Day: May 7, 2007

A little bird told me that it’s Trish’s birthday today. What the heck is up with all these birthdays around the same time? Holy mackerel.

While we celebrated her birthday in style at the H&C on Friday night, I’m extending a St-Hubert meal her way on her birthday. Redeemable at any time, but give me a heads up for when you wish to go for it Trish!

What can I say about Trish other than the fact that I miss my work buddy. You know those people at work who goes to every break/lunch/whatever with you during the day and you laugh at the minutiae which is your daily life? I still remember the laugh we had when we were looking at some OC Transpo signs that had penguins on it and she said something about their tails between their legs in which I pointed out that it didn’t look like it was a tail hanging between their legs. Oh, the laughs we had that day on the bus!

Trish is the woman of style, pizazz and flair. Plus it doesn’t hurt that she is attractive. No one wants ugly friends.

She is known to rock and aspires to become one of the rocker girls that history will remember, but she doesn’t really know how to play a guitar, let alone hold one. Trish, we recommend another sport – like knitting.

Always one with an opinion but also with a kind ear for when Palmer wants to rant, she is what you call a good friend. I feel ashamed for how long I have made her wait to install her CD burner. I am clearly not as good of a friend as Trish is.

Let us not forget that Trish claims to be a feminist and has a legion of ‘menions’ at her beck and call. Actually, let’s point out that she coined the term ‘menion’. Trademark that one.

On your birthday, Trish, we salute you. You are a honey-of-an-o.

I don’t know where you all were this weekend, but I was in paradise. That’s right, Ottawa had the most beautiful weather. Saturday had a little chill in the air but Sunday was that weather which you dream of devising an evil contraption that will harness the controls of the weather so you can this one perfect day all year long except for Christmas because we all love snow on Christmas Day because we all know that’s what Jesus had in Bethlehem. Snow. Let’s take a look on the map for a second. Hmm…Bethlehem…wow. Nowhere near the North at all. Hey, where did the snow come into the picture then?

Saturday morning I arose from my slumber as I drove Vero to her class. This is her final class FOREVER. It’s only three full weekends. While that sucks, let’s keep in mind that instead of going to 16 weeks of class, you only have to go to six days of class. She’ll be done in a few weeks.

Feeling a bit rough, I get home and decide I should not head back to bed. I watch some shows that I haven’t’ seen in awhile and when Mike and Danny get home (from dropping Carol off in Cornwall) we cook up some lunch and head downtown to grab some LPs. Mike and Danny scored on that front but I didn’t see any albums I was interested in picking up. I’m trying to find Paul McCartney & Wings album ‘Band on The Run’. I’m starting to pick up classic albums that should be in all collections.

We then headed to Le Baron for a GPS battery and then Danny finds my voice recorder that I’ve lost since Christmas! I am ecstatic! It was lodged under the seat! Vero is not going to kill me anymore (as she had bought it for me). After doing a happy dance, we headed home, took a much deserved nap, headed to Montana’s for some ribs and wings and then finished off the night by watching the Senators win big and then popped in our favourite film – Dazed and Confused.

After Danny left on Sunday morning, Mike and I hit our productive stride. I gave the inside and outside of my car a much needed cleaning. I even shampooed the carpets inside. It was more to get rid of the salt which it had a hard time with. Does anyone have the much needed solution to getting road salt out of a carpet? I thought a shampoo would do the car good as there was this awful smell in the car in the past year and we couldn’t figure out what it is. I assumed someone through a tuna pita under the seat but I didn’t see any.

We then took a crack at cleaning the garage which is always…fun? Mike has come up with some good ideas for the garage so one of these days we will tackle putting some shelving inside. In the end, the garage really only took us a good hour of clean-up. We made a trip to the beer store with our bottles; including wine bottles now that they take them back. I had grand aspirations for making my own wine again so I was holding onto the bottles. But after 2 years I realize they were just taking up space.

We then headed over to Eric and Annie’s to borrow his grass seeder as there is a strip of dead grass along my driveway which is ugly. I haven’t seeded/fertilized before so I figured I should start one day. Turns out that I had enough for the back lawn also so I mowed both lawns and spread the seed. We’ll see if it sprouts anything.

Considering Vero has some ham and water in her fridge we brought her some St-Hubert last night and enjoyed her balcony view (her new apartment is awesome!) and then headed to see Spider-Man 3 but it was 7:55 with a movie starting at 8PM. We had to get a refund on our tix as there just wasn’t anymore seating.

I think it’s a shame that today is a beautiful day and we are stuck inside work all day. Perhaps I should join construction?

There are times in one’s life when you go out with some friends, you either have a great night, or one of those nights which make your brain collapse in the sheer awesomeness which was that night. Friday night was no exception.

Sena and I left work to pick up a few gifts and then head to Trish’s. While we waited….and waited…and waited…we had a few beer and watched some TV. Then we got going out to the homestead where I was expecting some dinner ready for us as the crew had the entire day off while we had to work all day.

True to form, the crew at home were lazy all day and had nothing ready for us, so I had to haul out the meat to BBQ. I am making the situation sound worse than it is – I was fine with cooking up some sausages for all!

Fast fact: I did not know that it’s smarter to boil your sausages before throwing on the BBQ. Who else does that? I especially like how both Mike and Danny were giving each other the eye when I threw them on raw but they said nothing. Ya goofs, if you know I should boil them, you should tell me! 😉

Carol ended up cooking the sausages as the rest of us were in the middle of a mean game of washers. In the end, it took Sena and I awhile but we finally caught up and beat Mike and Danny as they had started to go back down in points (which happens if you bust at the end).

After a few drinks and a few laughs, we then headed downtown for the celebration of Trish and Carol’s birthday. What better place to end up, but the Heart and Crown. We were very excited as we had discovered that Shaydid was playing and it wasn’t until Trish pointed out that this was the same band we saw on Canada Day weekend who rocked our socks off! Let it be known that Trish was also trying to pick up the drummer last Canada Day weekend.

Us (to the lead singer): Hey, my friend thinks your drummer is hot.
Lead Singer: I do too! That’s why I married him! (while flashing the ring)

Woops! Sorry Trish. Didn’t see that happening! Ha ha.

We arrived just in time to grab Duncan off of the patio and we headed into the back area where the main act was coming on. We had an excellent vantage point and the night started off great when I was downstairs getting some beer and heard some sweet, sweet Pink Floyd playing. I thought it was through the radio, but no! It was the band! I raced upstairs and had forgotten that they have this amazing guitarist (who last time had a sweet, sweet moustache). This guy could shred.

The night starts up in fine fashion and all is good in the world.

Highlights of the Night:

– Alright, here’s where I throw a little back story. Years ago, Carrie, myself and others frequented the H&C a lot more than we do nowadays. During that time we noticed an old man who always was at the bar. He wasn’t a leery old man, he was a good time and we had a few pictures taken with him. We never knew the story behind him. Old-timers like that always have a great story attached to them.

Months after that moment, Carrie and I were searching through old pictures and had a good laugh when we realized that this old man had appeared in other pictures we had from before that moment! He’s been there forever! A permanent fixture one might say! From that point on, any night that we found this gentleman in the bar upped the greatness of the night.

This night was to be no exception. Sure enough, out of nowhere, the man shows up and I proclaim “This will be the best night ever!”. At this point, Carol and Danny realize that they did not go wrong in coming to Ottawa for Carol’s birthday. I’m sure they had their doubts…I mean, who wants to leave a slew of your friends back home for your birthday to come party with a bunch of people that you don’t really know? But this was not the case – this was the beginning of a grand night.

In the end, we found out quite a bit about this gentleman. His name is Roy and he was celebrating his 80th birthday! He also mentioned that his birthday was last weekend but he was still partying. I want to be this guy when I get to be 80!

– Here’s where the other highlight of the night occurs. At this point I need to get to a phone to call Carrie to tell her that the old man from the photographs is here at the bar and that she needs to get down here pronto. I ask Duncan for his phone to call Carrie. As soon as I mention her name she emerges from the crowd! At that point I whispered “I need to call Elizabeth Hurley.” but she didn’t appear so I thought I should get back to reality. Coincidences like these are not to be ignored – there was a reason she was at this spot at this time and it was to have a great night! She had a good laugh when she saw Roy dancing away in a t-shirt that said ‘LURE’ on it. Classic. CLASSIC!

– Let’s talk a little about the band Shaydid. I love this band. Honestly, I can now put them above Fortune’s Hand at this moment in time. Hey, we all know I love FH, but ever since their guitarist left, I don’t know…maybe the last time I saw them I was turned off by the entire crowd being followers of the new guitarist who were shouting his name during THE ENTIRE NIGHT. While I suppose that is cool in a way, it did get annoying after 30 minutes. So back to Shaydid, they have it all. An amazing guitarist, KEYBOARDS (a must for any classic rock band!) and let’s be honest, the singer is quite amazing. When they started Fleetwood Mac’s You Can Go Your Own Way I lost it as this has become a new/old favourite of mine. I love this tune. As Krista points out, it’s an excellent driving tune.

Shaydid never put on a bad show and I am looking forward to this Canada Day weekend when they return. I highly recommend that everyone mark their calendars now to see this band in action. They are over the top.

– Let’s not forget to talk about my new hat and how everyone was making a grab for it. Yikes! It was funny at first, but sometimes you have that fear that someone will not be a gentleman and leave the bar with it. I think I need to attach a chain to it.

I’m sure the others can add some memories in the comments section. All in all, I was once again impressed with the Heart and Crown. We ended the night by picking up a schwarma, checking out Vero’s new pad and heading home.