As winter marches on and reminds us of it’s presence by forcing us indoors, I thought it would be good to continue my little favorites series.

What is your favorite indoor winter activity?

There are a few reasons I ask. The obvious one is that it is colder here than the vast majority of other cities thereby limiting the time most people spend outdoors. The other is that I have noticed over the years how there are more people who participate in creative activities. My two examples based largely on personal observation are the traditions of folk music and painting. I get the impression there are more musicians here as evidenced by the many bars with a guitarist or pianist playing covers or traditional music. On the painting front, my theory is based on the plethora of calendars with the work of local artists and the art fairs I have seen. Then there is the fact that Trivia Pursuit was created in Canada, probably in part due to the long winters.

So I am curious about how people prefer to pass their winters. What indoor activities do you or would you like to participate in? Is seems they can be broken down into three different types. Physical as in sports. Solitary as in painting, music, carpentry, or photography. And Social as in board games, dinner parties, or under the sheets.

As far as my picks, I would say volleyball or darts for physical activity. Model building for solitary activity. We have models of Chicago and Montreal that are half finished school projects. Just don’t have the time to finish them. Building wood furniture would be fun too. Lastly, I would love to play Trivia Pursuit more often as a social activity.

So what do you like to do?

I see the Montreal Gazette is running into a problem it has had before. As they say, if you don’t learn from history, you’re doomed to relive your mistakes. The Gazette is a very good newspaper but I see from the readers’ letters this morning that others are upset again the way I am. Some may think it’s a small thing but Sunday morning is a time of gentle repose and it’s nice when things run smoothly.

I guess the powers that be at the Gazette can never leave well alone. As the letter writers point out, the new design for the Sunday edition is fine for a lone reader but with a husband and wife or more sharing the paper, you run into difficulties. There are now only two sections. Sports is in a tabloid-type section and everything else is in a single section. So who gets that first. The previous design had four sections so you could easily split the paper among the eager readers. Now calamity.
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These have been showing up on boingboing for the past few weeks and I have been wondering when it would be our turn.

Version #1

Version #2

The jobboom newsletter has linked to Quebec’s Commission des normes du travail website. It’s an interesting read if you want to know everything about your rights at work.

Yes, it’s over and they were good ones. Only two countries (Germany and the USA) brought home more medals than our Canadian athletes. In addition, we came in first position for the number of 4th places (with 13). As I said before, this bodes extremely well for the Vancouver games.

I went to the web page of the Canadian Olympic Committee and stole their list of medal winners. You’ll note that 3/4 of them were obtained by our women.

Éric Bédard, Jonathan Guilmette and Mathieu Turcotte were part of the short track relay team that won a silver medal in the 5000m.

Tania Vicent and Amanda Overland finished in 4th and 5th positions in the 1000m short track while Eric Bedard finished 4th in the 500m.

As the Montreal Gazette tells us today, this Sunday or next, February 26 and March 5, you can hear the 12th edition of Port Symphonies, Pointe-à-Callière, put on by the Montréal Museum of Archaeology and History. This is no ordinary symphony since the players include four ships, a tug, one train, strolling drums and other surprising instruments. The piece is entitled 20,000 Sounds Under the Sea and is written by Diane Labrosse. It starts at 1:30 p.m. and the public can hear this unusual symphony free of charge from Place Royale and the streets around Pointe-à-Callière.

This orchestra is so spread out in the Port of Montreal that one of the ships will need to play two to three seconds faster so that the sounds all arrive at the right time for the listeners in Place Royale. The buildings also act as reflectors so you’ll be hearing sounds like no other symphony you’ve ever heard. Can you think of a more intriguing Sunday afternoon pastime?

Anouk Leblanc-Boucher, Alanna Kraus, Kalyna Roberge and Tania Vicent obtained a silver medal for the 3,000m Relay in Short Track Speed Skating.

Furthermore Amanda Overland, Tania Vicent, Eric Bedard and Jean Louis Tremblay have all advanced in their qualification rounds in Short Track Speed Skating. They still have three races to go through, all on Sathurday.

Jasey Jay Anderson and Philippe Berube finished a disapointing 18th and 29th in the snowboarding giant slalom.

Should I comment about the hockey game?

We have now exceeded our best-ever medal count for a Winter Olympic. I also heard that we are in first place for the number of 4th places finishes (9). It might be frustrating but it bodes well for Vancouver.