I believe the correct term is 'shit-show'.

That describes the drive home from work today/night. Our office was abuzz with storm talk for much of the late morning and early afternoon, but it wasn't until the parking lot looked like Antarctica did they tell us to leave. So at 3:30 I left to pick up Suzanne. Three and a half hours later we arrived in Newmarket where I quickly sucked down four beers to loosen the ol' nerves. For much of the drive, there were no lanes and continually freezing wipers. We alternately sat in non-moving traffic and hydroplaned through deep snow. It's a very strange feeling when you depress the accelerator and the front of the car slides sideways and the back end stays put.

The weirdest part was when we were stuck on Lesmil, waiting for them to move an accident on the 401 onramp at Leslie, and there was this guy who came along in a really powerful looking Mustang. He tried to turn into a parking lot, but the combo of deep, thick snow, slight incline and rear wheel drive proved too much. He got stuck and couldn't go forward or back. He tried to rock it, but it just wasn't going anywhere. Eventually he got out and half-heartedly tried to swipe away snow from in front of the wheels with his windshield scraper, but he was buggered. All the while a completely immobile group of drivers just sat and watched him. I couldn't bear to, so I ran over and pushed the guy up the driveway. In the end, he changed his mind, backed out, drove off and didn't acknowledge me. I think he was stoned.

Thanks to Lynn and Alex for feeding us, and I hope you all made it home safely tonight, wherever you are.

After more than a month, The Wasp is reborn. I thought it might be nice to start fresh, so I've changed the layout a bit and freshened up the place with some colour. After having introduced my uncle Barry to the blogging concept, it seems that the student became the teacher, so expect to be flooded with witty and clever updates almost every day. These will begin soon with information on new business ventures and pictures of my incredible new hairdo.

Patience....patience....

I May Even Call It Football

That David Beckham is coming across the Atlantic to play for the Los Angeles Galaxy is some of the most exciting news I've ever heard in my life. Ever. As my friend Tim noted on his blog last week, this coming April sees Toronto FC begins its inaugural campaign in the MLS.

As a lifelong soccer fan, it's hard to put into words how much this team has already thrilled me. I first heard of Toronto FC (or Inter Toronto FC as it was rumoured to be called) when Suzanne and I were living in Vancouver and dreaming of coming back East. We had adopted the Whitecaps to a certain extent, and while I genuinely enjoyed going to their games, and I cheered their goals, it never really felt like my team. Which has been the problem all of my life: as a kid, when I first got into soccer, I chose Liverpool because my best friend was born in Warrington and he was a mad Red, but although I've followed them now for over 15 years - with admitted periods of indifference - they too have never felt like my own. When they came back from sure death in the Champions League final of 2005, I was happy, and the game was pure joy, but it didn't change me as it did true Liverpool fans. I was in Vancouver, watching a tape of the game by myself in the middle of the afternoon on a different continent.....how could it?

But when I heard that Toronto was getting a top-level franchise - the first expansion team outside the US - I flipped. I'd never really followed the MLS, but I knew it had been improving over the last ten years, even sending the odd player over to the Premiership.

So we dreamed of returning, and I began to use 'they're getting a really good soccer team' as my number one reason when people out there said, "What? Are you crazy? Why would you want to move back to Onscario?"



Of course I remember the Blizzard vividly - when I was younger I once spent the afternoon on the astroturf pitch training with the team's two goalkeepers, then spent the first half of the following game (opponent: Jacksonville Tea Men) selling giant team-photo buttons in the concourse - but I was to small to follow the sport, and the team folded within two years.

Suzanne and I recently watched 'Once In A Lifetime: The Extraordinary Story of The NY Cosmos', the documentary that chronicles the rise and fall of North American soccer's greatest ever team. At the end of the 70s, as went the Cosmos, so did the NASL. When Pele joined, their popularity exploded, and when he retired, so did the league.

But now it's different; MLS has learned from the mistakes of the NASL and appears to be looking good. The Beckham transfer is a move by the league as a whole, not one team. There is a LOT of money involved of course, and only time will tell if it was worth it. But for now, my heart tells me its going to work out and I can't wait to see ol' Goldenballs play in the summer.

We bought season's tickets the week before Beckham made his announcement. At that time Toronto FC had sold 6000+ Club Membership packages: two weeks later that number is approaching 10,000. For a stadium that only holds 20,000 it's an incredible achievement, and for season's ticket sales we're only second in the league to LA.

So when they come here, I'm going to cheer for David Beckham. I even hope he scores against us with a free kick. Of course, at that point, we hope to be leading by 4 or 5 goals, but still. As a lifelong soccer fan, it would be a real highlight. Summer 2007 is going to be filled with them.