Montreal's 出前一丁?

I passed by this noodle house near Villa-Maria station. I wonder if they actually obtained permission to use the boy logo of 出前一丁 (a very well known instant noodle in Hong Kong). I wonder how their noodles is compare to 出前一丁 ? Seeing this makes me feel a little bit home sick.

Radiation Safety Training

A view of downtown Montreal from the McGill campus

Another nice and sunny day in Montreal. I don't have to go to work today because I have to attend the radiation safety training course offered by McGill University. It is a mandatory course for all personnel that would use radioactive materials at work.

Safety office safely in disguise

It took me quite sometime to find the building where the course would take place. Probably because I didn't expect the safety office would be at a building that looks like a regular housing apartment. It seems like the university desperately needs extra space for expansion.

The course started from 9:30am and ended at 4:45pm. I took a similar safety course several years ago at UBC. I have to say that the UBC radiation safety course is way more demanding. UBC's safety course exam is closed book and has a practical session. McGill's course only has one full day of lecture and an open book exam in the end. It is a piece of cake compare to UBC.

I was surprised by how small the class was. There were only 15 people in the class. I am assuming this is because it is still August and a lot of new students and researcher still hasn't arrived campus. Some students seem to be quite stressed by the material at the beginning due to the physics and chemistry component of the course. I am sure they feel much more relaxed after realizing those materials are only a very small part of the exam.

Back to work tomorrow! Hopefully I will get my novels tomorrow through the courier. Maybe I will write up my thoughts about Crest of the Stars/Banner of the Stars (星界の紋章/星界の戦旗) novel after I finished reading them sometimes. I've been longing to discuss and share my thoughts about many things (Hobbies, interest, science, politics) on a blog for a long time.

Liu Xiang has fallen...

I was a little shocked today hearing Chinese Olympics athlete Liu Xiang (劉翔) has to withdraw from the competition due to injury. Looking at Liu Xiang's condition through the photos of the event, I was surprised he didn't withdrawn from the competition before it has started. He was clearly in a lot of pain.

Maybe the reason he can't withdrawn is because he bears the hope of 1.3 billion people, people hoping that he will win the gold medal again. This burden is just way too heavy for anyone, not only Liu Xiang to bear.

Hopefully he will recover soon and I look forward to watch him on the field again in the 2012 Olympics.

Montreal's metro

I went to Walmart near the Namur station today using the metro. It took me about 30-40 minutes to get there from my home.

It runs on tires!

Montreal's metro system is pretty good if you live around the center of the Montreal island. It will get you to most places no problem. I would say it is almost as convenient as Hong Kong's MTR subway system.

Pretty large place compare to Vancouver's skytrain stations

There are only few cons I can think of about Montreal's metro

1.) There is no air conditioning in the train at all! It is pretty stuffy on a summer day like today. It gets worst when the train is pack full. I hear the city is looking to buy new trains for the metro. Please get trains that has air conditioning, this is year 2008 already.

2.) They only make announcements in French! Almost all the information postings are in French only too. I understand Quebec is a society where French is the majority, but this is extremely inconvenient for travelers and newcomers that know very little French. Even China, Japan or Hong Kong's metro system have English information available for tourist. Montreal is a major metropolis in the world. The signs and announcements in the public transportation system should be in both French and English.

I luck out with this shot, the train was actually moving quite fast

STM probably doesn't offer English services due to political reasons. They are probably afraid they will offend some of the Quebecois... When will these people understand that English is pretty much the standard international language for business and traveling. I agree that French culture should be protected and treasured in Quebec, but sometimes I think Quebecois go way over board to "protect" it. I just can not agree and understand with some of the principles in Quebec's Charter of the French Language. Do they understand that they are isolating themselves from Canada and the rest of the world by doing this?

Starting in a bright sunny day

After reading so many people's blog, I finally decided to start writing my own. I am not very sure what I am going to write about on the blog at the moment, but I will keep writing.