Winter Observations

Now that we have received our first snowfall, I can expect with every new encounter to be asked if I have any trouble with the cold weather up here. I've talked a bit about it here before, but I thought I'd share some of my more recent or better understood observations.

The average year-round temperature difference between Chicago and Montreal is about 8 F (5C). The mean temperature difference at the height of summer is 6F (3C) and 11F (6C) at the height of winter. Now that's not really a big big difference. At least when you compare Chicago to North Carolina or to Florida. But it is enough to make a difference for one aspect of winter.

The snow removal post from last winter has been getting alot of attention and it has been interesting to read comments left on the Skyscraper Pages. I was surprised to see some people assume winter or the amount of snow that falls is not very significant. They were questioning why such an elaborate operation is required as opposed to almost every other US city.

Well it is not so much the amount of snow as the temperature. Back in Chicago, we would get snow. It gets cold and the snow sticks around. Sometimes for weeks, sometimes for months. But the temperature would get up high enough that there would be daytime thawing from the strength of the sunlight. It would not all go away, but it would usually keep the snow from piling up too high. Every few years there would be a particularly snowy and/or cold winter and the snow could pile up. But not to the levels or frequency of here in Montreal.

But here is the difference. That 11F (6C) degree difference keeps snow from melting during the day. In addition, Montreal is farther north and receives less sunlight in the winter. So unless snow is moved, it isn't going anywhere for a few months. And there seems to be significant snowfalls once or twice a week. Enough that they need to plow the streets every week or two if not more.

As for the conditions of the roads and sidewalks. They salt the major streets just like they do in Chicago. But due to the frequency of snowfalls, they probably salt them at least three times a week. The bridges seem to get almost daily treatment because although snow melts due to the saltings, they water refreezes overnight creating black ice. It seems rare to see the bridges dry during winter. As for the sidestreets, there is almost always a thin layer of snow or ice on them. Again this is due to the temperature not getting high enough for daytime thawing. Same goes for sidewalks unless they are along a commercial strip. Even then they likely have a mix of gravel and ice. So designer shoes are useless. Winter footwear and winter tires are a must.

Lastly, I'll repeat how I'm dealing with the colder temperatures. Kanuk. The fall before our first winter here, the in-laws suggested we get a Kanuk winter coat at their big annual sale. We each bought coats good for -30C and it has made all the difference. That along with long underwear, a scarf, good gloves, and a real stocking cap make the winter almost pleasant down to 0F (-17C). Kinda wish I had all this stuff back in Chicago when I had to spend an hour outside with part of it up on a windy el platform.

Parisian Smog

A view of the city from the cupola of the Pantheon in the Latin Quarter of Paris. December 1991.

Full Moon Fever - Fishing for Ideas

Back when Blork switched over to Wordpress, his tag 12 Monkeys became more prominent since it's at the top of his list. I was a bit intrigued by this little project. Basically for the calendar year of 2004, Martine and Blork created a target subject for other participating bloggers to write a post on that topic. Their series included jobs worked, alive moments, taxi rides, tearjerking movies, out of characterness, monkeys on your back, first impressions of Montreal, weird and musical things, pitching your life, dining horror stories, border stumbles, and a year off. Since my blog had not been born back then and I did not know of these two fine individuals, I could not participate.

Given that the new year is rapidly approaching and I enjoy creating ever more side projects to cram into my already busy schedule, I thought it would be fun to try something similar in the new year. But I haven't come up with an idea of what. I like the format and even the ideas, but it would be nice to come up with something different, yet similar. But twelve what? There are twelve signs of the Zodiac, 12 Angry men, 12 days of Xmas, and 12 lunar cycles (or is it 13). While writing this, that last suggestion struck a bell. Hows about if it is a post on a certain subject on the day of the full moon. In 2007 there are 13 of them, Jan 3, Feb 2, Mar 3, Apr 2, May 2, June 1, June 30, July 30, Aug 28, Sept 26, Oct 26, Nov 24, and Dec 24.

But then, what topics? Shall we go the favorites route, the best stories route, the all about me route, the create something route, or all of the above. I'm trolling for everything here. If you have any thoughts on where this should go or what the topics could be, I'd really like to hear from you either in the comments or via email. If you don't have any ideas, let me know if you are interested anyhow. I'd like to have a few people participate instead of just spouting off by myself.

Dave

Florence, Italy. December 1991

Who Am I?

Here are three quizes I've taken. Each seems to claim me as their native son. I'm not sure what that says about me.

Maybe I catch on quickly. I managed a perfect score on this first little quiz. Though the natives will probably agree that anyone that lives here for a year or two could do well on it with a little educated guessing. The questions aren't that tough and none had anything to do with history.

You are 100% Canuck!

You rock, you are an almighty Canadian through and through. You have proven your worthiness and have won the elite prize of living in a country as awesome as Canada. Yes I know other countries think they are better, but we let them have that cuz we know better than they do, eh?

How Canadian Are You?
Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

I also took this quiz a while back. These questions are much harder I think. Funny that they say I should run for mayor. I had that delusion going for a while. But they did get me right about being obsessed with the city at one point during my life.


You are a true Chicagoan! You've probably lived here for a long time, or are thoroughly obsessed with the city and its history. Congratulations! Maybe you should run for office.


Are You a True Chicagoan?
brought to you by Quizilla

And lastly I came across this one over at Frankie Can't Relax (via Me:The Sequel). I'm impressed with this one. Got me dead on. Though I'd be interested how others from other regions do on it to see the validity of the quiz.

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Inland North You may think you speak "Standard English straight out of the dictionary" but when you step away from the Great Lakes you get asked annoying questions like "Are you from Wisconsin?" or "Are you from Chicago?" Chances are you call carbonated drinks "pop."
The Midland
The Northeast
Philadelphia
The South
The West
Boston
North Central
What American accent do you have? Take More Quizzes

And a late-breaking entry via the new Me:The Sequel. A quiz to determine your tarot card. I kinda like what it says except that it says I'm a stubborn traditionalist. Maybe sub-consciencely, but not in my conscience mind.

You are The Hierophant

Divine Wisdom. Manifestation. Explanation. Teaching.

All things relating to education, patience, help from superiors.The Hierophant is often considered to be a Guardian Angel.

The Hierophant's purpose is to bring the spiritual down to Earth. Where the High Priestess between her two pillars deals with realms beyond this Earth, the Hierophant (or High Priest) deals with worldly problems. He is well suited to do this because he strives to create harmony and peace in the midst of a crisis. The Hierophant's only problem is that he can be stubborn and hidebound. At his best, he is wise and soothing, at his worst, he is an unbending traditionalist.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

Dusted

I thought this shot would be appropriate given the forecast for wintery conditions. A rare view of snow in the gardens of the Chateau de Versailles in early 1996.

Nation?

Yesterday, the Canadian Parliment passed a resolution recognizing Québécois as a nation within Canada.

Now when I first moved here I was a bit confused when I was told that the Féte de Saint-Jean-Baptiste (St John the Baptist Day) is Québéc's national holiday. "Shouldn't it be a provincial holiday?" In my mind the words nation and country mean the same thing. Consulting the dictionary, a country is a whole territory or the people of a nation. A nation is a stable community of people with a territory, history, culture, and language in common. While nation specifically states history, culture, and language, country still refers to people or territory as part of a nation. Either way, I'd say that Québéc does qualify as a nation by definition due to it's distinct cultural differences that tend to fall along the lines of language.

But the reason for this post is to talk a bit about the reaction after Prime Minister Harper proposed the resolution. For those of you who don't know, the Québéc sovereignist party, the Bloc Québécois, was planning to propose a resolution stating that Québéc should be recognized as a nation outside of Canada. Harper beat them to the punch to say that it should be a nation within Canada. Now mass media has been debating this nonstop ever since. It is the variety and difference of answers that have surprised me.

Some are saying Harper was an extremely shrewd politician for stating it. Also saying that it will appease the Québécois to be acknowledged as a nation within Canada. That this will be enough for them to forget the idea of becoming a sovereign nation.

On the another side, people are appalled that someone of Harpers intelligence (by the way, that's his redeeming quality over his counterpart down south) could totally miss the boat and open the door to Québéc sovereignty. How could he commit such a gaff?

Even the sovereigntists are divided. I've heard some say they are happy enough to be recognized as a nation. Others are assuming new rights within Canada will come from it. And others are saying this is the first step towards sovereignty.

Who's right? Who knows? Where do I stand? Well, I've said it before. Basically if they can pull it off and nothing changes, more power to them. That is unlikely, but if there is minimal change and there isn't a Montréal airlift of anglophones out of the province the day after a referendum is passed, I'd be OK with it. I like it as a place where anglophones and francophones can peaceful coexist. Like at our house.

And lastly there was talk today about how Harper and his lackeys specifically stated Québécois instead of the anglophone version Quebecers. When pressed about why one word and not both, he in no specific terms stated it primarily directed toward the one group.

This is all quite important, but also quite dramatic.

Really makes you wonder what the future holds.

Florentine Streetscape

A cold late-December day in Florence, Italy. 1991

I'd like to take another chance to expound how much I'm loving photography in the digital world. Many of us who grew up in the darkroom age loved the darkroom process. It was part scientific and part artistic. In order to produce good pictures you needed to have the discipline, patience, and accuracy like a scientist, but you also needed the artistic talent to be successful trying new techniques and creating great photos, not just snapshots.

The downside was that it costs alot to start with, so experimentation came at a price. Plus to varying levels, it took a while to gain the experience level needed to consistantly produce technically correct shots. Ones that were not over-exposed, over-developed, or not fixed enough. And the opportunity to do color darkroom work was extremely limited. So the ability to enhance color shots (dodge, burn, crop) was pretty much impossible.

This is why I am really enjoying this opportunity to revisit so many of my old shots using a scanner and Photoshop. The chance to rescue over- or under-exposed shots. Crop them the way I'd always wanted and very rarely a chance to burn or dodge parts that were not just right. Plus as I mentioned before, to print out all the slides that I've scanned pays for the scanner a few times over. Yes, I could selectively choose shots, but I like having it all out in front of me to choose between on or the other. The digital world affords me these freedoms.

And I've only scanned a small portion of my stuff so far. So there is much much more to come. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

When Barry met Larry

I used to work for a large firm with offices in many cities. The namesakes of the firm and the head office were in New York. The namesakes would come around to the other offices from time to time and it was a fairly big deal. In addition to being namesakes of the firm, they were as close to being celebrities as you can get in our line of work. I'm sure if you watched a week of the Discovery Channel, you'd be sure to see one of them at least once on a show as an expert. Although they had reached this "status", they remained some of the most personable people you could work for (as you shall soon learn). Although their company employed hundreds of people, they were not hesitant to talked to those unknown to them. Their approachability also took the edge off any hesitation to approach them because of their celebrity.

The firm grew fast in the time I was there. In our office we increased from 35 to over 100 in three years. It was quite dynamic to have so many new people and there were some very interesting characters among them. Larry Green was one of those characters. Larry was a happy fellow and he was very friendly. So friendly that it got annoying at times. He was someone always interested in what was going on, but at times going too far or hanging on your arm too much. He meant well and had a good heart, so for many of us that was enough to overlook the less than positive points.

So one day I went to the bathroom. As I was using one of the urinals, I heard a cellphone go off in one of the stalls. As was habit among the busy higher-ups, the phone was answered. A few words into his short phone conversation, I realized it was Barry Hansen, one of the namesakes. He finished his call and moments later I hear from the adjacent stall "Hello, Mr Hansen. We haven't met, but my name is Larry Green and I work here for you." Barry replied quite happily without a hint of annoyance "Well I'm glad to meet you Larry, I'm Barry Hansen." To which Larry came back with "I'd shake your hand but..." Barry had an equally playful reply that I can't remember because I was so stunned. There was a bit more back and forth, but I hurriedly washed my hands to escape this bizarre lovefest. I walked out the door but held it open enough to see them both exit their stalls and cheerfully shake hands before washing them.

It was definitely the oddest moment of my 9 to 5 career.

What A Week!

This has been a pretty amazing week.

I received a request to use this photo for a museum presentation. Something about comparing the structure of the JC Bridge to something else. They may or may not use it since the resolution is pretty low.

There were the Canadian Blog Awards. The blog received 72 votes in the Best Personal Blog category. That put it in 8th out of 112, 29 votes shy of the second round. My post on snow removal in Montreal received 50 votes putting it in 9th out of 38, 13 votes short of advancing. I really only expected 36 votes at most, but there were two things that started giving me delusions of grandeur. First the snow removal post got mentioned on the Montreal City Metroblog and secondly it got mentioned on the Skyscraper Pages. Between the two of them, my traffic quadrupled for a couple days. My traffic is still at twice the normal levels. I kinda wonder if I had mentioned the awards on the post if it would have gotten enough votes for the second round. Though that type of campaigning is more aggressive than is my style. I had quite the behind the scenes get out the vote campaigning going on with quite a few of my votes coming from back home. It was more successful that I had expected.

There have been a couple other items related to the increased exposure. I received a request from a freelance writer who wants to write a print article about snow removal post I had written. I haven't heard anything since my reply. I also received a call from Radio Canada requesting to interview me for their morning program regarding the snow removal post and the blog. That may happen later on after the snow arrives and the topic is more relevant.

And probably the biggest news was that the 70 person office that I work for has been bought out by a company twenty times our size. A very diverse company that is very successful in Quebec and has started to reach out beyond the borders into the rest of Canada and other places like the Caribbean, Africa, and Eastern Europe. Although I'm not a fan of huge companies, I have liked working for good sized ones in the past. They offer some things that a small firm cannot. As with any place, much will be determined by the management and their relation with the rest of the company. I've worked for a big firm with a family feel, but often times they can be very impersonnal. So we shall see what comes of this. I'm cautiously excited about it at the moment.

And life has been busy at home and at work. So less attention has been spent on these online endeavors. Though you probably haven't noticed since I've been eating up a backlog of posts written in the past. And things won't slowdown soon. Only three weeks left until we leave for vacation. Still much to do to prepare for that also. The vacation should be quite relaxing with nothing to do and no internet connection. Some time to read up on things and maybe recreate that backlog I'm using up. I always have a handful of ideas for posts floating through my head. Kinda frustrating not having the time to write them down.

And lastly we have been preparing to have a Thanksgiving style supper with some friends tonight. A great way to cap off a busy and eventful week. Appropriately enough there will be a couple friends from work and a couple friends from online.

Happy Thanksgiving

To those of you south of the border (US, not Mexico. Though Happy Thanksgiving to those of you in Mexico also.)

This picture was taken at the Jean Talon Market in Montreal this past September. It was our first time there and we were pretty amazed by the size of it. Our points of reference are the temporary markets in Versailles, France that we frequented while living there. This was twice or three times the size of the main market there. In comparison, Jean Talon has an abundance and variety of fruits and vegetables that I didn't remember at Versailles. But Versailles had much more in terms of meats and cheeses. One thing I really liked about Jean Talon is that there is an abundance of local products. Maple syrup, sausages, and oodles of produce. Though maybe I'm just used to the supermarket where it is less obvious where items come from.

This summer was marked by increased exploration of the city and surroundings. It seemed every other weekend we went someplace different. A picnic in Mont Royal Parc, camping in Oka, a trip to Jean Talon, a day at the beach in Parc Orford, and leisurely rides through the countryside. There is still so much to see and it's all an hour or less away.

Hill Street Blues

Many of you my age probably remember that cop show from the mid-80's. In our house it held a special meaning because my father grew up on the real Hill Street in Chicago. FYI, there is actually no police station on the street. The street is only two blocks long including the house he grew up in along with the elementary school he attended. The building he grew up in has since been replaced by the appropriately named the Walter Payton College Prep. Although Hill Street Station was a fictional place, it was still kinda cool to think we were in some way connected to a popular TV show.

The street is in a very pivotal location. At one end of the street is the foot of the highrises that make up the Gold Coast of Chicago. One of the most affluent areas of the city. On the other end is (or was) Cabrini Green. The projects. A collection of highrises of very similar design, but due to a different record of maintenance and a different median income became a difficult and later dangerous place to live. The street itself was populated with low to medium income families. Occasionally those from the projects tried to take from those more fortunate in such close proximity. There were a couple instances in my life where this happened to me in this in-between area.

I was reminded of all this recently by the passing of Jack Palance. Not specifically because of Jack, but through a chain of thought. You may remember that he was the host of Ripley's Believe it or Not. Well, just north of Hill Street in Chicago there was a Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum. Well the Neighborhood Boys & Girls Club (which was only boys back then), which I was a member, organized a trip to see the museum along with a hot dog lunch afterward in the park. Well, while we were at the museum, somebody broke into the bus and stole all the food. The older boys in charge did well at taking it in stride (although pissed off) and getting some more food. But it did open my eyes a bit.

The second instance was when we went to pick up a new bicycle that my sister was getting. The bike shop was a few blocks north of Hill Street. At the time, I was in my late teens and had use of the family van. I would be getting her old bike since she was getting a new one. So I parked the van and helped her get her new bike. When we got back, the drivers window as busted and the bike, a pair of roller blades, and a small boom box radio were gone. You see, the van had windows all around and none of the items were covered. Yet another lesson on life in the city. Cover all valuables or put them out of sight. It wasn't the first time a car I was using was broken into and it was not the last.

The area is now very much gentrified. So much so that the almighty dollar is pushing people out of the projects in order to tear them down and rebuild condos and townhomes. The land is just too close and convenient to downtown. The poor are being pushed out into the surrounding neighborhoods or even as far out as the suburbs. The reverse of white flight is happening. Those with money and without kids are pushing the poor farther out. I'm not saying whether it is good or bad, but more it is interesting how the inverse is now happening.