Weblog and Playground of Gord Fynes

From The Onion, no less.

Just back from Göteborg, Sweden. Will have more to say/show later. In the meantime, check out my Flickr photos of the trip.

Now, please excuse me while I go fight off the jet lag.

Rannie Turingan, he of great eye and PhotoJunkie fame, as of late has been running a new series on his site entitled My Toronto Includes… I was fortunate enough to take part in this cool series which offers lots of interesting takes on our fine city. Hey, there’s me now.

As James has pointed out, I haven’t mentioned anything about my latest acquisition: my Honda Jazz scooter.

After nearly two weeks of riding, it’s safe to say that I’m smitten with my scooter. The morning commute is now 25 minutes door-to-door, plus I get to sleep in an extra hour. The insurance is just over $20 per month. Parking in the city is free, and I’ve been brazen enough to park it on the sidewalk a couple of times. The city by-law on that one is still yet to be determined.

Aside from the freedom of mobility and the coolness factor, the biggest kicker has been the cost of gassing up. First off, a 5L tank of gas is good for (I believe) around 150 km. With the needle in the red, I filled up this past Sunday for a whopping $3.87.

Some other observations:

* nobody drives the speed limit
* street noise seems way louder with a helmet on
* you smell all the restaurants that use garlic
* at least once a day someone asks about either top speed, price, insurance, etc. and then proceeds to shake their head muttering about how expensive their car is in comparison
* I now wish I lived in a city where it doesn’t snow

If you’re a scooter rider, or not, I’d love to hear your take on two-wheeling.

Some highlights of Googlism for: gord:

bq. gord is a vengeful gord
gord is defined as the presence of reflux symptoms
gord is usually suggested by a person’s symptoms
gord is eager to please
gord is not caused by any specific lifestyle factors
gord is standing in the middle
gord is trying to communicate
gord is a familiar face to global viewers
gord is not a disease…it’s a disorder
gord is generally not difficult to diagnose
gord is extremely tough mentally
gord is concentrating more of his time to writing novels
gord is taller than 5’1″
gord is watching
gord is no oscar wilde

One of my fave tunes over the past year.