Weirdos, Writing and Weather

No mention of spiders in this week's blog... though there IS a new entry in my Nemster list...

Oct 13 - Humans... and not.

Newt and John, a webcomic by my good friend Mike, reached their 20th episode milestone today. I've greatly enjoyed their adventures so far, as their antics capture the hilarity of two roomies dealing with bizarre adventures. I should also mention that I have a great custom image of Newt, John and myself in a spaceship, that Mike made as a going-away gift for me last year when I left for B.C. - it hangs proudly by my door, so I can get a grin every time I arrive or leave my home.

Along the same vein, I give you: The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity. Not to be confused with Human Idiocy, or even the silly things people do when they think No-One Is Watching. One VERY early internet List I love is the Evil Overlord List, which manages to combine villainy, cliches and stupidity remarkably well... if you don't laugh, then you haven't thought hard enough about how to take over the world. You should watch a few episodes of Pinky and the Brain, just to see how NOT to go about it... especially if you're two lab mice.

Which brings up movies. Now, I've already posted about how I MUCH prefer to watch movies at home nowadays, so I won't go into that. Here, I will instead briefly blog about Things That Only Happen in the Movies... like every car explodes in a fireball when it crashes, or how locks magically vanish from doors with a few quick shots from a pistol. A show that has done its fair share of debunking movie myths is the much-loved Mythbusters, who by and large have managed credible experiments to test the accuracy of many a Myth. If you visit their site, you can see the many myths they have discussed but NOT brought to the show to test, for various reasons. I guess testing to see if humans mutate into anger-driven giant berserkers after massive gamma-ray exposure would be one of those off-air theories... darn.

Oct 14 - Hard work and gadgets

I had an interesting thought in the shower today, and it was entirely unrelated to hygiene. It occurred to me that everyone who achieves success always includes the phrase "it was a lot of hard work" - we hear it so much but it makes little visual impact. I had the image of a chain hoist pop into my head, like the ones mechanics use to hoist engine blocks. The analogy almost writes itself: the huge, complicated engine needs lots of work and know-how to run, but the initial process of GETTING to it is the hardest work. Each long pull on the chain hoist raises the massive engine a tiny bit, so long minutes of hard work are needed to raise the final product fractionally until one reaches the point where the detail work can begin. It is an analogy I like, and I hope to employ at a future date.

As for the future: I love gadgets, and one of the places I loved to go to FIND gadgets years ago was The Sharper Image, which had a store at the Walden Galleria mall in Buffalo NY. You could wander in, and on every shelf or floor display was a gadget you had never before imagined, or knew you needed, until that moment. Looking back, it is easy to see how most of it was overpriced and usually fufilled only a single, quasi-time-saving. That and Smithbooks were the two main reasons I liked to visit the Walden Galleria... as well as the fact that most of the food there seemed damned cheap compared to Canadian restaurants at the time. Lower standards or higher volume consumption? You decide.

Oct 15 - Writing, yep!

I have been plugging away at various writing projects, but progress has been slow of late - low energy and higher stress levels do not bode well for the creative spark. Still, I have been trying to keep various bits of writing advice in mind, including 'use your mood' to find different aspects of character and story that one would not find if you are feeling happy, energetic and relaxed... none of which relate to grim stories, villains or dire plot threads. So, with that in mind, I have been plugging away at outlined plot points, as well as tossing together little 'pastiche' bits to try and capture the mood at various points in my Novel Story.

One amusing place I have come across is How To Write a Best-Selling Fantasy Novel. Go see it.

Among all the great advice given, one common thread seems to be "You won't likely get rich from writing," which is fine by me... Fame, Fortune and Respect do not always go hand in hand, with J.K Rowling as the glaring platinum Ideal of Writing Success that everyone else has to try to follow. I figure if I can say what I want to say, in a way that other people want to read, and that brings in a little income, then all for the good. Like the other writers state, everyone is full of great ideas, so it is the few who learn to use the TOOLS of writing to HONE their skill, that will bring those with Talent to the top of the heap... with a little luck. *grin*

So if you cannot tell your adjectives from your adverbs, or what narrative perspective to use, or even notice why your page-long paragraphs seem to be boring people... then perhaps writing is not in your cards. So go be a professional poker player instead - from what I hear, your odds of success are much higher!

Oct 16 - Triad Thursday of Stress

Well, today COULD have been the day from hell, but it worked out nicely when all was said and done, despite a lot of unavoidable stress. Right after I opened the store, who showed up but... a company auditor! We had been warned that this week was a likely time for an audit, which they do quarterly( or more often )so I was not as dismayed as I could have been. Still, it meant I spent most of my day worrying that we had forgotten some detail that would crash our overall score - not having a manager at the branch will make you thing like that.

Adding to the joy was a visit by the head honcho for all of BC for our company, attended by our district manager. He was nice, but I got the impression of laser eyes noting every tiny flaw in the branch, and likely an unconscious urge to slip on a pair of dapper white gloves to run along the counters for dust. Still, I was busy enough that everyone stayed in the background doing their thing and not underfoot or looking over my shoulder, which was nice...

Did I mention yet that Crazy Lady came in today TOO? Yes, she managed to add to the Stress Triad today by coming in for NO reason other than to ask the most inane question I've heard YET. Apparently her sister, which she sent the money transfer to last week, is not in the UK but Zimbabwe... so she wants ME to call Western Union to ensure the transfer is 'held' ... and ALSO she did NOT want ANY calls made to HER residence about it! Apparently she is doing this on the sly... which I do not care a whit about, only that she vacate the branch and stop bothering me. Especially with inane questions and demands that I have NO ability( or desire )to fulfill, even if I wanted to. Amusingly, the Head Man from Head Office( heh )tried to break into the conversation, but backed off quickly as the Insane Gaze rolled in his direction... kind of like seeing that normal-looking dog in the park turn around to reveal the foam dripping from its jaws. Yeah.

Anyway, she left, the rest of them left... and then I left, to sprawl at home in a daze before relaxing with a few episodes of Atlantis. The second season has a commentary for almost EVERY episode, which is amazing - some of the details and directorial chatter is simply fascinating, as it shows how MUCH thought goes into every episode, and how you never catch some of it as it goes by so fast on-screen.

Oct 17 - Is it Day-ta or Dah-ta?

The morning vanished quickly getting the usual household doings done, then it was off to work. Fortunately, it was another nice day out; I have yet to run into the chill combination of very cool weather and rain, so cross yer fingers, as biking in that is no fun at all.

I found out today that the branch hours will be changing again in November, which will be for the better in several ways. Not the least of which is that I can sleep in EVERY day now, and manage to get home early enough to catch an hour or so of daylight around dinner - nice in the winter!

I've been looking at some storage options for my data for some time now, as I always like to have backups handy in case of disaster. Up to this point, that has always meant storage on an external hard drive, or putting critical files like family photos on DVD; annoying given their 'small' capacity, which meant a few years ago after a PC went wonky that I used THIRTY DVD's to back up and then restore my data. Impossible today, as I have ten times the data stored now as I did back then.

One solution may be a FREE service called aDrive.com, which gives ANYONE free online storage - 50 gigabytes worth! Their business model is based on duplication; they predict that among their entire userbase, many users will have copies of the same file, so all that aDrive has to do is determine that yes, two files ARE the same, and store just ONE copy while allowing both users to access it. In this way, the 'actual' space used by files such as MP3's or YouTube videos is greatly reduced. Nice, and if it keeps the service FREE, then I am all for it!

Oct 18 - Leafing Sunny

Cold this morning, not TOO bad at 7 degrees C, cold enough to see your breath though. The leaves are falling in small drifts along the roadside, though many trees are still quite green and leafy. I did see the most massive Canadian maple leaf today - the thing was as large as my two spread hands together! Wow! It could almost serve as a plate of sorts, though being dead and slight decayed might put a person off.

The sun is blazing outside, albeit without a lot of warmth... and people are smiling! I've always been fascinated by how people's moods and the weather are related, so today goes a long way towards adding data to that file. Without exception, every single customer today has been smiling, even the usually dour regulars, and all of them are busily scurrying about Doing Things.

It's amusing to see how quickly we get busy when the sun comes out... and odd how busy we remain when it is raining - my theory is that people don't like being 'trapped' at home on rainy days, but instead want to get out and shop or socialize at a mall or coffee shop. Group social dynamics is a fascinating field, which has elements of psychology and statisical analysis that combine in interesting and unusual ways.

Oct 19 - Sunday Harry

The third of my Month of Sundays today, and it was Not Too Bad. Relaxing, actually, as it was steady enough a flow of customers to make the clock move nicely towards closing time. I still love the fact that I have such a great view - the branch is located near a major intersection, and I have previously mentioned that a bus transfer point is next to the plaza too. Lots of activity to watch, which is great - no view of the mountains mind you, but it beats hell out of the backside of a building.

My neighbours are HUGE fans of Harry Potter, so when I ran into one of them on the stairs today, of course the topic ran to old Harry. Seems the latest film has been delayed until spring 2009, which still gives us( my neighbours )time to 'catch up' on all the previous films in HD - thanks for the sale, Amazon! I still find it odd that so many HD-DVD's are still so pricey, even six months after the annoucement that Blu-Ray had won the DVD War in early 2008. Which annoys me still, as Blu-Ray is still quite feature-sparse compared to HD-DVD; being able to pop up a scene menu WHILE still watching a movie is immensely liberating, as were other features of HD-DVD. Again, the Market Has Spoken, not the techs... too bad. My experience has always been that people will buy whatever's cheapest, and learn to live with it - hello, Dollar Stores.

Notice how the links tapered off towards the end, and the last entry had NO links at all? Ta!

Niagara Trip 2008

Prepare yourself… I had a bit more free time this week, while on vacation. Which means I managed to pack a LOT more into the blog – a lot more happened too, so there’s balance! To help out, I have highlighted the wedding-related entries in blue text.

Sept 8 - The Saga Begins

My first day of vacation, finally! I made a nice relaxed breakfast( with turkey bacon of course! )and just tried to chill for a few hours to unwind from the long weekend.

The day was spent packing, on and off, as I dug things out of corners and cupboards to make a tidy pile for stuffing into luggage later. I took a break in the late afternoon, forced to do so by work - was there any surprise?

I was dropped off at the airport in plenty of time, a little after 9pm. I checked in at Sunwing, remembering only AFTER I had parted with my luggage that I was supposed to lock it. Oops. So I spent over an hour worrying about it, then forgot to worry as I sipped on a Tazo Chai latte, courtesy of the nice lady who opened up the sole Starbucks counter early just for me – I love B.C. folks more and more. I was so relaxed that I almost forgot that I had not yet passed through Security, so at 11:30pm I snapped out of my torpor and trundled to the checkpoint to partially disrobe in the hopes that flashing detector lights would not point out my ignorance of change in my pockets – didn’t happen, I was happy. Then only a few minutes waiting in the Departure Lounge before boarding, almost on time. It was amusing to watch the other passengers in various states of semi-consciousness, considering that I was rather stoked on caffeine which I never drink after 6pm, just because it keeps me up far after midnight if I do.

I was sandwiched into the window seat, per my request… forgetting yet again the law of averages. My two seatmates were a lovely, quiet older couple… who were quite disabled in terms of mobility. So, I was trapped in my seat the entire flight, as the man took at least ten minutes to work up to the effort of hauling himself from his seat – he was unable to do up his belt without help too, for that matter. Nice and quiet the entire flight too, I have to say. I was especially pleased to see that the only crying baby on the flight was far to the back, barely in earshot – I would have knelt to give thanks right then, but the fold-down tray blocked my attempts.

The short hop from Victoria to the Vancouver stop was barely an eye blink, and reminded yet again that ALL of my flights to and from B.C. have been in the dark – I have yet to see my new home or the surrounding area in daylight. Odd, but there it is… Vancouver was a sea of lights, spread out light jewels in the perfect night that glowed with the yellow and cold white of the sulfur and sodium streetlights. I was amazed at the clarity of the night: no clouds marred the tiny perfection of the scenes spreading out below as I arrived and left a city I had yet to set foot in – the mountains and waterways were of course invisible to me, sadly. Maybe another time.

Sept 9 - Back In Niagara

We were in the air again shortly after 1:30am PST, at which point I set my watch forward 3 hours to EST. I managed a few hours sleep from 5am to 7am EST, then was gently elbowed awake by my seatmate in time for breakfast – I chose the poached eggs over the waffles, as syrup and I have always had a messy history, especially in close quarters. Delicious too – who would have thought that a hot breakfast would have been part of such a low ticket price I paid?

The flight landed on time, and the shuffling horde made it out of the plane in decent order… except for me, as I was still trapped next to the nice-but-motively-challenged couple. The gentleman eventually managed to haul himself out of his sea far enough to let his wife and I pass, which was great as I had not planned on spending my first half-hour back in Ontario trapped in an airplane seat. The baggage claim was much faster, as I managed to be one of the first people to grab n’go – there's a first time for everything, I guess, and some balance too.

The airport shuttle was another matter; since Enterprise was off-site, I had to find their shuttle pickup spot… which turned out to be as herculean a task as snapping a picture of both Bigfoot and Jimmy Hoffa together. After taking a pedestrian tour of the entire Pearson Parking Garage’s lower level without spotting any sign of an Enterprise shuttle( heh, Star Trek… )I relented and called them for further clarification. Turns out that the ‘designated pickup point’ was an unmarked, glass and grey-panel bus stop in the furthest corner of the garage, with NO arrows, signs or other markings leading to it or on it. Intuitive, I guess, for the psychics among us. In any case, I walked all the way BACK there, and All Was Well. The trip to St. Catharines was uneventful too, with the sun shining and traffic flowing like a sparkling steel river along the QEW as I left T.O. at 10:30am. Though I do not miss travelling on the QEW, I do recall with fondness many a trip to the Eaton Centre as a kid - a trip to the Big City was always exciting.

I rolled into St. Catharines before noon, going straight to Rene’s where the trooper had stayed up from his night shift to greet me and make sure I arrived all right – thanks, bud. I settled myself in, then headed out to make a few stops.

Barely an hour in town, and I got a call from Shawna asking about how to fix her computer… see any patterns here? Turns out it just needed a dusting, easy to diagnose over the phone. Simple fixes; love that.

I stopped in at The Prince early in the day, to say hello to the Supers there. They were surprised to see me but very pleased nonetheless, so we spent a little while catching up in the office. I have to say the place looked great, with numerous cosmetic upgrades that added touches of class to the building. Great folk.

On my way to the Falls to get measured for the first tux of my life, I stopped first at the Welland Ave M.Mart to say hello to the girls. As I pulled up to park, a stylish and shiny black car zoomed into the spot next to me. With visions of Yakuza gunmen, I warily exited my car… to be greeted with a squeal of “Peter!” – it was Katie! Apparently she had spotted me turning into the lot, recognizing me despite a goatee, a rental car and not seeing me for nearly a year. We chatted for a bit, delighted to have run into each other so soon, and I had a look at tiny Annabella in the back, asleep… much as I felt I needed soon, having got 2 hours in the last 30 myself. That car seat looked awfully comfortable in the shady sunlight – lucky kid.

The tux measuring in the Falls went well, with the clerk commenting that the measurements I had sent in( that I had don myself )would have better suited a skinny gorilla than a human being. I agreed, and asked if he had ever measured a gorilla – we both got a laugh over that.

Once I was back from my measuring, I settled into my room – the air bed was comfortable, but had an odd tilt to the left. After a nap of a few hours, I had dinner with Matt L. and his wife Suzette at their place on Roehampton, only a few doors down from my old haunt at The Prince. It was a great dinner( thanks guys! )and we all had a blast in each other’s company.

I arrived at the Kilt a little after 8pm; Brian was already there. Amazingly, within a short period of time many people showed up: Dan, Mike, Pierre, Al… even John and his new beau Amber. We took over two booths under the projector screen and had a blast until midnight – I was touched that so many had come out just to see me on my first night in town, even with the ‘official’ Kilt night being Wed.

Sept 10 - Lunch, and Kiltage

Well, I wanted to sleep in today, and I did - with a vengeance. I hit the hay last night around 2:30am, which with the time difference was an early 11:30pm for me PST. I woke when Rene rolled in from work around 7:30am, then went back to sleep for what I thought was a few hours... But the clock read 11am when I finally opened my eyes!

Both Rene and I went to meet Tim at Coppola's for lunch, very conveniently located at a 2 minute walk on Carlton Ave. My old school-mate Luigi runs the place, and I have only heard good things - today's lunch did not disappoint either! A chicken club on foccacia was delicious with a a Caesar salad, and the other guys were both ecstatic about their meals. The waiter was very attentive, refilling drinks before being asked and amazingly, spotting that I hailed from B.C. - without being told! He said it was my happy and relaxed attitude... something that I apparently picked up after leaving ON. Without trying, I might add.

I was at the Kilt again for 6pm, and again Brian was there soon after – I envy him the ability to make his own hours, as I hope to do so for my own career sooner rather than later. Working for The Man stinks, most days.

People. TONS of people. Almost everyone I had sent an email to arrived tonight. Brian, Lucas, Shawna, Nigel, Katie, Dan, Simon, Matt L. plus the M.Mart girls: Rose, Tyra, Jackie, Ashley and her friend Amanda. The most lovely surprise was seeing Jen again, who has taken the plunge into real estate after leaving M.Mart a few years ago to get married, among other things. Being an idiot, I forgot to post my Itinerary to F.Book, but Jen figured it out anyway... smart, smart girl, she is.

Honest Frankie was playing tonight, and we caught up in between sets – it was great to see and hear him perform again live – a bit of Niagara I had missed greatly in B.C.

Sept 11 - Emotional Gifts

It is strange being a tourist in my old home town. In many ways, it feels as though I have never actually left – all the major bones are there, the trees, the views, all that. Yet surgery is underway on the QEW, quite a few other small changes are taking place across the city as well. Some stores are closed, new ones open... the streets are still crowded at the usual bottlenecks.
Plus, it feels DRY here – not the humidity, that’s much the same soupy-feeling air. No, after the lush foliage of B.C., even the thousands of trees I see fall short of the riotous splendor that fills Victoria from end to end with a million shades of green and all the colours in between. At least the weather for these two days has been beautifully sunny, though the forecast for the weekend is sadly for showers… such is the luck of weddings this time of year. Though considering the wet summer they have had in Niagara so far, it may not have mattered much this year anyway.

Part of my day was spent dithering, about spending. For some time now, my home PC has been hampering my work efficiency, as its relative antiquity means I can perform only a few tasks at a time and other things take far too long overall as it is. So, I have been debating getting a new PC, though the expense has had me balked for the last long while – after all, I am a master at making my current stuff stretch to avoid expensive upgrades. The Blue Frankenstein currently has parts from six different computers in it, and has served me well... but its time has passed.

But, today I fell in love… well, had my jaw drop anyway. Over at Best Buy, my eye was caught by a snazzy Gateway laptop - there is a favourable review of it here. Now, I am the last one to say “I need a laptop” as it usually means a compromise, AND a whack to the wallet but this thing had my number – it could do everything I wanted it to for getting my work done more efficiently, not to mention being about ten times faster AND smaller than my current PC. Heck, its portable – meaning I can do my work anywhere, much as I had been doing with my PDA to get blog ideas down… and then fighting to transfer them to my PC without enabling all sorts of errors( see previous blogs for that ). The clincher in the deal today? I could walk out the door with this beautiful machine, for a price that had me blinking in shock, and not pay anything, not even interest, for a whole year. I was sold, so was the laptop, and I cheered. Then I felt an awful twinge of phantom pain near my wallet, so I limped to the car, still grinning like a fool.

I also shopped again for a wedding gift today, but was hampered by the fact that all of the gifts at The Bay were already purchased from the Registry there. I did not find anything I liked at the Pen, but like an idiot I did not check Sears to see if they were registered there as well – I found out on the wedding day that there were, so I could have saved myself some searching. Ah well… not like I do a lot of weddings, but I will chalk this one up to ‘learn for Next Time, dork.’
I picked up my tux in the late afternoon, at Caswell’s in the Falls. It was amazing; I felt like an ad spokesman for Gary Waters when I looked into the mirror after the fitting was done. I expected to look like the classic ‘penguin’ tux wearer: a lot of black, some white, and lots of shiny. Instead, an elegantly-trimmed man stared back at me, done up to the nines as though for the Oscars. Wow!

I had dinner at my aunt’s in the Falls shortly after, where we spent a lot of great hours reminiscing about the family history. There is a lot of history at that house in particular, where most of our italian family gatherings have been held: birthdays, Easter, Christmas, etc... dozens of times in my life that place has been packed to the gills. Especially the couches after dinner, where all the older uncles snoozed after the heavy feasting.

What I loved best though, was going through my grandfather’s poetry, the works that he had written to my grandmother during their courtship and other pieces too. They have both since passed on, with his death shortly before my birth in 1973. I was stunned to see so many similarities in our writing styles: the same unconscious choice of verse and measure to the poems we both wrote, much as my own father wrote poetry to my mother – and still does. Even our handwriting was similar in many ways, down to the little quirk of running out of room at a line’s end and cramming the words in as catch can. A bold hand, looping and sacrificing refinement for speed to keep up with our thoughts. Again, I felt saddened that I never had the opportunity to meet this wonderful man, my namesake, who must have posessed many of the qualities I value in myself today. That lack is one of the very few things I regret in my life, and his.

As I left the dinner, I noticed that the two gas stations on Thorold Stone Rd & Montrose were lined up. Luckily, two motorcyclists were talking next to me at the light, and I overheard how gas was predicted to spike thanks to Ike( heh, it rhymes! )tomorrow. So I pulled in and filled up, next to a guy with an SUV who was complaining loudly about the cost at $1.25 cents. So I cheerily explained that gas in B.C. was up to $1.45, so that snapped his mouth shut in a hurry. The cyclists were right too; gas went up to $1.38 the next day… which stinks, because after this trip is over I will have had to put an entire tank into the rental – but at least it was cheaper tonight to fill.

Later that night I went to Faith and Pierre’s place, where I met Mike’s girlfriend Lisa, who was still nice to me despite being warned by Mike – she seems VERY nice. Dan was there, as was Brian, and a chocolate fountain. After some herculean efforts, the chocolate began to flow, to the delight of all who dipped various fruits and confections into its sweet dark drippings. Talk turned to tech, of course, including discussion of putting up the website they had all created for my birthday a few months ago. As well, Pierre pointed out a great, inexpensive quality microphone that I can use for my voice acting work – since I have a nice, quiet laptop now to work with, I should be able to create MUCH better recordings than with my loud 12-fan Blue Frankenstein PC.

Sept 12th - Retro Games Night

Rene had kindly made enough breakfast for two, so I dined on a splendid omlette that really got the day off to a good start. Room service with a smile! Thanks!
I headed out ‘early’ today; well, early for me, as the 9am start here was still 6am for me PST. I went straight to the pen Centre, determined to get a worthy gift for the wedding and still not deterred by the fact that the tiny Registry had been 99% bought up already. After some searching, I found a multitude of perfect related gifts and had them wrapped together at the Customer Service desk, where the nice lady commented mine was the heaviest gift she had ever wrapped… but that her expertise was such that she never once had to lift or flip it. She deserved the tip, as that was one HEAVY box, I tell you… and I hope, HOPE that the newlyweds can make use of the items. You never know...

I had lunch at Café Amore with some relatives, which turned into a have-to-go-now-its-3pm visit – nice, but I did not want to overstay my welcome, much as I love them all.

It was raining spiritedly on the way to the Falls as it is wont to do in Niagara. Unlike Victoria, whose rain is almost apologetic in how it falls gently then vanishes, rain here in Ontario is like that neighbour next door who likes his wrestling on TV: loud, annoying, and lasts FAR too long.

It must say as well that I am less than impressed with my rental car, a Pontiac G5 – the Info button on the steering wheel tells me that I am averaging 8.8L per 100 km… which is sad. It’s a nice little car, but I have been watching the gas gauge drain with something akin to horror, given the current gas prices. By the time I return to T.O. I think I will have to put another half-tank into it, which is frustrating compared to my old ’94 GrandAm’s gas-sipping ways.

The Guys Games Night was a blast. Jason had printed off some old arcade game cabinet shapes, complete with art that we cut out laboriously with scissors… and did not end up using due to a lack of solid posterboard backing. Ah well. My Galaga score came close to beating Jason’s three times, but I gave up as I developed a habit of reaching for a nearby raid can as the pressure mounted in the endgames. We switched instead to Forgotten Worlds, another old Capcom game that I had missed with a vengeance – Jason and I made it through to the end, which elicited much cheering on my part – it made up for my utterly hopeless attempts at conquering Ghosts and Goblins, which remains to this day one of the trickiest arcade games one can try to master.

A brief interlude had me trying out the Nintendo Wii in a few games of tennis, where I have to say I was impressed with the ease with which one can ‘jump into’ the game with the Wii’s motion-sensitive controller. Slamming a backhand to spin a ball just inside the line, far out of reach of your opponent is a thrill when you DO it, not just slapping some buttons and moving a joystick. Cool!

I also hooked up my laptop to the LCD projector during the break and played a few videos: Kiss a Wookie, Star Wars Hands, and a few others too.

We ended the night with a three-person adventure in Gauntlet II, where I cracked up the other guys with my dead-on impression of the ‘game voice’ saying things wholly inappropriate to the game… “Wizard needs food, badly!” We played until we were cross-eyed, and called it a night.

Sept 13th - Rain and Rehearsal

Breakfast today was at the Sunrise Café on Bunting Rd. Brian was there of course, as was Scotty – great to see him, as I had not seen much of him in the last few years. We used to hang out downtown at the Celtic Knot, before it became The Office – their Meat Pie Special was an amazing deal and always tasted great with a ton of hot gravy on the fries. Not that I would be able to eat it anymore, but some good times, especially one time at New Years… ah well. I ended up taking a tour of Scott’s place to see all the renovations he has done – it looks great, and of course it eats up all his spare time… which is just Scotty SOP, as usual. Ah, homeowners…
I was in the Falls before 4pm to help out with some of the final things for the wedding, including neat fans – this involved stylish fake leaves, ribbons and lovely paper cardstock that somehow combined into a tasteful and functional gift for the wedding guests. Combine that with a bottle of spring water each, and they were set for the hot weather tomorrow. Good planning, K2K’s !

Around 5pm all of us, the wedding party and family, went for a convoy drive out to Jordan for the rehearsal, as well as to familiarize ourselves with the route and destination too. Turns out that the Cave Springs Vineyard is on the very same road as Camp Cave Springs, where my entire Grade Eight class went for a few days in late spring. Memories of green hair, arrows fired straight up into the air and firelight tales of horror made me grin – too bad my camera was back at Rene’s or I’d have snapped a few images for the album.

Everything looked great, though the raining grey skies were ominous above the gentle green rows of vines all around. It was very quiet and peaceful… too quiet as it turns out, for the CSV folks had forgotten to open the reception hall for us to practice in. A phone call soon had that sorted out, and we all went in out of the rain to toss umbrellas into a large dripping corner pile.
Rehearsal went well, as things were fairly simple. I only had to worry about seating the guests and looking pretty, both of which should not be mutually exclusive. There was room for all.
We were done dinner before 9, and I was heading back to St. Catharines before 10pm. I met up with Lori, Brian and Rene at the same Ontario St. Timmy’s, where we jawed until well after midnight. I was pleased to see Lori doing so well; her new high-tech pump seems to be doing her a world of good.

Sept 14th - Wedding Day!
After a somewhat fitful sleep( a little too warm, actually )the hour was but 8am( 5am PST )when I broke from my slumber to get a rush on the day. I was ready and in the car by 9:15am on the way to the Falls, all my gear in a travel bag and my tux hanging smartly in the back. After changing at Jason’s mom’s place, I followed him up to Jordan, where we parked in the very smart lot of the Inn On The Twenty and then boarded the limo. By sheer co-incidence, the driver of the other limo, a Rolls-Royce, was none other than my former high-school principal! We caught up briefly after the ceremony... small world.

Amazingly, on the way to the vineyard the weather cleared! It was humid as a rainforest, but the skies were blue and the sun shone down clear on the gathering shortly before noon. Wisely, the decision had been made last night for an indoor ceremony, and that kept us out of the mud in mid-vineyard today. A constant, heavy breeze cooled everyone inside the building, though it meant that we had to pile rocks from a nearby drain to keep the tent outside from leaving on its own!

The ceremony itself was beautiful. Myself and the best man Bob led the bride’s mother up, followed by the bridesmaids, including several cherubic young flower girls who also brought up the rings to give to the two mothers. Then the bride was led to the altar by her father and given away, all the while among rapt attention of the crowd. Did I mention that most of the musical tracks playing for the wedding were Enya? THAT made me grin… seems I am not the only one who finds her work tugs at the emotions, as well as helping one to relax in such a stressful world.
Jason only managed to get halfway through his vows before he started misting up from the emotion, but he soldiered on and kept steady to the end. Ruth did not waver, but they were both very emotional yet hung on to retain composure before having to face towards the gathering. The minister was very good, keeping things going smoothly and helped by both a palpable yet gentle presence and a carrying voice. Ruth looked lovely in her dress, smiling radiantly after despairing last night that it would be a dull and grey wedding day. Jason looked happy too, grinning from ear to ear, though he too was suffering in the torturous personal sweat-suit of a tux.
Pictures outside were splendid in the shining sun, though I discovered later that I had managed to get a mild sunburn despite my sheen of sweat. Did I mention sweat? It was hot in that tux. I had rivers of sweat coursing over me, so much that I could feel myself dehydrating just standing there. I managed to cool down a little from the oven I was in on first arriving with a combination of shade, water and removing my layers down to the shirt and suspenders before the main ceremony started and I had to layer it all back on. I have NEVER been that hot before yet been unable to do anything about it except sit and take it, though nobody commented that I started to look like a red tomato, so I managed to give a graceful impression, I guess. I was also impressed with the tux shirt I was wearing: despite the massive sweat injection, it did not show any of it – turns out it was some kind of microfiber polyester. Which explains the heat and lack of breathing capabilities, like cotton has… ah well. It looked good regardless, and that’s all that counts.

We headed back to the Inn On the Twenty for the reception soon after 1:30, after all the requisite pictures had been snapped. The reception went smoothly as well, with everyone seated and even the small children co-operating for the most part – high energy, extreme youth and weddings are not a great mix most days.

Jason had created a multimedia presentation set to music, showing images of himself, Ruth-Ann, friends and family from all the stages of their lives. It was beautifully done, with stunningly professional wipes, dissolves and other media touches that had the whole room sitting in rapt attention. He even had a pic of me in there, though it was just my Facebook one – it has been so long since we last got together that he has no digital pictures of me at all!

Dinner was great, and not too involved, which I loved. Being used to massive Italian weddings with far too many courses of far-too-delicious foods, it was great to see a simple, elegant menu of delicious food that did not take hours to dig through yet still left one smiling and satisfied. I also managed to gravitate from usher, to Best Man, to Groom in the course of the reception – when entering the room, the M.C. announced ME as the Best Man( oops! )and at one point, with the guests clinking their glasses for a kiss, Ruth-Ann looked around and since Jason was out of the room, planted the kiss on me! Talk about whirlwind romances…

It was all over by about 5pm, with the guests leaving with grins on their faces as the bridal party and family transferred across the street to the elegant Inn On The Twenty. I lugged my gift around a few more times, and wished whoever had the job after me luck with their back. It was just starting to rain as I left, the big fat drops spattering my windshield as if to say “See? We waited as long as we could and BOY are we glad we could get on with things now!”

I headed to the Fairview Starbuck’s soon after 8pm, to sit for some hours and type up this blog – at almost 6,000 words, it took a while to add and edit it. The wind was gusting rather fiercely, flinging tree limbs about and lashing the passing rain at me as I ran to and from my rental car.

On the way back, the wind was still in full force. So much so, that as I turned onto George St off Carlton, a tree branch cracked and fell in the street about fifty feet ahead. Now, when I say tree branch, I meant limb. A BIG limb. Say, about thirty feet long / wide as the street, weighing in the several-hundred-pound, crush-your-car-roof-like-tinfoil category of limb. I pulled up and stopped, then got out to ask if another guy standing at the end of his driveway was OK, as he looked a little stunned. Turns out he had just turned UNDER that very limb to pull into his driveway and park – seconds later the limb lost its battle with gravity. He soon calmed, and after I took a picture or two( see below )we parted company, with me telling him to buy lotto tickets ASAP! Talk about car-ma!
Damn, I hate being reminded about my own mortality like that. So I took advantage of Rene’s cable TV and watched most of Tank Girl on Teletoon – Lori Petty’s wacko over-the-top performance always cheers me up, despite the poor plot choice of the Ripper’s zoo origins. One of these days I am going to have to pick up the original comic, which I have heard is ten times better than the movie adaption. Go figure.

Sept 15th - The Wrap-up

Up and bleary-eyed for 8am…. then 8:30am after a failed attempt to rouse from bed. I met Brian, Pierre and Josh at the Sunrise Café less than an hour later. It was like old times, save for the fact that Mike was not there… but that’s a 9-5 job for you. We talked about quite a bit of tech, including our thoughts on the Church Of The Banana and how to develop it into something that may one day, with luck, provide some kind of income for us. Of course, we bandied stories about of the various ‘Got Rich by Luck and Skill’ internet multi-millionaires, and I have to admit I heard a few new stories. One such was the guy who parlayed a cell-phone ringtone site into a blog site worth tens of thousands per month. Another was TechCrunch, a blog that gets over a million hits a day. – you can imagine the kind of revenue THAT generates from ads on their site.

I delivered the tux in the Falls then hit the QEW around 2:30pm, passing over the Skyway and getting a fantastic sunlit vista of St. Catharines. Brock slouching on the Escarpment far to the left, panning towards the lake across a vista of pale buildings poking through a sea of green treetops. To the right, Lake Ontario sparkled a deep blue and far across its azure surface Toronto gleamed tiny and bright in the sunshine. Beautiful, even with the scars of local construction appearing ahead.

Travel time was excellent; as I had expected, the traffic jams were all going OUT of Toronto – the ride in was smooth and jam-free. I stopped for an early dinner at the Erin Mills Town Centre just off the 403, minutes from the airport. I remembered a restaurant there called J.J. Tapps, which was unique in that it was a multi-level eatery that took up both the upper and lower floor of a section near the food court. Sadly, things had changed somewhat since my last visit of ten years past – it was now a Pickle Barrel restaurant, and though it still sprawled over several levels, the upper had been disconnected from the lower so that the unique glass-block stairs would not take you winding through the place until you emerged on the second level of the mall. A pity; the design made for a light and airy restaurant, with a waterfall dropping through the entire height of the place – it was now a 'water feature' and much shorter. Change can be cruel to fond memories... but the maple salmon dish was fantastic, and so much could be forgiven on a happy, full stomach.

I took the rental shuttle to the airport after dropping off the car, and settled in to wait near the closed Sunwing Airlines counter around 6pm. After about 45 minutes, I realized that the counter was NOT going to open, despite the many lights. So I trundled quite a ways away, following a tiny electronic sign to discover the actual, active boarding lines, which moved quite quickly. Security was a breeze, despite my glasses falling off my tray and almost being crushed by the rollers. A quick stop for a tea from Tim Horton’s, and I settled into the lounge with well over an hour before boarding began. Despite the lingering smoke in the air from the nearby cookery( quite strong, actually )I dragged a chair over to the only power outlet in the entire lounge and set up to type this remaining entry as my laptop sipped at the tasty current as it typed awkwardly.



Whew! That’s it… a week packed into one blog. Thanks again to ALL of you, my friends, who went out of their way to spend some time with me this week in Niagara. A very special thanks to Rene, who lost sleep in order to host me comfortably and actually get some talk-time in there too. Jen, it was amazing that you were able to make it to the Kilt – your deductive powers triumphed over my innate lack of preplanning to get ahold of you. Thanks to Rene too, for his great comments about this week's blog - miss ya bud! Pics will be updated once I finish learning how to get Imageshack to do thumbnails...