Posted by Skrud at Monday, September 22nd 2008 at 5:14pm
Adjusting to life in Ottawa has been much more difficult than I thought it was going to be. Instead of whining and complaining, I’m going to focus on the positive things about Ottawa.
Ottawa is Pretty. There’s no doubt that Ottawa is a gorgeous town. There’s a lot of contrast between old and new buildings, and gorgeous sights like the Chateau Laurier and Parliament Hill. The Rideau Canal runs through the city, and walking across the bridges connected the two halves of downtown makes for some nice views. The Rideau Locks, which connect the canal to the Ottawa/Outaouais River are also pretty impressive. The best part is that if I happen to be out for a night on the town in the Byward Market I can look forward to a very pleasant walk home!
Pubs. Ottawa is a pub town. You won’t really understand what this means until you see it for yourself, but there are a lot of pubs in Ottawa. I’d say that Ottawa has pubs the way Montreal has strip clubs. It never ends! There’s no shortage of places to go for a pint, and lots of these pubs are really nice. Pub food in Ottawa is likewise leaps and bounds ahead of Montreal. As far as Ottawa goes, pubs seem to be the center of everyone’s lives. Families go to the pub for breakfast, business people are always in the pubs for lunch, and everyone hits the pubs for dinner. There are easily more pubs than actual restaurants, at least in the downtown area, so why bother going to a “real” restaurant?
My Apartment. Even though I live alone, my apartment is pretty awesome. I’m on the 13th floor (love the fact that it’s actually 13) and I have a full-sized balcony facing downtown, overlooking the city. Looking out my window I can even tell time by ball atop World Exchange Plaza. It’s more than spacious enough for a bachelor, though I need to learn to cook … and I suppose clean more regularly. :S My apartment is right smack in the middle of Centretown, which means that I’m about a 15-minute walk to the Clocktower (Ottawa’s only brewpub) in one direction, and the Byward Market in the other direction. And there’s a grocery store half a block from me.
Toy Stores. Okay, I really just mean store. But seriously, Mrs. Tiggy Winkles is so much cooler than any similar store I’ve seen in Montreal. The closest thing that would come to mind is the second floor of Urban Outfitters on Ste-Catherine, but minus the clothes. This place (and its sister store, Lost Marbles) is full of trinkets, geek toys, and various other little gems — like a hammer/bottle-opener. It’s a good place to pick up a silly gift for someone.
The LCBO. Everyone knows that the selection of liquors available at the LCBO easily trumps that of the SAQ. Not only that, but stuff is usually significantly cheaper and you get air miles.
Tags: life, moving, ottawa, separation | 6 comments
Posted by Skrud at Tuesday, July 1st 2008 at 2:45am
My mom wrote a poem that she read at dinner tonight. It made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
Your graduation, leaving for Ottawa, seem an opportune time
To finally be the recipient of a personalized rhyme
Your accomplishments and achievements over the past several years
Your induction to the group of software engineers
Your myriad friendships and the respect of your peers
The number of friends with whom you drink beers
All speak to your successes in various spheres
And to how you’ve grown and evolved over the years
And although it was often a challenge parenting you
Your positive attributes always shone through
From your earliest years you always displayed
A curiosity for learning that left others dismayed
Reading fluently from encyclopaedias at the tender age of four
Playing games like Quarcetti and enjoying a classical music score
Were just some eccentricities that set you apart
But that won you a special place in my heart
Being so cerebral, not a jock like your peers
Made growing up somewhat difficult in your formative years
Your intellect and social skills were just not yet in sync
Your ability to problem solve, analyze, think
Were light years ahead of the average norm
So it took a few years for a coherent self to form
But now you’re so popular, sociable, fun
Innumerable friendships you’ve easily won
You’re smart, independent and you still love to learn
The respect of peers and professors you easily earn
So know that I’m proud of all you’ve achieved
And in your potential I’ve always believed
Though I know you’re ambivalent as you prepare to leave
And for bars, friends and festivals you surely will grieve
In time, you’ll adjust; new adventures you’ll find
And for sure you will visit all of us left behind
Please e-mail or phone, as you must stay in touch
‘Cause you know as your mom I will miss you so much
Isn’t that awesome? I don’t remember what Quarcetti is, and I couldn’t find anything familiar on Google. But it is true that for my eighth birthday, when asked what kind of music I want, I asked for classical music and received a boxed set of Mozart cassette tapes. Back then I used to listen to classical music while building my lego sets. I was one of the kids that followed the instructions to the letter, never wavering, each time I got a new set. Only once the set was built and subsequently deconstructed would I allow myself to be creative and build things from all kinds of parts.
I’m really going to miss this place, and all of you.
Tags: family, lego, love, mom, moving, mozart, ottawa, poety | 5 comments
Posted by Skrud at Saturday, May 10th 2008 at 2:35pm
Finding an apartment in Ottawa this week, more than anything, made the fact that I’m leaving feel undeniably real. Until now I had been in limbo between disbelief and hard reality. I’m actually kind of excited for the move, but I’m definitely feeling anxious about moving out on my own and having to deal with all kinds of things like insurance, RRSP’s, getting Ontario ID’s, a new cell phone number, and changing my address in virtually every database on the planet.
I really like the area I’ll be living in, and the job promises to be fun and exactly what I want to do. Encouraging me is the fact that virtually everyone I’ve run into has told me that “IBM is a good company”. This goes both for IBMers, ex-IBMers, and people who “had a brother/uncle/nephew/father who worked for IBM”. Ottawa also seems to have an endless sea of pubs, kind of like the way Montreal has an endless sea of strip clubs. I don’t think I’ll have any trouble finding a nice pub near my apartment, and then there’s always Zaphod’s. Because the pubs are so numerous and so close together, I think a pub crawl (or several) is in order.
Also encouraging me is the good base of friends I already have in Ottawa, and new friends that I’m just making. I’ve been hanging out with some of the current IBM interns on IRC and they’re pretty cool people and good company to bend elbows with. I’m also looking forward to Montreal friends coming up and visiting me. You will come visit me, right? I’ll make sure to have a couch for crashing on. (And my place is right down the street from the bus station). Just bring me some Québec microbrew beer. And bagels.
On the other hand, I still feel like I’m being uprooted. Montreal is where I’ve lived for my entire life. I’ve grown into this city, and I love being surrounded by the tall buildings, the mountain towering over them, the waterfront, the plateau, the bars and pubs, and most of all the people. Montreal is an intensely friendly city and I’ve made an incredible amount of really close friends here. I also have a dream of living in downtown Montreal loft, while I’m still young enough to thrive in the big city. I’m really going to miss running into people almost every time I go out. I’m especially going to miss Brutopia, which I’ve been frequenting for seven years.
Ottawa isn’t so bad, though. It’s so close to Montreal that coming back for the weekends is more than plausible. (My friends chipped in and got me a Greyhound flexpass for my birthday, so I know I’ll be coming back a lot.) It could be worse, and had I been offered a job further away, I probably would have declined. I don’t really want to make new friends in new, faraway places. I’m a huge fan of the friends I’ve currently got and I’d much rather be closer to them than have a job far away.
So Ottawa is a decent compromise. It’s close, and the job is awesome. Although Ottawa does seem to think that a bunch of tulips surrounding a Beaver Tails tent constitutes a “festival”. They have no idea what they’re missing. In Montreal we would call it “landscaping”. I’m more than a little disappointed that I won’t be in Montreal for the entire summer. I’m moving at the beginning of July. At least I’ll still be here for the Fringe festival, but I’ll have to make frequent trips to catch Fantasia movies, the Jazz festival, Just for Laughs, and pretty much everything else.
Reasons to come visit me in Ottawa
- You can go to Red Lobster
- You can pick up some Fireball whiskey (and other non-SAQ beverages) at the LCBO
- You can get a Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster at Zaphod’s (they’re gooood!)
- You can meet my new friends and make sure I’m in good hands.
- We can complain together when the bars kick us out an hour early
Tags: anxiety, Friends, montreal, moving, ottawa, team | 2 comments
Posted by Skrud at Monday, April 21st 2008 at 10:50am
As the big move looms closer, I’m slowly beginning to realize how different things are going to be and how many changes need to be made. Today, a representative from the moving company came by to look at the stuff I have so that they’ll know what’s needed come packing/moving day. The entire assessment took less than a minute, since I don’t have a lot of stuff.
These are things that I’ll probably pick up during a few IKEA runs once I’m in my new city:
- A bed (right now I’ve just got a futon mattress on the floor)
- A sofa for people to sit/sleep on when they come over (and for video-gaming)
- A TV Stand
- A dining/eating table plus chairs
And in the slightly longer term, things to invest in:
- A really awesome mattress
- A new TV (I’ve still got my old CRT that I bought when I was 15)
- A stereo/sound system … though I supposed I can use my desktop PC in the meantime
- Beer making kit, since I’ve decided to start making my own.
What kinds of things were you missing the first time you moved out on your own?
Tags: future, ikea, life, moving, ottawa | 15 comments
