Monday Monday

That weekend went by way too fast. Saturday night I did the La Cage Aux Sport thing again. I'm trying to figure out what the deal is there. I've been there like 3 or 4 times now and I notice people bringing receipts to the bar and getting paid out decent sums of money. I am curious if they have some gambling going on and if so, how do I get in on it? Maybe it's just something else. But either way, it's not something I just want to ask flat out, especially since it seems like one of those things everyone knows about, but yet noone knows anything. So we'll see. I missed out on a few pools this year because of my location. Dammit, I've got vices that need tending to.

The only thing I don't really care for at that place is their selection of beer. I usually get Coors Light because it's cheapest and compared to Molson and Labatt products, I can imbibe quite a few and not worry about getting sick. So I had a few, then came home and had a few more.

Sunday (yesterday), I did some more stuff around the apartment. Played some XBOX, worked on my French, watched some TV, then ran to the store. Well I drove but close. I came home to find a puddle of water in my bedroom that appeared to be coming from my closet. Wasn't dripping from the ceiling or walls so it must have been the floor, or where the wall meets the floor. Either way it was out of my control, so the guy that does all the repairs in the building (poor bastard is up like 24/7) comes, takes a look, etc etc. Apparently the caulking around my neighbor's tub is no longer there so anytime they shower, water gets behind the tub, and runs under the wall right into my room. Well that's pleasant. So supposedly they were going to fix that today. We'll see. Then after that debacle, I watched more TV. Sunday nights are my TV night. The Space Channel has the new Battlestar Galactica on at 6. This is a phenomenal show if I must say so myself. It's on Friday nights on Sci-Fi in the US if I'm not mistaken. Good writing and it's sci-fi but it's not lame sci-fi, like, they're more concerned with telling a good story than all these stupid gadgets and things. Check it out. Then at 7, Smallville is on which isn't bad. I was kinda disappointed though. Lana Lane was possessed by a witch. Now, why they had to bring ficticious things such as sorcery and witchcraft into the genuine world of Superman, I don't know, but, I'll live. Then at 8, Star Trek: Enterprise. This show has gotten better but it still kinda sucks.

That brings us to today, Monday. I was expecting to walk into the biggest shitstorm ever today. Considering I missed Friday's meeting (though I was excused by the boss) and on top of that I kinda got the VP of sales into some shit cuz he's been letting his people crap on my people for no reason and does nothing about it. I may have touched on that in an earlier post, not sure though. So I came in expecting to see fire and brimstone and all that happy stuff only to get "Hey hope you're feeling better, Friday went well, I've got few minor changes you need to make but nothing major AND the sales issue should be rectified. If not, let me know and I'll take on the matter myself". Now I was still waking up and a little groggy from this Canuck Flu or whatever it is, plus the only cold medicine I had available was Nyquil (that Buckley's stuff is just for coughs) so I wasn't sure if I heard him right. But apparently I did. Today seemed to be a pretty good day. Hopefully the rest of the week will be that way. We'll see!

Until Tomorrow...

Part of my living room. I need one more tray to fill out that wall. This is where much of the recreation happens...

Batter Up!

Another Saturday here at the computer. It's actually pretty nice out today. Not sure of the temp but it is above freezing so compared to the -20 to -35 degree temps we've had the last couple of weeks, it feels quite nice. Though no playing in the melting snow for me...

Yesterday I stayed at work for only about an hour. Thursday night I wasn't feeling so hot so I went to bed a little early, and Friday when I woke up I felt horrible. Had a bit of a fever going, muscle aches, chills, you name it. It is usually this time of year that my respitory system fills up with lung butter (aka phlegm) and I end up hacking all the way until spring. However, I don't have much of a cough and none of the usual symptoms. Back home in Chicopee, living right next to the MassPike, things got kinda dusty so I'm sure that didn't help. My place here is a little better on that front, not much, but a little. So last week, just in case, I purchased some Buckley's Cough Medicine. I got to try it the other night. This stuff smells like hair coloring, and the taste.. well it's sorta like if you swallowed some Vicks Vapo-Rub and drank a glass of salt water to wash it down. But it works damned good.

Today I'm feeling quite a bit better. Not 100% but I've been able to run some errands and get some stuff done around the apartment. One of my finer accomplishments of the day can be seen in the photo I posted below. Back in September when I was still mulling over the possibility of moving up here, I was traveling back and forth regularly as I still had people up here reporting to me. On one of those trips I decided that I was going to have to see the Expos play at least once since at the time, there was a 99.99999% chance they were moving after the season. So I went to a game on Sept 21 vs The Mets. For $40 Canadian, I got to sit directly behind home plate a couple of rows back from the field. The Mets have been my 2nd favorite team since I was a youngin', however, I tend to only watch them or pay attention when the Sox have a night off. At that game I ended up sitting next to a couple who were from Providence Rhode Island and were also in town on business. This was to be the Expos last home stand. In a stadium that could hold around 55,000 people, there were about 3,200 people. Pretty sad. Olympic Stadium from the outside looks pretty cool and futuristic. When I fly up here from Logan in Boston the flight path takes you just about over the stadium and it looks cool from up there too. However, inside it's nothing great at all. Very drab and dull. Fenway, despite its shortcomings seems to have an energy or life force of its own. Olympic Stadium kinda sucks your life force out of you. So I saw that game and 2 days later I decided to catch one more since I had nothing better to do. The second game was $5 night. Meaning you could get just about any seat in the house (except for the front sections closest to the infield for $5. I was gonna get a $5 seat but I didn't want to get stuck somewhere in the nosebleeds or something with no one to chat with. So I spent another $40 and Sat right behind the Mets dugout. Not bad. Oh yeah $5 night was also $1 night for hot dogs. Not up to the standards of a Fenway Frank but they were ok. Oh yeah, just remembered, the first game I was there, the old dudes that were working at the Molson tap hooked me up. Every time I went to get a beer there, they'd pour, tell me to drink some, then top it off again. They were good men! Very honorable.

Well from those 2 Expos games, I ended up with 1 program, 1 score card, 1 2004 Schedule and 2 Ticket Stubs. They've been in my laptop bag for like 4 months now and were starting to get beat up so I had to find something to do with them. I decided to go down to the local art store, get a frame, some black construction paper and frame the stuff. Doesn't look to shabby neither. though, the only frame I could find big enough anywhere works ok, but all that stuff is sandwiched between 2 pieces of glass (eek) and held in place by some real cheap backing wood. But, it does the job.

Finally... Today is the day tickets for the Sox 2005 season went on sale. They opened up a few early season games, for which I was able to buy some tickets already (only 2 and they are obstructed view) so maybe in a day or 2 I'll spring for some more. Charles and I saw a few games last year... So he's got first dibbs on the 2nd ticket for that first game I bought, but if anyone cares to go to a game or two this year, let me know!!!

Play Ball!

My Expos Memorial 

Good Day Eh!

That's a classic Canadian greeting. You've all learned something new today and you have me to thank for it.

So a couple people whined that I haven't written in a couple days. Been kinda busy. And when I haven't been busy, well... I can't think of any point in time this week I wasn't really busy, except for now.

So I got all those pesky evaluations written. I'm just trying to con my way into getting them to ship me back to Boston to deliver them. I could do them by phone but "It won't provide as much value to the employees if I deliver them that way." That's my story and dammit, I'm sticking to it. I need to make the rounds at the Polish Hall, 5A and OTB. And by gum, it's even better if I can get the company to foot the bill, or at least part of it. I was hoping for the 2 days before or after the Superbowl, but that's probably out of the question.

Tomorrow I have our big exec meeting where I get to present my "vision for revolutionizing customer service" at this joint. My vision involves midgets and balloons, not necessarily in that order. Tomorrow is also a biweekly event called PayDay. One of my favorite days of the month.

What else, what else... Oh yeah... The commuter train is good times as I like to say. It's always fun to pick up on some of the weird shit people talk about. That happens on the Metro too but it's not quite as entertaining. Here, most of the people are a little better educated, so the messed up stuff seems even more messed up. For instance, today... The seating on the train consists of clusters of 4. 2 pairs each facing eachother. Well as I was running late (I had to stop at Bureau en Gros... Which is just Staples with a Frenchy name.) so I had to sit in a grouping with some weird dude listening to his iPod. So I sat diagonally from him. Well as luck would have it this two Indian chicks decided to sit with us so I moved over directly across from the weird dude. These chicks were like Indians from India, not like cowboys and Indians, just to set the record straight. I thought to myself, "Ya know.. there aren't too many brown people up here in Canada..." And not too long after I thought that... the girls started to complain about one of their friends not being a "True Brown Person". They referred to themselves as "Brown People" throughout the whole train ride... What I used to think was a derogatory term apparently isn't, at least in their opinion... I guess I'll have to think of something more creative.

I need to get me one of those new iPods that came out. The cheapo ones. Good enough for what I need it for. Just something that can store about an hour or 2 of music is all I need. Just change the files when I get home. Although, having like 40GB of storage in the palm out my hands really reaches out and touches the geek in me. hmmmm....

So that's it for now. Enjoy the snow back home ;-)

And the whole shack shimmies...

Time for a quicky...

Well usually I don't write on Mondays. But might as well. I was hoping to continue my task of appraising the performance of a team of people that worked for me from June until October. Well actually December but since I was on the road all the time, that makes it more difficult. However, between getting some of those done at work, along with everything else today, plus having started my French lessons... I'm pretty much spent.

Tried to get some more of those blasted things done but my brain no longer cares to function. Imagine George W trying to figure out the answer to 1+1.. We're talking meltdown here. In addition to that, I am doing a good job at picking up on the dynamic of the office politics here. It's actually very fascinating. But most of the players really have nowhere to go by partaking in them. For instance, my boss told me last week, that depending on how things go this year, when next year rolls around, I can assume an even greater role in the department. Which normally would be quite the motivating factor however... There is no place for me to go in my department. I'm it. End of the line. Anything and everything that goes on in the department doesn't happen without my stamp of approval. Granted.. they can give me a pay raise and a better title, and that is always welcome, but in reality, it isn't much of a bargaining chip. In a larger organization, there would be benefits to the whole politics thing, but here, there really isn't. I'll see how this goes. I'm always up for new and exciting mind games.

Oh yeah nice hearing from Chad. He assures me things are well on the hill on the level in the high rent district of Hardwick. Next time I'm back in Massachusetts, that is my first destination (and probably only one for the day). Also good to hear from Lenny, sending me some info on his and Mitch's bus trip to Poland. Just in case I'm able to save up some extra scratch in time and manage to get some time off from work and playing. And if not, there is always the DR with Ronnie and company. Oh yeah and a special shout out to my pal Lauren in Pittsburgh who didn't find as much enjoyment in yesterdays game as some of us did!

Ciao

Oh Yeah!

ah ha.. The Patriots are going to the Super Bowl again. The Eagles shall go down.

Now that I got that out of the way... I have to admit, I enjoy Football, but it is still not as superior a sport as baseball is. Seeing the Pats win another Super Bowl is nice, but it still does not compare to what we all witnessed in October this past year.

I spent the night at La Cage Aux Sports again. Pretty nice. Same bartender as the last time. She remembered me.. We all know what that means ;-) . Anyway, I caught the end of the Eagles - Falcons game and all of the Pats game there. Decent place. New England was the crowd favorite.
I just got back home only to find that some Quebec Douche has parked in my spot resulting in me having to park down the street. Not very nice. The landlord said I could have that spot. I will have to clarify with her tomorrow just to be sure there's no confusion. And unless she messed something up, if that little Japanese shit box aint out of my spot by the time I come home from work tomorrow... My American, gas guzzling, environment-ruining V8 will relocate it for whoever the hell owns it. We shall see tomorrow...

Oh yeah... While I'm at it.. I had to pleasure of talking to some Limey named Krysta today. She seemed pretty cool. She moved to Montreal about 5 years ago from Liverpool. Pretty well educated too. However, the only sport she really knows is Cricket. Surprisingly, she's not from G-ville. However, she knows an awful lot about beer. Was able to maintain a lengthy conversation on the topic. That could be a good sign. If not, we'll have to call in the IRA... They know how to solve all kinds of problems with the English.

Well the weekend went by fast. Time to start anticipating tomorrow's BS... Oh yeah, I start my French lessons tomorrow. That should be fun. Another language to sorta learn. Those 4 years of German I took in high school have yet to pay off which is a bit of a downer. If it weren't for those silly Japanese getting us involved in WWII, you know.. the big one, a lot more people would probably be speaking German today. Well, I guess I'll just have to save some cash and go visit Germany some time. Maybe next year.

That's all for now.. Auf Wiedersehen

Shave and a Haircut... Two Bits

Well, actually it was $20 and it was just a haircut.

But I was getting pretty shaggy so it was time to get a trim. There's this place in the Mourelato's plaza called Trimz. Perfect! Just what I needed.

My appointment was scheduled for 11:45 with Lucy, but they told me to come a little early. Sure, I had nothing better to do. This place is kinda cool. Jack's in Chicopee is where I used to go, but driving 6 hours for a haircut wasn't what I had in mind, especially with all the snow you in New England are supposed to be getting (more on that later). While Jack's is a "Styling Salon" it says so on his card anyway, it still kinda reminiscent of a barbershop. This place is a little less like a barbershop to put it mildly. But not all that bad. I got there and they washed my hair, which was nice though if I knew that I probably wouldn't have showered beforehand. I mean, why waste the shampoo right? Then I got to meet Lucy, my "stylist", pretty appealing actually. The second I sat in that chair I new I'd be going back regularly, regardless of how good of a job she did.

First thing she asked was "what number are you?" Well that's a loaded question now isn't it? But before I could come out with something quick-witted, she said "you know for the razor...". Ahhh. Nothing like paying someone to use those plastic things so you get an even-length haircut. Jack, who is the proprietor of Jack's, always used a hand-razor. Which made getting a haircut there fun cuz I never knew if I would leave without ears or not. But in the end this chick did a damn fine job.

After that, I decided to check out this Polish Deli that's in my part of town. The people I met the other night at Stash's gave me this local paper and this place had an ad in it. The name of the place is Piast Deli. Decent assortment of items. I picked up some fresh Rye Bread, Chrust, Spicy Mustard (and this stuff is really spicy let me tell you) and a package of pierogi.

Haven't tried the bread or chrust yet, but the pierogi are good. They had a variety, I decided to try the Potato-Onion-Cheese ones. Just fried some up and they are very tasty.

Today is going to be a quiet day. I've got some performance appraisals to write, or at least start writing. Maybe I'll put those off until the last minute, we'll see. Got more laundry to do. Now that I have plenty of coinage for the machines here. By the way, I think it's somebody's cooking, but I can't be sure, but the hallway smells horrible. Like, if it's cooking, it literally smells like somebody just fried up a whole bunch of shit in a pan. It's nasty. Luckily I can't smell it over the aroma of Scotch and Cubans (cigars not the people) that fills my apartment. Though it's been about a week since I've had either. However, if I must sample both of those things again just to fight the aroma in the hallway, by golly I'll just have to do that.

Finally, I must again reiterate my disappointment in regards to the weather. It's about -22 again here. Not as cold as it was Monday but still a little frigid. Tonight it is supposed to drop below -30 and that's without the windchill. I'm not bitching about the cold, not at all, afterall, my heat works fine... What I'm bitching about is the lack of a big snow storm. Greg Glen (you know.. "Kielbasa!") just told me that it has started snowing in Meriden and they're expected to get about 12-24 inches. And from what I have come to understand, it's supposed to be like that throughout most of the region. We're only supposed to get 2-4cm between today and tomorrow. Boooo. So you all enjoy the snow! :-)

Finally... Tomorrow.. The Pats shall overcome and hand the Steelers a nice ass-whoopin. And if they don't, well, I have an edit feature to this blog and I'll be sure to use it.

GO PATS!

In Search Of...

First of all, for the 90% of you in the US, happy inauguration! I bet it was real grand, pity I missed it. Everyone (the 2 of you) I know that was in Iraq has since been transferred elsewhere, but I'm sure you have friends there still, and I bet they were all glad to know that the dollars spent to help usher in the 4th Reich didn't get spent on getting them better equipment! Who needs it right? Speaking of... 1 week from today is the 60th Anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.

And speaking of Auschwitz... I happened to go to a Polish restaurant today. I know you were all wondering how I was going to tie that in... Clever huh? It's a place called Stash's and it's 2 streets from my office. The food there is pretty darned good. Their Pierogi rock! They also make a tasty Bigos and potato pancakes. The rest of the menu I have yet to try, but I will soon. And for those of you who don't get enough tripe here in my writing, well, they've got that on the menu too. I went with the Pierogi tonight which came with a big ol' helping of Kapusta. Mix that in with a few beers and you've got yourself a funfilled evening. The people that work there are all Polish too. Some were born there and moved to Montreal, others were born in Montreal, and some were born elsewhere. So I got to talkin to the folks there and I made 2 new friends. Jas and Clara. Jas works there, Clara doesn't. There was another dude there that gave me all kinds of info but I forget his name so for the purpose of this monologue, I won't add him to my tally. They call the place Stash's instead of Stas' simply because too many people were mispronouncing it. However, they neglected to think that with the current spelling, people would pronounce it just the way it is spelled: "stash's". I was able to blow enough smoke to start up a convo with Jas and Clara. They were easily conned.. That's I could tell they were really Polish.

But anyway, they also told me that there are about 20,000 Polish people in Montreal and that "we're not alone". I thought that was an interesting way of putting it. Sounds like either there's a Polish gang or there's a revolution of some kind coming and they need my help. Either way I'm in! But to make a long story short, I'll be hanging out with them for a few Piwo's again hopefully soon.

One cool thing about them was that they were the first people to not associate Springfield with the Simpsons. When I said it they laughed and I said "yeah yeah I know. .the Simpsons." and they were like "No, aren't there like 100 Springfields in the US?" I told them that yes, there are quite a few but MY Springfield happens to be the 18th most dangerous city in the US. So stick that in your pipe and smoke it.

Oh yeah, these Canadians up here are also extremely proud that basketball is a Canadian invention. True James Naismith was a Canadian (look at the pictures, you'll see his flapping head, seriously I wouldn't lie), but I'm pretty sure Springfield College is where he invented it but since I wasn't there I can't prove it. Regardless, all of them get very angry about that whole thing. So when I find myself in a conversation with a Canadian pushing his/her messed up version of sports history on me, I like to bring up the fact that I'm thinking about buying tickets to see the Washington Nationals play this season in DC. Conversation over.

Monday my French lessons officially start. I've got some girlie from Morrocco that's going to be coming to the office twice a week to teach me French. Sounds like it should be fun! But I've already been trying learn. Got a couple beginners books and if I take what I learn from them with what I've learned hanging out at some of the pubs up here, I've been able to construct my first actual French sentence:

Le petit tabarnak a volé la pomme

That translates into: The little fucker stole my apple!

Off to a great start already eh?

Another thing for you is that I also had an epiphany today. Well it happened a while ago, but with all this talk of George W and Auschwitz, I remembered that Rocky's initials happen to be SS. Irony or Conspiracy? You figure it out.

Happy Birthday to Putnam today. And yesterday to my pal Kelly who now lives in Jackson Wyoming. West Springfield wasn't so bad now was it? :-P

Anyways, time for me to go get some stuff done. On my way out I thought I'd like to remind you all:

Dammit Jim I'm doctor not a bricklayer!

Scheisse, the final frontier...

He may be the Captain of the Enterprise, but this goes to prove that he's just a regular guy off the screen!

Also available in Regular, 6%, 8.8%... Variety for the Black-Label Lover in all of us! 

Snow, Thai and Shatner

Well it's a little warmer today, still no where near 0, in fact we're still in the negative double digits but not as bad as yesterday. To make things even better, it's snowing. Huzzah! I've yet to experience a major storm here yet though. Kinda disappointing if you ask me. It's snows a lot, but it's a few centimeters at a time. Then it melts or blows away or freezes and that's it for a few days, then more of the same.

Despite the weather, I was in need of provisions. Going out to lunch every day is fun, but a little costly so I try to avoid that. But the last 3 days I had to as I didn't get around to going shopping. So I decided to do that today, after of course I had dinner, at a restaurant.

There is this Thai place not too far from where I live which is phenomenal. And right across the street from there is a Vietnamese place. That place is good, but they aren't as friendly and polite once they found out I was American. It's really quite odd, yet amusing. So, even though the food there is good, I didn't feel like dealing with their Victor-Charlie routine so I ate at the Thai place. The food is real good, priced good and they speak French in the kitchen... That means its authentic. I highly recommend it. It's called Ban-Lao-Thai. Probably the closest I'll get to going to Thailand.

Then after that, I did my shopping. I made two interesting purchases tonight. One was a bottle of Carling Black Label 10%. Which is supposedly like Carling Black Label (everyone's favorite) just with a lot more alcohol. mmm. Tastes more like if you pissed in a bottle of rubbing alcohol and said it was beer, but like a champ, I'll finish it. There are starving alkies in Ethiopia ya know! And my other purchase was a box of Kellogg's All Bran. You might be saying, "but John, with your healthy digestive tract, why would you need something like that?" well, I'll tell you... William Shatner was on the box. Shatner is pretty popular up here, after all, he was born here. One of my posts will be all about the Shatnerism that goes on up here, but that could take a while, so, one of these days, you'll see it. But anyways, Kelloggs has an ad campaign for All Bran up here. They want you to take the Two-Week Challenege to make Fibre (that's how they spell it) your friend. Shat is their spokesman (more irony for ya). The campain slogan is: William Shatner took the Challenge and he said: "I felt really good about it." Well, that's good enough for me!

Time for TV and to finish choking down that Bottle of Carling's.

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Ah a beautiful Tuesday night. Work's been hectic the last couple days. What else is new.

Last night I got home and had some stuff around the apartment to do. What it was, I can't remember but I'm sure it was good. Then my neighbor next door stopped me as I was bringing the garbage to the chute... Apparently everyone on the floor that she's spoken to was without heat. I checked mine. It was working fine. Good thing too cuz when I woke up this morning the temperature was -26C. With the windchill it was getting down to -35C. I think. That's like -15 to -25 Fahrenheit. Translation: It's pretty friggin' cold. This is the "cold" I was expecting. And yup, it's pretty cold. Like on my way to the train station. It was fine until a huge gust of wind came and I thought my skull was gonna crack. Nice huh. Tomorrow I'll wear a hat.

Today I got my other Hampden Beer tray in. That's 2. 1 more and I'll have 3!

I also need one more tray for that wall to be complete. Right now it looks a little lopsided. And that's not cool. So once it's done, I'll post a picture.

I'm listening to Nick K's internet radio show. And that reminds me. Kids from Long Island have a short attention span. Right Nick? Oh nevermind, you probably got distracted half-way through the first paragraph :-P.

I'm out.. Like a trout. Until tomorrow.

That's my office/2nd bedroom. That's where the planning/plotting of world domination happens. Hey, who's that hard at work on the desk? SAMMY! And if you look closer, on my window you'll see a Sox World Champs decal (it's a static cling thing-I like to share with my neighbors) And on the shelf there's a picture of Crusade and a picture of me sitting in with Happy back in the day. Also present in that photo is Sokol and Timmy in the foreground wearing white pants. And people wonder why I have issues.

My Dining Room. That's where the consumption of food and drink happens. 

Back in Business!

Another productive weekend is coming to an end. And no, that wasn't sarcasm for once. I mean come on.. Me? Sarcastic? ha right. But no, I did do a lot.

So it did take quite a while for me to fully recover from Friday night's festivities. But in that time I did some laundry and went to the SAQ while my clothes were drying. I wasn't really in the mood for drinking but since Friday was payday I thought I'd get some more wine for my wine rack. The 5 bottles that were there were getting lonely, so I needed more wine. When I got to the SAQ, I once again had to cross the picket line. Nothing but pissing and moaning. Kinda funny considering I went there for wine in the first place. Oh sweet irony!

So I got me some more vino.. A little of the red, a little of the white. All is good now. I should have gotten some Scotch too cuz well, it tastes good! But that'll be for another time.

When I got back, I finally got around to rewiring the outlet in my office/small bedroom. The wiring in this building is great let me tell you. Aluminum wiring in the first place isn't bad but it's not as good as say, copper. Especially cuz the outlets and switches rated for Aluminum wiring cost a lot more. However, to add to that, when the wire ends are all brittle and covered in white paint cuz the asshat that painted before I moved couldn't be bothered to put tape over the thing really annoyed the shit out of me. Thank Bob Dobbs that I had my handy dandy Craftsmen wire cutters that I paid much more for simply because of the name. Got that all squared away. The outlet works and my power strip no longer indicates "building wiring fault". Whatever the hell that means and however the hell the power strip can tell is beyond me.

I then ended up going to a local mall. Yes we have many up here. This one was ok. I was actually disappointed at first but then, just as I thought I was going to leave there on a down note, I came across a Cigar shop. EUREEKA!!! Most of their inventory consisted of Cubans... Cigars not the people. Prices were reasonable too. Now I know where to feed one of my habits.

Later that evening, I ended up at La Cage Aux Sports. Which is a sports bar in the same complex as the Guzzo theaters. I got to watch the Rams get their asses handed to them by the Falcons which in the grand scheme of things, didn't really matter to me at all, but it was better than watching at home. I also spent some time there teaching the young, voluptuous barmaid the glory of American football and, while it is inferior to baseball, it is still far superior to anything they have up here. I will probably go back there today to teach her why New England sports teams are far superior to any other sports teams while I am at it. I like to consider myself a sculptor at times and my clay happens to be naive, easy to impress minds. I'm off to a good start already. More on that later!

That was Saturday. Today was the day I was supposed to map out objectives and "determine what I want my legacy to be" for the department I am heading up. But before that, I had to go to Futureshop, which is sort of like a lame younger brother to Best Buy, to get some CAT5 cable. I was initially hoping to go entirely wireless in my place. But my computer doesn't like the card for some reason. Time to upgrade anyway. But instead of spending tons of money on another solution.. I decided to just run a cable. A white cable would have been preferable, or even gray, to blend in with my baseboards or walls. But alas, no place had the length and color I wanted. And only Futurshop had the length. The only color they had was bright blue. So much for blending in. Well, I ran the cable, moved my computer from my dining room to my office and that's where I am writing to you from. I never realized how comfortable my chair here was until compared to the hard wood one I have been using for the last month. Business plan is done. Now all I really need to do it go to Home Depot and get some fasteners so that I can secure this bright blue monstrosity to the wall so that no one kills themselves (well at least on the wire).

Once my batteries are done charging, I'll snap some pictures of both rooms now that they look semi-normal. Just ignore all the other weird stuff and things will be great.

Talk to you all tomorrow!

There's the sign for for Cinema Guzzo. Told you it was a bad pic. 

Boli Boli Glowa

Christ is my head pounding.

And yeah Glowa is supposed to have that "L" with the squiggly line through it so it sounds like a "W" but I can't figure out how to do that here so oh well. Life goes on...

Plus the "W" is no longer a good letter.. 4 more years my ass.

Last night was an interesting night, or at least it must have been. I worked until like 5:30 then headed over to Pub St. Jacques with some friends from work, where I proceeded to take advantage of happy hour. 10 beers for the price of 5 aint bad. I was drinking Rickard's Red which is ok in small doses. Better than many of the other canuck beers up here but still nothing to write home about. Why I am.. I have no clue. Pub St. Jacques isn't a bad place. Not a great place but not a bad place. Their food is ok and the atmosphere is sorta between that of a dirty bar and chinese restaurant. Hard to picture but if you went there, you'd see. So I had some beer there, then I hopped in a cab and got home, read and responded to some email, while hanging out with Mr. Adams himself. Always a Good Decision!

After that is where things get a little fuzzy. I decided to go down to Dieu du Ciel for a few more. Apparently a few too many. I woke up at like 6am, still had my jacket on. But I was smart enough to take my boots off and put the chain up on my door, in case any of my asian neighbors tried to break in and borrow some rice or something. The cab ride home totally escapes me. But I am apparently getting more accustomed to living here. I say that because all my ID still has my address in Chicopee on it. So I don't really have the luxury of giving the cab driver my license and saying "take me there". If I did, you can bet that would be a little expensive. Somehow I managed to give my address and explain how to get there since it's not the easiest place to find.

So it's 8:08 on Saturday morning... The 5 glasses of water I've had haven't helped my predicament, so I'm trying a little hair of the dog. mmmm. Smells good, tastes good, feels good, real good, good for me, good for you... This is how breakfast should be.

I'm also attempting to listen WMUA on the net here to here mom and Billy, but alas, there's way too much static. How the hell that station can manage to get that much static onto the internet is beyond me... Go UMASS!!

Not sure what I plan on doing today. I need to finish (it would help if I start) writing my business plan for 2005 and into 2006 so I'll probably spend some time doing that as soon as my head clears. I still need to change a few outlets. That was my project last week but that damned towel bar ended up taking most of my time. Maybe I'll play with electicity today, that sounds like it could be fun. I've got 3 fuses in my fuse box that apparently do absolutely nothing. Can't figure out what the hell they control. But then I've got one that controls about 2/3 of my apartment. Brilliant eh? I really need to get my computer into that room. To do that I need to fix the outlet and then get a wireless adaptor so I can get online. For some reason my machine doesn't like the internal one I bought so I need to get a USB adaptor. It's a conspiracy I tell you.

Anyway, time to finish the recovery process.
I'll catch you all later... Keep it real.

Movies and Beer

Now that I have your attention...

I have a confession to make.. I kinda lied last night. Yeah I'm sure you'll all get over it. I already did.

I didn't end up staying in after all. After I wrote you all yesterday, I got bored. All the great 60's reruns that were on, I had seen already at some point in time. So I decided to go see a movie at the theater near my house: Cinemas Guzzo Mega-Plex Spheretech 14. What a mouthful. I took a picture of the outside of the place but it didn't come out that great cuz of all the freezing rain. I'd post it anyway but my camera is in my truck and I'm not going to get it right now. You can see some pics of the inside here: http://www.cinemasguzzo.com/page.php3?t=3&c=/en/s2/sphreretech.html

It's like most of the theaters back home nowadays. Stadium seating and all. The one thing that's better is the seats are wicked soft. Lots of padding. The one thing I didn't like though was that they had a sign that said "no pirates". What the hell is that? So much for equality and civil rights. At least they let ninjas in.

I got to see "Meet the Fockers" which was pretty Focking good (yeah I'm clever too).

Now onto beer. I got another Beer Tray in today. A nice Pabst Blue Ribbon tray. Thanks to someone that shall remain anonymous (to protect the innocent) I have begun a small collection of these things. As if I didn't have enough vices. Nothing I'll go overboard with but, they make for nice decoration and helps me push my appreciation for beer onto the people who visit me.

Speaking of... I wasn't planning on coming back to Massachusetts until late February to play a gig. However, in 2 weeks, there's a beer fest in Boston. Depending on finances, I may make the trip. Not sure just yet though. If anyone is interested, let me know, it may influence my decision either way ;-)

Finally, work is going good up here. A little busy. I've gotta start coordinating some stuff with one of our sister sites in the UK. Trying to convince my boss that due to the difference in time zones I should fly there. That hasn't worked yet. I'll try again later.

That's All Folks

Nothin' Shakin' so it's TV Time!

Kind of a dull Wednesday night. Was gonna go out but it snowed a little earlier and for the last 4 hours its been non-stop freezing rain. So I'm not driving...

As a result, it's time to watch some Canadian Television, or CV from this point forward. CV is like TV in the US but instead of having English and Spanish channels, we have English and French channels. We also have a lot of old US TV shows. On any given night I can watch Hogan's Heroes (a classic), Get Smart, All in the Family, Sanford and Son, Petticoat Junction and more. Right now, for instance, I'm watching Peter Gunn. Well, it's on in the background anyway.

I also have a bunch of Hockey channels (surprise surprise!) that can only show old games right now. haha. Suckers. I do miss NESN.

The Comedy Channel is actually pretty good here for 2 main reasons: SCTV and The Kids in The Hall. Loved them back in the day and love them now. And they show them every day. And Mon-Fri, I get my dose of South Park. What more could I ask for?

Then there are The Simpsons. Canadians seem to have this obsession with Bart, Homer, Ned Flanders and the gang. At any cafe someone's guaranteed to be discussing last night's episode. And what's even less entertaining for me is when people find out I'm from Springfield. The Canadians up here seem to have this impression that the Springfield I'm from is much like the Springfield on TV. I tell them its more like Disneyland with knives and guns.

Finally a little something to ponder... People in the States complain that there is too much sex and violence on TV and that is shaping society. Well if TV does have that much of an in influence over society, life in Canada should be very interesting. That is, considering all the 60's reruns that are played up here. That's right, imagine a country of people talking into their shoes and saying "I KNOW NOTHING!!!". This could very much be the big one after all.

Time to go eat my Bob The Builder shaped pasta. (I haven't found any Spaghetti O's and they were out of Sponge Bob Square Pants so, I have to cope).

I'll be back.. Same Bat Time, Same Bat Channel.

Yo's and Music on the Metro

Well I'm back after a day off (hold the applause until after please).

So I learned a new word today, or actually more just a part of Canadian slang: Yo's. I'd heard the term quite a few times but it was finally explained to me today. Yo's are what Canadians refer to African Americans (or is that African Canadians? Not sure) who act and dress like the patrons of the 5th Alarm. Barring Dave Eldred and Myself. They call them Yo's because they use the term "Yo" a lot. Like "Yo, whats happening" or "Yo, that's some nice bling" and the ever popular "Yo Yo Yo!". Very interesting huh?

Another thing I've noticed up here is that there are a lot of Asians in the area and particularly in my building. It's like being an entirely separate foreign country. Now there's nothing wrong with that at all. In fact, they are all wicked nice people. And after a long day of dealing with all these French Canadians in Canada, it feels nice to come home to my place in some Asian country.

Finally, Music on the Metro... Now I told you all that I don't take the Metro to and from work. Not too convenient. However, as it does get cold up here and these Canadians don't know how to tough it out, there are a lot of underground tunnels and malls and stuff. In fact, you can get many places without having to go outside. Not too shabby. So as a result, for part of my walk to work from the train station, I go indoors and underground. Not as slippery there. I start by walking into the Bell (phone co) building, which takes me to the Metro tunnel then to marketplace. The Metro tunnel is where all the interesting characters hang out, as I mentioned before. Some of these people are musicians. It seems as though they have to buy a permit to play, though no prior musical instruction or practice is apparently necessary. Some of musicians that you run into are actually extremely talented and listening to them is a treat. Then there are the rest. The two things they all have in common: they all play "Moondance" and "Knockin' on Heaven's Door". "Knockin..." is one of my favorite tunes, but hearing it played along to a tape by some guy with an out of tune valve-trombone kinda ruins it a little.

That's that for now. No pictures today. I'll have some more this week for you though...

You may now applaud.

That crap doesn't smell nearly as pretty as it looks.., 

Voila! -- That's French for... Voila! 

Ikea, Sears and Robertson Screws

So how was everybody's weekend? Not too bad here. Saturday after my shopping experience I did some laundry and cleaning and then roamed around the area a bit. Nothing too exciting at all. Ended up watching Bad Santa before bed. For those of you who haven't seen it, I highly recommend it as it will improve your vocabulary significantly.

Today was a little more productive I guess. Went through some emails, then I decided to take a trip to Ikea. This place is quite awesome if I must say so myself. They have a couple back home but none were as close as this one which is about 10 minutes away. Everything there is pretty affordable because everything must be assembled. As everything is cheap and modern here its full of younger folk. Most of whom are female and have no idea how assemble or hang what they buy. I'm pretty good with my hands so well, thats a skill that comes in handy if you catch my drift. I needed to get some curtains for my two bedrooms and one long-ass valance for my living/dining rooms (or a bunch of short-assed ones). They had some nice cheap curtains that would have been cool, but they need to be cut or sewn. That's kind of a pain since I don't sew so I'll have to find someone or some place that can do that for me. So I left without buying them. I guess I'll just have go back again, bummer eh?

On the way back I decided to stop at Sears. Sears stores up here seem about 10-15 years behind what they are in the States. The items they sell are up to date but the layout and decor of the stores are kinda like walking into a time warp. That's right... It's just a jump to the left and then a step to the right. But anyways, I needed some Robertson screw drivers so while I was there I'll pick them up. I'll discuss Robertson screws in a minute..

The reason for me needing Robertson screwdrivers is that in my bathroom I have this towel bar that was there when I moved in. It was once made of white plastic which has since yellowed and just looked like hell. So I decided to replace it with a nice fake-chrome one. However, the old one was held in there with these Robertson screws for which I didn't have the right sized driver. Got the right one at Sears, however upon closer examination, once I got home, the heads of the screws were stripped. Hello drill!

Once I got the old thing off I noticed that it was covering up a few dime-sized holes (I won't mention the remains of the screws I drilled out too). Now this is turning into a friggin' project cuz there were also 3 layers of paint over it that came off with the mounts. So while the compound is drying I figured I'd write. Then I need to sand, reapply as necessary, sand, paint and then hang my nice new towel bar. UGH!! I'll post some pics for you all later.

Now onto Robertson screws... It appears this Robertson character thought he had a good idea when he invented screws with square-heads. For those of you wondering why the creators of South Park depict Canadians with square, floppy heads, this is probably why. And it's not a bad idea, except that the rest of the civilized world prefers flathead or Phillips. With flathead or Phillips screws, if your screwdriver is a little too big or a little too small, it's not the end of the world cuz in most cases they'll still work. Well not with Robertson screws. If your screwdriver is too big, it won't fit the screw at all. And if it's too small, it slips out way too easy and strips the screwhead. So it seems everytime I come across something in the apartment that has one of those blasted screws, I'm going out buying a new screwdriver. Another Canadian ploy for them to make more money off me in taxes. Well this Robertson guy died a while back, that'll teach him I guess.

Hello to Frank and Judy in San Diego and to Heather in West Springfield too. Nice to hear from all of you :-)

Well back to my project. Then dinner. There's this kick-ass Thai/Lao restaurant near my place which has some awesome food and reasonable prices. So I think I'll have some pizza at the Italian joint down the road.

A Saturday at Mourelatos

I previously mentioned that there are a few places near me where one can go grocery shopping. There's Maxi and Company, Provigo, Mourelatos and a few others not worth naming here. Maxi and Co and Provigo are where I tend to do my shopping. Now Mourelatos, which from what I told is Greek-owned, (and we all know about them Greeks) is the closest. It's less than 10 minutes on foot in the snow. Their selection is ok as are their prices. During the week, Mourelatos is fairly quiet. However, every Saturday it rapidly changes from the quiet, Greek, grocery store to armageddon-squared. In fact, the one thing I really like about Mourelatos is the notion that perhaps one day a giant fissure will open up and swallow the place whole.

The fun begins in the parking lot where people park in the fire lane, in the middle of the driving lane, across one of the few entrances, illegally behind cars who are already blocking other cars. You name it, it goes on in the parking lot. I once heard a middle-aged man tell an elderly woman off for parking like a moron. And you know, she deserved it. But no, the fun doesn't stop there, enter the store itself and things get a little more interesting.

To put things further into perspective, Mourelatos is about half the size of your average Shaw's, Big Y, Stop & Shop, whatever. Aisles are much narrower and aren't laid out to allow for smooth traffic flow. Now compound that with a whole shitload of retirees and their shopping carts and it makes for an interesting shopping experience. People don't watch where they're walking. They start on one side of an aisle, gradually work their way to the other side of the aisle and then back all against oncoming traffic. Even better is the often encountered shopping cart left in the middle of an aisle while the person who left it there is further down the aisle deciding whether or not to buy their 3 months supply of prunes today.

I didn't really need anything there today. But since I had nothing better to do, I thought I'd take the walk. Maybe just to get some M&M's to fill my M&M dispenser, which was only 1/4 of the way empty. I had also thought about making some PBR Chili. Though you can't buy PBR up here (another travesty) I was ready to substitute another beer. However within 10 minutes, Mourelatos and it's clientele had totally sucked the will to live right out of me, so the chili will have to wait until I go shopping later this week at Provigo.

As for my plans today, I'm not sure just yet. I'm doing some laundry and a little cleaning. I may go explore the area some more or hang out with one of my brand new real-life Canadian friends. Or maybe I'll take another trip down to the brewpub. I'm running low on provisions (Sam and Sam Winter) so I need to ration them just in case. So who knows what else is in store for me today. If it's anything worthy of writing about, you'll all read about it. And if its not worthy of writing about, well, you'll probably still read about it.

Over and out.

There it is, the pit of eternal darkness. Note the cars parked in the firelane. 1 of them has someone sitting in the passenger seat. The rest have nobody.  

Hail the Shipyard! BTW.. That's a small portion of what's in my living room ;-) 

It's Friday Night, Work's Done Alright!

It's party time for me... Well not really, I have more work to do but I'll save it for later.

So it's been a busy week. Between work and not-work. But today, I had to go all over town to get my Social Insurance and Health Insurance taken care of. That's right, even though I'm not a Canadian, I still get free Healthcare :-P .

After work, I decided to go out for a few cold ones. Now the scary part was that I came into contact with some real-life Canadians. Now, I work with an office full of them, but it's not the same thing... It's sort of like going to a petting zoo. On the streets, it's like being in the jungle.

I decided to stop by the Brasserie Dieu du Ciel which is not only one of Canada's finest brew pubs, but its probably one of my favorites in all of North America. Now the problem is, I promised J.F., who is the head brewmeister, some beer from Massachusetts. And I had some! Last time I visited Pam and Tim, I picked up 2 growlers of the Tap's finest IPA. Well it got back to Chicopee ok, but it sort of "evaporated" once it got there. Luckily, however, J.F. wasn't there, but his honeypot was and she recognized me. Luckily "next time" worked fine and I still got some free beer from her. The stout they make is probably the best I have ever had. And in fact, all of their beers are phenomenal. One of the dude's that works there is a big fan of Indian Motorcycles, which by the way, were once made in Springfield. So I owe him some photos of the factory building which is now an apartment complex / crack house. But if you're ever visiting Montreal, this is definitely one of the places you need to check out. Here is their webpage just in case: http://www.dieuduciel.com/

Well I've got a pretty good buzz on right now. Their "weakest" beer is 5% alcohol and they have 3 on the menu right now that are 9%. Tomorrow morning won't be fun. But oh well... I'm strong like bull...

And while I'm at it, I thought I'd say hello to Greg Glen and JoAnn Majka. Two fans of the New York Yankees. Congratulations on the acquisition of Randy Johnson, or RJ. Now some of you might want to know what an RJ is.. Well, it's sort of like a BJ except it costs a lot more, but in the end, the Yankme's are still gonna suck. ;-) GO SOX!

I also got complaints yesterday and today from Sarah Banew.. (alphabet) and Rob Petrone who wanted to know why they didn't get a shout out in yesterday's post. Well #1, life sucks so learn to live with it, but #2, the people I said "howdy" to were nice enough to email me to see how things were going and not whine about anything. So I hope that clears some things up!

I guess that's it for now. I'm gonna go down the street and party like it's 1999 for no reason at all. Catch you all later!


CRY HAVOC! AND LET SLIP THE DOGS OF WAR!

Greeting's from Canada eh! 

I thought this pic sorta complimented my last post. Yes, that's my kitchen. Where else would I keep the nourishment!? 

Health Clubs and Liquor Stores

Now, knowing most of the people who read this the way I do, you're probably all asking yourself, "But John, aren't those one and the same? What's with the redundancy?". Well in this case, we'll say they're different. I know.. it's silly, but bear with me...

Being the health-minded guy that I am, I thought I'd find a healthclub since the Polish Hall in Gilbertville isn't just down the road anymore. So I looked online, found a couple in downtown Montreal which is great after work, but sucks should I want to go on the weekend. I found 2 near my place here in St-Laurent. One wasn't bad, fairly cheap and had everything I needed (treadmill, weights and lots of young scenery). But, membership had to be paid in advance in cash and well, with the move and everything I don't wanna tie up that kind of money just yet. And no, I didn't feel like turning any tricks... So I said, "screw that eh" and went down the street where they have this place called "Club Feel Good". The name alone was enough to make one cringe, but I went in there. Now this place is kinda like Globogym from "Dodgeball" (buy it today on DVD). They have everything you need and a ton of crap that you don't. And after you get out of there, you can take in all those calories you burned and thensome at the Pool Hall, Sports Bars or movie theater that are in the same complex. And they take monthly payment. But it's outrageously expensive. Nothing like a monthly cash enema to make you feel better! So screw that.

Now onto Liquor Stores... You can buy bad wine and crap beer (like Carling's Black Label which is bad everywhere except Randolph, MA where apparently its a treat) at any convenience store. But if you want the high-test stuff, you have to go to the SAQ which is the state-owned and operated liquor store. Because if I know anything, a state-owned monopoly is best for the consumer! Well the employees of the SAQ are striking. So all of them were closed for while. However, now there are a few open if you don't mind crossing a picket line to buy booze. Me, I don't mind... But the lines are horrible and you'd think they'd at least sell better beer. So, to avoid that altogether, I've brought one our best friends up here.. Samuel Adams.. Looking back, yes it's Always a good decision. Sam and I have been spending some good time together, however, he's feeling a little low right now. So next time some of you come to visit, please bring 24 of his twin brothers, also named Sam.

Also.. Get well wishes to my buddy Ange Pawlak. See ya soon man.

I'll try to post another picture or two for you since I've had some requests. Though, the photos that have been requested I can't post, so you'll have to settle for something rated PG.

Oh yeah, also want to give a shout out to Rob, Wally, Heidi, Lee, and Eric. Nice to hear from you!

May the schwartz be with you.

The Joys of Public Transport

So I was going to talk about my experience trying to get a gym membership up here, but I'll save that for later. Instead I'd like to engage in an exhilarating monologue about public transportation here in Montreal. It will make my later posts easier to understand.

As with most metropolitan areas, Montreal has a few options for public transportation. You can also get anywhere by your own car, that is if you don't mind fording traffic for 2 hours to take what would normally be a 5 minute drive.

The Metro, as we discussed before, is Montreal's Subway. It's cheap and can get you most places in the city. It's also full of interesting characters.

Taxis - No Comment

Busses go all over the city and actually run quite often. I haven't taken a bus ride here yet, but one day I think I will.

The Commuter Train -- This thing is amazing. And no, that isn't sarcasm. It's a 2 minute walk from my building to the train stop. Relatively inexpensive and it gets me to where I have to go in a hurry. Only downside is that trains don't run as frequently as Metro cars. Oh well. The clientele, however, are usually business people so you don't get the honor of sharing your seat with some homeless dude.

Now they have passes that you can buy for a month to take certain modes of transportation. A Metro Pass is $61 Canadian (or $8 American if you need me to do the math) and lets you ride the Metro and the busses as much as you want for 30 days. Not a bad deal. I get the train pass which is $78 and lets me ride the choo-choo, metro and busses as much as I want. Not bad as it saves me a sh!tload in gas.

Now that I got that out of the way, I wanted to share some news... One of the guys that works for me was late today because somebody threw themselve on the Metro track, thus resulting in the metro not operating while the clean-up operation was happening. Now this is poor money management. That schmuck paid $2.50 to do that. I'm sure he or she could have found another way to get the job done and saved themselves a couple bucks all at the same time. The other thing is, that just inconveniences everyone else. Not cool. And finally, I know times are tough but there are always good things to look forward to, like hockey season.. Oh wait, nevermind.

One recent news article that I'm sure some of you will enjoy had the following headline: "Rambo Cellucci has overstayed his welcome." -- Ah yes, our goodold friend Paul Cellucci, former Governor of Massachusetts and current US Ambassador to Canada. Well he's not real popular up here which isn't surprising as he wasn't too popular down there either. A quick scan of any Canadian news site will result in a majority of negative article about our buddy Paul. And to top it, most Candadians know his name quite well, though not for good reasons. Now how many Americans know the name of Canadia's Ambassador to the US? HA! Didn't think so. But guess what, I won't tell you cuz I don't have a clue neither.

Well I'm off to get some groceries now. Just need to decide which warzone I want to shop in. But that's another topic in itself.

Live Long and Prosper

The Football Field / Skating Rink
(Taken from my bedroom window)

2 in a row...

So my last post was more of an introduction... Sort of a "Welcome to Canadia, eh" kind of thing.

This place is kind of cool. I'm digging it here. It's a little different than Western Mass. For instance, French is the main language as opposed to the Spanish we're all used to back home. And if you're lucky, you'll actually hear people in malls speak English now and then. Kind of cool.

The weather isn't that much different except that they use the Metric System up here. So when some Canadian tells you "Hey man, the weather with the windchill can get as low as 30 below eh.", the American translation is "Dear sir, the weather with the windchill can get as low as 22 below." Cold but it isn't the tundra I was expecting. 1 word: Overhype.

Speaking of overhype... The Metro is a "Source of Pride" as you can see for yourself in this official document: http://www.stm.info/English/en-bref/a-notrefierte.pdf
Now... The Metro isn't bad. Perhaps a little better than the T in Boston. But it's nothing to brag about. I mean, the T is great compared to the New York Subway and you don't hear Bostonians say "Hey, check out the T, it's a Source of Pride." And if someone ever tells you that: GUTPUNCH.

One cool thing is when I look out my windows, or if I'm on my balcony, I have a lovely view of Parc St-Laurent. The one thing different about the parks here in Montreal is that they are lacking in 2 major areas: Trash and riff-raff. It's always clean and there's no trouble to be found. One wicked cool thing that they do... There's a track around the football field. Now I'm not sure if it's Canadian Football regulation or American Football regulation... Time to buy a bigger tape measure.. But anyway, they take that track, freeze it and then smooth it out with a zamboni. So up until about 10pm, 7 nights a week one can watch people ice skating under very very bright floodlights that light up most of my apartment. (At least I'm saving a few bucks on electricity). I haven't invested in a pair of skates yet, but since the rink isn't that far, I may invest some money here: http://www.spudtech.com

Right now the country seems to be in a grand state of depression. No hockey at the present. I like hockey but the real travesty here is that the Expos are officially going to Washington DC. Not that they were anything great or even good.. In fact, they sucked.. But even crappy baseball is still baseball. And the teams they played were good. Oh well.

So those are things in a nutshell for now. I'm still exploring the the area. There's a lot of cool stuff to see. And I'm sure I'll have plenty of good tales from the Canuck-side to share with you all.

Seacrest... Out!

Whoa

Well.. here's something new. Since a ton of people keep asking me what its like, or what I've been up to, or what I've seen, who I met, etc. While here in Canada. I figured, the easiest way to do it was to create a site with a blog on it.

This way everyone can read whenever they want!

I'll post some pics up here and all kinds of goodies over time. Be patient.