Simon Tonekham’s Blog

I was reading a news article today that Microsoft’s answer to Apple’s iPod is finally heading to Canadian store shelves. The Zune, which was released back in the United States in the beginning of 2007 is finally to compete against the iPod. As an iPod owner, I personally haven’t tried the Zune out myself, but I saw a display at a Target store down in Erie, Pennsylvania on a snowy day back in February 2007. For some, it’s finally worth the wait after we left out in the cold for the Apple iPhone to come out. With the Zune and the iPhone finally hitting Canadian store shelves, people can decide which portable music player is best for them. There’s no word if the Zune will be “iTunes” friendly. Well, it’s anyone’s guess.

In other Microsoft related news, it seems that Microsoft has finally pulled out of the controversial bid to buy Yahoo which in turn cause a ripple effect on their stocks. Both shares of Yahoo and Microsoft were slightly dropped after the announcement. For my part, it seems that both companies have finally “Decided to break it” after they couldn’t agree on a certain deal. If Microsoft were to buy Yahoo today, it’ll be topsy-turvy in the information world and this could fuel the next dot-com bubble (like it was back in the late-1990s and heading towards the early-2000s).

In other news, the Virgin Festival in Vancouver (the music festival in which many big-ticket acts perform for two days) has cancelled after it had failed to secure many of the big-ticket and top acts. This is the second time that such a music festival has cancelled in the Vancouver (and B.C.) music scene. First, it was the Vans Warped Tour that pulled out of Vancouver. Now the Virgin Festival has finally fallen to it’s wrath.

Andrew Bridge, one of the organizers has quote in an interview: “It wasn’t from a lack of trying, but we just couldn’t make it come together this year for Vancouver. We don’t want to do a sub-optimal festival in Vancouver, We want to make sure that we hold up extremely high standards.”

Rock festivals in Vancouver bring a lot of money to the city’s economy. Now with two tours being nixed, it leaves many music fans in a uncertain economic future. The V-Fest website for the Vancouver listing mentions that they will be back next year. Let’s hope it doesn’t happen to one businessman who bilked up thousands of dollars on the Walkerton Watershed Festival (which was cancelled not once, but twice - back in 2003 and 2004).

In other news, I was a reading an article at durhamregion.com about residents protesting against Rouge Valley Health System’s move on moving the mental beds from the Ajax-Pickering Hospital to Scarborough’s Centenary Health Centre. The hospital coroporation suffered a massive debt worth $78 million CDN. According to one MPP (Member of Parliament), the person who is planning to go for treatment in Scarborough is unrealistic.

Many protesters, from residents to members who work for the Ontario Public Services Employees Union (or OPSEU) took part in a rally against the hospital’s decision to move all mental health beds to Scarborough. Despite the rainy weather, many of them won’t give up a fight. When I was in Grade 9 and attended the now-defunct Exeter High School, we used to participate in the Terry Fox Run and I can see the hospital in the distance.

In other news, my first day in the Electronics course went very well. I’m striving to be very well in this particular course. 7 weeks is not bad for me. Anyways, I’m leaving you a few lyrics that will fit the scenarios.

Westlife - “If I let you go”:

But if I let you go
I will never know
What my life would be
Holding you close to me
Will I ever see
You smiling back at me
How will I know?
If I let you go …

Marianas Trench - “Push”:

Hey, don’t you feel it now?
My shiny side down
Hey, burning brighter still
And you’re getting sick
And you’re feeling it

It’ll wear you down and wear you down
You chase it, breathing in and out and in and out
They’ll push you up against the wall, against the wall
You didn’t think you’d feel it all but you were wrong about it
Push

References:

http://www.electronista.com/articles/08/04/30/zune.for.canada.in.may/

http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/06/zune-headed-for-canada-on-june-13th/

http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5hjU4WijVVNa5XulswezGrDtj0Tsw

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Technology/PCWorld/story?id=4785469

http://newsdurhamregion.com/news/durham/article/98295

http://newsdurhamregion.com/news/ajax/article/97948

http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/412746

http://newsdurhamregion.com/news/ajax/article/98389

http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/421227

“Cancelled Virgin Fest leaves B.C. cold”, Calgary Sun, 04 May 2008

“Don’t make cuts to Ajax Hospital”, Newsdurhamregion.com, 15 April 2008

I was logging in to my Facebook today until something came to my attention: The 2008 Vans Warped Tour is coming to Toronto and this time - it’s personal. The tour will be held at Downsview Park on July 19th, 2008. Although the Warped Tour website hasn’t confirmed as of yet, there’s a slight possibility that they will change it - to the fans dismay. Either it’s going to be a different site in Toronto or as always in Barrie (either Park Place or Burl’s Creek Park as the organizers had planned).

It seems that my blog posting might have contributed to the tour being held at Downsview Park.  To my surprise, I was pleased with the fans demands. They don’t want to drive all the way to Barrie just to see the tour and spending the whole day listening to some Punk Rock performances. Most of the people who drive to Barrie either has friends or prefer to stay at a hotel. With the Warped Tour being held within Toronto city limits, getting the tour is very easy - if you have the knowledge of reading transit maps!

Downsview Park is situated at a former Canadian Forces base in Toronto. The land is owned by the Federal Government and is now a urban park. To get to Downsview Park, you have to take the TTC subway on the Yonge-University-Spadina line to Downsview station. There are many transit routes that serve the park, but one TTC bus route, the 101 Parc Downsview Park goes directly to the park - however it’s a seasonal route. I would highly recommend boarding this bus route if the Warped Tour is planned to be at the park. If you are coming from York Region, take the Viva Orange or Viva Purple bus to York University. Transfer to the 101 TTC bus. However, there’s one catch - you might have to pay two separate fares in this case (from VIVA to TTC).

This event listing from Tourism Toronto’s website explains explicitly:

July 19, 2008
Warped Tour, Downsview Park
www.downsviewpark.ca
An exciting touring music and extreme sports festival as it rolls into Downsview Park.  This event is for the music enthusiast as over 100 bands will play throughout the day on multiple stages. Downsview Park is a unique four season urban recreational green space developed according to the principles of environmental, economic and social sustainability. The park reflects Canada’s mosaic brilliance and celebrates its past, present and future accomplishments.

I hope that my dream will finally come true. I’ve waited for 4 to 5 years on having the Warped Tour to play within Toronto city limits.

Still with transit, GO Transit is looking for a $.15 CDN per ride increase (for an adult fare) - pending a vote by the GO Transit board this Friday. If the vote goes ahead, it would mean your monthly pass will cost $195 CDN. For a 10-ride adult ticket, it will cost $54.75 CDN - that’s $1.25 CDN more from $53.50CDN. This also applies to discount fares. It will be two years since GO increased its fares. The factors on the fare increase is the new services provided by GO include: the newly expanded train service to Barrie, new buses on the Highway 407 and Lakeshore corridors and most of all - inflation. Rising energy costs are the factor of the fare increase.

Despite the fare increases, GO Transit remains a reliable way to go to work, school or play. As for the Warped Tour, I wonder if Kevin Lyman will comply with the Downsview Park offer….

References:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=10104336125 

http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20080207/GO_fares_080207/20080207?hub=TorontoHome 

http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_19369.aspx 

http://www.680news.com/news/local/article.jsp?content=20080207_094251_4220 

http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/301280 

With the holidays over for all, there’s one thing that most people should worry about: paying off your debts after you had spend recklessly with your credit cards (or charge card)! Now, I’m not trying to bash at you about your own health, but I had decided to offer some tips on how to avoid going into the long run of carrying your balance around. Whether it’s a major credit card (Visa, MasterCard, American Express) or a store credit card, my ideal tips will help you in desperate situations.

1) Try to pay at least the minimum balance (whenever possible) or if you can - pay the entire balance in full. Paying the entire balance in full will help you further and maintain a good credit rating.

2) Carry cash or debit card for smaller purchases or wait until there’s a certain sale, where prices are marked down.

3) Consider consolidating your debt and refrain from paying any minimum payments. The reason, it will end up costing you more down the road.

For example: if you have $3,000 outstanding on a credit card at 19.8% and you make the minimum payment, it’ll take you 17 years to pay it off and you’ll have paid over $3,300 in interest.

There are many companies out there offering credit counseling and consolidation services out there, either on the internet or by consulting your yellow pages (phone book). I’ve posted a few sites out for all of you to see. To finish off this blog posting, I’m going to leave you a few tunes from my favourite band, Marianas Trench.

Say Anything:

Decided To Break It:

Just like Josh Ramsay is saying in the beginning of the “Decided to Break It” music video, “I’M NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE!!”. That’s the quote you will say if you can’t pay off your debts on time.

References:

http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_18158.aspx

http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_17198.aspx 

InCharge Debt solutions

Credit Counseling Canada

Consolidated Credit Counseling Services Of Canada

As you people are preparing for hosting your own party at your house, or going to a friend’s place to do the celebrations there, heading to a public place to witness all the excitement or just wanted to watch the ‘tube for the celebrations, I want to say best wishes for the new year and I hope 2008 will be more exciting as it was for 2007.

Anyways, Music World, a struggling music chain once owned by the Pindoff family has finally closed down for good after they had liquidated it’s assets. When I last went to the Pickering Town Centre location of Music World, there was nothing left. The store was almost empty, but there was a few CDs left behind, even the currently released ones - all marked down by half price. Another interesting thing is that they are selling a box of surplus shopping bags - for only $5.00CDN a box!!! I wonder who will get those bags….possibly it’s anyone’s guess. My idea - sold those bags and take those surplus bags to a specialized recycle company and possibly turn into new shopping bags. That’s how recycling works.

I felt really sorry for the people who worked for the company, but if you are a former Music World employee reading my blog right now, I wish you the best of luck finding your new job or taking the job you currently have.

Changing gears, what are your new year’s resolution? My new year’s resolution goes as follows:

• Go to as much concerts as possible (even some Punk Rock concerts)
• Lose some weight
• Save money
• No strike by GO Transit (which all hell with break loose on January 7th, 200
• Recommendations that GO Transit should wear “ID badges” complete with the number of that particular employee.

The last two are my main points. First off, I don’t want a strike to happen by GO Transit bus drivers and second, I would highly recommend that all GO transit bus drivers, ticket staff, maintenance workers, locomotive engineers, etc. should wear ID badges complete with a unique number to identify that employee. This is my latest addition as my ongoing dispute with the transit authority. I already informed the student ID coordinator about my problem, which I’m still awaiting their response. If GO Transit does not apologize for the incident, all hell with break loose and that how I have decided to break it. I’m filing a class action lawsuit against the company for the “unfair” practices. As what the song by Marianas Trench goes:

You can take it all away and I’ll miss
There’s a little bit of you in all this
And you can say you only think you know, yeah
Please, there’s a better bit of me to see yet
Cause you haven’t seen any of my best
You know I hate myself without you now

Hurts the same when nobody knows
I guess that’s just how it goes
And I won’t say anything at all

To see the music video “Say Anything” by Marianas Trench, you can view it here:

To learn more about Marianas Trench, please visit their website at www.marianastrench.net. On behalf on myself, I wish everyone a safe and happy new year. If you drink, please don’t drive. Arrive Alive. Drive Sober and Use your RoadSense.

Well folks, I went down cross-border shopping to Niagara Falls and Buffalo, New York with my mom today and we had a lot of fun. That’s all I have to say. I bought two Famous Stars and Straps t-shirts, a can of Vurt deodorant bodyspray and some Vurt eau de toilette from a store called PacSun (Pacific Sunwear for short). I spent around $66U.S. As for my mom she spent some stuff from Guess, Bath and Body Works and Hickory Farms. I can’t remember what stuff she spent, but that’s ok.

Anyways, this is a take home message to all of you cross-border shoppers down there - especially if you are using your debit card in the United States. I just want to point out that not all Canadian bank cards (depending if you deal with a major Canadian bank or a credit union\caisse populaire) work in the United States. This “instance” occurred when I witnessed a Canadian trying to pay a purchase at a American store using his ATM card.  In this case, the person was using a CIBC bank card to pay for the purchase. That card does not work. He tried another bank card, that didn’t work. The cashier told them that there’s a bank machine somewhere in the mall, but instead the person decided to use his Visa Credit Card.

It seems that Canadian people followed a message on one contributor to the Toronto Star newspaper about our soaring dollar. Here’s what he have to say:

“Don’t forget folks, if you use your ATM card in the U.S. the good ol’ Canadian banks will charge you a 2.5% conversion fee on the withdrawn amount. ” - Ron Russell, El Naranjo Mexico

Let me point this out, folks: Not all Canadian bank cards will not work in the United States. Even thought that the card displays the PLUS or Cirrus logos doesn’t mean that this card will not work on an American debit network. Unless, if you are the lucky ones who bank with TD Canada Trust, Scotiabank, RBC Royal Bank, National Bank of Canada, le Mouvement Desjardins and ATB Financial, you can use your debit card in the states with no problem (NYCE is a debit card network in the states that will work with these financial institutions). I’ve decided to ammend Mr. Russell’s claim (sorry, dude. You just give the Canadian’s a misunderstanding) as a result (the explaination can be found on my old Livejournal blog, which since has been closed down).

There’s another debit network in the states called ACCEL/Exchange. As far as I know, Citizens Bank of Canada and Vancity are the only two financial institutions that offers access to that American debit network. A “minor” debit network called the CO-OP network has a debit system as well. Only two financial institutions, Alterna Savings and Alterna Bank offer such a service. There’s one benefit of that network: They’re all ding-free (surcharge-free)!

Now, don’t feel blue, you guys. I’m just posting my “second opinion”. When I checked out the Fashion Outlets Mall and the Walden Galleria, there’s is foreign exchange service provided by a company called “eFX” that recently accept Canadian bank cards!!! To give proof, I saw a sign that says, “Now accepting Interac”. Those were the only places that accept Canadian debit cards - but just only for changing currencies from Canadian dollars to the respective currencies such as the U.S. Dollar. I haven’t tried this myself, so if anyone is planning to go to these shopping malls, I highly recommend that you give a try. It’ll make a difference. If in doubt: you can always exchange money in Canada before shopping in the U.S. or use your Canadian Credit Card in the U.S. If you intend to cash money at an American bank machine (either using your bank card or debit card), be prepared to pay all the extra fees.

We hope that this information you find will be very useful.

References:

http://www.royalbank.com/products/deposits/cross-border-debit.html 

http://www.scotiabank.com/cda/content/0,1608,CID8186_LIDen,00.html 

http://www.desjardins.com/en/nouveautes/paiement_direct_eu.jsp 

http://www.tdcanadatrust.com/ebanking/tda_dir.jsp 

http://www.nyce.net/consumers/crossborderdebit/crossborderdebit.html 

http://www.atb.com/Dev/features/abm_interac.asp and http://www.atb.com/Dev/aboutatb/atb_index.asp (scroll down until you find the word, “NYCE”)

https://www.vancity.com/MyMoney/ProductsandServices/Banking/WaystoBank/

https://www.citizensbank.ca/Personal/Products/BankAccounts/HowtoBankwithUs/INTERACDirectPayment/

http://www.alterna.ca/Templates/BankPersonalSub.aspx?mid=338&id=1302 (this is the same page as Alterna Savings’)

http://www.thestar.com/printArticle/265884 - readers’ perspective about the benefits of our stronger dollar.

http://www.thestar.com/Travel/article/271896 - facts about Cross-border shopping and many ways for you on how to pay for the purchase while shopping in the U.S.

Do you guys remember there was a slogan by a major credit card provider that always ask the viewer, “What’s in your wallet?”. Well in that case, that company is Capital One and they decided to pitch in financial support for providing the TTC free rides on the transit system - streetcar, subway and buses! The TTC haven’t done this for almost 30 years. In the past, it’s business as usual for many riders - even on New Years’ Eve. But some TTC attendants like to “break the rules” on letting passengers in so they won’t pay the fare - that’s a bad idea to some and that’s in my humble opinion. If you live in Toronto and/or going to attend the celebrations in Toronto, you’re in luck. However, there’s one drawback: the free service does not start until 12.a.m on New Years Day - Jaunary 1st, 2008.

Many other transit systems in the GTA (Greater Toronto Area) are offering similar or relatively identical promotions like the TTC. For example, Durham Region Transit is teaming up with Ontario Power Generation or OPG (the province’s power generator) and the Manufacturing and Technology Centre on providing free transit service from 8a.m. to 2a.m. GO Transit in the meatime will provide free rides after 7p.m. until end of service (All times Eastern). It is uncertain for Durham Region Transit, as they are in a middle of a $2.3 Million CDN deficit and it could rise…..As for GO Transit, their bus drivers are currently planning to have a strike sometime on January 7th, 2008. Which is blasphemy because, people will have nowhere to go! This is the worst experiences I had as a college student.

Today, I was catching a bus home from Oshawa to Ajax (I was at the Oshawa Centre to do some Boxing Day shopping). I showed my UPASS to my bus driver (a universal transit pass on my Durham College student ID card. UOIT students and Trent @ Oshawa students also participate in the program and it’s included in the tuition) and the bus driver told me that the UPASS is NOT valid on holiday service. I’ve tried to persuade him that it is valid during on holidays, but the driver refused my claim. I was then forced to pay with my leftover DRT adult ticket. Another colleague of mind - this time a UOIT student showed the UPASS to the driver and she got the same response as mine. She was then forced to pay cash as a result. She didn’t got angry at first and for myself, I tried to cool down my frayed tempers. By the time I left the GO bus, I was mumbling to myself on my head. Shortly after the incident, I briefly recorded the bus number, the date and time of the incident and where the incident occurred. I filed a complaint to GO Transit and to the Better Business Bureau. To view my progress of the BBB report, click here.

This is the third time that I got ding’d! The first time I got ding’d was a DRT bus driver thinking that my pass is not valid. My second incident happened when another (you got that right), another GO bus driver checked my pass at the back and she thinks that I had altered my pass, but what I was suppose to mean is that the inked that the student ID office stamped for me got smudged. So after that, I have to get my student ID replaced. This is a very bad experience for me, I’m considering to file a lawsuit against Durham Region Transit and GO Transit (the problem is, i don’t know where to start and as the old saying goes, it’s up to the courts to decide). The College’s paper had written an article about the UPASS misuse and you can view it right here. Here’s what a co-ordinator for student identification services referred about me:

“The onus is on the bus services. Some drivers don’t check, and it’s up to them to enforce it. We had one guy come in and he’d written over his stamp in marker……as if we couldn’t tell it was his handwriting. We will re-stamp cards if they become faded, scratched or damaged, though. It happens.” The bottom line is that using a fake stamp on campus ID cards is considered fraud.

Anyways, free transit rides are a sure thing that the TTC has finally get their hands in their pockets. To close it off, I would like to say best wishes for a better 2008. If you are going to a public place, like an arena (such as Oshawa’s Celebrate 2008 at the General Motors Centre) or a square (like CityTV’s New Year’s Bash 2008 at Nathan Philips Square in Toronto), this is my take home advice for you: Remember to be kind and generous to other people at this time of year. If you exaggeratedly filed with excitement, you have decided to break it. Just like the song by a band from Vancouver, B.C. called Marianas Trench. The song goes like this:

A thousand promises that never seemed to help me before
A hundred less and I would stumble till I found the back door
With nothing left to think I’ll probably sit around and ignore
The apathy it always leads me
It always finds a way to break me down…

And that’s when I decided to break it

Remember what the phrase in a scene in the “Decided to Break It” music video:

“Failure is not an opinion. It’s inevitable.”

You can view Marianas Trench’s music video below. To learn more about the band, please visit www.marianastrench.net:

References:

http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_18024.aspx

http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20071226/free_TTC_071226/20071226?hub=TorontoHome

http://www.thestar.com/News/article/288699

http://680news.com/news/local/article.jsp?content=20071226_094649_4740

Hey guys,

I’m finally back after almost a week’s break of writing my exams. Therefore, blog posting will continue throughout the holidays until January at least. I’m just happy that my exams are finally over and as we go over towards the holidays, it’s time to relax and enjoy the comfort of our own homes and we await what a new year will bring us.

Changing gears, has one of you people finished your Christmas shopping yet? If you haven’t, I highly urge you to do your shopping NOW. Don’t wait until the last minute and remember these things:

If you are using a credit card or debit card, plan a budget and only spend what you really need for your family or friends. You could save a lot of hassle from getting a lot of debt in January…

If you don’t know what to get your family member of friend, then gift cards are a good way to go. Most retailers have stopped issuing gift certificates in favour of the reloadable, reusable and durable gift card. If you live in the Province of Ontario, Canada, you have some good news: The Ontario government has banned expiry dates of all gift cards. However, some gift cards might have expire dates and some retailers are not in compliance with the Ontario legislation. I highly urge you to read the fine print before making a decision.

Until then, good luck.

- P.S. I will post a flashback posting on this blog tomorrow.

Article:

http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/283382

Well, it’s the weekend and it’s the coldest day of year. December 1st marks the day on which people start their Christmas shopping and embark on a major adventure on getting their gifts for their loved ones…lol

Anyways, the other day, I was watching a segment on MTV Live and one of the people on TV talked about how Oshawa (aka the Dirty Shwa) has finally got an award for the best livable city at the 2007 International Awards for Liveable Communities.  The city placed third in the category of a population of 75,001 to 200,000 people. Ipswich, Australia placed 1st, while Richmond, British Columbia placed a scoring 2nd.

For my part, I go to college in Oshawa and while I’m in Vancouver, I love to visit Richmond, B.C. in the west. Richmond has an excellent Asian Population while Oshawa is king to the auto industry and I would like to call Oshawa, the “Education Capital” of Canada. Why do you ask? Durham College and the University of Ontario Institute of Technology are the key employers in the city. As for Richmond, they are many shopping malls down there. There’s Richmond Centre, Lansdowne Centre and the Asian-themed Aberdeen Centre.

The city will also play a key role when the Canada Line is slated to be opened in 2009 - just in time for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics.  Steveston, a village in Richmond is very popular to many tourists and many locals down there. The (now-defunct) RDS skatepark was very popular for skateboarders, aggressive rollerbladers, etc., but the skatepark has since closed down.

Both Oshawa and Richmond have great transit systems as well. Sometimes the 1 Simcoe route in Oshawa is often overcrowded during certain periods. Here’s my suggestions:

• Launch a dedicated Simcoe-express service from Bloor with express stops to Bond, Rossland, Taunton and the Campus
• Purchase more articulated buses for the key route

Those are my suggestions so far….lol

If you people haven’t heard the news lately, the union representing GO Transit’s, bus drivers, maintenance staff and ticket operators decided to walk off the job because they had rejected a new offer from the Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 1587. If they don’t accept a new offer anytime soon by December 10th, 2007  at 12:01 Toronto time, they will walk off the job. GO Trains are not affected for the strike as they are operated by CN (for all other lines) and CP (for the Milton line) respectively.

Let’s hope that this shouldn’t happen, unlike the strike by the CAW (Canadian Autoworkers Union) Local 222 representing transit drivers for Durham Region Transit last year. From my experience, transit service was severely disrupted throughout Durham Region, except for Whitby as they are contracted out. I survived one strike on my first year at Durham College and I don’t want another strike to happen again. I would be forced to eat many bowls of All Bran Guardian cereal (which happens to be my favourite cereal of all) for the duration of the strike!!!

I wonder how other transit authorities will cope with the ongoing situation for GO bus drivers….hmmm….we’ll have to wait and see……..

Information:

http://www.atu1587.org/GoTransit/index.htm 

http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_17195.aspx 

Well, it’s finally official. The new mascots for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics/Paralympic games has finally unveiled. When the news first broke out, my tears began to water! Those mascots look really cute!!!! The mascots are:

Quatchi: A very shy sasquatch who likes to meet new friends and explore new places.

Miga: A half-orca (whale), half kermode bear, who likes to do anything fun and exciting.

Sumi: An animal guardian spirit with the wings of a thunderbird and legs of a black bear

Mukmuk: A Vancouver Island Marmot that acts as their official sidekick.

Speaking of Marmot, I was watching a news report yesterday and I heard that the Marmots are considered to be an endangered specie - meaning that they are on the verge of extinction. There was a connection to the marmot. A zookeeper at the Toronto Zoo set up a special project to save the Vancouver island marmot. They decided to go out west and capture as many marmots as they can. As a result, there’s some mixed reviews on the Toronto Zoo’s project to save the Vancouver Island Marmot. I was very impressed by the effort they made.

Anyways, if you want to checkout the mascots for yourself, please do so at this link: http://vancouver2010.com/mascot/en/index.php

Here’s a video on where you can see the mascots in action: http://vancouver2010.com/mascot/en/meet.php

Or, if you are anxious to view this right away:

Alternate link to the video above: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnSncdPP8VY

The opening on the Youtube video is slightly cut, but that doesn’t matter. Here’s what the mascots look like: http://www.notcot.com/archives/2007/11/2010_vancouver.php

By the time I saw the video and the mascots in action, I literally cried…My tears began to water and I want to get a hold of these mascots! But fear no more, HBC has started to release some swag (merchandise) for the 2010 Winter Olympics just in time for the holiday season! If you want to check out the swag and have the opportunity to buy them online (some Zellers and The Bay stores are selling these merchandise at their participating stores), please check out this link: http://www.hbc.com/mascots.html

I really love to hug those mascots for sure!!!! ^_^

Changing gears, I’ve put up my first “Flashback” posting on my blog. This week is going back through time when Blink 182 performed for their last every concert in Canada:

It’s been almost three years since Blink 182 ran into an indefinite hiatus. That hiatus isn’t complete with the last-ever show by the band. As our concert reporter Kevin Talbot reports back on that day on May 29, 2004, Blink 182 performed at Toronto’s Molson Amphitheatre with a sold-out crowd.
[View our report]
The ball had finally come down in early 2005 when Blink-182 made a big announcement that they are taking an indefinite hiatus. From then, they are no plans for a possible reunion. In November 2005, the record label had released their Greatest Hits CD compiling of hit songs from their musical career. Guitarist Tom Delonge is now in another band called Angels & Airwaves. Their new album “I-empire” was released in November 6^th, 2007. This was a follow-up to their debut album “We Don’t Need to Whisper” which was released back in May 23^rd, 2006. As for drummer Travis Barker and Bassist Mark Hoppus, they are now in a new band called +44 (Plus 44). Their debut album “When your heart stops beating” was released last year on November 14, 2006. Work, currently underway for their second follow up album, is slated to be released tentatively in 2008.