Month: October 2006

We all know me. Me doesn’t cook that often and when he does, he doesn’t do it with flair.

Last night was an exception to the rule when I hauled out some partridge that Dad supplied us with and I went to look for a recipe on the allrecipes.com website.

Click here for the actual recipe that was used.

All in all, the dinner was a success! Bacon wrapped partridge puts a smile on everyone’s face. Luckily, I noticed that the burner wasn’t turned on for the potatoes or it would have been a very meager meal.

This is Trish’s third outing for unknown meals – first there was moose, then deep friend turkey, and now partridge. Partridge is the cats meow if you haven’t had it before, although we all can admit that it definitely tastes like chicken, albeit a little tougher to chew in some parts.

After dinner, Krista, Amy, Mike and Trish sat down to watch Heroes. So far, so good. Let’s be honest, I will always be a fan of this show, purely for the comic book feel to it.

I also introduced everyone to a little TV Carnage – which is only the best video you can watch after a night at the bar. It consists of random oddities that someone has found aired on TV, edited into a glorious fashion.

Noon hit on Friday afternoon and Mike, Vero and I hit the road to head up North for the weekend. It was an uneventful drive other than the fact that I had realized my iPod has messed up and it had a total of 40 songs on it for some reason. Doh! We also happened upon a man who needed help right outside of Cochrane. We pulled over and asked if he needed any help and he didn’t say anything but came running across the highway to our car. At this point I am remembering the time when Annie, Eric and I went to Timmins to see X-Men and we were on a dark highway and happened upon a car off to the side of the road so I parked the car, rolled down my window and asked if they needed any help. They walked right up to the car without saying a word and this is where we all realized that perhaps parking the car wasn’t the best thing to do. Luckily, nothing came of the experience and they had just hit a moose so we phoned the police upon hitting Driftwood. But, boy, we’re we scared! He could have very well pulled a knife on us or something with my window wide open.

So the memories of that night popped back into my head when the man was running across the highway to our car without saying a word. I was whispering to Mike “Let’s just go man!” but it turned out that the guy hit a bear up the road. We called 911 and were describing what happened when Mike drove up the road to see where the bear was. While on the phone, my story of a man hitting a bear with his truck changed to him hitting a dog as our headlights spotted the REAL victim of the car. Poor dog. The 911 operator and I both realized how silly it was that I was on the phone so I stopped that conversation pretty fast.

I headed up to Hearst after dropping Mike off in Kap. The drive was a long one as we lost 30 minutes somewhere along the way. We rolled into Hearst around 11:30 at night and I was dead tired. I found it hilarious that when we walked into the house, Vero’s step-mom thought one of her daughter’s friends had showed up to the house at the late hour and didn’t realize it was us in the doorway as she had just woken up! After sitting and talking we crashed for the night and the next morning, went around town and then went out for some pizza with friends. After that, we headed out to the woods to check out the cottage which was a decent time, however it was raining all day so my shoes were soaked after walking in woods looking for partridge. That night brought forth a great lasagna supper as well as good company. Vero and I then headed out to the local watering hole to see if there was anyone she knew and we stayed there for a bit. All in all, a good trip to Hearst. I was disappointed to hear that the music store was closed for the weekend as there was a closing out sale and guitars were 50% off. I’m not saying I needed a new guitar, but hey, when the higher powers deliver a good deal, you take it.

We headed into my side of the North on Sunday after loading up the car with Vero’s bike (which is hoping to visit Ottawa sometime soon) and a year’s worth of jarred goods. Got into town in time to attend church with Mom and then headed home to see my sister and hang out for awhile while Mom fixed all my clothes which needed fixing. Mike, Vero and I headed out to Philippe’s baptism which was an alright time. It was strange to be in the very church where they got married a few years ago and see all the same players there (minus a few of course). It was a different feeling…baby, us not in tuxedos, Eric with a goatee. I felt like I was in the Mirror-verse from Star Trek.

Headed back home to see Dad who had come out from hunting to hit up the turkey dinner. It was a relaxing time at my parents…watched some movies on TV and ate some turkey. I was happy to see an old 1930s documentary on Abitibi Canyon which Maurice and I had seen years ago while working out there. It is quite hilarious – especially when the Natives canoe by the screen and the narrator talks about the Redskins.

Jammed a little bit with John (read: John played amazingly while I sat and watched.) and had a few beer. John is probably the most amazing guitarist that I’ve ever met so it is a treat when I get to see what he has up his sleeve. I’m really no calibre compared to him so I must admit that I was rather content to just sit back and watch as his is into the metal solos and I am but a lowly crooner with his three chord rock. 😉 We revelled in our love of Megadeth and reminisced of days gone by when there was a song entitled ‘The Pigeon Song’.

The ride back was hell also as it took us longer than thought due to a random one lane bridge, and an accident to contend with. Dropped off a bunch of baby stuff over at Eric’s place and headed home where I was anticipating a relaxing night but thought I would be ambitious and install the new version of Xbox Media Center – only for the thing to mess up in my hands and I spent two hours trying to fix it. After that I settled in for some Lego Star Wars action. Oh yeah, and I found a bootleg of the Eric Clapton concert that we went to! Sweet!

Hope everyone had a little turkey this weekend and good times all around.

I thought I would give an update into the life which is mine as to what’s been eating up my time lately.

– School – I am currently taking two more courses this semester which are alright. They aren’t entirely exciting, but they are required for the Communications field which I am pursuing.
– Work – As always, I work! I am proud to say that as of October 1, I have been part of the working force for 5 years. That is pretty crazy. Unfortunately for me, 3 of those years were spent being a contractor so I’m legitmately with the Government for only 2 years. Boo.
– Playtime – Not much playtime to do many things, but I’m heading out to see the Trews (unplugged!) this Friday night and am hoping to hit up the For The Mathematics CD Release party at Barrymore’s on the same night. I dig this local band. If you like The Mars Volta, come check them out with me!
– Travel – It seems like I am forever travelling. I need a break.
– Lego Star Wars – The video game bug has bit me once again. I borrowed (read: stole when Eric wasn’t looking) his copy of Lego Star Wars and have been playing it for the past few days. I love the simplicity of it. I feel like a kid again.
– Hallowe’en – We’re slowly working on our Ghostbuster costumes. So far, we have some coveralls and a few power bar outlet type thingies (way to sound technical!). Unsure of the next step as we don’t want to put our heart and soul into the project, but don’t want it looking dinky either.

I have this 2 for 1 coupon from Ferda (yeeha! thanks!) to go see a movie so I thought I would drag Trish out of her hole that she calls an apartment to go see something.

Unfortunately for us, there just isn’t anything that really piques our interest. MAYBE The Trailer Park Boys movie, but as Trish said, it’s more of a rental. Plus, there’s The Departed which I really would rather watch the original incarnation (Infernal Affairs) before seeing this flick.

Is the fall the lowest of the low time to check out a flick?

Instead, we have decided to munch on some partridge tonight. Thanks Dad! If anyone cares to drop by the homestead to watch the first two episodes of Heroes, it will be airing tonight at Casa Losierpalmer.

Wanted: Some Advice on Tires.

I don’t know if I need new tires or not, but I’ll run into Canadian Tire one day soon to measure the wear on the tires. It looks like the treads are starting to wear down so I figure before the winter hits, pick up a new set of all-seasons to last me for the next few years.

Here’s my question for you all – Where’s a good spot to buy tires? Should I be looking into used tires? What about new? Should I be hitting up Canadian Tire, Wal-Mart, Costco, the dealer?

Is it all about the price point or are there some tires that just plain suck?

Aid out Palmer in his venture to discover more about tires!

Yesterday brought me to my favourite restaurant on Earth – St-Hubert. I recounted a tale of how I love St-Hubert from our trips down to Gaspé every summer and we would stop at St-Hubert along the way. It was a virtual unknown restaurant in Ontario, and if someone is reading this right now and thinking “Wha???” it’s like Swiss Chalet, but SOOOO much better.

We arrived for Jennie’s farewell lunch (she is a lucky duck. She got TWO going away lunches!) and ordered. I ordered the quarter chicken breast (which is poitrine in french for all those at the table giving the lady a blank stare when she came up with the food orders. I bet some people wonder how I knew poitrine is French for breast. I learned it from St-Hubert!) which was delish but I wonder if I could have handled the half chicken order. After scarfing down Sena’s leftovers, I realized I could have.

Mike came in later and decided to just order some take out. Here’s where my rant begins. My bill came out to $16 with a ginger ale and taxes (not including the 1/2 cake I picked up for Jennie). Mike’s order came out to $6.78. What the heck? Turns out that you get the ‘cook’s special’ which is either a quarter leg or breast (cook’s choice) as well as all the other good stuff, along with a drink and a chocolate bar!!! AS IF! I could care less for the ambiance of the restaurant, I just want my food! Clearly, I paid double the price just to sit down in their restaurant. I will never again eat inside. It’s curbside for me boys!

Whew…does this mean I don’t love St-Hubert anymore? Heck no! It has glorious chicken, fries, SAUCE SAUCE SAUCE and the obligatory coleslaw and hamburger bun to wipe up the sauce with. You can’t go wrong with that combination.

But next time, I’ll take it to go please.

I stumbled upon a VERY interesting article on how CDs are being mastered loudly nowadays as opposed to the CDs/LPs of yesteryear and they are in fact annoying the heck out of everyone.

Click here to read the article. If you’re not really into music, or the technicalities of music, you probably won’t find this article interesting. It’s a long read, but informative.

It did however, remind me of why I never wanted to convert my music to MP3s. It makes everything bland. I think I’m going to start using my CD player again. In fact, I have found that if I have a new album I prefer to listen to it on the CD player in my car rather than my iPod. There’s just something better to it.

iplaying: Chasing Cars – Snow Patrol

Read this article for the lead in to my rant.

Alright, so the ‘so-called’ iPod-killer is around the corner. Let’s see what they have to say about it.

Market Forces – Face it Microsoft. You’re the proverbial dodo bird. Dead before your time. Sure, you have a vast market share over the world with all your other products, but it’s going to take some time to crack the stronghold Apple has on the MP3 player market.

Sharing Fever – Hey, now this is an interesting concept. At first I didn’t think Microsoft would go the anti-piracy route and allow you to share files wirelessly. I was semi-right. Upon further investigation, they have a three day/three play rule when nabbing a file off of someone (whichever comes first). I do enjoy this feature regardless because it’s always cool if someone can say ‘Dude, check out this band I like!’. Bravo to you M.Soft. The funny thing about this is that we all know that someone will break the copy protection and this will probably be the main selling feature of the Zune. Much like how I bought an XBox because it could be ‘hacked’.

More Content, Bigger Screen – Uh, did I just read on another site that the videos they offer won’t even be filling the entire screen, they will just be the size of an iPod screen? Oh Microsoft, way to disappoint.

Surprisingly Cool – Yes, as in its not a hot item to purchase. That’s why it’s cool.

I think that if Microsoft released a competitor against the iPod, let’s say, 2 years ago, it could have been a contender. But SOOOO many other MP3 players have tried to compete and it just doesn’t work. However, I must admit that some of the features have me drooling (Wi-Fi? Sharing is cool albeit, even cooler if they get rid of the three day/three play), but we’ll have to see what happens when it comes on the market.