Your ads will be inserted here byEasy Plugin for AdSense.Please go to the plugin admin page toPaste your ad code OR Suppress this ad slot. It’s no secret that I’m rather less than a fan of the Para Transpo system run by the city of Ottawa. You might say if someone paid me to use […]
Category Archives: Ottawa
Why you could not pay me enough to use Ottawa’s Para Transpo.
Your ads will be inserted here byEasy Plugin for AdSense.Please go to the plugin admin page toPaste your ad code OR Suppress this ad slot. Having at one time been responsible for helping someone who essentially depended on Para Transpo if conditions were severe enough that she couldn’t get around on her own, I had […]
Is it spring yet…?
Ottawa winters can usually fall into two categories. “Six layers required” cold, or enough snow that the first step of getting out of your driveway is, well, finding your driveway. This winter, Ottawa has decided hey, let’s go for the best of both worlds. So, because it’s either holy crap cold or holy crap snowing […]
Why I will be a #Uber convert for as long as they’ll let me.
It’s a way too familiar story if you live pretty much anywhere. Your options for getting from A to B if you don’t feel like driving are limited to friends with cars, public transportation, or a handful of taxi companies who all charge very similar prices, take way too damn long to get to you, […]
Ottawa loses its mind. Again.
One of the things I miss when I’m behind on things is local braindeadness. Particularly local braindeadness to the tune of let’s screw with traffic more than normal because speeders. So I missed it when Ottawa’s council decided it would be a mighty fine idea to experiment last summer. People don’t like to slow down […]
On OC Transpo’s public disservice announcements.
I’ve mentioned the automated bus stop announcements they’re now using up here for OC Transpo. They were a long time coming, and it’s actually nice to see they work really quite well–so long as the system’s been appropriately kicked into gear, but I expect that these days. On recent trips, though, I’ve noticed they’ve become […]
How to confuse the automated bus stop announcement system: fall hopelessly behind schedule.
If you’ve spent any time in Ottawa at all, you’ve probably had reason to step foot on its public transit system. If you’ve done so at any point since somewhere around 2010, you’ve more than likely gotten to experience their automated stop announcements. Occasionally, as good as the system is, it’s been known to take […]
Silly cyclist; bikes are for roads.
I can neither drive nor safely and independently bike from A to B, so for the longest time the cycling debate that shows up every so often here in Ottawa hasn’t caught my attention for the simple fact of it can’t and didn’t involve me. A couple folks on bikes wanted to change that yesterday, […]
Shout Sister Ottawa goes big, before they go home.
Got a free evening with nothing to do tonight? Find yourself in or near the Ottawa area? The Shout Sister choir will solve that problem and then some. Their final show of the year happens tonight, and anyone in driving range is invited. If you can get to 2675 Draper Ave for an 8:00 show, […]
Side-effects of being a #Sens fan: Desperation leads to conspiracy.
That sucking sound you may or may not have just heard is what little of Ottawa’s sanity remains quickly finding and utilizing the nearest exit. While on the bus coming back from dealing with a few things, I was privy to the most interesting of sports related discussions. Interesting in that it almost had very […]
Because Ottawa doesn’t have enough of that small town feeling.
One of the things that keeps me close to Ottawa is that it’s got all of the convenience of a major city, but the atmosphere of a small town. More often than not, that’s a thing that kind of comes out when you least expect it. Like on the first weekend of actual warm weather, […]
In which Ottawa prepares to lose itself for about 4 games.
So. The Ottawa Senators made the playoffs. In a shortened season. One I’ve personally been avoiding since it became a shortened season. Awesome. This, roughly translated, means that for approximately the first round, the city will very likely shut down almost entirely at game time. Every sports bar, restaurant with a TV, and hell even […]
In which Ottawa would love it very much if you’d just call it Toronto.
I’ve always said toronto is not a place I’d like to live, but I’ll cheer for its sports teams–well, in baseball, anyway. Hockey as well, until this year’s lockout. Ottawa is the opposite. I love living here, but I’ll not be caught dead cheering for its hockey team–it still doesn’t have a baseball team. Now, […]
More light rail talk. This time’s the real deal. They promise.
Ever since I started considering Ottawa home, somebody somewhere’s been nattering on about light rail transit (LRT). It was supposed to be up and running by now. Then it was still in the initial planning phase. Then it was cancelled. Then it was reborn with new management. then it was over budget. Now, a small […]
Dear winter: Nice try. Do better.
I love Ottawa. Which probably has a little bit to do with the fact I’ve been here for college once and here for grown-up reasons twice. What I find amusing, though–I can’t quite decide if I love it or wish it dead–is it seems like weather paterns up here like to play with us. The […]
Ottawa goes for football team 3.0. Because… why?
A long long time ago, in an Ottawa far away, somebody somewhere thought Football in the capital would be a grand idea. It created the Ottawa Rough Riders. In theory, brilliant. In practice, they went bust. They came out with a sequel, and called them the Ottawa Renegades. They, also, went bust. That was 2005 […]
In which James is clearly not supposed to move anywhere, ever.
When I started this blog, I had no idea I’d end up moving to Ottawa. Meaning at all. And yet, I’ve officially been here twice–and every move has been quite the adventure. When I moved the first time, the hour and a half drive on a good day became the 4 hour drive in a […]
I’m dreaming of a wet Christmas?
Ottawa’s weather paterns are doing it to me again. there was actual, honest to goodness white stuff on the ground 3 days ago. There still is–in places. But largely, thanks to some nifty shifting in temperatures, the majority of that white stuff became very incredibly wet. to the point of there was a rather impressive […]
Question, #Ottawa. What the hell happened to our 1500 winter warnings?
So coming on the end of November, we were still dealing with temperatures mostly above freezing. I mean sure, okay–there was that one minor little snow scare that made me go “oh shit where’s my portable shovel” a couple weeks ago, but for the most part, it’s been actually, you know, pleasant. Just at, or […]
Shout sister video. Or, guidedogs: not just for guiding anymore.
When I posted about the choir performance on Friday–you know, the one May was all over for about a week before, and will be for about a month after, I eluded to Noah having up and claimed a starring role. For those who don’t know, Noah would be May’s guidedog. Being the guidedog, he pretty […]
OC Transpo would like to charge you too much for your on-the-way coffee.
On the face of it, city councillor Diane Deans’s idea to drop a few coffee shops at major transit stops in Ottawa is a good one. I have no idea how many times I’m trying to get to x place, that passes right through y transit station, and my only option for coffee is to […]
Shout Sister awesomeness.
I mentioned yesterday that the thing to do in this apartment now is a local choir. I tossed this link out there if you were curious to check it out. They performed last night, and because it’s me, that meant I tagged along with recorder in hand. Good effin’ lord, they’re awesome. Keep an eye […]
So how much of Ottawa spent yesterday afternoon in the dark?
Something else I’m going to need to get used to. When there’s a power issue in Ottawa, this building usually isn’t part of it–well, unless management breaks something but that’s a whole other entry. So neither May nor I knew there was interesting times until we had stuff to do. That stuff to do took […]
James’s take: Oh, my effin’ god. Exploding now.
Every so often, I’ll accidentally come across something local that kinda makes me go holy crap the awesome. that sort of accidentally happened last weekend. Well, actually, it happened earlier last week, more or less–after a trip to starbucks. One of the folks what works there told May and I about a restaurant not far […]
Because everyone needs a shameless plug once in a while.
And since this is a thing that’s close to home, why the hell not? May has started getting back into the whole singing thing. And she’s doing it with a pretty decent local choir group. They have the occasional public performance deal going on–including one tonight, so the story goes. I’ve heard some of what […]