was the title of my post last year and it weighs me down still.
Last year I had the audacity to make resolutions and to top it, make them public on this blog. So I take it upon myself to declare here how many I accomplished and where I failed.
•Make something creative every week so by the end of the year I should have 52 things I created - Although I didnt have 52 things I created, I did have a fair bit so I consider this as accomplished (now wont you say thats a creative excuse?)
•Write blog posts at least once every week - failed ! If only I had 7 more, the total would be 52 for averaging out the 52 weeks...
•Take one photo every week - then again! Although not 1 photo every week, I have a total of approx 2500 photos clicked in Oct-Dec - thanks to the Canada trip. Can I please please say this as more than accomplished?
•Exercise (this is one which is most likely to fail) - as predicted - failed miserably. Howmuchever, I want to put forward an argument here, I know a month of swimming, once a week badminton sessions and a couple of days in the gym does not count as exercise!
•Take up some creative course – photography maybe! - again - failed this too.
•Learn to swim - yay! done this.
•Ride a bicycle (this one is after a long time) - Did not :(
•Call up old friends (as some of u would agree I am verrry bad at this) - fared ok there
•Volunteer at an NGO/orphanage/old age home - yes
I had restricted my list to these 9 items (for the year 2009) and I am not too happy to report that I failed to keep up 4 of them.
Need I say I wont be keeping any this year much less make them public?
Do you keep score of your resolutions?
Monday, 4 January 2010
Thursday, 17 December 2009
The return...
So... here I am sitting at the Toronto airport waiting to be airborne. As has happened earlier on my way here, I reached the airport very early! My flight is scheduled for 6.15 pm. I thought I have 3 bags so let me go early and reach in time so that I have no hassles. So I plan to reach there at about 3 pm in the afternoon. I arrange for the limo to pick me up at 2 o’clock anticipating it would take about an hour given the bad weather and impending traffic.
At about 1.30 when I am thinking of going and finish the check-out formalities at the hotel, I get a call from the limo driver. He says he is early as the weather is not too favourable and there are inevitable delays in this weather. Anyways by the time I finish all the formalities and have my luggage sitting in the car trunk, its about 1.45.
We start. What I see on the way is that there is no traffic and there I am at the airport check-in counter at 2.40 with too much time at my hand!
I had not thought I’d say this any time but I am glad that the rep at the counter could not operate the new ticketing system! At other times I’d be probably irritated at having to wait at the check-in counter for 25+ mins but not today. Today I am happy that the rep is cursing a system upgrade and that nothing works as it used to. All this is because of e-ticketing. Who would have thought. But I am glad for this hiccup and user complaints and more so that I (and the software we develop) am not responsible for this! Now that I have said this, I am musing, would it be any different for the customers we develop software for?
At about 1.30 when I am thinking of going and finish the check-out formalities at the hotel, I get a call from the limo driver. He says he is early as the weather is not too favourable and there are inevitable delays in this weather. Anyways by the time I finish all the formalities and have my luggage sitting in the car trunk, its about 1.45.
We start. What I see on the way is that there is no traffic and there I am at the airport check-in counter at 2.40 with too much time at my hand!
I had not thought I’d say this any time but I am glad that the rep at the counter could not operate the new ticketing system! At other times I’d be probably irritated at having to wait at the check-in counter for 25+ mins but not today. Today I am happy that the rep is cursing a system upgrade and that nothing works as it used to. All this is because of e-ticketing. Who would have thought. But I am glad for this hiccup and user complaints and more so that I (and the software we develop) am not responsible for this! Now that I have said this, I am musing, would it be any different for the customers we develop software for?
Cavalcade of Lights
What do you think about going to an open air theater at 7 in the evening and listening to a concert albeit not knowing the singer or having heard her songs before? Oh and I forgot to mention its -6 deg celcius and with wind chill feeling like -12. Crazy eh?
I did that. Singer was July Black, a Canadian performing artist. Occasion: prelude to Christmas. Location: at the Toronto city hall, where the official Christmas tree of the city is. It helps that this square where the performance was, there was an ice skating rink. I’d have liked to skate but given that there were nobody with us who could skate and me being so prone to falling, I dropped out of that and settled to just listen to the music. It wasn’t too bad, with cup of good hot chocolate to keep me warm.
After the concert there were fireworks. Amazing too. I’ll leave you with some pictures!
Toronto's official christmas tree.
the stage
fireworks - in the background is the new city hall buildings
I did that. Singer was July Black, a Canadian performing artist. Occasion: prelude to Christmas. Location: at the Toronto city hall, where the official Christmas tree of the city is. It helps that this square where the performance was, there was an ice skating rink. I’d have liked to skate but given that there were nobody with us who could skate and me being so prone to falling, I dropped out of that and settled to just listen to the music. It wasn’t too bad, with cup of good hot chocolate to keep me warm.
After the concert there were fireworks. Amazing too. I’ll leave you with some pictures!
Toronto's official christmas tree.the stage
fireworks - in the background is the new city hall buildings
Wednesday, 11 November 2009
the harbourfront - Toronto
The weather predictions for Sunday was that it would be partly sunny and partly cloudy but no rains. So I had decided that I do some outdoor activity. This time we(debs and me) didn’t ask the concierge for directions! Getting used to roaming here I guess! So we took the usual bus, then train and then the streetcar (aka tram).
We got down there and walked in the direction of the lake. Its not very difficult to find the way around there – there is the CN tower which you see from almost everywhere ( when our line of sight is not blocked by any tall buildings). We reached the lake side and there it was the queen’s quay.
It was a little cloudy and the lake reflects the sky so all was still pretty much grey at that time. It was a little cold too at 4-5 degrees. We took a stroll down from the queen’s quay to the harbour front and reached an area where in summer there are a lot of activities taking place. Not so much in winter.
There are three small islands in Toronto which can only be reached by ferry/boats. Summer time is the best time to visit there I hear. Now most of the activities there are closed so only the boat tour takes you around the islands.
We were thinking of going on the ride since it might start getting cold from next week and if the weather is not good, they might cancel the tours. But it was still cloudy so I thought we would come back in another hour or two. This boat tour was scheduled every hour. So we were just strolling around the lake side enjoying the sites
Here I spotted another boat just docking and then this girl calling out people/selling tickets for the next ride. I still wanted to wait for the sun to come out so that I get good pictures! So to spend about an hours time we went to this shopping center at the quay. When it was about 15 mins for the boat ride we went to the place where the boat would start from. We had an advantage of being the first ones on board – so that we could take seats we wanted! By now the sun was out of the clouds and so the sky was looking blue and everything was bright around.
We got down there and walked in the direction of the lake. Its not very difficult to find the way around there – there is the CN tower which you see from almost everywhere ( when our line of sight is not blocked by any tall buildings). We reached the lake side and there it was the queen’s quay.
It was a little cloudy and the lake reflects the sky so all was still pretty much grey at that time. It was a little cold too at 4-5 degrees. We took a stroll down from the queen’s quay to the harbour front and reached an area where in summer there are a lot of activities taking place. Not so much in winter.
There are three small islands in Toronto which can only be reached by ferry/boats. Summer time is the best time to visit there I hear. Now most of the activities there are closed so only the boat tour takes you around the islands.
We were thinking of going on the ride since it might start getting cold from next week and if the weather is not good, they might cancel the tours. But it was still cloudy so I thought we would come back in another hour or two. This boat tour was scheduled every hour. So we were just strolling around the lake side enjoying the sites
Here I spotted another boat just docking and then this girl calling out people/selling tickets for the next ride. I still wanted to wait for the sun to come out so that I get good pictures! So to spend about an hours time we went to this shopping center at the quay. When it was about 15 mins for the boat ride we went to the place where the boat would start from. We had an advantage of being the first ones on board – so that we could take seats we wanted! By now the sun was out of the clouds and so the sky was looking blue and everything was bright around.
The boat went past one of the islands which has a small aiport – which services flights from Toronto to New York and some other places in the US. Next we went past an island which was a clothing optional area – first in Toronto. Further we circled around a small Island which is a bird sanctuary. Didn’t see a lot of birds apart from swans and ducks – maybe because of the season. The trees were looking good and casting great reflections in the water, being the fall season.
The Toronto skyline looks beautiful from the boat.
Then we were on our way back to the shore.
So we had a good time and it was a good day spent along the harbor.
The Toronto skyline looks beautiful from the boat.
Then we were on our way back to the shore.So we had a good time and it was a good day spent along the harbor.
Monday, 9 November 2009
What happens when
you tell the hotel service lady that she didn't replenish sugar the previous day?
This..
Wednesday, 4 November 2009
Visit to the tallest concrete free standing structure in the world – CN Tower
Warning: Long Post
How does it feel being on top of the world? Well top of the world as far as you can see for that matter! I could tell you how it does! I visited the CN Tower and the view from there of the city of Toronto was amazing to put it mildly! Sunday being a good weather day we decided we would go to the CN Tower. It is funny how everything here ties in to the weather! We don’t really need to bother so much with the weather back in India. So the case in point is we followed the weather channel and studied that it would be a sunny day with the temperatures being around 10 degrees Celsius and we decided this would be as good a day to visit the tower as any we could in this season. Thus our plan was made.
We took the bus and then the metro to the Union station( yeah – just 2 trips in the public transport and you know a lot more about the city than you would by hiring a cab). We got down there to see this was like a business district with tall buildings trying to overpower one another – there was the Bank of Montreal BMO, the Royal Bank of Canada RBC, the Citi group building, the Scotiabank and the likes. Its nice to be in a big city and see all of these skyrise buildings which I missed while being located at some other client locations – in fact all my previous visits. Agreed all these places I visited had a small town charm about them but it’s a different feeling being in the heart of a commercial capital city – just like being in south Mumbai! Well the CN tower is visible from almost the whole of the city (and even from others – we saw it on our way back from the Niagara) but when we got down at the Union, we could see it right in front of us albeit 2 blocks away. We just started walking in the general direction to the tower and we knew we’d be there. On the way we saw the Royal York Hotel which is a very old hotel built sometime in 1928-29 for the royals from the UK. It is one of the largest hotels in Toronto. Going further we saw the above mentioned buildings and needless to say I clicked a lot of pictures.
We took the bus and then the metro to the Union station( yeah – just 2 trips in the public transport and you know a lot more about the city than you would by hiring a cab). We got down there to see this was like a business district with tall buildings trying to overpower one another – there was the Bank of Montreal BMO, the Royal Bank of Canada RBC, the Citi group building, the Scotiabank and the likes. Its nice to be in a big city and see all of these skyrise buildings which I missed while being located at some other client locations – in fact all my previous visits. Agreed all these places I visited had a small town charm about them but it’s a different feeling being in the heart of a commercial capital city – just like being in south Mumbai! Well the CN tower is visible from almost the whole of the city (and even from others – we saw it on our way back from the Niagara) but when we got down at the Union, we could see it right in front of us albeit 2 blocks away. We just started walking in the general direction to the tower and we knew we’d be there. On the way we saw the Royal York Hotel which is a very old hotel built sometime in 1928-29 for the royals from the UK. It is one of the largest hotels in Toronto. Going further we saw the above mentioned buildings and needless to say I clicked a lot of pictures.
Then we arrived at the base of the tower bought our tickets and headed inside. There is one lift which travels at 22 km/hr and it took us to the first level which was the belvedere in 45 seconds. The elevators were also glass paneled on one side. This took us to the first level – Outdoor Observation level. The main attraction here is the glass floor… Yeah glass. You can view the foot of the tower and the surrounding area through this. A lot of people were freaking out here as standing on a glass platform at this height does not really appeal to a lot of people. At the same time, we see a lot of kids very happily hopping and jumping around. Then there were some who were lying down on the glass and taking pictures which includes me! (thats my foot on the glass floor and you can see the ground below - far away - see the spots? they are cars)
Just outside of this glass is a balcony like structure covered with only a wire mesh and which is exposed to the elements which is the Outdoor Observation deck. The feel of fresh cool air is worth experiencing. The wind one experiences at this height has a different chill to it! Just taking a flight of steps we reach onto the next landing which called the Lookout is another balcony covered in glass planes. A pie of this circle also holds a restaurant and this floor rotates! The view from the restaurant changes and it completes a 360 degrees turn in 72 mins. Well I didn’t go to the restaurant but could make out the difference in views from all the time we spent their and the second time we came back to this floor after visiting the top. Again a breath taking view. All this at a height of 346 m or 114 stories equivalent.
From there we took another elevator which took us to another 33 stories higher to a height of 447 m. This is the sky pod. It is (or used to be till being surpassed by Burj Dubai) the highest man-made observation deck. The sky pod gives an unobstructed view of the Toronto city and is even more overwhelming. We heard that on a clear day one could see as far as the Niagara falls. No such luck for us though! From here you can see the levels below and is quite exciting. The view of the observation level from the sky pod below -
We spent quite some time there and then headed back to the glass floor level. After some more pictures and viewing the place again, it was time to come back and set foot on solid ground!We had taken the entire package which included visit to both the levels on the observation level, visit to the skypod, a motion theater ride experience and the movie about the CN Tower. The movie described how the tower was conceptualized by the humble idea that with all the high rises in the city, the TV signals were getting blocked and they needed a tower to transmit the signals which would be taller than any other buildings in the area. Thus the tower was born.
The motion theater ride experience was something I had not experienced before. Here we were seated in a mobile or moving vehicle. The movie was called Himalamazon which is how a new technology had made possible to develop trees which would grow in 11 months upto a full height. The trees would be made using the atmospheric conditions and DNAs from trees from Himalayas and Amazon – hence the name. It was almost like sitting in a ride with us being logs and it showed the journey of the logs through the factory, the jungle, the river etc. When the logs fell in the river, some water splashed as well!
Then back on the ground outside the tower, we went to the side opposite from where we had approached and we got a full view of the tower. Some more picture taking here, wandering on the brewery nearby and I was ready to call it day!
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