Scary stuff in the news.

[lance_sibley]

After reading today's newspaper, I thought I should make a post to let everyone - or, at least, everyone who knows what part of town I live in - that I'm perfectly okay.

For those who haven't heard, there was an underground explosion a couple of blocks away, in a hydro vault under the Yonge/Eglinton intersection. Apparently the condos over on Yonge Street, which are within shouting distance of my building, had to be evacuated, and the stoplights at the corner were out of service all day yesterday and this morning. Police were directing traffic (and, apparently, completely ignoring the drivers turning left onto Yonge in violation of the law).

The only effect the situation has had on me directly has been that my power was out for a few hours while I was at work yesterday, and there was a sign up by the elevators asking us not to use our stoves lest we cause another power outage. Fortunately I had a package of fish in my freezer that could be microwaved, so I didn't have to go back out. (Though it was tempting to order Swiss Chalet.)

On a lighter note, the Leafs just won 4-3 in a shootout over the Florida Panthers for their third consecutive win. Take that, everyone who said that they should have traded Mats Sundin at the deadline! Two goals and an assist look pretty good on the scoresheet. :P That being said, I'm not at all upset that they traded Hal Gill and Wade Belak; Gill was highly overrated, IMO, and as for Belak, it's easy to replace a guy who scores a goal every two years and gets into a fight every five games or so. Chad Kilger, I'll miss a little more; he was no superstar, but he'd been playing pretty well lately. I'm just surprised they didn't trade for Yanic Perreault for the fourth time.

They're not in playoff position yet, but they're only two points behind the Islanders and one behind Washington, whom they play on Saturday. Go Leafs Go! :)

Comments

[the-pirate-show.livejournal.com]

I am very glad that you remain unexploded.

[boywhocantsayno.livejournal.com]

Thanks. (So am I.) :)

I honestly don't know if anyone thought, "Hey, doesn't Lance live near there?" when they heard the news - assuming they heard about it - but I figured that just in case anyone was worrying, I should say something.

[intaglio-road.livejournal.com]

Happy to hear you are unscathed. :)

Sucks about the inconvenience it's caused, though.

[boywhocantsayno.livejournal.com]

It could be much worse... at least it happened while I was at work and not while I was on the computer doing convention-related work. (The Great Blackout of 2003 happened while I was at work too, but it lasted much longer; plus, it was about three weeks before the Worldcon, on which I had about seven jobs, including answering/redirecting email from the public. So it had a much greater impact on me personally.)

Or even worse... it could have happened in the morning as I was crossing the street toward the subway entrance.

Fortunately, nobody was injured - I gather that the explosion was inside a hydro vault and the subsequent fire was contained within the vault, though according to the news, they emptied many fire extinguishers in putting it out.

As for the inconvenience of not being able to use my stove - there's not only a 24-hour supermarket about two blocks away (so even if I hadn't had fish in the freezer, I could have picked up something microwaveable), there are about 50 restaurants, pubs and bars within a ten minute walk. So I wouldn't have starved, at any rate. :)

[gnumoose.livejournal.com]

I have a problem with Sundin staying and others like Kaberle who didn't waive the no trade clauses.

They did it cause they didn't want to leave thier team. BS.

They could have gone and played for a couple months for another team and then came back. Thus helping the team even more

[boywhocantsayno.livejournal.com]

They could have, yes - though I don't know what the average fan would have made of that kind of loyalty (or lack thereof). I can kind of understand where Sundin is coming from, too, when he says that winning a Stanley Cup as a rental player wouldn't be meaningful to him because he hadn't been with that team since October.

It's weird - management wants to finish as low in the standings as possible to maximize their chance for the #1 draft pick. (Not a stupid thing to do.) OTOH, Paul Maurice and the players don't seem to have gotten that message. Toskala is still playing every game - I think he's played 15 in a row now - and the rookies are averaging maybe six minutes of ice time per game each. (Except for Tlusty, who seems to be getting about 10-15 minutes. But he's a forward, and the team has a few injuries up front.) Sundin, McCabe, Kaberle, and the rest of the veterans are still playing 25-28 minutes per game. And the players are still talking about trying to make the playoffs. In fact, I think Sundin has something like seven points in the last four games.

The media are unanimous in criticizing them for not tanking the rest of the season. I think it was someone in today's Globe who said that they're playing "just well enough to finish 11th and ruin any chance at the top draft pick."

[jj79.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the news flash AND the check in. I'm sure I would have turned the news on when I got home tonight and hear about the 'splosion AND started to freak out a bit.

[boywhocantsayno.livejournal.com]

I'm glad I could head that off. :)

(Did it make the news down there, BTW? I can't imagine that it did, but perhaps you watch the CBC station out of Windsor occasionally... they might have mentioned it.)

[jj79.livejournal.com]

Couldn't tell ya. I never watch the news here. Too much about the corrupt mayor and preening schmo's for anchors. :D

[frstythesnowman.livejournal.com]

Glad to hear you're ok.

So... are you still following the fone-foolish hockey player?

Inquiring minds won't stop their inquiry!! ;P

[boywhocantsayno.livejournal.com]

Jiri Tlusty? Only insofar as he's still playing with them, rather than in the minors. (For a rookie, he's doing okay.) Since I follow the team closely, I guess you could say I'm following him. :)

There has been absolutely nothing in the news since the initial uproar and the demands by some sportswriters that he be demoted to the minors or released outright for embarrassing the team. And that lasted all of two days.