Springtime For Hitler And Germany!

When we last left off, your humble narrator was just about to eat and then head out to Best Buy... And now, the continuation.

(Quite the nailbiting cliffhanger if you ask me)

So Tuesday night, I went over to Marche Centrale (Market Central) which is where the new Best Buy is located. It still does not live up to some of the finer Best Buy's I am more familiar with (Holyoke, Salem NH, Boston) but it's better than any other big boy toy store in Quebec. I had to park a mile away. It seems as though they are opening a new movie theater (or do they spell it theatre here? hmm) so people were flocking to it. I swear, offer some free movie passes and these Canucks turn into Lemmings. I was hoping to pick up a fan, but this Best Buy does not have a home appliance section. Booo! I did, however, pick up "The Producers" (hence the title) and "The Day After" on DVD. "The Day After" is a made for TV movie that was shown on ABC in 1983 about a nuclear holocaust. Very well done for a movie from that time period. Check it out.

I was also debating getting a headset so I can communicate with my prey on XBOX Live, but well, I need that money for next week's activities. The girl at the register gave me 3 $5-off coupons, one for June, one for July and one for August. I felt special cuz no one else got them. Woohoo. Then I had to contend with traffic and didn't get back until after 9. I then spent the rest of the night on the phone from the aforementioned party from paragraph two (see below).

Yesterday was a long-ass day. 12 hours starting at 7am. I got home, ate, and watched the first half of "The Day After" before dozing off.

Today, I am actually writing to you from my office. Very slow day. We're at the end of a quarter and are caught up on everything. I had 3 meetings, but all were cancelled by their organizers so, I'm just doing a few house keeping items.

The Montreal Jazz Fest also starts today. I will be hitting it up once or twice over the next couple of days. Just to check things out. I will let you all know how that goes.

Tomorrow is Canada Day. But its also supposed to rain and thunder through most of the day. So I may stay in and watch TV or do something on the computer.

Until then... auf wiedersehen.

More Odds & Ends

Wow, it's Tuesday already. 2 more days of work, then another long weekend. Then 2 days of work, then back to Massachusetts again.

I did not go to the Mc Pub for that ghost thing. There was a cover charge and the festivities didn't start until 10. And the last thing I needed to do was start drinking grain alcohol at 10pm on a work night. But I didn't miss anything so, no big loss. I did however spend an amount of time on the phone last night. Not too bad.

The A/C in my building hasn't been working for the past 4 days which has totally sucked.. But it is finally fixed. I don't know how people lived before A/C was invented. It's right up there with Food and Beer I tell you.

It also looks like Martin, Leighton and I will make our annual pilgrimage to Maine the weekend of August 6th and 7th. We started that tradition 2 years ago and last year I missed out cuz I was on the road with Crusade. We usually end up camping in Kennebunkport then partying in Portland. Some of you may recall my almost ending up in the slammer when we went the last time. Thankfully it was all a misunderstanding, cuz that would have not been a fun phone call to make.

Next week is already shaping up to be pretty packed. I think I'm coming back Tuesday night. Wednesday I will spend the day in Maynard. Wednesday night is open. Thursday, I may have to go back to Maynard, maybe not. Thursday night I have plans with the aforementioned party from paragraph 2. Friday, Matt, Doyle and I are planning on heading up to Dunroamin. Jeez, that would mark the second time in 1 month I've gone golfing. At this rate, I'll be able to make the PGA tour in the year 2087. See you there. Friday night is open and Saturday is the bash. Frank, our mechanic, needs to take my truck for a day or 2 in that time period. I need to replace the spark plugs which is not usually a difficult task, but my truck has a newer engine and this looks semi-complex. Plus he's going to clean out the throttle body for me and check into why my rear-left blinker doesn't work even though the bulb isn't burnt out. Woohoo. More money spent.

Tonight, I'm just about to eat. Then off to Best Buy, then I'll probably spend the rest of the night playing XBOX Live with Putnam.

Pretty exciting huh?

A Rantin' And A Ravin'

Not too much new to update you all on. But I do have a few odds and ends...

I didn't go looking for that Mc Whore's Ghost.. Actually sorry, that was politically incorrect of me.. Mc Prostitute's Ghost. One source says the 25th, one the 26th and one the 27th. Too much to keep up with. But tomorrow, there are some ceremonies for the ghost hunt I'm going to try to be part of:

On Monday June 27th, a vigil and mass will begin at 7h30 PM at the Labre House. Finally, at 10 PM, you are invited to McKibbin's at 1426 Bishop for a "Mary Gallagher Night" where you will be invited to sample Bloody Marys and a special concoction imported for the occasion, Hackler's Irish poteen, a grain spirit that is triple-distilled up to 90% alcool per volume.


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Yesterday was pretty laid back. Nothing special. I chilled pretty much all day. Good work on my part. My mom also decided to call while she was in Wildwood and totally obliterated. And some of you want to know where I get it from...

Today, I did a load of whites. Pretty exciting that must have been if its making the blog. It's been so friggin' humid the past two days. Even with the A/C on everything is all sticky and nasty. I need to get a couple fans. For supper I cooked up some lazy pierogi with whole wheat noodles and washed it down with some Samuel Adams Boston Lager.. Just to prove to everyone at work that I'm a regular guy. (rimshot).
I also ended up playing some XBOX Live with Putnam. I picked up EA Sports MLB 2005 a couple months ago but got fed up with the pitching mechanism on it. Too frustrating. But we played a game of that since it is baseball season afterall. Also played a few games of Counter-Strike, which I hadn't played on the XBOX ever. I used to play it on the PC a few years back before it became uber-popular. But anyway, that was cool.

Now for this weekend's rant... There was an article I believe in CNN.com saying how Microsoft Windows XP N was not that popular over in Europe. For those of you that don't know... XP N was created as the result of Anti-Monopoly suits brought against Microsoft over in Europe. So it's basically Windows XP, without Media Player and perhaps 1 or 2 other apps, but being sold at the same price. This goes to show how fucking (that's right, I said "fucking") stupid people are. "Ooh Microsoft is a monopoly, let's sue!".
First and foremost.. Microsoft ain't a monopoly. Look up the term "monopoly" in a dictionary and you'll see the following definition: "A business that is the sole supplier of a particular good or service."

If Microsoft fit that category, I wouldn't be typing to you on my lovely Mac iBook G4 now would I? Oh yeah, on my PC, I do have Windows XP as well BeOS 5 and an installation of Red Hat linux I haven't touched in months. See the difference between myself and the average tard that "needs" a computer, is that I actually took the time to learn how to use it. I wouldn't call myself an expert, but quite a bit above average is more proper. As a result of that, I don't NEED to use a Microsoft product. I choose to use it. My Mac does everything I need. So does Linux. The problem is, Joe Schmo Jaggoff wakes up one day and sees an AOL commercial and says "I need that" so he goes out and buys a computer. Because he doesn't know his ass from his elbow, he opens up the sunday paper and sees "SALE!" and buys the cheapest thing he sees which naturally comes with Windows. Because he's too dumb to use it effectively, he's somewhat frustrated. Then he sees the news which just happens to have a story about how Bill Gates is the anti-christ and Microsoft is a monopoly and is getting sued. So now, Joe Schmo Jaggoff is pissed at Microsoft because Windows sucks but he has no alternative so he gets on the anti-MS bandwagon.

Now, if Joe Schmo Jaggoff was an intelligent human being, before buying a computer, he'd learn how to use one. Much like how you're "supposed" to know the rules of the road before buying a car and getting your license, the same should apply for computers and the internet. Learn to use it and understand it before placing a burden on the rest of us. Because of people's stupidy, Microsoft made this product. But no one is buying it. And as a result of that, I wasted my time reading the article and writing about it when in fact I could doing absolutely nothing. So I guess the moral of this rant is... before wasting your effort on dragging someone or something else through the mud and annoying those of us who have more than a 2 digit IQ, buy a fucking book, read it, and reread it until your brain can digest the info in it. Oh yeah, and if after you buy a book and read it and understand it and want to try something new.. Grab a copy of Linix or one of the other many OSes out there and see what you think.

Now for the not so fine print:

This rant in no way applies to Tim Megan, as he owns many a computer book but still requires services now and then. Which is more than fine with me as feeds my 10-a-day beer habit! The rest of you, on the other hand should learn from this example!

Good night!

Land of The Dead

Well yesterday's call wasn't so bad. Actually one thing that worked out about it is that I have to go back to Maynard for Meetings on July 6. That works out well as I'll take the rest of that week off, and just stay in MA since I'm already there. Good timing actually. The outlook is still not too pleasant but well, only time will tell.

On a more positive note, besides that, I haven't done anything constructive in the past 2 days and I intend on doing that for the rest of the weekend. Between the travel, going out, work stuff, cleaning up, and everything else here and there, I need a couple days where I can say I just sit on my ass.

So yesterday's Supreme Session of Sloth consisted of me actually doing laundry initially. But after I did two loads, I said, to hell with that. I relaxed, watched some DS9, then went to catch Land of The Dead at 23:15 (or 11:15pm for you who need to make things more difficult). Pretty good movie. It was your typical Zombie movie but entertaining. And it had Dennis Hopper so you know it had to be good. Check it out. I put it below Revenge of the Sith and definitely below Batman Begins, but it's one of the better movies I've seen this year. There's a few moments that'll make you jump.

I didn't get to bed until 3ish. Got up before 8 for some stupid reason and since I couldn't get back to sleep, I put on some DS9. I'm on season 2 right now. I was feeling a little ambitious so while in bed, I started re-entering my DVD collection into my laptop. If you recall, my harddrive shat the bed on my PC back in December and one of the many files I lost was my DVD list. So I recreated the list using Appleworks 6. I prefer Excel but I don't have it on the machine just yet. I also messed around with creating a database using Appleworks 6. I need to tweak it and add some more data, but essentially, as my collection grows and grows, I'll be able to just open the database, and search for say, a comedy, and it'll bring up all the comedy films I have. As you can tell, I had some free time. I also updated my Mac Address book with photos wherever I could find them and some more addresses here and there.

That brings us to now... I don't have anything else planned for today. I need to do some grocery shopping, just a few minor things but that can wait until at least tomorrow. I plan on kicking back, watching the Sox and maybe some other crap, and just enjoying the day. That is, until I get bored of that and then maybe I'll reconsider doing something productive. But don't plan on it.

What A Bust

And I'm not talking about anyone's anatomy either.

So the last two days were supposed to be highlighted with big meetings and all kinds of talk. But, as usual, they ended up being quite unproductive and much like my work experience here thus far, a major disappointment. Good thing I passed up a chance to go to Wildwood for this. The last sentence was sarcasm by the way.

I ended up getting stuck in the office quite a bit later than I had hoped which resulted in my not being able to do the Scotch and Cigars thing last night I was anticipating. Then again it was probably for the best, after the partying I did last weekend and Tuesday night. Maybe this weekend, we'll see. Today, I do have my call with the finance guy and we'll see what I can work out.

I can't really get into minute details for the obvious reasons... Just in case anyone from work is reading this... But we need to cut cut cut. However, my boss is slightly disappointed that we haven't been able to do a little more in Customer Service this year. My answer to that was that in the last 3 years, the headcount of the group has grown by 1 despite revenue nearly doubling and additional support functions being added like they're going out of style. Last year when doing budget for 2k5, I wanted to grow the group from 7 to 18 (though I could have gotten away with 15) and instead I got 9. However, when one person left, I was told not to backfill that position cuz the money was needed more elsewhere. So 8. In addition to that, with added tasks and requirements company-wide, workload has increased quite a bit. So he wants to improve Customer Service by quite a bit, while cutting budget further so we can increase headcount in sales and marketing. Unfortunately, I can't make things in the department any more cost efficient. We're running so efficient it's unbelievable, but they want more for less and well, we have no where left to go. So essentially my meeting with our finance guy is to see if there is any way we can either leverage more money to increase support staff so we can accomplish what I had put forth in my business plan last year, or look to move operations to a group that has those resources already.

Our billing group is in the same situation. But, that is a group of 1 right now. It should be 2-3, but its 1 and they want to make that more efficient. What sucks is that we're the 2 groups that don't bring in direct revenue (unlike sales and marketing) but without us, things go down the drain. I've got a "promise" from my boss that he'll do everything possible to keep me up here for that extra year, but again, unless it's a guarantee in writing, just seeing the shit that's going on right now, there's no way I'm taking that gamble. More happiness.

On the lighter side of things... Today is supposed to be a day off in the province of Quebec. It's the feast of St. John the Baptiste. Basically, it's like the 4th of July to Quebecers. The streets are filled with blue and white buntings and the the Quebec flag is flying everywhere. From what I understand, it's quite a rowdy party. I am hoping to head downtown later today just to walk around and check things out. Unfortunately, my 1pm meeting kinda breaks up the day, but that's ok. Even if it doesn't go well, I'm always up for a good time, so there should be some fun tonight! One thing about this supposed holiday that kinda pissed me off is that The Montreal Gazette, our local English newspaper, doesn't get printed today. What the Christ? Does news just stop for the day? Even their website doesn't have up to date news, just a message saying the paper won't be printed today. So, as a result, I'm writing to you folks. Checking my work email here and there also. Maybe I'll sit back and continue to watch DS9 season 2 on DVD until 1 and figure out what I'll do from there.

One last thing I'm looking to do this weekend, and I have written about this before I think, is going on a ghost hunt. Back in the 1800's there was this prostitute, Mary Gallagher (she's Irish, imagine that), who was beheaded by another, jealous prostitute and every 7 years, her ghost is said to return looking for her severed head. This year marks the 7th year since the last time she was supposed to have been seen. How cool is that!? The one thing I need clarification on is what date it is. Some say June 26, some say the 27th. The 26th is the most used date. I think they say the 27th for the touristy people just to keep them out of the way. So either way, one of those (maybe both of those) days I'll be headed over to Griffintown to see if she appears this year. Kinda creepy!!!

That's it for now. All be updating the blog at least once, maybe more this weekend. Oh yeah... Land of The Dead premiers tonight. That might be a good movie to check out too. I'll keep you posted!

Holy [fill in the blank] Batman!

Monday night I went to see Batman Begins. That was a kick-ass movie. Stop reading the blog right now and go see it. I mean it. You're still reading. Don't you listen to me? GO SEE IT NOW!!!

By far the best movie I've seen in a while. I did enjoy Episode III and Mr. & Mrs. Smith, but this killed them. It was very dark and just well done. Much better than the last few Batman flicks that have come out. They got a little too cartoony and silly. This was more realistic I guess you would say. In fact, it might be the best Batman flick yet, with perhaps the one exception being the original movie. Christian Bale was good as Bruce Wayne/Batman, but he's no Adam West. I hope they continue the franchise where they left off here.

Last night was bad. Well actually it was really good. It was this morning that was bad. Samantha, who used to work for me, was back visiting from Toronto so a bunch of us after work went out to Mad Hatter's with her. It ended up being her, Siobhan, Fanta, Melanie, Sonia, their friend Julie and I. Siobhan's boyfriend came later too. They were drinking Sangria, which I refuse to drink so I had a beer. Well Melanie is also a beer drinker (cuz she's cool) so I started buying pitchers. Well, by the time the night was done, I myself had consumed just under 3 pitchers of beer and 1 mixed drink that I believe was Vodka and Cranberry juice, but I could be wrong. So yeah, this morning was not fun. But, I walked it off and made it the whole day through work. It'll be an early night though. Melanie had like 3 beers out of those pitchers. And before I ordered them I had 2. So yeah it was just about 3 pitchers. The canucks in the office were surpised I was still alive. I told them I was having a bad night. On any other night I would have had twice that much but I wasn't feeling well. They're so gullible, it's great.

Alas, I'm going to have to do that again tomorrow, but not to the level I did last night. Delia is coming over for some Lagavulin and Cigars so... I need to tidy up a little. Though my place is actually fairly clean but still.

Oh yeah... there was an article in yesterday's paper... Gas prices up here have gone bullshit. The station closest to my apartment is selling gas a 99.9 cents a litre. At 3.785 litres a gallon and today's exchange rate, you in the US would be paying $3.04 for 1 gallon of regular unleaded. Holy Shit. Thankfully I don't drive around up here that much.

Today I also got to chat a bit with my pal Bobby Zima today through email. He still has my Greg Glen (you know.. Kielbasa!) ride cymbal. Not in a hurry to get it back but, just making sure that I do. He may give it to Lenny or one of his guys at 7 Springs. Jeez between that and Lenny taking my drums back from Wildwood, who the hell needs UPS!? He should start charging more though. haha. But that's cool of him. Zima, however may continue to hold my Greg Glen (you know... Kielbasa!) cymbal for ransom.

Friday was supposed to be a day off up here.. some lame Quebec holiday, but, due to the state of the business, I have to take part in a conference call. Luckily I was able to convince them to push it back to 1pm instead of the 9am that they wanted. Screw that. Why wake up early on a day off to deal with that stuff?

That's it for now. I think I'm going to actually pop Batman: The Movie into the DVD player and watch it as I haven't seen it in a while. I'll probably update again this weekend.

NOW GO SEE BATMAN BEGINS BEFORE I GET REALLY MAD!!!

The Covert Operation Is Over

Now that I can break radio silence...

Last week was fairly eventful in more way than one. My future up here continues to look bleaker on more than one level. I have to make a recommendation to my boss tomorrow about how we can best serve our customers going forward on the shoestring budget we have. I could fudge it a little so that it works out to my advantage, however, that's a high-risk move and I'm not in a position where I can do something like that comfortably. This is such a pain in the ass cuz I love it up here, but, well you know how the rest of it goes. Earlier in the week, I kind of laid low. Ended up mostly just chilling in the apartment. We had rain and Thunder most of the week so that put a damper on any outdoor activities I may have wanted to do (like going to the driving range).

Thursday after work, I hopped in my trusty Dodge Durango and headed back to Massachusetts. Went out for a couple beers with my dad once I got back.

Friday was supposed to be a little more productive than it ended up being but oh well. I was planning on stopping by the Polish Hall, and St. Mary's Carnival. I was hoping to stop by my grandparents on the way up, but as I was supposed to be meeting up with someone, that didn't happen. Well, plans got kinda fudged because of the weather but by the time I had established that, Mitch Biskup had filled me up with enough Old Grand-Dad and Diet Coke that, doing anything other than getting home would have been a bad idea. But before that, I went back to The Hall to say 'adios'. A few of us made a collective ass out of ourselves as usual, but that's what we do best.

Saturday... The big day and the reason I came back to the US, Charles' 50th birthday party. But to back up a hair, I was supposed to go for coffee around 9am with she who I had made plans with the night before, but...

Since I didn't get up until 10:30, that didn't quite happen. Oops. Haven't done that in a loooong time. So I got my stuff together, went to Wendy's to get some nourishment, and headed out to Warren to play golf. My team consisted of myself, Tim and his two Brothers-in-law, John and Wally. Since I hadn't swung a club in well over a year (since 2004's Spring Fling), I was expecting the worst, but it wasn't all that bad. Our team finished only a couple strokes behind Charles' team (I suppose one could make a joke and comment they themselves are just a couple of strokes, but that's beneath me and rude. Shame on all of you for thinking that). 2nd place wasn't bad, but we'll just write that off as us not wanting to ruin the experience for him. haha. Then it was time for the consumption of alcohol and food. In that particular order and then in reverse order. Then they had a brief roast, a comedian and his brother Chipper put together this pretty damned good video. What a blast!

Sunday, I headed up to Tim and Pam's as they were having some computer issues. Usually I like to tell Tim that his computer problems lie somewhere between the chair and his keyboard, but this time it was actually an issue with his printer. So, we went to Best Buy to get a new one. I recommended the cheaper, $50 model as my experience has taught me better. But Tim ended up getting the more expensive Printer/Scanner combo. It was actually a good deal. So we got that set up and running, him and Pam filled me with food and drink, we hung out briefly, then it was back on the road.

It took only about 4 1/2 hours to get from Haverhill to my place which wasn't bad at all. The only problem is that again, the drive is beginning to get annoying. 4 1/2 hours isn't bad, even the 5 1/2 it takes to and from Chicopee isn't bad comparitively, but knowing I'm heading back into the hornet's nest work has been lately, it's not so good. It's like, hmm, I could just stay down here and continue the good times or go through the rigors of a wicked long drive to face what appears to be my impending doom. But, that's life for ya.

So that brings us to this week... I actually had the opportunity to go to Wildwood this week. Lenny needed someone to travel with Richie Tokarz and well, that would have made the trip financially doable for me. However, when I opened up my email this morning, one of the first things I had the 'pleasure' of seeing was that we have a couple meetings this week to discuss where things are headed. As a result, I won't be going to Wildwood.

Aside from the usual stuff, Friday is a Provincial Holiday, so I'll have a day off then. The following Friday is also a day off. 3 4-day work weeks isn't such a bad thing. But getting through the 4 days will be the challenge. Again, it's not quite as bad as it may sound. If I were living in a place where if I was downsized, I could just collect until I found another job I'd have no problem at all. But, here, if I get downsized, not only do I have to deal with the unemployment thing, but I have to pack my shit up and get out of town. And with the long drive, that's not exactly a cheap notion.

I'll be updating the blog a little more frequently this week. I was unable to update it truthfully last week without giving away Saturday's surprise so rather than fill your minds with the fine deception that I am capable of, I chose to lay low. As it looks now, my next trip back will be for the annual party on July 9.

What'll Ya Have?

Pabst Blue Ribbon!

Nothing much to write about today. I cleaned my place up a little yesterday then went to see "Mr. & Mrs. Smith". I had low expectations for the movie itself. I just went to see Angeline Jolie's performance, which was nice. But the movie ended up being quite entertaining. And sitting in a movie theater with A/C was a much better idea than going downtown to sit in an oven-like room watching indy plays.

Today I needed to do some more grocery shopping. Just needed some soda, juice and fruits and veggies for the week. Friggin' Provigo was out of bananas though. Those bastards!! So I went across the street to the fruit market. I've been meaning to go check it out for the last 8 months but haven't quite gotten around to it. But today I did cuz I needed bananas. Good thing to as I stumbled across a most excellent discovery. They carry Pabst Blue Ribbon! Thank God! I no longer need to worry about drinking Molson products or Labatt-made Anheuser-Busch products when my stash of Sam Adams dwindles. I can go there and pick up some reasonably-priced PBR. Excellent! I did not, however, buy any today as I am still on the Megan/Richards Cleansing Program (see post from earlier last week) and am doing quite well at it. I shall be ready for the challenges that await me later this coming week.

That's it for now. I leave you with some words of inspiration:


You can travel fifteen thousand miles
To far off lands and distant isles
From tropic sun to arctic snows
I'ts Pabst Blue Ribbon the whole world knows

In Napoli where Nick and Tony
Enjoy fine beer and macaroni
You'll always get a welcome smile
When you ask this question
In Italian style

What'll you have?
Pabst Blue Ribbon!

The Fringe

Last night after work, I headed back into town to check out The Fringe. As I stated before, The Fringe is 11 days of indy theater and shows that takes place over the course of a few city blocks.

I only got to see 2 shows last night. Both were pretty... um... entertaining. The theaters they were in were small. One held maybe 50 people, the other 20. One had A/C that barely worked, the other didn't have it all. It was hot last night too. Very muggy. It was a pretty good time though. I may consider going back to see a few more over the next couple of days although not today. It's already hot and humid out and later in the afternoon we're supposed to get some thunderstorms. Considering how uncomfortable it was last night, it would be even worse today and would really put a damper on my enjoyment of the shows. And at $10 a whack, screw that. Hopefully it will be nicer out over the next few days so I can go back.

The first show I saw was "1001 Nights (Arabian Nights)" which had actually gotten some good comments in the newspapers based on last year's shows. So that was the first one I checked out. Now the write-up online says "Tales of phantasy, love and illusion. Story of Scheherazade who sacrifices herself to the king to make him realize how his hatred and revenge leads to nothing but sadness and emptiness." And next to the write up is a picture of a nekkid Asian woman. Well, between the newspaper review, write-up and photo, I felt strangely compelled to check it out. I was actually expecting a production of a couple (at least 2) actors with lines. Instead, it was this Japanese chick, Shakti, ritualistically dancing "the story". Different.. very different. No words or anything.. just dance. It started off a little lame but actually ended up being phenomenal. I don't think it's something I'd pay to see again, at least on my own, but it was quite good. Her choreography and movement was amazing. Then after the show, she explained briefly what it was all about, pretty much she just read what was online and told us that it was a story, in a story which was in yet another... you guessed it... story. I'd rate that show an 8 on a scale of 1-10.

The second show ended up being "The Drunken Finger Reveals Himself". There were 6 of us in the theater and despite that, it was friggin hotter than hell. The write-up of this one read "After a night of heavy binging, The Drunken Finger, a seven-foot-tall hand, returns home to his dreary existence." I was prepared to see some messed up shit. And I did. This poor bastard, in the name of art mind you, had this suit on, which, well, made him look like a giant hand. It was all padding. It looked light it was made out of 2 heavily padded winter jackets. God bless him. I was in a t-shirt and jeans and sweating my ass off, he was in that thing, moving around and under stage lights. This show was also interesting, but not of the quality of the other show. This guy's acting was ok, but the initial amusement of all the hand-jokes got old kind of fast. Essentially, he sat around, bitched and drank. And to think, I could have been making a living all along on my favorite pastime, but he beat me to it. I would have to say, I'll give this one 4 out of 10. The concept was good, he was a far better actor than I could ever imagine being, but the writing got stale 15 minutes into the show (which was an hour long). If it wasn't for the heat, I may have considered rating it a little higher, but oh well. The production quality could have been a little better too. There were a couple occasions where he broke character which killed the effect.

There you have it folks. My first 2 reviews from The Fringe. There are a few other productions that I definitely want to go see. I picked up a free program outside the first show that tells you what's playing and when so I'll sift through that today. Who knows, if it clears up and cools down, maybe later I'll go back. Otherwise, I'll be sitting in my place, enjoying the gift from God that is free, central a/c.

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1 More Day

It's Thursday, tomorrow's Friday, then the weekend is here.

Work continues to be shitty. I shouldn't bitch too much but, well I'm gonna anyway! So I left the office right at 5 for once. I put in like 12 hours yesterday and well, that just sucks the life right out of ya. So, I was pretty much caught up on my work, so I jetted as soon as I could.

My hair has been getting long and shaggy, and I couldn't schedule something with Jack last time I was in Chicopee, so I went to Trimz down the street to have Lucy cut my hair. She does an ok job as I've said before. Not as good as Jack but well there are certain perks to having Lucy cut my hair. For instance, they always wash your hair first and today Lucy had this really low cut top on. Needless to say, I almost got smothered during the shampooing. Kinda glad I didn't go to Jack this time around.

After that, I went over to the park. The lights were on over at the baseball diamond so I went to check it out. Some weird Canadian Co-Ed Little League. I watched the Red Sox play the Marlins. It was really weird. The Red Sox wore knock-off Red Sox jerseys with Boston Red Sox caps. The Marlins just had blue T-Shirts on with Florida Marlins caps. The Sox were winning when I left but there was much missed opportunity. Most of these kids looked to be in their early-mid teens. But the Red Sox had this one kid who was like 4'8". With no outs, bases loaded, they had him swinging and the opposing pitcher had no control. What kind of coaching is that? A kid that size has no strike zone whatsoever.. Just take the walk and bring in another run. Then the next kid up to the plate kept on jumping out of the way of the pitcher's 20-30MPH fastball. What the shit is that!? Take one for the team. This is why the Expos left Montreal and are now in first place in Washington. These canucks don't understand the game. Sad.

Tomorrow and maybe also this weekeng I'm planning on heading over to the Montreal Fringe. Which is basically a couple blocks of indy theatre for I think 11 days. Some of the fine performances on the docket this year include, but are not limited to:

"Reefer Man", "Bionic Yahoos", "A Girl's Guide To Screwing Herself", "Tippi Seagram's Happy Hour", "The Drunken Finger Reveals Himself" and of course "Rubber Chicken Factory: Unplucked".

Word on the street has it that these plays are either amazing or they suck. So I'll definitely have a report on this fiasco come the weekend.

Until Then... Ciao

For Lack Of A Better Title

My brain hurts so I can't think of a more creative title. But that won't stop me from blogging, no way! I put in a 12 hour day and I'm relaxing here with a glass of Diet Coke (see below) so it's a pretty shaky evening.

My illness from Sunday night cleared up (or out) so I drove home not long after my last post. Usually the rides back are full of nothing to write about, but I drove through this nasty thunderstorm. I've driven through some shit before, but this was one of the worst. There were some close strikes and like every 3 or 4 seconds it was like hearing a gun shot. Crazy.

Yesterday it was back to the grind. I actually spoke briefly to my boss here in Montreal and the one in Maynard and mentioned I'm not leaning in any particular direction but I want to start weighing my options as far as staying or coming home goes. Staying would be cool, but beyond my kick-ass place and the night-life, I really have nothing up here that makes me want to stay. But, if the work thing looks like it will work out right until 2006, then I'm up for it. So we'll see whats up. I need to come up with some different scenarios for him and he's going to have some for me and we'll sit down and see which makes most sense for me and the company. I think I'll be back in October though.

Other than that, not much else is new. After this weekend's bender, I've subscribed to the Tim Megan/Keith Richards pre-doctor's visit healthplan. Basically, eat right, cut out all the boozing, cigars and other shit. I don't have a doctor's visit or anything, but well, see I'll party my ass off in MA, then live a more wholesome life up here for a while, then party then cleanse and so on and so forth. This way I don't end up like Smalley. Kinda like bulimia for alkies.. Binge, purge, binge purge.. You know how it goes.

Although Delia wants to come over for some Lagavulin and Cohibas sometime soon. My willpower is pretty damned good, but well, that will be the one thing to break my cleansing.

Finally... Finn is supposed to have pics from Saturday. I hope I get them soon. I'll post one or two of them. Need to send pics of TW to the kids at the Polish Hall for the bulletin board.

The Monday Morning Blues

I'm actually still in Chicopee right now. Was supposed to be in work, however, prior to leaving last night, I ate something that didn't quite agree with me so I turned around, spent the night and will be heading back shortly. But, to rewind a little...

Thursday night, I ended up going back to the beer fest. I was all packed up and really had nothing better to do, so I went back there. I ended up meeting up with Delia and some of her friends. Half of them were really Asian and the other half were really Hispanic so naturally, I fit right in. Actually they were all pretty cool. Nice to finally know some people outside of work that I can hang out with.

Then Friday it was back on the road. On the way in, I stopped in Albany to hang out with Sarah B. Got back into Chicopee around 9ish to watch the boys from the Hall make it to the next round of a pool tournament at Market Square. Naturally, we had a few beers, then headed over to OTB with Putnam for a couple. Then afterwards Dave and I went to the Fifth Alarm. The owners' wife, Donna, was telling everyone how we were the nicest guys and she hasn't seen us in months. So much for the "I'm from Canada, this is my first visit here" schtick. After a few shots and a couple beers, we ended up closing the joint and I came home and went to bed.

Saturday it was off to Fenway. Got up, still hurting from the night before but I walked it off like a pro. Loaded up the cooler, then drove to Gilbertville with Martin to pick up Teddy and Chipper. They opened the Hall up for us at 9:30, had a beer and a Kamikaze, then got going. Our seats were very good. 3 rows behind the Sox Bullpen. Man, what a hot day. The game started off good, but the bullpen shit the bed on us. We stuck it out, then went over to the Beer Works as the T would have been too packed. Why wait 2 hours in a train station when you could wait those 2 hours at the Beer Works? Teddy was pretty cocked up (what a surprise) but was getting kind of annoying. But as he was buying, who were we to complain? He had this baseball he bought to get an autograph. Since none of the players signed it, we signed it for him. Then we convinced him to go up to a few girlies at the bar and have then sign it. Nice segway to get a number or two ;-). Then we headed back and stopped by Charlie and JoAnn's for a couple more. Teddy was getting beligerent which didn't help the rest of us since we were a little under the weather. Got back to the Polish Hall around 11-11:30ish I believe, that asshole was passed out. Couldn't move him. Even yelling in his ear didn't wake him up. We were going to leave him under the pavilion. But Chipper was able to get him up and Dawn, the bartender took him home. Haven't heard back from him yet. haha. Then afterward, I got a call from my friend Sarahmarie who was out with some of her friends, so I stopped by Whip City in Westfield for 1 with them, hung out for a while, then came home and went to bed. What a day.

Sunday I was up an at em early than I wanted to be. Cleaned out the empties from the truck, and soaked it down with some Febreeze. Then I ended up hanging out with Heather in West Side for a little while which is always fun. Not too sure whats up with that. I am fine with being friends and all but I have the feeling she wants more again and well, I dunno. She's a good girl and all and there are some feelings there but, that's not something I want to pursue at this time. After that, I went up to Pulaski Park to hear Belina. They sounded pretty good. Came back to my parents, who had company after the dance, for some food and then got on the road around 8:15. That's when I realized something wasn't sitting to well with me. So, I'll be heading back in another hour or so.

All in all it was a pretty damned good weekend. Got to spend some quality time with my peoples. Now I have to look forward to dealing with the bs waiting for me in the office. I tell ya, coming back home is a bummer cuz I always have a blast but know there's so much shit waiting for me to put up with back at the office. And the 5 hour drive back makes it seem even worse. A couple of people this weekend were asking how long I'd be up there for. The more time goes by, the further I am leaning to this October. I have to renew all my stuff then and beyond that point, I don't think I'm going to have the job security I need. If my ability to live in that country wasn't dependent on my having that job, I would definitely not mind staying up there another year. However, we're merging with another part of the company and I got an email Friday night saying another part of the company had just been sold off. That, coupled with the fact that they are always trying to cut money, mainly in my department seeing Maynard's CS group can handle all our tasks, with the exception of the French stuff, makes it uncomfortable for me. I need to have 1 more manager on my staff. Whether it be someone above me or below me it's a need. I find myself doing the work of not only upper management, but also lower supervisory stuff all on a middle-manager's salary. The experience and know-how I am getting is great, but there's a lot to handle there and for every thing I accomplish, there are two more obstacles waiting. If I had someone below me to handle the smaller, day-to-day things it would be great so that I can focus on the big-picture stuff which is where my lack of experience requires me to work a little harder. Or, on the flipside, I could have someone above me doing that stuff and serving as a mentor while I do the stuff I've got 5+ years experience doing. Right now, there's too much, no relief in site and considering that merger coming up, my counterpart in the other part of the organization has been with the company for almost 10 years and is a Canadian citizen, well, my comfort level decreases more and more every day. Making it to October isn't a problem but beyond that, unless I can get some guarantee in writing that I will be guaranteed a job through 10/2006 and can expand the management team in my department. That won't happen. If it does, well great, I'll be back in 2006. But right now I'm about 90% positive October 2005 it will be.

Talk to you all later in the week.

This Is Better Than The Best

Ok... The Best of Montreal entry is never going to happen. Everytime I go to write about it, something more interesting happens. So I'm shelving that. I've got the newspaper here so if God forbid I'm in need of material, I'll have it.

I'm back in Massachusetts this weekend to see the Sox. Looks like it's going to be me, Finn, Teddy from the Polish Hall, and a player to be named later.

I need to stock up on beer when I'm back. So as a result, I needed to rotate some of my stock yesterday. Talk about pissing your time away. Tonight wasn't much better... But yet it was..

Today was the first day of the Montreal Beer Festival. Talk about a good place to be. I've been to a few beer festivals in my time believe it or not. This one was actually the best cuz it was very accessible and free to get in. Meaning there were all sorts of people there. The selection was nice too... I'm referring to the beer that is. Tons of local brews. Good stuff. It was much like I envision Heaven. The only things it was missing was a good polka band, Fenway Park, The 5th Alarm and Charlie Majka's Kegerator. But well, I can't complain.

I indulged quite a bit tonight. There was this Hemp Beer that was very tasty and pretty cheap. I also picked up some more glassware. One can never have too much glassware.

Tomorow I'm hoping I can get out of work early. I worked all last week even the weekend so I'm on like 8 straight days and I'm a mental vegetable. Not much has changed. I was going to take tomorrow AND Friday off, but I have an exec meeting tomorrow afternoon and I'm going out for lunch tomorrow with Delia, the hot Mexican chick that used to work for me. That should be nice ;-).

Then this weekend is going to be wild. Supposed to be hanging out with Sarah B one day. Saturday is the Sox game. And Friday night and Saturday night, the boys from the Polish Hall are playing a pool tournament in Chicopee. If they win, they get to go to Vegas again. Nice to see someone's doing something good with their lives. So I may stop by there one of those nights depending on how things are going. And Sunday Billy's playing in 3 Rivers so I may stop by there. Shane Mitus has some live stuff of his dad's band for me so perhaps we can deal there over a beer or two...

That's it for now!