Journal

Asshole parked in my parking space

Asshole parked in my parking space

I swear, one of these days

Update: This was an over-reaction on my part, and I’m sorry about it. These are new folks who live across the street from us. The condos they moved into are supposed to park in off-street parking behind their building and not on the street, and especially not in front of our house. From what our neighbors say, that information is supposed to be given to new residents, but I don’t know if these folks have that information.

Further Update: No, they knew they shouldn’t be parking there. And they’ve been told repeatedly that they’re not supposed to do so. And they continue. So the law will soon be involved, since they’re violating a city ordinance to park here.

Sec. 621-117. Parking for longer than six hours restricted.

It shall be unlawful for the owner, driver or operator of any vehicle to park such vehicle, or to permit the vehicle to be parked or to stand, for a longer period than six (6) hours upon any street, alley, highway or other public place in the city, other than with the written consent of the owner or tenant of the property abutting the street, alley or place where the vehicle is parked; provided, however, this section shall not be deemed to permit the parking or standing of any vehicle in contravention of any other provision of this chapter or Code prohibiting, restricting or regulating the parking or standing of vehicles.

(Code 1975, § 29-263)

Also — let me make it clear, since I got a comment — putting this photo up is NOT a violation of these people’s privacy. You have no expectation of privacy if you park on a public street, whether or not you’re doing something wrong. Photography is not a crime, nor is publishing photographs taken in public spaces. They only place you have an expectation of privacy is in your own home or dwelling place, or places where you have a reasonable expectation of privacy such as a hotel room, gym locker room or store dressing room. It is perfectly legal for me to both take and publish this photography and I don’t have to obscure identifying information, like the license plate.

Continue ReadingAsshole parked in my parking space

For Sale: Old Lady Riddle’s 1940’s General Electric Stove

Old Lady Riddle’s 1940’s vintage General Electric stove was in our garage when we moved in. It was moved to the garage in the 1990s when the previous owners remodeled the kitchen, and has been there ever since. I’ve hunted around for the year of manufacture, but can’t find the exact model.

We’re Selling it on Craig’s List. Sold.

1940's General Electric Stove

Photoset: 1940’s vintage General Electric Stove

Continue ReadingFor Sale: Old Lady Riddle’s 1940’s General Electric Stove

How to Get Married in Toronto, ON

Wil asked how we went about setting up our marriage in Toronto, and I realized I never really blogged about that in the rush of planning everything. It was a very simple process, in two parts — applying for the license and having the ceremony.

First you apply for the marriage license. You fill out a very simple form for that – it’s available online as a PDF download, but is also available in city hall on the first floor, where they process the applications. The cost of the license is $140 or so. They require ID – I believe we gave them our passports, but driver’s license works also. We went to city hall and turned in our application an hour or so before the ceremony was scheduled, and they gave our our license. The website to download the license application is here: http://tinyurl.com/hmyn7

Once you have the license, you have to have a ceremony to “solemnize” the marriage. We had ours done in the wedding chambers upstairs on the 3rd floor of city hall. You have to arrange the ceremony in advance by calling, and they book you into an appointment. You give them a deposit of $95 when you make the arrangements over the phone, and the rest ($130?) before the ceremony. There’s a website for booking ceremonies in the wedding chambers: http://www.marryus.org/

The most difficult part was finding witnesses because we had to find someone around city hall to ask, but it can’t be a city employee. But in the end, the office found them for us – they were the couple getting married just after us.

Continue ReadingHow to Get Married in Toronto, ON

Back home again in Indiana

We spent the last couple of days in Toronto doing some low-key stuff. I was pretty tired after doing so much walking around every day all day. We did do some shopping in the Church-Wellsley area (the gayborhood) and we took the subway to Canadian Tire and such.

Stephanie loves the subway, but I really enjoyed the electric streetcar system – AKA the “Red Rocket.” (The Subway is known as “The Rocket.”) Put in place in 1920 – the streetcar system has been operating throughout Toronto’s downtown continuously since then.

Unlike many major cities including Indianapolis, Toronto didn’t abandon their electric streetcar system. They note that many of the cities that took them out at one time have put them back in recently to enhance their public transportation systems. (Good idea!)

Our honeymoon day 8

Our honeymoon day 8

The Time is 12:40 p.m.

Our honeymoon day 8

Our honeymoon day 8

Moose meets Dog

So we made it home and spent yesterday hanging out with our pets, who were very happy to have us back. Yay!

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Shoe Museum and Honest Eds

Saturday, Stephanie and I hopped on the Subway and went West on Bloor to see the Shoe Museum. Yes, a whole museum just dedicated to the history of footwear.

Shoe Museum

It was fun, but I wish there were some exhibits on modern styles of shoes, instead of how each culture’s footwear evolved. There were totally no Manolo’s or Jimmy Choo’s. We couldn’t go through and say “These shoes rock!” and “these shoes suck!” at all.

The museum was also hosting a exhibition on Portuguese dancing – nice because they gave us free ethnic food we otherwise would never have tried; bad because it was super crowded and hard to visit the galleries.

After that, we went a few stops further west and visited Honest Ed’s – a local bargain shopping institution in Toronto. Ed Mervish opened the 160,000 square foot bargain store in 1948 and put his experience as a theater producer to work on the branding and advertising on the store – big, gaudy filled-with-puns signs are displayed both outside and in.

Honest Ed's

Honest Ed's

The merchandise is pretty much like a gigantic Big Lots or Dollar Store – remaindered and highly-discounted cheap stuff. Fun for about 1/2 an hour while you photograph, but then it gets old.

Honest Ed's

We ate at an Italian restaurant nearby called Rocco’s Plum Tomatoes and then headed back to the city center to try to see Sex and the City, but the shows were all sold out. So we bought tickets for yesterday morning instead, and spent the morning seeing the movie and the afternoon walking around the Church-Wellesley area shopping and eating.

We’ve had a low-key last couple of days because I’m pretty tired after doing a lot more walking than I’m used to. Today we’re headed home in early afternoon, so I don’t know if we’ll get any more site-seeing in. I love Toronto, but we’re missing our pets.

Photo Set: Our Honeymoon Day 6 – Toronto, 2008

Photo Collection: Wedding and Honeymoon Photos

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I sort of expect it every year…

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But this year the “nation mourns as it recalls June 6, 1968” memorials of the 40th anniversary of the death of Robert Kennedy is particularly relentless on the blogs. I understand that it’s there are parallels between the personalities and messages of Kennedy and Obama and that people are having nostalgia, but seriously. Knock it off people. It’s depressing.

Continue ReadingI sort of expect it every year…

Niagara Falls, China Town & Kensington Market

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Thursday we drove to Niagara Falls to site-see, which was fun. I really had a much different picture in my head of what the falls were like, most from the show “Wonderfalls” which I want to see again now that I’ve been there. It was overcast on the drive there, but cleared up when we arrived so we have some nice sunny pictures of the falls.

Yesterday we hopped on a streetcar and rode down a couple of stops to shop in Chinatown and Kensington Market. Kensington has tons of vintage clothing shops and sidewalk cafes. It was a sunny day and 90 degrees. Crazy hot. We bought a few things here and there, and some gifts for friends. We should definitely get on of those Chinatowns for Indianapolis. Heh.

In the evening, we hopped on the subway north several stops and visited our friend Carolyn, who made dinner for us. And we had birthday cake. It was terrific.

Photo Set: Our Honeymoon, Day 4.

Photo Collection: Wedding and Honeymoon Photos

Continue ReadingNiagara Falls, China Town & Kensington Market