you bring out the whiskey in me
Sunday, July 30, 2006
So as it turns out, that place that I found here that sells Alain Mikli frames is closed for the summer! After bussing all the way out there, walking the 3 blocks because I got off on an early bus, lo and behold the sign on the door says "Closed for the summer, reopening August 19". I'm not sure I want to wait that long, I just may succumb to the embrace of the internet and buy them from eyeglasses.com.
Any recent visitor to my myspace will have noticed a new entry on my calendar there. Sept 27, Amy Milan is swinging by the city and I picked up some tickets. $12! She's playing at the West End, which is a nice intimate place for shows. So that means so far September I'll be seeing The Weakerthans, and Amy Milan. This makes me happy.
I bought Terry Goodkind's newest Sword of Truth series book last week, and finished it yesterday. A note at the bottom of the last page reads "Watch for the next and final installment". Yay! Finally one of the monster fantasy series I've been reading since high school will end!
author: m@ » comments:
i'm not an addict
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Stolen from Christielli, 5 things.
5 Things always in my purse/briefcase/backpack:
1. Ipod
2. A book
3. Business cards
4. Mints
5. A pen
5 Things always in my wallet: [I don't actually have a wallet, my wallet is made up of my licence. But I'll list the things in my little Winnipeg Transit fold thing too)
1. My Debit Card
2. My Visa
3. Student Card
4. Bus Pass
5. Library Card
5 Things always in my refrigerator:
1. Cold water
2. Milk
3. Leftovers
4. Old food
5. Mayo
5 Things always in my closet:
1. Dress Shirts
2. Dress Clothes
3. An empty suitcase
4. Jackets
5. 2 Winnie the Poohs
5 Things always in my car:
1. I have no car
2.
3.
4.
5.
5 (or more) Things always on my desk: (at work)
1. A computer monitor
2. My Demotivationals(tm) little desk stand poster thing
3. My Daily Calendar (Proverbs from around the world)
4. Business card holder with business cards
5. My mug that says "Ask about an RBC Homeline Plan" (that one has pencils in it, my drinking mug is a Demotivationals(tm) one too.)
author: m@ » comments:
do do do dodo doooo
Monday, July 24, 2006
I had forgot to add on my last post, that the taxi driver home from the airport was the OLDEST working man I've seen. I was walking down the airport taxi area and saw him standing infront of a cab, so I picked his.
Why? Sympathy I guess.
What? Me, smympathetic?
Yeah shut up, he was an old guy who has to drive a taxi in his 80s to pay his bills. That's sad. So, I chose to give him my patronage, and a nice big tip.
Nadine found me a place in Winnipeg that sells Alain Mikli frames! I hope they carry these ones.
I had more to post, I think, but I can't remember.
oh yeah, I want to get this put in a button, so I can wear it on my bag or something. It's from the bottom of a McDonald's coffee cup.
author: m@ » comments:
all good things...
Saturday, July 22, 2006
All right, so I've returned.
It was an extremely enjoyable week away from here, despite the fact that the whole time was spent with family.
Saturday I flew out of here, connected through Toronto, and arrived in Quebec City at midnight. I was originally only going to be in TO for 20 minutes, but the Air Canada women put me on standby for an earlier flight there, so I was able to have some more time to waste there. That allowed me to pay $9 for a cheeseburger, and $6.95 for 15 minutes of wifi access. You'll know these things if you read the entry before this one.
The day after arriving was spent just hanging out and visiting, which was enjoyable enough. The people I was there visiting are my dad's sister, and his mom. They don't speak english, so the whole trip was an exercise in active listening. I find it hard to understand french if I'm not actively listening. Even then, I far from understand every word, but 9 times out of 10 manage to get the idea what's being said.
The next day was the ritual trip to Place Laurier, a mall in downtown Quebec. Every time we used to head there to visit (every 2 years, for probably 12 or 14 years) we'd go to the mall where my brother and I would buy toys from the Toys R Us there. This time I had a different mission, to see if any lunetterie carried Alain Mikli frames. Alas, I didn't find any compelling frames to buy while there.
We headed out to Old Quebec on Wednesday for another ritual. Several hours of walking around, then stopping at a specialty grocer for homemade cheeses, terrines, and baguettes, then a picnic. Usually the picnic's on the Plains of Abraham, but this time it was in a park by some old armoury and foundry. Lots of walking (who knew chucks were so good for that?) and pictures later we ended up exhausted at back at home. The beginning of the week was ungodly humid, but thankfull that went away and things cooled down a bit for that walk. Overall we enjoyed beautiful weather, with thunderstorms only happening overnight (on 3 or 4 occasions).
Friday my mom, brother, dad and I headed out for a drive around Isle d'Orleans (another ritual trip). It's a gorgeous island, with an insane amount of gorgeous old, and old-style houses. Also lining the roads are many many small farm business, places like strawberry and raspberry
picking farms, specialty cider and wineries, cheese places, and erabliers. My parents ended up stopping at some cider places and buying some liquers and ciders, and we spent (alltogether) $70 at a cabane a sucre, on maple syrup. Not that it was expensive, it was just so crazy inexpensive that we ended up buying a LOT. 1 litre of clear syrup for $10! The clear syrup is the top quality type, most stuff sold in stores as 'genuine maple syrup' is the medium grade, one or two levels below clear. I also had a killer sandwich, smoked lamb, some sort of wonderfully pungent Quebec cheese, and a great grainy mustard. I'm salivating just thinking about it.
Friday night was time for poutine and sugar pie.... heaven, nothing more can be said but that. Two things that I had been looking forward to since I booked the trip. I only wish I could have brought home a crate of St. Hubert sugar pie. So friggin good.
Tonnes more pictures are up on my flickr site, just click that link over on the right there, and be entertained.
author: m@ » comments:
if you walk away i'll walk away
Saturday, July 15, 2006
$6.95 for 15 minutes of 11mbps wifi at Pearson Int'l! What a rip off!
And of course, I paid for it.
God I hate little kids. They seem to run amok especially worse at airports.
Hey James, one of those guys we saw that looked alike in the van was seated beside me on the flight here.
Anyways, I'm sure I should go. I finished my $9 cheeseburger, and now I'm itching to go buy some magazines.
p.s. People who STAND on moving sidewalks are IDIOTS.
author: m@ » comments:
someday i'll fly away
Friday, July 14, 2006
So I'm off to Ste. Augustine-de-Desmaures (or some spelling like that) tomorrow. I fly outta here around 6pm or so, stop in Montreal for a few minutes, then hop over to Quebec City, where I should arrive around midnight. I say should, because I'm flying Air Candada, so we'll see.
I may have a chance to get online while I'm there, I know my grandma has internet access, but I've no idea the quality or availability of it. I hope that someone near them has an unprotected wi-fi network. I'm also hoping that I'll get some time to look for glasses while I'm there.
I'm off to pack, I'll see you all in at most, a week from Sunday. Adios!
author: m@ » comments:
it's just the end of the road
Thursday, July 13, 2006
Okay, so I left you all in suspense at the end of my last blog post. I did end up buying a new camera. It's nothing terribly fancy, a Kodak V530. It's SO much slimmer than my old one, I'm pretty happy with it. I think I got a pretty good price.
That's it. I'll take some comparison pictures for quality purposes maybe when I get back from Quebec, since I'm curious too.
Oh right, I promised a picture of that little flower I found, here it is (with the new camera. WOW it's such a major change of the old one!).
author: m@ » comments:
Feelin' hot, hot, hot.
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Today is the third straight day of +30*C temperatures, and I heard on the news that there hasn't been any meaningful rain in parts of the area since the beginning of May. Almost consistently at night it clouds over and looks like it'll rain, but it doesn't.
So far I've been okay with the heat, even though I don't have air conditioning, since at night it had (past tense) cooling down to around or below 20*C, except last night it was 27, and about the same tonight.
The other night I was out pouring bleach on the weeds between my paving stones, I noticed a little purple flower! It was cute, so I spared it the bleach. Of course I took a picture, but I haven't uploaded it yet, because that requires expending energy (see first paragraph).
I leave for Quebec City on Saturday, and I'm looking forward to it. I'll be heading out there to meet up with my parents, who started the drive there on Tuesday, while my brother will be flying there from Alberta, and I'll be flying there from here.
That has turned into an excuse for me to look for a new digital camera to buy before I leave, but I reaaallly shouldn't.... or should I?
author: m@ » comments:
forza azzura!
Sunday, July 09, 2006
So today was the final match of the 2006 World Cup. I followed it somewhat, and this game was a fairly good one. At least there was quite a bit of back-and-forth action, with only a few dives. Plus, there was a head-butt to the solarplexus (way to go Zidane!).
Well, I live quite close to a street called Corydon Ave., the heart of Little Italy in Winnipeg. As such, part of me was pulling for Italy, because I know there'd be one hell of a party.
And there was. Right after the final penalty I could hear horns honking and peole cheering from over there. I ended up meeting up with a friend there and we wandered around, after which I snapped some pictures with my camerafone. The whole street was blocked off, and there were hundreds of people milling about.
Sadly, only one of the pictures turned out at any decent size, since my camerafone apparently ran out of memory. It likes to take pictures of the inside of my pocket, which I don't notice until it says that it's full.
Yes, that guy ran infront of me. That picture really doesn't do the volume of people there justice, off in the distance is where the party really starts, and it is packed full of people
author: m@ » comments:
stolen
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Okay, so last night was the City & Colour, and Dashboard Confessional show. We got there just shortly after Dallas took to the stage, and were able to enjoy 4 or 5 songs from him. He's excellent live, and has a great rapport with the audience. I hate going to shows where the artist doesn't try to engage the audience with dialogue. I completely enjoyed his live show, the one thing is that his songs do tend to sound very similar. He's a great guy. I bought one of his shirts. I also bought one of Dashboard's shirts. I will post pictures of them for Jynelle, who wanted to see them, but later. I'll also throw up some pictures of the show, once I get them from Kayla, as I forgot to bring my camera, and she was sneaky enough to get hers past security.
I'd never been a really big fan of Dashboard Confessional, but after that show, I can't help but be amazed by Chris' voice. The set was over an hour long, and he has one hell of a powerful voice. He was pretty hokey the way he played to the crowd "This is the best crowed we've had", and "I think I've made a few new friends tonight!" But yeah, kickass voice, pretty good show.
author: m@ » comments:
