Month: February 2010

Excuse my ignorance as there may be bars across Canada which already serve Sam Adams in draught format. But I have not found any in Ottawa.

But the Boston Beer Co. and Moosehead and teamed up to distribute Sam Adams beers in Canada. Sweetness! I heart Sam Adams beer.

http://greatcanadianpubs.blogspot.com/2010/02/boston-beer-co-moosehead-breweries.html

Can I also point out that I am reading this excellent book concerning beer in Canada throughout history? It is quite amazing. For example, I never knew that after prohibition ended, it was still some time until alcohol was allowed to be drank in public…PEI didn’t allow it until 1964! What the heck?!

On Tuesday night I hear Vero chatting with someone and it sounds like she is offering up information on our house. I find this odd but wait until she is done (read: she is ignoring my frantic arm-waving to catch her attention. She is cunning.) and find out that Vero’s Dad has let someone in Hearst know that we are looking to sell our house sometime this year. Turns out he is coming into town this weekend and is hoping to look at some places to buy for his daughters who are students.

Now, if you didn’t know already, I have been slowly preparing the place for final sale worthy appearances. For example, I went through the basement and basically through garbage worthy items into a pile. However, I have not thrown anything out from that pile yet…mattresses, old clothes, bikes, computer monitors…luckily for us, the phone call came on garbage night so I hauled out a slew of garbage to the curb and the basement looks semi-respectable now.

Actually, the place looks quite spotless now. We even removed a few personal photos from the walls (which I have heard, but cannot believe, affects the sale of a house). Photos were taken, fact sheets were prepped, and now the house is actually pretty decent (except for the garage. Oh that garage is like the aftermath of Hiroshima) and we’ll keep it that way for awhile.

My only dilemna at this moment is to properly ascertain how much my property is worth. I have a few leads on this, be it my research for the past few years on what houses have been listed as on my block, or real estate agents willing to nice and give me a comparison report of houses around the area. I am interested in what they have to report and the only outstanding question is this:

iplaying: Thrasher – Neil Young: Rust Never Sleeps
How much difference in price does a finished vs. unfinished basement bring? Are we talking $5K? $10K? $15K? $20K? I have an unfinished basement so this would be essential to determine what to sell the house for.

Sunday afternoon, Mike came over for a few bevvies while we watched the Olympics biathlon trial. I had a hard time believing him that they can finish a 15km course in about 30 minutes but lo and behold, it was done. Dang, those guys ski faster than I used to bike to work!

Rob then dropped by and Mike, Vero, Andreane and I hopped into the van to head out to Navan to check out a house I had my eye on. It was an…interesting listing. In that it said that it was a low price due to the outstanding renovations needed to the place. The pictures looked decent so I wondered what really needed to be done. Here is the listing so you can take a look: http://www.realtor.ca/propertyDetails.aspx?propertyId=9137490

We arrive and walk in and I’m thinking it’s not all that bad. But it is once you start walking through and realizing all the little things that need to be finished but more importantly, the shoddy craftsmanship of the work that has already been done! My favourite example of this is the fireplace in the basement which doesn’t have a chimney, but some form of insulated flexible piping system for the smoke to go up into. Hmm… There were also other questionable design elements such as the two bedrooms which shared the same fireplace so you could technically see into the other room if you just looked through the fireplace!

In the end, we said goodbye to that pad. The area was quite lovely though…exactly what Vero and I are looking for…a quiet street, some privacy, etc. But it wasn’t meant to be.

We were driving through Orleans and saw another open house sign so the six of us decided to drop in to take a look. Now, I’m going to put it out there right now…I think all open houses should have the price listed on the sign outside. Because otherwise, we may be wasting your time. So for example, if I would have known that this house was selling for $575K…I probably wouldn’t have bothered this individual! But here we were taking a look inside and in the end I said “Well, I think it’s a little big for us at this moment” but really I didn’t like his backyard. He did say “I figured as much” and I’m not entirely sure what he meant by that. Either way, we went on our way and that was the end of Excursion #2.

As stated before, we’re just going around places to see what they have to offer so we can form a clear picture of what we want. Unfortunately, we didn’t get much inspiration from either of these places other than the fact that the first place let me know what I *don’t* want!

On Friday I went over to Stephen’s pad to watch some Black Dynamite. This is quite the killer film and it’s the fifth time I’ve seen it. It never gets old. It reminds me of how I could watch Napoleon Dynamite and never be bored. Wait a second…is there a link between the two films through the word Dynamite? Interesting.

While I was over there, I beheld the Winter Olympics in all its high-definition glory. I was quite impressed to see the frost on the whiskers of the bobsledding team. Incredible! It was definitely a different experience from watching it on my rabbit ears back home where there are some instances where it’s hard to see where the puck is on the ice!

We did have some excellent wings as well. The jerk sauce wings were my personal faves. I especially loved how Stephen we were waiting for the second batch to be done and when the oven chimed, we went to find wing-goodness but only to find that we had forgotten to put the wings in the oven! Silly.

All in all, a great night with great friends.

Saturday I headed out to Aylmer for a surprise birthday party for my colleague Marie-Annik. It was held at the Knights of Columbus hall and was a decent setup. Around eighty people were there and Marie-Annik was definitely surprised when a quick stop into the Knights of Columbus hall to have a beer with her boyfriend turned into a surprise party of epic proportions! Juan, Eric, Mina and Nat were along with me and we chatted about everything ranging from weddings across the world and what Eric should not do while in the Dominican for a week.

We were fed like kings…there was a great roast beef buffet offered to everyone. Kudos to the organizers! There was also an amazing slideshow prepared by her brother. I will definitely need to get some tips on making a killer presentation.

I had to leave half way through the presentation as I was heading to another birthday bash for Christine out in Kanata. I raced down the Ottawa River Parkway to get to Mike and Mel’s place in record time. We watched the Olympics for awhile and then headed out to Darcy McGees for the night. It was a nice evening out for a few beer and watching Ultimate Fighting. This was the first time I had ever watched Ultimate Fighting and it was interesting enough to keep my attention but I’m not sure if I would go out of my way to watch two guys kick each others asses. Melissa had this amazing system of predicting the winner which involved a cross between how good the guy looked, how much of a neanderthal did the guy resemble, and how cocky they were. Amazingly, she was right every time. She also told me about how every football team has members called Smith, Jones, Jackson, Brown and something else I can’t remember. I had a good laugh when she amazed Superbowl watchers with that fact one year.

Vero is in a new play which starts on March 24 at La Nouvelle Scene.  It is called Rappel.

While all I know about is that Vero had to go to a Lady Gaga concert to do some research (ha ha), they made a promotional video (the first I have ever seen for a theatrical play) and I must say it makes the play look quite cool.

Especially when Vero shows up around 0:44 seconds into the video!  Cool!  She said that the director was wanting the girls to look like cannibals.  I laugh at the point where her face comes into the frame from behind the chair and the look on her face.

Anyhow, if anyone is interested in attending the play with me, by all means, get in touch with me in March!

Last night I went to the only place I’ve ever really found to get a haircut in Orleans; First Choice Hair Salon. While they don’t do a bad job, I find myself missing the age-old barber shop where the barber would chat to you about whatever is on your mind…fishing, Olympics, that blond walking past the store.

I didn’t get one word out of the hairdresser yesterday and my favourite part was that they asked me if I had a ‘coupon’. This happened to me before and they said “Don’t forget your online coupon for next time to get a discount!”. Listen up, if I come to get a haircut at your establishment, I would hope you would give me the discounted price with or without coupon, ya hear?

So I’m on the hunt for a good barber in Orleans. I specify Orleans because Mike always recommends his barber at Snobby’s (Laurier Ave near the University of Ottawa). While I suppose it wouldn’t be too much out of my way to go to it after work one day, I like the idea of having the option of having a barber in my own community and now twenty kilometers away.

Help me out people! Where can I get an old school barber shop?

Amidst Vero and I being sick all weekend long (Vero sicker than I), we headed to see our first house a couple of people looking to buy a house together. It was out in Navan and looked decent from the pictures on the Internet.

All in all, our first house hunting expedition was mainly used so that we can figure out what we both want in a house. It’s one thing to sit and discuss what we want, it’s another to go into a house and analyze what we do/do not like. Vero really did like the first house we checked out…it had a great kitchen which linked to a living room so she could chat to people while preparing stuff, it had a great basement coupled with some good rooms for a recording area (which I would like to set up). However, the stoppping point was the fact that upstairs contained a bathroom with a tub, and if guests wanted to have a shower, they would have to go downstairs, through the kitchen, to the shower on the main level.

Considering this was our first house we looked at, I say thee nay. So we thanked the real estate agent who opened up the house for us and went on our way…one block over where there just happened to be an open house going on! Not knowing what to expect, we walked in and I glanced at the price of the house…a mere $500K! I choked and made a comment that there was no way we could afford the place so to tip off the real estate agent that she need not give us the tour. We were fine on our own. It was a decent place…I really enjoyed the storage area in the basement with shelves of library books! But in the end, nothing was remotely screaming out ‘You need to find that $500K to buy this house!’ so we went on our way.

House hunting will be…interesting? I predict a few things happening in the next while…

1) With the coming of Harmonized Sales Tax on July 1, 2010, I predict that an onslaught of houses for sale will show up before the mid-year point. Moreso than usual for the springtime.
2) Buying your second house is a lot tougher than your first house. When I bought my first house, I wanted something that I could call my own. That’s it, that’s all. Now we have to think of the future…all the grand parties in the backyard, in-laws staying over, having a bigger garage. It will be a lot harder to find something that both agrees with us. Luckily all I need in a new house is a place to hang my hat when I come home and a microwave oven.

The past week has been great. Philipp came up for a visit for the past week as he needed to return to Canada for a work Visa in Brazil. Turns out he got offered a two-year position in some Health Institute affiliated with the Government of Brazil. Sweet! So he did what he needed to do in Montreal and came up for a week to spend time with Vero and I.

Friday I was in Toronto for a conference but flew back in during the evening and headed straight for Darcy McGee’s to meet up with Cousin Rick and company. It was funny to see Rick again so soon as we had met at the Queen and Beaver Public House for some excellent burgers and cask beer the night before. I highly recommend the place!

Darcy’s was bloody cold in the basement as you get the draft from outside. It didn’t help that it was -35 outside! While I can say the night was memorable, they weren’t good memories of freezing our asses off down there. In the end, we realized that we may have to put the Darcy McGee’s outing to bed next year and choose another (warmer) locale.

The rest of the week consisted of a few beer and watching with Alfred Hitchcock films with Philipp. I found it quite entertaining as Philipp is like me when it comes to films…we can watch a bunch in a sitting! Vero finds it hard to sit through a bunch of films. I thoroughly enjoyed our Saturday evening of staying inside the warm house and proceeding to watch five films! It was a great time to spend with Philipp and I’m sure he will have a fun time for the next few years down in Brazil! I doubt that we will return there anytime soon, but there are always other locales that we can all meet up to (like Nottingham!).

My parents ended up ending their whirlwind tour of Southern Ontario by staying with us for a few days. Vero prepared some excellent meals and proceeded to introduce me to the cleanliness of a ‘woman’s touch’ in the house. My Dad even ended up complimenting Vero on how the house looks now! We ended up going over to Lynn and Sue’s one night to find out that it very well may be the final time we set foot in the place as they are trying to sell the house and move to a place in Perth.

On Friday night, Mike and I headed to Stittsville…home to a silent charity auction for our friend Mike’s step-sister. While we didn’t know many people, it was nice to see Maureen, Melissa and Mike and also walk away with some sweet auction items! Mike scored a nice piece of artwork for $90 and I scored some car items for Vero’s new wheels (notably a Beatles travel mug which was last seen (unbeknownst to me as I never participated in the gift exchange) at my own Christmas party!

Saturday, we headed down to the Canal bright and early and arrived there at 10AM to meet up with Shirley, Peter, Aunt Dinah and Uncle Richard, Danny and Kathy. It was quite the group and it was a cool morning. My face was quite cold but the pain went away once it was frozen! Dad and I walked up the Canal as the others skated ahead of us. All in all, I would recommend going to the Canal earlier than later in the day as the ice is beautiful and there isn’t as many people. We headed to the Royal Oak for a bite to eat and found out (to dismay) that lunch wasn’t being served until 2PM! Argh. After a few beers and a Western sandwich, we looked at the ice sculptures. Seeing that it was the first weekend, most of them were not completed but they were hard at work on them all and they looked quite interesting. I especially liked the one that was a giant tarantula.

An afternoon nap was calling our name so we headed home and relaxed and then went out to Rockwell’s Diner on Merivale for supper along with the same group and the MacLeod (Ottawa-side) clan joined us. I had a good laugh when Laurie was offering her services as a wedding planner even though I have no intentions for a wedding anytime soon. She had just got married last Fall and it seems that she still loves to talk anything about weddings.

We headed home, watched the latest Indiana Jones film (which I still say is quite entertaining) and the next day, went to Costco to get Dad some cheap Coors Light and spent the evening relaxing and playing some guitar. All in all, a great couple of weeks with some visitors and they are welcome anytime in the future! Especially when they offer to help me fix my dryer, finish the trim in the kitchen and general maintenance! Thanks Dad!

A few weeks ago, the Apple iPad was announced and like every other fanboy out there, I refreshed the Gizmodo liveblog every thirty seconds to see what the iPad would have to offer.

In the end, I wasn’t blown away, but I am curious as to what it will provide.

I keep asking myself why I am not blown away. It’s a device pretty well near the size of a piece of paper that you can read content on; the Internet, your e-mail, books (when they are available in Canada! Hopefully this will happen soon to the launch and not a year later like how the Amazon Kindle worked out), and the piece de resistance…comic books.

Ever since I got my MacBook years ago, I read digital comics on them by taking my laptop in my hands and rotating them so it was like I was reading a book. This was quite awkward and cumbersome, but it was pretty amazing to be reading some digital comics in this fashion. It was the closest thing to holding a real comic book.

I have toyed with the idea of picking up an iPad and I don’t know if I can justify the purchase. What would I use it for? Vero brought up an interesting point last night that she feels that even though the iPad has tons of features, she would simply use it as a e-reader. I thought this was ludricrous at first but then I realized that she is completely right. Sure, I would check my emails and surf the Internet from my couch once in awhile, but how lazy am I that I can’t simply go upstairs to my laptop (or bring my laptop to ME), but the main use would most likely be reading comic books and I would give reading books on it a try. I have never read an entire book on a screen before so I am not sure if I would be fine with it.

If I do end up enjoying it, I can see myself carrying it on the bus, reading a book and listening to music on it at the same time. It wouldn’t make sense to be carrying my iPod to listen to music and at the same time, carrying my iPad to read a book. So I’ve essentially replaced my iPod, but only if I’m reading a book. I think it would be quite silly to haul out my iPad all the time to listen to some music!

I must admit that I’m disappointed that there is no camera inside the hardware of the iPad. I have recently been introduced to Skype and while I don’t go on it all that often, I think the option of having a webcam inside it would be nice. But as Vero pointed out, what’s the use if the main use will be for reading?

In the end, I am slowly realizing that with all the bells and whistles that it has, it is essentially an e-reader and I think I’m fine with that…I think it would be interesting to start reading comic books and magazines on the iPad…I’m not sold on reading an entire book but I’ll have to wait and see how I like it. In regards to comics and magazines, if Marvel Comics decided to offer a subscription service/pay per comic service, I would have to really consider it considering I don’t really believe that collecting comic books is a worthwhile investment for the future (unless we are talking about comics from the sixties…that’s a different story altogether) and the main reason I got back into buying comic books is that I started downloading them for free and felt that I was enjoying them so much, that I may as well be paying for them. There is always a fear that with any technology, it will advance and it will be next to impossible to read old formats of e-books, comic books, etc, whereas a book is a book. You pick it up off the shelf and read it.

I must interject a random thought…if older people who do not care for computers or simply use it for surfing the Internet or checking email primarily (which, arguably…is ALL of us!) had the choice between a laptop or an iPad, what should be the go-to option?

As you can tell from this post, I’m all over the map when it comes to the Apple iPad. I have concerns over some lack of hardware, but don’t know if I would use said hardware anyhow (ie webcam). I believe it would be a fun device to have, but I don’t know if I would maximize it’s use considering I already own a laptop and an iPod touch which essentially do the same things as the iPad, except for allow me to read comic books easily.

iPad, a glorified comic book reader?