Entries Tagged 'Ottawa' ↓

of this site has been sadly neglected for a long time, but I continue to have high hopes that I will be able to resurrect it and post longer-form pieces there from time to time. A small step in the right direction is a little thing I just posted called, “True Facts about Ottawa“. If you’ve been following along, you know that I moved from Montreal to Ottawa last summer, having spent my childhood and youth here in Capital City.

has expanded to include all of Ontario, including the Ottawa area. “It’s 9:44am on Thursday. There are 18 retail outlets you can get booze
in Ottawa and the surrounding region right now [sic].”

here in the last week, but before it gets too late I want to note that one of my many activities, last Wednesday’s first* Ottawa Bloggers get-together at the always fabulous Manx Pub was a pile of fun. Miss Vicky aka Vicky Smallman did most of the heavy lifting in terms of organization, and proved to be a delightful host. Also attending were Accidental Altruist, and both women brought their companions as well, who were also good company. It was a good start to what will likely come to be known as YOWblog or some such.

I’ve noticed since moving to Ottawa two weeks ago is that almost all of the big-box stores I’ve been in - i.e., many of them - feature entry doors on the left and exits on the right as you’re facing the store. In Montreal, and in most other places I’ve been, in general you go in to a store on the right and leave by the left. In other words, when you leave, that exit is on the right as well from that perspective. If this were the case in one or two stores I would assume that it’s just a quirk of that particular building or location that the designer had to flip the layout. In Ottawa, though, it seems to be the norm. I wonder what accounts for the difference?

but it has been unavoidable. We have been spending a lot of time in Ottawa interviewing for jobs, meeting old friends, and most time-consumingly, buying a house. We finally succeeded - after two other abortive attempts - and we’re moving to the mighty Capital City at the end of June. More details to come.

For those who are interested, this is the new place:

It was an action packed holiday this year, full of travel and family and food and fun. So, to summarize, some random remarks:

• We spent a few days in Ottawa, where I was in fact underwhelmed by the selection at the LCBO outlets I visited. To be honest I fail to see how this is funny in any way either. It was shocking to me that one of the largest wine buyers in the world was so poorly stocked in Bordeaux, particularly in the mid-range but also in supposed high-end Vintages shops.
• On the other hand, I was a little surprised at the unanimity of reaction to our local SAQ strike. I guess people aren’t that sympathetic to cashiers who don’t know their product but still make $16.00 an hour.
• There’s nothing like spending Christmas around a 10-month-old baby!
• A lot of people in Ottawa warned us of the traffic on the A-5 North to Chelsea. These people clearly haven’t lived in a big city recently. 15-25 km in ANY traffic doesn’t take THAT long.
• It was really interesting to spend an extended amount of time in Ottawa with my favourite francophone in the world. I learned that the city is a LOT more French than I ever knew.
• We avoided deciding between several choices for New Year’s Eve until the last minute this year, and boy did that work out well for us. We went to Ed and Martine’s house for a great cocktail party that lasted well into the night. I was lucky not to get allergic to Spiff all night and although I drank far too much, I nevertheless managed to have wonderful conversations with several people who are new to me, including Beth and her SO, J. (I haven’t noticed his name online yet, so I’ll not post it myself.)
• Doing nothing is highly underrated
• We saw both The Aviator and The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou over the holidays. Both were quite enjoyable and I recommend them, although in different ways. The Hughes biopick is an interesting, if over-packed, study of a life. Too ambitious by far but still fun. The Life Aquatic is a film for Wes Anderson fans. If you’re not a fan already, the gang here isn’t going to convince you. If you are a fan, you’ll see it in the theater and still buy the DVD as soon as it comes out.