I don’t know what else I can say about what’s going on in Toronto right now. Frankly, I thought that all the money they poured into the g20 summit in Toronto would have gone to waste because I believed that Toronto is really one of the nicest places to be in. The people are friendly, there’s so much stuff to do and I’ve always felt there was an aspect of welcoming and respect here. I really believed that.

So when we found out through blogs, twitter and then more from the news that the protests had turned violent because of the acts of a group of anarchists, I was disgusted and saddened. This isn’t the Toronto I know. I don’t know what the anarchists hope to achieve by destroying businesses and property. That Starbucks we saw repeatedly on the news that had been completely trashed… well I’m just thinking of the people employed there that may not be able to work until the place is fixed up.

I know in my heart that these group of people aren’t part of the larger peaceful protests that have been organized. I don’t know what they really think they’re accomplishing except causing a lot of heartache and financial loss for people working to get by. Your message is lost with every window they smash. It’s pathetic and it’s not the city I know and love.

I respect and admire the Toronto police who I think have been doing an admirable job. Sure protesters aren’t going to like them right now, but I do think they need to be there. They aren’t a perfect institution but it’s a necessary one, and I know it can be thankless.

But you know what, this is Toronto. We’ve got a good reputation, we’ll spring back. Peace, everyone.

Link: Protests turn violent: storefronts smashed, police cars set ablaze

Well, this is the lovely creature that followed me home the other day. >_> I have a feeling I will be having a lot of fun with this for a while now.

Old camera, meet the new one. :D Taken with my Canon powershot a570 IS.

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Late last night, I couldn’t help notice city workers going down the street with a big truck and flashing lights. They’d stop at intervals then move on. This morning I saw what they were doing.

These bike sharrows were freshly painted down my bike route. I’m sort of pleased about this because it clearly tells motorists to share the road with cyclists. On the other hand, I’m hoping that cyclists would be encouraged to use the road and not the sidewalks.

On a related note, I’ve been wanting to ride my Kona Paddywagon all year, but I’m kind of a suck about it because there’s so much construction on several areas of my regular routes. Riding through cruddy streets and gravel isn’t cool on skinny wheels, which is why I’m using my mountain bike a lot. I know i lose cool points but I’m gonna go with comfort and safety this time around.

In the end, my desire for mobility took over all senses, yet my need for economy fought a valiant battle. Desire and frugality came to a little bit of a compromise. I didn’t get the laptop of my dreams. I didn’t replace my HP Pavilion with another Pavilion, though the option was there. I didn’t get a Dell. I didn’t think I could deal with the wait. So I did some more research, visited both Best Buy and Future Shop.

And the winner?

That’s right. I got a Sony Vaio NS model. It’s pretty much what I need, for the moment. And it’s not completely generic, and awful to look at, though I’m not sure about that texture. And Vista… well, we’ll see what the big deal is. I’ve spent all night customizing it and so far, I’m liking it.  I may regret not having a decent graphics card, but like i said, I don’t need it to game. I just need to be able to carry it around without it being a pain in the ass. Having said that, I already don’t like how graphics look here. It’s not awful, but the tech snob in me wishes for more.

It’s not a bad configuration.  It’s got a 15.4 LCD monitor and a pretty simple keyboard set up. It’s a lot lighter than my old 17″ HP Pavilion so I’m pleased with that.  It’s set up with an Intel Core 2 Duo T5800 @2.00GHZ processor, has 4.00gb of RAM and 250gb or harddrive space.  For about $850 + tax at Future Shop, I don’t think I did too badly.  There were definitely more sexier laptops, but in the end, I had to look at the bottom line.

So we’ll see how pleased I am in a few weeks time. I’ve spent all night setting my new toy up, I didn’t even get a chance to make dinner. I have a feeling it’ll be a late night anyway.

A quick fan art sketch that went a bit further.  Death is one of my favourite Neil Gaiman characters to draw.

[ New Artwork at Deviantart ]

I’ve been out of it for a while. Just a little mopey about stuff… it’s funny how certain words said at the right time could hit you and make you re-evaluate your life and all of life’s funny situations.

Aside from my emotional state, I’m stressed out over work, my finances are completely fucked (I’m so bad with money), and I haven’t fed my cats today.

I’ll probably start auctioning and even *gasp* commissioning artwork in a little while just to catch up on bills. :p If anyone is interested in any of that action, let me know. :p

I’ve been working on this particular drawing for a few weeks. It’s not anything special or difficult, I’ve just been less interested in it.