Before I change the blog format next week, on the advice of some friends, here is one last kick at the can: two weeks in one. Now that is a bargain!
July 27 - Day Off Online
Oh, where does the time go? I spent a good portion of the day online, talking to my NWN pals while writing up material for our mutual project that I am co-ordinating. That took up far more of the day than I had planned, but we got a lot done so no complaints - it's always nice to work with talented people!
In the evening I put in a little time playing COD4 multiplayer, doing decently well over the course of a few hours with a 1:1 kill/death ratio - much better than my previous solo outings without friendly support. All in the name of getting ready for MW2( COD6, really... )which is slated to hit store shelves Nov. 10th 2009 - you can catch a nice video here; watch it right to the end for a laugh.
The war(s) of the future will be fought in different ways and for different reasons than those we know today. The Cold War was just the start of things, where superpowers gave way to local unrest and smaller actions. This gallery of future war posters I find both funny and sad, as some may come to pass in time... and some of the gadgets of the future are already with us today. I've mentioned exoskeletons before, but it seems that yet again Japan has made great strides towards working prototypes - check out the link and tell me what you think.
July 28 - Getting Around
Tuesdays for me are a lot like Mondays, when I work: the branch opens at 11am. Which means that there are usually a lot of people in the first hour or so, even moreso on Mondays... which means nothing gets done until well after 1pm sometimes. Today was no exception, especially since it is the end of the month looming closely. Between that and having a trainee, I have no time this week to do much at all. I am hard-pressed to get things ready for my departure in a few days, leaving a list of Must Do Things for another manager to ensure the smooth operation of my branch while I am away. Last time, when I had my operation in early June, things were left undone that should not have been, so this time I am determined to walk back into the place as if I have only been away for the weekend - we'll see.
On the subject of travel: in case you haven't already checked it out, head on over to LonelyPlanet.com and see what they have to say about the Pacific Northwest - I'm planning on taking a trip of my own to explore nearby Seattle in the next few months. One reason: they have a Science Fiction Museum there, which apparently you can do a comfortable walk-through on a 3-hour tour... a 3-hour tour... skipper!
July 29 - Scorcher!
The heatwave continues: today was the hottest day ever on record on nearby Vancouver, reaching 33.8 C plus humidity... scorching! No end is in sight for the massive arid weather system crouched over the West Coast... seems I've picked the perfect time to head east, where lower-than-seasonal temperatures promise some relief from what we're getting out here.
It was hot while waiting for the bus on the way home; the bus stop bench was all metal, and so scorching from the sun that just putting my hand near the thing made my skin feel burned. The trip home was fairly quick, but even the short walk to my front door left me drenched in sweat from the heat and it wasn't much better inside, even after 5pm. So I retreated to the basement, where it was 'only' 26 degrees in the storage room. I set up my laptop on a TV table, unfolded a chair, had a few books at hand and a glass of iced tea - the perfect place to wait out the heat. Which turned out to be well after 9pm before things even began to cool off and bearing in mind that everything in the house was still radiating an ambient temperature of 32 degrees F.
Unfortunately, some people decided to take a different tack towards keeping cool - mainly lounging in the lake and on the dock in the park next door until well after midnight. This would be fine normally( despite the fact that the park closes at 9pm )if they hadn't been ignorantly loud the entire time, shrieking and yelling constantly. A few calls to the Park Patrol proved useless, so eventually the police had to escort them from the park... our call was one of five already made about the noise. One of the idiots from the park had the nerve to loudly proclaim "We know who called, but we weren't doing anything wrong!" so that all of our neighbours, who were definitely watching the idiots being escorted away, could hear. Some people's kids... no respect. Or brains.
July 30 - The Day Before
In honour of last night's shenanigans, I dedicate some of today's entry to... Stupid People. Starting off with a general bit of info, it may( or may not )surprise you to know that Stupid People can be anywhere... anyone, really. You may be a Stupid Person and not even know it - though if you're reading this blog, the likelihood of you remaining Stupid for very long is greatly reduced; nice thought, eh?
Many things have been developed to give Stupid People more of an even shake in life, like these product labels - all of them taken from actual products. Which brings us to something closer to my heart: Tech Support, which I had once considered going into as a career... but wisely refrained from aside from the occasional friend or family member. Once you read a few of these actual calls made to Tech Support Reps, you'll understand my choice - despite my excellent communications skills, some people are just not meant to use a computer. Or a coffee maker. Or a manual can opener. Or... anything more complicated than a spatula. Which brings us to the Darwin Awards, where examples of incredible stupidity are documented, so that the human race can appreciate their genome-cleansing final stories. Finally, you can browse Stupidery.com, which is a nice light take on All Things Stupid... duh.
Today was a whole lot of catching up, especially in the morning and late evening, as I worked the closing shift today - just couldn't make it work any other way with the staff shortage we have amongst all the stores. Thankfully, we have a good crop of new staff who will be coming online shortly, we just have to GET there first!
July 31 - Arrival
Up at 5am today, so we could be at the airport for 5:30am - we were right on time. When I headed for the check-in counter, I received quite a surprise: turns out that Martin had given me an Executive-class ticket! So I bypassed the 40 people waiting for the regular seats and walked right up to the Exec clerk; my bags were checked in within a minute and I was on my way to Tim Horton's. I woke up in stages in the nearby lounge, nursing a too-hot tea and watching the sun turn the planes outside into red-lit metal sculptures.
My flight departed on-time at 6:40am, and I spent about 5 hours in-flight overall. For the earlier part of the flight I simply watched the scenery below, as the weather was clear enough to reveal much of the Rockies as I was passing over them. The rest of the flight I watched The Watchmen( pause for pun groans )which at the end I felt had run about 30 minutes too long... and I almost didn't get to see the end, as the film finished as we were on final approach to the airport -talk about timing! After that, I wondered... what other books are still considered 'unfilmable' nowadays? This list may surprise you...
Timing was also good at the baggage claim, where it took only 5 minutes from my arrival in the Claim area until I had my bag in hand; it was the very first one out of the chute! How often does that happen? I then waited about an hour for my ride Brian( who was stuck in the typical nasty T.O. traffic )all of which was spent trying to get a wireless signal working - very annoying, as Victoria's airport has free WiFi throughout, proclaimed on many signs. Pearson has no signs, just a 'Bell Hotspot' that shows up with no page whenever you try to find a network. I even hauled my stuff up to the third level concourse to see if the only Starbuck's outside of the Secured Zone had a wireless access point; nope... maybe this guy was frustrated by the same thing? By then Brian had called me back and I met up with him in the pickup road zone outside the terminal.
By the time we made it to the highway outside, it was past 4pm, and the roads were packed with cars, so much so that I decided time would be better spent seeing a bit of T.O. instead of inching along on the QEW. So we headed southeast into the city, heading all the while towards the slim gleaming silver needed of the CN Tower in the distance. We stopped first at Brian's workplace, the studio where such shows as Stoked and 6teen are made - I got a personal tour! I saw Mike there at his desk too, along with several other folks. What a great place to work, packed full of hard-working creative minds in a funky factory-loft setting. Man, some people have all the luck...
After that, we got into Toronto proper, parking at the Eaton Centre and touring around that a bit - it brought back more than a few memories, though it's been so long since I was there as a child that little of the sense of wonder remains. Outside, we traveled to the Silver Snail, where I ogled the expensive collectables( take a look at the price on this one! )and just enjoyed being in a place of such utter g33k culture - while avoiding some of it's worse examples inside. Heading north among the thronging crowds and taking in the varied sights, we made it to the AGO which unfortunately had closed at 5:30 already. Standing there despondently, I glanced across the street and was stuck full in the face by a sign for The Village Idiot Pub - I knew then where we were eating dinner. It was a great, relaxing time at a pub, one I had not had much of at all while living on my own in B.C. these last 2 years - fantastic! Brian and I whiled away the traffic blues until 7:30pm, when the freeway flow had eased and we were able to make it to Niagara a little after 9pm where I was dropped off at Simon's. I had arrived!
Martin came by soon after, so we shot the breeze for a bit after I thanked him for his enabling me to be in Niagara this summer - what a great guy. Simon's girlfriend Rose was there too, and I had the pleasure of meeting her finally. It was well after midnight local time before we all meandered out of the kitchen into our respective snooze spots. Mine was upstairs in the spare room, whose bed was rather familiar: I had given it to Simon when I left for BC in 2007, and it was a sight for sleepy eyes. I had barely sat down on the bed after unpacking before my lights went out - busy days will do that to you!
Aug 1st - Pre-Wedding
My body clock was off somewhat, but I managed to be awake for 9am... after waiting up at 6am from the light streaming in the windows - no curtains, and my emergency sleep mask had worked its way off overnight, ah well. We did breakfast at The Duck on Ontario St. near the idled GM plant... that was a sad sight to see, those parking lots fenced off and filled with weeds. The Duck itself had not changed a whit: still the same decor from the 70's, lovingly preserved and cleaned from one generation to the next... but I'd rather they spent their monies on the food, which a taste of confirmed when it arrived.
Simon & I drove around for a bit, pickup up a few supplies from the vast shopping bazaar that has taken over the west end of the city off Martindale Road. Such is the future: few enclosed shopping malls are being built now, but instead vast areas of land are being paved to plop down Box Stores and open-air plazas. Instead of parking your car at a mall entrance to shop, you can drive from area to area, store to store and never have to wonder which end of the mall you parked at, ever again. Not something I approve of, having been raised on the infrequent Mall Trip to Toronto, which was always a fun family adventure to discover new places... not quite the same thing as an actual vacation, but far more affordable far more often, I'd wager.
The evening saw perfect weather for a BBQ... so of course one was held, at Simon's! Scotty was there, as was Rose, Rene and Matt K. Steaks sizzled on the barby, beer bottles clinked on the glass table and the twilight crept up upon us unnoticed as we shared stories and sliced steak. The mosquitoes were mostly asleep, as we were hardly bothered late into the evening as we worked our way through the beer in the fridge.
Aug 2 - Wedding!
A somewhat better night led to a good start to the day, when I breakfasted at The Duck again, this time with quite a larger crowd. Simon, Lucas, Dave, Matt, Scotty Rene and I filled a table with talk in the dim interior while the sun blazed outside. Good thing we had a lot to catch up on too, as the power went out in the kitchen and it took 45 minutes for our orders to arrive... the food was worth the wait though. I am gladdened to know that many of my friends get together here on a regular basis, so much so that the waitress knows them all and asked if more would be arriving... again, something I miss out on not living in Niagara any more.
Back to Simon's to get ready for the wedding - shave, shower, slip into the suit and smile at the stranger in the mirror. Off to the nearby QEW towards Hamilton, to slide off to the side at Grimsby and sidle into a parking spot at The Casablanca Winery Inn. We waited just a short while( about one beer's worth )downstairs at the bar, right off the lobby - a good start. Upstairs to take our places in the chapel, which had some lovely stained-glass windows that had little grape clusters and vines on them - again, a nice touch. Soon enough, the family were being brought in, followed by the bridal party... then Nigel appeared, to be followed by the beautiful Shawna. The ceremony itself was heartfelt and lighthearted, accompanied by some excellent musical choices - my favourite was the Star Wars selection near the end, something that may be in my own ceremony, should I ever get to that point in my life. Oh, and it was one helluva kiss too!
The reception was upstairs as well, in a large room with a view towards Lake Ontario to the north. After a short time mingling at the bar, everyone settled in quite nicely into their seats, with each of our tables graced with a nice centerpiece like this one, as well as a black & white photo of a band - more on that later. Speeches followed naturally, along with the opportunity( and method )to make the newlyweds kiss.
Now, I mentioned a centerpiece earlier. This was a large cylinder, filled with about 1.5 litres of water, glass stones at the bottom, orchids and topped with a candle. In order to take the thing home, you had to sing a song selected from those of the band on your table. In our case, we had Huey Lewis... and a table full of guys who didn't want the centerpiece. In the end, it came down to me to sing from "The Heart of Rock & Roll" to save face for the entire table - two other tables didn't do it at all, one declining and the other donating the thing to the serving staff. I did a credible job for the singing, even though I muffed the beginning; thanks to Erik's iPhone, we actually had the lyrics for the song... can you believe nobody at the table could think of a single song by Huey Lewis & The News? Sad, I tells ya...
Dancing. Yep... I danced - a lot. It had dawned on me lately that as I get older, I'll likely be attending fewer and fewer weddings as well as getting less limber. So with that thought, I made it a point to make it out onto the dance floor as much as possible to get my groove on whilst I still could. It also helped that I was attending solo, and that many pretty girls were also dancing in fair numbers - incentive, yes? Even the fairly impressive number of beers I'd had by that point didn't slow me down, as my head felt fine and my feet felt fancy. So I danced, gyrated, spun, smiled and sang into a beer-mike for a few songs... we all had fun, among friends.
I hadn't planned on staying overnight at the Inn, but at the end of the evening I was in the lobby helping Simon get to the room... and almost everyone else had left already - no rides to Niagara left, darn it! So Lucas, Simon and I shared a room... I had the comfy spot on the floor under the TV, which was not exactly good for sleeping. Neither was the snoring emanating from Simon, who had fallen asleep immediately after decorating the bathroom Caesar-style... prompted by the drinking of the centerpiece, naturally. The barrage of sound continued all night long... I took turns with Lucas smacking him with pillows to try to stop the noise, but it was useless - even with earplugs and a towel wrapped around my head, I averaged about 20 minutes of sleep an hour all night long. Ah, friendship...
Aug 3 - Post-Wedding
Groaning and wobbly from the almost total lack of sleep, I made it to breakfast for 10am, beating most everyone else there. Lucas was kind enough to drive me back to St. Catharines, taking the side roads from Grimsby to avoid a solidly-packed QEW - apparently the norm nowadays, though today was the last of the holiday weekend. Driving through the back areas of Niagara, I saw that the low temperatures and constant drizzle had made the vegetation lush and green. In all fact, it closely resembled the BC I had left, which was ironic - hot weather and bone-dry conditions back west, while the east lingered under cooling rainclouds.
I was back at Simon's fairly soon after noon, where I finally had a chance to plug in my laptop and check my email. Waiting in the Inbox was a message from Pierre: quite a few folks were heading to Queenston for a BBQ. Also in there was an email from Dan with his cell, offering a ride to the BBQ, so of course I rang him up ASAP. Luckily he had not left yet, so we stopped for some snackage and then hit the highway for Queenston... or we tried to, as I remembered it was jammed. Instead, off down Glendale for the scenic route to Queenston, which took less time than I had thought.
Nobody else had arrived there yet, so Dan and I scouted out the perfect location: the pavilion next to the playground( to keep an eye on the kids who were coming )along with a portable grill - everything we needed in one spot! Soon after, Pierre & Faith arrived with Juliana in tow, then his friend Trevor( a Drupal specialist )and his family with kids. I guided Mike & his new girlfriend into the parking lot by phone soon after, all the while Pierre was getting the grill prepped. Soon we were all settled, with Pierre's amazing chicken / pork kebabs sizzling on the grill and tons of other foodstuffs scattered among several picnic tables. We were lucky to have Firemaster Pierre there: his smooth work with sticks, brickettes and lighter fluid had the grill running in no time flat, compared to another group at the other end of the pavilion who kept coming over to borrow things from us... and nearly blew up their own grill with a little too much helper fluid. Yipes! The group chatted about many a thing as the day went on, a perfect cloudless wonderland in the green vastness of the park.
Later, Dan was a trooper and drove me into St. Catharines, dropping me off at Scotty's a little before 8pm - Lucas was already there. Scotty tossed some burgers on the BBQ and started up the chimnea, which lent a cheery warmth to the backyard. And what a backyard! Scotty's been hard at work, creating a fabulous cedar deck for his pool... one helluva retreat, I have to say, and with future plans for a hottub, it's quite the place to entertain - did I mention he has a large kitchen too? The burgers were fantastic: cheese and mushroom atop a perfectly cooked patty of Angus beef made the five years since I had my last burger seem like a bad dream.
Aug 4 - A Day With Friends
I had the morning to myself, which I used to catch up on this blog and just read for a bit on the front porch. Towards noon, my friend Matt L2K picked me up to meet Josh & Aria at the Pen for lunch. Faced with all the myriad of choices at the food court, I relented and decided to gnosh on an Angus burger from A&W - I'd had a few bad experiences at some of the other vendors in years past, so I played it safe. As it was, I almost finished it before I gave in to reason and stopped stuffing my face. We retired to some of the nice comfy chairs outside EB Games to chat for a bit, as Aria made friends with everyone around her - it was quite cute. Josh & I related tales of Zartan Toothchipper to Matt, about how the crazed battlerager had the singular distinction of being the only surviving character from start to finish in the campaign - no small achievement, considering we had nearly two dozen players pass through and almost twice as many characters. I still have the campaign notes from the four years I ran it, as well as several abortive attempts at a story from said notes - now that I feel far more confident as a writer, I may soon give it another go to novelize the whole saga.
Later on, Rene picked me up & we headed over to Josh's for 6pm for dinner, first stopping for beer - of course! Rene managed to procure an entire case of Bitter & Twisted, a beer I'd not heard of before now but highly recommend having tasted a few since. We ordered KFC( been years and years since I had any )and watched The Watchmen, which I liked even more the second time around though I feel the 3-hour runtime is still about 30 minutes too long. The evening was a good one, of a kind I've not had for far too long: just spending time with friends at home.
And hidden here in the middle of the blog: here's the bacon... your lips will never be the same!
Aug 5 - Family. Friends. Kilt!
Waking yet again today at 6am, I turned my back to the gathering bright outside and tucked my head back into the pillow. At a more agreeable 9am, I rolled out of bed and faced the day with a somewhat steadier stance. Rene called soon after, arranging to pick me up before heading to the Sunrise Cafe over on Bunting Rd where we were met by Josh. Nothing had changed since I was there last, save the installation of a wheelchair ramp - a sign of the times in the city, with so many people now over the age of 50 years. The food was as I remembered it too: perfectly cooked, tasty and in large quantities - here's a picture of my Sunrise Special, mmm-hmm!
After noon, I was picked up for lunch by my Aunt Connie & Uncle Vince, heading down the crowded QEW to Niagara Falls where we lunched at my Aunt Carolyn's house - both her & my cousin Carla( who is also getting married this summer )were there. We had perfect backyard weather to sit out on the patio by the pool, where I recalled many a summer afternoon keeping cool with cousins and sundry relatives all parked around the decking and under the grape arbor. It actually seemed huge today, with only the five of us there - we've not had a family gathering there for quite a few years now, as most everyone's grown up, or grown old.
In the late afternoon, I was at Somebuddy's in the Falls courtesy of a ride by Dave - the entire parking lot was FULL when we arrived, something Dave said he'd never seen. Thankfully, we spotted a spot right next to the patio, then hopped next door for some Lotto649 tickets for the $35 million draw tonight( I lost ). The live band was not very, but we joined Matt and Sarah K. at a table towards the back, along with Simon, Martin and Rene. Pizza and wings soon appeared to complement the pitcher of Keith's Pale Ale, and I warmed particularly to the Buffalo wings, with a rather good mix of semi-hot spices. I even ran into an old MMart coworker there, so things were rather relaxed and thoroughly enjoyable.
Where did we go after dinner? Off to The Kilt, of course! Things were somewhat slow when we got there for 9:30, but soon enough Honest Frankie had arrived and was set up. Upon spotting me, he exclaimed "Peter? Hey, I thought we got rid of you!" - thanks, Frankie! Missed you too. Quite a few people were there tonight, apart from my friends: this week was the Henley Regatta, which I had forgotten - that's what living out of the area will do for your memory. But we had two booths at the far end of the bar to ourselves, which shrank to one booth as the night went on... then those of us that were left moved into the table next to Frankie to get some real enjoyment out of things! Even when Frankie hauled out the "Seven of Nine" song just for me... it was special, among other things. I left the Kilt happy and grinning for many reasons, not the least of which was the fact that it was still a place that felt like home to me.
Aug 6 - Steebs and risoto
Going to sleep is not the hardest part of heading back east - it's the mornings, as I've said already. I awoke rather groggily, though my luck this week with alcohol has been perfect - no hangovers or ill effects at all, not even a slight headache. If getting your gall bladder out means beer has less of a lingering effect, then I'd recommend it to anyone... but as yet, I have only anecdotal evidence. Which means I'll have to accumulate a larger body of it... more beer, please! And to think that I've spent most of the last year not drinking much at all - and likely will go right back to teetotalership once I ship back out for the coast. Cheaper, really... and I hate to drink alone.
Breakfast AND lunch were both on my ownsome - leftover love from The Sunrise in the form of bacon and home fries, with a later chaser of a ham and swiss cheese sandwich - yum again! I enjoyed just having the day to myself; everyone needs a little alone time on their vacation, and I spent a good portion of mine sitting in the back yard in the shade, drinking iced tea and reading through some of the many books I've acquired since arriving... though truthfully some of them are sneaked from Simon's shelves and have to go back there before I go. Which doesn't mean I can't enjoy them immensely while I have the chance today. Along with a few power naps to catch up on my sleep with, naturally!
It was Starbuck's at the Fairview Mall at 5pm, where Rene & I grabbed a table in a surprisingly light crowd. We were soon joined by Lucas, followed a while later by Brian, Pierre & pal Trevor soon after. Even Shiloh made a brief appearance away from her studies - great to see her! Closer to leaving, Mike made it, along with Scotty... it was a good bunch we had going there, reminding me of old times where we'd all converge on Steebs @ the Fairview, whiling away hours in the evening a few times a month. I hope in the future that I can attend 'virtually' as I had in times past, beamed in via Skype on a laptop... though the background noise usually means that I miss much of the conversation going on. The tech still isn't perfected yet.
Scotty & I departed for Shawna & Nigel's a little after 9pm, heading down into Port Dalhousie and past the still-swarming crowds of rowers from the Henley. We spent some quality time lounging next to the kitchen with beers, while Nigel made a spectacular risoto - it was pure pleasure watching him create the dish, second only to eating it! It was a fantastic evening, spent in the company of great food and even better friends... Nigel floored me by giving over his entire PS2 collection, which he said he'd not used in years - how do you top that kind of generosity? I can't... I can just try to do as well by everyone, and hope the karma works out in the end.
Aug 7 - Books and Tokyo Joes
What's that? Breakfast again with Rene, you ask? Well, sure... when it's at the Lancer on Hartzel, who wouldn't want to dine on a patio under a perfect sky? After breakfast, we took a sideline trip to Booksmart, a new trading / used bookstore at 350 Scott St. in St. Catharines. Bright, roomy and clean, this is my idea of what an independent bookseller should be... though to be fair, most booksellers tend to become crowded with unsold books after a few years. No groaning shelves here yet; all the books were individually priced, with a good selection and most were in excellent shape. But the piece du resistance was what I found just sitting on a shelf: a copy of a book I'd been searching years for, unwilling to pay the exorbitant prices that the few copies on eBay were listing for or buy copies that are in terrible condition. The book is titled Malevil, originally written in France in the 70's and printed in a few English copies over the decades since... and it's a post-apocalyptic novel, naturally - I was thrilled to find it just sitting there on the shelf, and I hope the world doesn't end until I get a chance to read it! As well, I stumbled across this interesting webcomic, again about the what-if-the-world ends... but in a visual format. Check it out, it's rather intriguing.
Afternoon saw another visit with relatives, which was as usual too brief given the last time I saw them. Lucas graciously gave me a ride from there to Port Dalhousie after 4pm with excellent timing - thanks, buddy. We grabbed a table at Tokyo Joes, the newest addition to the Niagara pub scene... and one that floats, no less. Located at the end of Lighthouse road, the restaurant is situated inside a moored ship that also has a large floating patio on the marina side - what a concept! Although fairly large & spacious inside the ship, the real gem of this place is the outdoor patio which in the summer is just the coolest place to be on the water. It also helps that it is away from the crazed crows of Port, where parking and bar space have become rather a premium during the good summer weather.
Soon after we arrived, Martin showed up, as did Scotty - two more welcome additions to our pirate crew, yahar! The sun was shining, the beer was cold and the boats were... bobbing? at the quays nearby. For a while we all played 'Guess That Song' from my phone's MP3 function; I did pretty darn well, all things considered. Tom came by for a while, as did Lori and her new puppy Ossi. Then two more sailors arrived for our crew: Tyra and Jackie, MMart alumni both! We all had a great time on the patio as the sun went down... with views like this every evening, who wouldn't want to spent most of their summer at Tokyo Joes? Sadly, I had to depart a little after 10pm, leaving Niagara courtesy of my good friend Jason K2K, who had driven down all the way from Georgetown to pick me up... we left Niagara to smooth traffic in his mustang, stopping at Simon's to pick up my gear and make sure the place was locked down. Away we went, and in what seemed like no time at all we were pulling into the quiet neighbourhood where Jay & his wife Ruth-Ann( who I came down last year to be part of their wedding )had made their new home. We chewed the fat until well after 12am, after I was settled into the place quite comfortably. Thanks, guys!
Aug 8 - Georgetown and Home
I slept well, waking at the incredibly late hour of 8am... again in a room with no curtains, but thankfully shaded by a large tree - bliss! Ruth-Ann and Jason shared a lovely breakfast with me in their dining room, replete with oniony potato cakes and tomatoes - delicious! They gave me a tour of their house, which they have been working hard to renovate after moving in only a few weeks ago - I could see the potential in the place, along with the amazingly huge back yard for their two dogs to romp and play in. Lots of work to do, but the place has "good bones" as Jay said, and already looks half-done... a few more months of fine details and it will be stellar. I spent a very pleasant morning with the both of them, but the time came when I had to leave. Jay drove me to Pearson, where we had an interesting time navigating the incredibly confusing concrete labyrinth that had dozens of other vehicles sitting by the roadside confused - I kid you not, I saw people clutching maps and cellphones like they were life preservers thrown to drowning sailors! In any case, we parked and managed to find the check-in desk without too much delay - again, I was Executive class, which apparently came with perks like free drinks at the Exec lounge inside... I decided instead to spend the time with Jay at the Starbucks on the upper level until 3:30, when we parted ways.
Boarding was somewhat annoying, as my gate number changed twice while I was waiting - the plane was delayed by half an hour, and the line to board was a crush of people who didn't pay attention to things like seat numbers or common sense... at least everyone was in a good mood. My seat was one of 16 in the Exec class,
Arrival in Victoria was very pleasant: we broke through the low cloud cover into a brilliantly sunny approach to the Sidney Airport, coming in with the wooded hills and blue waters of the Island feeling very much like home to me. My parents met me on arrival, and I was luggage lucky again: my bag was the 7th off the plane - sweet! Home to unpack and relax...
Doing a vacation on the cheap is no easy thing, so we can all use a little help sometimes. In case you missed it a few weeks ago, here's 50 Tips for Frugal Living, along with a bit about The Cheapskate's Guide to Vacations - spend your money right, not all at once. I'll finish off today by linking to There I Fixed It.com, where creatively cheap solutions to potentially costly problems are presented in photo format. Cheap on!
Aug 9 - Back Home
Today is the second-last day of Anticipation, the 67th annual World Science Fiction Convention, this year being held in Montreal - argh! I tell you, the timing this year was SO frustrating, to have the WorldCon actually in Canada, and not being able to attend! To add to that, my good friend Aaron and his wife Phaedra are there right now - t'would have been fantastic to see them while attending. Ah well... one of the many things I love about conventions are the costumes, usually best seen at the Masquerade, such as this one at ComicCon 2009 in San Diego. There's also this great costume gallery from the same ComicCon - let me know what you think of the folks in this picture!
It was blessedly cool inside my house today, and perfect weather out on the deck. Despite continued news of the wildfires raging on the mainland, things here remain tinder-dry but fire-free for now - the fines for starting a fire have been doubled to over a million dollars and four years in jail, so people are quite edgy and watchful. Living in a province so thickly covered with trees, you really come to appreciate how dangerous it is when everything is bone-dry, waiting for a spark...
I spent a good part of the day relaxing, as well as catching up on various things - I'm printing up some brochures for the business group at the Millstream Village plaza, so some hundreds of those take some time for the laser printer to spit out. Especially when it runs out of toner; fortunately, the inexpensive replacement refills had arrived while I was away, so I spent some time today refilling the things. Which was the easy part - the hard part is perfectly resealing the fill tabs so the ultra-fine toner doesn't leak into the printer as the cartridges are spinning around doing their thing... that's messy. And did I mention that laser toner is carcinogenic? Yeah... so I tried not to spill any, or breathe it in while I worked next to my HEPA air cleaner on the counter. The things I'll do to save a buck these days...
Well, that's the whole enchilada - next week, I'll be trying out a new format as time permits, so we'll see if it works on Blogger.com. If not, I may move the blog...
July 27 - Day Off Online
Oh, where does the time go? I spent a good portion of the day online, talking to my NWN pals while writing up material for our mutual project that I am co-ordinating. That took up far more of the day than I had planned, but we got a lot done so no complaints - it's always nice to work with talented people!
In the evening I put in a little time playing COD4 multiplayer, doing decently well over the course of a few hours with a 1:1 kill/death ratio - much better than my previous solo outings without friendly support. All in the name of getting ready for MW2( COD6, really... )which is slated to hit store shelves Nov. 10th 2009 - you can catch a nice video here; watch it right to the end for a laugh.
The war(s) of the future will be fought in different ways and for different reasons than those we know today. The Cold War was just the start of things, where superpowers gave way to local unrest and smaller actions. This gallery of future war posters I find both funny and sad, as some may come to pass in time... and some of the gadgets of the future are already with us today. I've mentioned exoskeletons before, but it seems that yet again Japan has made great strides towards working prototypes - check out the link and tell me what you think.
July 28 - Getting Around
Tuesdays for me are a lot like Mondays, when I work: the branch opens at 11am. Which means that there are usually a lot of people in the first hour or so, even moreso on Mondays... which means nothing gets done until well after 1pm sometimes. Today was no exception, especially since it is the end of the month looming closely. Between that and having a trainee, I have no time this week to do much at all. I am hard-pressed to get things ready for my departure in a few days, leaving a list of Must Do Things for another manager to ensure the smooth operation of my branch while I am away. Last time, when I had my operation in early June, things were left undone that should not have been, so this time I am determined to walk back into the place as if I have only been away for the weekend - we'll see.
On the subject of travel: in case you haven't already checked it out, head on over to LonelyPlanet.com and see what they have to say about the Pacific Northwest - I'm planning on taking a trip of my own to explore nearby Seattle in the next few months. One reason: they have a Science Fiction Museum there, which apparently you can do a comfortable walk-through on a 3-hour tour... a 3-hour tour... skipper!
July 29 - Scorcher!
The heatwave continues: today was the hottest day ever on record on nearby Vancouver, reaching 33.8 C plus humidity... scorching! No end is in sight for the massive arid weather system crouched over the West Coast... seems I've picked the perfect time to head east, where lower-than-seasonal temperatures promise some relief from what we're getting out here.
It was hot while waiting for the bus on the way home; the bus stop bench was all metal, and so scorching from the sun that just putting my hand near the thing made my skin feel burned. The trip home was fairly quick, but even the short walk to my front door left me drenched in sweat from the heat and it wasn't much better inside, even after 5pm. So I retreated to the basement, where it was 'only' 26 degrees in the storage room. I set up my laptop on a TV table, unfolded a chair, had a few books at hand and a glass of iced tea - the perfect place to wait out the heat. Which turned out to be well after 9pm before things even began to cool off and bearing in mind that everything in the house was still radiating an ambient temperature of 32 degrees F.
Unfortunately, some people decided to take a different tack towards keeping cool - mainly lounging in the lake and on the dock in the park next door until well after midnight. This would be fine normally( despite the fact that the park closes at 9pm )if they hadn't been ignorantly loud the entire time, shrieking and yelling constantly. A few calls to the Park Patrol proved useless, so eventually the police had to escort them from the park... our call was one of five already made about the noise. One of the idiots from the park had the nerve to loudly proclaim "We know who called, but we weren't doing anything wrong!" so that all of our neighbours, who were definitely watching the idiots being escorted away, could hear. Some people's kids... no respect. Or brains.
July 30 - The Day Before
In honour of last night's shenanigans, I dedicate some of today's entry to... Stupid People. Starting off with a general bit of info, it may( or may not )surprise you to know that Stupid People can be anywhere... anyone, really. You may be a Stupid Person and not even know it - though if you're reading this blog, the likelihood of you remaining Stupid for very long is greatly reduced; nice thought, eh?
Many things have been developed to give Stupid People more of an even shake in life, like these product labels - all of them taken from actual products. Which brings us to something closer to my heart: Tech Support, which I had once considered going into as a career... but wisely refrained from aside from the occasional friend or family member. Once you read a few of these actual calls made to Tech Support Reps, you'll understand my choice - despite my excellent communications skills, some people are just not meant to use a computer. Or a coffee maker. Or a manual can opener. Or... anything more complicated than a spatula. Which brings us to the Darwin Awards, where examples of incredible stupidity are documented, so that the human race can appreciate their genome-cleansing final stories. Finally, you can browse Stupidery.com, which is a nice light take on All Things Stupid... duh.
Today was a whole lot of catching up, especially in the morning and late evening, as I worked the closing shift today - just couldn't make it work any other way with the staff shortage we have amongst all the stores. Thankfully, we have a good crop of new staff who will be coming online shortly, we just have to GET there first!
July 31 - Arrival
Up at 5am today, so we could be at the airport for 5:30am - we were right on time. When I headed for the check-in counter, I received quite a surprise: turns out that Martin had given me an Executive-class ticket! So I bypassed the 40 people waiting for the regular seats and walked right up to the Exec clerk; my bags were checked in within a minute and I was on my way to Tim Horton's. I woke up in stages in the nearby lounge, nursing a too-hot tea and watching the sun turn the planes outside into red-lit metal sculptures.
My flight departed on-time at 6:40am, and I spent about 5 hours in-flight overall. For the earlier part of the flight I simply watched the scenery below, as the weather was clear enough to reveal much of the Rockies as I was passing over them. The rest of the flight I watched The Watchmen( pause for pun groans )which at the end I felt had run about 30 minutes too long... and I almost didn't get to see the end, as the film finished as we were on final approach to the airport -talk about timing! After that, I wondered... what other books are still considered 'unfilmable' nowadays? This list may surprise you...
Timing was also good at the baggage claim, where it took only 5 minutes from my arrival in the Claim area until I had my bag in hand; it was the very first one out of the chute! How often does that happen? I then waited about an hour for my ride Brian( who was stuck in the typical nasty T.O. traffic )all of which was spent trying to get a wireless signal working - very annoying, as Victoria's airport has free WiFi throughout, proclaimed on many signs. Pearson has no signs, just a 'Bell Hotspot' that shows up with no page whenever you try to find a network. I even hauled my stuff up to the third level concourse to see if the only Starbuck's outside of the Secured Zone had a wireless access point; nope... maybe this guy was frustrated by the same thing? By then Brian had called me back and I met up with him in the pickup road zone outside the terminal.
By the time we made it to the highway outside, it was past 4pm, and the roads were packed with cars, so much so that I decided time would be better spent seeing a bit of T.O. instead of inching along on the QEW. So we headed southeast into the city, heading all the while towards the slim gleaming silver needed of the CN Tower in the distance. We stopped first at Brian's workplace, the studio where such shows as Stoked and 6teen are made - I got a personal tour! I saw Mike there at his desk too, along with several other folks. What a great place to work, packed full of hard-working creative minds in a funky factory-loft setting. Man, some people have all the luck...
After that, we got into Toronto proper, parking at the Eaton Centre and touring around that a bit - it brought back more than a few memories, though it's been so long since I was there as a child that little of the sense of wonder remains. Outside, we traveled to the Silver Snail, where I ogled the expensive collectables( take a look at the price on this one! )and just enjoyed being in a place of such utter g33k culture - while avoiding some of it's worse examples inside. Heading north among the thronging crowds and taking in the varied sights, we made it to the AGO which unfortunately had closed at 5:30 already. Standing there despondently, I glanced across the street and was stuck full in the face by a sign for The Village Idiot Pub - I knew then where we were eating dinner. It was a great, relaxing time at a pub, one I had not had much of at all while living on my own in B.C. these last 2 years - fantastic! Brian and I whiled away the traffic blues until 7:30pm, when the freeway flow had eased and we were able to make it to Niagara a little after 9pm where I was dropped off at Simon's. I had arrived!
Martin came by soon after, so we shot the breeze for a bit after I thanked him for his enabling me to be in Niagara this summer - what a great guy. Simon's girlfriend Rose was there too, and I had the pleasure of meeting her finally. It was well after midnight local time before we all meandered out of the kitchen into our respective snooze spots. Mine was upstairs in the spare room, whose bed was rather familiar: I had given it to Simon when I left for BC in 2007, and it was a sight for sleepy eyes. I had barely sat down on the bed after unpacking before my lights went out - busy days will do that to you!
Aug 1st - Pre-Wedding
My body clock was off somewhat, but I managed to be awake for 9am... after waiting up at 6am from the light streaming in the windows - no curtains, and my emergency sleep mask had worked its way off overnight, ah well. We did breakfast at The Duck on Ontario St. near the idled GM plant... that was a sad sight to see, those parking lots fenced off and filled with weeds. The Duck itself had not changed a whit: still the same decor from the 70's, lovingly preserved and cleaned from one generation to the next... but I'd rather they spent their monies on the food, which a taste of confirmed when it arrived.
Simon & I drove around for a bit, pickup up a few supplies from the vast shopping bazaar that has taken over the west end of the city off Martindale Road. Such is the future: few enclosed shopping malls are being built now, but instead vast areas of land are being paved to plop down Box Stores and open-air plazas. Instead of parking your car at a mall entrance to shop, you can drive from area to area, store to store and never have to wonder which end of the mall you parked at, ever again. Not something I approve of, having been raised on the infrequent Mall Trip to Toronto, which was always a fun family adventure to discover new places... not quite the same thing as an actual vacation, but far more affordable far more often, I'd wager.
The evening saw perfect weather for a BBQ... so of course one was held, at Simon's! Scotty was there, as was Rose, Rene and Matt K. Steaks sizzled on the barby, beer bottles clinked on the glass table and the twilight crept up upon us unnoticed as we shared stories and sliced steak. The mosquitoes were mostly asleep, as we were hardly bothered late into the evening as we worked our way through the beer in the fridge.
Aug 2 - Wedding!
A somewhat better night led to a good start to the day, when I breakfasted at The Duck again, this time with quite a larger crowd. Simon, Lucas, Dave, Matt, Scotty Rene and I filled a table with talk in the dim interior while the sun blazed outside. Good thing we had a lot to catch up on too, as the power went out in the kitchen and it took 45 minutes for our orders to arrive... the food was worth the wait though. I am gladdened to know that many of my friends get together here on a regular basis, so much so that the waitress knows them all and asked if more would be arriving... again, something I miss out on not living in Niagara any more.
Back to Simon's to get ready for the wedding - shave, shower, slip into the suit and smile at the stranger in the mirror. Off to the nearby QEW towards Hamilton, to slide off to the side at Grimsby and sidle into a parking spot at The Casablanca Winery Inn. We waited just a short while( about one beer's worth )downstairs at the bar, right off the lobby - a good start. Upstairs to take our places in the chapel, which had some lovely stained-glass windows that had little grape clusters and vines on them - again, a nice touch. Soon enough, the family were being brought in, followed by the bridal party... then Nigel appeared, to be followed by the beautiful Shawna. The ceremony itself was heartfelt and lighthearted, accompanied by some excellent musical choices - my favourite was the Star Wars selection near the end, something that may be in my own ceremony, should I ever get to that point in my life. Oh, and it was one helluva kiss too!
The reception was upstairs as well, in a large room with a view towards Lake Ontario to the north. After a short time mingling at the bar, everyone settled in quite nicely into their seats, with each of our tables graced with a nice centerpiece like this one, as well as a black & white photo of a band - more on that later. Speeches followed naturally, along with the opportunity( and method )to make the newlyweds kiss.
Now, I mentioned a centerpiece earlier. This was a large cylinder, filled with about 1.5 litres of water, glass stones at the bottom, orchids and topped with a candle. In order to take the thing home, you had to sing a song selected from those of the band on your table. In our case, we had Huey Lewis... and a table full of guys who didn't want the centerpiece. In the end, it came down to me to sing from "The Heart of Rock & Roll" to save face for the entire table - two other tables didn't do it at all, one declining and the other donating the thing to the serving staff. I did a credible job for the singing, even though I muffed the beginning; thanks to Erik's iPhone, we actually had the lyrics for the song... can you believe nobody at the table could think of a single song by Huey Lewis & The News? Sad, I tells ya...
Dancing. Yep... I danced - a lot. It had dawned on me lately that as I get older, I'll likely be attending fewer and fewer weddings as well as getting less limber. So with that thought, I made it a point to make it out onto the dance floor as much as possible to get my groove on whilst I still could. It also helped that I was attending solo, and that many pretty girls were also dancing in fair numbers - incentive, yes? Even the fairly impressive number of beers I'd had by that point didn't slow me down, as my head felt fine and my feet felt fancy. So I danced, gyrated, spun, smiled and sang into a beer-mike for a few songs... we all had fun, among friends.
I hadn't planned on staying overnight at the Inn, but at the end of the evening I was in the lobby helping Simon get to the room... and almost everyone else had left already - no rides to Niagara left, darn it! So Lucas, Simon and I shared a room... I had the comfy spot on the floor under the TV, which was not exactly good for sleeping. Neither was the snoring emanating from Simon, who had fallen asleep immediately after decorating the bathroom Caesar-style... prompted by the drinking of the centerpiece, naturally. The barrage of sound continued all night long... I took turns with Lucas smacking him with pillows to try to stop the noise, but it was useless - even with earplugs and a towel wrapped around my head, I averaged about 20 minutes of sleep an hour all night long. Ah, friendship...
Aug 3 - Post-Wedding
Groaning and wobbly from the almost total lack of sleep, I made it to breakfast for 10am, beating most everyone else there. Lucas was kind enough to drive me back to St. Catharines, taking the side roads from Grimsby to avoid a solidly-packed QEW - apparently the norm nowadays, though today was the last of the holiday weekend. Driving through the back areas of Niagara, I saw that the low temperatures and constant drizzle had made the vegetation lush and green. In all fact, it closely resembled the BC I had left, which was ironic - hot weather and bone-dry conditions back west, while the east lingered under cooling rainclouds.
I was back at Simon's fairly soon after noon, where I finally had a chance to plug in my laptop and check my email. Waiting in the Inbox was a message from Pierre: quite a few folks were heading to Queenston for a BBQ. Also in there was an email from Dan with his cell, offering a ride to the BBQ, so of course I rang him up ASAP. Luckily he had not left yet, so we stopped for some snackage and then hit the highway for Queenston... or we tried to, as I remembered it was jammed. Instead, off down Glendale for the scenic route to Queenston, which took less time than I had thought.
Nobody else had arrived there yet, so Dan and I scouted out the perfect location: the pavilion next to the playground( to keep an eye on the kids who were coming )along with a portable grill - everything we needed in one spot! Soon after, Pierre & Faith arrived with Juliana in tow, then his friend Trevor( a Drupal specialist )and his family with kids. I guided Mike & his new girlfriend into the parking lot by phone soon after, all the while Pierre was getting the grill prepped. Soon we were all settled, with Pierre's amazing chicken / pork kebabs sizzling on the grill and tons of other foodstuffs scattered among several picnic tables. We were lucky to have Firemaster Pierre there: his smooth work with sticks, brickettes and lighter fluid had the grill running in no time flat, compared to another group at the other end of the pavilion who kept coming over to borrow things from us... and nearly blew up their own grill with a little too much helper fluid. Yipes! The group chatted about many a thing as the day went on, a perfect cloudless wonderland in the green vastness of the park.
Later, Dan was a trooper and drove me into St. Catharines, dropping me off at Scotty's a little before 8pm - Lucas was already there. Scotty tossed some burgers on the BBQ and started up the chimnea, which lent a cheery warmth to the backyard. And what a backyard! Scotty's been hard at work, creating a fabulous cedar deck for his pool... one helluva retreat, I have to say, and with future plans for a hottub, it's quite the place to entertain - did I mention he has a large kitchen too? The burgers were fantastic: cheese and mushroom atop a perfectly cooked patty of Angus beef made the five years since I had my last burger seem like a bad dream.
Aug 4 - A Day With Friends
I had the morning to myself, which I used to catch up on this blog and just read for a bit on the front porch. Towards noon, my friend Matt L2K picked me up to meet Josh & Aria at the Pen for lunch. Faced with all the myriad of choices at the food court, I relented and decided to gnosh on an Angus burger from A&W - I'd had a few bad experiences at some of the other vendors in years past, so I played it safe. As it was, I almost finished it before I gave in to reason and stopped stuffing my face. We retired to some of the nice comfy chairs outside EB Games to chat for a bit, as Aria made friends with everyone around her - it was quite cute. Josh & I related tales of Zartan Toothchipper to Matt, about how the crazed battlerager had the singular distinction of being the only surviving character from start to finish in the campaign - no small achievement, considering we had nearly two dozen players pass through and almost twice as many characters. I still have the campaign notes from the four years I ran it, as well as several abortive attempts at a story from said notes - now that I feel far more confident as a writer, I may soon give it another go to novelize the whole saga.
Later on, Rene picked me up & we headed over to Josh's for 6pm for dinner, first stopping for beer - of course! Rene managed to procure an entire case of Bitter & Twisted, a beer I'd not heard of before now but highly recommend having tasted a few since. We ordered KFC( been years and years since I had any )and watched The Watchmen, which I liked even more the second time around though I feel the 3-hour runtime is still about 30 minutes too long. The evening was a good one, of a kind I've not had for far too long: just spending time with friends at home.
And hidden here in the middle of the blog: here's the bacon... your lips will never be the same!
Aug 5 - Family. Friends. Kilt!
Waking yet again today at 6am, I turned my back to the gathering bright outside and tucked my head back into the pillow. At a more agreeable 9am, I rolled out of bed and faced the day with a somewhat steadier stance. Rene called soon after, arranging to pick me up before heading to the Sunrise Cafe over on Bunting Rd where we were met by Josh. Nothing had changed since I was there last, save the installation of a wheelchair ramp - a sign of the times in the city, with so many people now over the age of 50 years. The food was as I remembered it too: perfectly cooked, tasty and in large quantities - here's a picture of my Sunrise Special, mmm-hmm!
After noon, I was picked up for lunch by my Aunt Connie & Uncle Vince, heading down the crowded QEW to Niagara Falls where we lunched at my Aunt Carolyn's house - both her & my cousin Carla( who is also getting married this summer )were there. We had perfect backyard weather to sit out on the patio by the pool, where I recalled many a summer afternoon keeping cool with cousins and sundry relatives all parked around the decking and under the grape arbor. It actually seemed huge today, with only the five of us there - we've not had a family gathering there for quite a few years now, as most everyone's grown up, or grown old.
In the late afternoon, I was at Somebuddy's in the Falls courtesy of a ride by Dave - the entire parking lot was FULL when we arrived, something Dave said he'd never seen. Thankfully, we spotted a spot right next to the patio, then hopped next door for some Lotto649 tickets for the $35 million draw tonight( I lost ). The live band was not very, but we joined Matt and Sarah K. at a table towards the back, along with Simon, Martin and Rene. Pizza and wings soon appeared to complement the pitcher of Keith's Pale Ale, and I warmed particularly to the Buffalo wings, with a rather good mix of semi-hot spices. I even ran into an old MMart coworker there, so things were rather relaxed and thoroughly enjoyable.
Where did we go after dinner? Off to The Kilt, of course! Things were somewhat slow when we got there for 9:30, but soon enough Honest Frankie had arrived and was set up. Upon spotting me, he exclaimed "Peter? Hey, I thought we got rid of you!" - thanks, Frankie! Missed you too. Quite a few people were there tonight, apart from my friends: this week was the Henley Regatta, which I had forgotten - that's what living out of the area will do for your memory. But we had two booths at the far end of the bar to ourselves, which shrank to one booth as the night went on... then those of us that were left moved into the table next to Frankie to get some real enjoyment out of things! Even when Frankie hauled out the "Seven of Nine" song just for me... it was special, among other things. I left the Kilt happy and grinning for many reasons, not the least of which was the fact that it was still a place that felt like home to me.
Aug 6 - Steebs and risoto
Going to sleep is not the hardest part of heading back east - it's the mornings, as I've said already. I awoke rather groggily, though my luck this week with alcohol has been perfect - no hangovers or ill effects at all, not even a slight headache. If getting your gall bladder out means beer has less of a lingering effect, then I'd recommend it to anyone... but as yet, I have only anecdotal evidence. Which means I'll have to accumulate a larger body of it... more beer, please! And to think that I've spent most of the last year not drinking much at all - and likely will go right back to teetotalership once I ship back out for the coast. Cheaper, really... and I hate to drink alone.
Breakfast AND lunch were both on my ownsome - leftover love from The Sunrise in the form of bacon and home fries, with a later chaser of a ham and swiss cheese sandwich - yum again! I enjoyed just having the day to myself; everyone needs a little alone time on their vacation, and I spent a good portion of mine sitting in the back yard in the shade, drinking iced tea and reading through some of the many books I've acquired since arriving... though truthfully some of them are sneaked from Simon's shelves and have to go back there before I go. Which doesn't mean I can't enjoy them immensely while I have the chance today. Along with a few power naps to catch up on my sleep with, naturally!
It was Starbuck's at the Fairview Mall at 5pm, where Rene & I grabbed a table in a surprisingly light crowd. We were soon joined by Lucas, followed a while later by Brian, Pierre & pal Trevor soon after. Even Shiloh made a brief appearance away from her studies - great to see her! Closer to leaving, Mike made it, along with Scotty... it was a good bunch we had going there, reminding me of old times where we'd all converge on Steebs @ the Fairview, whiling away hours in the evening a few times a month. I hope in the future that I can attend 'virtually' as I had in times past, beamed in via Skype on a laptop... though the background noise usually means that I miss much of the conversation going on. The tech still isn't perfected yet.
Scotty & I departed for Shawna & Nigel's a little after 9pm, heading down into Port Dalhousie and past the still-swarming crowds of rowers from the Henley. We spent some quality time lounging next to the kitchen with beers, while Nigel made a spectacular risoto - it was pure pleasure watching him create the dish, second only to eating it! It was a fantastic evening, spent in the company of great food and even better friends... Nigel floored me by giving over his entire PS2 collection, which he said he'd not used in years - how do you top that kind of generosity? I can't... I can just try to do as well by everyone, and hope the karma works out in the end.
Aug 7 - Books and Tokyo Joes
What's that? Breakfast again with Rene, you ask? Well, sure... when it's at the Lancer on Hartzel, who wouldn't want to dine on a patio under a perfect sky? After breakfast, we took a sideline trip to Booksmart, a new trading / used bookstore at 350 Scott St. in St. Catharines. Bright, roomy and clean, this is my idea of what an independent bookseller should be... though to be fair, most booksellers tend to become crowded with unsold books after a few years. No groaning shelves here yet; all the books were individually priced, with a good selection and most were in excellent shape. But the piece du resistance was what I found just sitting on a shelf: a copy of a book I'd been searching years for, unwilling to pay the exorbitant prices that the few copies on eBay were listing for or buy copies that are in terrible condition. The book is titled Malevil, originally written in France in the 70's and printed in a few English copies over the decades since... and it's a post-apocalyptic novel, naturally - I was thrilled to find it just sitting there on the shelf, and I hope the world doesn't end until I get a chance to read it! As well, I stumbled across this interesting webcomic, again about the what-if-the-world ends... but in a visual format. Check it out, it's rather intriguing.
Afternoon saw another visit with relatives, which was as usual too brief given the last time I saw them. Lucas graciously gave me a ride from there to Port Dalhousie after 4pm with excellent timing - thanks, buddy. We grabbed a table at Tokyo Joes, the newest addition to the Niagara pub scene... and one that floats, no less. Located at the end of Lighthouse road, the restaurant is situated inside a moored ship that also has a large floating patio on the marina side - what a concept! Although fairly large & spacious inside the ship, the real gem of this place is the outdoor patio which in the summer is just the coolest place to be on the water. It also helps that it is away from the crazed crows of Port, where parking and bar space have become rather a premium during the good summer weather.
Soon after we arrived, Martin showed up, as did Scotty - two more welcome additions to our pirate crew, yahar! The sun was shining, the beer was cold and the boats were... bobbing? at the quays nearby. For a while we all played 'Guess That Song' from my phone's MP3 function; I did pretty darn well, all things considered. Tom came by for a while, as did Lori and her new puppy Ossi. Then two more sailors arrived for our crew: Tyra and Jackie, MMart alumni both! We all had a great time on the patio as the sun went down... with views like this every evening, who wouldn't want to spent most of their summer at Tokyo Joes? Sadly, I had to depart a little after 10pm, leaving Niagara courtesy of my good friend Jason K2K, who had driven down all the way from Georgetown to pick me up... we left Niagara to smooth traffic in his mustang, stopping at Simon's to pick up my gear and make sure the place was locked down. Away we went, and in what seemed like no time at all we were pulling into the quiet neighbourhood where Jay & his wife Ruth-Ann( who I came down last year to be part of their wedding )had made their new home. We chewed the fat until well after 12am, after I was settled into the place quite comfortably. Thanks, guys!
Aug 8 - Georgetown and Home
I slept well, waking at the incredibly late hour of 8am... again in a room with no curtains, but thankfully shaded by a large tree - bliss! Ruth-Ann and Jason shared a lovely breakfast with me in their dining room, replete with oniony potato cakes and tomatoes - delicious! They gave me a tour of their house, which they have been working hard to renovate after moving in only a few weeks ago - I could see the potential in the place, along with the amazingly huge back yard for their two dogs to romp and play in. Lots of work to do, but the place has "good bones" as Jay said, and already looks half-done... a few more months of fine details and it will be stellar. I spent a very pleasant morning with the both of them, but the time came when I had to leave. Jay drove me to Pearson, where we had an interesting time navigating the incredibly confusing concrete labyrinth that had dozens of other vehicles sitting by the roadside confused - I kid you not, I saw people clutching maps and cellphones like they were life preservers thrown to drowning sailors! In any case, we parked and managed to find the check-in desk without too much delay - again, I was Executive class, which apparently came with perks like free drinks at the Exec lounge inside... I decided instead to spend the time with Jay at the Starbucks on the upper level until 3:30, when we parted ways.
Boarding was somewhat annoying, as my gate number changed twice while I was waiting - the plane was delayed by half an hour, and the line to board was a crush of people who didn't pay attention to things like seat numbers or common sense... at least everyone was in a good mood. My seat was one of 16 in the Exec class,
Arrival in Victoria was very pleasant: we broke through the low cloud cover into a brilliantly sunny approach to the Sidney Airport, coming in with the wooded hills and blue waters of the Island feeling very much like home to me. My parents met me on arrival, and I was luggage lucky again: my bag was the 7th off the plane - sweet! Home to unpack and relax...
Doing a vacation on the cheap is no easy thing, so we can all use a little help sometimes. In case you missed it a few weeks ago, here's 50 Tips for Frugal Living, along with a bit about The Cheapskate's Guide to Vacations - spend your money right, not all at once. I'll finish off today by linking to There I Fixed It.com, where creatively cheap solutions to potentially costly problems are presented in photo format. Cheap on!
Aug 9 - Back Home
Today is the second-last day of Anticipation, the 67th annual World Science Fiction Convention, this year being held in Montreal - argh! I tell you, the timing this year was SO frustrating, to have the WorldCon actually in Canada, and not being able to attend! To add to that, my good friend Aaron and his wife Phaedra are there right now - t'would have been fantastic to see them while attending. Ah well... one of the many things I love about conventions are the costumes, usually best seen at the Masquerade, such as this one at ComicCon 2009 in San Diego. There's also this great costume gallery from the same ComicCon - let me know what you think of the folks in this picture!
It was blessedly cool inside my house today, and perfect weather out on the deck. Despite continued news of the wildfires raging on the mainland, things here remain tinder-dry but fire-free for now - the fines for starting a fire have been doubled to over a million dollars and four years in jail, so people are quite edgy and watchful. Living in a province so thickly covered with trees, you really come to appreciate how dangerous it is when everything is bone-dry, waiting for a spark...
I spent a good part of the day relaxing, as well as catching up on various things - I'm printing up some brochures for the business group at the Millstream Village plaza, so some hundreds of those take some time for the laser printer to spit out. Especially when it runs out of toner; fortunately, the inexpensive replacement refills had arrived while I was away, so I spent some time today refilling the things. Which was the easy part - the hard part is perfectly resealing the fill tabs so the ultra-fine toner doesn't leak into the printer as the cartridges are spinning around doing their thing... that's messy. And did I mention that laser toner is carcinogenic? Yeah... so I tried not to spill any, or breathe it in while I worked next to my HEPA air cleaner on the counter. The things I'll do to save a buck these days...
Well, that's the whole enchilada - next week, I'll be trying out a new format as time permits, so we'll see if it works on Blogger.com. If not, I may move the blog...
