Ottawa Rocks!

So far, what have I enjoyed and/or learned about Ottawa in my first five days?

1. Bagels come with bag ties rather than strips of tape, so I can seal them.
2. A bit more selection in the grocery stores (although Ben and Jerry's variety is still woefully limited).  A lot more selection of grocery stores--at least three in the shopping centers nearby, but probably four.
3. My neighborhood is swarming with little kids.  Fun to watch, may have to partake of the zone defense.  Maybe my daughter will have heaps of opportunities to babysit when she returns from summer camp.  It was great watching a father teach his kid to ride a bike as I was moving stuff around in our garage.  The adults have been friendly as well.
4. Tis windy.  Too many politicians in one spot?
5. Partaking of the non-Montreal Island freedom of right turn on red.
6. Everything is pretty close.  Only one bridge to worry about and even that one is not that big of a deal in rush hour (the one on Hunt Club).
7. Ok, just a bit of perverse delight that the French signs are a smidge smaller than the English ones. 
8. The hours for stores are much, much better.  This goes along with the better attitude about customer service, I guess.
9. The ultimate is sweet!  I subbed onto a team tonight that was short players due to Canada Day weekend.  The team was full of fun people with sticky hands (that meant they caught my passes), and they invited me to play with them the rest of the summer. Victory!  We played at the fields the Ottawa league owns. Yes, owns.  19 fields on what must have been a farm.  Just flat, soft fields only a twelve minute drive from my house.  Ideal field in an ideal location.  The funny thing is that as I was leaving, I heard someone call my name.  Almost as strange as hearing someone call my name in Kandahar.  It happened to be one of my former teammates/opponents from the Montreal league.  Looks like I have another game on Wednesday night. 

On the other hand, some things remain the same.  My neighbor showed me the dents made in the street and in his driveway by a city snow removal truck.  Kind of like my car being crushed by a school bus.

Anyhow, we are big fans thus far.