With people being not only more health conscious, but environmentally aware these days, it stands to reason that people want to locate themselves in neighbourhoods that are walkable. By walkable, I mean that everything you could possibly need is right there within a reasonable walking distance from you. Neil and I were reading BlogTO this morning and discovered the website, Walk Score. It's a site that will calculate the walk-ability of your address.

I'll admit, that growing up in the east end of Regina did not familiarize me with the concept of walking for necessities. Even now, after living in two major centres for the last 5 years -- in both cases within an easy walking distance of shopping, I still find it hard to resist the call of the big box stores, large parking lots and the get-it-all-in-one-stop mentality. As a matter of fact, when I enter my childhood address in Regina, I get a walkable score of 15/100 --- 100 being the most walkable. Pretty bad when compared to our old Vancouver address which got a score of 69/100. As it turns out, our Vancouver address was marginally more 'walk friendly' than our Toronto address which scores 62/100.

If you want more information on exactly what the scores mean, click here.

While I still find walking to shop a pain in the ass, (and it really is -- who wants to lug 32 double rolls of TP home -- and no, I don't want to buy a smaller quantity and then have to shop for TP every other day...) I have learned to appreciate being within walking distance of restaurants/pubs/bars, a drug store, a movie rental store, a theatre, a post office, a liquor store, a doctor's office, a bakery, hell - even the grocery store next door comes in handy for forgotten items, etc, etc....

So check the site out. How does your address rank?

I've read some very silly articles in my time but this one takes the cake!! Did you all know that Canada is facing a shortage of butlers??? These are excerpts from a Globe and Mail article that N flung at me during brunch yesterday:

• The worldwide butler shortage is a serious problem. It sounds silly, but it is,' says Charles MacPherson, former butler to the Eaton family who now runs a placement service in Toronto."
• Salary for a novice butler may start at about $50,000; more seasoned butlers can command $150,000 or more in Canada, and far more in New York or London.

Personally, I'm glad N and I decided to rent it up rather than buy a million dollar condo. No butler would have been a deal breaker. Sarcasm heavily implied.

Read on here.

*****MINOR SPOILERS PRESENT******

Many in my family, love the movies -- yet the novels paint a much more vivid and detailed world, so much so that I almost always leave the movies disappointed. Too much is left out. The world of Harry Potter is filled with many minor characters and side stories... and they all play key roles in aiding Harry in his quest to defeat, you know who. The large number of characters and back-stories, at times, make the story a touch confusing to follow but the mastery that J.K. Rowling demonstrates, is in her ability to make all of these seemingly minors characters/story lines converge in importance. Every piece figures into the final outcome... and for that reason, I think that those that do not read the series, will find the ending a touch convoluted.

At times, the plot in the final novel drags -- particularly when Harry, Ron and Hermione are on the run. However, I found the last half to be very very good... from the escape from Malfoy Manor, to the return to Hogwarts, to the final confrontation.

In this last novel, several characters fall. Some of the deaths are more surprising than others. The introduction of the Deathly Hallows is not only key to the final story, but they also give us insight into the workings of a character we thought we knew. We finally discover the truth about Snape. We see characters we thought weak, stand tall. We see characters we thought faultless become human. We find out if the prophecy rings true... "and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives."

Overall a very satisfying ending to a series that I found very enchanting.

Neil and I love the CFL and we love Grey Cup. We've been to 2 Grey Cups (2000 - Calgary, 2005 - Vancouver) and we've just acquired tickets for our third -- 2007 in Toronto. We are also very very excited as one of the concerts being held during the festivities is Great Big Sea, Lowest of the Low and Spirit of the West... (Lowest of the Low being a mutual favourite between the two of us). Neil could do without the "Run-Run Away" - though I'm a fan, but we both could handle a little "Home for a Rest"... if you get our drift.

I was quite disgusted with the ticket prices this time around though... We looked at all our options... this is what was available: (Click on it to enlarge)

In 2000, we sat in the end zone -- the seats sucked. We were not paying ~$270 for end zone seats. In 2005, we sat in a similar spot to section 240 -- we DID NOT pay anywhere in the ballpark of $560 for them... After looking at the seating chart we bought the cheapest seats available... yes they are in the nose bleeds but they are on the 40 yard line... why would you pay more to have such a shitty view of the field????? Who pays ~$600 a ticket (after Ticketmaster fees) to sit on the 5 yard line? Disgusting!

I'll admit that we got a little excited when we watched the Rider's destroy the Stampeder's a few weeks ago... fingers crossed that they do well. It was in Toronto in '89....

Driving in the GTA is an interesting and often frustrating experience. People here are always in a hurry, blatantly ignore the speed limit, don't know how to merge and drive (most of the time) with reckless abandon. I've been cut off from the left turn lane -- yeah... some guy got into the LEFT TURN LANE to jump the light, cut me off and go straight. Taxi cabs are constantly making illegal u-turns in the middle of busy streets. People drive like they own the road. Neil has developed a catch phrase for this... rather than get angry and cuss like moi, he very calmly looks in the offenders direction and sarcastically proclaims, "guess you're just more important than me."

Every morning I have to turn right onto Allen Road (it's a traffic-light-less north byway out of Toronto to the 401 which is a major east-west freeway). Everyday I know I need to be in the right most lane to exit. Every morning there are upwards of 20+ jackasses that drive in the centre lane until the very last minute and then try to bud their vehicles back in to exit. This irritates me to no end and I find myself trying to be the bigger asshole and NOT let them in... which of course makes things worse as then the people trying to carry on straight are being held up too. However, these jackasses start the whole mess and slow down the WHOLE process... both the straight-through and the right-exit. It is enough to drive me MAD! Worst part is that I'm only 10 minutes into my 40-60 minute morning commute - and already irritated. It was so bad that I've since changed my route to go through town.

Sorry... got off on a rant there.

Anyhow, the other day, I was heading up the 404 (north/south hwy on the east side of TO) and I pull out to pass the guy in front of me. Well, I venture out into the "fast lane" and am going btw 115-120km/h (speed limit is 100). I'm in this lane all of 2 minutes while I pass... and the guy behind me is honking the horn that I'm driving too slow. Then, when I get back over so he can get by, he turns around and gives me the "L" (I'll assume as in "Loser") rather than flip me the bird... which I will again say, was undeserved as I was hardly moving slow and I DID NOT cut him off. What an idiot. While he was watching in the rear-view mirror, I burst out laughing... I mean, come on!! He gave me an "L"!! That was too funny! Did he think that was more polite than the finger -- and why was he trying for polite after honking at me for driving too slow when I was already speeding? What an idiot.

Anyhow, the point of this entry is that clearly, I need to chill!! haha!! As do MOST Ontario drivers!!

Neil and I were in a novelty joke store the other day and we saw this device and we laughed and laughed when we thought of how effective it would be if attached to the dash of one's car: