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Saturday, September 29, 2007
Hershey SportsZone
We went to the Family Day at the new Hershey SportsZone that open this
month. It is a huge facility for indoor soccer, gymnastics and
basketball. They had free food and other giveaways.
We had lunch which was a hotdog, either an Oh Henry bar or a package of
"Peanut Free" Twizzlers, a can of pop and a bag of popcorn.
Claudia pretending to be a duck.
They had bouncy things.
There was a inflatable obstacle course on the indoor field.
It is artifical turf, the same stuff they use at BMO Field where the
Toronto FC play. They can split it into four individual pitches.
Waiting for the go ahead to go through the course.
At the half way point.
Testing out the turf.
Claudia wiping out.
Angela brushing off the little bits of rubber that make up part of the
turf, all the black you see is little bits of rubber.
It was a fun day, well worth the cost, free!
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Wade Figurines
Awhile back I had bought some shelf things from Ikea, they were on sale
and they were along the same lines as our coffee table. I was thinking
of making an end table, but when I opened the box I noticed the edges
are not finished that nice, normally you wouldn't see the sides because
it is a shelf for a wall unit. I found a use for one of them, I put the
Red Rose tea Wade figurines in it. I figure I will mount it to the wall
in the office.
A search on the internet shows that I am missing Humpty Dumpty, The old
lady and the shoe, Baa Baa Black Sheep, Gingerbread Man and the Cat and
the fiddle from the nursery rhyme set. From the animals set I am missing
the giraffe, walrus and deer. If anyone has these ones kicking around
the house and are looking to display them in a nice case, feel free to
send them my way.
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Hershey Centre Birthday
Today Angela, Claudia and I went out to the Hershey Centre for their
10th Anniversary celebration. Susan and Gillian went shopping at Square
One. We went to the Hershey Sportzone opening last year and it was
pretty good, so we thought we'll go to this one this year.
Angela and Claudia under the balloon rainbow.
We were there early to enjoy the free hotdog and pop courtesy of the
Mississauga St.Michaels Majors.
Later on we went back outside and the girls had another pop and I had
another hotdog.
There was entertainment in the arena, there was a stage and some
inflatable obstacle courses. This was Giorgio the Magician from Italy.
His helper was Nathan (or Brandon, they're twins), he was in Claudia's
class last year and on the two field trips I went on, he was in my group.
We headed back outside to listen to Mayor McCallion rally the crowd and
asking the ethnic groups to go to the Majors games this year. This is
Canada and hockey is our game, don't just watch soccer.
Hazel McCallion and the St. Michaels Majors.
Claudia and Angela with their St. Mike's helmets.
Next was the cake cutting with the mayor and a couple of the Councillors.
And yet another rousing speech by the mayor about what a great facility
the Hershey Centre is and how us the citizens need to use it and come
and watch the Majors.
The lamp posts outside the Hershey Centre are shaped as Hershey Kisses.
It was a good day and the girls enjoyed themselves. We enjoyed free
hotdogs, pop, popcorn, peanut-free twizzlers and nibs, chocolate (Dad)
and Ice breakers.
One last ride on the giant slide.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Door Open
No there is not a typo in the title. We went downtown for "Doors
Open", but we only got through one door. The
Don Jail was one of the new (and most popular) Doors Open for this
year. It has never been open to the public before and starting this
fall, Bridgeport Health who owns it would start renovations. This was an
opportunity for the public to see it (for free, otherwise $20 per person
over the summer).
We started the day at Yorkdale subway station and headed to Broadview.
From there it was a streetcar to meet Carolyn, Mom and Alex.
We started out just above the G in Gerard Street when we got in line.
The lineup was long, and due to fire regulations, they could only take
in 16 people, every 5 minutes. At least that was their plan.
The lineup seemed to move quickly initially, but then at some point it
hit a snag.
This didn't seem so bad when we reached this point. We had already put
in an hour at this point, but we had been moving.
Watching people finish their tours.
Even once we got to this point we seemed to keep moving. After this
section they led people to individual lanes in groups of 16. We were
close to that point when we realized we weren't moving anymore. One lady
fainted in the heat and things were on the verge of turning ugly when
two guys were taking pictures of her while she was laying on the ground.
People were complaining to the event staff and pointing them out in the
crowd.
The kids were good, they didn't seem to mind. They were able to get out
of line and go sit in the shade.
The back of the jail.
The police were out in full force, always a good thing around a jail.
Once we made it to the individual rows we had some hot dogs for lunch.
The old Riverdale Hospital, now the Bridgeport Health Centre.
This guy was an actual guard in the jail at some point.
Finally it was our turn to tour the jail.
Looking up in the rotunda
Some views from inside the Don Jail.
The old jail closed in 1977 (it opened in 1858), the new jail next door
was completed in 1958. They use to serve salmon as part of their meal,
the salmon was caught in the nearby Don River.
Some of the prisoners.
They filmed the bar scene from the movie "Cocktail" with Tom Cruise in
the rotunda.
This was one of the Death Row cells, a little more room than the regular
cells, but they spent their entire time in there.
We got to see the execution chamber where they hanged twenty six men
between 1908 and 1962. Previous executions were done outdoors for public
viewing. You can see the painted outline of the gallows on the wall.
These were the rows of cells for the general population
The cells measured 1x3 metres.
From the inside looking out.
Without the flash, this probably more likely what a prisoners view would
be.
More cells.
These were office areas on the main floor.
"Every man who walks through these doors, walks through time"
The front entrance to the old Don Jail.
This was our tour guide who was pointing out the Govenor's Residence.
The new section of the Don Jail is built right up against the old
section.
They still have a little section of barbed (razor) wire on the grounds.
On the brick wall were names of prisoners that were carved into the
bricks.
By the time we finished the line-ups were gone. They turned away alot of
people and alot of people just turned away when they saw the line-ups.
There were still people waiting to go in.
It was a long day and we can say we saw it. It's been a part of Toronto
history and it was an opportunity to see it in it's somewhat original
condition. The tour was good, just a little rushed. I'm glad I went, not
sure about everyone else. We ended up back on Broadview and walked past
the new Toronto jail. This one is slated for closure in a few years when
the new Toronto South Detention Centre is completed in Mimico.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Rick Mercer Report
I was able to get tickets for the Rick
Mercer Report this year. Susan and I are going down for the taping
in November, it will be for the show that will air on November 17th.
Looking forward to the show.
Friday, November 13, 2009
Rick Mercer Report
Back in September I managed to get some tickets to the Rick Mercer
Report. Grandma Swan came out to stay with the girls so Susan and I
could stay downtown for the evening. I picked the date because it was a
holiday week for me and it meant I wouldn't be traveling this week.
We booked a room at the Royal York Hotel. Our room was facing the lake
and it was a corner room so we had a view of the Air Canada Centre and
looking west along Front Street.
WE did some shopping and a lot of walking. We did some of the
underground PATH system and then back up to street level.
We had some time to relax at the hotel before dinner and the show.
Watching rush hour at Front and York.
We had dinner at Joe Badali's on Front St. and then it was a short walk
over to the CBC Building. We had to wait in line to pick up our tickets
and then we waited in another line to go up to the studio. The studio is
up on the 10th floor.
We were allowed to take pictures as long as the camera's were not on. He
would come out and introduce each of the video segments.
They tape all of the desk portions live.
After the show, Rick Mercer will meet anyone who wants to wait in line.
We had no where to go so we stuck around to meet Rick and get our
picture taken with him. Here he is signing our tickets.
I asked him if he got up to Alert, as that was one of the places he was
suppose to visit this season. He said they didn't make it and they
eventually ran out of daylight, but the militay has said they will take
him up.
Looking down at the atrium from the tenth floor. The banners hanging are
the couples from the Battle of the Blades.
Down in the foyer you can see into the museum and there is Mr Dressup's
Tickle Trunk.
Out in the foyer is Casey and Finnegan's Treehouse.
Susan in front of a giant Rick Mercer.
It was back to the hotel and some shots of the Toronto nightlife.
Saturday, April 03, 2010
Do Good Things Happen in Three's?
We all know that bad things happen in three's, what about good things?
This week we went to our local Swiss Chalet on Thursday night for
dinner. The host dude sat us in our usual big circular booth, and by
usual, I mean we always ask for one if they are available. Most of the
tables and booths are made for families of four, not five. We sat there
with our menus, and we sat, and we sat, it had to be at least five
minutes. I counted 6 staff milling around the bar area and not one
seemed in too much of a hurry to come and take our order. Finally when
one girl did come, she asked how we were doing, and we mentioned that
nobody had come over since we sat down, even though there were so many
just standing around. She apologized and took our order, when she came
back with our drinks, she said she talked to the manager and that we
could have free dessert. We ended up with two pieces of lemon meringue
pie for free, we took it home with us because we were stuffed (all the
fries you can eat special is still on). Plus the last time we were there
they gave us a Customer Appreciation card good for 15% off, we saved an
additional $7.00 on this meal.
Today, Claudia, Angela an I went to Future Shop, we bought the new Alvin
and the Chipmunks DVD. The shelf price said $18.99, when we checked-out
it scanned in at $23.99. After paying for it I went back to the shelf
just to double check, sure enough it was $18.99, I went back to the cash
and told her and she directed me to customer service. The girl there was
going to give it to me for the shelf price, but she took awhile and in
that time I was reading the Scanning
Code of Practice sticker on the side of the cash register. If a
product scans in at the checkout at a price higher than the shelf price,
or any other displayed price; the product is free - up to $10, or $10
off if the item is more than $10. When I asked about it she asked
another guy and he said yes the price should be $8.99 instead of $18.99.
Just waiting for our third deal. Unless you count the Beer Store
special, I bought a 24 of Molson Canadian/Coors Light for $29.95. The
guy in front of me bought a 12 pack for $20.05, the Beer Store guy told
him for another $9.90 he could get 12 more beers. The guy didn't go for
it.
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