Day: July 5, 2006

Oh my, oh my, I am chilling out right now after kayaking with Eric and Mike around Petrie Island. iTunes randomly stumbled upon a hidden gem – Kings of Convenience. Do yoruself a favour and listen to some tunes. Very mellow summertime goodness.

Well, I suppose an update on the Canada Day weekend is in order. The above picture sums up the good times had with Maureen! Ha ha, man I love that picture. My rule of thumb when bringing a digital camera out to the bar is not look at the pictures right away…save them until the morning after where everyone may have a good laugh!

Friday, I skipped out on some wine action at work (which I contributed to. Very disappointed someone took off with the box of wine considering I wanted it left at work!!!) to pick up Maureen down at the University of Ottawa. It was cool seeing her and I must say that I think she has myseteriously become a super confident person with a little more ambition than usual – getting a drivers license for one…applying on receptionist jobs out of town…I believe it has to do with the new boyfriend John, who is definitely cooler than Maureen. ;-P

Drinks were had, Katie and Miguel showed up and we headed to the Heart and Crown for Mike’s birthday. Good times were had and Mike was a trooper considering his first batch of friends left around 10 (they had been there since 4) and then he stayed with teh second batch (aka us) to watch the band. So many people came out of for the event and I believe there were a good 20 of us owning the dance floor. Rumour has it that the hippy winners of the last Amazing Race were also in the bar – proof in the form of photos by Amy and Krista. Hello celebrity sighting!

Friday night also introduced the moustache on Ryan’s face. I thought it was a gem of a ‘stache but Vero had other thoughts. It was quite the hit of the night. I have since shaved it off, but will continue to grow it again after Shannon’s wedding this weekend which I am an usher. I suggest you take a look at the photo gallery for goodness on that front.

Saturday came with aspirin for Mike and Maureen and we moped around until the afternoon jaunt to Duncan’s for a kickass BBQ. The old homestead is looking in fine shape and I was impressed with his Belgian waffle making skills. The night progressed with my introduction of bocce ball which I have now taking on as my professional sport. I am like Umberto Granaglia. Well…not yet.

We headed down to the crowd of 80K in the downtown core to check out the fireworks. We arrived fairly late as parking was hell but ended up seeing the fireworks behind the Supreme Court. I have heard they got cut early due to the rain. What happens to unused fireworks? Do they last until next year?

The rain started to get harder and harder as we walked back to the car. Fortunately we split up and Miguel, Katie, Paul, Sarah and Mike picked us up some Elgin Street Diner poutine for a treat at home. At one point I was thinking of just bailing out of the car with the eight poutines in my lap but figured one would suffice. I must be getting older (or wiser) as I used to be able to eat an entire poutine but now can only finish half. Judging by the leftovers, I notice everyone else feels the same way.

Sunday rolled in and Maureen left to see Rebecca. Maureen, we enjoyed your company and I’m sure glad that you left so much beer. We ended up taking it easy while watching some Heavy Metal Parking Lot – a documentary about metalheads waiting for a Judas Priest concert back in 1986. Pure hilarity as mullets, metal, and meandering men in one piece zebra suits adorned the video. Turns out that this heavily bootlegged video has made its way through 20 years of fandom and just got released in DVD form for its 20th anniverary edition. I am curious how the bootleg market thrived without the Internet. Nowadays, I can get anything I want on the Internet…but how woudl I have started out in Kapuskasing? Would anyone have heard of Heavy Metal Parking Lot? I highly recommend this one to Troy as he was probably the same age as most of these people and most likely dressed like them.

We then played bocce ball (how I love thee) for aproximately six hours unti we couldn’t see the balls in the dark anymore. Katie and Miguel unfortunately had to leave that night to get back to Toronto. Paul, Sarah, Mike and I then played Euchre and watched some vids/pics from the years gone by and had some laughs.

Monday said goodbye to the guests, a little cleanup and then we went to the beach with Mike, Vero, Annie and Eric. A good day but volleyball was cancelled that night due to flash floods everywhere in Orleans. It was pretty bad but I didn’t realize how bad it was until I read the newspaper the next day and found out a power line went down in the middle of the Queensway, manhole covers blew out of the streets, basements flooded, and people were swimming in the streets. I applaud those individuals brave (read: stupid) enough to swim in the streets now realizing that it’s water spewing up from the sewers. Mmm…boy, I’m thirsty right now.

Let me put a shout out to Vero who is the best girl in the world for so many reasons that I really don’t need to write them down here…but we definitely appreciated you driving us home all weekend long.

iplaying: Gold in the Air of Summer – Kings of Convenience (Riot on an Empty Street). I am really digging these tunes.