Categories
Uncategorized

Vinterlude! Part 2


After an entertaining night of socializing over at Carrie’s, we ventured out into Vinterlude-land in the Nation’s Capital on Saturday. It was unbelievable beautiful outside…I would think around -5 degrees! Of course, as everyone does when the weather turns for the better; the jackets are undone, the toques are off and then after 15 minutes you realize it’s still freakin’ cold. Then you are cold and have to warm up again.


Vero and I met up with Val, Carrie and Adrianna and checked out the ice sculptures which were probably the best I’ve seen in years. I especially enjoyed the Venom/Spider-Man one! After perusing the wares and picking up a poutine from The Poutine Machine (which was actually not a very good poutine. Let’s go into a discussion about what makes a good poutine. First off, cheese curds are a must. None of these random melted cheese strings all over the place. None of these McCain fries either. Matt, I’m looking at you on this one. Even though you feel that the Antrim Truck Stop poutine is the best in the world, you are definitely in the minority on this one due to lack of curds. 😉 )

We then trekked down to the Canal which was packed. Adrianna and I walked along while the others skated and then we ended up detouring to the Beavertail Hut as there was a mighty wind picking up (probably Carrie!)

If no one ever had a Beavertail before, it’s a delicious pastry with some cinammon on it. Mmm boy. After having our tasty treat, I noticed they were selling back bacon on a bun! Too bad I was already full. Perhaps next week I shall try this Canadian (or so I must assume) delicassie.

A funny moment was when we saw a kid with pink skates, pink mittens and a pink hat.
Adrianna: “Boy, I feel bad for that boy. I can’t believe his parents dress him in that!”
Me: “Either that’s an unfortunately dressed boy, or a really ugly girl.”

Considering it was getting windy and Adrianna and I could only get so much fun from walking down a skating rink while kids zipped by us, we decided to turn around and head to the Winterlude hang-out – Darcy McGee’s! We sat down at the bar and revelled in the warmth and beer taps around us as Adrianna recounted tales of the time where she was a bartender in London England. She was saying how some people were stuck up enough to refuse their pint of Erdinger Ale if she didn’t have an empty Edinger glass! There were only 3 existing in the pub at the time so there many people disappointed some nights. To me, a glass is a glass. Adrianna agrees.

After swindling a table out from underneath an older couple, we settled down and had a bite to eat…I must say the fish and chips were scrumptious, however I felt very ill around 10PM that night and I am not sure if it could have been from the fish. Good thing I decided not to go out to the H&C that night!

The rest of the weekend had me spending time with Mike’s parents and traipsing around town looking for frames for the Star Wars posters Vero bought me for Christmas. Michael’s had this excellent 40% off sale so I picked up a few there and also talked to the gentleman about framing my Pearl Jam tour poster in ultra-violet ray resistant glass as they had a 50% off sale on custom framing. Vero and I went back the next day to place the order. All I have to say about custom framing is that I don’t think I’ll do it ever again as it is very costly. I am justifying the purchase as I paid good money for the poster on eBay and my parents graciously passed some cash over for my birthday to get it framed.

Mike’s parents also let me partake in some pasta making! That was very interesting. They had the pasta already prepared and I helped Bruce put it through the pasta rolling device which basically rolls the pasta into lasagna-size slices. At this point, you can opt to put it through a shredder which will make fettucine or spaghetti sized morsels. Very interesting to do! I am excited to hear how their pasta adventures go as they get into the different types of pasta they can make such as spinach pasta or perhaps a BBQ flavoured pasta? (I threw that one in there myself!)

Categories
Uncategorized

Random Thoughts Going Through My Head This Week

  • When you’re excited to go visit your cousin downtown for a good night out, don’t be a fool and look at the parking signs quickly. Turns out that I ended up with a parking ticket because I parked BETWEEN two good parking spots. The sign on the left said good parking, the sign on the right said good parking, but I failed to see the arrows pointing away from the spot where I parked – right in the middle of them. Interesting to see that they have an early payment bonus – only $45! Wow, thanks Ottawa
  • Tonight I get to see Adrianna who is the gracious soul who allowed me to stay with her in Dublin a few years. Adrianna is quite the character and cannot be described in words. She must be experienced in real-time.
  • Roger Waters of Pink Floyd fame is coming to Ottawa in June!!! He is recreating The Dark Side of the Moon. This will probably be the closest I ever get to seeing Pink Floyd live (but I have a feeling they will tour once again! I have faith!) so I know that Mike, Joe and I (although I haven’t confirmed with Joe) will be the first ones interested in hitting this up! Let me know if you’re interested!
  • Nine Inch Nails have this amazing, AMAZING marketing campaign going on for their new album Year Zero. So far there have been phone numbers found on tour t-shirts to call in and hear clips of the album, USB keys left in bathrooms of the venues they play during their European tour which contain a track from the new album. Let’s take a look at the track in particular – A Violent Heart which has some crazy static at the end of the file which if you throw into a spectography software analyzer comes up with a picture of a hand! That is crazy stuff! Talk about listening to a song backwards to hear the Devil speaking! There are also websites popping up all around us giving us details of the apocalyptic future that Year Zero is trying to portray. All in all, I am pumped at this marketing technique. I think the USB Flash keys left in bathrooms give me the most goose bumps. Imagine just stumbling onto something that you think is nothing and it turns out to be a new song that you’ve never heard?
  • This weekend will actually bring me out to see Winterlude. Should be a good time. Give me a ring if you feel like going out on Saturday to see the festivities.
  • A new Pumpkins demo was leaked on Valentine’s Day which was amazing. It’s always good to hear some new songs from the band. This song was from their post-Adore era demos.
Categories
Uncategorized

Bigger than the Y2K

Read this. Please do. It is a gem of an article. Click here.

ARE YOU FREAKIN’ KIDDING ME?! This is the most insane piece of garbage article I have ever read in my life. Comparing Daylight Savings Time to the Y2K Bug?

Oh, memories of Y2K…where airplanes would fall out of the sky and robots would take over the world. But that’s nothing compared to programming your VCR to tape Grey’s Anatomy and (gasp) IT DOESN’T TAPE! ARGH!!! WHY HAS THE WORLD FORSAKEN ME?!

Here’s my favourite quote of the article:

“If you have bought a device that is not real-time connected to a centralized system, then you have to change it manually for sure,” said Mehadi Sayed, manager for information technology training at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology.

Thank you Mr. Sayed. Tell me, did you gain that amazing insight from a higher education? Good thing he told me. I’ve been wondering why the heck my wristwatch was always an hour behind. Now I realize that it’s not connected to a centralized system! THAT’S NEWS TO ME! What are we living in…the dark ages?! If anything, wristwatch makers should include this in the manual. How was I supposed to know I can manually change it?

On a related note, may I just point out that Germany is way ahead of the times and they have radio-controlled clocks. That’s right, there is a frequency which broadcasts the time and if the time suddenly changes, radio-controlled clocks across the country change accordingly. If anything, this was THE life-defining experience I had in Europe. It wasn’t the Eiffel Tower that got me hooked, it was the technology Germany had. Carrie and Philipp are laughing uncontrolably right now as they love the fact that I was so amazed with this technology.

Let’s read the title of the article for a minute: “Gadget lovers face worst crisis since Y2K”

Well, that’s not true at all. The worst crisis since Y2K is the fact that as soon as you buy a piece of technology, it is obsolete. What we need to have are more items that are programmable through EEPROM (hello Algonquin College education!). Most upgrades to a model of technology are simple ones that can be patched electronically. Take my DVD player for example. The good old RV-32 from Panasonic couldn’t read a lot of burnt discs. Well, I just went out and bought the RV-33, there would be no problem, would there? Of course not! But I did a little research and found a disc I could burn that would update the firmware (read: the software on the inside) which would allow for the discs to be read. Lo and behold, I did the deed and it worked ever since. That’s how technology needs to work people. Granted, this won’t happen on some technology, but I bet it would on most.

Anyhow, when I first clicked on this article I was thinking “Whoa, what the heck is going to happen? Y2K was huge.” Then I realized that I’m going to have to change my clock.

To news reporters everywhere, a word of advice. Stop this crap. I feel like this is something I would have read off The Onion.

‘Nuff Said.

Categories
Uncategorized

Happy Singles Awareness Day

Dear Vero,
I dig ya babe.
The Palmer

Categories
Uncategorized

Valentine’s Day Part Two

I forgot this random thought I had the other day while walking through the Rideau Centre.

So, I’m walking along and then notice that La Senza is all boarded up and has a sign saying “Closed for Renovations. Open in March 2007.”

Now…I don’t know much about this store, but something tells me that Valentine’s Day is definitely not one of the days you want to miss if you are catering to the lingerie buying public. I would hazard a guess that it’s in the Top 3 Shopping Events of the year (next to Christmas and the off-chance that you got invited to Hugh’s palace for his Midsummer Night’s Dream night. Sigh…a man may dream.)

Business-wise…STUPID! What a time to shut down! If anything, close down in January, not February!

Categories
Uncategorized

Valentine’s Day

Hallmark Holiday, Singles Awareness Day (check out the Wikipedia entry on SAD here. It is an excellent read!), the Lover’s Day.

All these words are synonomous with Saint Valentine’s Day.

Let’s take a look at some history (could be completely false coming from Wikipedia, but who cares? It’s so convenient!)

The day is most closely associated with the mutual exchange of love notes in the form of “valentines”. Modern Valentine symbols include the heart-shaped outline and the figure of the winged Cupid. Since the 19th century, handwritten notes have largely given way to mass-produced greeting cards.

In the second half of the 20th century, the practice of exchanging cards was extended to all manners of gifts in the United States, usually from a man to a woman. Such gifts typically include roses and chocolates. In the 1980s, the diamond industry began to promote Valentine’s Day as an occasion for giving jewelry.

Now, that’s interesting. Just think…we should go old school from now on and write a letter to our loved ones. I’m jumping on this like it is 1899!

Personally, I think the whole concept of buying anything on Valentine’s Day is insane. Flowers and assorted items are jacked up in price. Do yourself a favour. Forget the flowers on February 14 and write a poem. Your Valentine du jour will melt. Here’s some sample poetry for you to use:

My eyes glaze over when I look upon your lovely figure
In my ear I hear the words ‘Go Give’r!’
My heart soars when I see you at your brothel
Will you be my Valentine, my dear Ethel?

Granted, you have to replace the last word with the person you are writing about and then make sure the previous line rhymes with the person. It’s simple really. It’s like math. If there is an Ethel out there, I am sure she is digging that poem right about now. Dang, I am good.

So let this be a reality check for all those out there. Do something creative tomorrow. Forget about going out to dinner, forget the gifts bought with money, forget whispering sweet nothings (that won me a point in the Them and Us board game the other week!). Just say “I dig ya babe.” and all should be good in the world.

If you’re with a woman who disagrees with anything I have just written, then perhaps you should really start thinking about your future with that woman. I mean…really.

On this Valentine’s Day, if there are any single people out there reading this, may I recommend you organize your own ‘singles’ outing. I used to organize these a few years back and they were sweet.

Also on this February 14, if you feel like complaining about men in general, I highly recommend you get in touch with Dish, as she is the leader of the Ottawa Chapter of Singles Awareness Day. She even has buttons.

Categories
Uncategorized

Pro Star

Sunday afternoon brought me to the ScotiaBank Place for the Timbits Jamboree where 7000 kids attended to play hockey on the Senators ice.

Luckily I only had to get there in the late afternoon so I missed the madness which was 7000 kids. Ryley was hitting the ice around 5:00 so I settled into Section 102 with Janice and company and talked for awhile.

It was pretty amazing to be sitting right next to the ice as opposed to the 300 level. It was surreal to be in there with little to no crowd. At one point, there were just 10 of us in the entire building. It took away from the magic which is a hockey rink when grand events are happening (like two NHL teams duking it out). It just seemed…like a hockey rink! Strange I must say.

Ryley was excellent on the ice and it brought up thoughts as to whether or not I’ll ever get my kid into hockey as I can’t skate at all, let alone know much about hockey. Perhaps I’ll get my kid to be a pro guitar player. That’s where the big bucks lie!

iplaying: Kiss on the Mouth – Our Lady Peace (A Decade)

Categories
Reviews

Review: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

After witnessing the horror which was Caravan of Courage I returned home to a pleasant treat. Mike and Carolyn were about to sit down and watch The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

This is a really beautiful film if you think about it terms of when it came out. Early 70s is when the prototype to your favourite slasher films appeared on the big screen with Leatherface taking a piece of flesh from every character in the movie.

The movie is crazy just for the sheer brutality of how Leatherface just comes at you with this sledgehammer and them BLAMO! You’re down for the count.

My particular fave scenes are when he’s running through the woods with the chainsaw. There’s nothing worse than a chainsaw-wielding maniac running after you at night through the woods.

Also, the twist near the end just makes the film even more enjoyable.

I highly recommend this film to everyone who is a horror buff. Just think about it – there would be no Freddy, Jason or Mike Myers if there wasn’t Leatherface.

iplaying: Breath – Breaking Benjamin (Phobia)

Categories
Reviews

Review: Caravan of Courage

Hey, Star Wars is cool and all, but is the Ewok movie just as good?

Hmm…well if you like to watch a movie where Ewoks just walk around and try and recreate the Fellowship of the Ring, then yes.

Otherwise, LAME!

Thanks to Eric for allowing me to spend some time watching this with him.

Categories
Uncategorized

Vinterlude!


Ah Winterlude…where the ice has formed and fellow return to the Nation’s Capital to take part in festivities.

As well as pay a visit to our favourite establishment – Darcy McGee’s.

Friday night brought me to Darcy McGee’s along with Vero, my cousin Rick, his wife Tracey and Tracey’s sister and in-laws. After we settled into a table (not too far away from where we sat a few years ago), the pitchers started coming along like the train rolling across the tracks and soon enough there were absurd talks of Moustache Contests and Midget Throwing.

I enjoy the annual events such as these. Rick and Tracey come up every year for Winterlude and most assuredly are found at Darcy’s on a Friday night, as it is stumbling distance from the Chateau Laurier.

I have yet to take a look at the other Winterlude activities this year (as the beer hit me hard on the Saturday morning) so I am hoping to check out the ice sculptures next weekend when Mike’s parents come into town. Speaking of which, this is a great time to finally get my Star Wars posters to hang up in the house. We didn’t have room to bring them down (read: I forgot them back home) at Christmas. I’m toying with the idea of where to hang them up. Vero suggests the dark, dark basement. I’m thinking somewhere more prominent, like the bathroom. 😉