Merry Christmas!

Please enjoy some pics of the best gingerbread men ever.

Onviously this should get you in the mood for the holidays, I do love this time of year, turkey, family, and presents.....sweet!

The Star Wars

Well since Ben won't blog about it I guess I will.... a group of us went to the Star Wars concert and it was good!

Hearing and seeing and actual orchestra play all the Star Wars themes was awesome! Huge surprise (to us any way) was that Anthony Daniels was MCing the thing! Very cool and actually quite cheesy.

Please enjoy some pics of nerds/fans

Movie stars?

This is what we came home to tonight ..... Lights, cameras, and ACTION! We couldn't figure out what exactly this was for or which high powered celebrity was there, but clearly it was "something", more news when we get it.

Oh yeah, the last time this happened it was for a Tori Spelling tv movie, so you know, our hopes are high.

New stuff!

So, still using the phone for updates, so far so good though I don't kid myself into thinking this will be a daily update or anything....

New stuff! We went to Montreal for an out of town date and to visit Nate, Christine and the kids, so sad that sickness got in the way of the visit (we really missed you guys!) the rest of the trip went well though, we got a great deal on the hotel by booking through PriceLine. Gotta give Cara credit for that one.... We stayed at the Intercontinental and had a great time. Montreal is such a beautiful city too, food, drink, sites ....... All wonderful.

Scrabble

The other night Cara and I played a game of Scrabble, because she's Cara she made it theme Scrabble and the theme was Cuba..... SWEET!

Thriugh the game she was winning, in my defense she does tend to read thousands more books than I do and it seems I was drinking a bit faster than her. In the later part of the game there was a certain truth that was revealed to me. I'm posting a pic of it so you can analyze the scene for yourself CSI style..... the pic reveals why I love playing games with her and why I always loose.

The Magic Ticket

So last week was a bit stressful. I fall very neatly into one of the high risk groups for H1N1 and according to the 24/7 media coverage was going to burst into flames if I didn't get the vaccine.

So I bought into the hype and made my way to a clinic to get the shot and put my mind at ease. The thing opened at 2:30 and I got there at noon..... Should have been safe right? Well there were hundreds of people ahead of me and I heard the line started at 6am.

So we all waited for them to pass out the numbered tickets..... I overheard they were handing out 350 of them.

As the folks slowly made there way down the line I'd hear updates about how they handed out 200 already and bow they started at 850 on the tickets and were almost at 100 so they clearly rolled the numbers and were almost out.

They got closer and closer and then at 3:15 they got to me. I made it and was 209, the LAST person to get a number and the 150 people behind me were very unhappy. Along with my number I was told to come back at 8pm for the shot.

When I got there at 8 I found they were at 120 and that every ten people were taking about twenty minutes, it was going to be a long night. I confirmed with a nurse that it was cool to go get some groceries and come back in an hour or two and was told "yep!" so off I went.

I got back at 9 as luck would have cause when I got there I was told it was now closed (!!!!) cause piles of people from 120 and up never showed. Thankfully I am wicked charming and got in but man o man...... Why did so many skip it? Those poor folks behind me!

And that is my story

iPhone blog post part 2

Ok, that first one went ok, I have less control over formatting but there is a strong chance I'll post more often... tough call.







Do you know what these pics are? These are pics of the times, and they are changing. To be more accurate and specific, this is where the Sam the Record Man big spinning records sign was. Yep, it's gone, torn down, never to be seen again. I was actually pretty unhappy about this, it was one of my favorite landmarks and should have been declared a national heritage site or something, first the arcade goes and now this.

Been a long time!

Alright, I'm trying out using the iPhone for blog updates.... Will it work, can I
upload pictures? These questions will be answered soon. For some reason the browser in this thing doesn't recognize the text part of the blog admin, so I'm using an app to try and get this to work. Once it works I even have a couple things to write about!!

Summer time!

After a full summer of rain rain and rain... we finally got some great weather! Lucky for me it actually came at a time when we went to the cottage and did some camping.

In a yearly tradition there was a sweet mustache/beard competition. As you can see from the pic I was the clear front runner despite excellent late finishes by Paul and Chris (pictures pending). Obviously the beard competition was the highlight of the trip, though I guess some would point out that there was a rib cooking competition that Paul won... not sure if that was rigged or not.

The locals and other cottagers didn't seem to hate the lightening bolts, but I think it's fair to say it did concern them.

Can't really say too much about the Atari trio here... I love my family. This wasn't even planned.











Camping at Frontenac was FANTASTIC too! To go swimming in a Prov. Park lake this late in the year was totally unexpected and very nice. Great to see the family of course and we had a lot of fun and of course great outdoor food. We also got to enjoy the wildlife saw a bunch of deer, heard wolves, owls and of course frogs and fish... oh yeah! even a water snake... cool.

the things you learn

I just discovered a really handy use for GPS on my cell that I didn't really think of before. Buses. If you are taking a bus to a place you aren't familiar with you can use the GPS to keep an eye open for the upcoming target intersection. Very cool.... and it saves you from actually talking to and depending on strangers. I suppose this is both good and bad actually. You won't meet new people this way, but it is nice to feel in control.

In other news I had a wicked dinner today!! A long time ago there was a place at Bayshore called the Great Steak and Potatoe Company, it was awesome. Well I found the same place again (basically) it's called Charley's Grilled Subs or something... different name, exact same place which makes me wonder who ripped off who here (if anyone). Either way, a Chicken Philly sandwich fried up right in front of me along with some fries with seasoning salt. PERFECT. I am avoiding fried these days but if you add seasoning salt I can't resist.

No pics this time please enjoy the words at least though.

HILLSIDE 09!!

Hillside has come and gone once again. This summer was another great one but it sure had the potential to be HORRIBLE. They called for a lot of rain... like loads and loads of it.

Cara and I got there in good shape and well rested (thanks Chris!! more on the visit below!) and for the first time we had LOADS of time to spare! What a shock that was!! So, we get to the camp site and start to set up the tents when we find out we have no fly for the tent. FRIG. So off we go to Canadian Tire, Wal Mart any where to find a fly or a new tent! We found a decent tent actually so that was cool, but it ate up some cash and loads of time. We also got a pic nic table enclosure which turned out to be invaluable to the weekend, breakfast and Scott's happiness and general mood.

The music and food was awesome as always, the biggest surprise was that through all the rain storms we never got soaked. It was the most well times rain storm I have ever been a part of! The only casualties were Brandy and Steph who decided to relive Woodstock with a nice mud fight. =)

Check out this video, it was one of the scariest things ever. Watch the whole video with the thought that we were about 20 meters from the "incident".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQE_JbE2zRU

Here is a list of the bands that we really enjoyed, I'm sure I missed some but these ones are all ones I would keep an eye open for. Dehli 2 Dublin in particular really impressed, so fun for a festival crowd!!

The Grates
Dehli 2 Dublin
Fred
Winter Gloves
Clues
Witchies
USS
Kae Sec
Library Voices

The other big happening at Hillside was the overcrowded tent site beside us caught on fire while no one was there. One of their tarps blew into the fire and went up like a wall of fire!! It was INSANE. We lived to tell the tale though and put out the fire. I even got to pretend to be the hero. (glad I am not a fireman though)

One the way to Guelph we stopped off for a visit with Chris! He showed us the sights, his campus, local pub and even let me win at pool. An excellent host! thanks Chris!!

Also went to a birthday party today!! Wicked cake and a very nice time!!

Look at me, posting an update before the month is up. My goal is to always post at least once a month, I often miss that goal.... but sometimes I actually make it!!



Decent amount of stuff to post about this time, first is a big congrats to Elissa on her Grad, way to go!! Cara and I need to get a better camera so this nice blurry pic is the best one I have. =)



I've also come to really enjoy the glory of living downtown, check this out, first up is the coolest poster ever. Cara and I saw this while we were walking around our neighborhood and REALLY wanted to steal it cause it is just so cool. Sadly a week later someone else stole it and now it will never be ours.








The next one really had to be captured in video. I have a video of it.... it's glorious. Sadly the blog site won't let me upload it... weird. We saw this right outside the window at the Pump, just some dude waiting for a bus. So the guy was listening to music we think.... but he was totally rockin, full swing head bangin. Beautiful.

Upates galore!! New things and stuff and pics!!

Are you ready for this? An actual update about what's been going on??

First up is this GREAT pics of the boys, can you tell which one tends to have more energy and which one watches and marvels at the whirlwind that is his brother? I love this picture cause it really captures the insanity and the glory.

As usual the food, conversation and fun were all in great supply! These family get-togethers are something we always look forward to. If only we could get Damon to move closer... or if scientists could finally get moving on teleporters.

Next up we have Brandy's birthday and Drink's gig extravaganza! What a fun night.... As usual the crowds came out and the Rainbow had more friends than new faces. Drink and Joe's band put on a great show and I can't wait to see these guys again!!
















Also spent some time at Dad and Lynnie's cabin, it's coming along REALLY well, looks fantastic!! Even helped them move a nice big cast iron stove. SHOCKED that moving it was actually not difficult, we had lots of people to help with the work and that was essential.

In the pic you can see Lynnie showing where the kitchen counter will be. =)














Last but not least we have race day!! So proud of my girl here... she ran FAST! We saw her off from the starting line and she even though we have a short cut she almost beat up to the finish line! Awesome day!!

stuff and things!

well, I actually don't have a lot to write about. (surprise!)

Got some cute pics from Easter though, we had a VERY fun time with the family and even though I was way better at finding the eggs than the kids I decided to let them have most of the fun. I am an awesome Uncle.










Been seeing quite a few movies lately, saw Observe and Report, Adventureland and Monsters vs Aliens. Not a bad pile of movies! I thought Adventureland was the best of the bunch, but I really wish the previews made it look like it was a drama with funny moments rather than a comedy. Cause man, this is not Superbad. Great drama though... =)

Observe and Report was also pitched as a movie other than what it was. The film is dark. Best I can do is compare it more to Cable Guy I guess. Some parts are SO MESSED UP!! Holy smokes.

The only one that delivered what it was advertising was Monsters vs Aliens... no surprises there, fun movie.

I guess I'm no Ebert... but I hope you have enjoyed the in depth movie reviews.

OK, I finally have a lot of pics and stuff to write about!! Lucky you!! I'll try and make it worth the wait... first the bad news. I set my phone camera to take pics in lower res so the pics are tiny. Not good. Worst part is that one of my favorite pics is now harder to really see and appreciate, it's the one of Cara actually playing a game in the basement AND LIKING IT.

















So St. Patrick's Day has come and gone and like a person much much younger than I actually am, I took the day off and headed out with Cara and friends for some beverages, food, live music, and good times! It was a great day, change of venue from the Heart and Crown to Patty's Pub this year was a good one since the food was better, but the crowd didn't quite match up. In fact at one point there were as many babies on the dance floor as there were ladies.
Fortunately the beer was just as good (despite plastic cups!!) and the friends were in good supply!

In other news we got the back yard sorted out this past weekend, finally had some great weather and we made the most of it. VERY happy to report that all the fish are alive and well, they actually look like they gained weight over the winter, though that makes no sense at all. Best new addition for summer 2009... the rabbit face beer bottle opener. SWEET.

I have no news. It's sad but true... life has somehow been really busy but without photos.

I did see the Watchmen recently, does that count? Probably not....

Updates!

I suck at the updates lately.

In recent news we finally went skating on the canal! It was a great day, my feet totally hurt and I am no good at skating at all.

Also went to a new restaurant with Dad and Lynnie called the Mongolian Hot Pot. Wicked tastely meal, you get to cook the food yourself in this broth. I will be back there.... oh yes I will be.

There has been further battle with the squirrels. They moved into the roof of our front porch AGAIN. I took a look at the problem and decided a clear cut approach was better than this piece by piece approach and I finished ripping out their floor, which is also the entire first layer of roof on the porch. The little jerks.

No news in the ongoing Dig Dug battle, my wicked score stands still, but the heated competition seems to have died down and Jeremy hasn't been on the machine as much as before.... calm before the storm? maybe.

Happy Holidays and other stuff

Yeehaw!! Well, the holidays are over and I didn't post at all. Also took very few pictures which is not ideal as I work to earn my rep as "one of the hottest blogs out there" (Chris Mantil)

Christmas and New Years was full of friends and family, good times, good food and then more good food. I had a great time thanks to everyone!! It was great to see Chris Mantil again, he is one of my blogs biggest fans and he maintains his own blog as well. On it he adds all the art work he creates while in school in Toronto. http://mantilminute.blogspot.com/

New Years this year was spent with the Scales clan, it was a full house and I have NO IDEA how Ken and Darleen do it. What a wonderful time.

The only thing my holidays were missing was a big Chinese food meal, gotta get to that soon!! I have a craving.

Woohoo!! 71 months.

Yep, public affection warning here folks Cara and I have been dating for 71 months! Time is going crazy fast but it's been fantastic!! First friends, then dating, living together, engaged, married, house, lots of great friends and a cat. Life is good.

I guess the last post wasn't REALLY an update for the family or anything at all... so I'll ramble a bit. Winter Ultimate has started and Cara is sitting this winter out and strengthening her knee some more for next summer (go Cara go!!). One thing I totally forgot about with winter is the potential for really late games. Seems that time in the indoor fields is much cheaper the closer you get to midnight, and I am sort of dreading these late games.

Did some work to close the pond tonight too, so sad. The poor little fish are in water that would kill me very quickly, yet the just slow down and relax for the winter. Hopefully I won't loose any fish this winter, just like last one, but you never know.

Looking forward to seeing the new James Bond soon, I like how they have handled the new movies, less gadgets, tough Bond. Suits me fine for now. After a bit of this I am sure we'll get a Bond that requires gadgets cause he'll be all slim and unable to beat up everyone on earth.

hmmm, what else.... well, I'll be hitting 3 years with diabetes soon and thankfully there have been no serious complications yet. Still hoping for a cure or better way to handle this, that would be so cool for the pancreatically challenged.

Oh yeah!! Last weekend we had a Scales-a-thon belated Thanksgiving with turkey and all, what a great weekend too. Got to see all the family from Ashton, Toronto and Montreal. They all need to move closer to Cara and I.

Writing is hard. Pics are way easier.