Only Coincidence ?

Nagra pops up in Alcatraz

2012-01-17T08:10:00.001-05:00

Watching the Golden Globes on Sunday night, my wife confuses Slumdog's Freida Pinto with the actress from Bend it like Beckham, Parminder Nagra. Unlike, Pinto who I'd seen recently in Rise of the the Planet of the Apes, I hadn't heard nor seen Nagra in a long time.

I decided to give the new Alcatraz series a try last night (very good I might add) and who is one of the stars - Ms. Nagra. I had thought there was a second coincidence, but I was mixing up Sam Neill with Derek Jacobi who I'd seen in The Gathering Storm on Sunday. Almost a double.

There have been lots of coincidences since I posted last in October, but unfortunately have been neglecting this blog.

Hot Tub Time Machine and old friends

2011-10-21T08:58:00.000-04:00

After I got home from ultimate last night, I watched a hilarious movie called Hot Tub Time Machine. I've been thinking of old friends a lot this week, people I've been friends with since university years, for over 25 years. They are an important part of my life and I make a big effort to stay in touch with them: I saw one (high school and university) friend in Vancouver last week while there on business and I'm staying over with a friend in Ottawa next week while I'm in town for another (rare) business trip. I've seen 2 other friends here in Toronto over the last few weeks and we go to concerts often together. I have two of one of my oldest friends live just 4 blocks from me and I'm seeing another tomorrow in Paris, Ontario. Over the last year, I've also met up with an old university friend who lives in New York. Including, my wife who I met in 1986, that makes a circle of 9 university friends whose friendships I cherish.

Well, that's not really really a coincidence, but perhaps one of the reasons I chose to watch the movie late last night. But I wrote another blog this week on inTunein and I made a reference to an old song called Obsession by Animotion. Of course, that song was was one of the many great 80's tracks in the movie. Also have to say in closing, the last scene was just a perfect fit for The Talking Head's Once in a Lifetime.

Synapses

2011-04-05T22:16:00.000-04:00

I just saw the movie Limitless tonight. My modest review on Facebook was:

I really liked it, lots of fun, action and an interesting premise. Plot could have taken a little more load, but all together, very entertaining. Gotta go and connect a few new synapses.

I then checked my Yahoo email and found an email from Luminato regarding the addition of the New Yorker series, which includes one my favourite authors and big thinkers - Malcolm Gladwell. I'm really excited about the opportunity to see him and hopefully hear about his new ideas.

Oh, and the coincidence ? Limitless is based on the plot premise that what if there was a pill you could take that would allow you to use more/all of your available brain capacity. And, if there's anyone who can quickly get your synapses firing and expanding your brain around new ideas, it's Malcolm Gladwell. I'd highly recommend all his books, my favourite being Blink.

Pi and Einstein

2011-03-19T11:41:00.000-04:00

I'm a mathy and I almost missed the geeky numerical date alignment of March 14th with Pi (3.14...). Thank you to an old math friend from The University of Waterloo who posted this fun fact on Facebook. On the 14th, my wife told me that Albert Einstein's birthday was March 14th which I hadn't heard before. In the evening, my daughter and I watched a family movie called Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium. In a later scene, Jason Bateman's dry accountant character begins to feel the magic of the emporium and picks up an Einstein doll who appears to be talking to him. Nice geek coincidence.

Andorra

2011-03-19T11:14:00.001-04:00

My son is currently in France on a two week student exchange. As expected, news from my son is rather brief, however my wife and the mother of the French host student have been exchanging quite a few emails. We've learnt that she is originally from a small nation called Andorra. I'd think I'd heard of Andora previously, but not this small nation in the Pyrenees.

The day I heard about this, I was working on a crossword puzzle and the clue for 4 down was Pyrenees nation.

The scarcity of water

2011-03-19T10:50:00.000-04:00

I took my daughter to the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) during March Break and spent some time at the Water exhibit. We both learnt a lot about the scarcity and value of fresh water to our lives and planet. The timing of this exhibit seemed tragically coincidental with the recent tsunami disaster in Japan.

After the ROM, we had a nice lunch then went to see the new animated movie, Rango. I didn't know much about this movie, except its Western theme and Johnny Depp lead voice. It turned out the primary plot of the movie was to do with the depleting water supply for a desert town. There was even underground shot of an aquifer, which I knew much more about after visiting the ROM's Water exhibit.

Wall of Death

2011-02-25T22:54:00.000-05:00

I was talking about the stunt show called Wall of Death during a family visit to Windsor last weekend.

I picked up Q magazine today with [ex-Oasis front man] Liam Gallagher's mug on the front cover. He's formed a new band called Beady Eye and the first release is called Roller. The video includes the Wall of Death.

Santa Monica Blvd.

2011-02-05T13:33:00.001-05:00

I was in Santa Monica for our sales conference this week. Mostly business, but I managed to see a some of the city with a little walkabout with work colleagues Thursday night, incl. Santa Monica Blvd. On the flight home I was reading a novel called The Lock Artist and the main character was on Santa Monica Blvd.

Neighbourhood limo riders

2011-02-04T22:30:00.000-05:00

I arrived home this evening from a business trip to California. Lots of lineups, including a chilly 10 mins waiting for a limo ride home. When it was close to my turn, I made eye contact with the gentleman behind me in line and we exchanged a few words. Turns out he lives about 2 blocks from my house.

Girls on motorcycles

2011-02-04T17:54:00.001-05:00

I just flew back home from Los Angeles and on the flight I read a few chapters of a book and caught a movie. I'm currently reading a novel called The Lock Artist and in the chapter I was reading today, the main character whisks away his 17 year old girlfriend on the back of his motorcycle. I also watched The Kids Are All Right and there's a scene where Ruffalo's character takes his 18 year old daughter for a ride on the back of his motorcycle.

Wheels, pedals and casters - snap

2010-12-04T10:32:00.000-05:00

Leaving the house on Thursday morning and I notice some people walking with a stroller. The stroller gets caught on a crack in the sidewalk and the right front wheel bends and breaks - snap. Lots of head scratching and I leave them to tackle their morning mishap.

As I was driving home after a meeting in Scarborough I was coming down Yonge Street off the 401 and was carefully overtaking a cyclist squeezed between the parked cars and my inside lane. Snap - he breaks his left pedal off the crankarm.

The next day I'm at a customer's office and grab a chair in one of the cubes and one of its casters is snapped off.

Snap.

Morteza

2010-12-02T21:00:00.000-05:00

I had a business lunch with a customer and my colleague made reference to a senior executive at one of our other customers. The name was Morteza, I've heard the name before, but I've never been sure whether it's a first name or last name or whether it is a man or a woman.

In the evening I was at The Hangar for my ultimate game and walked in the washroom and there was a large soccer player at the urinal and the name on the back of his shirt was Morteza.

I'm pretty sure they're not the same person.

Phở

2010-12-01T22:56:00.001-05:00

It was another cold, wet and windy day in Toronto and I thought some hearty phở soup would fit the bill for lunch. I didn't actually know what exactly what pho was, but I'd seen it on lots of menus and knew it was a form of Asian noodle soup. I did a little research looking for local best bets, and also found out that this Vietnamese dish is pronounced more like "fuh" than "fo".

I didn't find one of the top restaurant choices nearby, so I hoped in the elevator and planning to walk East along Dundas Street toward Chinatown until I found a spot that looked good and I could read the menu.

There are a few other people behind me in the elevator and I overheard one the ladies say she knows a great pho place and she heard from someone its wasn't pronounced "fuh" but "fo". I didn't get in a debate about the pronunciation, but I did ask her the name of the restaurant - Asian Bowl on Yonge opposite the Eaton Centre Roots store. I ordered the beef pho and a veggie spring roll - lovely stuff; very rich soup broth and tender beef and all for a decent price.

Whistler

2010-11-23T16:09:00.000-05:00

Dreamed about skiing in Whistler last night. Familiar dream about trying to get a few more runs in before the vacation ends.

First commercial I saw on TV this morning (sports station) was one for Whistler. I miss my yearly Whistler trips !

Shoot to Thrill

2010-11-04T21:58:00.000-04:00

Heading out for my evening dog walk and slip on my iPod. I'd been napping on the couch, so I selected my upbeat tracks for the walk, hoping the cold air and music would wake me up a little for my late ultimate game. My mind wanders to movies and remembers that I need to rent Ironman 2. I believe AC/DC features pretty prominently on the soundtrack and I'm pretty sure one of my favourite AC/DC tracks, Shoot to Thrill is used on the trailer. I've often thought the lyrics were a little too risqué so I was a little surprised the used it for the soundtrack. I don't recall if I have any AC/DC on my iPod at the moment. The first track of the playlist is over, I'm not in the mood for the second randomly selected upbeat track, so I skip to the next track - Shoot to Thrill. Rock on.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

2010-10-26T15:39:00.000-04:00

I just got a nice comment on Flickr regarding a shot I took at my local park a few days ago in the fog. The comment from Jimbographer was "Like the colors, reminds me of Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind." And guess what, just before bed last night, I browsed the program guide a little in case there was a movie I wanted to record and found one of my favourites - Close Encounters of the Third Kind was plying on HDNet. Really looking forward to watching it now !

Canada Malting Co

2010-10-21T17:31:00.000-04:00

I dropped off a few colleagues at Toronto's Island Airport (now called the Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport) and we passed by the old Canada Malting Co. structure on Toronto's waterfront. We wondered what they malted ? Turns out malt is actually a processed grain product and could be used in a number of different end products.

When I got home I caught up on a few blogs and personal items and was pleased to see today's photo on one of my favourite photo blogs - Daily Dose of Imagery.

Carcassonne

2010-09-07T16:08:00.000-04:00

I played a few games of Carcassonne with the family on the weekend. I was in the Apple store at lunch today and picked up the new iPhone4. I paged over a few pages and accidentally touched an app without noticing what app icon my finger was on and Carcassonne opened up. What a surprise, I didn't even know there was a Carcassonne Apple app. Of course, I had to play for a few minutes. Love the game and now available as an app for you iPhone and iTouch, with iPad to come (which we'll be really nice with the larger screen).

Betty Davis Eyes

2010-09-03T12:47:00.000-04:00

My wife and I went to see Brandon Flowers (of The Killers) play a solo gig last week and one of the tracks he played was the classic Kim Carnes' hit Betty Davis Eyes. I hadn't herd that great song in a very long time, and then I heard it again on the car radio this morning. I just went out to run another errand and heard the same original version being played at St. Louis Wings on their outdoor patio speakers. I ran my errand, and as I'm returning back to my car, the same restaurant is now paying The Killers' big it Sombody Told me.

Shad and Champion

2010-06-13T17:33:00.000-04:00

We went to Shad's concert at The Opera House last night. I haven't been to many hip-hop or rap shows and I wasn't sure what the crowd was like. I decided to wear my Champion t-shirt for the occasion thinking it gave me a little street cred, although electronica is still a musical departure away from Shad's hip-hop style.

Today, I was having some trouble trying to find the setlist from last night (so I can fill in some of gaps in myShad downloads), when I came across a CBC Radio 3 podcast - Shad and Champion playing last year's Transmission Festival in Victoria ! Never suspected they'd played on the same bill before.

Ryan

2010-06-03T16:05:00.002-04:00

Ryan - coincidence, originally uploaded by PJMixer.

I was downtown checking out some of the exhibits for the Contact Photography festival when a noticed this striking bright red truck on Ossington Avenue. I took a few shots, one of which included a brightly dressed passerby. After taking the shots, I continued my walk up Ossington and noticed some beautiful and colourful art work at AWOL Gallery. Upon closer examination, I noticed the piece was made up of mousetraps. I went into the gallery and met Agata Ostrowska who told me all about Ryan Barrett and his latest project, Fire Trap. Ryan returned from getting a coffee and we spent almost an hour talking about the project and art in general.

When I checked my photographs when I got home, I noticed Ryan was the stranger I captured in this earlier photo.

Click here for the full story and more photos from my visit to AWOL Gallery.

Centaurs

2010-05-05T22:35:00.000-04:00

I asked my son to describe Lady Gaga's set on American Idol tonight. He came up with the creative "centaury" which kind of surprised my wife who wasn't in tune with his new fantasy fiction vocabulary.

Later in the show, Harry Connick Jr. (one of my all time favourite singers), said he would prefer being a centaur rather than a mentor. Maybe he saw Lady Gaga's rehearsal, but that's a unusual descriptive coincidence regardless.

Junos

2010-04-18T21:39:00.000-04:00

I recently heard that my daughter's music teacher was nominated for a Juno award for Reggae Recording of the Year. He was the instrumentalist for Carl Henry III. He unfortunately lost the award to Dubmatix ft. Prince Blanco. I immediately recognized the name Prince Blanco as I met him a few years ago as he was singing with a local reggae band called the Liquidaires with a ultimate [frisbee] friend of mine on bass. I went to the gig with another ultimate friend and had a great night. On a related note, I was really pleased to see that a couple of other friends I met playing ultimate, Sam Dunn and Scot McFadyen won a Juno for DVD of the year.

Duke

2010-04-06T00:11:00.000-04:00

I came home from my ultimate game tonight just in time to see the last 13 seconds of the NCAA Final Four Championship game. Duke won by a couple of points. Before bed, I then sit down to ice my ankle and I pick up What the Dog Saw to continue with a chapter I was reading a few days before. After a few pages I read that one of people Gladwell is talking about went to law school at Duke.

U2

2010-04-06T00:06:00.001-04:00

I had my Flickr slideshow set (698 items, 16 of which are U2) displaying on our TV in the kitchen earlier this evening and of course at the same time I glance a shot of U2, U2 starts playing from our main iTunes playlist (1179 tracks, 21 of which are U2). Just a little coincidence, but I thought it was wroth recording since I was talking about concert DVD's with my brother-in-law earlier in the day and said U2's DVD's are excellent.

Exeter

2010-03-27T22:38:00.001-04:00

My son has an opportunity to do a two week school exchange next spring to Toulouse, France. We had a meeting with the organizing teacher and the travel agent this week. The travel agent was from Ellison Travel, based in Exeter, Ontario. I hadn't heard of Exeter here in Ontario before, although I was pretty familiar with Exeter in England as they had a good speedway team back in the 70's (and I supported The Coventry Bees).

Later, the same evening, I started to watch Angels and Demons (which I'd PVR'd a few days prior). In one early shot, Hank's character is seen standing in front of a large Exeter pennant in his Harvard office.

The Cars

2010-03-27T22:19:00.000-04:00

My brother in-law is a massive music fan and loves vinyl (and he just bought a very old Dual turntable). He told me about a second-hand vinyl show scheduled at a neighbourhood community centre tomorrow. I'm thinking of joining him and on the drive home tonight I was thinking about some of the albums I have (to sell perhaps or to buy for nostalgic reasons). I was recalling that The Cars' Candy-O was one of the first albums I bought when I frist came to Canada.

As usual, we were flicking around various radio stations on the drive home and as I'm thinking about The Cars, I switch to Q107 and they are playing You're All I've Got Tonight from The Cars' debut album.

More Champion

2010-03-13T11:58:00.000-05:00

I heard a great Haiti charity song just this week on my friend's blog - it was a very gritty version of the classic, I Put a Spell On You. As you may be aware, I'm a big of a band called Champion and I have all their albums. As I was looking on iTunes for the track, on the first page of hits of I Put a Spell On You, I noticed Champion had a version of the song as a single. Nice surprise coincidence.

Philth(y)

2010-03-12T13:50:00.000-05:00

A friend of mine in university once gave me the nickname Philthy. For the record, she was a rather sloppy character herself. I named a soccer team The Philthy Kickers and my first ultimate team I put together was called The Philthy Flyers. My CKMS radio show was called The Philthy Show. The name morphed into just Philth and some people still call me that moniker. My mom was never a fan of the name and today the name is perhaps a little like a poorly chosen tattoo you got when you were drunk once. It's cool sometimes, but not really appropriate for someone who works in an office and has two children. PJMixer seems much more my style these days. Although I see the name quite often in my neighbourhood because there's a bar called Philthy McNastys, I was quite surprised to see that there are lots of references to Philth and Philthy on the internet.

I was at the Champion concert last night and DJ Champion (Max) was wearing a bright yellow t-shirt with Club Filth on it.

TMZ

2010-03-12T12:59:00.000-05:00

My wife was talking about music sensation Justin Bieber this morning. I'd never heard of him before, it seems this young kid is just massive these days. I guess my wife was doing a little research to find out what all the fuss was about, so she tells me about some stuff about him on a web site called TMZ. Again, I've never heard of TMZ.

On the walk to the subway, I'm listening to Hedley's song Cha-ching (I saw their performance at the Olympics closing ceremony) on my iPod and he sings "watch TMZ".

100's and 1000's of strangers

2010-03-04T10:12:00.000-05:00

I've been doing a photo project called 100 Strangers for about 9 months now and I'm up to over 40 strangers. I met Pam, #43 on Monday night before my ultimate game. He talked about a lot of different things, including 100 Strangers and she told about her friend, Hilary Leung and his 1000 Stranger project. Hilary takes photos of people in public spaces, then draws an illustration of that person. He is exhibiting his work at a gallery starting this week on Queen West in Toronto - see his blog and website for details. What a cool coincidence.

Heart of Glass

2010-03-04T09:29:00.000-05:00

I have a playlist on my iPod that contains recently downloaded tracks. Along with some new releases from Phoenix and The Courteeners (both great albums), I also just downloaded my 2 favourite hit tracks from Blondie's classic Parallel Lines album. So as I'm listening to shuffled tracks from this playlist this morning on the way to work, I hear the line " all the girls singing Blondie with heart of glass"" from The Courteeners' Good Time are Calling. Blondie had come to mind recently because of a few new bands that had some of that Blondie early new-wave sound. So I had downloaded Heart of Glass and One Way or Another and those tracks were in the 41 song playlist. Next track that my iPod automatically selected in the shuffle, Heart of Glass. Beautiful.

Spartacus

2010-03-03T20:35:00.000-05:00

I was channel surfing the other night and paused briefly on The Rat Pack on HBO Canada. I wasn't that interested, so I was ready to flick to another another station. Instead if going through the on-screen guide, I was using the Info button so I could just scroll up and down to other channels. Just as I heard one of the characters say something about "Spartacus", I hit Info and went to the next station and is showed Spartacus: Blood and Sand on The Movie Network. Nice one Spartacus.

Avatar and the TTC

2010-02-23T16:11:00.000-05:00

Quite a weird coincidence. This afternoon, I got my ticket to see Avatar tonight. ON a completely unrelated online activity I'm looking for how to get a to a friend's house in Scarborough and I type in ttc.com (guessing on the URL for the Toronto Transit Commission). It takes me to http://ttc.com/index.html which has an embedded image of Avatar and the company's tech connection to the movie. Wow.

Psychedelic Friday

2010-02-06T23:05:00.000-05:00

Driving home from my barber's, my son and I hear The Stones' Sympathy for the Devil (live version). During pre-dinner music-mixing with my daughter, I request Trout (Nenah Cherry and Michael Stipe) to be added to the playlist.

I sit down to watch Tropic Thunder on-demand on TMN later in the evening - it gets funnier as the movie progresses. The source track of Trout (Steppenwolf's The Pusher) is on the soundtrack along with Sympathy for the Devil.

Very psychedelic.

A wet dog and soccer parents

2010-01-31T17:45:00.000-05:00

As I was leaving Sunnybrook dog park today I met up with a couple who were leaving at the same time. I recognized their dog as he'd been playing with mine for a while in the park. They asked if I was their son's soccer coach. Sure enough, I recognized this nice couple who I hadn't seen for quite a years.

As we were getting our dogs to our cars, we talked about our dogs, and they said they had recall problems with their dog (like mine) and it had ran off a while back from this parking lot. They only got it back after it had found another dog of interest. I said I got a little worried about Kooper at regular parks (not officially off-leash, fenced parks) and said once he got bored of other dogs and we were in a regular park, it gets very difficult to get him back.

We said our goodbyes and I began the tricky process of taking the leash off Kooper and closing the (station wagon) trunk. I noticed there was another dog in the parking lot and sure enough it was too big a temptation for Kooper. He leapt out of the trunk and went to say hello. As I approached, he ran off down the nature trail toward another dog. From there he quickly noticed the stream and started exploring the soft ice along the bank of the stream. I noticed the water was moving quickly and began to really worry. He was oblivious to my calls and ran further upstream as I approached. I couldn't get very close as the bank was steep and the ice, I'm guessing, too thin to hold me. The game continued and sure enough he got too close to the edge and slipped into the stream. I'm not certain how deep it was, but I was fearing the worst. He was obviously very surprised when he fell in, but luckily it only took a couple of tries over about 10 seconds and he jumped out and ran up the bank to the trail and met up with another dog. I grabbed him and walked back to the car. He didn't seem cold at all and for him it appeared his adventure was just another walk in the park. I hope he learnt a lesson.

He's Just Not That Into You

2010-01-28T12:12:00.000-05:00

I came home from shinny (hockey) last night and my wife was watching He's Just Not That Into You on-demand on The Movie Network (TMN). I watched a little and found some parts quite interesting and quite funny (although I wasn't sure if it was supposed to be funny), but then some other parts just didn't do it for me.

A daily photo blog I follow is Daily Dose of Imagery. Today's posting (yesterday's photo) is entitled not that into you with a well captured simple moment on the subway.

Jully Black

2010-01-19T19:00:00.000-05:00

On my walk home today I stopped in at HMV to check out a few new releases (always released on Tuesdays theses days). I noticed Jully Black's new album at one of the listening posts and put the headphones on to listen to track 1 - Running which is listed as her single. Pretty decent track - as I remove the headphones, thh same song is playing on the storewide audio system.

Kensington

2010-01-19T18:00:00.000-05:00

As you may know, I have a daily photo blog called 365inCamera.

I was planning on visiting Kensington Market this afternoon for my daily shot (although I ended up finding something pretty interesting on the walk there and didn't make it all the way to Kensington).

I had a quick look at my Flickr comments in the morning and noticed one from a Sha_sha2008 (a Flickr member I didn't recognize). I had a quick look at her photostream and noticed her shot of Kensington Market in her Photo Content Winners set on her home page.

Mysterious noises

2010-01-19T08:27:00.000-05:00

When I got home from my late night ultimate game last night (this morning), I went downstairs for a snack and to wind down. I noticed a high pitched buzzing went I entered the family room and then tried to find the remote to watch a little TV. Our universal remote was not in its usual spot and its screen was blank - the (rechargeable) batteries were run down. So I fished around for various remotes and did a manual power on for a few components. I grabbed the universal remote as I wanted to recharge its batteries, but the buzzing noise was getting very annoying so I started to walk around trying to isolate the mysterious sound. The noise sounded a little like one of the pot lights ready to blow. But no, that wasn't it. I wandered over to the downstairs bathroom and the noise seemed to be a little louder. I opened the utility closet door in the bathroom and thought the sound was coming from the natural gas pipe. I walked back into the family room and also checked the gas fireplace, the noise was there too. I checked in the furnace room and the noise was there too. But I still couldn't isolate it. I put the remote down and did another check, but the mystery continued. A went back to the family room and went over to the TV and audio components and bent down a little to see if I could hear any better. Sure enough, the noise was coming from the universal remote, the batteries were run down enough so they couldn't power the screen, but apparently not enough to cause the remote to emit an annoying high pitched buzzing sound.

So I get back to my TV show, last week's episode of Fringe. The mystery involves some metamorphic, mutated humans and the agents track down a lead to a small town called Edina. When the arrive in Edina, all the agents hear a weird humming sound. I won't spoil the source of the humming, but I thought the coincidence was comical considering my earlier adventure and the look on Walter's face.

High Fidelity

2010-01-15T16:18:00.002-05:00

In my coincidence last week, entitled An Education, I noted the work of Nick Hornby and have since started reading his latest book, Juliet, Naked. One of Hornby's books that was turned into a movie and one I really liked was called High Fidelity. I just saw in this week's NOW magazine that the stage version is opening tonight running through the end of month at the Hart House Theatre.

Delivery

2010-01-08T10:21:00.000-05:00

We're waiting for our new washing machine to be delivered today. Of course, they can only tell us it's going to be between 7am and 5pm. So we just see a delivery van pull up outside and take out a boxed washing machine - but it's a Samsung, not a Frigidaire like we ordered. Sure enough, the delivery is for one of our neighbours down the road. We're heard that a few people had appliances break down over the holidays. But a new washing machine delivery on the same block on the same day ?

Ultimate food court

2010-01-06T14:55:00.000-05:00

I went down to the North end food court at The Eaton Centre today to load up on some wonton noodle soup and bumped into an old friend of mine. Tom is a lawyer and works in one of the office towers so I've known he works in the 'hood for a long time, but I don't think I've ever seen him close to our offices (I'm in another of The Eaton Centre's 3 office towers) in over 5 years. I know Tom from ultimate [frisbee], we played on a few teams together and went to the world championships back in 1995. One small coincidence is that I sent him a quick email the other day wishing him happy birthday. As I'm walking out of the foodcourt with my take-out soup I bump into another old friend from ultimate - Russell. I've never seen him out of ultimate gear and here he was dressed like he'd just stepped out of GQ (he was on his way to a meeting). Turns out that Russell's office is in the same tower as Tom's.

An Education

2010-01-05T20:43:00.000-05:00

I was in the bookstore today and also doing some browsing online (Amazon always seems to have the best prices in Canada). I recently finished The Lost Symbol and I was looking for some new fiction (as I already have a few Gladwell non-fiction books I'm currently reading). I came across Nick Hornby, I'm not familiar with his books, however I've seen some of the movies adaptations, incl. High Fidelity and About a Boy. I liked the premise of his new novel Juliet Naked and order it on Amazon. But I did notice another title that sounded interesting, An Education, and also saw that it had been made into a movie. I hadn't heard of the book or whether the movie was new or had already come and gone. But the list of actors was pretty decent. After work, I duck into 10 Dundas West where there happens to be an AMC movie theatre to make a quick call home. While I'm talking to my wife, I notice a poster for An Education, now playing !

Unfortunate pricing coincidence

2010-01-04T08:56:00.000-05:00

Coincidence - I've had my eyes on the Nikon 18-200mm lens for some time as a walk-around and travel lens and a replacement to our kit and telephoto lenses. The current, best price of the older version is $729 at Blacks.

Our front-load washing machine broke over the holidays. The breakage is severe enough that a repair doesn't make sense so we need to buy a new washer. The dryer is mounted on top of the washer so choices for a replacement are limited because of the need for the correct attachment with the dryer. I called The Bay for the latest price for the same model as our old washer - $729. The sales person who we've bought from in the past will give us a 15% discount. But still, those prices are unfortunately the same !

Jack Campbell

2009-12-29T15:08:00.001-05:00

I was watching the end of The Family Man the other night. Nick Cage plays jack Campbell is this wonderful "what's important in life" story. The next morning I overhear that Jack Campbell had a great game as goalie for the US junior hockey team.

The Drake Hotel

2009-12-21T18:52:00.000-05:00

My brother and sister-in-law will be arriving for Christmas in a few days and we're going out for dinner and drinks. So I'm thinking about West Queen West, with a stop at The Drake Hotel for drinks later in the evening. Today, with no direct connection, The Drake Hotel added me as a contact on Flickr. They follow the Toronto group so that's probably where they found me, but still, too much of a coincidence.

DJ Hero

2009-12-21T18:42:00.000-05:00

My son got DJ Hero for the 13th birthday gift last week. A few nights after his birthday I was winding up the day channel surfing and I picked up the DJ Hero box to review the game features. Just as I did that, the DJ Hero commercial appears on TV (and I'd never seen it before).

Gladwell goes Private

2009-12-09T22:59:00.000-05:00

I'm really enjoying Malcolm Gladwell's new collection of articles - What the Dog Saw. The article I was reading today discusses the invention of The Pill and more interesting the mistake the inventor made. In true Gladwell big brain thinking style, the article delves deep into related fields, in this case, cancer. He also talks about the circular design of The Pill's case and it's significance.

I pop downstairs in the evening and catch a few minutes of one of my wife's favourite TV shows - Private Practice. There's a scene where one of the doctor's slyly hands the familiar looking, circular Pill case to a Jewish lady for medical and perhaps contraceptive reasons.

Haven't thought about The Pill for a long time and there it is "popping out" twice in one day.

Sweet child of mine - not

2009-11-12T23:21:00.001-05:00

My son started to learn Sweet Child of Mine on the guitar tonight. His friends picked it for their talent show song slated for the Spring. Unfortunately, I've always disliked the song, but it wasn't so bad with his guitar teacher singing.

I get in the car to head to my ultimate game and the track CFRB 1010 use as an intro to the next segment after the commercial is Sweet Child of Mine.

My daughter's school is having an 80's charity night as well tonight. My wife had quite the outfit and hair, I preferred to sweat it out on the ultimate field rather than the dance floor.

Rush and Massey Hall

2009-09-14T19:00:00.001-04:00

A good friend of mine enthusiastically recommended the movie I Love You Man a little while ago and I got around to watching it last night - really funny. In the movie, the two lead guys hit it off when they discover they are both huge hands of Rush. Great to see one of Canada's classic rock bands feature so prominently in a Hollywood movie ! I'm a fan too and have seen them play a couple of times. So today, I take my burrito lunch over to the free TIFF (film festival) tent set up at Yonge Dundas Square and there's a few short movies playing, including an interview with Geddy Lee from Rush talking about Massey Hall. Now I come to think of it, I'd just seen a beautiful shot of Massey Hall (one block South of the square) just yesterday on BlogTO.

Thinking of you

2009-08-07T16:41:00.003-04:00

I ran out for a very late lunch break today and while passing through Atrium on Bay, my good friend DA popped into my head as he works in the building and I hadn't seen him for a long time. I run back across the street to return to the office and I get a tap on the shoulder and there's DA. We had a nice catch-up and promised to get together soon. The power of thinking of friends.

My Mom's crazed namesake

2009-08-05T15:13:00.004-04:00

I was rather shocked to see my Mom's name (under a picture of a smirky 43 year old Wisconsin woman) on the front page of the Metro today. My Mom's namesake had been involved in a bizarre lover's quadrangle resulting in a rather humiliating outburst of female revenge on their lover. Come to think of it, my cousin shares my Mom's name and is much closer in age and looks to the crazy lady ! A rather unsettling coincidence.

The Shepherd's Song

2009-07-16T21:16:00.003-04:00

We were talking about jazz tonight and Dad was remembering going to to see "trad Jazz" in Britain in the early 60's. Dad got one of his favourites out and played us some Acker Bilk. We then bounced around music genres for a long time and I then played one of my favourites of the day - Pete Doherty. So as Pete's singing, I pick up the Acky Bilk CD and I'm scanning the song titles and just as I'm reading the title of track - The Shepherd's Song, Pete sings "as simple as The Shepherd's Song". Wow.

Joe

2009-07-05T13:31:00.003-04:00

I had to do a double-take on the latest comment on my Flickr pictures...the name of the person providing the comment (also from Toronto) was almost the same as my next door neighbour. The best coincidence is that the second picture in his photostream is of a baby (born July 4th) and our neighbour brought home his new son yesterday (born July 3rd).

Branded golf shirt

2009-06-24T12:40:00.003-04:00

Without really thinking about it, I donned a bright green golf shirt this morning for work. I got it a while back from a charity golf tournament. The logo is simply the company name and not really recognizable outside the financial industry. It has a few snags and a splattering of chalky dog medicine from this morning, but it does the job.

This morning I'm going through my flagged inbox items, seeing if there was a follow up I'd missed or needed to try again. So I give this guy a call and finally reach him and get some updates. As we're talking I realize, hey, I'm wearing a shirt with this guy's company name on it !

So, I have a few logo'd shirts, not surprisingly some overlap with companies I do business with. However, to pick this day to call this one person (which I hadn't tried in quite a few months and only ever talked to once in about the last 5 years), the same day I pick the shirt (and a have a few different shirts), well that's a pretty interesting coincidence. Maybe wearing it and subconsciously seeing the logo made me seek out that old email ?

Sidenote - this financial services company recently purchased a software company, my contact was actually at their offices this morning. Without going through stacks of old business cards, I'm pretty sure the acquired company was one I'd targeted for a new job a long while ago ! Small world.

Role Models

2009-06-16T19:14:00.006-04:00

I was in the waiting room of my physiotherapist's office and a father and son walked in from the elevator and the son was wearing a t-shirt with Role Model written on it. I couldn't see the logo or a clue to the inner meaning, but fair enough, maybe this kid really is a role model, say for other students at his school. Anyway, I was enjoying reading a novel called No Time for Goodbye as I'm waiting for my appointment, and a few pages after I see the kid, I read "I'm not the best role model". Which is rather an understatement coming from this criminal character in the book. Just as I'm writing this I remember a clever mass email I got around to reading today from my brother-in-law in Manitoba. It was entitled Who is your Role Model ? It goes something like this...

Each of us is the result of the influence of many people. However some individuals have played a significant role in our development, They are often called "role models" that we consciously or unconsciously imitate. Perhaps you know who that person is, or perhaps you don't. The world renowned Sir Trevoir Rigelsworth, Ph.D, has given us a simple way to determine our role model. It is easy and only takes a minute and it may surprise you.

WHO IS YOUR ROLE MODEL???*

Be sure not to peek! You don't want to skew your answer.
Try this - it's really neat ..
Don't look at the answers:

1) Pick your favourite number between 1-9

2) Multiply by 3 then

3) Add 3, then again Multiply by 3 (I'll wait while you get the Calculator....)

4) You'll get a 2 or 3 digit number....

5) Add the digits together

Now Scroll down ..............

With that number, see who your ROLE MODEL is from the list below:

1. Einstein
2. Oprah Winfrey
3. Mother Teresa
4. Randubius Raji
5. Bill Gates
6. Johann Von Stueckenberg
7. Brad Pitt
8. Babe Ruth
9. PJMixer
10. Barack Obama

I haven't done the math, but the simple logic is there somewhere, but these games are still a fun.

Loyalty ?

2009-06-12T21:31:00.002-04:00

My wife was blogging and ranting about customer loyalty today (Bell vs Rogers). I stopped in at World's Biggest Bookstore (not sure if it truly is, but it is the closest bog book store to my office, and it is big and has a great selection) after work and the first book that caught my attention was Loyalty Management.

Coincidence versus Fate

2009-06-11T16:18:00.002-04:00

Woman who missed Flight 447 is killed in car crash

Unfortunate coincidences

2009-06-10T10:37:00.002-04:00

We hear about car crashes all the time when we're dialed in to traffic reports, and over our lifetimes we are all involved in at least one car accident (I've had three I believe). But sometimes we forget how dangerous driving can really be.

This week, I talked with a customer who I hadn't heard of for a few weeks. It turns out he was involved in a serious accident with his family on the 401 and is suffering from back and neck pain. Today, I learned that the family of a work colleague in Ottawa were involved in a serious car accident yesterday and his daughter is in the hospital. My thoughts are with them.

I once heard that the car, most times, our comfortable and loyal "friend", can turn into your worst enemy in a blink of eye when things go wrong. Please drive safely, for yourself and fellow travelers on the road.

Lightening strikes twice

2009-06-03T19:11:00.003-04:00

I was having a great little drawing session with my daughter after work today and out of the miscellany of items we were drawing I asked if she knew how to draw lightening bolts. Then on Twitter shortly after I follow a link to art work on my sister-in-law's Flickr page - whatja know - lightening !

The Bike

2009-05-30T10:57:00.003-04:00

I decided to ride my bike to work yesterday. Get the heart going (especially for the up hill return), be green, save $5 subway fare, all good. I haven't done this for years and probably only ever done it a couple of times. As it happens blogTO posted Sustainable Commuting: the Bicycle the same morning. I really like the soundtrack to the video, anyone got a helmet cam I can borrow for the next ride. BTW, I didn't walk my bike up my 25 stories.

UNICEF

2009-05-27T19:22:00.004-04:00

I watched the Champion's League final this afternoon. Barcelona beat Manchester United 2-0. Barcelona have an unusual "sponsor" of UNICEF. I actually did a little googling and was pleased to see that Barcelona actually donate a minimum 1.5M euro per year to UNICEF. A nice story in times of greedy sports teams and players ! Anyway, on the dining room table there's a tax receipt from UNICEF. I didn't know my wife donated any money to UNICEF and today was the first time I saw the paperwork. No biggy, but nice.

Kooper

2009-05-26T12:14:00.002-04:00

We are about to get our first dog. We saw him this past weekend and we should be able to bring him home next month when he's about 8 weeks old. When our plans were solidifying last month, my daughter came up with the name Kooper. She liked the name from perhaps a past memory and it kind of went with kanga and roo (our puppy is an Australian Shepherd). It turns out that the puppy's mother's name is the same as my daughter's and she had previously had a puppy called Cooper.

I did a quick google on Kooper yesterday, just to see if anything weird popped up. Nothing really, a musician and a photographer etc. Then when I was browsing in Indigo after work yesterday I glanced at a book featured on one of the aisle displays - Blood Sins by Kay Hooper. I just went to her web site and what do you know - she's a dog lover and there's a picture of a dog on the site that looks pretty close to an Australian Shepherd.

Rosy and Grey

2009-05-26T12:07:00.005-04:00

The other night my wife and I were talking about letting our friends know about possibly seeing a local band We Are The Take. The Next (random) song on iTunes starts and it's our friend's favourite (all time) track by The Lowest of the Low called Rosy and Grey.

Incredibles

2009-05-26T12:03:00.004-04:00

The other evening my son was enthusiastic about The Incredibles, one of my favourite Pixar movies. When my wife is looking at Indigo.com a little later in the evening, there's a special Pixar ad on the landing page and Mr. Incredible is part of the graphic.

First Post - Pakistan and Journalists

2009-05-26T11:19:00.004-04:00

I got around to watching A Mighty Heart last night, the true story of journalist Daniel Pearl in Pakistan. Really well made, riveting actually, Jolie was barely recognizable and her acting was superb. Although the plot with its myriad of foreign named characters was very hard to follow, it didn't take away from the key messages and emotions of the movie.

Anyway, getting to the coincidence. I record The Hour every night and it usually takes me a while to catch up but I don't really have any rhyme or reason on which one I watch first. I had previewed a few intros and I do recall glimpsing something about dangerous jobs, and maybe I did hear "journalist" but I think I filed it away*. I've been watching a few this week and chose to watch another before going to bed after the movie. The first one I clicked on was from May 13th and it included a fascinating interview with Terry Gould, a journalist who's been working in some of the most dangerous places in the world.

I just finished a book and have been considering what to read next. My wife who is part of at least 2 book clubs recommended Three Cups of Tea. I knew a little about the story, but wasn't certain about the geography. I started it when I went up to bed. The story is set in Pakistan and is written by Greg Mortenson and journalist, David Oliver Relin. In the introduction, Relin talks about journalists being drawn into his [Mortenson's] orbit.

Perhaps just a common thread or only coincidence ?

*clue into one way coincidence happens
you observe something, but it doesn't sit in true memory,
but rests somewhere behind a curtain
and then is only revealed
when it connects to something else you observe at a later time