Nothing beats waking up to a radio announcement that there has been a stabbing at a Pierrefonds Tim Horton’s two streets over from my home.

That makes two in the West Island last night, the other one took place at a Rokaberries on des Sources. Eating here has always been sorta dangerous but come on!

If my lab assistant, and several of her friends, come down with food poisoning after a visit to a restaurant, am I allowed to name the place where they had such a delightful meal?

As I said in a previous entry, last week and the next are extremely busy for me not only because I have been teaching but also because I am busy organizing my very first scientific conference. Perhaps not surprisingly, convincing a battery of Canadian and American researchers to spend a few days in Montreal has been very easy and more than a few of them will be sticking around for a few more days.

Now I have to make sure that my hometown is worthy of its reputation.

I think that we will be off to a good start as we will be hosting the speakers diner at a small and traditional sugar house and the weather looks like it will be cooperating.

I’ve been writing up a short blurb on the city’s main attractions including the Plateau (and lunch at Schwartz), the Olympic Park and surrounding attractions, the Old Port, the Notre-Dame Cathedral as well as the Pointe a Calliere and Modern Art museums.

Anything else on the do-not-miss list? Please be aware that most of them will be moving around using cabs and the metro.

In the following, I do not talk about those who are actively on strike. Especially those who are spleeping in the streets, I admire their will of fighting fiercely for what they believe in.
As for the others (me), those who don’t do anything, who wouldn’t care whether there is a strike or not, well it’s the first Christmas of the year… without gifts, Santa Claus and the big tree, although I wonder if some people still have their Christmas lights and Christmas trees out.
Something surprised me earlier today, actually at this time, it’s more like yesterday afternoon. I was at a travel agency and this girl said that she graduated from university five years ago and she still didn’t pay off all her debts yet. I guess I was surprised because I didn’t know a situation like that exists. She made a good point saying that since she is still in debt, then it would take way more than five years for students who will graduate now or in the future to pay their debt.
There’s one thing right about the government though: a decision like going back on their steps can’t be done overnight. Maybe a deadline should be given to them, that way students can go back to school for about a month and then go back on strike again :P

“He who throws away a friend is as bad as he who throws away his life.” –Sophocles, tragic playwright.

The new orthography has arrived. One strange thing though:
“Les verbes anciennement en -otter et les mots anciennement en -oll

Good morning. Welcome to Montreal. The time is 11:24 and it’s currently -13^oC (8.6^oF) on a beautiful morning. The sun is shining, the birds are chipping… in the south. So far everything looks nice today, except for the wind which makes the temperature drop down to -22^oC (-7.6^oF).
In the news, students from universities and colleges are still on strike and more are joining as we speak.
Also in the news (a much more merry one than a strike), Six Flag’s La Ronde will add 6 more rides this summer season, an investmentn of 4.1 million CAD bringing Six Flag’s 5-year investment plan to 56 million CAD. 2006 will mark the 5th year.
Still in the news, High schools on strike will not be tolerated and I am all for that, because it really doesn’t make sense since high school students are not affected by the loan and bursary thing… as far as i know.
That will be all for now, enjoy you day!

Check out today’s edition of La Presse for an article on last week’s meeting of the Montreal Bloggers.

I also want to comment on the picture and deny any rumors that I am 6 month pregnant. Even Claudia Schiffer would have a gut like that if she was leaning against a wall with a chair behind her knees.

How much do you bet that my wife will be pointing at this and telling me to get my ass to the gym tonight?

Sorry for the paucity in daily postings, I’m teaching all of this week and it’s really cutting down on my free time.

Spring break has ended. Things are going back to normal. Well, that’s not quite the case of this year. It is normal for elementary and high schools, but for colleges and university, some associations are scheduled to vote today to know whether they will join the thousands of students already on strike or not. Classes are very much empty right about now. I wonder if teachers are happy.

By now, everyone but Cyberpresse has probably heard that a small earthquake of magnitude 5.4 shook up the region of Riviere du loup and was felt by partyers and insomniacs all the way down to Boston and Ottawa.

What I found out today, from a report in The Agonist, was that the Charlevoix region is marked by an enormous impact crater that is more that 300 million years old. The impact created many rock fractures which, combined with the St-Laurence fault, are the source of the small earthquakes that occur in this region.