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That horrible screetching you hear at Queen and Parliament? Get used to it.
The other day, Jenna and I awoke to the sound of screaming steel at Queen and Parliament as TTC streetcars diverted south. Streetcar after streetcar made the turn, and I thought, “I wonder what’s wrong. I wonder how long long they’ll divert traffic.”
Turns out we’re in for more than a month of this. From TTC.ca:
Route diverting during watermain replacement
Starting 6:00 am, Monday, July 20 until 7:00 am, Tuesday, September 8, The City of Toronto and the TTC will conduct watermain replacement and streetcar track reconstruction affecting Queen Street East, between Berti Street and Jarvis Street. During construction, route 501 QUEEN and 502 DOWNTOWNER streetcars and 301 QUEEN route all-night streetcars will divert eastbound via Victoria, Adelaide, Church, King and Parliament. Westbound streetcars will divert via Parliament, King , Church Richmond and Victoria.
The stops on Queen Street East, between Victoria Street and Parliament Street will not be served.
Want to know what it sounds like? I made a quick and dirty recording. Make sure you listen all the way through before reading on: [audio:http://blip.tv/file/get/Dmisener-501Eastbound101.mp3]
One more thing: the 501 passes by our corner often. From 6am to 11pm, it comes by about every ten minutes. In both directions, east and west. So if we’re lucky, we hear this once every five minutes.
How long before I go crazy, I wonder.
[original image by mattjiggins]
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Short Ukulele story on Big City, Small World
This past weekend Big City, Small World aired a short radio piece I produced about the Corktown Ukulele Jam: [audio:http://blip.tv/file/get/Dmisener-BCSWUkulelePak226.mp3]
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Come see my brand new rock and roll band play this Thursday (please)
As I’ve mentioned before, I’m in a brand new rock and roll back band called The Sweat.
We play Spinal Tap-inspired tough-guy rock, with tongue planted firmly in cheek.
We’re playing our first ever full-length show this Thursday, July 9 at the El Mocambo with two other bands: Huron and Sandman Viper Command. We’d love to see you there.
There’s a Facebook event for the show, if you’re into that kind of thing.
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I broke 15k today
Next stop, A Midsummer Night’s Run.
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One man’s junk
There’s a famous story about the first item sold on eBay:
[T]he site began with the listing of a single broken laser pointer. Though Pierre [Omidyar, eBay’s founder] had intended the listing to be a test more than a serious offer to sell at auction, he was shocked when the item sold for $14.83. Pierre knew that he’d created something big as soon as he contacted the winning bidder to ask if he understood that the pointer was broken.
“I’m a collector of broken laser pointers,” came the reply.
I had a similar experience yesterday. Going through the closet, I found some old electronics I wanted to get rid of, including a broken T-Mobile Dash that I’d nearly forgotten about. So I posted it on Craiglist:
For sale: one piece of crap T-Mobile Dash (aka HTC Excalibur).
I hate this phone. It doesn’t work well at all. It reboots randomly. The camera doesn’t work. It drops calls. It’s awful.
A few hours later, a message in my inbox:
I shall remove that peice [sic] of junk from your hands…
Turns out someone needed parts for their own broken Dash. We met up a few hours later. The buyer got the phone, I got some cash, and nothing ended up in the landfill.
Thanks Internet.