This week’s research mission has been to acquire a kegerator.
I have been looking at a kegerator (a fridge that holds kegs of beer) for some time now. Broadhead Brewery has a kegerator built at cost for $470+tax. From what I have seen, this is a pretty solid deal and there are some great reviews on the web.
But then I started thinking about the two mini-fridges that are sitting in my garage doing nothing. Could I salvage them and create a kegerator from scratch? Only time will tell!
Sunday morning was around 15 degrees so you know what that means…spring cleanup time!
First stop was replacing the water in the hot tub which went surprisingly well. I must be a master at this process at this point.
Next up was changing the winter tires. But wait! Andreane calls needing the trailer to pick up some furniture that is being thrown out at her friend’s apartment. I hightail it downtown and pick up two sweet wicker chairs as we as a Futon! Considering she is planning on moving into a house in the near future, you can never have enough furniture. It was also a surprisingly easy move considering we had to bring a Futon on an elevator! I did have to pull over about 45 times because the tarp kept flapping in the wind.
I should have known that with all these easy moves, there would be something that didn’t go my way on this beautiful day. Changing the tires was the victim. I searched high and low for my torque wrench but no dice. Turns out it was in Vero’s car who was out running errands.
I realized that I am a man who should be able to use the emergency tire wrench to take the lug nuts off. While I am a man, I was a man with sore hands because that tire wrench has about a six inch handle! In the end, I got all the tires replaced and I managed to torque them when Vero got home.
It was around 22 degrees yesterday which called for some relaxation after all this hard work. I settled in on the back deck with a Fantastic Four in hand when Mike showed up from a motorbike ride. We hung out, ate some BBQ with Vero and headed on our way.
Also, I won $131 on my Lotto Max! That’s definitely the most I have ever won on a ticket.
Sunday was a good day.
Sebastien (newly graduated) and Trish came over on Saturday night and brought along a new horror film called Mama. I had never heard of it but my ears perked up with the mention of Guillermo!
Mama follows the story of how two little girls end up abandoned in a cabin for five years before someone finds them and brings them back into society. They are a little wonky after living on their own for five years…but don’t worry! They had something called Mama to look after them!
Who the heck is Mama? Lord knows, but it made for a fairly decent horror flick when the girls move in with their uncle and Mama comes a knocking.
I would say it was a decent flick but not a must-see.
We also watched Barbarella afterwards which is a must see in my book. I don’t think the others were impressed!
This year, my beloved TELEFILE shut down for filing my taxes over the phone. I found this to be a great utility to file my taxes without the hassle of sending in any paper forms.
With the cancellation of this service, I was surprised to find that there were free tax programs out there vetted by the Canada Revenue Agency so I decided to check some out.
I had originally thought I would use an application for the computer but then I noticed online services. Like any good service…online is the best as they can be updated if a problem is found. With stand alone applications, there always requires new updates.
I decided to try out Simple Tax. The only thing that scared me was to provide my SIN number to an organization which isn’t the Federal Government of Canada. I find this to be strange considering how much the GoC talks about safeguarding your SIN as much as possible.
But honestly, that was my only negative comment about Simple Tax. Simple Tax truly is simple for a well-seasoned tax veteran as myself. I have to admit that it definitely helped that I am familiar with the paper forms and had done my taxes by hand beforehand. This way, I know if I’m missing anything when filing by Simple Tax.
Simple Tax isn’t like Turbotax or one of those ‘wizard’ programs. It’s a site that depends on YOU for what information it should ask. Do you have T4s? Do you have T5s? You need to tell them that. Once that’s done, it’s easy peasy.
I also enjoyed how it saw that I was married this past year so it allowed me to also fill out my spouse’s form, generate the NETFILE file to upload, print my tax form to PDF and bingo bango, the process is complete.
I will definitely use the service again. The only disappointment is that I messed up somewhere by doing it by hand and now owe $275! This could have been avoided by using Simple Tax next year. 
“How do I tell everyone I just scored the greatest job and I’m not even done my co-op term yet?”
While I love all my friends in my life, it’s nice to have a little family around town as well. This is why I’m super pumped with the news that Andreane is sticking around for at least another year.
She is finishing up her school term at University of Ottawa. Man, time flies. She is currently doing co-op placements and stumbled upon a job interview at CHEO (which was also home to her co-op placement).
She waltzes into her first interview, nails it, and gets a part-time job with a sweet hourly wage. When I say part-time, I am talking about the greatest part-time schedule there ever was: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday full days. What the heck! I wish I could get long weekends as well!
I’m super stoked.
(photo taken from Flickr)
I’m pretty sure we ordered tickets to see Muse about 8 months ago so it was a long wait to see them in Montreal. But the day was upon us and Etienne, Nadine, Nat, Mike and me hopped into the van and hit the road! We also met up with JF, Marie-Claude and Martin for the event.
We ended up missing the opening act of Dead Sarah but managed to waltz down onto the floor and find a nice open spot for us to sip back a few beers and not fret about the crowd bothering us. What can I say? I am an old man nowadays who has rocked his fair share in his life. I am not content to sip on my beer, hang out near the sound booth for some aural pleasure and enjoy the ride.
The concert was fantastic and Muse is definitely on their way to be considered amongst the best of the stadium show Gods. Their stage set up was interesting in that it had a giant LED pyramid structure that would descend from the rafters and move much like the U2360 setup in that it can separate or move up and down.
They started off with playing Supremacy which is a great opening song…putting me into a James Bond movie! I’m not sure how Matt Belamy is able to sing the first song like he does so I have a theory that he must practice singing for about two hours before to get his voice in shape!
The entire night was mesmerizing. They know how to get the people moving and it was a non-stop roller coaster of impressive musical prowess. I was so impressed that I think I will drag Vero to the next show that I can, even though she doesn’t really follow them.
The 2nd Law tour rivals the stage setups of U2 and I would have to say that the year 2013 belongs to Muse.
Random thoughts:
– We missed quite a few songs as there was this killer lineup for beer. It was a slower part of the setlist but was disappointed to have missed a few tunes. I’ll have to check them out on Youtube. All I know is that I came out and there was freaking lazer beams going on! Nat said it was like that for four songs!
– When I was getting a beer, Mike grabbed his and he said he would hang out. I told him he didn’t have to and he should go watch the show. He stuck around until a song came on that he really enjoyed so he left. The guy behind me says “Dude. I can’t believe your friend left you. He failed the friendship test.” I had a good laugh so I yelled over to Mike as he was walking away “I can’t believe you left me!” However, when I was leaving with my beer the guy tells me “You also failed the friendship test. You’re only bringing back three beer to your friends when there is room for four.” I had a good chuckle.
– LEDs on a bass guitar? Sign me up!
– I kind of think Muse are actually aliens from another planet and that their stage will become a UFO at the end of the tour. There’s no way three guys can sound that good on stage.
Here’s a video I found of the first three songs… demonstrates the excellent stage setup. I appreciate stage design and I thought it was great that they angled the video screens upwards to the people up in the nosebleed sections.
Setlist:
The 2nd Law: Isolated System
Supremacy
Map of the Problematique (Who Knows Who outro)
Supermassive Black Hole
Resistance
Panic Station
Knights of Cydonia (Man with Harmonica intro)
(drummer solo)
Explorers
Follow Me
United States of Eurasia
Liquid State (damn it I missed this one)
Madness
Time is Running Out (House of the Rising Sun intro…which was funny because I was singing it in English not realizing that everyone else was singing a French version! Never knew!)
Undisclosed Desires
Stockholm Syndrome (RATM Freedom outro)
The 2nd Law: Unsustainable
Uprising
Encore:
Starlight
Survival
Too bad I didn’t get to hear my favourite track from The 2nd Law (Animals) but considering the show was spectacular, I can’t complain too much!
On this beloved day, I figured I would share with you some of my favourite memories of Carrie. We miss you a lot and I know you are loving Germany, but it will be great when we get to see you again.
First up…FUBAR…my life was changed when you introduced me to this movie on a Saturday morning at Bayshore:
Let us not forget Fubar 2, which I have never actually watched with Carrie, but we all know is fantastic:
My love of Carrie knows no bounds, and I would have to say that Barcelona was the highlight of the Eurotrip. Especially after a long day of biking:
But the Italians made up for it:
HOPE Volleyball is always a blast when Carrie brings out a billion of her friends to the event. Here she is running away from them:
And let us not forget the Series:
She is also fantastic in the way that she allows me to be part of her family:
On this, your birthday, I want to say that you brighten all our lives and I hope the following video brightens yours. Happy Birthday Carrie.
Years ago there was this quirky show called Veronica Mars about at father-daughter sleuth duo. It was a fantastic series which ended after three seasons.
For the past six years there has been talks of a movie but nothing really happened. Until yesterday…
Now, you already know my love of Kickstarter. I think it’s a smart way to do business. Why bother printing up a million copies of a book when there are only 20,000 people who want it? Why not just print the 20,000 you need and not blow your wad of cash?
Anyhow, yesterday the Veronica Mars movie Kickstarter started here. They wanted $2M to get the movie made. This is the largest Kickstater campaign for a movie…I sat there thinking “Man…that’s a lot of money to ask for, but how cool would it be if they got it?”
Within 24 hours, they got their goal and are hovering around $2.5M as I type this. This is insane. They must be ecstatic. Heck, I’m ecstatic! I love Kickstarter. Bring out an idea that people want, and people will pay for it.
My only beef is that all the rewards for this particular campaign is limited to people in the US, but I figured after Day 1, they’ll figure out how to appease the masses outside that country.
My only worry is that they fall into the trap of “Oh my. This campaign became larger than I thought and I don’t know how to mail out 50,000 DVDs.” It’s happened before. I’m sure there’s a term for it like the Kickstarter Effect, or Burn Out.
Either way, I’m pumped that the movie is going to happen and they’ll get some money from me once they are kind to the Canadians!
Trish somehow managed to schedule a trip to Cuba during the same week as the Bon Jovi concert so Cinthia ended up winning big in getting her ticket from her. I held off on telling Vero and Cinthia how close we were so they were pretty pumped when we moseyed on down to the floor onto Row 16 for a spectacular view of the stage.
This was definitely a better view than I had before when I saw them in Montreal from Level 400 IN BEHIND THE STAGE. Hey, for $25, it still was probably in my Top 5 concerts I have ever seen. Man, they put on a great show there.
The stage setup for this tour (supporting their not yet released album “What About Now”) is fairly sparse but I wonder if that’s common for 360 degree stage setups so the people in the back can see the back of their heads. Let us not even get into the comparison of the U2 360 tour here!
While the girls were swooning over the dreamy figure on stage, I was digging the tunes coming from the machine called Bon Jovi. The band were in fine form the entire night and I just love all their tunes, even if I wasn’t familiar with a few of them (namely the tunes from Lost Highway and What About Now). The setlist had a lot of tunes from the new album and they were pretty good. Not sure if they will be better than The Circle, but we’ll have to find out when the album is released.
Highlights:
– Amen – I’m pretty sure that after singing Hallelujah for many concerts in the past, Richie and Jon decided to write their own version.
– We Weren’t Born to Follow – Always a crowd pleaser!
– Wanted Dead or Alive – Epic, epic tune!
– In These Arms – I don’t think they play this tune all that much and it’s one of my faves from Keep The Faith so I was truly in awe. Great, great tune. Makes up for missing out on Born to Be My Baby.
Cons:
– I’ve said it before…Ottawa crowds are a hit and miss. This night presented the band with a crowd that embarrassed me. Hey, when the band wants you to clap along, the least you can do is clap along. I would think that 25% of the people on the floor clapped along. At least they were standing. I am making it a point to go to Montreal for a show if I have the choice in the future. Montreal crowds are insanely great. Ottawa…hit and miss. I’ve had some great crowds, I’ve had some bad crowds.
A related topic is the fact that not many bands are coming to Ottawa lately. There was this period about 5 years ago where Montreal-Ottawa-Toronto was a good circuit for bands like U2 to travel. I’m not sure how concerts are organized but I would have to think that if a band doesn’t feel that the crowd was into it all that much, they may choose to skip that town. I’m wondering if that’s what trap we are falling into. But I don’t know the inner workings of concert organization. All I know is that other than the awesome Bluesfest every year, I have seen a noticeable drop in concerts coming our way. But I’m sure Mike will be reading this and say something like “That’s because all you listen to is mainstream acts!”
Two big thumbs up for the show put on by Bon Jovi. I doubt the tour will be ending anytime soon with the new album being released so I recommend you go check them out!
1. BAD NAME SLIPPERY WHEN WET
2. LOST HIGHWAY LOST HIGHWAY
3. WHOLE LOT OF LEAVIN’ LOST HIGHWAY
4. BECAUSE WE CAN WHAT ABOUT NOW
5. WATER MADE ME WHAT ABOUT NOW
6. IT’S MY LIFE CRUSH
7. WHEN WE WERE BEAUTIFUL THE CIRCLE
8. WHAT ABOUT NOW WHAT ABOUT NOW
9. WE GOT IT GOING ON LOST HIGHWAY
10. KEEP THE FAITH KEEP THE FAITH
11. MAKE A MEMORY LOST HIGHWAY
12. AMEN WHAT ABOUT NOW
13. I’LL BE THERE FOR YOU NEW JERSEY
14. ARMY OF ONE WHAT ABOUT NOW
15. WE WEREN’T BORN TO FOLLOW THE CIRCLE
16. SUPERMAN TONIGHT THE CIRCLE
17. WANTED CROSSROADS
18. WHO SAYS YOU CAN’T GO HOME HAVE A NICE DAY
19. BAD MEDICINE NEW JERSEY
20. IN THESE ARMS KEEP THE FAITH
21. HAVE A NICE DAY HAVE A NICE DAY
22. RUNAWAY BON JOVI
23. SLEEP WHEN I’M DEAD KEEP THE FAITH
24. PRAYER SLIPPERY WHEN WET
Or at least that’s how it feels after a workout! As in…I’m going to die…
It’s no surprise that I feel a little heftier from time to time and that’s not a big issue with me. I definitely am not what you call an ‘active’ fellow. But enough is enough! The winter has caught up with me so I decided to do something about it.
So this year’s grand scheme to get fit was to pick up a bicycle trainer…essentially a device that lifts the back tire of your existing bicycle off the floor so you can sit and ride it to your heart’s content…without actually moving anywhere! Saves on buying a stationary bike.
I found one on Kijiji nearby by house and after a sweet $100, I was in business. Thanks to Uncle Gerry for his consultation on this Cycleops Mag Trainer that I picked up.
Here is a recap of the past three days:
Day 1 – Saturday
After a day of renovations which basically killed every muscle in my body, I decided to also cap the evening off with a bike ride. I’m not sure where this idea came from, but perhaps it was the fact that while sitting in the basement, I’m staring at this bicycle I set up and it’s saying “Hey buddy. Are you going to give me a try or what?” In hindsight, it was very smart of me to set the thing up in the basement immediately and not just leave it out of sight.
The basement was already a balmy 72 degrees so when I jumped on the bicycle in my jogging pants and a t-shirt, I was pretty well a puddle of sweat within four minutes.
I decided that a good workout at this point would be around 42 minutes…or the exact time most TV shows are. So I popped in an episode of Friday Night Lights. The trainer makes quite the whine while cycling so I had to increase the volume to compensate. Not an ideal scenario.
Day 2 – Sunday
Sunday morning I hopped out of bed and decided to get on the bicycle right away. Two reasons: I had read somewhere that if you want to burn the fat off, a good time to do it is before breakfast. Interesting. Secondly, my legs were quite sore so I thought maybe warming up those muscles would help me out. It did! Let me tell you, for a guy who doesn’t read up on exercising, things were clicking in place!
Especially since I smartened up, got some headphones so I could listen to the TV, wore a ball cap so the sweat wouldn’t fall into my eyes, and wore some shorts as well.
Overall, the second day was a good day of improvements. My only issue was that I felt like I was dragging myself the entire time and I think it has to do with the fact that I was watching an episode of the The Killing which is a pretty morose tale of police detectivery. Not the most energetic stuff.
Day 3 – Monday
I decided that the only thing to improve at this point was what I was watching on the TV at the time. So I popped in a Metallica DVD that I hadn’t watched yet and this thing gave me the energy I needed! It was chock full of good tunes and gave me the energy I needed to keep going. Sure, my mind was wondering when the 42 minutes would be up (I didn’t have a watch and I was depending on Vero coming downstairs to tell me…I was also wondering if she was going to play a trick and not show up at all!), but overall, I had an easier time mentally than the two days before.
So after three days, my ass is still a little sore but not as bad as the start. But that just comes with cycling. I think I’ve mastered the little details and for the next while I’ll focus on watching concert DVDs that have fallen to the wayside of my Amazon purchases.
I think I did hit the nail on the head though with coupling TV watching with exercising. It just makes sense to me to hop on the bicycle instead of hopping on the couch. I think my only two improvements at this point would be to attach a speedometer, or at Uncle Gerry’s suggestion, get a heart rate monitor. Good suggestions all around.
I don’t feel any worse than when I started biking to work last summer…it takes awhile to get the body into shape so it’s easier to make the trek. I figure after a week, I will be good to go!