Cangames, Sens, and Ottawa

[ciroccoj]

• Go Sens Go!
  
  
• OK, now that's done, I'll go on. Chris and Daniel spent the day at CanGames while Justin and I puttered about the house, went grocery shopping, and met our new next door neighbours, the third family to live next to us in the six years we've been here. No little boy for Daniel and Justin to play with this time, unfortunately. Then again, the two little boys who have lived there weren't exactly the nicest kids in the world, so ::shrug::
  
  
• People are funny. We came out of our house around 5pm, to go pick up Daniel from the games, and there were people screaming somewhere, which rather alarmed Justin. I told him it was probably just the Sens game, and that they must have won. Drove a little ways and heard people honking, yelling, etc; definitely won. Downtown was even more jubilant, what with there being more people around.
  
  Got to CanGames around an hour later, after a stop at Kowloon market, and there were still people driving past every so often honking and cheering.
  
  Picked up Daniel, chatted with Chris, and at one point I said, "So I take it the Sens won, then, right?"
  "The Senators? Really?"
  "Didn't anybody in here break out cheering?" (Aside: they're at a curling club, a few hundred people - mostly men - crammed in there. You would think they would've been glued to the radio/TV, and stopped all the games for a little while to jump up and down and cheer and collecting on bets.)
  "Um, no. I didn't hear anything. See, hon, there are sports people, and there are gamers. We're gamers."
  "Never the twain, is that it?"
  "Absolutely."
  
  
• Incidentally, it's funny, walking through a crowd of gamers. You hear the most interesting snippets of conversation:
  
  "...goblins, like all over the place"
  "Diet coke?"
  "Not that one, it's neutral evil."
  "...fifty hit points!"
  "...well his son's a gamer too, so his life is fulfilled"
  
  
• Went looking to see if the Spanish classes were cancelled today because of the long weekend. Turns out they were, no big surprise. Funny thing, though, I hadn't looked at the Heritage Language Classes info since I signed my kids up for it, but they really reflect Ottawa pretty well. These are classes run on Saturday mornings in schools around the city; they're run through the school board, and therefore free. All you have to do if you want your kids to learn a language is pick one and drop them off there. Cheap babysitting and education all in one. In the Spanish ones, about half the kids are from Spanish speaking families, and the rest are anglo/franco kids picking up another language. Don't know if it's the same at the other classes. Anyway, here's the list of what's available around Ottawa right now:
  
  
  1. Chinese (Cantonese or Mandarin for Grades 1-8)
     
  2. Arabic, Bengali, Bosnian, Dari, Persian (Farsi), Somali, Vietnamese, Urdu
     
  3. Arabic, Spanish, Mandarin
     
  4. Chinese (Cantonese or Mandarin for JK and SK), Vietnamese
     
  5. Arabic, 1:30-4p.m: Somali, Oromiffa, Kirundi, Thok Naath, Ikinyarwanda, Arabic, Albanian,
  6. Nepali
     
  7. Greek, Belarussian, Nepali
     
  8. Arabic, Gujarati, Kannada, Marathi, Tamil,
     
  9. Finnish, Serbian, Spanish, Tamazight (Berber), ASL (American Sign Language)
     
  10. Bengali, Ukrainian
      
  11. Arabic
      
  12. Spanish - Daniel and Justin are in this one
      
  13. Arabic, Dari, Pashto, Persian (Farsi), Vietnamese, Somali, Kurdish, Tshiluba, Urdu
      
  14. Arabic, Dinka
      
  15. Hindi
      
  16. Arabic
      
  17. Arabic
  
  
  We appear to have a fairly large Arabic population here. No wonder Chris and I noticed the distinct lack of hijabs in Florida; they're such a regular part of the landscape here in Ottawa.
  
  
• Because I'm an Ottawa geek, I wound up at a municipal gov site about Ottawa. Some stuff I already knew, but some that I didn't. Like, for example, we're a highly agricultural city. B'zuh? I knew we had a ginormous farm in the middle of the city, but I didn't know farming was that big around here. Also, 1/3 of our population is French. Also, almost half of us have post-secondary degrees, diplomas, etc. And 1/4 of us were born outside of Canada. 1/5 are visible minorities. And 94% of us think Ottawa's a great place to raise a family.
  
  Quick Facts About Ottawa
  
  • In 2001, the new City of Ottawa was created with the amalgamation of the Region of Ottawa-Carleton and 11 local municipalities: Cumberland, Gloucester, Goulbourn, Kanata, Nepean, Osgoode, Ottawa, Rideau, Rockcliffe Park, Vanier, and West Carleton.
    
    
  • Blessed with more farmland than any other city in Canada, Ottawa’s farming revenues are more than Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary combined.
    
    
  • As many as 10,000 jobs in the City's overall economy are directly and indirectly associated with agriculture, helping to make Ottawa the agricultural and economic centre of Eastern Ontario.
    
    
  • Ottawa temperatures can range from 33°C (91°F) in summer to -40°C (-40°F) in winter, with average summer temperatures around 20°C (68°F) and average winter temperatures around -10°C (14°F).
    
    
  • Families in Ottawa had the highest median incomes of any Canadian city in 2001.
    
    
  • For the second consecutive year, 2005 saw the City of Ottawa rated the least expensive city in North America in which to live according to an international survey conducted by Mercer Human Resources Consulting.
    
    
  • The City of Ottawa has again received the highest possible AAA financial rating from Moody Investor Services in recognition of the City’s “effective fiscal planning, history of strong financial results and low debt level and associated debt servicing costs.”
    
    
  • When it comes to everything from arts and culture to parks and recreation and police services,
    
    
  • 94 per cent of residents feel Ottawa is the best place to raise a family.
    
    
  • Approximately 78 per cent of Ottawans ranked the city’s sports and recreation facilities as among the best anywhere.
    
    
  • Almost 50 per cent of Ottawa residents hold a post-secondary degree, certificate or diploma making residents among the most highly educated in Canada.
    
    
  • Ottawa’s active workforce comprises approximately: 78,000 in advanced technology, 73,000 in the federal government, 70,000 in health and education, and 57,000 in trades.
    
    
  • Ottawa is one of the nation’s youngest cities with nearly half of the population under the age of 35.
    
    
  • Languages spoken include English (50 per cent), French (32 per cent), and a host of other languages including Italian, Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese and Arabic.
    
    
  • Ottawa has the second-highest percentage of people who speak both French and English of any major Canadian city.
    
    
  • Over 25 per cent of the City's population speaks a language other than French and English.
    
    
  • Approximately 25 per cent of Ottawa’s residents were born outside of Canada. More than 20 per cent are members of visible minorities.
    
    
  • Ottawa hosts more than 35 major festivals per year – including the Tulip Festival, Bluesfest and Winterlude.
    
    
  • OC Transpo bus ridership was 88.8 million in 2004.
    
    
  • Recent ridership surveys show that record numbers of Ottawa transit users are getting on board the O-Train (light rail), peaking at over 10,000 riders per day for the first time.
    
    
  • 33,000 volunteers assist in providing City program and services.
  
  
  OK, going to bed now :)