2012 The Cup tourney

It was all smiles now.  But it was war after dinner.

Team Regifter  vs   Team Goodwill Costco Groupon

We instituted an updated playoff schedule, using the 2 - 3 - 1  - 1 format which is typical now.  New format or not the Regifters clicked on all cylinders to win convincingly in Game 1.  11-6

Confidence was high for the Regifters even though no one these days plays games on a CRT tube.  That's so last century.  That's what you get when you play on the oppositions turf.  Crap.

But The Cup champions are made by winning 4 games not 1.


Team GCG were in shambles.  Needing to review video and look at other in disbelief at the way they were beaten.

Game 2 was a look in the mirror and ask themselves if they were ready.  And respond they did.  GCG won 5-6.

Their strategy was working.  Opening up an early lead in Gm 3.  The Regifters were frustrated, talking to themselves hoping for an answer to the GCG attack.

Gm 3 went to GCG 7-6

 Gm 4 was a must win for the Regifters.  But down 3-0 in the first period, it wasn't looking good. But somehow found a way to come back and win 6-7.






Team GCG was not happy with how they blew a 3 goal lead.  Upset with their lack of killer instinct they regrouped for Game 5.  Wanting to avenge their loss in the previous game.

Again they quickly established a lead.   Up 4-1 in the second.  Relentless they kept coming.  Cruising to a dominating win.  But near the end the Regifters managed to slow them down.  Maybe this defensive strategy will carry to game 6.

Gm 5: GCG 6-1

And it did. This game was tight.  Regifters were up mid way in the 3rd by 1 goal.
But a cheap goal tied it up.  Momentum had swung.  Team GCG could feel the Regifters get frustrated, especially the main Regifter.  And with a few minutes left they got the go ahead.

Gm 6: GCG 3-2

It was no fun to lose, but it was fun to get together.

If he could, I bet he'd even regift his kid.

But the Clublink bag was great, I was able to put all the other regifted stuff in there and not drop it on the slippery driveway.
I didn't even see the hotel lotion and toothbrush still in the wrapper until the next day.

It was nice seeing the kiddies and the wives.  If we didn't do this every year, we'd see each other so rarely.

This is what friendships are about - tacky gifts.

Keep the chopsticks for next year along with the toilet ring.

One person's trash is another person's treasure.  We have lots of treasure in the garage to pass on to these guys.

RR Evicted from Liberty Village

We saw on the news that the Model RR Club of Toronto was going to be moving from it's current location that they have been at for 67 years.

Sad.  This place is one of the diamonds in the rough.  There's so much history there.  This building was an artillery bunker that they used to make the big bullets for cannons.





Other than it used to be a place where they manufactured weapons of mass destruction.  It has become a place of imagination and creation.
It's so amazing and kids just love it.  We could spend hours there.  Well Kieran could spend hours there.  It's incredible the amount of work and detail and time these fellows have spent in this cave.  The tracks, the buildings, the trees, bridges, the programming of the switches and lights.  It is so Big Bang Theory.

But the Liberty Village has exploded.  Condos going up here there every where.  It's a jungle.  And so the owner of this property has decided to sell to a developer so that they can put up another condo.  Urban planning at work.  With urban development progress there comes a price.  Places like this usually don't have the financial backers that keep them around.  They rely on it's members and donations.  Sooner or later the owner of the building would have sold to developers.  The land that they are on has become more valuable. And the day has come.




I was informed they are moving to East York.  St Clair and O'Connor area.  It'll take them a few years to settle in.  Just another project for these guys.  But it'll be 1/3 the size of the current club home.  They'll need to do some urban planning themselves.

They always have a piece of paper so kids can do a scavenger hunt.  And they give the kids a treat when they find all the items.  I did the list on the left.  It took me hours to find them all.  And so I took a picture of all the locations for each item on the list, because in a few months, it's all coming down and preparing to move.  And it's just nice to remember.


This place even has underground railroads.  I was standing with another parent and we could hear the train but didn't see it.  And I commented that they built a subway system too.  I didn't realize it was true.  I didn't know about them because most adults are too tall.   Only 4ft people would have known about them.  And Asian adults usually have one eye on their smart phone email.  But the young ones will stumble upon them. There's little peep holes along the side of the structure.  Kieran pointed out his discovery to me.  And I took a photo of what's on the other side.

There was a TV crew there, not sure which station they were from, I was looking for a scavenger item and Kieran was wandering around, but they interviewed 3 kids and Kieran was one of them.  With his track record of auditions and history of clamming up in front of professional photographers.  I'm certain his responses were either inaudible or in his head.

We spent almost 3 hrs there, that's how long it took me to find all those scavenger items.  I know Tresa is saying that it was my competitiveness that kept us there that long.  Maybe...Nah.  I wanted to find all those items so I could have a complete photo archive.  I'm not competitive, I dislike incompleteness.

We said goodbye to Dave the president before we left.  He remembered us from Kieran's 2 birthdays that he had there.  And invited us to come visit again.

I'm sure we'll visit the Model RR club when it moves, but it will never again be like this.

Model RR club - vid 1
Model RR club - vid 2
Model RR club - vid 3
Model RR club - T-scale
Model Rail Road Club of Toronto photos (Dec 2012)

Guess wha?... Merry Christmas

Where is it under?

Who's pasty butt is that?

What the heck is that?

What the? The Cat in the Hat?

Merry Christmas.

Grenadier Recital

The Christmas recital was at the Grenadier Retirement home across from High Park.
I like this spot better than the Bathurst and College church.  And it was just nice for the seniors to get a concert by the kids in Dorothy's school.

Twinkles

Dorothy's daughter, Nora, is above tuning the violins for the little ones.  Dorothy was on the piano keeping the speed and Nora on the violin leading the kids.

Lighly Row
Most of the little ones did about 6 songs. Songs that they have been playing since the beginning.

They start with the A and E string and then learn another string bit by bit.   He's just about outgrown the 1/8th scale violin, after this concert I plan to get him the 1/4 scale.
Marika and Max showed up wet as a cat.  It was a cold wet rain this night.  But we were happy to see them soggy or not.

Song of the Wind

Marika is the reason we got into Dorothy's school.  She's our 1 degree of separation.  And Kieran really likes her, he's progressed very quickly in the 9 months he's been taught by her.  It seems like his focus has improved and a change in his maturity.  He's still a goofy kid, but he behaves well around Dorothy.

Go Tell Aunt Rhody

There's something about music that seems to create a connection with Kieran.  Learning becomes easier.  It's the same with languages and songs.  This is how the french assistants would help reinforce the french at school.

O Come Little Children

It's strange hearing Max's voice so low.  Must be all the coffee he's drinking.
He needs a coffee maker and grinder for Christmas and maybe his birthday.

Jingle Bells

This song was our homework.  We didn't have the Suzuki book yet so we figured it out, well most of it, on our own.  Then I found it on the net and youtube.

Two of the older students sang.  I wasn't sure about the Titanic song, I had heard them practicing it at Dorothy's, it sounded way better at the Grenadier, must be the acoustics.

The last song, O Holy Night, was done by Dorothy's son, it was great.
I liked the Grenadier.  So much room.  Tresa said they used to have boot camp there.  But some old fogies would come and watch, and others would complain.  So that stopped happening.  Too bad, it's a great location.

Grenadier Recital photos

Wax on Wax off

It was an exciting day today.  It was Kieran's first day of Karate.  I've been looking forward to this day.  I just think any Martial Arts is a good thing for a young kid.  Seeing kuya at his Karate got him interested in it too.
I remember looking forward to class, and working out, practicing with others from the club of all varying levels.  The way others helped me learn the moves and the art.  Of course I was much older.  But it was very apparent to me and it made me realize that this is a valuable opportunity for Kieran.
At this age any Martial Arts will do.
As long as the club has stability and has a long history.

Many other clubs rent their facility.  So these ones already have a high overhead. But this club has been in the neighbourhood for as long as I have been living in the area. And that's around 15 years.
The family that runs the club also owns the building. So you know they aren't going anywhere.

Kieran was kinda shy at first but when the sensei spoke to him, he knew that he had to respond himself.  And when he got his Gi, he was pretty stoked.  No prodding needed here.  As I helped him get changed and put his belt on him, I could see the  excitedness as he headed up to the dojo to participate in the class.  I think it was good thing there was another boy his age that was starting his first day too.

I'm wondering if he was thinking that he would eventually learn how to bend water or air.

He said to me after the class "It was better than I expected."

Of course it is.  Center stage is always better than being in the stands.  Being a participant means you are doing something to change the world around you.  Being a bystander means you just watch the world go by.

Miklaus

It was the Slovenska Sola's pre-Christmas event on Sunday.
Milan, the choir teacher reminded me about it on Saturday after I picked up Kieran from school.
Kieran wanted to go cause he was singing.
Video of the choir
Plus he expected to get a gift.  But that didn't turn out exactly as he had thought.
This is the priest, dressed as Miklaus.  And Kieran knew it was him. And he was hilarious.  Mostly because he was somewhere in the building talking and his mike was on and everyone could hear him.
Anyways it was humorous.  And he's got a great sense of humour.



Apparently Miklaus isn't Santa.  He brings gifts to the children before Christmas, so that on Christmas day, the kids can celebrate Jesus' birth.
Of course the Retail Marketing guys make you forget about Jesus altogether and turn it into a buying season.  Gift giving season so you feel a bit better, instead of a Gift Getting season as most kids think of it as.

These are angels to guide people to heaven.  And there's stairs that people would walk up and there's devils there trying to prevent people from going on to heaven, I guess.
The devils were being devilish, when people went on the stairway to heaven?  Get it?


It was hard to see them because they were below the stage.  I could only get a photo when it was all over and they were on stage.

Miklaus speech




This is Milan, and he's a super nice guy.  Always asking if Kieran would like to join the choir.  Mostly because the songs are one of the best ways for kids to learn and keep the language.

Kieran was hesitant to say yes, because he thought it'd be the whole day, but it's only another hour.  And he likes to sing.  Plus they have pizza and there's lots of other kids around.

Marlies Win the Cup!

Ah just kidding.  Well the Argo guys were there to drop the ceremonial puck.  It was just a regular season AHL game.
The Toronto Marlies won in OT 3-2 against the Rochester Americans.  The Buffalo Sabres AHL affiliate.

To Kieran, he always asks if it's Canada vs the United States.
In this case it sort of was.

These guys are huge. I know they're on skates, but they are so big and tall.
And so was the lady announcer.  Considering it's not the NHL, it was a great game.  It's so much louder in the Ricoh Coliseum, the arena is nice, the seats are great.  And it's not as expensive.  It was a packed house - 7158 people. And it was a fun atmosphere.  I would go again.  Forget the leafs.  This is great entertainment value.  Plus the home team won.

3rd star:  Ben Scrivens with 38 saves or maybe 40 after OT.

2nd star: Paul Ranger with the game tying goal.

1st star: with the 1st goal and OT winner.... 3 on 2 pass from Matt Frattin.

     NAZEM KADRI!

And 4th star...Kieran for pointing out another way out of the parking lot.  Otherwise we'd be there til midnight.  It wasn't exactly an exit, but we saw one pickup go that way, and it was either burn gas and contribute to global warming or follow the pack and head on home.

So we did the green route.  It was slightly off road, but hey.  We got out.