Day: June 26, 2007

The weekend was pretty low key due to a mid-term project I have to work on.

After leaving Vero’s, I figured I had some time to kill and I should take a look at cleaning my office. If anyone has been to my office in the past 6 months (I’m talking about my office in my house), you will notice that it had become a landfill. That’s right, I think there were living organisms hidden amongst the debris.

Let me tell you, after starting to clean up, I really hit this moment of depression where I realized some of the stuff had accumulated since Christmas. What had I become? Was I some lazy human being who was content in just letting things pile up in the corner? This also puts into perspective that it’s been six months since someone stayed over in the office which is clearly the cause of my problems! We need more people visiting!

After getting past the bout of depression (no really! I was really depressed!), the room was looking pretty snazzy and now it just has a little section of the desk with some CDs to put away. I need a new CD case but IKEA discontinued my matching colour Billy case. Argh! As if!

Vero then came over and we had some fish which destroyed the place with its fish smell. I came downstairs this morning and I swear I can still smell it. We then mapped out my mid-term video project along with Eric. I think we have a solid idea down and all I have to do is add some theory to it and we are set. I had the choice of writing a 1500 word essay, or creating a five minute video. Something tells me that it may be a little easier doing the essay, but where’s the fun in that?! Plus, it’s a New Media class. Time to embrace the new media! You may see the video in all its glory sometime before July 12 (when it is due).

Vero and I had a strange experience around 2:30AM that night. We were sound asleep and the smoke alarms went off! I have never (in my memory) had that happen to me so it was a surreal experience. Searching for a fire when you’re half asleep is insane. I ran down to the kitchen and there was nothing. I then ran to the furnace and there was nothing. Then I stopped to think “Well where is the smoke?”. I couldn’t smell anything. If anything, I could smell fish from the supper we cooked.

I then ran outside to check if the neighbours place was on fire. Nothing. I looked towards my attic. Nothing. I went inside and disconnected the smoke alarm and then reconnected. Still kept going. I disconnected it again and walked around the house for awhile to see what was going on. Meanwhile, by disconnecting the smoke alarm, some ceiling gunk fell into my eye which wasn’t making a nice experience for me. In the end, I couldn’t get the piece out (or I thought I couldn’t. It was gone (or my eye was scratched and healed) by the morning, thank the Maker.) and we couldn’t find any fire so we reconnected the smoke alarms and went to bed.

Question: I have wired smoke alarms, meaning that they are connected to the wiring of the house, no batteries. Do others have similar systems, and if so, have you ever had the alarms go off randomly?

Very odd. I couldn’t get to sleep for awhile as I kept imagining their was a fire creeping through the walls that I couldn’t find. Everything was fine by morning though.

Sunday was spent nabbing a video camera from Rob (thanks Rob! Lifesaver!) and Vero showing me how Final Cut Pro worked. She is leaving in a week so it’s going to be harder than I thought it would be as I will be the one editing this puppy. Yikes!

I ended up watching The Man With the Golden Gun which is an excellent Bond flick. Probably my favourite of the Roger Moore era. I also started watching the first season of 24. I must admit it is pretty good and I am always anxious to watch the next episode. Hello summer TV viewing! Where I catch up on long lost shows that I downloaded but never got around to watching.

Ack, I hate it when I eat some yogurt and the little bits of berries get stuck inside some crevices in my teeth. Always carry a plastic toothpick in your wallet. Nuff said.

Friday night was fantabulouso as I hit home, relaxed for a bit, then head out to the Barley Mow Pub for a bite to eat with Mike, Eric, Annie and Philip. We had to wait awhile for a table which is not a big deal since the beer was flowing. Keith’s Red was our poison and it is a fine brew. Give it a try! I enjoy the red beers these days. In fact, the amber ales just don’t have enough kick anymore.

When we sat down, we waited forever for our waitress to serve us. When she finally showed up, she apologized as there was some confusion as to whether or not someone had served us or not.

We all ordered the fish and chips other than Eric who ordered a burger. We had been waiting for a top up of liquids for quite some time and so when the server came over with our food we asked if we could order some beer. He said he would send the waitress over. I could see her across the way playing around with some machine (perhaps a cash register?) and I swear I made eye contact a few times and she checked our table to see if things were alright but she never came over! At that point she went away and I went to the bar to order a pitcher but I had no cash on me so I just asked for it to be sent to our table and he asked what our waitress looked like. I think he missed the part of the conversation about sending a pitcher over as one never came! The server (who Mike thought might be the owner/service manager) came back after realizing we still didn’t have our beer and promptly got our waitress to bring one over.

At this point the damage was done and we were not impressed. She then came over to pour us a few drinks and ended up overfilling Eric’s glass and it dripped all over the place!

In the end, we had some good food and I like the atmosphere (although, why do they have big screen televisions if all they do is set it to a satellite radio channel and there’s only the text of the artist on the screen? Let’s also note that it was so loud that we couldn’t even hear the music!) but our service was horrible. In the end I pulled out the dreaded no tip card out of my hat. I reserve this for horrible service and it only comes out rarely. Do I feel bad? No.

Mike and I then headed out to Vero and Melanie’s new place as there was a shindig occuring. The party was in full force when we arrived (and only got better once we arrived!). I chatted it up with a few of her friends before settling in and talking with Rob for awhile. The night was killer and the munchies were stupendous! When you throw a tomato, a piece of cheese and (I forget the last item) on a toothpick, you are answering the prayers of all in attendance.

The guitars came out after awhile and we noodled around with them. Jean-Francois is an excellent guitar player and I must admit I had a hard time following some jazz chords he was playing. This, in no way was a result of the number of beer I had in my system. I played a few crowd favourites like Mr. Jones and Back in the USSR and then we called it a night after a singalong to some improv song. Oops! I just remembered that I broke two wooden spoons that night by drumming too hard! This reminds me of the time that Joe broke one of my wooden spoons and I was upset. Now, for the life of me, I don’t know why I was really upset that night but I was and he was a good mate and replaced them. I shall have to do the same for Vero and Mel.

We met a new lady in Matt’s life last night who was pretty cool. Actually she got the Palmer stamp of approval as soon as she said she snuck out of her house to see Pearl Jam when she was 17. You had me at Pearl Jam. Mike and I may have to hit her up as a concert going buddy as she seems to be into that sort of thing. As I am sure Matt will be showing her this entry, please note that there are plans to hit up Montreal to see Silverchair on July 30.

When I arose from my slumber I had a slight sore noggin but other than that, the day started out great.