Change? Only Time Will Tell.

Like a large part of North America, at the YFS offices we took a couple of minutes out of the day to see what the new guy had to say.

Being the very political people that my friends there are, it didn’t take long for some arguements to break out about Mr. Obama. While he is providing “hope” for a large number of people, I think that a lot of people think that he is more left-leaning than he actually is. Sure, he’s a lot better than the old guy, but he’s still against gay marriage, pro war, and a fan of keeping the church and state in bed together. The US still has a ways to go before it can call itself a leader of change.

York turns 50. In celebration, a labour dispute!

An ad at York for it’s upcoming 50th Anniversary Celebrations.

And it case you were wondering, every student at York does look just like this one.

Light Paints

Okay, so it’s slightly creepy. But it was fun to do.

Just playing around with an LED flashlight that I got for Christmas and long exposure times.

Art? Where art thou?

We spent most of the day on Toronto’s subway system, ferrying us from on Value Village/Goodwill/Salvation Army to another. The picture above is of the sign for Dufferin Subway Station.

We couldn’t find any decent art for our apartment, like we were looking for, and the only thing that we did actually get was a VCR which doesn’t seem to work. I’ll probably be throwing that out tomorrow.

Shopping in the Tacky Aisle

In an effort to de-officify our apartment, Candice and I planned a trip north of Steeles to the big bad box store in Vaughn (read: Wal-Mart). However, because of the strike the buses aren’t going to their usual stops and the bus to Vaughn is a weird one at the best of times, so we ended up waiting in the cold for ages and the bus didn’t show up.

We ended up getting on a different bus and heading to a Value Village to look around for interesting used things that might go nicely in our apartment. There was a very nice and very large painting that we both really liked but unfortunately it was beyond our price range (even after I managed to get talk the staff down by $20).

The above picture is of some of the much tackier items I browsed through at the store.

Even the Thermometers are Shivering

So I don’t know if you’re heard, but Toronto is cold. Actually, most of Canada and the US that is anywhere in-land is currently really cold.

The picture above is of an intersection where CUPE 3903 usually has a picket line set up because of the (still) ongoing strike at York University (where I live and [when there isn't a strike] go to school). However, because of the freezing cold temperatures forecasted for the day (-20 C, -30 C with wind chill), the union has actually called off the picket lines for the day. I’m glad that those guys won’t have to be out there in those temperatures.

Back to Work

Back at work at the York Federation of Students (YFS) offices today. They are the Student’s Union at York University. Spent most of the day searching the ‘net for articles supporting previous accomplishments of the Union. Pretty tame, but there isn’t a whole lot going on at York since most students are not on campus because of the ongoing strike.

New Lens!

I just picked picked up a new 50mm Prime lens for my camera - something that I’ve been wanting to get for a couple of months now. This will allow to take pictures in low light, something I couldn’t do well with my previous lens.

To test out the new lens, I took this shot of some candles on our ‘dining room’ table (the quotations are meant to imply that we don’t have a dining room, but we do have a table that we eat at which I might as well call the dining room table).

And… we’re back.

We made it back to Toronto, luggage and all. Now comes the (somewhat) daunting task of making this apartment a little more livable and comfortable.

Packing

The photos for the next day or two aren’t exactly stellar but more documentary.

This is how I spent most of my January 11, 2009 - packing, unpacking, repacking (while trying to squeeze in games of Mario Kart Wii).