The Worst Part of Transit Disruption

When this whole transit disruption thing started happening, I did expect some unpleasant side effects. I knew my regular daily rhythm would become irregular. I recognized that this black cloud of union strike-action would be cast over us riders until there was a new deal. I also knew that buses could just simply not show up leaving you at your stop standing there with your pants around your ankles. This led to me carpooling to the LRT recently. But there's side effect whose impact I severely miscalculated.

The C-Train experience.

When you are a regular commuter on the Express Bus, travelling daily from a bedroom community to the downtown core, the clientele on the bus are generally cut from the same cloth. We're mostly white-collar professionals, we conduct ourselves with a moderate degree of dignity, we mainly just keep to ourselves. The chit-chat that you do overhear is generally centered around current events or sports, but is generally convivial.

Monday was my first commute by C-Train.

The Train is a whole different ball game. The first thing you realize when you step on the train, is that the average IQ plummets dangerously low, to the mid-range double-digits. You do see professionals, but then again you see others who are in various states of disrepair. Some C-Train clientele would leave the most steadfast believers in Darwin's Theory of Natural Selection at a loss for explanation.

How else do you explain the full-figured "lady" who wears a backpack that most Marines would find too large on a Train packed with riders during afternoon rush hour? Her girth alone is an obstacle, adding the backpack is like salt in the wound.

Then there's the shaved head, overalls wearing, greasy-looking guy talking loudly on his cell phone proudly sharing his conversation with the entire train of how he got so f**ked up last night and was going to smash this guy's face in. Yes sir. You are a tough one. How I did not soil myself with fear when I heard this I have no idea. But I would probably drink alot too if I attracted the type of women that you probably do. Maybe I should introduce you to the "big boned" lady with the backpack.

Then there's the 15 year-old white kid with the gangsta rap blaring out of his iPod at a volume that is sure to make his ears bleed. Hey, nobody mess with this guy, he'll pull out a nine, bust a cap. Hey MC PipSqueek, do you really think we are the least bit intimidated by this sorry display? You are a pathetic worm, and don't forget my fries next time I'm at McDonalds.

There are people on the C-Train that would annoy Ghandi. But what is ironic is that the City started an ad campaign warning riders that bad behaviour will earn you a fine. Problem is, I've never ever heard of enforcement. What the City should do is start blasting these morons with tickets, put the money back into the transit system. Judging by the number of these mental-defectives, we'll be riding solid gold C-Trains equipped with leather recliners in no time.

For the sake of my sanity, I really hope the City and the Transit Union can get a deal done.

Heroes. Season one is in the books.

It has been quite awhile since I have been utterly and completely addicted to a show. "Heroes" fills that void that's been empty since "Seinfeld" went off the air. It's nice to mentally book off a particular night of the week, reserving it for a show. I was introduced to this show by a rather large, or "fuller-figured" lady at work here, a person we affectionately refer to as "Jabba the Hut" (Jabba? You reading this?).

But what a cool ending. The villain was killed, or was he? New York didn't explode, although two heroes perished as the explosion was diverted (or did they really die?), and all the heroes managed to be in the same building plaza, in a half-hearted attempt to show that they are somehow connected. Its sets 'er all up nicely for season two, or "volume" two, as the show likes to say. There's more to Hiro Nakamura than we thought?

But its going to be a long off-season. I'll miss Jabba thundering her way over to my office to discuss the previous night's episode. I'll also miss my Engineer co-worker friend's incessant complaining about his perceived "holes" in the script writing, how certain parts weren't believable (apparently a guy walking through walls is okay). The chit-chat is almost as fun as the show.

So, that's it for this season. But, the show is so well written, I'm going to get into the re-runs. I'll just bet that there's some hidden stuff in there that alludes to volume two.

Birth Announcement

Our Family's New Bundle of Joy

Some of life's milestones:

July 10, 1993: I married my wife. When she gets out of hand, I refer to her as my "first wife"
April 1995: Undergraduate degree awarded from University
October 20, 1998: My first child is born, we name him Ryan.
December 1998: Technical diploma awarded from Tech Institute
June 20, 2003: My second child is born, we name him Andrew
May 17, 2007: Our Family goes HD, welcomes first HDTV set to home.
November 2013: I win municipal election, become Mayor.

Well, the last milestone hasn't happened yet. The next-to-last milestone happened at 1:30pm today. After much much research, many late nights on the computer researching HDTV's, a local electronics store agreed to my secret strike-price.

In researching this, I considered all angles. Plasma or LCD? What size? How many inputs? What's the response time? And I did eventually come down to two candidates: the Samsung LNS4696D, and the Sharp LC42D62U. I was going to go Sammy, but the local place just gave me a deal I couldn't refuse. But it was, by no means, a step down. The specs are rock solid for the Sharp.

After setting it up, plugging the Shaw HDTV DCT receiver to the TV, I tuned it in to the HDNet channel, the channel whose existence is only to show off HD's capabilities. I watched. I wept. High Definition only degraded because of the tears. This truly was a joyous day.

So, now I await my first HD hockey game: Sens / Sabres, which will broadcast tomorrow. I purchased adult diapers for the occasion. I also am eager to watch the Heroes season finale on Monday. This HD thing could take some getting used to.

But our new addition to our family will never replace our children. After all, you can't claim an HDTV on your tax return.

CostCo: Death of an Institution

I remember the early nineties when the "warehouse shopping" phenomenon started. Before we knew it, the CostCo card became a highly coveted item to have in your wallet, sort of like a trophy. You were not a customer of CostCo. No, no, no. You were a MEMBER of CostCo. And why not be proud of your membership? The prices were almost like stealing, the quantities were huge, and they seemed to sell everything!

Fast forward to present.

Last Sunday, I had a couple hours to kill. My oldest boy was at a birthday party. The place I dropped him off at was close to a CostCo, so I decided to pop in for a visit. I hadn't been in one for years, and this CostCo was a new one for me. I presented my membership card to the bouncer at the entrance and walked in. I was a bit surprised that the thrill of being inside a CostCo, the Cathedral of Bargain, had waned considerably. I strolled around for about 45 minutes, but it just wasn't there. I wasn't feeling the vibe anymore.

In an attempt to explain my loss of CostCo libido, these thoughts came to mind:

(1) The Prices - CostCo used to have the market absolutely cornered. CostCo used to be considered to have the lowest prices, it was just a fact. But in 2007, there are some new kids on the block who are more than willing to hack down prices:

Walmart, Superstore - Household items
Futureshop, Best Buy - Electronics
Home Depot, Rona - Hardware for home
Amazon.ca, eBay, froogle.com - anything

So, the whole price thing seems like yesterday's news.

(2) The Crowd - It used to be that the crowd was something that you just put up with in order to get the bargain prices. However, with the "super low price" idea shot to hell, the motivation for tolerating a huge mass of people and gridlocked long checkout lines is just not there. Is it worth saving $5 on a $200 CostCo shopping purchase when you have to contend with navigating through a see of shabby and ill-mannered CostCo drones?

(3) Membership prestige - CostCo used to have narrow criteria in determining who can be a member. Now, I'm sure you could sign up your cat to be member. So CostCo membership has about as much prestige as being the finest concert violinist to come from Red Deer Alberta.

But clearly, I'm alone in my sentiment. I regularly hear the word "CostCo" in conversation, and it was busy when I was there. So, CostCo is dead to me; but alive and well for 99.99% of the rest of the city.