Hangin' With The Biebs

 OMG!!

Was incredibly lucky to be walking past the swanky swank Hazelton Hotel yesterday when a group of Beliebers let me know they were waiting for the anointed one to appear.

I wondered what His Biebs would be doing in a TO hotel - besides peeing in mop buckets and bitch slapping paparazzi - when he should be out on tour, annoying other countries.

 

Then in today's paper I see he is doing two shows at Air Canada Centre.

And looks like this reporter has the same opinion of him as I do.  See  Count Me In! for a reminder of my opinion.

He even included a couple of fav photos, as I did (there are lots to choose from).

But enough of slagging him.

Back to waiting for him.  And waiting.

Hope I don't get a parking ticket.

But wait...wait....OMG....here he comes!

He's so!!   .......old and paunchy.

It wasn't him.

I was like soooo fed up.  That was it.

But then, just when I was ready to go after two hours....

We were rewarded!

Sort of......

Oh well.  Off to Air Canada Centre.

To get Leaf tickets, of course!

Major League Baseball - Get What You Pay For?

A recent analysis by a crack sabermetrician....ahem.....has shown how major league baseball teams are performing compared to team payrolls.

He has amazingly graphed winning percentage (vertical axis) against team payroll (horizontal axis). [He recommends double clicking the graph to get a better view.]

Conventional wisdom would have you believe that the higher the payroll, the higher the winning percentage.

That would be the yellow swath through the middle of the chart.

Over performers - lower payroll + higher winning percentage are in the upper, left hand, green corner.  And the losers are in the lower right corner.

Now many people think the Toronto Blue Jays are stinking the joint out this year - including me - because they loaded up on alleged talent in the off season and are still under 0.500.

But even though they loaded up on high priced talent, their payroll of $118 M$ is just over the major league average of 103 M$.  They are in the Yellow range, so could be considered performing "As Expected".

Gee, those Blue Jays can't even screw up correctly! 

And for the money spent, even the woeful Marlins and Astros are doing "As Expected".

It's the Yankees and Dodgers that aren't giving good value for the money.  But.....as it sits right now, they are in the playoffs. 

The Jays should be looking at what the Rays, A's, Indians and Pirates have done.

Meanwhile....Go Argos!

What A Bargain!

With the sad news that Detroit has filed for bankruptcy.....

Comes some clever comments......

Is it just me, or has once cute and cuddly Canadian boy totally lost it?

Now I was 19 once, but are there any pictures of me doing completely stupi......Hmmmm......never mind.......

Then Maybe The Men Should Not Be Allowed Out Without Their Wives....

I know that would work here........

Really?

So driving back into Toronto on a summer, Sunday morning - and they have the Gardiner expressway closed.

Well, I guess they have to do maintenance some time.

So that means all the Gardiner traffic is now funnelled onto Lakeshore Blvd, with all the normal traffic for that.

So what's going on down there?

Well, the tall foreheads at City Hall have also scheduled a triathlon on Lakeshore.  And have one lane closed.

So all the traffic coming in to Toronto on a summer Sunday morning, with a Jays game at the Dome, is funnelled into two lanes.

Two lanes with traffic lights.

My six year old - if I had one - could probably say, maybe we should schedule these for different weekends.

Holy cow, does anyone at City Hall ever use their brains to justify their $100,000 salaries?

[I guess I had a bit of time to stew on that one.....]

Bloody Scotsmen!

In recognition of the start of The Open Championship today (The British Open to you great unwashed) I thought I'd share a recent round of flogging I almost enjoyed.

Wooden Sticks is a course north of Toronto that has several holes inspired by some of the most famous holes on various PGA courses.

Above is the green on "The Postage Stamp" hole.  Of course, everyone knows this as the 8th hole at Royal Troon, in Scotland.  Where the The Open was last held in 2004.

And what a harmless, tiny little bunker in front of the green that is.  Called a pot bunker.

It's so tiny.

Hmmmm..... But it does look a little deep.

What's that at the front?  A step ladder?

Yikes!

Actually, it does look very deep.

I pity the fool that.......

D'oh!

Four steps to get down and four strokes to get out.  The top of that cursed thing is almost at eye level.  They should also have a little chair down there.

Ruint my round.  Damn Scots.

As I read on their website, afterwards;  "The prevailing wind is always right to left. Make sure you clear the large pot bunker in front of the green."

Ack laddie, a bit late for that tasty morsel.

So How's That View Workin' For Ya?

Another in a continuing series of "Oops, I should have done more research before buying."

The condo with the beautiful views was just completed this spring.

People have just moved in.

Well they better enjoy their views while they can.

This new(er) condo is going up about 20 feet beside them.

Hope you like watching people eat breakfast.....

Gee, Business Is Slow

So here's a thought....

.....you miiiiight want to get the bird crap off your outdoor menu....

So That's Where It Went

This is a park where a river used to be.

Actually I should say, still is.  It's just buried.

With the record rainfall last week and tremendous flooding, interesting to understand our watershed.

So this is a map of where Taddle Creek used to....I mean still....runs.

There are many, many rivers that have been buried in Toronto over the years.

The part that was buried first was the southern most part, from Church St. to the Don River (lower right part of the blue line).

Which was a key section in old Toronto and in the spring the place was a mess.  Hence the nickname Muddy York (Toronto was called York until 1834).

This also became the start of Toronto's storm water and sewer system.  Because along with the filth came disease. The contaminated water led to several cholera epidemics.

As publisher of The Canadian Freeman, Francis Collins, wrote in the 1830's, "All the filth of the town – dead horses, dogs, cats, manure – drops down into the water, which is used by almost all the inhabitants....."

Unfortunately, he himself died of cholera in 1834.

I say stormwater and sewer system, because in order to save money, they built the two side by each, with only a weir separating them.

So after a big rainfall, like say - last week - raw sewage gets into the stormwater system and heads straight for the lake.

Just like the 1830's!

This sculpture is called The Vessel, and is made out of four kilometres of stainless steel rods.

Representing the length of Taddle Creek.

Kind of cool; a water carrying vessel representing a water carrying creek.

And in areas, you can still hear old Taddle Creek gurgling under some of the sewer grates.

Kinda cool; a gurgling old creek blogged about by a gurgling old guy. 

And Man, Is It Lonely!

Mo Money, Mo Money, Mo Money

Just after we thought  that months and months and years and years of construction on Avenue Road was finally over.....

......it's baaaaaack.

This time it is $6 million worth of road and sidewalk repairs.  Needed after the $57 million water and sewer upgrades of the last couple of years.

Now this is actually Phase III of the original one phase project.  You can get caught up on the first two here  from a March 2012 post.

And although these signs just went up - they are already way behind schedule!

The reason why these repairs couldn't have been done with the other project must only be known by a small group of minions, deep in the bowels of City Hall. "Mwah ha ha haaaaa!!!"


No Truer Words

"Expect Delays"

The first City of Toronto Sign that I have ever believed.

That Was A Wet One!

Toronto got swamped Monday night with the most rain.

Ever.

Sure, it was no Calgary.  But we got pretty darn wet just the same.

The first picture is a commuter train coming down - well trying to come down - the Don River valley.

It always gets flooded.

The second picture is the Don Valley Parkway.
 
It always gets flooded.

This picture is some street.

It never gets flooded.

Even though it was a record rainfall for a 24 hour period, the part that caused the problems was that we got most of it in about four hours.

Virtually all major roadways in and out of the city were flooded.

Here the fences are up for this weekend's Honda Indy on Lakeshore Bvld.

Huge sections of the city were without power.  With some just getting power back this morning.

A great picture that made it to various newspapers - and Twitter - was an abandoned $200,000 Maserati.

The owner was tracked down and turned out to be a lawyer. "No biggie - I have several of them.".....he might have said.

In his defence, I'd seen other pictures where the water was actually up to the windows.

He left it because he had an important meeting to get to.  Can't keep those billable hours waiting!

Some people had to spend the night on various GO Trains (commuter trains).

Some did get out.

Some tried to get out.

And then thought better of it.

Some weren't sure what to think.

"Found it!"

For others, everything worked out alright in the end.

For now. 

Because we're supposed to get more today.   Whoo boy.....

Apologies Required.....

......when I slagged this Nail Salon a while back (Not Your Girlfriends Yorkville).

They obvioulsy saw my post and have now added a lovely rock garden in front.

I'm surprised there's no lineup......

First Prize: Can't Read Body Language

Is It Live? Or Is It Memorex?

Maybe.

Okay.....guess it's this one.

But pretty arty for a silly cell phone camera, huh?

Or - more correctly - silly cell phone user.
 

And later on that same walk, a pretty cool old Toronto Hydro building.

And hey, it's right downtown and hasn't been whacked yet.

Oh well, just give them some time.....

Ahead Of My Time

I guess the Toronto Star was paying attention when I was out and about last fall.

When I was taking a somewhat seedy stroll along Bloor St West.  See That Close for a reminder.  And the Previous Day's post, to get another flavour of the area.

Like a lot of neighbourhoods that have gone to seed, this invariably attracts the well heeled set.

Good luck to you, Bloordale.....