Friday Evening – Headed to The French Quarter for some after work drinks with some after work colleagues. Good times for a few beer along with a send-off to an excellent Director. Conversation primarily focused on our resident Brit’s inability to properly identify the newest James Bond in our Trivia challenge at work. It’s Daniel Craig, not David Craig!!!
When I got home I was excited to see the new Trews Acoustic DVD had arrived but no impressed that after three weeks of waiting, the new Pearl Jam album had arrived but via FedEx so they didn’t actually leave it at my doorstep. Doh!
I did end up watching The Wrestler which was an excellent flick starring Mickey Rourke. It was an interesting story concerning the life of the once popular wrestler and what happens after he’s been in the business for twenty-plus years and how the gig if finally getting to him…both physically and mentally. Two thumbs up for this film.
Afterward I popped in The Trews Acoustic DVD. I had problems from the get-go with the 5.1 Surround Sound option not working at all, and at the end of one song there was a horrible popping noise coming from the speakers for ten seconds. I have written the band asking if there is an issue with the DVDs. I sure hope not as the last thing any band wants is to have to pay some overhead of replacing some faulty DVDs. So far it’s interesting though…they intersperse interviews and backstage footage in between songs. I feel like enjoy a concert DVD like that. It reminds me of the Smashing Pumpkins Vieuphoria film.
Saturday morning I awoke around 6AM to head out to Trish’s where I met up with her along with Karilee and Caroline to head towards Waterloo, New York in search of good shopping deals. The last time I went I did not end up with many good deals at all but I have since realized that if you don’t find anything that isn’t at least 20% off, then you aren’t getting that much of a deal considering you are paying the 5% NY State Tax as well as an additional 13% duty fee (hence 18%). But I seized the day and scoured the stores for some great deals. I managed to find a pair of shorts for $4 at the Gap. Heck, even if I use them once, they are well worth it. Got some great sweaters and pants from Banana Republic (where Trish and Caroline tried to get me to buy a hat which turned out to be quite lopsided!) and the rest of the day was spent enjoying the sunny day. The others in the crew found a few deals which makes it a decent trip. The highlight purchase had to be Trish’s new winter coat which has what can only be described as nipple pockets. There are two pockets right near the nipples and they are lined with fur. I’m thinking they are meant to warm the hands of a suitor and we couldn’t really figure out another scenario where these pockets (without zippers!) would come in handy.
We stopped by Target, Borders and Applebee’s in Watertown on our way back and we were back in Ottawa by 11. For some reason, I was wired and decided to stay up to start watching the TV Show Entourage. I had seen a few episodes before, but never sat down with complete seasons. 4AM rolls around and I have watched the entire first season.
The next morning I awake to a phone call around 10:30am from Simon wondering if I want to come to Thanksgiving dinner that night. Thanks for the invite Simon and Emily! Much appreciated. I chatted for a bit in a groggy haze and realized that I should carpe diem and do something. Heck, why not watch some more Entourage? Ten more episodes logged in throughout the day on Sunday. I must admit that by the time Joelle and James picked me up to go to Mike and Melissa’s Thanksgiving dinner, I was getting a little stir crazy from watching Entourage for the past 12 hours and was glad.
Dinner at Mike and Melissa’s was a blast. I brought out the homemade pickles, moose pepperettes and a loaf of homemade bread. Having Vero in the house is quite handy when you have to scour the cupboards to bring something to a Thanksgiving potluck! I enjoyed a nice bottle of Misterio Malbec wine…Katie got me interested in the Malbec wine a few years back. Misterio got the two thumbs up from this wine guy. The food itself was mint…we got all the turkey we wanted, GREAT GREAT turkey…so moist…amazing stuffing. All in all the dinner was great…some good conversation as well. I’m glad that everyone was thankful for something around the table.
We chatted for awhile and then Mike and Mel set up the projector to watch Coraline which is an excellent animated flick about a girl named Coraline who finds a door in her house that brings her to another world which seems to have ‘better’ things from her life. Better parents, better friends, better food. The tag line is ‘careful what you wish for’! A cute film. We thought it was by Tim Burton but it is not. It’s a film by Henry Selick.
We did try the 3D glasses out but they didn’t really work. Do 3D glasses work on a projected image? I would like to think so considering they work in the movie theaters?
Monday I awoke to a phone call from Vero asking to be picked up (she was at a cottage in Saint Adele all weekend long, which turned out to be the best event of the year) so I watched a few more episodes of Entourage, finished off the second season and headed out to Saint Isidore to pick her and Chantal up. It was a nice day for a drive. We toured around Navan on our way back and found these amazing houses that had WAY too many leaves on their yard for my liking! We shall have to see what the houses are worth out there. I would say half a million at least for that particular area.
The rest of the day was spent relaxing…I had a great nap in the late afternoon and Vero then made some excellent hot chicken sandwiches for dinner. Yummers!
Some exciting news to share…Vero and I are going to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil over the Christmas holiday! Our plan is to return up to Northern Ontario for a few days, drive back down and fly out on the 28th of December and come back the 9th of January. Turns out that Philipp is starting a work term down there so we figured it would be a good time to go as well. There is also another couple from France coming and perhaps our friend Chris who will tag along. Supposedly New Year’s Eve is quite the party down there where millions of people line up on the beach all dressed in white, put candles out to sea and then all jump into the water! The thought of millions of people jumping into the water at the same time kind of frightens me (read: drown?) but I’m sure it will be fine. This is the second Intercontinental trip I’ve been on (EuroTrip 2005 baby!) and I must admit I felt the same way as before…not excited, but scared a little. I think I have a fear of entering into situations where I can’t talk my way out of! Vero will start researching great things for us to do which will probably pique my interest a little!
Vero and I went to see Tarantino’s latest epic, Inglourious Basterds at the World Exchange last Tuesday. At 4:30. Which was amazing. I was surprised that Vero beat me there considering she had to drive all the way from work. But we saunter in at 4:25, pay $5 each to see a film and have the theater (practically) to ourselves. Why doesn’t everyone do this? 4:30 is where it’s at! You get out in time to go home and have some dinner.