real quick bit here since work is a déluge right now and saturday night is a black hole of a memory.

nonetheless, say hello to brody tristen bida, brad and rosie's first child, born just after midnight today. thankfully, none of my names were chosen for the one in swaddling clothes.

that and the adult swim dvds are coming soon. finally, all the non-americans can be blessed by the nonsensical recycled cartoons my past six years have been dictated by.

what's making news in thunder bay, no one asks.

well the provincial government, on the cusp of announcing an election, is finally handing out money to northwestern ontario, including funds to complete the shabaqua highway extension, along with finally finishing the thunder bay expressway to twin city crossroads. finally in that the forest behind the family home, which was cleared back in 1994 will actually be paved and offload a lot of the heavy truck traffic off arthur street.

however, in order to restore thunder bay to its usual cultural capital status, it's time to include the mandatory bear killed in accident story, along with the not so unusual area man gets visits eye doctor, gets drops tale, courtesy of ryan. he's a newsmaker.

you can't find news like this anywhere. respectable.

spoke with my mom last night right before i fell asleep and she found out earlier that day that hoover, the neighbours' dog, had died outside in his kennel back in january.

hoover was a small german shepherd who showed up a year or two before kiefer next door. he was the runt of a litter, but he was a sweet dog. he'd often visit our house, sneaking in through the door, sitting obediently and ate whatever everyone else happened to be eating.

when kiefer started to live with us, kiefer and hoover would always hang out with each other if one and/or the other was loose. kiefer made a habit of jumping into hoover's pen and eating some of his food and hoover would trot over to kiefer outside to playfight and occasionally sleep in his doghouse.

[listening - dj spec: the vexed episode (cd 1,
the part where the public enemy radio phone dis ends and destiny's child's bugaboo gets, uh, bugged).]

i don't know what it is about thunder bay, but the way the unions there chronically manage to barely not fuck things up is a master of science that borders on pure cosmic fluke.

news is that a settlement in the safeway labour dispute has been made, paving the way for safeway to return to thunder bay. this strike started in october 2001 and official word ended in june 2002, when the supposed ultimate offer was nixed, although in one messed up vote where the workers were pressured to vote no or not show up, leading to a drawn-out protest. safeway effectively gave up on thunder bay, closed the stores and took down their signs.

i'm having difficulty digging up the entire history of this dispute, but the basic gist was that the thunder bay staffers were against the butchers or meathandlers being moved away from the stores, which accounts for 1-2% of the workforce. all the other cities were able to agree, but thunder bay was defiant. apparently, all this time, the union was sponsoring their members' mortgages, ensuring that the various clerks and other staff didn't go bankrupt (although effectively coddling them from getting other jobs).

i have to admire that level of solidarity, to stick it out for this long for these principles. i never would have thought that safeway would be back so soon again. i wish i had taken some photos of the logoless boarded-up buildings now.

this is one of a number of strange labour disputes in thunder bay history. the closest one that comes back to mind is the 1999 CUPE municipal strike that lasted 13 weeks, which forced the complete neglect of all parklands, garbage collection and many other city services. thunder bay was supposed to be the testing ground for other strikes countrywide for a higher rate hike, but was a total failure as they settled for a mere pittance of what they wanted. the local head was raked over the coals.

2003.02.17 update: safeway plans to re-open in march with most of the meat workers getting other jobs due to the pre-packing in manitoba.

[listening - interpol: pda.
from a successful (finally!) burn of a mix cd for my brother.]

after some 'sperimentin', i've realized that i looking kinda bitchin' in the kitchen after not shaving after 5 days. from yesterday:

yeah that's one crappy shot; two steps away from a 1970s soft focus via vaseline. and i shaved all the stubble off this morning, leaving me all ...not quite babyfaced, maybe toddlerfaced, or infantvisaged.

in tribute to all loneliness day (you know it by that other name), here's a quick shout out to 3 peeps who keep things amusing:

• josie - who's been keeping (keen beeping?) up a brilliant little correspondance as of late of amusing links, including skip's online mixtapes, funny man and finnish polka bands covering punk rock.
• ryan - i've known him since high school (which means over 10 years now) and he's always been either totally online or offline up in thunder bay. he's back now with web presence, and i hope he gets a chance to upload his pastels.
• and brad, who used to have a web page, but he's been busy. today, he was talking about moose, which is getting his own entry.

so, all y'all, remember: alcohol and saunas don't mix.
so keep the champagne off the rocks,
and the rocks out of the champagne:
the two do mix romantically, but not literally.

this has not been the voice of experience.

the silver harbour conservation area is about 20 kilometres east of thunder bay along the majestic lake superior. it's used as a boat launching site onto lake superior and there are some picnic spots and rock climbing areas around this municipal resource. the armour stone found here was excavated to build the thunder bay harbour breakwater over 50 years ago.

when i was back in thunder bay in december, i spent most of my time at home. however, anytime i'm back, i make a point to go see the natural landscape around, since i find the natural environment there soothing to see. especially now since i'm in nyc. usually, i aim for the terry fox monument, boulevard lake, kakabeka falls or another one of thunder bay's green spaces. there was very little snow to ski on, though, and i rarely had access to a vehicle this time around, so after i dropped off my brother for his dentist appointement and it was an hour before mine, i pointed to the van to the east and whimsically ended up at silver harbour.

whimsy being a loose word since i've always loved driving along lakeshore drive, which is perhaps the only road in northwestern ontario that actually attempts to pass anywhere close to lake superior. partly because of terrain, partly because of indian reservations, but otherwise, you need to take highway 61 just past the minnesota border in order to drive by superior. lakeshore drive has a great beacharea with little camphouses where people can live yearround, with enough of an outcropping of land to dampen superior's waves. i've always wanted to have a house along there, but time would be my only companion for that wish.

silver harbour is near the end of lakeshore drive, by mckenzie point and, oddly, thunder bay's international hostel. it was seasonably warm, but the water was naturally ice cold. of course, it was about 30 minutes from the dental office, so i didn't spend much time there, but it was worth the brief visit nonetheless.

i really have to arrange my life so that i can spend more time up north, and maybe during the summer, since my last visit not during christmas was in 2000 (which also matches my last dentist visit as i was reminded rather coldly by the hygienist).

it's when you stand in the bathtub,
struggling to maintain a constant cell phone conversation with your mom,
wishing the home phone would work so that you could maintain a conversation in longer than forty second chunks,
finding out she felt a pain in her chest earlier,
her left arm went numb,
pulled over the car,
let the feeling subside,
continuing,
voice breaking into digital static,
getting frustrated after the fourth dropped call,
put your jacket on,
leave the soup to burn on the stove,
the cereal to go soggy by the computer,
leave the television on,
shaft finding the kidnapped daughter,
put on mismatched gloves,
half-lock the door,
go outside,
walk to the promenade,
watch the east river ice bob up and down,
the big city shining with a low ceiling reflecting itself back down,
trying to convince her to work less hard,
drop her demands for perfection,
offering to pay to make sure she doesn't work 80 hour days,
with dad unable to do much with a broken ankle,
not wanting anyone to die before their time,
no silly heart attacks
...and being rescinded,
advising you to keep living the way you are,
that's victory enough,
and she'll promise to relax.

this is when mortality articulates itself,
and realize that everything you've ever held,
you want to hold closer,
but realize it's all fleeting.

and you just want to throw the phone into the river,
but you pet a inquisitive dog instead.

if the picture frame cracks,
don't hide it.

*sigh*
now i have to find some negatives.
and clean up the kitchen a bit.

a simple little finnish tradition during christmas time is making ice lanterns.

the weather has to be between -10 and -20 °C before you can even start to think about doing this, although the temperature will vary upon the size of lantern you hope to create (the colder the weather, the larger the lantern).

along with the cats (see instant comments gonna getcha), the family homestead has frequent outdoor visitors, ranging from the daily birds and squirrels at the feeders, to the occasional bear and moose.

then there's the white-tailed deer.

everyone can't get enough of those two cats famke and peikko, so here they are together and not fighting:

it's worth noting that peikko usually bolts about .8 seconds after a photo has been taken. then again, after chasing after him with either a wooden duck, kiefer's ashes or famke overhead, i'm not helping his nerves (or famke's).

peikko is the male cat of the house. he arrived last year after the same family friend who found famke noticed this white furry cat sitting outside the patio door as winter arrived. he'd be out there at all hours, looking in and making trouble with the resident cats. as with famke, he was brought to my mom to take care of, although there was a watch out to see if they would get along.

famke is the christmas kitten of my thunder bay household.

two years ago, as a family friend was heading on a long trip, she found a small frail cat in a box by her house in the country. this cat had frostbitten ears and paws, scared and shivering, weighing four pounds at most. this friend asked my mom to watch this cat, mostly to ensure she ate but at the same time, not to get into any fights with the other cats in the household. since our dog recently passed away, my mom had no problem allowing this poor kitty in.

here's one sign that it's christmas in thunder bay: some knob cuts a tree off someone else's property. every year, some assfuck, realizing that it's reached crunchtime and they don't want to fork over ten or twenty dollars for a tree, goes around their neighbourhood, looks at what trees there are in people's yards, cuts it down and runs away, leaving the homeowner aghast that a part of their home has been pilfered away. a few years back, i remember seeing the result of a truck that drove through a fence to fall a tree, leaving a trail of destruction for the holiday season. most of the time, these bastards are caught, so here's hoping.

meanwhile, here's actual christmas cheer on my part: two 20 songs for 2002.

and now, my christmas message.

there's snow here now, although i just remember that the folks' computer doesn't have USB, meaning that uploading will be minimal for a little while, if not also for the dialup connection.

a good way to review the year is by reading all 12 issues of the national geographic, although an even greater toy is that they recently brought online their entire 100+ years photography database, although it's not entirely free. still, an excellent source to see our world through the ng's eyes.

more amusement comes in the form of the search for shooby taylor, who was responsible for some of the most insane scat singing ever recorded. shooby's been recovering from a stroke in new jersey, but his recordings may reach a wider audience thanks to outsider music experts (the same ones who helped rediscover the langley school children's group music from last year).

anyways, benadryl's kicking in from all the cat hair (nothing like chasing two cats with a wooden duck and the urn full of the dog's ashes, making the appropriate noises) so i might be sleepy soon enough. but it's sauna time yet again.

aaah.
i am this relaxed.

ah, thunder bay, right where i left it: two cats to torment, a sauna to relax in and no snow on the ground.

any future holiday fliers be aware: today was a perfect day to tackle three airports as there wasn't much passenger traffic at all. two partially empty planes and no hubbub anywhere.

however, i'm always secretly impressed that anytime i board a flight to thunder bay, i know at least 2 people onboard. richard pepper was returning from a 2 week jaunt in germany and i hadn't seen him in almost 8 years (and i still have tapes of his music). then there was one guy i met through him and then a former high school classmate whose name i forgot, adding to a smalltown comfy feel, which is good in small doses but suffocating in large doses. like cologne. (no, not the city in germany...)

anyways, time to embrace a darker, quieter, less asphalty and vertical cityscape. catch up with the peeps and keep the meter running since i usually get sick of thunder bay pretty fast. but the college try is what i'll give.

thursday, i fly home for the holidays. however, an early present would be to have thunder bay move closer to me:

how gracious of my hometown to nestle itself right by penn station. i guess i should stop badmouthing it on every occasion then.

next post will be about the weekend, my life or something personally amusing, i swear.

however, as you read this, and i've read off the graigblog, it is with great sadness that the great northwest coffee shop, coffeeshop extraordinaire, is apparently going under for a tim horton's.

certainly, the home base for robin's donuts and the city with the highest donut consumption rate per capita doesn't need another donut shop, let alone the largest expanding canadian retail store, but thunder bay is losing one cool independently-run coffeehouse for another cookie-cutter crullerhouse. of course, when friends are involved, it makes it even more frustrating.

so, graig's on a boycott. i'll join, although mine's a bit easier since half of the boycott involves canadian franchises, but dammit, i boycott nonetheless. i've only stopped in mcdonald's once in the past four years and i've never bought anything from walmart since i lived in colorado (after 10pm, that and taco bell are the only places that are open still).

the rage, oh yes, it is on.

a little big secret just spilled out in the toronto star recently. a writer went up north recently, most to cover the hoito, the original finnish restaurant. however, not only was the writer impressed with the hoito's pancakes and the waitresses no gruff attitude but a few of the other restaurants caught her taste buds too.

of course, with about 1200 km between the big smoke and the sleeping giant, there won't be a landrush up there. the only reason people normally visit is if they're on their way further west. still, it's an odd gem of a land up there.

caveat: due to my food allergies, i never actually have eaten at the hoito. everyone else does and i've known a few of the people who've worked there in the past (a tight finnish community which somehow tracks me down no matter what i do). i'm not inviting people over to my parents' place without them knowing first.

let's visit a few cities and see what's striking my chords in the local press:

• chico, california: an interview with the dentist who tinkered on tojo's dentures, masking a morse code message about pearl harbour in the japanese wartime minister's new teeth. remember pearl harbour (yes, yanks, i spell canadian) comes across as the longest-standing prank that strikes as cruel and ironic yet fitting.
• toronto: approval has been granted for a pair of condominium towers to be built by yonge and eligible (er, eglinton, my old stomping grounds). there was a big fracas about this construction for a few years now, considering that 51 storeys exceeds the old height barrier considerably. they mention "twin towers" but since the other one will be 37 storeys, it's more fraternal and identical.
• thunder bay: tomorrow night sees paul shaffer get a street named after him in front of the auditorium. this has been discussed already in the past, but rumours abound that david letterman might show up. i await the accosting of my hometown on late night television.
• fort worth: daisy the burnt dog has healed after a torturous ordeal where a man doused her in gasoline and set her on fire. after extensive surgery, her burns have healed and her fur has regrown and most importantly, she has regained her doggy joie de vivre: playing, sniffing around, being all curious like. the man is appearing in court shortly to answer for this heinous act.
• new york city: um, aside from the usual plenty, yet another blog meetup.

i bet a few people are stoked about this: paul shaffer returns to thunder bay for his very own tribute show.

yes, the musical man from david letterman is a bonafied individual born in thunder bay (apparently, such a person would be called a thunder bonian but i can't prove it anymore). of course, he'll be hosting the show as well as performing with a whole bunch of people i don't know and the street in front of the thunder bay community auditorium.

he's possible our only modern celebrity, since bobby curtola is more of a relic and c.d. howe is more of a hardworking but now dead politician with a school named after him. not sure what you would expect for a town that's been around a population of 115 000, but i'm not expecting much. if push comes to shove, i'll say i'm from wawa.

to show this humble site to be more than an urban wasteland of silly stories, i offer you a less metropolitan view by inaugurating a category devoted to my hometown: thunder bay.

a man survived a trip through a garbage truck and then almost getting crushed by a bulldozer after falling asleep in a dumpster behind a robin's donuts. no mention of booze involved, but dammit, it is thunder bay. what else could it be?

all you roadtrippers out there: stock up on robin's donuts coffee, or any other northwestern ontario coffee brand. the insanely long distances between any other town up there means the joe is brewed stronger and more potently. however, marko can attest that they've changed it since he was there and it is now less the shizzah. and i don't drink coffee since i go squirrelly from the caffeine, so grain of salt, y'all.