The Coffee House

[jcdeboever]

Ugh Hosers! Lost 8-7 in 7 very hard fought innings. Had the tying run on 3b with w outs in the 7th. Crushing loss. Princess had 4 rbi tonight including 3 in the 7th to get us close.

unfortunately, that is part of the beauty of the game

 

[waday]

Happy (early) Father's Day to all the fathers out there!

Also, Eid Mubarak! Today is Eid al-Fitr.

 

[jcdeboever]

As for whether or not we'll be bringing cameras...what do you think?

I would hope you bring at least one camera, but Newyawkers can be funny at times, so I'm not going to make assumptions.

What to do and see depends on how much time you've got. Plenty of places that will try to lighten your wallets for you, but that seems to be "normal" for any place that can attract visitors.

If you want to use the public transit system, which is very good, you can buy an Opus card and load it with whatever fare package works for you (from single fares, to 3-day passes, to week passes) at very reasonable prices (eg: $18CDN for 3 days unlimited travel on the system). Info on bus routes, schedules, etc. is found on Société de transport de Montréal

If bicycles appeal to you (and Montreal has a large network of more-or-less coherent bike paths, lanes, etc.), then a 72-hour Bixi pass is $14CDN. Pick the bikes up at any station, return it to any other station, and if your ride was under 30 minutes, then there are no additional charges. Go to Google Maps, center on Montreal, and search for "Bixi".

Areas to explore are (in no particular order):

• the Old Port area
• Ile (island) Ste-Helene (get there by Metro)
• Mont Royal (the "mountain" park in the center of the city) (walk, bike, bus)
• rue St-Denis (bike, bus, Metro)
• Park Extension (bus, Metro)
• Botanical gardens and the Olympic stadium complex (bus, Metro)
• the outdoor markets at Atwater or Jean Talon (both close to Metro stops)
• Montreal food staples (Montreal bagels at either St-Viateur Bagel or Fairmount Bagel; smoked meat at Schwartz's Deli; poutine at Restaurant A.A in St-Henri, or Poutinville in the Gay Village). Greek food is found near Park Ave. or St-Laurent. Thai is well represented (Pamika on Sherbrooke St. East, Bangkok at Le Fabourg).
• If you're around on a Sunday, head up to the Monument to Sir George-Etienne Cartier (Park Avenue) for Tam-Tam (pickup drumming, 10am-ish to whenever the energy dies) which can be great, and can be meh.
• If museums are your thing, there's Pointe-à-Callière in Old Montreal, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts on Sherbrooke, McCord museum, also on Sherbrooke.
• For people watching there's Place Jacques Cartier (Old Montreal), which is touristy, but can be interesting, the boardwalk along the Old Port, the lookout on Mount Royal (Chalet de Mont Royal), McGill College (nice view towards mountain from the patio at Place Ville Marie)
• If you like beer, there's a ton of small and micro craft breweries, with beer brewed on the premises. Le Saint Bock on St-Denis has a massive beer list. Plenty of others in the downtown area and pretty much everywhere.
• If you need photo supplies, there's Photo Service on Notre Dame in Old Montreal, Lozeau on St-Hubert, and lots of places near downtown and the Old Port area.
• Saturday nights are fireworks from the Internation Firework Competition held at La Ronde (Ile Ste-Helene). Jacques Cartier bridge (overlooking the fireworks area) is shut down to auto traffic from about 8pm to midnight.

And of course, if you're interested in meeting, we could arrange a dinner and tour.

need to print this out. there is a vacation plan already done up for me.

 

[jcdeboever]

I hate amusement parks. I don't like squeezing onto roller coasters in the like, and I honestly get overstimulated by all of the sensory crap around me (music blaring, food smells, sounds of people yelling, crowds of people near me, etc). But, our students had a great time. The park was relatively empty as we were late for school group season and early for the summer crowds, and my students were able to walk onto most of the rides. In fact, a few were able to ride Superman (considered one of the handful of best roller coasters in the world) twice in a 25 minutes, which is unheard of I guess.

The only snag was a ride breakdown that our students got caught in. We were short two students at our final check-in before heading home, and they were MIA for almost 45 minutes. Neither of them were answering their phones. It ended up that their phones were in a ride locker and they were stuck at the end of the ride for over an hour because the seat restraints wouldn't release and they had to call ride mechanics in. Of course, we didn't know that at the time.

Needless to say, I'm dragging this morning.

oh boy, that had to been irritating

 

[jcdeboever]

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. World Cup starts today. A very interesting collage on the front of the LA Times Sports section. There are 32 thumbnail photos of faces, each face is painted up to represent the flag of a participating nation. It is quite interesting. Today is Samy Thursday and Samy's Camera is running three pages of camera stuff under their "No Tax Banner". Pentax 645Z (body) for $3999 out the door, a full page of Canon along with the usual suspects.

Yesterday wasn't a good day. Miss Maggie had some bug which kept her down. Her right eye was full of gunk when I woke up yesterday. Gary cleaned it up and Mary Lou administered some drops. Usually she accompanies Gary getting the morning paper, but not yesterday. She didn't want to go on her walk. She wouldn't eat her usual food, but did eat the eggs we made her for breakfast and dinner. On the course of the day, she stayed close to us and all we did was rest with her, watching a pair of NetFlixs and Gary worked on the recliner with his laptop. This morning she jumped up to get the paper and bounced out the door. Hopefully, it was just a 24 hour bug, but Gary will walk her through a different park today, one with a lake but no creek for her to run through.

swamp eye, speedy recovery miss Maggie. gfx thumping pentax medium format inventory.

 

[jcdeboever]

C'est BONJOUR! Hi! Much as the francophone nationalists try to pretend that Montreal is a french-only city, the reality is that pretty much everyone here is at least bilingual, and usually tri-lingual or better. We're in an apparently perpetual rebuild of the major arteries of the city, and we celebrate the fact with our Orange Cone festival, which are creatively installed at all street corners where you actually want to get somewhere. As well, our well-known citizen Almonde Barré has a lot of streets named after him, as in Rue Barré. But that's for the car-using folk. For those with good leg muscles, you can walk, jog, run, sprint, or bike pretty much anywhere. Let me know if you want a rundown of the mandatory tourist traps to see/avoid, and the places which will play nice with your camera (assuming you are bringing it). If you reddit, the montreal subreddit has decent information.

I was in Montreal...wow, I guess it was almost exactly 13 years ago. It was our first trip together, Buzz and I. And yes, I remember that it was a non-issue to speak English.

I would gladly take recommendations for things off the beaten path, if you are willing to give up the intel We'll be on foot, though we are not averse to taking public transportation. As for whether or not we'll be bringing cameras...what do you think?

got to bring a camera, sounds like a holga party to me....

 

[SquarePeg]

Ugh Hosers! Lost 8-7 in 7 very hard fought innings. Had the tying run on 3b with w outs in the 7th. Crushing loss. Princess had 4 rbi tonight including 3 in the 7th to get us close.

unfortunately, that is part of the beauty of the game

Love the game and will miss coaching a lot, mostly for the fun times watching the girls improve and bond. Princess is too old for the spring rec league next year so I’ll have to settle for being a fan in the stands during the high school games. I’ll stay on the board of the rec league for another year to help them keep the league moving forward. We made a lot of positive changes over the past few years and I want to make sure they don’t backslide!

 

[SquarePeg]

Get ready for the deluge of photos as I finally have a weekend free! First time since mid April.

 

[Dean_Gretsch]

I hate amusement parks. I don't like squeezing onto roller coasters in the like, and I honestly get overstimulated by all of the sensory crap around me (music blaring, food smells, sounds of people yelling, crowds of people near me, etc). But, our students had a great time. The park was relatively empty as we were late for school group season and early for the summer crowds, and my students were able to walk onto most of the rides. In fact, a few were able to ride Superman (considered one of the handful of best roller coasters in the world) twice in a 25 minutes, which is unheard of I guess.

The only snag was a ride breakdown that our students got caught in. We were short two students at our final check-in before heading home, and they were MIA for almost 45 minutes. Neither of them were answering their phones. It ended up that their phones were in a ride locker and they were stuck at the end of the ride for over an hour because the seat restraints wouldn't release and they had to call ride mechanics in. Of course, we didn't know that at the time.

Needless to say, I'm dragging this morning.

That must have been scary with the MIA's. Have they discussed revamping protocol to prevent this in the future?

 

[jcdeboever]

Got all new kitchen appliances yesterday (class action wife camper settlement). LG brand, they all look the same to me. Our handyman (odd jobs that this odd man doesn't want to do) is taking the old stove, dishwasher, and microwave. The old fridge is going in the car garage. All I had to do was hard wire the dishwasher, run a new waterline to fridge. Put in a nice filter behind the watervalve, all braided hose. no more plastic water bottles, Thank You Lord! The old line corroded at the fridge valve some time ago and made a mess in the basement, of course it busted when we weren't home. I almost went with the "talk to me fridge" with built in blue tooth, geez I don't need friends that bad, and like the wife needs someone else to bark commands at...I lined up the bottom of the stove with foil since I'm the one that always cleans it. It's a convection oven, whatever the heck that is, no dials, all touch pad, it's like using a phone. Microwave has a tray in it, dumb. Dish washer is strange, got to get the manual out for it.

 

[jcdeboever]

Ugh Hosers! Lost 8-7 in 7 very hard fought innings. Had the tying run on 3b with w outs in the 7th. Crushing loss. Princess had 4 rbi tonight including 3 in the 7th to get us close.

unfortunately, that is part of the beauty of the game

Love the game and will miss coaching a lot, mostly for the fun times watching the girls improve and bond. Princess is too old for the spring rec league next year so I’ll have to settle for being a fan in the stands during the high school games. I’ll stay on the board of the rec league for another year to help them keep the league moving forward. We made a lot of positive changes over the past few years and I want to make sure they don’t backslide!

That is very generous of you. The world needs more parents like you. Time is very valuable, as well as your experience. They are lucky to have you.

 

[Gary A.]

Happy (early) Father's Day to all the fathers out there!

Also, Eid Mubarak! Today is Eid al-Fitr.

Eid Murbarak to you! And now the Eid al-Fitr festival.

 

[Gary A.]

Got all new kitchen appliances yesterday (class action wife camper settlement). LG brand, they all look the same to me. Our handyman (odd jobs that this odd man doesn't want to do) is taking the old stove, dishwasher, and microwave. The old fridge is going in the car garage. All I had to do was hard wire the dishwasher, run a new waterline to fridge. Put in a nice filter behind the watervalve, all braided hose. no more plastic water bottles, Thank You Lord! The old line corroded at the fridge valve some time ago and made a mess in the basement, of course it busted when we weren't home. I almost went with the "talk to me fridge" with built in blue tooth, geez I don't need friends that bad, and like the wife needs someone else to bark commands at...I lined up the bottom of the stove with foil since I'm the one that always cleans it. It's a convection oven, whatever the heck that is, no dials, all touch pad, it's like using a phone. Microwave has a tray in it, dumb. Dish washer is strange, got to get the manual out for it.

Good for you! LG makes good stuff. They've come a long way from when they were "Lucky Goldstar". Not to be competitive, but yesterday, Gary ordered a hand blender.

 

[Gary A.]

Ugh Hosers! Lost 8-7 in 7 very hard fought innings. Had the tying run on 3b with w outs in the 7th. Crushing loss. Princess had 4 rbi tonight including 3 in the 7th to get us close.

unfortunately, that is part of the beauty of the game

Love the game and will miss coaching a lot, mostly for the fun times watching the girls improve and bond. Princess is too old for the spring rec league next year so I’ll have to settle for being a fan in the stands during the high school games. I’ll stay on the board of the rec league for another year to help them keep the league moving forward. We made a lot of positive changes over the past few years and I want to make sure they don’t backslide!

Gary wonders who will be the official high school team photog ...?

 

[Gary A.]

Get ready for the deluge of photos as I finally have a weekend free! First time since mid April.

Thanks for the heads-up.