The TTC says there are no short term plans for a fare hike. They credit the higher than expected sales of metropasses. It’s no wonder people are buying more metropasses - the fares/metropass ratio is the lowest its ever been in the metropass’ 26 year history.
There are two main reasons:
* The TTC has been raising single fare, but they’re being overtly cautious of crossing that $100 psychological barrier
* Since July 2006 the Federal Government has offered a 15% tax credit on transit passes
These things won’t last forever, so right now the metropass is as hot a deal as it will ever get! If you take the TTC more than 40 times a month, a metropass saves you money. For 25 years you needed to take at least 52 trips a month for a metropass to make sense.
Now if only you could PM the MP at FS…
The metropass cost is not adjusted for inflation, but I am taking into account the federal tax credit. The Monthly Fare Equivalent is the metropass cost divided by the lowest fare cost (for example, the current fare cost is $21/10 tokens = $2.10 per trip).
Historical prices from Mike’s Transit Stop
Previously: Last February’s TTC Fare Hike
Video Game Auctions Holy crap! Game Sniped is a blog showcasing ebay auctions of rare videogame items.
Coupler (TTC) Newsletter It’s the online magazine created for TTC employees. CoooOOoooLllllLLL!!11!!
For as long as I can remember, I would make up little games and challenges to keep myself occupied in some of the most boring situations.
One of the games I made up was pacing my footsteps with the tiles in the mall or the slabs of the sidewalk. I’d make sure to either make one step every other light-coloured tile and avoided any of the dark-coloured ones.
When you’re walking on the sidewalk and you’re trying to make exactly two steps on each concrete slab, you probably look sort of goofy when not all sidewalk slabs are the same size…
It’s something I still find myself doing these days. And when it’s freezing cold outside, it’s a suprisingly strong way of not thinking about how damn cold it is.
From Leafs to Raps in Less Than Three Minutes A time lapse video showing how the convert the ACC from a Leafs game to a Raptors game. They cover the ice with floor and put the hardwood on top! Who’da thunk it?
Ok, so the enclosed list of “Insights for Chinese New Year” are kinda fun. They’re right in that there are few Asian role-models that come to mind, but the interviewer’s byline is kinda troubling. Does each example of her past work have to contain a Chinese ethnic slur? Something feels off here. She had better be damn funny…
Over the past four months, Rigg interviewed students ages 14-23 in nine cities and towns (Amherst/MA, Anchorage, Honolulu, New York, Oakland, Portland/ME, San Jose, San Francisco, Seattle). They shared their thoughts, feelings and dreams around growing up in America.
Juilliard-trained Rigg is the force behind such cult hit shows as: Kate’s Chink-o-rama and the critically acclaimed play Birth of a nASIAN. She is also the front person/lyricist for the urban Asian hip-hop duo Slanty Eyed Mama, which has been featured on NPR and the PBS special Race is the Place. Rigg has been called “a modern Lenny Bruce” (SF Examiner) and named one of Canada’s coolest exports for her “In Your Face Slanted” comedy (TIME Magazine).
The gasoline crunch in recent days is getting worse. I heard on CTV news today that the problem is on the supply side, not the demand side. Transporting gas to the retail outlets and the recent fire at the Nanticoke refinery are of most often cited factors.
This graph of average prices over the last 3 months is interesting. Gasoline is a 20 cent premium in Canada, I guess because of additional taxes here. In Toronto, we’re usually below the Canadian average, but because of the recent gas crunch we’re actually paying a bit more than everyone else.
Toronto Gas Prices Historical Prices - torontogasprices.com
When I was 8 years old, there was one thing about the world I knew with absolute certainty: the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles could do no wrong.
Maybe in all my years, I don’t think I’ve ever liked anything more than I like the ninja turtles. I think that’s what ‘unconditional love’ is supposed to feel like. As a result, I had lots of ninja turtle stuff. Most of it was freebies and at my birthday or Christmas I’d ask for repeatedly, and get an action figure. If I had an allowance, I would have spent every penny on ninja turtle stuff.
The obsession ran so deep that I spent more than one hallowe’en as Donatello. I’m not sure why I liked Donatello the most, but as a result my favorite colour became purple (In Turtles in Time, I can’t bring myself to use anyone other than Donatello). Gummis shaped like Splinter tasted better than other candies. In the margins and cover of all my school books and notes were little ninja turtle sketches.
Now they have those new generation TMNT cartoons, and that new animated movie. It’s all very foreign, not quite as wacky and awesome as those good old days. And I don’t really eat it all up like I used to. But some days I still daydream I’m a ninja turtle - jumping on rooftops, beating up foot solders and taking it to Shredder.
And with 16 more years of life experience on my back, I think I can still safely say that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles can do no wrong.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned about myself in the kitchen is that I’m a horribly inefficient cook. I watch those ‘lifestyle’ shows where they prepare a whole meal in 20 minutes and the whole affair seems like rocket science to me.
I am slow. I don’t prepare foods in advance, I don’t think of what to be chopping while oil is heating up. Culinary multitasking is just not one of my strong points. And I’m totally convinced that if cooking wasn’t a continuous trial of patience between starting and eating that I would cook a whole lot more.
Let me tell you about sandwiches… Frankly a lot of sandwiches are really boring. But there’s something beautiful about a good sandwich - trapping all that deliciousness between two slices of lightly toasted fresh bread. Some days when I’m in a serious sandwich making mood, I’ll go to the supermarket and pick out all the various elements of sandwich with the goal of making one perfect sandwich.
My process might involve chopping up vegetables, slicing cheeses, preparing a sandwich sauce, roasting garlic or zuchinnis or something. I’ll carefully arrange my sandwich layers, and the whole preparation process would probably consume half a dozen plates, a couple cutting boards, and a million utensils.
From sandwich craving to actually eating my sandwich has quite often consumed whole afternoons leaving me kinda exhausted afterwards. And while each sandwich is indescribably satisfying, the prospect of all that damn work means I make like two sandwiches a year.
Imprint Publications, Waterloo - Paying tuition one striptease at a time Despite her Cinderella-like story, Amber explained that her situation was a rarity. If 100 girls worked in one club, only three to five of them would be in school and, of those few, most wouldn’t graduate.
Simon Pegg: American and British senses of humour have more in common than we think When it comes to humour, however, there is one cultural myth that just won’t die. You hear it all the time from self-appointed social commentators sat astride high horses, dressed as knights who say, “Ni”. They don’t get it. They never had it. They don’t know what it is and, ironically, they don’t want it anyway. That’s right: “Americans don’t do irony.” This isn’t strictly true.
Toronto Life: The Burbs or Bust The best Chinese food in Toronto
Torontoist: Shawarma Hunt 2007 The ongoing search for the best shwarma in town.
Many years ago, there was a room in my basement that wasn’t just a giant closet for my dad’s old files and newspapers. It’s quite spacious, so I could easily lay down a bunch of mattresses over the floor and late night elementary friend videogame nights would often end crashing there.
Of course, being 12 years old and being fasctinated with fire, it was also in that room that my friends and I would see what we could set on aflame. Hadn’t yet taken that engineering course that would teach me about fire safety, I didn’t have the common sense to no make a mini-bonfire in the comfort of my own home.
Of course, it only takes one scare to really set you straight. Everytime I take boxes to store downstairs, I step on that lesson - the charred and fuzed patch of carpet - and that’s why I don’t play with fire anymore.
Get a Mac UK If you like the Get a Mac ads, the UK versions are funny too.
One of the many things I’ve promised myself for 2007 is to write in my blog more often. I feel like I’m neglecting this space, and writing in complete sentences is a skill that has been slipping away recently.
Today I launch a 100 in a year. 100 posts by the end of 2007 with a little something about myself that I wouldn’t typically write here. So in the process, I’m going to try to make this blog a little more personal. It’s a personal blog afterall!
Enough preamble!
There was a time last year, when I was looking for full-time work, where I was being experimental with my resume. I stripped away most of filler and boiled down each of the major sections into punchy one-liners. I spent hours crafting each job summary and describing my ’soft skills’. I played with fonts and text sizes as much as I did the resume content.
Somewhere near the top, shortly after my name and contact information, I wrote that I was an “energetic blogger”. Haha, it’s a pretty corny thing to put down, but it really stood out to the hiring manager that eventually interviewed me and hired me. At the six-month review, he brought it up, he still remembered that we talked about blogging at the interview
I had quite a few iterations of my resume that year, and of all my technical skills and experience, it’s blogging that stood out. Go fig.
If I ever start applying to jobs again, I think I’m going to replace “energetic blogger” with my personal best in Scrabble.
blogUT Hey look! It’s a University of Toronto student life blog!