Month: August 2008

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=17878

I choked up a little while reading this touching tale of a man and a woman visiting a comic book store in search for Archie comics.  Even if you hate reading about my comic book related posts, you should take a moment to read this marvelous tale.

Yes, it’s true.  I have never seen Jaws until this year.  I may have caught a bit of it on TV once but quickly turned it off since I wanted to watch the entire Spielburg epic.  I don’t think I have to really explain this one…released in 1975, it became the first ‘summer blockbuster’ of film; a story about a shark attacking the waters of a beach town.

Eric, Annie and I watched this with great anticipation.  They had already seen it so it was nothing new to them.  But for me, it was exciting to think of watching a film that stood the test of time.  Overall, the film was great.  I really enjoy older films as they spend more time spacing the film out…a lot more character development, a lot more dead-time as I like to call it.  Spielburg is just starting out in his film making here and already I can see that his thoughts on specific camera shots and pacing of the film are high caliber.

I had a good laugh when Jaws perished as I didn’t see it coming until the end and I thought there was no way they would kill him off in that matter…but they did and it was grand.

I can’t say I’m really scared to go into the water after seeing this film, but at the same time, there are no sharks in the lakes around here, right?

On Wednesday night, we headed out to Carnivale Lune Bleue, a supposed recreation of 1930s style amusement parks with shows, rides and all that jazz.  I ended up winning a pair of tickets from Chez (thanks Chez!) so we headed out with Karilee and Matt on Wednesday evening.

When we arrived, I must admit I was left with an underwhelming feeling.  It was quite sparse, with a 1930s carousel and a Ferris wheel from 1917.  Those were the only two rides that the eye could see and there were tents all around the area.  We decided to get a bite to eat at the dining area which seemed neat.  A tent with nice tables with black tablecloths and wine glasses.  I ordered the squash/ravioli combination and while it was decent, I think I would have been more satisfied with hitting up the snack counter where I could get a pulled-pork sandwich (but we all know my love for sandwiches!).

We took a ride on the Ferris wheel (which Vero and I ended up sitting on the top for awhile which didn’t do too well for my fear of heights!).  The carny was heckling us once in awhile and one time he said “You’re supposed to be cuddling with her, not holding on for dear life!” so I managed to throw one arm around Vero.

After the ferris wheel we perused the Congress of Wonder which is a museum of old carnival artifacts but then we quickly left to go to our Big Top Adventure.  We had no idea what would be happening inside the big tent.

I was pleasantly surprised to see a high caliber production of acrobatics!  It turns out that Cirque Maroc is the big tent feature.  The tent itself was the tent used in the first Cirque du Soleil production years ago.  The production was spectacular.  There was comic relief by two clown-like guys and then the ladies came out in full force!  The ladies were dressed in 1930’s style outfits (hearkening back to a Moulin Rouge style of dress) and they performed amazing acrobatics for us…hula hoop spinning, tightrope walking and one woman was on the ‘German Wheel’ (look this up on the Internet to see what it’s all about!  It was incredible!).  Then at the end they had a trapeze act which was freaking crazy.  It was amazing to see how people can move like this.  This is the first time I had ever seen an acrobatic show so I was astounded.  Vero was laughing her head off at the clowns and I’m wondering if her voice will be on the laugh track of the portion that was filmed.  I can honestly say that this show alone would have been worth the sixty bucks for the ticket.

But it didn’t end there.  As soon as we were done that, carnies outside the tent motioned us towards the ‘Tropic Terrors of the World’ show where a man and a woman dressed in jungle gear talked about the various creatures they had captured (tarantulas, scorpions, various types of snakes).  The best part happened right at the beginning where he pulled his machete out and did a swiping motion and Vero burst out laughing!  The guy stopped and said “You’re going to pay for that in about 30 seconds.”  Sure enough, when the tarantula came out, he put it on top of Vero’s head!  I definitely had to move out of the way as I am not a fan of the tarantulas.  It was quite intense to see  a spider on top of Vero’s head!

The show consisted of bringing out various types of snakes and showing them off while telling incredulous stories of how they captured it (usually involving limbs dismembered or teeth stuck in their scalp, or even saying they had a colleague who was eaten whole and had to cut his way out of the snake!) and it was quite funny overall.

We had planned to take a look at the rest of the carnival but we were asked to go see a special show (not appearing in the regular schedule) of a fire juggler named Cory.  This guy was quite hilarious performing rope tricks, balancing acts and eventually fire juggling.  He was taunting the crowd ferociously; putting down people’s kids, spraying water at old ladies…it was amazing to think that perhaps the carnies of old were actually like this.  I really enjoyed his act as he held nothing back.

Next up was Carnivale Diablo which I was looking forward to as Leviticus the Strong Man was part of this show!  Rumours of electric chairs and swallowing razor blades were abound and I knew this show wouldn’t disappoint.  Like something out of the Hilarious House of Frightenstein, Nikolai Diablo took the stage and talked about the oddities in this world and how people can perform extraordinary acts…he then proceeded to swallow razorblades, drink boiling water and lift large objects from a hook in his tongue!  At various points Leviticus came out and did strong man acts like bending steel in his teeth, taking darts to his back, putting his hand in a bear trap and getting electrocuted!  They then had the only Canadian sword-swallower come out and swallow three different swords!  It was insane.  Quite the show!

Once this show was over it was already 11:20PM…5 1/2 hours that zoomed by!  It was pretty cold out in Kars at that point at a cold mist was descending so we quickly perused the rest of the Congress of Wonders and I bought a poster of the Conklin Brothers original amusement parks (I guess the Conklin Brothers were a couple of Canadians back in the 1930s who had a traveling circus) and then we all went on the carousel for a ride.

All in all, this was BEYOND my expectations and I would say it was my favourite event of the year so far.  It was just so different from what I’ve ever been to and it was entertaining throughout the entire night.  Vero was in stitches the entire night and Matt and Karilee also had a grand old time.  At $60 a ticket, I would still say it is well worth it…heck, I would have paid that just to see the Big Top Cirque du Soleil show.

Do yourself a favour and check it out!  Only outside of Ottawa for now I hope it becomes a traveling circus in the future!

www.carnivalelunebleue.com

Chez 106 (Classic Rock Station in Ottawa) have this contest going on where Doc and Woody will broadcast from your living room on a Friday morning. Along with this prestigious prize, you win a flat screen TV.

That’s a pretty cool prize.  But then they go on…

“You will also be entered in a draw for a snow blower!”.

At first I thought, WOW!  I could really use a snow blower after a winter like the last one.

Then I laughed at the fact that only as a Canadian am I more excited of the chance of winning a snow blower than actually winning a flat screen television.

This past weekend, Vero and I drove up to Lac Noir which is near Lachute, Quebec.  It was quite the lovely drive (very scenic) and we listened to Drunken Covers Volume 2 (a recording of Troy, Darryl and I performing on Langarth Street a few months ago).  I really enjoyed how it turned out and will have to do some editing soon on it.  I guess I should gauge how many people would be interested in obtaining a copy of these bootlegs.  May as well leave a comment in the comment section as to whether or not you would like a copy.  I’m trying to get access to a colour printer to print out some good album covers but until then, the Drunken Covers won’t be available (but it’s nice to know if we need to make a lot of copies or not).

We arrived at Lynn and Sue’s cottage and greeted the group (which included my parents who were coming back from their trip to Gaspe).  I think they were already having a few drinks by the time we got there and with just reason!  It was a beautiful day to be out on the dock.

We settled into the dock and had a few drinks and chatted.  I actually jumped into the lake before it got too cold and it was beautiful.  The area is very nice and the lake is very small.  We could canoe from one end to the other in 20 minutes.  I even managed to swim across it on Saturday and I realized that I hadn’t been for a good swim in awhile as it was using a different set of muscles.  Seeing that the lake is very small, there are no motorized vehicles allowed on the lake which makes it a peaceful area.

The cottage itself is exactly what any cottage should look like…lived in.  The story goes that Lynn and Sue have been visiting a friend’s cottage across the lake for the past decade and always wondered if there would be a cottage for sale.  Turns out that a woman in Montreal owned a cottage on the lake but hadn’t gone to it for years since her husband passed away.  They managed to get in touch with her and brought her to the cottage to take a look at it and when the time came for her to decide to sell the place (as her children did not want it), they bought it!  Quite the amazing story as it must be particularly hard to get a nice furnished cottage around this area.

We had a great feed of steak and fish for supper, as well as some yummy corn.  It was late at night when everything was settling down when Sue suggested we made a fire.  The firepit was down by the lake so we all settled in there with a nightcap (let it be documented that this was the first time I tried rye on the rocks and it was quite tasty.  Must try again later.) and chatted for awhile and stared at the stars.  When everyone went to bed, I went out on the dock and looked at the moon for awhile.

The next morning I went down to the dock and chatted and eventually took the kayak out for a trip around the lake.  I then headed in for a great breakfast and afterwards, Vero and I swam around the lake for a bit and then took a canoe trip where she taught me the finer points of directing the canoe.  I had never grown up with a canoe so I was learning as we went.  I think I got the gist of it and the only hiccup occurred when I splashed a little too much water on Vero with my paddle!

The rest of the day was spent relaxing on the dock on the sweltering day and occasionally dipping into the lake to cool off.  We ate some salad to hold us off until dinner and were relaxing when we heard Dad yell for Mom to come over to the cottage.  It turns out that he had twisted his ankle.

Twisted his ankle indeed!  I had never seen such a swelling in my life!  It looked like there was a tennis ball growing under his skin!  We bandaged it up and Mom, Vero and I brought him to the hospital in Lachute hoping for a short wait.

When we arrived, Vero and I hunted for a wheelchair and brought Dad inside.  The reception simply took his name down and said they would call him when they were ready.  I thought this was strange as they didn’t even ask him what was wrong.  It took a few hours until they called him into the triage room to see medical official.  All this time, they didn’t even supply him with any painkillers.  They did take an x-ray and at one point, Vero and I ducked out to get some poutine at Lebelle’s in Lachute.  Warning: Don’t get the medium size if you don’t plan on eating it all!

We headed back to find that the doctor STILL hadn’t seen Dad yet and there was no action from the desk for awhile.  Turns out that there was a severe trauma which was holding up the only doctor.  I must admit that I am not the best person to bring to the hospital with you for company.  I dozed off a few times, slept in the car for a bit and generally didn’t have much to say.  I don’t even remember what time it was but I brought Vero out to the car so we could have a snooze and we awoke to have Mom knocking on the window.  We had been at the hospital since 7PM and it was now 2AM!

In the end, they weren’t too helpful to Dad as they thought he may have cracked the bone (but could not tell if it may have been an old crack) and suggested that he get a walking boot of a cast to put on his foot.  This was only available at the local pharmacy.  They asked if he could have some crutches and the hospital didn’t have any and Dad asked how he was supposed to walk and the nurse simply said that he would have to walk sometime!  I thought this was very odd.  The doctor didn’t seem to have any firm advice either considering he said he should be good to walk on it after a few days.

In the end, we piled into the car and were disappointed with our visit and we slept it off.

In the morning we got up, packed the car and headed back into Ottawa where Vero and Mom looked for the walking boot of a cast but it was quite expensive and Dad would have to go there to get it fitted for his foot.  He decided against this for the time being as he wanted to see his own doctor in Kapuskasing and we decided to buy him some crutches in the meantime.  This helped out immensely as he had to crawl around the house a few times and I had a good laugh when he was crawling up the stairs and Mike came in to see him!

We then decided to head out to Lynn and Sue’s house for a nice dinner (which was the food we were supposed to eat the night before) and Mom and Dad stayed there seeing that their house was one level that Dad could move around on.  I believe they were headed back today to Kapuskasing.

All in all, Vero and I really enjoyed the cottage and will definitely go back again.  I must admit that the stories of the Quebec health care being lackluster may have some grain of truth in it, but I’m not going to impose a full judgment from one experience.

www.agdinteractive.com/

If you know me, you know I love adventure games on the computer.  Particularly the Sierra games of yesteryear…King’s Quest, Police Quest, Quest For Glory.

Back in the day, these games were created using the CGA pallette, then the EGA pallette and then the VGA pallette which most of them now reside.  There were a few that were not redone in VGA and AGDI Interactive made it their mission to redo those games (such as King’s Quest II).

For the past six years, development on making a VGA version of Quest for Glory 2 has taken place and supposedly it’s out this Sunday.  I am excited.  While in Gaspe I checked out my old character stats to ensure they can be imported with a high ranking and they are ready for import.

If any of you have ever played this game, do yourself a favour and download it this coming Sunday!  If not, ah well.  You’re missing out.

The past few days have been fairly uneventful.  On Wednesday, we decided to go to Minglewood’s as there was word on the street that there was cheap beer and wings.  Lo and behold, the rumour was true and there were $10 pitchers and 35 cent wings!  We enjoyed the night and it was good to see Krista’s new man Ben again as I’ve only met him one other time.  A colleague (Melissa-Marie) also showed up and brought a slew of friends with her which is always good times.

Last night Vero and I rushed around the area to pick up a few things before the weekend onslaught.  Up on deck is a cottage getaway at Lynn and Sue’s place around La Chute (? It’s somewhere near Hawkesbury) where we’ll meet up with my parents who are coming back from Gaspe.  Depending on how we feel, we may leave on Saturday to go to Mike and Melissa’s BBQ but otherwise, we’ll come back in on Sunday to go to Philippe’s 2nd birthday party.  I am anxiously awaiting to see what is in store.  I am hoping for quarter cake.  Oh boy.

Vero and I did manage to sneak another episode of Veronica Mars in last night (and some St-Hubert) before she left around 8PM to go home and pack for this weekend’s cottage gathering.  We dig Veronica Mars.

Friday morning started off swimmingly…I couldn’t find the spare keys to Mike’s truck and spent 30 minutes looking for them.  In the end, I had to leave my wheels behind in the driveway and hopefully we’ll find them soon enough!  They are probably in my pocket somewhere.  I also woke Matt up in the process as I needed his iPhone to find Mike’s cell number.  It was quite funny how Matt didn’t wake up at all until my hand touched his iPhone.  It’s like he his own security system!

I thoroughly enjoyed John Barber’s commentary on bottled water here.  I never really understood the concept of bottled water…did it all start with scares of Anthrax in the water supply?

Yesterday when I got home, I saw that it was a brisk sunny day and thought that I should get on my bicycle for a quick jaunt.  I really wasn’t feeling the want to go for a bike ride but I always know that as soon as my ass hits that seat, I’m feeling good.

I packed my Pierre Trudeau Memoirs in my bag as they have been quite inspiring over the past few days and I figured I would head down to Petrie Island to sit on the beach and read the book until it was time to head back home and go see Vero and her family.  According to Google Maps, this trip is around 6 kms.  A far cry from my usual 16km jaunt to Cumberland.  Nonetheless, I was interested in reading the book more than the bike ride.

But as soon as I was whizzing down Trim Road, my thoughts changed.  I was thinking of the adventures Mr. Trudeau had traveling the world before heading into politics and it really inspired me to go on my own little adventures.  Then I started calculating everything in my head…it was 5PM and Vero’s family wasn’t due into town until 7PM.  I had 2 hours to play with and then it hit me.

I should bike to Vero’s.

Now let’s put this into some perspective.  I got the grand notion of biking to work from Bayshore years ago.  I went to see Allan-Paul at Bushtakah and he set me up with a new bike.  Throughout the next few years, I biked into work which was 15 kms.  I loved this bike ride as I followed the Ottawa river the entire way.  It used to take me 50 minutes to bike 15 km.  From talking with other cyclists (like Joe), I realized this wasn’t a great time, but nonetheless, it was the time it took me.

When I moved to Orleans I realized that my dreams of biking to work would be squashed as it was quite the increase in distance.  As far as I can tell from Google Maps, if I followed a similar trek in my car, it would be 30 kms.  That’s double the distance!  This was quite intimidating as I didn’t feel like biking for 100 minutes each way every day.  So for years the bike stood idle.

I got the biking itch after going to Gaspe and loved it again.  I was curious about the long distance cyclists out there…those who bike 100km+ a day, like Uncle Gerry and Shoko.  I had visions of one day being able to do this.  But in order to do it, one must push themselves.  It didn’t hurt that I actually enjoyed whizzing down paths of water and foliage while on my bicycle.  This is living!  As Eric pointed out a few weeks ago, I went out with him to find the path along the river and he now takes the same path to work each day.  He says that even though it takes a bit longer to arrive at Blair Road, the ride is more peaceful.  Heck, the man has even seen three deer in the past few weeks!  Imagine seeing a deer along your bike ride!  Much better than cutting across the city where all you have are people chatting on their cellphone or drinking their coffee (and I suppose we should point out that Eric also had a bad incident a few years back of actually being struck by a vehicle through an intersection.  Not a good thing.) and you get some scenery in your life.  Take time to smell the roses people.

So there you have it…I was determined to head on the trek across town.  Did I have enough water?  Check.  Did I have my wallet or other necessary items for my arrival point.  Check.  The only thing I didn’t have is my emergency pump and a spare tube which I thought about and accepted the possible consequences of having a flat tire half way to Vero’s place.

I still haven’t managed to figure out EXACTLY where the bike path meets up around Jeanne D’Arc so I spent a good five minutes navigating through streets to make my way to the path.  After that, it was clear sailing!  What a beautiful path it was.  Zooming down it, all I could see for miles is foliage and fields and the little strip of pavement with that line running through it.

At one point I realized that you can follow directly along the river but it’s a fine gravel path.  Time was on my side in this case so I figured I would enjoy the view better.  I wasn’t disappointed.  The view of the Ottawa River is truly amazing.  I had never run along side it from the East end.  From the West end, there isn’t much forest around the path.  The East end, there are trees hugging you as you zoom down the path and see kids fishing, people jogging and sailboats having fun on the water.

Around Blair Road I was thinking of hopping off the beaten trail and head back up to the paved portion which follows the Rockcliffe Parkway.  But then I noticed that they had a sign for Parliament saying it’s another 10kms.  With Pierre Trudeau’s memoirs on my back (as well as some wind) I realized that this should be my ultimate destination, and so I went.

There is a moment that long distance athletes whisper about…that moment where marathon runners transition from the thought of collapsing and the thought of going all day long.  I hit this point and kept trucking.  I was inspired by the view and the goal of reaching Parliament in a good time….maybe even a good enough time to make my dream of biking to work a reality.

I almost drove into the bush at one point as the path abruptly ends near the sailing club.  It hooks back up to the Parkway and after that it’s a bunch of winding roads and hills in Rockcliffe.  I will have to decide whether I want to cut some time off the trip in the future and avoid these winding paths.

I marked the time as 60 minutes into the trip as soon as I hit Mike’s place of work…the Foreign Affairs building.  Success!  I never imagined that it would only take me 60 minutes to reach the downtown core!  It took another ten minutes to reach Parliament and that was due to traffic lights and trying to figure out a good method of reaching them.

Victory was mine and I revelled in the amazing weather and the sight of the Parliament buildings.  I take it for granted that I work in the capital of Canada and I took it all in while cracking open the book to read for half an hour before I should leave to get to Vero’s.  I ended up biking another 30 minutes to get back to Vero’s place (it’s hard to get out of the downtown core on a bicycle…lot of traffic lights) and then realized I never packed my keys so I couldn’t get into her place.  Luckily they showed up ten minutes later and I told them of my adventures and they were impressed.  Heck, I was impressed.

I’ve learned from this experience that I’m definitely in better shape than I was years ago while biking from Bayshore (or, on another thought, perhaps the bike from Bayshore is all uphill!) and that my speed has definitely increased.  The bike ride to Parliament is around 29 kms (whereas to my work is another few kms) so I made the bike trip in 70 minutes and I figure I could chop five minutes off of that for the time it took me to find the right route in Orleans and a mixup I did around Sussex Drive.  So on a good day, if I can do it in 65 minutes + 5 more to get to work, I am satisfied with that amount of time to get to work in the morning.  I also think that if I followed the path along the Rockcliffe Parkway and not the actual river, it may actually be a little straighter and I would gain time that way.  I suppose I’ll have to try both routes.

I’m quite excited that I managed to make this trek and not encounter any problems and that it took me a lot less time than I thought it would.  Who knows if there were superious conditions aiding me…the quest for adventure, the wind at my back and my body in top shape (remember the other day when I was speaking about how sluggish I was biking to Cumberland and it took me 50 minutes to make a round trip?  Well I did it again with some strength in me and it only took 25 minutes!).  I will have to see how the morning slumber affects me on such a trip and I will have to get everything in order to make it more efficient (pack my clothes and lunch in my bag, prepare for all eventualities).

I know it’s the end of the summer but I’m preparing to start biking in until it snows!  We’ll see how it works out though…maybe yesterday was a fluke and in the end, it will end up being too long of a trek.  But unless I try, I will never find out.

This inspriring story was written by me.  Go forth and do something adventurous today, even if it is beating Super Mario Bros. under an hour.