Author: admin

Yesterday at the Source…

Me: Do you have any (insert product name) here?
Guy Working there: Uh, yes! Somewhere around here. (searches around)
Guy Working there: Hey, Cindy, do you know where the (product name) are?
Girl Working there: Actually, we’re sold out of them!
Me: Oh well, that’s too bad. Alright, well thanks anyhow!
Girl working there: Yeah, they were like…$5 yesterday!
Me: Wow. That’s like pouring salt on the wound!
Both of them: (nervous laughter. The guy laughing at the girl, and the girl wondering if she messed up)

I survived! Yes, Palmer is alive and well after a killer Christmas party. Vero estimates that 40 people entered our house at one point in the night…I would have to think that the party was a success and James pointed out the fact that there were still a living room full of people after midnight. Thanks for the props that night James.

Saturday started out running around getting a few oddities but we had a lot of it covered ahead of time with the help of the Losier clan who had made their way up this weekend. We put up the decorations and the house looked fantastic. We ended the decorating with putting up the Christmas lights above the basement area where the ice hockey championship was to take place and jammed a bit.

Rob and Janice were the first to show up so we started the party off right! Rob, Mike and I went to hook up the Nintendo and practiced a little Blades of Steel. I had never played the game much to Rob’s surprise as it is THE hockey game for Nintendo. After getting the hang of it, more people showed up so I left to do host duties.

There was jaw-dropping good spread of food brought to the party – thanks to all who brought a delicious treat! They were so good that barely anything made it into the leftovers for the next day! The night proceeded well with a little Blades of Steel tournament set up with the help of Claude and all was going well up there. There were various board games being played and the people trickled in. Before we knew it, the place was packed and I don’t even think it was 9:00 yet!

A few people had multiple parties to jet off to so I appreciated that they took the time to drop on by to see what the buzz was about. Hopefully we managed to snap a photo of you before you left! Speaking about photos, Mike had a tripod setup downstairs with a backdrop which consisted of a mattress with a white sheet on it. Now, this on its own doesn’t seem like a bad idea, but after reviewing the photos, I had to laugh as a lot of people didn’t bother zooming in so there’s shots of the grey concrete wall along with the water heater in the photos. Good thing photos are able to crop easily! I also enjoyed how it seemed like someone forgot to take the lens cap off at one point. Who knows what great photos were lost in the experience?

After trouncing Claude in Blades of Steel (5-1 baby!), Matt set up the Nintendo Wii as a surprise for everyone as I noticed we had some time to kill before the trivia challenge. The Wii is an amazing party treat and I hope everyone got a chance to try it out! Thanks to Matt and Benoit for hooking us up with the Nintendo treat!

The trivia challenge started up and everyone settled in to win the Palmer Trivia Cup – an odd vase I picked up earlier in the week for the victor. After a random selection of 16 questions, the challenge ended up in a tie so I asked the tie breaking question and both teams were off by 5 years so it was still a tie! I had to retire to the computer to come up with 2 more questions but alas, it was not meant to be and both teams got the correct answer! Considering it was well past midnight and people were itching to get their gifts open, I decided to call it a draw, although I know I scorned the guys team when I didn’t give them the point when they said ‘mele kalikemaka’ stood for ‘very merry christmas’ instead of just ‘merry christmas’. Perhaps I should have an arbitrary judge to make a ruling on this one.

The gift exchange was a hit and there were numerous alcohol related gifts being passed about. I ended up with a good bottle of wine and a sweet, sweet clock which, as you turn it, changes the display to either the temperature, the humidity level or the weater forecast! I am very impressed with the gift actually and was playing with it all last night. Thanks to Mike and Melissa for the sweet gift! Double thanks to you guys for picking up a little something for Vero and I! I scored a nice little prism with a guitar in it as well as some kick ass Star Wars Christmas tree ornaments! AWESOME! We put them on the mini-tree that Vero and I picked up for $5 that afternoon at the craft store.

The majority of the party left after the gift exchange (to my surprise for a moment, until someone pointed out that it was 2:30 in the morning! Holy Mackerel!) and the night descended into hanging out and chatting. I am pretty sure I invited everyone down to watch National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation but perhaps I forgot to as I found myself the only person downstairs watching the movie and dozing off. This is what happens when you drink too much apple cider!

A few observations from the night to keep in mind for next year’s party:

• I think it may be a good idea to get away from the possibility of alcohol-related gifts. Sure, I can’t knock a bottle of rye coming my way, but it may not be for everyone. I think this stemmed from last year’s gift exchange having a beer mug set which was the catch of the party. Perhaps having a theme for gifts will change this outcome. Themes such as games, music, chocolate…something like that.
• Maybe the ice hockey tournament was a little too much. In the end, the tournament didn’t end up finished, and I heard it was a little disruptive when you would be chatting with someone and then they had to be hauled off to play their five minutes of ice hockey. I personally enjoyed it, but I can see that it may have been a pain for those not participating. I think this should be reserved for a Winter Olympics themed night were we’ll also have the luge down my basement stairs!
• I think the ‘bring something for everyone to munch on’ is a fabulous idea. It was a lot better than the random munchies that were provided last year (aka chips).
• The trivia challenge should be changed slightly next year to not have so many questions about dates. Also, it is unclear if people prefer the multiple choice or not. Eric pointed out that he would rather see a trivia challenge where it ends up having the team actually think of the answer instead of having a shouting match about it. Although, I think that part is hilarious. I think next year I’ll have a few people help me with the questions.

All in all, these are very minor points. I had an amazing time and I am sure everyone else did also. These are just minor changes that one has to tweak to make a party the best experience one can have. This reminds me of the trilogy of New Years’ Eve parties I had back home where the first one had some things to be tweaked, the second one was a little better, but the third one was a rip-roaring time! I ended the parties there as I knew I couldn’t top them. No worries though, the Christmas parties will be ongoing for years to come!

Feel free to share your memories of the event or any other suggestions that could better the experience next time around!

Thanks to all those bringing out treats, bringing games, helping decorate, helping prepare, basically anyone who brought forth the cheer in the Palmer/Losier house on Saturday night!

However, whoever put their gum on the carpet, no thanks are sent to you. Who the heck leaves gum on carpet anyhow? 😉

Dang. Just read this morning that the Light Rail System that was been developed for Ottawa has been erased from existence.

This plain sucks. I was hoping for some zipping train to bring me to Kanata in 45 minutes. But alas, no, this is not the case. Granted, the case of zipping me to Kanata would have taken 15 years to build, but that’s besides the point.

What are my feelings on public transit personally? Well…I can’t complain about the system there is now. It literally takes me 30 minutes from my Park & Ride spot to the front door of my building. Let’s tack on another 10 minutes in my car to get to the front door of my house. But I don’t really count that time because I feel that I’m at home as soon as I hit the car. I can zip to the grocery store or do other things I need to do.

30 minutes is not a legitimate complaint when living in a city. So, in my position, I find public transit great.

Will they ever be able to solve the awful wait times in the suburbs? No! They aren’t about to put more shifts on a local route just to pick up a few extra stragglers who missed their bus by a few minutes. Sure, it would be great, but what’s the benefit to them?

I think that maybe coming from the West side of town could be improved upon as I remember going out there from work would take a good 45-50 minutes and it’s a shorter distance than the East trip I take now. However, they may have fixed this problem as there is a route that avoids the Lincoln Fields/Carling/Bayshore fiasco and zips down the Queensway for a bit to hit up Bayshore. Man, I wish that line was around when I was living there.

I can’t speak for the south or Kanata, but the O-Train already runs south and I’ve used it a few times to get down to South Keys and I loved it. Saved me so much time rather than going through downtown.

To me, downtown is the problem. You have this mass exodus approaching it in the morning and late afternoon. Even with dedicated bus lanes, they still have traffic lights and regular traffic patterns that they deal with. The only way I can think of solving this problem is to avoid those situations altogether – via an underground, perhaps a dedicated ‘transitway’ through downtown, or something else. I am not too sure.

All I know is that I had these grand visions of the Light Rail transit zooming me to work in the morning, but now it’s just a memory. I agreed with their plans to extend it North-South at first…it only makes sense. That’s where it exists now. AND the South *is* becoming a huge mass. A huge similar looking mass according to Trish, Mike and Ryan as we got lost going to Ferda’s birthday party a few weeks ago.

What should we all do? Move to Quebec. Houses are cheaper and you can bike to work. Awesome.

iplaying: Bario Alto – Thievery Corporation (Pure Chill Out, Volume 2)

For those of you who want to get a taste of greatness (in the form of Mike, Danny and myself) up on stage, drop by the Legion in Kapuskasing on December 23 where we will be hammering out a few tunes. Thanks to Mr. Losier for the invite!

Please note that December 23 is in fact that same day we will be travelling on the road. We’ll feel like true rockers across Canada now, running back and forth to the next gig!

Have no fear, faithful readers, the Christmas cards are starting to trickle out. Who knows what Palmer has thought up this year to please the masses?

Whatever it is, it is sure to be personalized. As in, you’ll know it’s from me.

Anyhow, the first batch went out this morning, the other batch…hmm…may be out on Monday? I need to hunt down a few more addresses, that’s all.

iplaying: Gone Upside Down – Dishwalla (and you think you know what life’s about)

Hey, I just found my copy of Casino Royale tucked in my desk drawer at work! Yes! The day is brightening up!

I’ve hit this weird funk during the Holiday season where I am feeling slightly depressed. I have no idea where it’s coming from, but the usual holiday season just isn’t doing it for me. I sit around thinking of all the stuff I have to get done and it just brings me down.

I have a 20 page report due by next Friday for my Qualitative Research Methods class. That on its own isn’t too bad (well, so I think..), but I am coupling it with the fact that Christmas is upon us and I have to pick up some gifts. This is the first year I have NO ideas for people. I’m usually good at this! I am depressed because I have no good ideas for anyone. My gifts this year will be crap this year people. Be warned.

So then I think “Ok, well, I’ll have enough time to work on the report and gifts this weekend.” but then I realize that the Annual Christmas Bash at yours truly is being held on Saturday! Holy mackerel, I have to get prepared! Hello Cleaning the House and picking up supplies.

Then there’s the whole Christmas party at work on Thursday which I’ve decided not to go to. This is very unlike me. Why am I not wanting to go to the work Christmas party? Well, I won’t go into the details here, but there’s just circumstances surrounding it which leave me saying “Bah Humbug.” Doh, I just remembered I have to pick up something for the needy family by Thursday! I was supposed to do that tonight. Groan.

What about my Christmas cards? I’m so late with them! I just got them today and still have to pick up stamps and whatnot. Sigh.

Ya see? That’s what the life of Palmer is all about right now. Sure sure, my faithful readers are reading this saying “Whoa buddy, suck it up, we’ve all been there!”. Well, maybe you have, but not the Palmer. Holidays are his fave of the year and right now all I want is good ideas to pop in my head for gifts and for my report to be done. This isn’t the time to be working on reports and studying for exams! They need to adjust the school year so you get a month off as of December 1st.

Ten bucks says Vero will read this and say “Don’t come out with my friends on Friday. Take some time for your report.”. Thank you, but it’s not needed. I think the report will be fine…it’s just everything else at the moment.

All I need is to curl up with some apple cider, some Crown Royal and a copy of National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and all will be fine in the world.

Alright, alright, this post makes me realize that I’m whining and I should be thankful for the good things in my life. Fine.

Here’s another rant about public transit etiquette.

Let’s say you are exiting the bus from the back and the bus is such that they have two doors to exit from.

Well, if you are exiting, do not immediately turn in the opposite direction upon exiting the vehicle. Walk a few steps forward until the coast is clear and then proceed in your direction.

Otherwise, you basically smash into the other gentleman getting off the bus to the direct opposite of you and then when you smash into him, he holds up the line of people behind them and a crazy mob-like mentality occurs like barracuda in the sea of blood and it’s all over Gonzo.