Day: February 20, 2007

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Val-Mart Score

On Sunday amongst our adventures, we ended up at a Fitness Equipment clearance sale where I wanted to see if I could find a sit-up bench…you know, the ones that inclines?

I saw one on sale from 89.99 to 69.99. I thought that this is a little steep considering it is just a board on an incline. Heck, I could probably fashion one myself!

However, when we hit up Wal-Mart for frames, Mike found the EXACT SAME MODEL for $40! I couldn’t believe my luck!

I also couldn’t believe the incredible markup in the Fitness Equipment store of the same exact item. Is this what businesses do? Just go down to Wal-Mart and buy some wares and sell it to us for a higher price?

If anything, I would have thought the Fitness Equipment store would have had better merchandise compared to Wal-Mart.

Anyhow, I am the proud new owner of a sit-up bench. Vero and I assembled it last night and if what we went through is any indication of how life will be when we are old and gray assembling items, I think I’ll have to let her assemble them herself. 😉

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Vinterlude! Part 2


After an entertaining night of socializing over at Carrie’s, we ventured out into Vinterlude-land in the Nation’s Capital on Saturday. It was unbelievable beautiful outside…I would think around -5 degrees! Of course, as everyone does when the weather turns for the better; the jackets are undone, the toques are off and then after 15 minutes you realize it’s still freakin’ cold. Then you are cold and have to warm up again.


Vero and I met up with Val, Carrie and Adrianna and checked out the ice sculptures which were probably the best I’ve seen in years. I especially enjoyed the Venom/Spider-Man one! After perusing the wares and picking up a poutine from The Poutine Machine (which was actually not a very good poutine. Let’s go into a discussion about what makes a good poutine. First off, cheese curds are a must. None of these random melted cheese strings all over the place. None of these McCain fries either. Matt, I’m looking at you on this one. Even though you feel that the Antrim Truck Stop poutine is the best in the world, you are definitely in the minority on this one due to lack of curds. 😉 )

We then trekked down to the Canal which was packed. Adrianna and I walked along while the others skated and then we ended up detouring to the Beavertail Hut as there was a mighty wind picking up (probably Carrie!)

If no one ever had a Beavertail before, it’s a delicious pastry with some cinammon on it. Mmm boy. After having our tasty treat, I noticed they were selling back bacon on a bun! Too bad I was already full. Perhaps next week I shall try this Canadian (or so I must assume) delicassie.

A funny moment was when we saw a kid with pink skates, pink mittens and a pink hat.
Adrianna: “Boy, I feel bad for that boy. I can’t believe his parents dress him in that!”
Me: “Either that’s an unfortunately dressed boy, or a really ugly girl.”

Considering it was getting windy and Adrianna and I could only get so much fun from walking down a skating rink while kids zipped by us, we decided to turn around and head to the Winterlude hang-out – Darcy McGee’s! We sat down at the bar and revelled in the warmth and beer taps around us as Adrianna recounted tales of the time where she was a bartender in London England. She was saying how some people were stuck up enough to refuse their pint of Erdinger Ale if she didn’t have an empty Edinger glass! There were only 3 existing in the pub at the time so there many people disappointed some nights. To me, a glass is a glass. Adrianna agrees.

After swindling a table out from underneath an older couple, we settled down and had a bite to eat…I must say the fish and chips were scrumptious, however I felt very ill around 10PM that night and I am not sure if it could have been from the fish. Good thing I decided not to go out to the H&C that night!

The rest of the weekend had me spending time with Mike’s parents and traipsing around town looking for frames for the Star Wars posters Vero bought me for Christmas. Michael’s had this excellent 40% off sale so I picked up a few there and also talked to the gentleman about framing my Pearl Jam tour poster in ultra-violet ray resistant glass as they had a 50% off sale on custom framing. Vero and I went back the next day to place the order. All I have to say about custom framing is that I don’t think I’ll do it ever again as it is very costly. I am justifying the purchase as I paid good money for the poster on eBay and my parents graciously passed some cash over for my birthday to get it framed.

Mike’s parents also let me partake in some pasta making! That was very interesting. They had the pasta already prepared and I helped Bruce put it through the pasta rolling device which basically rolls the pasta into lasagna-size slices. At this point, you can opt to put it through a shredder which will make fettucine or spaghetti sized morsels. Very interesting to do! I am excited to hear how their pasta adventures go as they get into the different types of pasta they can make such as spinach pasta or perhaps a BBQ flavoured pasta? (I threw that one in there myself!)