This lottery stuff is starting to look rather appealing. We know someone who won $100 000, someone I know won $1 000 000 in the CNIB lottery last year, and now someone where I work won $5 000 000 this past week!!
BlogFodder: Keep Driving My “tourist attraction from hell” is the World’s Largest Loonie. The loonie is the Canadian one dollar coin. There’s supposed to be this town north-ish of Trenton, Ontario that pulls you 1 hour off the 401 for a quaint town with a small, wire frame octagon. There’s nothing to indicate that that is what is there, nor is there anything else to attract you to it, besides maybe a walk down the river.
When we met Derek and Karleen, their words of wisdom were to make friends with people who owned a house… it meant that they would be here for a while. So many come and go from this town that you try to find people who will stay. Well, it seems the greener pastures have called them away…. and I literally mean greener. They are going into the greenhouse business in the Niagara region. I guess they have been here around eight years… but still… they owned a house!! So that theory doesn’t hold true anymore *sigh*. We with them all the best back in Karleen’s stomping grounds and with the new business!!
Apparently, I’m not the only one that wasn’t impressed with all the hype that is known as Super Bowl — “Were you wowed by this year’s crop of Super Bowel commercials? Our little group wasn’t impressed in the slightest. The creativity that we’ve come to expect was absent - and it’s not like these were cheap ad spots. The least those companies could have done was hire a competent agency to deliver a message that was not only informative, but different as well. What we got was a range of mediocre vignettes that left us wondering when “the best” was going to be broadcast.” — Chris Pirillo
Jenn’s Birthday List - it will be here before you know it!!
My mind is dreaming of…. not going on strike. I don’t remember how close the last strike vote was in ‘99 but it is looking serious this time around. Our big negotiations take place this Thursday and Friday and we may walk by next Friday. You never win in a strike… you do not make up the lost wages for sure. I guess there are things that we could lose that we might keep but we might lose them any way. Who knows… it is also a chilly time to be picketing!!
Personally, I thought the Super Bowl sucked. It was supposed to be a close game, and except for the 3-3 score in the first quarter, and the bare flicker of possibility in the 4th, it was a dead game. The players on both sides even admitted it - a Buc said that Oakland didn’t deserve to be on the field with the Bucs, and a Raider said that they couldn’t even beat the worst team in the league that night. Furthermore, the 1/2 hour of pre-game show that I saw was entirely passion-less… the fans just seemed to be forcing excitement, when really they just wanted to sit in front of the TV with a beer in hand and quietly watch a mediocre game (which they did, minus the TV). I fell asleep for the 1/2 time show (which says enough there)… The special effects were non-existent. I miss the Matrix effect from a couple years ago… they should’ve fixed it up and made it better, rather than eliminating it and going with the effects left over from the ’70s. The interviews were cliche, the commentators were babbling, the sound was bland, and the play was below-average. The only thing that was moderately exciting was seeing how many interceptions could be made… 5 is cool. No great throws, a bunch of wimpy running plays… yawn. The division finals were way better. Anyways… I think I’ll stick with the Grey Cup.
Cheesy is uncreative, an intellectual let-down, a comment without thought, imagination without an image. Cheesy is one of those vague subjective emotions. I thought that it was cheesy when Legolas in Lord of the Rings (The Two Towers) was riding the shield down the stairs firing arrows at the evil things. I thought that it was cheesy when Gandalf, and later the elf princess in Fellowship of the Ring got all evil looking with the pseudo-scary voices, and then instantly came back to normal. Come to think of it, those movies (great as they were) had several intermittent cheesy scenes. I think that cheesiness is proportionate to the expectation of quality (whether perceived or actual).
It seems that Kingston is the place for snow. I was talking to my parents (Toronto area) today and they didn’t get too much snow. In the last 24 hours we have had 1-2 feet of snow depending on where you are…. and it just started snowing again!! We did go for a nice hike in the woods by the lake today and made snow angels in the snow. Doug also helped me slide down a hill… we didn’t have a sled so he just pulled me by my feet!! The snow is very fluffy so no snowmen but it is a lot easier to shovel!
By the way - the worms are back in the house!
My favourite restaurant: I decided what is my new favourite restaurant - The Merchant McLiam, in Kingston Ontario. The atmosphere is phenomenal, the food delicious, the service classy, and the beer selection incredible. I ordered a liver dish that half tasted like steak, and the last time I ordered potatoe balls in cream sauce (I forget what it was called) - I had no idea both of these could taste so good. As of today, it officially bumped Tir Nan Og into second place (still greatly enjoyed), followed by Loyal Oarsman, both also in Kingston.
We went skating on one of Kingston’s outdoor rinks and that was really nice (except I fell - and it hurts alot more when you don’t have hockey equipment on!)… I just wish Kingston had a refrigerated rink like Montreal. And we went for a nice wintery downtown walk. Tomorrow I’m thinking of taking some outdoor wintery pictures with the digital camera. I’ll let you know when they’re uploaded. Off to watch a couple of movies - The Royal Tennenbaums and Felicia’s Journey, with a bottle of wine and brownies with ice cream, dressed in my cosiest clothes! I love my life!
I am so glad that we got the weekends mixed up. It has been snowing hard here all day… We did spend a lot of it outside though. We went to an outdoor rink close to downtown and tried out boy skates for the first time. Everyone knows there is no toe pick but it was the back of the skates that gave me problems. Figure skates are square at the back and hockey skates are rounded. I almost fell over backwards a few times. They were a lot easier to skate backwards in - not that I do this well - and made for a fun skate. I would definitely buy them.
We also walked downtown Kingston and checked out all the stores, etc. That’s where Doug sold some CD’s… We then went to a newer pub downtown for “lupper”. It was quite cozy and quiet as it was mid-afternoon and there were very few customers. We had a great seat by the fireplace, which was needed, and had some great food!!
Yippee! We just made $39 on ~ 12 of our crap CDs at CDExchange. We did it at the local branch (not online), and we donated the ~ 20 that they couldn’t offer us any money for, but for the 30 CDs, I was only expecting/hoping for ~ $20, and we doubled it! So now I’m thinking of getting rid of (almost) all of our CDs. If you want any of these, let me know:
The Martins - Light of the World
Moxy Fruvous - Bargainville
DC Talk - Jesus Freak
Lost Dogs - The Green Room Serenade
Rebecca St. James - God
Matthew Sweet - 100% Fun
Loreena McKennitt - The Book of Secrets
Aqua - Aquarium
Ashley MacIsaac - Hi, How Are You Today?
Donna Lewis - Now In a Minute
Lisa Loeb - Firecracker
Sarah McLachlan - Surfacing
Crash Test Dummies - The Ghosts that Haunt Me
Big Ideas - Veggie Tunes 2
The Rankin Family - North Country
Collective Soul - Collective Soul
Titanic - Music from the Motion Picture
Sinead O’Connor - Universal Mother
Collective Soul - Hints, Allegations & Things Left Unsaid
Audio Adrenaline - Bloom
Blue Rodeo - Nowhere To Here
The Police - Every Breath You Take
Ashley MacIsaac - Fine, Thank You Very Much
Sting - The Best of Sting 1984-1994
Paula Cole Band - Amen
The Choir - Love Songs and Prayers [a retrospective]
REM - Monster
U2 - Island Treasures
REM - Document
REM - New Adventures in Hi-Fi
Jars of Clay - Much Afraid
Praise & Worship - Gloirfy Thy Name
Solitudes - Volume Six (Storm/Night on Wilderness Lake)
My Utmost for His Highest - The Covenant
The Black Peppercorns - Tumbling Ground
King’s X - Dogman
Shout to the Lord - 2000
Revival Generation - I Could Sing of Your Love Forever
Energy Rush II
Ray Boltz - Moments For the Heart
Enya Watermark
Dance Mix USA 96 - Canadian Limited Edition
Dance Mix USA 97 - Canadian Limited Edition
Chris Sheppard Pirate Radio Sessions Volume 6
M.C.Mario -Mixdown 2000
Chris Sheppard Pirate Radio Sessions Volume 4
James - Laid
Blue Rodeo - Tremolo
REM - Up
U2 - The Joshua Tree
Great Big Sea - Play
The Cranberries - To the Faithful Departed
The Offspring - Americana
Pure Disco - Various Artists (Multi-CD)
Universal Attack!
The Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (Multi-CD)
The London Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir - The Messiah by George Frederick Handel
J.S. Bach - Christmas Music
Raffi - Christmas Album
Christmas Treasures Volume 5
A Noteworthy Christmas - Great Canadian Choirs Sing Holiday Favourites
Eaton - Holiday Magic
The Seventy Sevens
The Housemartins - Now That’s What I Call Quite Good
Maire Brenna - Whisper to the Wild Water
Echoes of Nature - Thunderstorm
Maire Brennan - Perfect Time
Sarah McLachlan - Solace
MacKeel - Plaid
Dixie Chicks - Fly
Sarah McLachlan - Fumbling Towards Ecstasy
Great Big Sea - Turn
Twila Paris - Where I stand
Rich Mullins - Songs
Chris Rice - Past the Edges
The Kry - I’ll Find You There
Jewel - Pieces of You
Rich Mullins - Brother’s Keeper
Jim Cuddy - All in Time
The Steve Miller Band Greatest Hits - 1974-78
The Rankin Family - Collection
Braveheart - Original Motion Picture Soundtrrack
Chris Sheppard Pirate Radio Sessions - Voume 3
Hokus Pick - Brothers from Different Mothers
Chantal Kreviazuk - Colour Moving and Still
Portrait of a Spirit
Tori Amos - Under the Pink
Twila Paris - A Heart That Knows You
Two friends of mine have recommended reading Lori Wick. I finally took them up on the idea (six years later) and really enjoyed her books. My favourite was “The Princess”. I felt it was quite a unique ‘romantic’ story line. It is an arranged marriage because the prince’s first wife passed away. He needed to be married by the age of 26 or lose his right to the throne so he asked his parents to find a wife for him. It is all about them falling in love… very cute.
Doug seems to be reading all these ‘deep thinking’ books and I just stick to the plain old romance that I can read in one night. I get too impatient to read books that require too much thinking. But I also want books to go on and on… I want to know what happens to the characters next!
So my birthday is just over a month away… still hard to believe that 30 is not too far off. Yikes!! We will have been married 5 years this year and I didn’t think we had changed much (except the length of my hair and the width of my girth) but looking at my wedding pictures…. we looked young!! And it’s only been five years. I think it is more depressing walking around Queen’s campus and seeing how young the frosh look every year. I feel like I am that age still but am definitely not looking it anymore… *sigh* Oh, the burden of aging.
[+] “You Notherners have laughed at Floridians for being cold for two weeks now, but when they’re extending freeze warnings in the Florida Keys, can we all finally admit we’ve got a problem here? I haven’t seen lawns this dead since an Oklahoma winter.” They’re so funny down there… The relative cold that they’re experiencing, sure, is significant.and worthy of a few oohs and ahhs. But it’s really hard to feel pity or do anything but smile and chuckle when they think that they’re experiencing an truly cold weather. It’s the same as when Baffin Island residents laugh at us when we complain when it’s it’s -15 (celcius). I wonder what they would think is really “cold”… -30? -50?
Ooooppps… I made a little error. The company I thought we were having this weekend aren’t coming till next weekend (my lack of reading skills) so we won’t go to the canal until then. Winterlude will be on next weekend so that should make it interesting. Besides, there is a sewage problem with the canal right now…. I think I can wait.
The weekend is almost here!! Just a few more hours and I will be back home. We are supposed to go skating on th canal this weekend. It is the one place where I truly enjoy skating… the Beaver Tails are a good motivator as well.
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