Platform 327

After upgrading my professional site to the latest version of Wordpress and going through hell to do it, I’ve decided that this blog won’t be getting the upgrade.

I can be found on Facebook and Twitter, and if I start another personal blog at some point, an announcement will be made.

Wow… the first time in almost 10 years without a personal blog. Who am I kidding? That won’t last.

As those of you who have been following my Tweets already know, I made a trip to Port Credit on Friday night to visit my high school’s annual alumni pub night.

Turns out all those bad Hollywood comedies about high school reunions are bullshit. For one thing, I only saw two people there I knew: my friend Tania, pretty much the only person I met in high school that I ever kept in touch with anyway, and the guy she dated through most of that time. Seeing as it has been 20 years since my graduation, I expected to see quite a few of the ‘89 grads. Turns out the bulk of the alumni that showed up were from the ’50s and ’60s with a few folks there who looked like they graduated high school when Port Credit was still part of Upper Canada.

The price of admission was worth it for the chance to walk around the building again, though. I was amazed at how much of it I had completely forgotten. I spent a good chunk of my formative years in that school, and damned if I could remember where the hell a bathroom was. Once I got wandering around, however, things started to come back. Found old lockers, old classrooms. Oh, and we discovered that Tania could still fit inside a locker. But things had changed just enough to give it a weird, alternate-universe sort of feeling. I half expected to see some of my old teachers walking around with goatees and gold lamé sashes.

So while the high school reunion thing wasn’t exactly a life changing experience that resulted in “revelations” or “closure” of any kind, I’m glad I went. If nothing else, wandering the halls reminded me of a few things that may crop up in my creative writing class later.

Afterwards, I joined Tania and her beau for a late-night coffee to chill out and catch up. The night became later after missing the GO train I wanted to take. I really have to remember to set my watch alarm to the transit schedules or something.

Today was a perfect day for a bike ride. Unfortunately my back had other plans for me this morning, so I decided that over the next couple of weeks I’m going to take a few long walks to try and limber up a little bit before taking the bike out.

I found a really nice route today, and I’m going to use it regularly. I walked up to Bayfront Park and walked along the Desjardins Canal Recreational Trail along Hamilton Harbour until I came up to a little place called Coote’s Paradise. The trees and ground are still a little bare, so I didn’t bring my camera with me. When I do, I’ll show you what it looks like. I can’t wait to get a canoe out there.

Soon my legs will be ready to get on the bike, and then I plan to really explore the trails around Hamilton. There’s a lot of them, and they’re a lot closer to my place than the Toronto trails. That means less dodging traffic on my way to and from a leisurely ride. That’s a good thing.

The weather was, as they say, fabulous today. I took the opportunity to drop my bike off for a tune-up and take a little walk around my new city.

I’m telling ya, I don’t know why I spent so much time busting my hump in Toronto. First off, when I took my bike in the guy said, “The basic tune-up is $25. Is that okay?” Is that okay? Fuck, dude, the last bike tune-up I had in Toronto was about fifty bucks. Yeah, that’s okay! Of course, I played it cool, but inside I was freaking out.

Then I decided to stop for a beer during my walk around town. Ordered a bottle, and the waitress said, “That’ll be $3.50.” Again I had to contain my freak-outishness. Did I ever pay $3.50 for a bottle of beer in a bar in Toronto? It’s possible, but the earliest memories I have of drinking in TO involved handing over a $5 bill when the waitress said, “$4.50,” and never seeing any change. Hell, I don’t recall ever seeing any barmaid even make the effort to make change.

Oh, and get this. When I went to pick up the bike, the guy who originally quoted me $25 for a tune-up said, “Your bike was actually in pretty good shape, so it’s only $15.” WHAT?! Toronto bike shop dudes were always ripping me off. This guy goes $10 UNDER his already ridiculously low quote! So I talk to him about some other modifications I want to make to my bike, including getting a new kickstand that’ll hold the thing up when I go bicycle camping. Toronto price: $55. Hamilton dude’s quote: $17.

And need I remind my gentle readers that I’m paying $490 in Hamilton for a better place than what I was paying $900 for in downtown Toronto?

Yeah, I think I’m gonna like it here.

Here I am. Oddly enough, the internet is actually working. Haven’t tried the phone yet, but internet is more important.

It took a couple of days longer than planned. This was probably the second worst move of my life (the first being the last one where the landlord nailed the back door shut severely complicating getting stuff to the vehicles), and the less said about it the better. I’m beat.

And now it’s time to wade into the chaos and try to reorganize my life. If you don’t hear back from me in 24 hours, send a St. Bernard with a cask of brandy.

Packing is going… not well, but it’s going. Elevators and the van are booked for Wednesday. My time in Toronto is drawing to a close.

I’ve been in this apartment for about 3 years, and I think that’s the longest I’ve lived in any place on my own barring 1011 Lansdowne but the less said about my time there, the better.

I’m actually surprised at how settled into this place. Packing is slow because absolutely nothing is still in the box it arrived in; I’d had time to unpack and sort everything, and planned to stay here for quite a long time. Sometimes things just don’t work out.

That cold I was griping about three weeks ago is still hanging on, and I haven’t had a chance to get a final swim in the apartment pool. It’s funny… when I moved in here, I figured I’d be here a year tops because this place, with the pool, gym, sundeck, sauna, and other amenities, was more of a resort than a home. Then I kind of got used to it. Even though I knew I was paying too much rent, the available facilities and proximity to work justified the price.

But, as they say, shit happens. It’s time to move on. I’m going to miss this place, but I’m also looking forward to new things. The Hamilton apartment is a nice place with a bigger kitchen. I have a new city to explore. I’ll also be living a lot cheaper, which will give me a chance to save up a little cash without sacrificing all my free time.

The plan is to live in that Hamilton place for a couple of years, save up for a car and move to a smaller town, hopefully before I hit the big four-oh. But we all know what tends to happen to long-term plans.

Anyway, I was just feeling nostalgic. We now return you to your regularly scheduled Internet.

Yeah, I know I’m late for both the Western and Chinese New Year’s celebrations, but for me, today is New Year’s Day. After a big bash last night, today is the day when things change. It is a time of renewal, a time of taking stock, and all those other lovely self-reflective things. Today was my first full day in almost four years as a non-corporate employee. In some ways, there is a new sense of freedom; in others, a sense of uncertainty. Ultimately, however, I know that things will work out and that whatever happens, something interesting is around the corner.

Frankly, I’m kind of excited about having a little bit of uncertainty and change ahead. I was starting to feel stuck in a bit of a rut. Now, if anything, there seem to be way too many options ahead of me. The biggest question is this: Do I become part of a company that basically keeps me doing the same job that I’ve been doing, or follow my own path by working part-time and exploring some new creative projects? The more I think about it, the more I’m leaning towards the second option. I like the idea of freelance work, but being responsible for a company and other people and all that ain’t something I feel up to. I’m going to take another couple of days to ponder, and then make a decision. I guess it boils down to picking what I can best live with.

More later.

As you’ve probably noticed, certain CDs and DVDs start up automatically when you stick them into your computer. Back when there were no weird copy protection methods on movies and music, and the only CDs that started automatically had software you bought on them, this wasn’t much of a problem. Now, not only does some weird proprietary movie player start when you put a DVD into your computer, but you’ve got viruses that use Windows’ “autorun” feature to spread themselves through the CDs you burn or the USB drives you back up your files on.

This article tells you how to turn “autorun” off, and also provides a little program (which, of course, you’re going to want to check with a virus scanner before you use) to do it for you if you’re not comfortable playing with your computer’s settings.

Just thought I’d pass it along.

A couple of funny things came up regarding the economy today that I thought I’d share.

First off, I got an idea that would probably make a ridiculously complicated game, but maybe a funny skit: Monopoly: 2008 Economics Edition! It would go something like this:

I own the Electric Company, and you own the B&O Railroad. You need some extra cash, so I’ll buy the rail lines from you and lease them back to you for for 50 years. I can now add that projected long-term income to my balance sheet and use that to float a loan to buy the Water Works, issue more shares, and then borrow from the bank to buy back the shares I just issued. The bank then converts that loan into an equity investment which allows me to issue even more shares which I use as leverage to buy hotels on the Boardwalk. These hotels are committed to purchasing water and power from my own utilities, therefore I can again add some projected long-term income to my balance sheet, get another loan from the bank, buy the Free Parking Lot and convert it to a condominium development and shopping complex. The bank doesn’t have any money to loan for this project, so it creates an investment vehicle that it can sell to its retirement-plan clients. Everything works swimmingly until the next person passes “Go,” discovers the bank doesn’t have $200, and nobody wants to play anymore.

The other amusing thing that came up today was something a friend sent me via email from the Edmonton Sun:

“If you’d bought $1,000 of Nortel stock a year ago, it’d be worth $49 today. A thousand bucks of CanWest Global 12 months ago would fetch $80 today. WorldCom stock? Now worth $5. But had you purchased $1,000 of cheap wine a year ago and drank it all, the bottle depot would give you $100 for the empties. Based on the above, the best current investment advice is to drink heavily and recycle.”

It’s official. The lease is signed, and in about 6 weeks my emigration to Hamilton begins. I’m going to miss having a pool.

I guess I should take this time to wish a Happy New Year to everyone. I’m not sure at this point whether my new year will be happy, but it is shaping up to be interesting. I’m leaving a corporate job to move into self-employment, moving to a new city, and continuing to work on my fiction writing. As unhappy as I am about losing the only steady job I’ve had in my life that I’ve actually liked, part of me is excited about seeing what 2009 has to bring. It’ll be a bumpy ride, but those are the ones that are often the most fun.