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For all you Ontarians (GTA)...


Toren

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Your favourite non-existant forum troll is coming to visit! I'll be in Oshawa from the start of September all the way until Christmas for a engineering gig, and it's a strange new land with nobody I know.

So, if you're in the area, want to get together to boo the leafs at a pub, or have spare tickets to a Leafs-Habs game, let me know!

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Your favourite non-existant forum troll is coming to visit! I'll be in Oshawa from the start of September all the way until Christmas for a engineering gig, and it's a strange new land with nobody I know.

So, if you're in the area, want to get together to boo the leafs at a pub, or have spare tickets to a Leafs-Habs game, let me know!

Oshawa has the rep of being an armpit but the city has done a lot of work trying to get itself up to speed...unfortunately GM shutting down a plant is going to hurt them bad. It's about as far as you can get in the GTA and still say GTA. If you're buying or renting you should be able to find a place out that way for cheap.

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Oshawa has the rep of being an armpit but the city has done a lot of work trying to get itself up to speed...unfortunately GM shutting down a plant is going to hurt them bad. It's about as far as you can get in the GTA and still say GTA. If you're buying or renting you should be able to find a place out that way for cheap.

Yeah, I'm actually going there to work for GM funny enough. And I've got a cheap rental with two other UVic engineers right on Lake Ontario, couldn't believe how cheap it was.

Stunned, Victoria for Oshawa.. :o

Leaving the 'best place on earth' are you? lol

I'm not leaving, I'm just on a long vacation...for work :P

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I have an ex girlfriend in Oshawa... so I'll wave from afar!

I'll make sure I give her a dirty look. Seeing as I don't know who she is, I'll just give ever woman there a dirty look.

Some might say it was my normal look!

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Make a trip to Kingston.

I plan on making trips everywhere. It's my first time in the big O, and I'm there for four months with nothing to do in my free time but play video games and hit the gym, and I get tired of those very quickly :P

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I plan on making trips everywhere. It's my first time in the big O, and I'm there for four months with nothing to do in my free time but play video games and hit the gym, and I get tired of those very quickly :P

Okay well let me know when your coming.

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I've known a few guys who have moved from BC and for some, it was a bit of a culture shock. The pace of business in Toronto is typically A LOT faster then what is seen in Van city or Victoria...of course, Oshawa is a union town and those guys work slower then molasses...some of the union guys out there are so slow it's actually comical sometimes...like when Homer Simpson gets into a competition with a bunch of truckers(IIRC) on who can be a better lazy person.

Oshawa's downtown has come a long way over the years IMO...but the town is pretty blah...you'll have to drive into Toronto to really have a good night life.

If you like Chicken Wings the best in Toronto are at Duffs Famous Wings on Bayview south of Eglinton.

Best Pizza in Toronto comes after a night of drinking and going to Amato's for a slice (Queen and Bathurst area).

2nd best after clubbing food comes from the Hot Spot in the entertainment district...they do all sorts of grilled cheeses with specialty toppings.

There are dozens of fantastic restaurants of every ethnic food. Too many to mention and the fun is trying to find them.

Stuff worth seeing/doing in, and around, Toronto:

- the Hockey Hall of Fame,

- Casa Loma,

- take a girl to one of the Mirvish plays,

- clubbing in the entertainment district (MUCH easier to cut lines with a good looking girl on your arm, and sometimes you gotta tip a bouncer to cut in),

- Jays-Red Sox game,

- Any Raptors game(best value of the Toronto teams),

- Leafs-Habs game,

- check out Niagara Falls if you've never been,

- go to Oktoberfest in Kitchener and get hammered on opening or closing night,

- wander the Queen and Spadina shopping area,

- wander the Yorkville area,

- go to the Madison Ave Pub once U of T starts up again,

- see a concert at the Horseshoe Tavern on Queen.

- go to the AGO

- go to the ROM

- get drunk and make an ass of yourself in the Speakers Corner booth at Much Music.

- wander in and out of the bars/restaurants/cafes/lounges in Little Italy. The weblink shows Little Italy and various areas in town. All are in a cheap cab ride once you're down town. http://www.where.ca/toronto/article_featur...sting_id~44.htm

- check out the Beer Market on Esplanade...it's a bar with beer from all over the world and it's usually a decent time.

- check out the Taste of the Danforth, if you're here, in Greektown

Things to avoid:

- the Jane and Finch area

- Caribanna

I'm probably missing some stuff. There's a lot of stuff to do depending on what you like. I left off some of the touristy traps, most are overrated wallet breakers. That's a half decent guide to enjoying the city...I didn't say which bars to check out since it depends on whether you want expensive booze and high maintenance girls, dance, alternative, college crowd, working crowd, lounge, etc...you gotta just figure that out.

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lol the stigmatized event known as Caribanna

Deservedly so...it's possibly more annoying then Pride week...

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Thanks, Zowpeb. That's a pretty good list, and I hope to do most of those in my 4 months in Ontario. The problem for me is that I won't have a vehicle, and I won't really know anyone in town, so clubbing for me is out of the picture right there (not that I'm much of a clubber anyways, but you're damn sure that at least once in my 4 months I'm taking a wad of cash and showing you boys how it's done on the west coast ;) )

I think my roommate is getting tickets to a BoSox game, and I'd like to try and get tickets to a Bills game in Buffalo. If I'm lucky (or feel like spending enough money) I'll try and get Leafs-Habs tickets, too.

All in all, I'm pretty excited to go. It's my first real opportunity to get out of BC and work in my chosen career path, albeit for only four months. At least it's during hockey season, although I wouldn't mind my lakefront property I have rented in the summer :P

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You could use VIA Rail and GO Transit to get around. Shame that neither the Martin Liberals or Tories realized the power of trains.... criminal.

Someday we'll be like Europe, someday....

After clubbing in downtown Toronto, though? I can get around during the day, it's the night life I'm talking about.

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i used to live in Oshawa. admittedly, it's not Toronto - but, there are some great things about Oshawa. feel free to send me a PM if i can be of help.

Edited by revvvrob
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After clubbing in downtown Toronto, though? I can get around during the day, it's the night life I'm talking about.

After 1:00 in the morning, the subway shuts down in Toronto. (You might be able to catch a train in certain places by 1:30.) If you want to get around, you have to take the night buses (Vomit Comets) that show up every half hour, and only on certain main roads. (Yonge street being the exception. It has frequent buses in both directions.)

With VIA, the last train east from Toronto is around 10 or 11:00 pm. With GO, last train is 12:13 am.

Basically, unless you have a place in Toronto to crash or unless you have a driver... you're not partying. :P

Things to avoid:

- the Jane and Finch area

Do you mention this because of it's reputation? or because there is nothing to do there?

I live closer to Keele and Finch, but I walk along the area all the time, and I have never been shot or mugged or raped by anyone, nor have I shot or mugged or raped anyone. I have been bored though, pretty much all the time.

Edited by Trizzak
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Do you mention this because of it's reputation? or because there is nothing to do there?

I live closer to Keele and Finch, but I walk along the area all the time, and I have never been shot or mugged or raped by anyone, nor have I shot or mugged or raped anyone. I have been bored though, pretty much all the time.

Both, let's face it there really isn't anything to do around there...but that's also due to the issues associated with the area.

That's great that nothing has happened to you but I have also walked around the area and it's no picnic.

Even many regular plaza's have 24/7 security staff on hand and many of them are also K9 units. You can't think these guys do this because nothing happens...

I knew guys that lived there for the cheap rent because they figured nothing would happen to them...and nothing did...but they also saw a lot of crap that you just don't see if you live in 95% of the rest of the GTA. Stabbings, drugs, robberies and the like...

I looked at apartments there when I was moving to the GTA and the first place I went to had 15 guys in what looked like a Mexican standoff with the cops...and when I got to the 2nd place I was actually swarmed by about 10 kids begging for money. Sure, nothing happened but there would be little point putting yourself in a position to increase the odds that something "could" happen.

I know some guys that live near Regent Park and the place is crawling with streetwalkers and dealers...sure, nothing has "happened" to him but it's not exactly somewhere you want to visit in your spare time.

What I find interesting is the speed at which most poor areas become neighborhoods in transition with new development constantly happening. Regent Park never goes through this because it's government housing and it never goes through those transition phases...and the Jane/Finch corridor never seems to go through a major transition either, possibly because it's so far out of the city core...if anything the Jane/Finch corridor has slowly expanded over the past 10 years. Many downtown areas go from seedy to pretty nice in a pretty quick period since real estate downtown is such a good investment and is still relatively undervalued.

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It's true. As far as nightlife goes, you're looking at the York University bars or a strip club on Chesswood. Other than that, the nightlife is nonexistent.

I will say that "Jane and Finch area" has slowly been expanded by the news media, looking to draw viewers in. Hell, if a shooting happens across town they try to link it to Jane and Finch.

Basically, it's not as bad as you're led to believe, but it's not as good as you wish it could be.

And it's still boring.

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It's true. As far as nightlife goes, you're looking at the York University bars or a strip club on Chesswood. Other than that, the nightlife is nonexistent.

I will say that "Jane and Finch area" has slowly been expanded by the news media, looking to draw viewers in. Hell, if a shooting happens across town they try to link it to Jane and Finch.

Basically, it's not as bad as you're led to believe, but it's not as good as you wish it could be.

And it's still boring.

St. Louis is like that in the media, if somebody is shot its always 'North County' or 'North City' or East St. Louis (when they could be talking about outlying areas) denoting race usually. Although I swear nobody lives in North St. Louis anymore. Its so bad, its good. LOL

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