Monday, April 17, 2006

No Easter celebration here!


I worked on the page for Ashley. I used folded iris paper to make a flower. I also made six thank you cards for Ronae’.


I called Dad and we had a long chat. He seemed very down talking about how if he hadn’t had his morning job he would have realised Mum was sick and he could have helped her. There isn’t much I can do from here, but I changed the topic and tried to lift his spirits as best I could.


I went for a two hour bike ride along the Don River and took a few pictures of interesting trees. On the way back I stopped at the Distillery District where I sat outside the café to drink a pot of tea. Everyone there was out with their families, which made me feel quite alone. Where are all the other single people?


I called Kate to find out what had happened when she gave her notice. She sounded much better, and it very glad that she made the decision to quit.

Friday, April 14, 2006

Take a minute to read through these cool facts.

ALASKA
More than half of the coastline of the entire United States is in Alaska.

AMAZON
The Amazon rain forest produces more than 20% the world's oxygen supply. The Amazon River pushes so much water into the Atlantic Ocean that, more than one hundred miles at sea, off the mouth of the river, one can dip fresh water out of the ocean. The volume of water in the Amazon river is greater than the nexteight largest rivers in the world combined and three times the flow of all rivers in the United States.

ANTARCTICA
Antarctica is the only land on our planet that is not owned by any country. Ninety percent of the world's ice covers Antarctica. This ice also represents seventy percent of all the fresh waterin the world. As strange as it sounds, however, Antarctica is essentially a desert. The average yearly total precipitation is about two inches.Although covered with ice (all but 0.4% of it, i.e.),Antarctica is the driest place on the planet, with an absolute humidity lower than the Gobi desert.

BRAZIL
Brazil got its name from the nut, not the other way around.

CANADA
Canada has more lakes than the rest of the world combined. Canada is an Indian word meaning "Big Village."

CHICAGO
Next to Warsaw, Chicago has the largest Polish population in the world.

DETROIT
Woodward Avenue in Detroit, Michigan carries the designation M - 1, named so because it was the first paved road anywhere.

DAMASCUS, SYRIA
Damascus, Syria, was flourishing a couple of thousand years before Rome was founded in 753 BC, making it the oldest continuously inhabited city in existence.

ISTANBUL, TURKEY
Istanbul, Turkey is the only city in the world located on two continents.

LOS ANGELES
Los Angeles full name is El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles dePorciuncula--and can be abbreviated to 3.63% of its size: L.A.

NEW YORK CITY
The term "The Big Apple" was coined by touring jazz musicians of the 1930s who used the slang _expression "apple" for any town or city. Therefore, to play New York City is to play the big time- The Big Apple.
There are more Irish in New York City than in Dublin, Ireland; more Italians in New York City than in Rome, Italy; and more Jewish people in New York City than in Tel Aviv, Israel.
AFRICA
Percentage of Africa that is wilderness: 28.
Percentage of North America that is wilderness: 38.

OHIO
There are no natural lakes in the state of Ohio; every one is man made.

PITCAIRN ISLAND
The smallest island with country status is Pitcairn in Polynesia, at just 1.75 sq. miles/4.53 sq. km.

ROME
The first city to reach a population of one million people was Rome, Italy in 133 B.C.There is a city called Rome on every continent.

SIBERIA
Siberia contains more than 25% of the world's forests.

S.M.O.M.
The actual smallest sovereign entity in the world is the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (S.M.O.M.). It is located in the city of Rome, Italy, has an area of two tennis courts, and as of 2001, has a population of eighty, twenty less people than the Vatican. It is a sovereign entity under international law, just as the Vatican is.

SAHARA DESERT
In the Sahara Desert, there is a town named Tidikelt, which did not receive a drop of rain for ten years.

SPAIN
Spain literally means 'the land of rabbits.'

ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA
St. Paul, Minnesota was originally called Pig's Eye after a man named Pierre "Pig's Eye" Parrant who set up the first business there.

ROADS
Chances that a road is unpaved
in the U.S.A.: 1%,
in Canada: 75%.

TEXAS
The deepest hole ever made in the world is in Texas. It is as deep as 20 empire state buildings but only 3 inches wide.

UNITED STATES
The Eisenhower interstate system requires that one-mile in every five must be straight. These straight sections are usable as airstrips and in times of war or other emergencies.

WATERFALLS
The water of Angel Falls (the World's highest) in Venezuela drops 3,212 feet (979 meters). They are 15 times higher than Niagara Falls.And that's about all you need to learn for today !!

Monday, April 10, 2006

Woodbine Racetrack


Glenn organized an event through www.meetin.org to Woodbine racetrack.

Mark another member of meetin gave me a ride to and from Woodbine.

There were about 12 - 15 of us, and some of us had never been to a race track before.

The weather was perfect with the sunshining and the a nice cool breeze to keep us from getting too hot.

There were 10 races, but we didn't stay for all the races. The last of us left after the 6th race.

Everyone of us who placed a bet, won at least once. I placed 6 bets and 3 of them paid out! Of course my bets were only $2, but hey a win is a win!

We went down to the paddocks to watch them get ready for their races. The horse in the pink was rearing up so I thought it would either do well becasue it was raring to go, or it would do really badly because it wanted to go its own way. Another man looking on down there told us he liked the green number 5 for one of the races. I had already placed my bet, but Glenn went up and bet on that horse. And wouldn't you know it, Green number 5 won, my horse number 2 came in 2nd and the pink one came in third!

We left after that race, all very happy with the day in the sun.