TwoBlog

I found Dr. Mario on my Mame machine last night. I should start looking for other games some day. I may be surprised what I find. But with the little amount of spare time I have, it’s always Robotron 2084 for me! I’ve got to figure out how the pros complete all 255 screens. I think I’m a pretty decent player but can only get to about the 60th screen….which takes about an hr to get to by the way.

Olivia loves Dr. Mario. It’s funny what game attract her attention: Pengo, Ms. Pacman, LadyBug…but not Robotron–I think she’s a little scared of that game because of the sounds it makes between screens. One things for sure though, she loves watching me play, just like a certain cousin of hers used to enjoy doing when he was about her age (and younger).

It’s time to avoid the inevitable and perform some maintenance on the machine. It needs a new light for the marquee, and more urgently, I need to open up the control panel and clean things up a bit. The trackball is acting funny and I think there’s dust build up on the contacts….much like a mouse for the computer gets gunked up once in a while. The problem is that due to the design, I’m going to have to get inside and dismantle the control panel from the base. Not an easy task. It will probably take many hrs for this task and some extra hands.

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Well, for better or for worse, Olivia now likes Joy Division. Especially the “Laser Song” which is more famously known as “Insight”.

It would be amusing to hear her sing some of these songs…..

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When asked what very special treat Olivia would like for accumulating 10 potty stickers, she promptly responded that she wanted a ham. So we went out and bought a 5lb, partially cooked, bone-in ham. She learns fast that the best treats of all come from the magical beast known as “The Pig”.

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I’ve been playing ‘Yes’ in the car now for about 4 straight months. Partly because I’m so lazy I can’t even update my memory sticks. But mostly because they are just that good they deserve about 1/2 a year of my car driving attention. The collateral damage is that OG also has been listening to ‘Yes’ in the car for about 4 months.

The good news is that she can’t get enough of that wonderful stuff. Above and beyond Abilene and Run With The Fox, OG now can sing bits and pieces of many songs and, more importantly for a band like ‘Yes’, she likes to emulate the instruments that are being played since most songs are about 70% instruments alone. Her favourite hum-along is ‘Roundabout’. The first 35 seconds where the quiet acoustic guitar overlayed by the laser-like ‘zing’ sound. She is bang on with following along to the tune, including the ‘zing’.

So, where’s the payback? OG has become INFATUATED with anything that has a maple leaf on it. Bottles, boxes, cars, my leg, whatever has a maple leaf on it, she needs to point it out. ESPECIALLY the Canada Flag. I know for a fact that there are 12 Canada Flags on the road between home and daycare. And I know where each and every one of them are. Especially the flurry of them near the Farmer’s Market. There are 2 at the driving range and 2 across the road at the antique shop. “Do you see the Canada Flag?” “There’s 2 over there and 2 over there”. This addiction is non-stop and must be acknowledged where-ever we go.

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I have continued my committment to exposing Olivia to the great music Juggernauts of our time (and just before my time). During her existance she has absorbed the likes of Queen, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin (not a huge fan but I’m working on it), ABBA and more. Currently we are absorbing the power of Yes. Thanks to the mp3/USB capabilities of my car deck, I have the entire Yes anthology literally at my fingertips. She is now working her way through these great musicians and has become very fond of ‘Abiline’ and ‘Run with the Fox’. After a few listens she can keep up with the lyrics and hum to the guitar solos.

Now I’m looking for the next great band to expose her to. Any suggestions.

At home, she has become a massive Julie Andrews fan. She loves to emulate her by whirling and twirling through the Sound Of Music. Particularly the ‘Do-Ra-Mi’ song. She loves the pose at the end of the song where ‘Maria’ points her finger in the air a la Saturday Night Fever.

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Went to see the playoff hungry Bills (6-7) take on the lowly and history destined Dolphins (0-13) with my brother in law Joey. We loaded up the CRV with the Coleman, some propane, beer and jumbo hotdogs. Thermal socks, fleece and winter jackets as the temperature was expected to be a few degrees below freezing, windy and ‘precipitous’ (a mix of freezing rain and snow).

We left for the game at 8:00 am sharp with the hopes of being parked and tailgating by 11:00. We were bang on. There was little traffic and it’s unbelievable how easy it is to get to Orchard Park once crossing the border at Niagara Falls. It’s about 20 minutes from border to parking most of it on major highway.

Here’s a valuable trick for parking: When you get onto 179E/Milestrip Expwy, instead of following it to Abbot Road and finding parking in that mayhem, turn R onto McKinley Pkwy which is before Abbot Road. Then, turn left on Big Tree Road. Find parking on any one of the many houses that charge you only $10 (instead of $20) to park on their lawn. We parked on the right side of the road about 200m before Abbott Road intersection. I think it was 5287. Backed in so that the car was facing the road and ready to just boot it after the game. Benefits of this spot was: not a busy road after the game, close to a couple restaurants down the street in case you need to go the washroom. About 20 cars could park there so you get a mini-tailgate feeling. Or just meander over to one of the restaurant parking lots for a bigger experience.

We were able to pull out the rarely used picnic table that comes with the CRV and set up the Coleman to cook up the dogs. It was cold out but it was fun. Had a few beers and listened to the high-powered stereo they had set up on the porch to catch the pre-game.

About 12:30ish we packed up and walked to the game. About a 15 minute walk at the most. Unfortunately our gate was at the far back corner of the stadium so we had to navigate through all of the crowds to get there.

After entering the gates I found a quiet-ish spot and called home to confirm whether Galloway was playing for TB. I was in the playoffs and needed to make a change if he were listed as inactive. Unfortunately he was listed as active and I continued to play him instead of subbing in Marshall for DEN. I consider this THE mistake of my ‘07 run for the championship as it turns out this decision alone cost me a trip to the finals.

We had seats near the top of the stadium in a corner of the endzone. Not bad seats at all and well worth the price. The game was 24-0 for Buffalo by the end of the 1st quarter. Although Miami did score 17 pts, it ended up 31-17 and was never really in doubt. That gave me some time to watch the scoreboard and guess how I was doing in the pool. My guess was that after the 1st set of games, I had a fairly good lead.

On the way home (and yes it was that easy to get out of Orchard Park thanks to the primo parking location) we stopped at Jack Astors in Stony Creek to watch the remainder of the 4:00 games and then made it home by 9:00.

Yeah, it was cold and wet and windy, my toes were frozen but it was a fun day and can’t wait to go again. Earlier in the season would be nice but not necessary. Just looking for the matchups will be the deciding factor.

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Finally, we are clear of the Jetta.  Today I received the $$$ from the deal and returned the plates for refund.  It has been a trying experience these last few months and I for one am glad to move on to the next car.  It was a responsive vehicle I must admit but unfortunately I became the primary user of the vehicle after its glory days.  Thus, the Volkswagon experience was tainted. 

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A couple of weeks ago my ’step’-Grandfather Ernie passed away.  Being a WWII veteran there was a military service followed by a family service at the funeral home in Ottawa.  That gave me an opportunity to visit with some Uncles, Aunts and cousins that I have not seen for 15-20 years.

It was a very interesting couple of days.  We stayed at my Uncle Roger’s place.  He has quite a few interests in common with myself of which cooking and computers are at the top. 

We won’t delve into the computer interests as that is way to boring.  But the cooking….

For the stay, Roger bought a 20lb shoulder of pork (for < $20 !!) and cooked it for over 24 hrs on his BBQ.  It was magnifique and there are 2 reasons for this:

1)  The Big Green Egg.  The world’s greatest smoker and grill (for the price you pay).  Now you’re cooking with flavour!

2)  Pre-mixed rubs from www.chefpaul.com The advantage is that they are well balanced and flavourful.  The disadvantage is that you’re subject to the amount of sodium put into them.

Potato Salad:  the secret is mustard seed soaked in rice vineger and the mixture added to the salad.  Use real mayonnaise and coarse seed Dijon mustard.

It was great to see some faces from so long ago.  Everyone looks pretty much the same as when I last met them and for some reason that felt reassuring.  Probably because I felt young again.

 It was fun taking the brother Luc out to the Elephant & Castle at the Rideau Centre on Friday afternoon.  We are able to check out some old stomping grounds.  I can’t believe how much I miss living there when I’m re-visiting.  But there’s no way I would ever want to be more than a visitor again.  Too expensive too overpopulated and too cold in the winter.

Interesting:  I flew up there for the 1st time.  1st time in the new T1 in Toronto:  very nice.  1st time in the Ottawa airport:  very small but easy to rent a car.  For about 150 it beats the extra 6 hrs I would have spent in transit by car not to mention that awful pass through Toronto on the 401. 

 Some closing notes:  It looks like my brother Luc’s hockey pool strategy may fall short this year.  He overloaded his picks on what he thought the 2 final teams in the Cup would be this year.  One of those teams are out and the other one has yet to lock in.  Good luck.

On another good luck note:  good luck to my uncle’s home team Sens as they have made it to the finals for the 1st time in over 80 years.  Let’s hope they pull it out and bring the Cup back to Canada and to the capital city.  Leafs and Habs fans should prepare to eat crow.

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If you want to get depressed in a hurry (doesn’t everybody?) you should go out and rent the documentary “The End Of Suburbia”. This happy little film discusses the inevitable downfall of our society due to the decreasing availability of oil.

We all know about this and are aware of the many obvious costs of our oil gluttony: war, global warming, environment depletion. The doc discussese these issues in detail but the key element discussed which is described by the title is how this is will affect our day-to-day lives. With our exploitation of oil we have created the suburbia that is seen today and when the oil runs out will dramatically change the landscape of these environments.

The dwellers of suburbia by definition are required to drive their vehicle many miles for virtually all their needs. When the oil runs out, these suburbs will become the new ’slums’ or become extinct as people move closer together as before the big boom in the 60’s. Alternatively, the slums will adapt and re-adjust to small communities that have the needs within walking distance. But there will be a cost to this: Many of these ‘McMansions’ as they are called by the documentary will become quasi-apartment buildings, very similar to what is seen in inner-city suburbs today.

Not to bore you or put myself into a deeper state of depression, I’ll skip the finer points and wrap up with some points that are important to me:

- how will the oil depletion affect the value of my home in the future? We live in an older suburb on the outskirts of the city. But it is located within a fairly self-supporting village with other small towns and villages within a 5 kilometer radius. Will the future see an increase or decrease in value? What services need to exist in the community to become even more self-sufficient and thus worthwhile to live in the community? Given that driving may become overly-expensive, how attractive is our community?
- To answer the above, we need to also think about what type of work people will be doing in 10, 20, 30 or 40 years from now? Our local metropolis is fairly diverse (several colleges, universities, factories, etc.) but has become prevalently a technology centre. What value will these jobs have down the road? How expensive will it be to drive into these jobs from outside of the city? What will I be doing?

- These questions will certainly drive the path we take whenever we evaluate our place of living, whether we should think about moving and to where we should be moving. And this evaluation should be ongoing along with a healthy (but not paranoid) awareness of housing trends and other indicators that provide insight into the future (cost of oil, US invasions into other oil rich countries, that sort of thing).

- Wherever we live, it’ll someday need to be a walkable, smart growth community.  Already, subdivisions are being built to accommodate this and they are selling at a monster premium.

The doc was a little over the top and most likely produced by conspiracy theorists, but when reviewed rationally there was good discussion within the film and some value to take away from it.

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We headed down to the Jays game last Saturday afternoon to watch them play against the 2006 AL champs the Detroit Tigers.  Always a fun affair, Jays games are a little more interesting to me this year than in past years.  Not because they are a contender this year (at least before their B.J. Ryan went down with an injury) but because I own a few of the players on my fantasy team this year:  Alex Rios, Lyle Overbay and Jason Frasor.  Additionally this game I would see a couple more of my players in action ala Pudge Rodriguez and the Detroit closer Todd Jones.

The game was a high scoring affiar with the Jays losing 10-7.  Both Rios and Overbay hit HRs with Overbays being very important (at the time) in the bottom of the 8th that gave the Jays the lead 8-7, and as equally important, a win opportunity for Frasor after he blew a 7-5 lead in the top of the 8th.  Unfortunately and yet still fortunately Ryan came into the 9th to close and gave up 4 runs to leave it 10-7 into the bottom of the 9th.  The win was erased but instead I was able to pick up the save when Jones came in to close it for Detroit.  So, a very active game to watch and for me personally for the fantasy world in which I live.

There was also very rare excitement in the top of the 8th when Craig Monroe fouled off a Frasor offering directly to Sonia.  Her hands were full with OG but fortunately the ball landed directly beneath her seat unimpeded.  She was able to pluck it out before anyone else could get to it.  The first time she has had a foul ball hit to her at a major league game.  It was quite obvious on impact that the ball was going to come close.  We were in row 40, the top row of the lower level along the first base line (section 115).  Since the batter is a rightie it had a nasty curve on in it but was very predictable as long as it wasn’t deflected which it wasn’t.  There was no real concern that OG would get hit.

We plan on buying a flexpack to see 5 more games this year so one of the games we’ll head down early and we’ll head down to the field to get a signature from Frasor and/or other Jays.  They won’t be able to resist the wiles of OG.

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