I realized that the purpose of this blog is really to allow me to keep track of what I have done… so that’s what I’ll do. If you want to read along and keep track of me, that’s great too.

The Toronto Star tells me that last night was the hottest on record:

If the heat kept you tossing and turning last night, consider yourself lucky - you were awake to experience the hottest night in Toronto’s recorded history.

The temperature went ‘down’ to 27 degrees Celsius overnight, the warmest low in Toronto since people started keeping track of these things way back in 1840, said David Phillips, a senior climatologist with Environment Canada.

So it felt like 45C yesterday with all the humidity… today was supposed to feel like 48C… and tomorrow is forecast for 44C…. then the rain comes and it’ll start cooling down. Hopefully I’ll be able to leave the apt again soon. Seems like a great night to test out the pool again. :)

I have had more than one person point out the fact that moving is considered more stressful than death (not your own) or divorce (your own) and I completely agree. THANKS to everyone that has helped me… mostly by listening to me rant about all the little things that have to happen… and those of you here, thanks for helping me move or assemble or just by lending me things.

I splurged after my move, and bought myself a cute little “pet”. The Roomba is currently still living in its box. I have forced myself to only let it out when there is enough space for it to run. (Then I’ll have to pick a name… find it a home base… start with costumes….)

I know the debate for picking the flag was hard… let alone designing it! There were tons of meetings looking at over 5800 flag designs by everyone, including famous Canadian artists. The final announcement was made by Lester B Pearson in December of 1964, and then 41 years ago today it was raised as our official flag.

I love the picture on that last link… I love the mountie hats in the foreground (maybe the OPP?)… the mass of photographers directly below the flag… the knowledge that there are people crammed at each one of those windows (look up at the top of the picture). Was the choice to raise it slightly to the left of the peace tower a subtle political jab? I’ll never know for sure.

Just in case any of you need sources for olympic coverage… here are a few:

• Official Olympic Website
• CBC’s Canadian Coverage
• NBC’s US Coverage
• BBC’s UK Coverage
• Australia’s Coverage - strike that…. ABC doesn’t seem to have any content newer than 2004.

As I am right now writing to you and not hiding somewhere with book seven, you can guess that it’s not the Harry Potter countdown. I can’t offically call myself a “home owner” yet, but I NOW HAVE A WASHER AND DRYER! YIPPEE!!!! I know the super-in-debt part will start soon enough, but for now I’m happy to just be an occupant. (Did I mention the washer and dryer?)

But what countdowns to replace them with? I’m not really sure.

Ontario has this odd three tiered grocery store system. Lowest tier is the “bulk/generic” grocery store where you have to pay for bags, and the produce has to be eaten ASAP or it’ll go bad. Middle tier are the grocery stores of my youth… where everything is normal and all the chains are pretty similar (except for the one with the toy/clothing section). High tier were completely new to me. These are the specialty grocery stores, which carry less of the generic stuff, and more “ethnically acceptable” brands…. like pasta that costs more than .99 per box… and chocolates with a high cocoa value… and holiday foods from europe. (This scale does not include the completely ethnic grocery chains… I guess those could be counted as a side branch…. stores like all-asian, all-east Indian… etc…)

Anyways, this is going somewhere. On my way to work, I pass through an intersection with two of the high tier stores right across the street from each other. And they’ve lately installed digital displays to tell you why you should buy their stuff instead of the stuff across the street. Today, one advertised “Worldly cheeses”. What exactly would make cheeses worldly? Have they seen the world? Do I want to eat a cheese that has been travelling around? If the sign is still up on the way home, I’ll try to grab a shot of it.

I did manage to catch up on Veronica Mars… and start my foray into Doctor Who. Both quite enjoyable. I finished up my cleaning while watching the first day’s worth of episodes of Space Cadets - The channel 4 reality show where they pretended to send them to space. Tonight, hopefully I can find a copy of the first episode of Celebrity Big Brother UK. Rumors are that some interesting people might be participating. I guess I’ll have to wait until tonight to find out for sure. I’ll have to add Channel4 to my ultimate TV lineup. So far, when “worldwide TV” becomes available… I want access to: BBC*, Channel4, Turner Classic Movies - all three are not available here. Well, BBC sortof….. but not on my TV. Maybe at my new place.