastinating student.

Messy stuff is the worst. Make up your freaking mind. Either be warm or be cold enough so the snow stays on the ground. Stop with this hovering around melting point shit. And someone turn off the air conditioning in my office. Intelligent design would involve a dome around the city to regulate the temperature. When god throws one of those down from the heavens around Toronto, then I'll start believing.