Month: August 2006

PLEASE STAND BY. DANGER ZONE.

Here’s the scoop: Philipp tipped me off to two amazing websites, one that will be relevant to you, one, not so much but the service it provides is amazing and will eventually make its way to the English.

1) http://www.jajah.com
Everyone has heard a little about Voice Over IP (VOIP). The whole phone over the Internet thing. Jajah takes it one step further.

You know how Skype can use a headset connected to your computer to talk to people? Sure, you can get an adapter for your phone and use that, but let’s be honest, that costs some cash and cash we don’t have.

Go and use Jajah! All you do is:
1) Type in your phone number.
2) Type in the number you wish to call.
3) Click GO!

Your phone will ring. You pick it up and there will be a voice saying “Please hold, we are connecting you now.” Then, it connects you to the person you wish to call!

UNBELIEVABLE! Phil and I were freaking out on Friday night after a successful connection to Vero. This is a service which caters to the general public – the ones who just don’t want to sit in front of a computer with a microphone. But hey, I can use my own phone without paying for an adapter? NO PROBLEM!

Is there a catch? Well, you can try it out for free for the first five minutes (just to test the service out). After that, I believe the prices was 0.025 cents a minute within North America.

Read that again. A quarter of a quarter of a cent. Perhaps we had a few beer in us that night and read the price wrong but someone should verify that for me (as I can’t check that site at work).

Plus, it’s free between jajah users.

2) onlinetvrecorder.com (or somethign to that effect).
If you’re into German television, you can go on this site, click through their TV guide and choose a show, have these guys record it for you for FREE. That’s right, FREE. When the video is ready, you download it to your computer.

How do they do this legally? Isn’t this the whole illegal file sharing movement? Well, not quite.
They encode the video so only you can watch it (or, decode it). So, only the Palmer would have the right decoder to make the video watchable. After that, I could share the video if I chose to do so, but then it would be my ass on the line legally. They are the equivalent to the friend who tapes you that Sam Roberts concert on television and passes you the videocassette.

We grabbed Rambo II in German and I hope Philipp will enjoy it when it’s done downloading!

I can see this service coming to North America VERY SOON. The best part about it is that you can get any TV show they are airing…we aren’t talking about the most popular shows out there…it can be an obscure one if you wish, such as The History of the CIA which Philipp downloaded.

I just received an amazing gift from Krista which reminded me that I hadn’t spoken about my birthday yet!

Thursday night brought Eric, Annie, Mike and Vero to the house for a BBQ. There was a LOT of food. We’re still picking through the leftovers! It was an amazing feast put on by Mike and Vero. Thanks guys!

We then headed out to a mini-putt course in Navan which I had never been to. What’s this? A course Ryan has never attempted? Blasphemy!

Well. Let me tell you that this was the most amazing course I’ve ever been to in my life! It had fountains and pools of water all over the place and there’s even a hole where you have to run the ball down the river! Amazing stuff really! Rob ended up coming out after his volleyball game and played a few holes with us. Turns out that the course was created/owned/managed by some people from Kapuskasing! Incroyable!

We headed home to have a piece of cake and then I got my gift from Vero – a jambe drum! It’s an African drum which sits up to my knees. An excellent gift and I will enjoy it around the campfire (although I’m sure the neighbours will start complaining!) The power went out for a few hours in Orleans so we proceeded to just hang out and bang the drum for a few, and then headed to bed. Thanks babe! It is awesome!

Thanks to all who made my birthday a wicked time! Let’s not forget that the guys and gals at Katie’s cottage got me a cake, as well as Carrie and Philipp picked me up a wooden carving of a hand doing the ‘rock on’ sign. AWESOME! I want to mount it onto my car!

Oh, and what was the gift from Krista? Only an autographed copy of the script from the Pilot Episode of Dawson’s Creek! Ha ha, oh man, we laughed a few months ago when we realized we were both die-hard Dawson’s Creek fans. I wouldn’t say I am die-hard enough to scour the globe for an autographed script, but I’m definitely going to frame it! My fave part is she said it cost more to ship than to actually purchase!

This past weekend (a Civic long weekend for you Ontarioites, but not for us workers in Quebec) brought us back to Katie’s cottage for another weekend of good times, GREAT weather and…good times!

I enjoy going to Katie’s cottage for numerous reasons, but most of all, the fact that there are certain things that happen every year which you look forward to. For example:

• Canoe trips
• Seeing Pete passed out every year when we arrive on Friday
• Shotgunning of Schlitz
• Random Goodness (for instance, this year consisted of us all growing ‘staches)

The moustache competition went well although a few people ‘forgot’. No worries though, by the end of the weekend they had some sweet ‘staches going on. I won the prize for ‘Most Dedicated’ which I was very proud of.

We played a heck of a lot of bocce ball (urban style where you there are virtually no rules as to where you can throw the p’tonq) and there was some great food out there. I enjoy the system Katie has set up where everyone is in charge of a meal so you don’t have to bring up food for yourself all weekend – just take care of the one meal you’re in charge of and feed everyone. We’re not talking about bologna sandwiches here, we’re talking about ribs and salads of all sorts and breakfasts from the Gods. Mmm boy!

The MacGyver canoe trip was great! The boys truly enjoyed their t-shirts and we packed up the canoe and headed out with Pete in a kayak and Keith and Paul in another canoe. The water was higher this year so it made it an easier trip, although the choppy waters on the lake swamped us a few times which was unfortunate. We managed to lose two MacGyver shirts, my sunglasses, Philipp’s hat and random oddities in the canoe (along with our empty jar of pickles, oh Philipp, you are a man after my own heart!) in the process, but we managed to come out unscathed and the lake was surprisingly shallow as we managed to walk the canoe back through it. Stupidly enough, I didn’t bother taking a life jacket which won’t happen again! I can say I was luckily not in a dangerous situation where I needed it, but there’s no reason to take chances. Safety first people! And no, Miguel and Philipp don’t count as lifeguards (even though they have the physique of them. They are like…David Hasselhoff.)

Our objective was met though in the high waters of the Crow River off of Chandos Lake. We managed to make it past the beaver dam which stopped us last year and we went even farther than thought! We ended up in a utopia of wilderness, where the water ended up being shallow enough to run around in and marvel at the beauty which was this land of ours. I believe Keith was super impressed with the whole canoe trip and going into the backwoods. I’m sure he would have come out last year if he didn’t accidentally impale himself with a koob stick and had to go to the hospital for a broken tailbone. Ouch.

Thanks to Katie and Miguel for being some excellent host/hostesses and I’d like to say that the travellers in our car were happy for being invited (as well as Vero whose visit was a first time! Although she is burnt to a crisp!)

I almost forgot the other adventure we had when leaving the cottage. We had missed the garbage pickup time so each of us had to bring a bag of garbage. Thinking we were ingenious, we headed to the beach to drop it off in their garbage bins seeing that the car was packed and we didn’t want Carrie to have a bag of garbage on her lap for a good 20 KM into the nearest town. Unfortunately, we failed to read the signs which said ‘No household litter’ in the garbage bins which brought forth some dude in a pickup truck filled with garbage saying that we weren’t allowed to drop it in there. We had thought that the dumps were closed for some reason, but they were not so we had to pack up the garbage again. Unfortunately when we put the bag back in the car, the thing was ripped so some brown sludge dripped over some luggage and Carrie’s leg, and my car. ICK ICK ICK! Furiously, I threw the luggage from the trunk into the backseat and was going to put the garbage bag into the trunk but it was leaking too much.

Here comes another dude dropping off this garbage and the pickup truck dude comes to intercept and says “Hey, is that household waste?” “Nope” replies the dude. “Just a bunch of beach toys.” The pickup truck dude then says “Well, I’m heading to the dump anyhow, why don’t you throw it into the back with the rest of the garbage?”. I ask the guy “Hey, can we throw ours in there?” in which he replies “Nope.” But he offers us an empty garbage bag which helps out with the dripping mess.

We are not some punks trying to litter here. We put the garbage into the big metal bin so that bears could not get into it. We are human beings here – help a guy out and throw it into the pickup truck filled with 32 bags of garbage that you’re about to bring to the dump anyhow. It’s the human thing to do.

Anyhow, that was the weekend! The trip back was uneventful other than multiple stops. Most times on a trip, I’m all about getting back ASAP…this time, we took our time and took in the sights.

On a random other rambling note, this is the second pair of sunglasses I’ve lost in the span of a month! I’ve had a hard time finding sunglasses I want this year and when I decide on a pair, I end up losing them! At least I’m not one to spend too much on them and ended up spending a whole $18 on the two pair. I should just give up and super-glue my aviators back into shape. They are my faves.

What I’ve accomplished so far at 28 years old (starting today of course!)

• Bought a house
• Grew a moustache
• Beat Ninja Gaiden (alas, only with the Game Genie to get by this one insane level)

So far, so good. I can’t say that my life has been hell. I have been given a pretty sweet ride these past 28 years and I owe it all to my family, my friends, and my charming personality. Also, my modest ways.

What I look forward in the next year:

• Getting a grasp on finances (pay back those parents!)
• Maybe starting work on a basement (depending on how finances go)
• Learning more music theory (from the almighty Troy)
• Visiting Philipp a little more
• Earning enough trust so I can take care of Eric and Annie’s baby

Speaking about Eric and Annie’s baby, this morning I had a wicked time going to the hospital and checking out an ultrasound of Baby Desgroseilliers! The kid was cool! It stuck its tongue out at us, has this wavy crazy hair and the heart was beating super fast! It was crazy how fast this heart was going! Ultrasound technicians have a cool job…I think it would take awhile to get the hang of it but after that, it’s like scanning for babies!

Anyhow, a big thanks goes out to Eric and Annie for inviting me to this event. It may be the last ultrasound for awhile as the baby is due next month!

Tomorrow’s Update: What did Vero get me for my birthday. ;-P

This weekend Vero and I will be heading out to Katie’s cottage which is guaranteed good times. I anticipate that we’ll be having a bocce ball tourney as per our love of the game that was started on Canada Day (started for me at least!).

I am looking forward to Philipp, Miguel and I undertaking what I like to call ‘The MacGyver Tour’ which consists of us canoeing up the river and crossing various beaver dams.

This started last year where we got a little adventurous and decided to go as far as we could in the canoe as it had never been done by us before. My only beef was the fact that we all left our shoes back home thinking we would stay inside the canoe. Hesitantly and complaining all the way, I jump into the beaver dam muck which definitely consists of some form of feces and fall up to my knees in various spots.

At one point, we could not manage to pull the canoe up far enough over the beaver dam so out of nowhere, Philipp (or was it Miguel?) lets out a mighty roar – “MACGYVER!!!!!” and he summons the power that we need and singlehandedly launches the canoe over to other side of the beaver dam. We stood in awe at the awesome might which a lone human could hold within their body. It was an inspiring moment, however, we lost the magic as soon as we were heading back and SOME people had to be towed in their paddle boat by us lone canoers. We were not impressed.

I hope that this weekend shall bring equal adventures as last and that Keith does not break his tailbone again.

I would like to congratulate two people who have made the cut to the right-hand bar blog area.

Jen – whose blog was an enigma for some time but then turned out to be an amusing read for yours truly, especially after getting some inside thoughts on the beast we all know, the hot dog eating man himself, Matt. Check out Come on – it’s simirable!

Troy – Heck, I haven’t even read any of his posts as his first forray into the life of blogging, but I’m sure it will be a good read filled with the things Palmer’s love: music, beer and good times. If the world had a clone of me, it would be Troy. Granted, he’s the older cousin, so I suppose I’m the clone of him. Whatever. Clones are cool. Check out The Palmer Project.

Let’s talk a little about Blog Etiquette. We’re all new to this so here’s a shout out for some advice.

Let’s be honest…some blogs on the right hand sidebar are dead ends. They have nothing new, as in people have dropped off the face of the earth. Seeing that EVERYONE who publishes something on the Net wishes to have it kept clean and tidy (right….), it is rude to remove a blog from your ride hand side bar if they just don’t make the cut anymore? Or is it good to leave it there for archival purposes? Let’s just say Matt’s blog has become close to the cut on many occasions to then jumpt back to life with grandiose posts about sumo wrestling in bubble wrap (bravo, bravo). So if you have any thoughts on this subject, air them out!

In a random news event of great things coming back from the dead – The Hilarious House of Frigtenstein is returning!!! Oh man, this was the greatest show ever! Especially with the disco wolfman. I heard it’s coming to the Space Network this fall.

When we’re on the road for a long trip, Highway Hypotheticals come into play. I can’t recall who coined this term, but I’m sure it was during one of the numerous trips with Carrie and Philipp.

A Highway Hypothetical consists of posing a hypothetical situation to the car inhabitants. The more risqué the better. Controversy is a must during a long car trip.

The trip back down from Kapuskasing was fraught full of Highway Hypotheticals. Some of the faves that came up were:

• Would you sleep with someone for $1M without having the chance to discuss with your partner?
• Would you rather live in the Star Wars universe or the Star Trek universe? (Please note that Vero came up with this geeky question!)
• If you could enhance your body with cybernetic implants, would you?
• Would you place a GPS tracking unit inside the body of your child?

As you can see, fun questions all around! There are always the classics such as:

• What sense would you choose to lose?
• Arm or a leg?
• Blind or deaf?
• Death by drowning or burning? Yes, yes, sometimes we get pretty morbid but it’s interesting to see what people would answer!

The next time you’re on a long roadtrip, implement the Highway Hypothetical game and there is guaranteed fun, as long as there are some people who can actually contribute some good questions!