State Line Potato Chips

I seem to have found another weakness amongst the Canadians... State Line Potato Chips.

The other night, while out shopping with mom, I picked up a case of chips to take back with me. They have Lay's up here. The local Canuck brand is called Humpty Dumpty. They're ok, but not the best. So I took a case up here with me and brought a bag into work today. At first the Canadians were all awestruck simply because some of them have never seen real American food. Kinda like the opening scense to 2001 where you see the apes evolving into men. But I've got a few of them hooked already.

I also had my first French class in about a week and a half. Getting back into the swing of things is tough. Thankfully, my French sucked already so its kind of hard to regress any further.

Finally got my Canadian Bank Account set up. Now I can worry less about the exchange rate.

That's it. Short and sweet... Like a midget drenched in maple syrup. I'm off to watch the Artie Lange DVD.

The Week In Review

Back after a little hiatus. It was nice to go back to Mass for the week. Kinda wish I had some more time but, you know what they say "Wish in one hand, shit in the other and see which one fills up first."

Friday night, Dave and I went to the Fifth Alarm. We dragged along Matt too. So we were The White Guys +1. I've been gone for a few months now and it's quite obvious my departure has had a negative impact on that place. The quality of entertainers has gone from bad to worse. It was cool when it was bad, but it's kinda sad now though. On an more positive note, however, the clientele seems to have gotten a little more sketchy though. So, there's always something to look forward too. I only had a beer and a shot of Hennessey before we decided to head over to the Mardi Gras where I spent a lot of my hard-earned money and it was damned good. That place gets bigger and bigger all the time.

Saturday was one of the better highlights. I had the honor (if that's what one would call it) of drinking with my pals Tim and Charles and Pam and JoAnn (I hope that's the right spelling... everyone's gotta be difficult). Much damage was inflicted upon my liver and many brain cells were killed. But at least they died in battle so they died with honor. To be honest, that night is a little foggy. I had "a beer or two" at the Polish Hall then drove out to Randolph where I had some more. I know we killed the bottle of Utopias and sampled a few more things. Plus those Cohibas were just right! Then I remember starting to watch The Rock... Next thing I know, I'm asleep on the couch with my feet in Tim's face. Well, he had a cold so he couldn't tell. But as always, chilling with them is an honor and a pleasure.

Sunday was my first gig in about 3 months. My lack of practice was apparent to me, but no one complained. At least not to my face, which was probably a good thing since I was hung over and not really all that eager to play that day for a number of reasons. But it was a good time. Got to drink with Spike, Mo, Krystal and everyone else. Except for Sarah, cuz she was only having water. This week I gotta talk to Ed and see what the schedule is gonna be like for 2005.

Monday... Well Monday kinda sucked. Went to the Holyoke Mall then watched some movies. Matt got his window smashed too. What a pane in the glass that was. (nyuck nyuck nyuck).

Tuesday was back to work in the Mass office for once. Nice to see everyone there. Everyone seemed pretty happy to see me. Which, to me is still odd. In my time there, I wasn't really all that social, rarely went out with people after work. But yet, they got me some nice going away gifts when I was leaving, and when I came back, everyone seemed genuinely glad to see me. Cool but odd. Either they are just real nice people, or have low standards. Then Tuesday night I chilled with Allison in Woburn. That was quite the hike.

Wednesday night I got to hang with Tim and Pam once more. Well, Tim needed help with his computer, but he pays me with friendship and beer so hey, who can argue with that? Tried getting this damned program he is obsessed with, Band-in-a-Box (or as I like to say, Abandon Her Box) updated for free. But he needs to purchase a newer version for that update to work. So I got him set up with a demo version. Also setup Finale PrintMusic too. Then he took me to The Tap in Haverhill for dinner and beer. Good times again!

Thursday was kind of a throwaway night. Wanted to play pool in Chicopee, but Dan and Matt gayed-out. So I drank at the Rollin Roc in Chicopee with Kevin. Not bad, however, nothing to really write home about. So I guess I'll skip to Friday now.

Friday, I got to go out to Boston. Woohoo. Didn't have as much time as I would have liked but we hit up the Foggy Goggle, Beer Works and the Cask. Didn't make it over to the Baseball Tavern or any of the other college hangouts. But next time I will.

Saturday, I got to go to the mall and cash in some Best Buy Certificates. I ended up taking home 10 DVD's for a total of $6.51. Not too shabby at all. Then we hit up Town and Country. My mom got this idea for a light made from a wine bottle at a craft fair that she wanted to make for me, so we had to get some wine. I went with a nice tawny port that I was introduced to the Saturday before, though I didn't remember it tasting that good. And the light mom made kicks some major ass. I'll try to put a picture up during the week. Also got to stop by my Babci's house in Chicopee.

Then today... well, the long trip back. Brought some more of my things from MA. Not to mention 1 case of Sam and 1 case of Sam Double Bock. That should last a little while. Oh yeah, I stopped for lunch at this brew pub in Plattsburgh, NY called Bootleggers. What a disappointment. I walked in and was greeted by a ton of video games. My first impression was "AWESOME! This is like Chuck E Cheeses for Alcoholics!" However, the selection of games was a bit out of date. The place was just a little weird. They wanted to give the effect of a pre-prohibition kind of bar combined with a modern sports bar. It didn't work too well. The brewery itself seemed kind of dirty. Looks like the equipment hadn't been dusted in years. The food was ok. I had a Buffalo chicken sandwich. Not bad, not great. The beer kinda sucked. I had thier Stout, Red and Blond. I think the Stout was the best of the group, but it wasn't great at all. They had a Pale Ale but I didn't try it.

So there ya go. I'm back in Canada now eh. Getting ready for bed. It was definitely nice seeing everyone again. For those of you I didn't get to hook-up with this trip, I'll be back again soon. Or again, you always welcome to drive here for once.

I'll be posting some more this week. Check back!

This weekend's Gars...From Habana! 

Packin'

Getting my things and stuff ready for the trip back to Massachusetts tomorrow night. I have to head out in a minute to get some Buckley's Cough Syrup for the 'rents back home.

The one accomplishment I had today was setting up our Annual Abortive Fantasy Baseball League (AAFBL). That should be fun. Too bad not everyone can play with big boys.

So yeah, that's about it for today. I may write once or twice while I'm back in MA but don't hold your breath. Or hold your breath if you want, see if I care. Keep checking back.

On The Road Again...

A National Day of Sorrow...

The Boston Massacre... Pearl Harbor... 9/11... All days that are forever a negative part of American History. Today, Canada has it's own Pearl Harbor or 9/11: The NHL officially cancelled the 2004-2005 Hockey Season.

I have yet to see the Maple Leaf flying at half-staff but it may just be because the shock hasn't totally set it.

Ok, maybe it's not THAT bad, but it definitely got more attention up here than it did in the States I bet. Just about every day when I get off the train, I grab a free copy of Metro, which is a daily paper up here. In fact, I believe they have a Boston paper now but the Globe and Herald are trying to knock the wind out of it. Too bad the Herald is even more of a rag than Metro. But the pending cancellation was on the front page of that and a few other papers. People at work stopped by my office to let me know of the news.

Again, after baseball, hockey gets a lot of my attention. But ya know what unlike baseball, cancelling the season isn't the end of the world. As I say that some Canadian has probably just taken his or her own life. The game has gotten much slower over the past few years. New rules and regulations bog it down. And there are presently 30 teams out there. Most of which no one will ever give two shits about. Like Nashville. Or even Tampa Bay. I bet the folks down in Tampa Bay can really appreciate good hockey. Consider it never gets cold enough down there for a pond to freeze. But they have a pro team. So then you have your "real" teams like Boston, Detroit, Montreal, Philly, etc whos fans look at the schedule and say "Wow, the Bruins are playing Phoenix, that's gonna be fun to watch, maybe I'll just stay home and watch paint dry." Hopefully some of these lamer teams will close up shop. One can only hope.

On top of that, these guys are getting good money to play a kids game. Much like football or baseball, however there is a huge difference: TV Deals. When a baseball player whines that 15 million a year isn't enough though it's hard to relate to that. However when you think of how big the stage is, it's a little easier to feel sorry for those guys than hockey players. Baseball and Football both have major TV deals. They're always in the spotlight. Hockey doesn't. The Bruins can be seen on NESN but not every team is that fortunate. Baseball and Football are much richer sports therefore owners by nature have more money to pay salaries. Not so much the case in hockey.

But as sad as all that may be, it's pretty much a moot point as tomorrow pitchers and catches report for duty. That's right folks, spring training starts. Blue Jays tickets go on sale in a few days I think so I'm going to try to get a jump on when the Sox are in Toronto and see them there once at Skydome. Or actually now its called the Rogers Centre or something like that.

Time to update Louie and Julie's website then to start gathering my things for next week.

4 More Days...

Today was one hell of a lazy day. Took me forever to get out of bed. Work kinda dragged on by too. Wasn't as productive as normal but I got through it.

We've got one lovely ice storm going on right now. It's a wintery mix, but it's quite harsh.

In 4 days I'll be heading back to Massachusetts. Gonna start throwing some things in the suitcase tomorrow. Friday night it looks like Eldred and I will be visiting the Fifth Alarm. The other night I was mentioning how people up here were warning me about the area the hockey game was in, etc etc. That place is like preschool compared the warzone back home. Friday night, "The White Guys" will make their triumphant return to the 5A. All are welcome.

Saturday is going to be spent at the Polish Hall it seems. Everyone should come down there and have a drink or two. No excuses!

Then Sunday, back into the swing of playing. I haven't picked up my sticks since November so that should be interesting. Such is life when you move to a new country. It was also a nice break. Since January of 2000, it's been non-stop polka this polka that. I worked at RCN or Monster, then worked on organizing stuff for The Groove, whether it was bookings or trying to figure out which 6 musicians were gonna be available this weekend, etc etc. Then playing with Baystate and filling in with everyone else. This past year... I added Crusade's schedule to that. Definitely a good time and all, but it's a lot of added bullshit for something that doesn't really pay the bills. So after the last gig with Crusade in November, I had a couple with the Sound-A-Bouts which were actually quite fun. But, other than that, it's been almost 3 months of peace and quiet. No assholes bitching it's too loud yet they park their toupee-covered heads right up front. No phone call two nights before a job informing me someone can't make the gig and I have to find a fill-in last minute. No trying to find a Uhaul and digging my equipment out from Christmas decorations. No getting shit cuz the guy who was supposed to setup the sound system did it wrong and I didn't doublecheck it for him. No shit cuz Polka Country upstaged us and everything has to be a competition for some reason. None of that... I like playing, but when you put it into that perspective, it was a much needed break and I'm really not as eager to get back into it as I may have been in the past.

So we'll see how this summer goes. I'll probably spend more time working on my trumpet in the coming months since it creates less noise that my tubs. I may also seek out some non-polka work, or as Joe Sokol would say "awww some legit work", once summer rolls around.

However, now that I got that out of the way, I've started putting thought to one more recording with The Groove. We did that 5 song demo which had it's positives and negatives, but it was just a demo. Unfortunately, using a constant rotation of musicians, we never got to putting a full length out. Chuck, Tim and I got together on countless occasions to work on material but all we got out of it was a hangover. But, I have a few tunes that I've always wanted to do, so we're going to do them. And my instinct is that this time, it will finally come together as there's no pressure, no rush and since our weekends aren't full of playing, it may be easier to get together on a weekend. But again, we can do it at our own pace, so it's still "fun". We'll see how this goes.

Congratulations to Brave Combo on winning the Polka Grammy this year. Some really talented musicians and they're all wicked nice guys too. Well deserved.

My blooming collection of drinking vessels. That's just the beer stuff. Softdrinks and other non-alcoholic beverage glasses are kept in a seperate cabinet where than cannot corrupt these fragile devices.  

What a Quick Weekend

Sunday night already! I say that a lot, but damn, this weekend went by a lot quicker than usual. Or so it seems.

Yesterday wasn't so bad. I slept in, or I guess you can call it that. I forgot to turn off my alarm so I woke up at 7:15 when it went off, but sorta dozed off again. By the time I was able to drag my sorry ass out of bed it was a little after 9. From there I slacked for a couple hours, then went downtown with a friend of mine. Got to hit up this Mexican joint called The Three Amigos, and no I didn't run into Steve Martin. The food there was excellent. I had a Chimichanga with chicken and a Corona. The put some kinda Cherry Brandy sauce on their food which was tasty. I think it's a little better than the chocolate sauce that the Cactus Club in Boston makes actually. And that's a damned good sauce! After that, I was taken to the Underground. No, not the London Subway and no, it's not some new age civil rights thing. It's the underground malls which are quite fun. Mostly chick stores, but they have a GNC, which is where I get my vitamins. They also had a Sports Memorabilia store which was amazing! Quite a few collectibles including a game-used base from a 2002 Sox vs Yankees game at Fenway Park which was going for over $1,000 Canadian Dollars. They had a few autographed items of Bobby Orr's game winning goal from the Stanley Cup playoffs back in the day. Even an authentic Ty Cobb baseball bat. Now that is something I wouldn't mind owning. Amazing stuff!

But the best part of the trip was this place called Metro Video. It was a DVD store. This place had the best selection of DVDs I had ever seen. We spent some time there. I ended up leaving with Season 3 of "Curb Your Enthusiam", M*A*S*H (The Movie), and Lolita, which completes my Kubrick Collection. I will be spending a lot more time at this place. Breathtaking.

That brings us to today. Typical Sunday for me. I did the usual cleaning and laundry routine. Got some grocery shopping out of the way. The I went to the Home Despot. I had to get a black cabinet knob for my bathroom, a couple magnetic cupboard catches and a new aerator for my bathroom sink. The old one sucked the big one. It was so caked up with shit that everytime I turned on the water, everything around the sink would take a shower. It took one hell of an effort to get it off the faucet. Good thing I found a replacement cuz that one wasn't going back on. The old one was so loaded with crap... nasty. Can't imagine that brushing my teeth the last 3 months here has done any good with the shit that was residing in that puppy. Oh well, it's so much better now.

Then I watched my normal Sunday night shows: Battlestar Galactica, which by the way is getting better and better. Smallville and Enterprise. Enterprise has been getting better as of late, too bad it got cancelled. Supposedly they're doing an episode where they rebuilt the set from the original series in the coming weeks. That should be interesting!

And that my friends as they say "is that". I've got some French homework to do tonight before bed. This week will be pretty laid back granted nothing goes awry at the office. Looking forward to heading back to good old MA Friday after work. woohoo.

Hasta Mañana

This fight took place less than 3 minutes into the game. Crazy Canucks. 

Molson is bad beer, but it's all about the packaging. 

Friday Night Fights

Thursday was rather uneventful. I worked, then Caroline, Marius, Siobhan, Fanta, Melanie, Chaffic and myself from work all went to Pub St. Jacques for some beers.

Tonight was much more fun, however. For lunch a bunch of us went to Cafe Stash again. I had their Pierogis and some Zurek. Tasty. Then after work I stopped by Pub St. Jacques again just cuz it was on the way for a Steer Burger and a couple cold ones. From there, it was off to my first hockey game in Canada.

Since the NHL has pretty much thrown in the towel on this year's season, the game I saw was played by two teams from LNAH which is the North American Hockey League or something. It was the Verdun Dragons vs the Laval Chiefs. Verdun is part of Montreal proper and Laval is one of the next towns over. However, I saw the game in Verdun, therefore I was a "Verdun Fan" I guess. It was a great game. 60 minutes of non-stop violence. Fight after fight, guys were taking cheap shots on eachother in front of refs and not getting called for it. Good stuff. Much better than what the AHL has become. The AHL was great in the early 90's in Springfield with the Indians. Then they moved to Worcester and they created the Falcons in Springfield which is no longer a sporting event... it's a family event. Kinda like Disney on ice. They break up potential fights before they start. Then between periods you get treated to Claude the Happy Trumpeter. To heck with that, I want ass-kicking, blood and gore. And I got it tonight. The game itself was good, the beer wenches were quite hot. I don't even like Molson Ex but I had 7 of them tonight at the game. Actually, the cups said Molson Ex Light but I think it was Molson Dry. Either way it was crap but something made me keep drinking them. They found my weakness and exploited it well. Kudos to them.

Verdun is kind of a sketchy part of town. It's not upper Worthington Street or anything, but it's a little sketchier than the rest of Montreal. A few people warned me not to go there alone but then I reminded them that Montreal has 10 times the population of Springfield and a lower murder rate. And the crime rates are just about neck and neck. No problems at all.

The Metro station I got off at in Verdun was a major shithole though. It reminded me of a scene out of A Clockwork Orange really. It was built in the 60's or early 70's but they tried to make it look futuristic. Then to top that look off, it was filthy and covered with graffiti. Really classy.

Oh yeah and the good news... Well it depends on what angle you look at it from... I'm supposed to be playing with Crusade in Ludlow on Feb 20. So I was just going to be down for the weekend. However, I need to deliver those performance appraisals I wrote a couple weeks ago to my old team. So, I'll be in Massachusetts from Saturday Feb 19 - Friday Feb 25. The 19th, I will either be partaking in a Fishing Derby at the Polish hall or if that is going to require too much effort, I'll probably just pound a few with Charles. Other than that... the week is open. Woohoo! Plus Monster will help finance my trip so now I'm not spending 12 hours on the road, busting my ass to end up making $50 after all is said and done. Good Stuff.

And... I'm done.

There's the coverart from the pamphlet I acquired today. Yes, that's Bush and Pinochet. haha. 

Politics

First, I'd like to take a moment to say Congrats to the Pats. My prediction was wrong. Though, they could have won by more if they didn't give so many penalties right off that bat. Nevertheless, they won again!

Now onto the good stuff... So on my way in today, I encountered some dudes handing out propaganda in the Metro tunnel. Anti-Bush propoganda, so they had my interest. I got a nice little flyer, which I will try to scan sometime (and hopefully not get sued) for you to see. Anyways, the pamphlet was about how Bush's proposed Social Security plan is "the foot in the door for facism". My opinion is that I do believe Social Security should be privatized, and while Bush's plan has it's high points, it's also got a ton of flaws. So I got the pamphlet and the guy asked me if I spoke English. I said "yeah" and he then went on to tell me how this will begin the onset of the Return of Facism in the world. And then I got the pitch that for a small donation, I can help the "overthrow of Bush". That's right. I got the whole shebang about how this group is going to get Bush out of power, etc etc. Unfortunately, he didn't realize that I come from the US and know it doesn't work that way. So I thanked him and took home some interested reading material.

Well I got to look at the pamphlet and come to find out, Lyndon LaRouche is behind this. For those of you who don't know who he is, he's a Democrat (obviously), and I believe he holds a record for most consecutive unsuccessful bids for US Presidentacy. He's up to like 8 or 9 tries or something like that. I'll have to look it up after. So what this schmuck is doing is funding his political machine (which is about as strong as a Yugo) with Canadian money. It's not a bad scam actually. He uses his last name to make it sound like he's one of them. He doesn't have to deliver on any of his promises because Canadians can't vote in American elections. AND... he's pulling in money from another market. Instead of going to the same well his fellow Democrats go to time after time after time.

Regardless, its all a bunch of crap anyway, but what's interesting is the fact that they did sign up quite a few people while I was walking by. Much like myself, most Canadians can't stomach George W. However, unlike most Canadians, I'm not as easily swindled. For the most part though, the Canadians up here do have quite an understanding of American politics. And one advantage they have is that unlike the voters in "Red States" (just remember, Red is also the color most identified with Communism), they have a bigger perspective on things. Unlike Billy Joe Jim Bob who's married to his cousin and votes for W simply cuz W is from the south and loves Jesus Christ just like Billy Joe Jim Bob does. In fact, I've found that many Canadians follow American politics moreso than Canadian politics. Much of that has to do with the control America has in the world.

Which moves me onto another part of my topic today: Iran. If things remain as they are right now, I will guarantee that the US will be in Iran by Christmas. The BS has already started:

- After Bush gets re-elected, he tells everyone his goal is to make the world ripe with freedom.
- Then the administration says "We have no plan to attack Iran" out of nowhere. So now they've got people already starting to think about it...
- Rumsfeld recently 'admitted' our military was 'stressed'.
- Condo-sleeza Rice just put Iran on notice today in a NATO briefing.
- She's also been in Europe trying to mend relationships and get more help in Iraq.
- You'll all notice if you stop and think about it that slowly but surely we hear more and more about Iran and how the Iranian people love America but it is their government that is causing all this trouble.

Put it all together and what do you get? The same shit we got 4 years before. Manipulative lies that can later be twisted and used to get your average Sheeplover to vote for the likes of Bush cuz he keeps their messed up little world safe. The EU most likely won't succeed in solving the Iran problem. Then Bush and Co. will take a stance at the UN demanding action. When the UN doesn't react hard enough, Bush will have to take matters into his own hands. It's pretty convenient that we occupy the 2 countries on either side of Iran isn't it? We only need to converge. And, since we occupy them, the problem of using another country's airspace or waterways isn't a concern now is it? With Rumsfelds admission, now you've got people thinking "we gotta do what we can to help the miliary" so should they have to reinstitute the draft, it won't be such a shocker.

Watch... Anyone care to bet? Again, things can change. But W already has made up his mind. the EU is who needs to patch this up before W "has" to act.


Why can't things be simple, like they are at the Polish Hall, where the big reason for discontent and for someone getting kicked off the governing body of the organization is an argument over a pool table? More people need to follow that model...

"I am not a crook!"

Sunday Sunday Sunday

Sorry wrong sport.

Today is SuperBowl Sunday. Projections have the Pats winning by 7. I don't think it will be that close but then again, what the hell do I know? I think tonight, I'm going to stay and watch the game on my Samsung HDTV. Although, it won't be in HD cuz the cable company up here makes you actually buy the cable box and the HD box was about $300 more than the regular digital box I got. I am debating however, picking up an HD Antenna at Future Shop. We'll see, I've got a few hours to decide.

In grand SuperBowl fashion, I decided to make some chili. Now, I have this kick-ass recipe for Pabst Blue Ribbon Chili. However, the stores up here don't sell PBR, Mrs Renfro's Black Bean Salsa or Bush's Chili base. So I had to improvise on those ingredients. My recipe calls for some maple syrup but since I didn't have the PBR, I used Sam Adams Winter Lager in lieu of both. With a drop of Sam Boston Lager. Instead of the chili base, I had to make my own with the ingredient available to me. All in all it came out ok. Edible, but not as good as it usually is.

So I've got that all set for tonight. Along with a whole bunch of Salsa, chips and beers. I was tempted to go down to Randolph for beers and such with Charles, Tim and the girls, but, alas I have a meeting tomorrow morning that I can't miss :-(. Next time though. Oh yeah, I was up a little late last night, got up at 7 this morning but yet those sots beat me to the first beer of the morning. It has been a most humbling experience.

Oh yeah, before that, I caught the new episode of Battlestar Galactica last night. Seriously, for those of you looking for a good show, check it out. It is amazing. Good writing, good acting and the cinematics are very nice too.

With that in mind, time for me to get going. Hawaii Five-0 is on. Can't miss it.

GO PATS!

Some Saturday Adventure and a Little Culture

Well it's a balmy 3 degrees here in Ville Saint-Laurent (about 37 Farhenheit) so instead of moping around the apartment, I decided to go out and explore and take in some of the sites in my locale.

Since it was so nice, why bother driving? I decided to walk. A little fresh air and exercise is always a good thing once in a while, thought I'll make up for it later.

A couple streets down, maybe about a 10-minute walk if that, I found (drumroll please)... A Tobacconist. Great! Now I don't have to drive across the city. They offer a wide-range of cigars made in Cuba. Very nice! That's because Canada doesn't have a trade embargo against Cuba, therefore those of us here can enjoy the exports from that country.

Next to the Tobacconist is Saint-Laurent Pizza. I'll have to try them out sometime, maybe this weekend. Then again maybe not. I know... the suspense is outrageous isn't it? Will he or won't he go there this weekend? That's how I captivate my audience. That and lots of duct tape.

After checking that joint out and getting a menu, I walked quite a bit farther down the road to get some culture. No, that's not a euphemism for catching a bacterial infection, believe it or not. Vanier College is there, you can see a picture below. Nice architecture in an area full of bland dwellings. After the college, I came across the Saint-Laurent Parish Cemetary. Ooh a cemetary! Now that sounds exciting. Well this one wasn't, it was kinda dead actually (nyuck nyuck nyuck). Nothing too creepy or interesting in there. It had a few mausoleums (or is that mausolea? not sure) but nothing too old school.

After the cemetary, I headed over to Le Musée des maîtres et artisans du Québec (it's a museum), which is right next to the cemetary and was also the reason I headed in that direction in the first place. The museum is housed in an old church. The church was initially built in the center of Montreal, but as the city grew, they decided to put a trainline where the church was, so they took it down and rebuilt it in Ville Saint Laurent. It was a church for a while, then became a chapel for the college, and then about 30 years ago they turned it into a museum. It was a small museum. It's artifacts go back to only about the mid 1700's. The more interesting things there were old church statues and decor. Then they had a limited amount of artwork strewn about too. For $4, it wasn't bad. A little educational. I wish I could have taken some pics inside but, well, that is forbidden.

On the way back from the museum, I decided to go to the next main drag over, which is Decarie. I was a bit on the famished side so I stopped into Decarie Hot Dog which is sort of like White Hut or Nick's Nest. Their hot dogs are good. A little small, but good. Their Poutine is also awesome, though I skipped that today. For those of you out of the loop, Poutine is a Quebec delicacy. Basically, it's french fries, mixed with cheese curds and covered in a spiced gravy. It's not bad, but it's a bit heavy and I wasn't in the mood. So after a few hot dogs and some fries, I was headed home.

Looking on Mapquest, it says the museum is about 1.6 miles from my place, so take that, along with the few detours I made, I probably walked about 4 miles or so today. Not too shabby.

I'm also getting pumped for tomorrow's Super Bowl. I haven't decided if I'll head over to La Cage Aux Sport to watch it or stay in and watch it. That place is going to be packed and I called today to reserve a spot at the bar (yes they take bar reservations) and those were all taken. So sitting along at a table in the back of the bar might be a little too lame. We'll see though.

That's it for now. Take a look at my pictures below.

C ya...

The Cote-Vertu Metro station. This is one of those "Sources of Pride" I wrote about last month.. mmm... Pride. 

The Museum (formerly St. Pauls Church) 

The Saint-Laurent Parish Cemetary. Just your average cemetary... 

Vanier College 

So This Family Walks Into A Talent Agency...

I can't tell you the rest.

So the Canadian Ebola I seem to have contracted has just about gone away. Throat is a little sore and I still don't have all my energy back, but it is clear that my superior American imune system has defeated these Canuck Germs.

Work has gotten more interesting. Tonight I'll be up late doing the final draft of my business objectives and roadmap for 2005. Good thing we didn't start this until mid-January. At this rate, once they're all approved and we can start working towards them, Q1 will be over. Oh well. But in addition to that, I've been making a hell of a lot of progress up here. Morale is up, efficiency is up, things are good. But, as is the problem with such a small organization, that can change with the drop of a hat.

Spring training is only a couple weeks away!

And today... My VHS copy of "Strange Brew", or as I like to call it: "The Canadian Bible" has begun its circulation around the office. Friday we're going to have a party with some Donuts, Beers and Back Bacon eh.

February 11 I will be going to my first Hockey game in Canada. It's going to be a big to-do let me tell you. Since the NHL is still on strike and the majority of people in North America don't give a damn, I'm going to see the Verdun Dragons vs the Laval Chiefs. They're minor league teams but their league is not really affiliated with the NHL. Unlike the AHL. One of the girls that works for me (Andree-Anne), she has a connection so she's hooking me up. I've been told that these games are extremely violent. This is a good thing as I am a supporter of violence in professional sports. I'll try to take some pictures.

Oh yeah, and tomorrow I have to call the cable company. I have the "sports package" which consists of a lot of channels that show nothing but hockey in the winter and Baseball and Canadian Football in the summer. Well, since Hockey is on strike, they all decided to start airing Curling regularly. Screw that.

The Aristocrats.