Khaled Abou Alfa

🇵🇸 Time will absolutely not look kindly on the US’s blinkered support of the atrocities in Gaza and more importantly Palestine in general.

Having a war criminal presented as a guest of the state is not a good look if you believe you are on the right side of plain human decency.

It may be half a world away, but this is happening with your support and backing in the face of what we can all agree is just humanly abhorrent. Sort it out. It’s just not right and while things have changed (within the US, as the Arab diaspora spreads), this has been ratcheted with even more brazen and unacceptable violations of human right we all can agree on for ourselves. I just don’t understand why this cannot be a consideration for other human beings?

Endearing accents. Call it sentimental from watching too much American TV while growing up, but today had a short meeting with someone presenting from Jersey and it was thick, which kinda made me smile. In the same way whenever a true Canadian says about, just gives me a little sense of place.

Can Paris fix its poop problem before the Olympics? Through engineering, that’s how. I kinda feel that it would have been better if they had built more than a single reservoir, but alas it would be a great way to make things better 100 years after they made it completely terrible. I imagine this must contribute to Paris Syndrome.

Cobra Kai has been a pretty fun show to watch. When it’s great, it hits some really big highs. It suffer from some poor writing choices, but overall the momentum of the show is great. I also kinda like the fact that they’ve split the last season into three five episode mini seasons. Extends the time artificially but I’ve got something to look forward to for another 8 months. I highly doubt they’ll make a spin off, hard to keep mining these characters.

The ANZA 750S by Monday Motorbikes is definitely my kind of urban bike. The fact you can also get two people on this is pretty awesome as well.

Finished reading: The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist by Adrian Tomine 📚. This was amazingly endearing. Quick read but also made me cringe and showed me a window of a life I once craved.

Finally, Presto is on Apple Wallet. One less card to carry. I was just thinking about getting one of those three card wallets. Not anymore.

Power outage map for Toronto today was insane.

Yeah climate change is not real. Flooding across Toronto is perfectly normal. Nothing to see here. Absolutely nothing to see.

🏀 Activity number one for the summer evenings is definitely some basketball. I remember loosing 25kg when I was 16 on the back of this daily habit. Let’s see if I can build that habit again.

I think I can likely get a little bit of my attention back now that both the Copa America and Euro’s is over. It’s been fun following along both the matches and then in a number of podcasts. Having said that I do want to concentrate on other activities, so will only really be following a little bit of Manchester United preseason, which is just to see what’s going on.

⚽️ Shame about delay to get the Copa final going. To be fair, this same thing happened 3 years ago in London, at the Euro 2020 (held in 2021).

⚽️ Goal! Super sub Palmer!

⚽️ Wasn’t the greatest showing from Mainoo this game. No moment of genius but solid I guess. Now it has to be all guns ablaze.

⚽️ Ok half. Brother team really going for it yet. Someone needs to score to open the game up.

⚽️ What a block by Rhodri.

⚽️ Jordan ‘Go Long’ Pickford.

⚽️ Shaw’s currently got Yamal in his pocket…

⚽️ Foden for England hasn’t been great. He’s not stepped up really (like a Bellingham has a couple of times). Wonder if tonight is his night

⚽️ Also don’t need to go long for everything.

⚽️ Keep it for longer than 2 passes England. Tiki taka football can get fucking boring.

⚽️ Good to see Kobbie Mainoo on the pitch.

⚽️ Here. We. Go. I really hope this is another classic final like the World Cup final, however something tells me that’s going to be a tall order.

Finished reading: Shift by Hugh Howey 📚. I listened to this one as an audiobook (even though I have the ebook of this as well). This story is just incredibly dense and extremely well put together.

🥐 For the last few months we’ve been relying on Blackbird Bakery for our baked goods on a Sunday. Today Ryan asked for the alternative (when presented with the option) and ended up getting the Bisou bakery. French (or French Canadians) know how to make the better croissant.

When the stars align… ⭐ Lionel Messi’s photo shoot with a baby Lamine Yamal. A 20 year old Messi with a baby Yamal. I mean, c’mon.

⚽️ I know there is no way Canada is going anywhere in this match but it is fun to imagine them getting to the final. What an upset that would be.

Not a bad way to start my Sunday.

⚽️ Predictably we’re in extra time. Thought it was going to 0:0, so glad we got to see a couple of goals. Someone needs to score in the coming 30min.

ProNotes is an extension for Apple Notes. Most notably (for me at least) is it bringing markdown to the app (after a fashion).

⚽️ Not the most exciting match so far. England is playing OK, just not enough passes through to Mainoo and so they’re always going long. ‘GO LONG!’

⚽️ I wish today’s matches were tomorrow. I’m going to have to watch the Spain v. Germany game knowing the score but by all accounts it was as good as expected. Still looking forward to tomorrow’s crop of games.

Thank You! The montage of all the madness is worth the watch alone.

Really looking forward to playing around with Writebook. I guess could do a Digital Ocean thing, but I kinda would like to play around with this, you know as an indie publisher of books and other text and image based products.

⚽️ Diogo Costa is not messing around. Two penalty saves!

⚽️ What an upset it would be if Slovenia make it through…

⚽️ Not going to lie, I’m actually pretty sad for Ronaldo. This was his moment to seal it. Shake it off. Go again.

I was about to get the Crossroads watch (by Trafford Watches, but the ‘loud’ Miyota movement kinda put me off.

I am however really looking forward to the Touring GMT and the three hand version (that they’ve not announced but briefly showed in the latest newsletter).

I like the design language and it’s seemingly a little more affordable to the closest alternative, Farer.

One of the most boring (and thankless tasks) is sorting out all the kids old toys. For the most part we’ve been pretty good at sticking to a lot of wood based toys, board games and Lego. However plastic always makes it into the pile. Still operation reduce is well underway

Saw the first episode of The Bear Season Three. How do you follow-up the season two finale? In an intense way, only this show can do.

Humidity brings out the best clouds.

Another great series by Ed Brubaker. Friday is as good as you expect it to be. Setting it in the 1970s in a fishing town provides the right kind of atmosphere. Marcos Martin brings an incredible clarity to the environment that they are depicting. Just an absolute joy of a series and super excited that the third book in the series is released this summer.

Finished reading: Friday, Volume 2 by Ed Brubaker 📚

Absolutely love the colours in Friday. There is a quiet elegance to the palette used that suits the story perfectly.

God I haven’t listened to Tool in probably over a decade.

Throughline is a historical podcast that is blowing my mind. Impeccably well put together. Makes me want to create audio with any level of production.

⚽️ Switzerland trouncing Italy. Clearly not Italy’s year but damn how far they’ve fallen.

Finished reading: Friday by Ed Brubaker 📚

Yeah this is not what we signed up for Toronto. The start of the long weekend (and the kids summer holiday) begins with a rainstorm.

⚽️ It’s a proper brawl now. Honestly these hot tempered men should chill the fuck out.

⚽️ Dang. Awful penalty from Brazil. I mean seriously.

⚽️ Let’s hope this Brazil game is a good one. Not going to lie, I’ve not been enthralled by the football on display at the Copa America.

Schools out for summer! I wish I was a kid again for that feeling of free time ahead.

Man. A country of 330 million people and these two guys are the only ones available? Give Biden a cup of tea and a nap. He’s served his time. As for Trump, it’s laughable that he’s still a viable candidate. How did you guys get here…

Watching Biden talk about Palestine is painful. You don’t get a medal for providing a nation with more target effective bombs and weapons. You’ve chosen your side. A side that lacks humanity and you do it for terrible ideological reasons. What is happening in that cursed spec of land is a human disaster no matter how you choose to dress it or where your memory begins. Indiscriminate killing of a people is wrong and their lives are no less precious than someone else. Sort this shit out because you can rather than talking hoarsely about your three point fucking plan.

Serves me right for even attempting to buy something from AliExpress. It was a moment of weakness. A moment of curiosity. You get what you pay for and in this instance it’s a nice watch that doesn’t work properly.

There is something magical about going to your public library and picking up three Ed Brubaker books you’ve not only never read but never heard of (mainly because I’ve been out in the wilderness for the last decade).

In the most white collar ‘injury’ ever, I’m carrying some coffee to the meeting and I trip on the stairs. My knees ultimately paid the price to save the coffee and I am totally feeling it now. Turns out those stairs are a known trip hazard (have caught others out which explains the useless stickers cautioning you). Can most certainly feel the pain now.

Ughh. Uber surge pricing can be a real pain in the ass sometimes. Happens to me every few months for no rhyme or reason.

⚽️ Costa Rica have properly parked the bus over there.

⚽️ Also not loving the Brazil kit for this tournament. I love the vibrant yellow of years past, rather than this faded yellow. Maybe a meta observation of the team itself (even though I rate a lot of their players).

⚽️ These VAR decisions are so marginal it’s just stupid at this stage. I’m with Howson on this, thick lines for everyone.

⚽️ Watching Brazil vs Costa Rica. Honestly before I moved to North America, this was not something I would have even attempted to watch. Now, all of this feels local in a way.

Finished reading: Saints by Gene Luen Yang 📚

Trying to find a small break in Canada is fucking depressing.

Weird ass weather in Toronto this weekend. Yesterday was rain all day. Today has been rainy, sunny, super windy and overcast across the day. It’s end of June and I expect, nay, demand heat and sunshine, all the damn time. Fists screaming at the sky!

Finished reading: Boxers by Gene Luen Yang 📚. This one didn’t hit as hard as American Born Chinese, which I remember (rightly) blew my mind. Having said that I’ve yet to read Saints, so that feeling might be still to come.

Finally got a replacement television for the family. We’ve been using a pretty old Sony Bravia for nearly 9 years now. That’s like 46 in television years.

It always felt like there was something more important to buy than a television. If the old was working, what was the point right? Well the old one stopped working, or at least the volume associated with voices and it became pretty unbearable.

I opted for an LG this time around, mainly on the back of WebOS (although not sure how they’ve ported the old Palm OS to televisions) and the price to features ratio.

The funny thing is that my kids have grown up with this one television for the entire life and I imagine they will have the same memories that I have for my family television set with the wood panelling and grey control panel for the 1980s.

🍦 Yesterday was the first ice cream of the season from Zuzu’s. They’ve changed the menu for the year (which is great) but the surprise for me was Tiger Tail, an orange and licorices flavour. Highly recommended if you can try it.

⚽️ Serbia is a very physical team. Making England work pretty hard.

Today I leant that the single best thing about a Shake Shack burger (the bun) is a Martin’s potato roll and can get them from the supermarket…nice!

Finished reading: Kali by Daniel Freedman 📚. It’s been ages since I read a comic book like this. One of those rare breeds, a cinematic action comic books. Like a paper movie. The moment I saw the cover I knew I was in for a real treat. Everything inside did not disappoint.

I swear flu’s didn’t use to hit me as hard as they do now. It takes my body over five days to fully kick them and I feel exhausted at the end. Linked to getting older or because I’m in this part of the world my body is just not used to it all?

🤒 Day five of this stupid flu. So pedestrian. Blocked nose, but at least no headache and therefore need for medication, so that’s something.

📚 Just finished the second volume of A Distant Neighbourhood. I always knew that the work of Jiro Taniguchi would resonate (based on his artwork alone), but hadn’t realised how much better his work is for me now that I am in my 40s with a family of my own. The beats hit harder. All the things that attract me to life in Japan in the 60s are all present, but now the situations feel infinitely more relatable. Master of his craft and thankfully he has left a massive body of work to loose yourself in.

⚽️ Shame Scotland has gotten a proper battering tonight. Really want them to get to the next stage at least. Hopefully not an ominous start to Germany’s campaign…the Germans always turn up to these things.

🤒 Day 3 of this bloody flu. Honestly I’ve been more ill in Toronto than I’ve been in a decade. Thankfully weekend is upon me, just need to get through tomorrow which will another long day.

⚽️ Ten Hag stays! This actually was totally the right choice. All those in the British media that tried to get him fired should be on his list now as he continues his fuck-you-tour. Love it.

⚽ France vs. Canada. As my latest adopted nation, I’m pretty happy with the result on this one.

The previous experiment failed. I tried having a separate status site for short posts but the flow was broken and the benefit wasn’t great, so I’m back to consolidating everything in one place again, under one banner.

Finished reading: Saga Volume 11 by Brian K. Vaughan 📚. Finally fully up to speed with this series. Fantastic series. Exceptional character development. Real imaginative designs for the characters. Exactly the kind of book I want to read in my 40s.

No idea why but decided to start watching House. I love Hugh Laurie in this show and while it’s not tight (22 episodes per season seems excessive) and a little formulaic I am enjoying the first couple of seasons so far.

🍻 It is definitely beer o’clock. Been one of those weeks which didn’t start great but slowly grew into a better place.

🪁 Kite flying.

🪁 Took the kids kite flying yesterday and it was something that really brought me joy to watch (not at the start because Ryan was beside himself having lost his kite the day before), but eventually once they settled into it , 2 hours of running around flew by.

Finished reading: Reborn by Mark Millar 📚. This wasn’t that good. A combination of Millar and Capullo should have been dynamite…. I was not surprised. I certainly wasn’t invested in the characters enough.

Finished reading: A Distant Neighborhood by Jiro Taniguchi 📚. There are certain books that resonate most when read at the right time of your life. This book hits the right notes as someone in his forties being transported to when he is fourteen. So many emotions.

Zane’s early morning birthday party. I guess it’s good because it doesn’t disrupt people’s weekend too much…but it’s bad because it’s an early morning start to a Sunday.

The Bear, Season 3 Official Trailer. Cannot wait for this.

🚗 It’s been a while since I drove for 3 hours. Took a trip to Guelph and saw family and the latest addition which was fun.

I look at my two boys, one just turned 10 and the other 6 (and change) and I’m reminded how quickly they grow. Blink too fast and they’re all grown up.

🇨🇦 Meeting good people in Canada has been my favourite part of moving here. So many good people.

Somehow, 6,666.

⚽️ ‘Every time Manchester City loose, football wins’.

⚽️ Can’t wait for Ten Hag’s ‘Summer Fuck You Tour’ to begin after he comes back from holiday.

MÄNNKITCHEN Pepper Cannon. $280 for a pepper grinder is steep!

Matty Matheson is the cooking equivalent of Aaron Draplin! I would not be surprised if they were related somehow.

I Want You Back (The Dropbox Remix). Finally. With this feature I might now have all my notes back in one single place again. Time to do some digital spring cleaning.