Palmer's World

So after rearranging some cars and heading back to Carrie's, I went upstairs to hang out with some folks I haven't seen in awhile - namely the lovely Simpson couple, Holly, Alex and Alex's friend Tom.

Good times were had as we had a few drinks before heading out downtown for the main event. Holly had made some chicken cordon bleu which was awesome (I only took a bite but the taste was in my mouth all night long!) and it looked like all was good on Holly's birthday. Her Mom (hi Mrs. Pelky!) made an excellent picture slideshow for Holly's 30th and it was pretty swell - mainly because I ended up in one of the slides.

An embarrassing moment happened in the evening when Alex got a phone call whom I asked if it was Matt on the phone. As soon as I got an affirmative from someone in the room, I grabbed the phone as whoever was on the other line was asking where we were and why we weren't there. This is how my conversation went:

"Listen buddy. If you can't enjoy some time with your lady friend at the pub, then there is something wrong with this picture. Enjoy your time with her and don't think about us. We'll be there when we get there and if you're having an awful time with her, then maybe you should reconsider her!"

So the guy on the other end is saying "Uh...ok." Then I start talking about Karilee (who is the new ladyfriend of Matt) and the guy says "Who?!".

At this point I stop talking, ask Alex who I'm talking to, to which he replies "Dan."

Doh!

As everyone is laughing I have to apologize to him saying that I thought it was Matt on the phone all the time. He had a good laugh about it and we all did, but I must admit it was an embarrassing move on my part!

Let's talk now about the amazing friends we have - Ferda and James who managed to give us a great ride downtown while previewing some great tracks by the band Staylefish. They were decent. After scouring the area for a parking spot, we were let out so we can get in line and lo and behold, the unfathomable had occurred.

There was cover charge at the Heart and Crown.

Never in my life had this occurred! As I grumbled while laying out my five dollar bill, I recollected how many times I had been there without paying cover so I shouldn't complain too much. However, if they start making this a habit, there may be changes in my pub of choice.

Shaydid was an amazing band as always and it was their last weekend with their keyboardist (which is a shame). Every opening chord he plays sounds like Jump by Van Halen. Even when we started singing O Canada at midnight I thought we were singing Jump!

The singer was quite drunk after the first set but she could still perform well (a mark of a seasoned performer). I got her to say Happy Birthday to Mike as there was five minutes left in the night of his birthday. He had a smile a mile long! She then sang the song 'Crazy Bitch' and mentioned afterwards that the song wasn't ALL about him. ;-)

The night descended into the usual Heart and Crown madness and all was good in the world other than the fact that we were right next to the speaker and I think I lost 90% of my hearing. Must remember to bring earplugs.

We did enjoy meeting up with some awesome guys who were dressed in some fab Canadian gear (in picture above). Next day we found a picture of Adrianna kissing the guy with the nice moustache and harmonica! *gasp*

We hopped into a cab after the night was done and watched some old videos when we got home. It was a good night and a great birthday party for Holly and Mike.

iplaying: Broken - Lifehouse (Who We Are)

After Mike was able to move a little the next day, we headed out to Carrie's place to have a game of bocce ball, frisbee and soccer in the field across from her place. It was all fun and games and gave us some much needed rest time before heading back out downtown for Mike and Holly's birthday party at the Heart and Crown.

Man I love Canada Day. You can smell the energy in the air at this point with flags on people's houses and the mass crowds entering the area. Closer to home, it's nice to have friends come up and visit. Philipp brought his friend Chris (who is an excellent time) to Ottawa for the festivities as he has never been here for them. A true treat for a Brit.

iplaying: Tarantula - The Smashing Pumpkins (Zeitgeist)

Here's to our little birthday princess!

Mike and I went out to Maxwell's for Amanda's birthday, along with a slew of people coming up from Toronto - Miguel, Katie, Adrianna and Val.

I haven't been in Maxwell's for quite a few years after getting kicked out of the bar for breaking up a fight! That's right, I try and help out and get screwed over.

The music was great, the crowd was great and I must say that Mike was having a great pre-birthday celebration. I went to the DJ booth to request a little birthday wish for Mike and the DJ says "Yeah yeah, we got that one. AC/DC right?" I have no idea who already requested something for Mike, but kudos!

Mike was in fine form that night (as well as Amanda). Let's just say that the next morning when his mother called to wish him a happy birthday I asked him (as he was lying on the bathroom floor) if he would like to speak to his Mom. "Uh...not right now." was his response. Classic.

Special thanks to Vero who was gracious enough to come pick us up after a night out. We went into the car loaded with some good Elgin Street Diner poutine.

Katie, I would like to point out that I found something that looks surprisingly like schwarma sauce all over the inside of the rear passenger door of my car. I have two words - you suck.

The only downfall of Mike's pre-birthday bash was the fact that when he hopped in the car, I had forgotten his gift on the front seat which was unwrapped. So I asked him to pass it to me and then I passed it back to him saying "Happy Birthday." I am such a goof.

iplaying: Bleeding The Orchid - The Smashing Pumpkins (Zeitgeist)

We all know my favourite event of the year is Canada Day. I shall be enjoying like every other year - with friends, and with beer while celebrating this great nation we live in.

I wish everyone some good times during the weekend.

The Scene: In Class

Girl in front of me: Did he take attendance last class?
Me: No, you're fine.
Girl: What did he talk about?
Me: (rhyming off a few topics). Hey, you know, I have my notes typed up, I can just send them to you if you would like.
Girl: Oh great. Can you do that for me every class?

To this day, I don't know if she was joking or not. Very shrewd.

iplaying: Grow Up and Blow Away - Metric (Grow Up and Blow Away)

This is bigger than Spinal Tap reuniting!!!

Click here for the story.

I am going to follow their entire tour.

Gak...I need the long weekend to arrive NOW! Having the long weekend before Canada Day weekend just primes you up for some good times.

Last night Vero and I edited the first minute of my mid-term video which came out to be a true masterpiece. My only gripe is the sound within it as there is the constant hum of traffic in the background. Not a big deal though. We are not filming Star Wars here. Editing is a tedious (but super fun!) process. To put it into perspective, it took us 2 hours to end up with one minute of film. This is an amateur event, so if you look at a full scale film production...let's say it would take 2 hours to edit 30 seconds. Within a two hour film, it would take 480 hours to edit it (which is equivalent to 12 40 hour work weeks. Let's not forget that I'm probably way off in my estimates and it's more like 2 hours to edit 10 seconds! This is why there are vast teams of people on hand to help with the production/editing/whatever of a professional film.

So now I'm a little intimidated by the amount of editing this will take so I'm looking forward to get the filming over with so I can move onto the editing.

We had fun filming it on Monday night with Mike. We found a spot in Strathcona Park and set up shop there before the sun set. I must admit that I was worried at the overall product as I had never done much filming before (other than my Grade 11 Audio Visual class (which I rocked)), but with Vero there, it was more reassuring as she is a pro. Mike is a great guy behind the camera also and offers some good ideas while I just sit there and say "Uh...what to do next?". I shall have a more level head when it comes to filming the rest of the film.

Weekend is shaping up to be a good one. Is there EVER a bad Canada Day weekend? Katie and Miguel will be visiting which will be a good time as always! There are other folks coming up who are staying with Carrie so it will be a full crew when the town gets painted red. Friday night we'll head out for Amanda's birthday, then on Saturday Vero and her sister are going BUNGEE JUMPING! Holy mackerel, I would never be doing that! They are insane. After that, we will head out to the Heart and Crown for Mike and Holly's birthday celebrations.

Canada Day is an enigma right now as Vero will be leaving that night. I figure I will be helping her pack up her things and then drive her to the airport for her flight around 10 at night. It's crazy to think that she is actually leaving and it is awesome at the same time as she gets to do what I dream about - traveling Europe for a month. Too bad she missed the Smashing Pumpkins festival circuit by a month!

The weekend was pretty low key due to a mid-term project I have to work on.

After leaving Vero's, I figured I had some time to kill and I should take a look at cleaning my office. If anyone has been to my office in the past 6 months (I'm talking about my office in my house), you will notice that it had become a landfill. That's right, I think there were living organisms hidden amongst the debris.

Let me tell you, after starting to clean up, I really hit this moment of depression where I realized some of the stuff had accumulated since Christmas. What had I become? Was I some lazy human being who was content in just letting things pile up in the corner? This also puts into perspective that it's been six months since someone stayed over in the office which is clearly the cause of my problems! We need more people visiting!

After getting past the bout of depression (no really! I was really depressed!), the room was looking pretty snazzy and now it just has a little section of the desk with some CDs to put away. I need a new CD case but IKEA discontinued my matching colour Billy case. Argh! As if!

Vero then came over and we had some fish which destroyed the place with its fish smell. I came downstairs this morning and I swear I can still smell it. We then mapped out my mid-term video project along with Eric. I think we have a solid idea down and all I have to do is add some theory to it and we are set. I had the choice of writing a 1500 word essay, or creating a five minute video. Something tells me that it may be a little easier doing the essay, but where's the fun in that?! Plus, it's a New Media class. Time to embrace the new media! You may see the video in all its glory sometime before July 12 (when it is due).

Vero and I had a strange experience around 2:30AM that night. We were sound asleep and the smoke alarms went off! I have never (in my memory) had that happen to me so it was a surreal experience. Searching for a fire when you're half asleep is insane. I ran down to the kitchen and there was nothing. I then ran to the furnace and there was nothing. Then I stopped to think "Well where is the smoke?". I couldn't smell anything. If anything, I could smell fish from the supper we cooked.

I then ran outside to check if the neighbours place was on fire. Nothing. I looked towards my attic. Nothing. I went inside and disconnected the smoke alarm and then reconnected. Still kept going. I disconnected it again and walked around the house for awhile to see what was going on. Meanwhile, by disconnecting the smoke alarm, some ceiling gunk fell into my eye which wasn't making a nice experience for me. In the end, I couldn’t get the piece out (or I thought I couldn't. It was gone (or my eye was scratched and healed) by the morning, thank the Maker.) and we couldn't find any fire so we reconnected the smoke alarms and went to bed.

Question: I have wired smoke alarms, meaning that they are connected to the wiring of the house, no batteries. Do others have similar systems, and if so, have you ever had the alarms go off randomly?

Very odd. I couldn't get to sleep for awhile as I kept imagining their was a fire creeping through the walls that I couldn't find. Everything was fine by morning though.

Sunday was spent nabbing a video camera from Rob (thanks Rob! Lifesaver!) and Vero showing me how Final Cut Pro worked. She is leaving in a week so it's going to be harder than I thought it would be as I will be the one editing this puppy. Yikes!

I ended up watching The Man With the Golden Gun which is an excellent Bond flick. Probably my favourite of the Roger Moore era. I also started watching the first season of 24. I must admit it is pretty good and I am always anxious to watch the next episode. Hello summer TV viewing! Where I catch up on long lost shows that I downloaded but never got around to watching.

Ack, I hate it when I eat some yogurt and the little bits of berries get stuck inside some crevices in my teeth. Always carry a plastic toothpick in your wallet. Nuff said.

Friday night was fantabulouso as I hit home, relaxed for a bit, then head out to the Barley Mow Pub for a bite to eat with Mike, Eric, Annie and Philip. We had to wait awhile for a table which is not a big deal since the beer was flowing. Keith's Red was our poison and it is a fine brew. Give it a try! I enjoy the red beers these days. In fact, the amber ales just don't have enough kick anymore.

When we sat down, we waited forever for our waitress to serve us. When she finally showed up, she apologized as there was some confusion as to whether or not someone had served us or not.

We all ordered the fish and chips other than Eric who ordered a burger. We had been waiting for a top up of liquids for quite some time and so when the server came over with our food we asked if we could order some beer. He said he would send the waitress over. I could see her across the way playing around with some machine (perhaps a cash register?) and I swear I made eye contact a few times and she checked our table to see if things were alright but she never came over! At that point she went away and I went to the bar to order a pitcher but I had no cash on me so I just asked for it to be sent to our table and he asked what our waitress looked like. I think he missed the part of the conversation about sending a pitcher over as one never came! The server (who Mike thought might be the owner/service manager) came back after realizing we still didn't have our beer and promptly got our waitress to bring one over.

At this point the damage was done and we were not impressed. She then came over to pour us a few drinks and ended up overfilling Eric's glass and it dripped all over the place!

In the end, we had some good food and I like the atmosphere (although, why do they have big screen televisions if all they do is set it to a satellite radio channel and there's only the text of the artist on the screen? Let's also note that it was so loud that we couldn't even hear the music!) but our service was horrible. In the end I pulled out the dreaded no tip card out of my hat. I reserve this for horrible service and it only comes out rarely. Do I feel bad? No.

Mike and I then headed out to Vero and Melanie's new place as there was a shindig occuring. The party was in full force when we arrived (and only got better once we arrived!). I chatted it up with a few of her friends before settling in and talking with Rob for awhile. The night was killer and the munchies were stupendous! When you throw a tomato, a piece of cheese and (I forget the last item) on a toothpick, you are answering the prayers of all in attendance.

The guitars came out after awhile and we noodled around with them. Jean-Francois is an excellent guitar player and I must admit I had a hard time following some jazz chords he was playing. This, in no way was a result of the number of beer I had in my system. I played a few crowd favourites like Mr. Jones and Back in the USSR and then we called it a night after a singalong to some improv song. Oops! I just remembered that I broke two wooden spoons that night by drumming too hard! This reminds me of the time that Joe broke one of my wooden spoons and I was upset. Now, for the life of me, I don't know why I was really upset that night but I was and he was a good mate and replaced them. I shall have to do the same for Vero and Mel.

We met a new lady in Matt's life last night who was pretty cool. Actually she got the Palmer stamp of approval as soon as she said she snuck out of her house to see Pearl Jam when she was 17. You had me at Pearl Jam. Mike and I may have to hit her up as a concert going buddy as she seems to be into that sort of thing. As I am sure Matt will be showing her this entry, please note that there are plans to hit up Montreal to see Silverchair on July 30.

When I arose from my slumber I had a slight sore noggin but other than that, the day started out great.

...When you drop into the Quickie Mart to get a bag of nacho chips and you pass him some lottery tickets you found while cleaning up your place during the weekend and they win $18 so the guy gives you your nacho chips with $14 back in change.

Looks like the trip to New York is pretty well becoming a reality with a super special thanks to Katie!

Now...I wonder if there is anything exciting to do there? ;-)

iplaying: Megalomania - Muse (Origin of Symmetry)

"Machines to out-think humans in 15 years, futurist predicts." - This is a headline from an article in the Ottawa Citizen from a few years back when the movie Final Fantasy came out.

While the thought of that is ridiculous, I thought about this futurist that came up with this idea.

What the heck is a futurist? Is that an actual job? That is amazing! I want to be a futurist! Imagine me throwing out random hoopla from my brain and getting paid for it!

The best part about it is they have the security that is shared by the weatherman. Wazat? Weatherman predicts rain all day but it's sunny? Man, he got it WRONG, but heck, let's go outside and enjoy the day. No weatherman can lose their job even if they predict the weather wrong every day!

I bet this is the life of the futurist. Suuuure, we're going to be run by machines in the future. Uh huh. Wait, what if it doesn't happen? There should be a public stoning of this futurist since he made us give up technology in fear of the Matrix becoming a reality.

I can see some of the headlines I would come up with when I become a futurist:

• Walt Disney will come back to life to entertain us all.
• We will not need to leave the house in the future to go to work - we will teleport.
• Pets out. Robodogs IN.
• Hot dogs become #1 health item in Canada.

If anyone finds a job listing for a 'futurist', you know how to get in touch with me. This is my calling.

Mike let me know that the Chicken and Rib Festival launched yesterday on Sparks Street so we went along with Carrie to check it out.

It's really hard to choose which vendor you'll buy from. They need to implement a taster program where you can get a few ribs before spending $20 on a full rack. Speaking of full rack, they kept hollering it out whenever you ordered one and at one point Carrie thought they were yelling about her. ;-)

Carrie and I split a full rack along with some beans and coleslaw which were superb. Actually, I never realized but splitting the full rack with someone is by far the best deal they have going on there. Perhaps I shall return to the Fest later on in the week to check out the pull-pork sandwiches. It looked divine.

Mike and I then headed out to the beach to set up the volleyball net for the first night of Orleans Vball. Essentially, anyone is welcome to come. I forgot how beautiful the beach is. I love the fact that it is right on the river and there is vast open spaces of water, sand, and trees. Beautiful! We had a good turnout and the guys didn't do too badly at all, although I know that I have to get my volleyball moves up to snuff. Mike and Rob seemed to be handling it nicely whereas I was treading water.

Iplaying: Time is Running Out - Muse (Absolution) - Speaking about Muse, I don't know why I suddenly had this urge to check out this band, but I downloaded a few albums to check out what they are all about. So far, I'm four songs into the album and it is amazing stuff. I think I shall enjoy Muse.

Here is your PSA (Palmer Service Announcement) for the day.

What are you doing on July 14?

It doesn't matter because you'll be dropping all plans to go to the HOPE Volleyball tournament at Mooney's Bay!

http://www.hopehelps.com/ottawa_home.cfm

Taken from the site:

HOPE is a volunteer-driven, not-for-profit events management organization that raises funds for community-based charities. Inspired by Terry Fox's run across Canada, in 1981 a group of friends in Ottawa founded HOPE to make a difference in their community.

This is a pretty great community/charity event to take part in. I try and go every year on a volleyball team, and if not, there is an excellent beer garden with amazing bands. This year the following bands are playing:

Finger Eleven, Mobile and Matt Mays with El Torpedo!

You can't go wrong.

Fun times will be had. Come down to the event and have a great time while helping out local charities!

iplaying: A Night in Tunisia - Dizzy Gillespie (To Diz With Love)

This is a pretty funny article about how a judge cites 42 Beatles songs in his verdict:

Click here.

iplaying: Storm - Lifehouse (Who We Are)

Pretty well every reader of this site knows that the Smashing Pumpkins are releasing their new album Zeitgeist in about a month's time.

Details are arising (not officially, but through the beloved Net) about exclusive bonus tracks on the album depending on where you purchase it.

A different bonus track from Best Buy.
A different bonus track from Target.
A different bonus track from Amazon.
A different bonus track from Your Mom.
A different bonus track from iTunes.

This stems from decreasing CD sales (woe is the record label distributor who cannot make some more money from the masses), therefore marketing gurus have said "Well, if we can't capitalize on unsuspecting victims, let's go for the hardcore fans!"

Tsk tsk. This is an interesting concept. Let's be honest, there are fans out there that will buy every version of the album like the fools they are.

Myself, I'll do the responsible thing. Buy the album, most likely a special edition version, heck, while I'm at it, pick it up on vinyl because I like that kind of thing...then I'll download the bonus tracks. Something tells me that the band doesn't mind this ONE BIT.

So...back to the marketers...what are they thinking? I mean...don't you think that this would actually start to piss off the hardcore fans out there? Way to kill your fanbase potentially.

This interesting thought process was brought to you by me, for you.

iplaying: Broken - Lifehouse (Who We Are) <- which is turning out to be probably their best album since No Name Face upon my first listen...

From an email from Vero:

".....I'M DONE MY LAST UNIVERSITY PROJECT EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


WAPIDOUWIWAPWAPPIDOUWOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Just as I start my new course tonight at the University, Vero is done school forever! What a great feeling! Plus she gets to celebrate by visiting Europe for the summer? You can't go wrong! Good for you babe! To recap, Vero was technically done going to classes but she had two reports to finish up for her co-op terms.

In other news, I gave Ryley a guitar lesson yesterday. It went as well as I expected. I didn't know what to expect until Troy gave me some pointers and offered to send over some lessons to start him out. It's interesting to see him struggle with the things that I struggled with when first starting (for example - your fingers hurting!). Hopefully him and I can learn some things together. I didn't know what to expect with teaching a kid the ropes, but he seems to be interested so far. We shall see next week!

Special thanks goes out to Krista who snagged a sweet pair of aviators for me during her 1K trek around Ontario last week. I managed to find a pair a few months ago but they didn't have mirrored lenses (a must). She plopped a nice pair of mirrored lenses as an early birthday present! Awww yeah! Thanks Krista and it will not be forgotten every time I'm on the beach.

My week off was pretty swell. It was great to go back home for a week instead of a weekend during Lumberjack Festival where you are always on the go. I think I shall do this more often as it gives me more of a fulfilling experience visiting and partaking in daily activities back home.

A few highlights:

- Taking a nap in Temagami on the way up. There's nothing quite like it.
- Going to see Mike and Danny's Dad play at the Legion. Now, for those of you in the know, the Legion was home to some good times back in Christmas when Mike, Danny and I had the opportunity to play downstairs for a few tunes. With that knowledge, I got my best t-shirt and jeans out and headed out for a good night on the town.

However, things got a little strange when we started heading upstairs. No problem, I thought, I can handle upstairs just as well as downstairs. However, SOMEONE failed to mention to me that it was a retirement party for a Ontario Provincial Police Detective and everyone was traipsing around in suits! I clearly felt out of place and I think the entire police force was giving me the eye. Lucky for me, beer was cheap and I didn't really care after a few of those. The night was good and we managed to hit the dance floor a few times near the end of the night.

- Fishing was AMAZING. We headed out on Sunday, Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning. We got our limit of fish every day in a fairly short (3-4 hours) time. We went up the Kapuskasing River.

The funny part about fishing was the first day we headed out, we got to our 'spot' and found a big red boat parked there and they were hauling them in. When they left, we headed into their spot and got our limit in no time.

The second day we headed out, we saw them leaving the lake so we did good in the same spot.

The third morning we headed out, we arrived to the launching area early and all was good. But then the big red boat shows up beside us! We give a friendly 'hello' but then the race was on! We managed to load the boat up and launch it with seconds to spare and got ahead of them! Dad gave us a little extra speed to ensure we made it out there first. All was good in the world and the river was like a mirror. I got up to take a picture at one point and my hat blew off! I told Dad to forget about it as I wanted us to win the race but he was the voice of reason so we let the other boat pass us and we grabbed my hat.

The miracle of the situation occurred when we arrived at the spot and they were nowhere to be found! As soon as we anchored they showed up as they must have overshot the location! Success! We were pretty stoked by the event and Dad managed to reel in 4 pickerel in 30 minutes! We had to work for the rest of the day for the other 4 but it was a beauty of a day so I wasn't complaining too much.

- Let's talk a little about how we had some balmy weather for the entire week! Mike and I sure know how to pick a good week off! We didn't see a drop of rain all week long and rumour has it that Kapuskasing was the hottest place on the map sometime during the week with 38 degrees!
- I took Maureen out for some driving lessons during the week. I'd like to point out that she said I was a great teacher. Maybe I should think of branching out! All was well and there were a few mishaps but she did fine and I hope she continues to do so! It's interesting to see a new driver on the road and the way their brain works. I remember not knowing all the actions to take or all the rules of the road but with more practice it becomes second nature. I think she was getting pretty frustrated when I started throwing out all sorts of things she had to think about: "Check the speed limit! Slow down towards the Stop sign! Signal where you are going! Watch for pedestrians!" It's good to take everything in little chunks and build upon the knowledge you have.
- Ripping up some old interlocking brick and laying it back down was interesting. It was quite hot outside the day we started the job and near the end of the day the sun was beating down on us and we felt like we were in an oven. We managed to get the job done and it looks pretty good. I know realize that working in an office requires a break for mental relief as opposed to working on interlocking brick where your body needs a physical break. I was the sorest man that ever walked this Earth the following day and it was pretty hard for me to do much of anything! At least I know some concepts of laying brick now (as Eric seemed to want to utilize after hearing of my stories).

- It was good seeing Mom and Nanny over the week (as Nanny was spending a few weeks up North). I think Mom appreciated seeing me as I helped install the air conditioner.

- Dad and I headed down to Toronto (which is an excellent drive past North Bay with their new highway) to see Uncle Brent and company for the weekend. It was good times. Uncle Richard's chili was in fine form and the Palmer Clan were their usual selves.

I don't have one complaint about my vacation. Awesome weather, excellent times and all was good in the world. PLUS, I just realized that I have two long weekends coming up! Sweet!

If you're out in the water anytime soon, watch out! You're hearing from a gentleman who now has his Pleasure Craft Operator's Card.

I'm heading home next week to do some fishing and help around the house. I had forgotten about the Operator's Card hoopla and I figured I would like to take the boat for a spin so I crammed and only got 4 answers wrong. I must admit even though I heard the test was very simple, I was a little concerned at the different buoys and signs I had to study as you don't encounter too many of those coming from the North and hanging around the lakes. Seems like they are geared towards the rivers around Ontario.

Either way, there were no questions about buoys which was a relief. Now that that's out of my way, perhaps I'll buy a boat soon enough!

Who knows how much this website will be updated in the next week so to give you your daily dose of Palmer, I recommend you check out the Archives and find some of your favourite posts! You can also make note of them in the comments section!

A special shout out to my cousin Troy who is on a fishing trip of his own this week in which I had to ditch due to the Roger Waters concert. It's a good thing I did as the concert was originally on the Monday and it got moved to the Wednesday! Imagine if I had staked my claim for the trip and the concert got moved! Eek! Anyhow, hope the fish were a biting and the beers were a-flowing. I will see you next weekend in Toronto. Bring your guitar.

iplaying: The Bootleg Saint - Sam Roberts (Chemical City)

http://albumoftheday.com/facebook/

I found this through George Strombonopolous's site about privacy concerns with FaceBook.

It was interesting but I must admit I think they are digging deeper than I would care (or probably any other FaceBooker would care). Heck, GMail and Blogger probably have ties like this to the companies they speak about.

iplaying: Morning Bell - Radiohead (Kid A)

"I'm kind of disappointed that I can't smell any dope being smoked." - says Michael (the man who doesn't smoke any dope.)

Tickets: Extremely pricey. Up in the $150+tax range.
The scene: Roger Waters (bass player and lyricist for Pink Floyd) at the ScotiaBank Place in Ottawa.

We hemmed and hawed at buying these expensive tickets but in the end we figured that the odds of us seeing Pink Floyd ever are slim, so we may as well get to see the next best thing - Roger Waters on tour with the Dark Side of the Moon.

We made it there with no real hassles (like brakes failing on the car!) but we made a detour to Vero's place as we had forgotten our camera. Upon getting there I discovered she had no batteries! Argh. So we hopped back in the car because time was ticking.

We had some supreme seats. Nine rows from the stage. Can't go wrong.

When we got to the floor we were blown away by the giant props on stage - a giant radio, a bottle of whisky…this was an excellent concert already! When we walked closer we realized that they weren't props! It was part of a giant LED screen behind the stage. The LED screen came to life and had some cigarette smoke billowing through it and a hand popped into the picture and changed the radio dial to a better song. After listening to some good tunes, some ABBA came on and you see the hand quickly change the station. It was awesome.

Then it starts! They started with In The Flesh which was amazing. Man, I would love to see him play the entire Wall album, but whatever. It's all good. He is in good shape for a man of 60+ years and his voice is amazing also. He can really hit the notes still. Very cool.

The visuals were equally amazing. The screen had some amazing psychadelic visuals happening all the time. Some good pyrotechnics also.

You know, I'm realizing that I can't adequately describe the experience with meer words. It was the emotions that were importantit in hearing these songs. Songs I never thought I would hear live (other than a cover band). Shine On You Crazy Diamond was an amazing tribute to Syd Barett. The video changing the radio dial to tune into Wish You Were Here was called by Mike way before it happened. It was sweet. He played some solo stuff that I wasn't familiar with but it was still so, so good.

He introduced a new song called Leaving Beirut which also had a comic running in the background depicting the inspiration for the song - when he was stuck in Lebanon and a family brought him in for the night. Such charity.

They also brought out a remote controlled inflated astronaut and the giant pig (if you do not know about the flying pig and Pink Floyd, go check out Wikipedia) which was hilarious. Everyone in the joint was having an amazing time! Each time I looked at Mike, he was just in awe.

During the intermission I was dismayed when I realized I had lost my concert ticket! While this would have posed an extreme problem if I left the floor (!!!), I would more disappointed when I realized I had lost a memento (we all know I like to keep my concert souvenirs!). Turns out that my new jacket has a hole in the inside pocket which I had not noticed. I walked back and found it next to the boards along the ice. NICE! The fates were aligned.

We got back to our seats for the most amazing 45 minutes ever. The entire Dark Side of the Moon played in one shot. BEAUTIFUL! The backup singers were amazing on the songs as well as everyone else. If you closed your eyes you would have sworn you heard the album playing. But you had to keep your eyes open for the amazing visuals. They even had a giant prism above our heads which had a rainbow lazer show coming out from one side and the focussed beam on the other. I think we would have had a better view of it if we were in the stands, but in no way am I complaining about being in the ninth row!

The crowd tore the place down during the encore break and they treated us to the classic Floyd tunes we all love including Another Brick In The Wall and the mind-blowing Comforably Numb. Egads!

All in all, it was money well spent. It was amazing to see Roger Waters strutting around the stage having a grand old time. He still has quite the voice in him and I have a feeling we'll be seeing him around for the next decade (when Pink Floyd reunite!)

Set One

In the Flesh
Mother
Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun
Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts II - V) (abridged)
Have a Cigar
Wish You Were Here
Southampton Dock
The Fletcher Memorial Home
Perfect Sense, Parts 1 and 2
Leaving Beirut
Sheep

Set Two, (The Dark Side of the Moon)

Speak to Me
Breathe
On the Run
Time
Breathe (Reprise)
The Great Gig in the Sky
Money
Us and Them
Any Colour You Like
Brain Damage
Eclipse

Encore

The Happiest Days of Our Lives
Another Brick in the Wall, Part II
Vera
Bring the Boys Back Home
Comfortably Numb

Allllright! Check it out! There may be a Thundercats movie in the works!

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=20834

iplaying: Fly - Super Ray (Big Shiny Tunes 2)

On Friday after visiting the Doctor, I headed out to the Annual Gaspé Golf Tournament.

Stop. Rewind. What's this?

My entire family stem from the grand city of Gaspé down on the coast of Quebec. Because so many have left the metropolis years ago, someone had a brilliant idea of having an annual golf tourney so that people can see one another again.

I went to this tourney last year as quite a few of my own relatives went and it is a nice spot to see them all at once. My parents had never gone to one but they ended up going this year and I believe they had a smashing good time seeing people they haven't seen in upwards of twenty years.

Now, this year was the beginning of what Uncle Greg referred to as 'the sophomore blues'. I didn't understand what he meant until the end of the tournament. Let's just say I could NOT get it through my head what was going wrong with my golf game. On Friday when I showed up, Uncle Johnny, Lynn and Greg and I headed to the golf course to play a quick game of 9 holes. I can't say I was doing all that well but the great things about these guys are that they are super patient. I figured that my game would get better by the next day (the day of the actual tournament) but it wasn't until the 17th hole where I realized that I was standing too far away from the ball and I believe that's what was affecting my game so badly. I think there are a few things I want to change before heading out there next year:

• Play a game before heading out there so I am not so rusty.
• Figure out what I'm doing wrong before that point. For some reason I cannot for the life of me figure out how to position my body. It's like I failed geometry or something.

Anyhow, all griping aside about how much I was frustrated with how I was playing, the weekend of golf turned out to be amazing. The weather was great on Friday and Saturday looked like it would be a bust but it got pretty hot for the better part of the day and we finished our game as soon as the rain started coming down (which is definitely different than what happened last year! http://palmer.grumpster.com/2006/06/weekend-in-golf.html)

I ended up hitting another person's ball (who wasn't even on our team) so that didn't go over too well. Oh well, I learned the hard way that I should always know what ball I'm playing.

I am anxious to head out again to play a round of golf and hope to do so before next year. I should see how much a set of golf clubs cost.

Other than the golf tournament, good times were had. As soon as I arrived at the hotel I saw Aunt Mariette, Nanny and Mom and they were jumping up and down and screaming "We're going to Costco! We're going to Costco!" I thought this was extremely strange (but not so strange for someone like Mom who just doesn't have a Costco around her!) but then Uncle Greg jumped in on the fun. Later on I mentioned how strange I thought it was that they were all excited to be going to Costco but it turns out that they were screaming "We're going to Alaska!". Yes, that's right, the Patterson Clan is heading North on a cruise next year. I haven't decided if I will go along but I definitely will head out to British Columbia when my parents hook down to see Uncle Brent after the cruise.

I enjoyed hanging out with my family and watching the hockey game and ordering a few pizzas undercover of other Gaspesians with the nose for pizza. Here's where I throw out a public apology to Uncle Greg for ordering not one, but TWO meat lover pizzas last year when I had forgotten that he does not eat meat. Woops! He let me hear about it this year!


The higher powers must have been with us this weekend as none of us were feeling rough in the morning (well maybe Uncle Greg, but just for a bit) and there was plenty to laugh at. Especially the squirrel which had swallowed a golf ball!

On Sunday, Mom, Dad and I headed to the flea market outside of Morrisburg and I picked up a CD and then we parted ways and I cruised on home enjoying the back roads all the way to Orleans. It's nice to just get on the road and drive sometimes. I then went over to Eric's and helped him set up his new pool which by my estimates should be full by next week.

iplaying: Make This Go On Forever - Snow Patrol (Eyes Open)

I found this excellent website that incorporates Google Maps into a distance calculator for us jogger types (am I even remotely allowed to lump myself into this category? Shouldn't there be a minimum 6 month wait time until I'm in the club?)

http://www.walkjogrun.net/

After reading Matt's comment on the last post I realized I never told you about my car getting broken into.

Last Thursday night I grabbed my car like any other day from work and noticed my ashtray lid was open and closed it thinking nothing of it.

Friday morning I go outside and find a nice dent in my car door. Some moron must have ran into with a bike or something. Also, my trunk was open mysteriously so I chalked (sp?) that up to me pulling the latch the night before and forgetting about it.

On our way to Toronto last weekend, we were in Kingston and I was searching for my iTrip (iPod accessory). I could not find this thing and I knew it was in the car! Then I looked in the ashtray and realized that all my spare change was gone.

Then it dawned on me.

My car must have been broken into!

It wasn't apparent at first because nothing else was stolen. There were CDs in the sunvisor and a cellphone in the middle console. One would think some of these things would be stolen.

Then a few days later Krista's Dad tells her that he hopes my ownership papers weren't stolen also. I never thought about that and sure enough, they are nowhere to be found (but they left the insurance papers - a sure sign that I will be a victim of identity theft for the next fifty years as the Ottawa Police told me when I phoned them up!)

So there you have it. I suppose I'm one of the lucky ones in that nothing of real substantial value was nabbed although I'm hoping the theft of the ownership papers won't come to haunt me in the future.

iplaying: Gossamer - The Smashing Pumpkins (2007-05-28 - Landgraaf, Pinkpop Festival)

Here's some handy advice to those who don't want to be a victim of fraud.

Don't leave your vehicle ownership papers in some easy to find place within your vehicle.

If so, thieves may steal it and use the information within it to do Lord knows what.

The Ottawa Police were mentioning how they could potentially use the information to get credit cards/bank account information in your name or Lord knows what else.

At first, I thought about carrying it in my wallet (which is a fine idea) but I've moved onto the more inventive solutions - I'll hide it with my car jack in the trunk! No thief will think of checking there (unless they are reading this right now!).

I recommend that if you do keep your ownership paper in an easy to find place within your vehicle, do yourself a favour and hide it somewhere a little harder for anyone to discover!

iplaying: Pretty Pretty Star - Billy Corgan (The Future Embrace)