Photo: "Toronto in wide angles 3" by gingerbugjones, member of the blogTO Flickr pool.

What's happening in the GTA (and sometimes beyond):

And so it begins. As the clock struck 12 and we rang in 2009 the homicide counts in the region mercifully reset. But in Peel, it didn't stay at zero for long as a woman was found dead, possibly stabbed to death, near the airport. Not to be outdone, Toronto featured two people shot on the Danforth following a botched robbery, leaving one man in critical condition (and the other basically fine). At this rate, Peel's homicide tally is on pace to hit 365, and "beat" Toronto's total for the first time.

Three babies vying for the ultimate prize - first born in 2009, in the GTA - may never know for certain who gets top honours. Mere seconds separate the births of Nyla, Martin and Chantal Milana, born at three different area hospitals. It's also not clear what being the first baby of 2009 would actually get you, given that the 15 minutes of fame would expire years ahead of the baby's first memories.

Least shocking economic news in 2008 for those with Canadian investments: the TSX was down 35% overall in 2008 (which represents about $700 billion). The composite index closed at 13,833.06 a year ago and at a mere 8,987.7 two days ago. Experts are predicting more turbulence in 2009 (how did they come up with that one?!?). I thought I was buying low a couple months ago and have watched that investment drop 20% so I look forward to the upward momentum, even if I won't be holding my breath.

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All eyes were fixed on The Friendly Confines of Wrigley Field yesterday as the Red Wings outpaced the Blackhawks in this year's Winter Classic. I've seen more baseball games at Wrigley than anywhere else and I never thought I'd see guys skating on the infield (although they do sometimes have to shovel snow off the field in April). The fake ivy was a good touch, but I was looking for some bleacher bums with chests painted "B-L-A-C-K-H-A-W-K-S."

In other hockey news (there was other hockey news?) CuJo & Co. came crashing back to reality and lost their 17th game of the year. Maybe next year the Winter Classic will come to Toronto, where the teams could duke it out and face the elements at the Rogers Centre. Oh, right.

With the new year comes new food package rules. Now the only products that can claim to be made in Canada are products that, get this, were actually made in Canada.