Tiff and I decided we wanted to re-live our youth by seeing Fall Out Boy. While we were admittedly a bit embarrased about going ot see them, and given that we knew we would be swarmed by cutie teenage girls, it turned out to be an awesome show.

From what I could see from a distance in the lawn seats at the Ampitheatre, Pete Wentz was as hot as usual. That in itself made my experience worthwhile.

Sadly, we missed Cobra Starship perform, the band who brought you "Snakes on a Plane." We actually heard it from a distance just stepping off the 510 Harbourfrount streetcar. This realization that Cobra was playing was following by a big punch to my arm by Tiff. Ouch.

Tiff has the hots for Cobra's lead singer, Gabe, who is so much less hot than Pete.

I think our fun was also alcohol-induced, which is always good. After watching some of the videos, I realized how slurred my speech was. We also had to get wristbands to drink. Plus, we had to chug her down so quickly, because we weren't allowed to drink in the concert viewing area. This is what we get for going to a predominiately underage show. We could've made a killing otherwise, selling drinks to minors.

I'm kidding. No one use that against me.

+44 also played that night, and they actually played a Blink song, Girl at the Rock Show. There was also three other bands, The Academy Is and Paul Walls.

I wanted to be a total teenager and buy this cute but ripoff FOB tee. But sadly, I didn't bring any cash on me. Tiff spotted me the entire night, ack.

Facebook concert pictures (Login Required) - [facebook.com]
Facebook videos - [blogspot.com]

This screenshot is golden.

Daytime talk usually doesn't get much attention, mainly because of its mind-retarding soaps, or those awful "family-issues" talk shows like Montel and Dr. Phil.

It is this programming that makes me want to rush back to work or school.

But one show I do like is The View, and I watch it at every opportunity I get. I have been a 'loyal' follower ever since ABC casted Lisa Ling to diversify further its collective points of view. While I have to say that she wasn't the best co-host, since she's always shadowed by then Star Jones and Meredith Vieira. Regardless, I stuck by the show, and enjoyed their 'hot topics' segements when they talk about whatever is on their mind, from current events, enteratinment, or simply what they did with their respective families.

Maybe because I love to have a coffee and chit-chat, I found myself very at-ease with these ladies-- namely Meredith, Lisa, Star and Joy.

I have never enjoyed Barbara Walters.

Anyways, after a series of guest hosts after Lisa Ling's departure from the show, Elisabeth Hasselbeck joined the table. I actually recall Elisabeth back when I was still caught Suvivor religiously. She was the pretty one, and I enjoyed her on the show. Little did we know that she was this extreme Republican supporter

Apparently, The View producers brought her to the table because the show has in the past been criticized for having a liberal bias, and Hasselback was the source to bring another side to the discussion.

Then became the departure of Star Jones, which at this point, we certainly don't care about. There was so much unnecessary drama during the 'controversy' and upheld the stereotype that women are catty.

Then entered Rosie. Oh man, daytime television has never been so good. I actually find myself going on Youtube to find interesting clips of what Rosie has to say. I never really enjoyed Rosie too much, just like how I never enjoyed Elisabeth. But man, when you put these two ladies together, it makes just amazing programming.

Despite polarized opinions, these two ladies had chemistry unlike any other co-hosts in the history of the show. It is just a shame that Rosie is no longer on the show. She's a loud, obnoxious, fat lesbian, and that's the way we love her. Just like how Elisabeth is the cute-sy Republican Christian girl, and that's the way we love her too!

If you don't know, there was a very heated argument last week stemming from previous discussion regarding the US' position on the war in Iraq. Hasselbeck for gets infuriated with Rosie's remarks, and the show gets out of hand.

Go experience it for yourself.

Seriously, now with only the three of co-hosts, the show is so going to take a hit. Joy will continue to soften issues with her humour, Barbara will continue to be annoying and politically correct, and Elisabeth will have no one to argue with.

Whoever they ask to replace Rosie better be good-- but I seriously cannot think of anyone better for a show like The View.

Whether or not their opinions are justified, or if the facts they speak of are actually true, the fact is that they are opening the dialogue and engaging discussion.

Don't worry, regardless of what happens, I will continue to be a devoted viewer whenever I play hookie.

Here's a few other heated debates:
The media dehumanizes those in the Middle East - [youtube.com]
Discussion of Fox News and the Iraqi War coverage - [youtube.com]
American politicians stirs away from the real public concerns - [youtube.com]

I think this entry is long overdue.

The old gradient layout was starting to look really old, so I thought it was time to sit at my computer for hours to come up with a new one.

It has been just shy of two years since my last website revamp. I tried to keep the layout even more simple by removing the two-column page structure. I figure that this format is more flexible and is a more efficient use of page space.

For the first time ever on this blog, I have used a serif font for larger titles. Readers, meet Georgia. I often encounter articles discouraging the use of seriffed fonts for webpages, due to its lack of legibility on computer screens comparatively, but I find that now with the widespread use of sans-serif fonts, fonts like Georgia, brings your eye's attention to where it's needed-- for titles, headings and the like.

I have finally found the required plugins to show all the comments-- from both my main blog and linklog-- all on one page, but I am still in the works for my main archive page. I thought that I would hold off on this new layout announcement until everything is complete, but it has been way too long.

I'm back at work now, and I had a chance to do some field work up in the northwest quadrant of the city, in an area widely undiscovered to me. I have never been to York Uniersity before, and to be honest, I wasn't very thrilled about going initially, just because I assumed that it would jus tbe another suburban campus like Waterloo.

But seriously, I was surprised how completely beautiful the campus is! The views are astonishing from the campus centre Student Common. The whole campus itself has the tranquil feeling of a suburban campus, without the feeling of being dead and mundane. The architecture doesn't resemble a dated institutional look, and it reflects those cool lifestyle retail centres.

Vari Hall, the campus focal point, similar to U of T's University College, proudly stands outlooking a beautiful expansive space in front of it.

Waterloo's focal point, arguably the Dana Porter Library, is without any grandeur and stands almost timidly behind South Campus Hall, which to me is the awfully the worst building on campus in its interior and exterior.

Despute York holidng the record for having the largest university campus in Canada, the buildings at York are highly concentrated in the centre of the campus. A recent massive capital expansion of university facilities brings very exciting times for York.

Not only are they building plenty, they're building well. In fact, an active streetscape of modern glass structures is quickly emerging on the east portions of Ian MacDonald Blvd. Above is the expanded Schulich School of Business.

While there was a major controversy many years ago with York selling its southern property to private townhouse developers, I believe that the development complements well with that urban lifestyle character of the neighbourhood. Though stacked townhouse would be my ideal density for the area. Above is a picture a typical New Urbanist facade at the Village at York University.

Oh yes, how can I forget about the York Lanes Mall and the adjacent Student Centre. It's very cool. It is great to actually have shops and restaurants in the centre of campus. Waterlosers, could you imagine perhaps the University Plaza in a indoor shopping complex in campus, instead of being just outside it? That would rock. The neatest thing about the Student Centre is the peripheral canopy that helps connect Vari Hall to York Lanes. From what I understand, the horizonal glass panels are raised up during the summer months to extend the outdoors, and they are pulled down during the winter mto shelter students from the elements.

I hear that the Student Common area is a transit nightmare. But because it is already the Spring term, I couldn't experience it. Too bad. But just looking around, I could sense the madness, since the TTC takes up the entre north side of the York Blvd Loop, where each route has its designated bus stop, while GO Transit takes up the entire south side of the loop. The TTC alone operates six routes: 60C/F Steeles West, 35E Jane, 106 York University, 196 York University Rocket, 41/B Keele, 107 Keele North, and 35E Jane.

I also forgot YRT/VIVA, which operates on-street on Ian MacDonald Blvd.

York U is transit crazy, and good on them for being green! And look how cordially York students line up for the bus!

Lastly, I have to give major kudos to York's wayfinding signs. It is clearn, modern, consistent, and are all over campus! Their logo is embedded on all signage and brings about an appealing visual identity for the campus.

I love the campus so much! I am just so amazing at how well it was able to reverse its suburban dullness that was so prevalent in post-war universisties into something much more grand and captivating. If it's any indication, the original campus 'ring road' network and the bisecting Black Creek is almost identical to Wateroo. Given that Waterloo and York was constructed under similar plans, why has York done so much more for themselves? I guess it helps when you have a campus with 50,000 students...

York University - [yorku.ca]
York University - [wikipedia.org]

I just got back Tuesday night. After a really really long rest, I have finally recovered from all the vacationing fun. All the dirty clothes have finally been washed and put away.

Anyways, I had a blast there. I forgot to point out from my last entry, Martina and I decided to surprise Paolo by only disclosing to him that one of us would visit. We thought about it carefully, and we mutually agreed that it made more sense that I would be the surprise, because I think it would be awfully suspicious for me to tell him that I'm going to visit him, alone.

When we arrived at the Grenada airport, I was tied up in customs, so it worked out with the surprise, since I made my red carpet entry many minutes after Martina. He didn't even notice me until I came right in front of him, I even had to wave my hands a bit. Haha. While he was surprised, I wished for a reaction that was a little more dramatic.

Anyway, Paolo was a super host, just because it's not often that we can get to really live and understand how the locals live.

We visited many beaches, the Grand Anse, the BBC (Morne Rouge), and the Lance Aux Epines beach, and got an awesome tan because of it.
Colour on day 1...

Colour on day 8...

We also made a hike up the mountains, and it was a gorgeous view looking down onto Grand Anse and St. George’s.

We also enjoyed the many fruits that Grenada had to offer. We were addicted to those wax apples and the fresh bananas from the Marketing Board.

For some odd reason, I also found that the eggs in Grenada are way better than those in Canada. Luckily for us, we also got a great chef-slash-server.

They also had the awesomest banana bread. We 'prepared' a nice cake for Paolo.

We also went snorkeling as you suggested, unfortunately I didn’t take my Gravol, and got so complete seasick! Haha, I ended up puking on the boat (thank god that I aimed toward the waters). I felt much better after puking and I continued to snorkel after that. Here's a picture before the seasickness.

We also visited Fort George, it was built on a cliff looking towards the Atlantic in the 18th century by the French. It has specatular views the the city and the water.

We also went on what the call the Rhum Runner. For EC$40, you can drink as much rum punch on the boat ride to your hearts content! Though unlimited drinking is never a good idea for me, given my tolerance.

Weirdly enough while having dinner, I bumped into Nithi! Apparently, we were eating at a medical student hangout. Low and behold, we bumped into a fellow high-school-classmate-turned-medical-student. There seems to be strong ties between Canada and Grenada.

Oh man, I digged the bus rides in Grenada. It so darn efficient! There’s always a bus coming along, and it’s so darn cheap, EC$2, which is just under C$1! I also like the fact that they play Reggae and Soca on the buses. Here's a picture of the central bus station.

The crappy part about the trip was that our flight was delayed upon our return to Toronto from Trinidad. We were already tired having not slept the night before, and we simply wasn't amused about the delay, which made us arrive 1.5 hours late at Pearson. There was a huge army of soldiers coming home from Barbados for the Cricket World Cup. Anyways, the soldiers were used for the event’s security. According to our pilot, they delayed our flight because of the weapons and amunition from their plane required paperwork. Plus, they held a large press conference right where our departing gate was. Argh. Let's just say that people go pretty nuts about cricket.

That's it. I have since returned to reality. Expect my regularly scheduled programming soon.