Palmer's World

I try to keep this site up to date over the holidays but sometimes it's difficult and then I'll just throw a random information update which will have you saying "Whaaa?"

I am now in Sudbury, the place of my birth as I drove Mom done so we can see Dad in the hospital. They were planning to put both Dad and Mom on the Air Ambulance to go to Sudbury to see the cardiologist but as soon as they were boarding the plane, the pilot informed Mom that no one informed them that Mom would be coming so they had too much fuel on board. So I packed my bags and drove Mom and myself to Sudbury.

I have never really remembered going to Sudbury in my later years in my life so it was odd to hear that I could get there through Timmins. We packed up the truck with all survival gear; sleeping bags, candles, snowsuits...it's a dangerous time to be travelling in the winter up North. Mom kept warning me about the Highway 144 which connects Timmins to Sudbury...it was barren and there no civilization for 300 kilometers.

This was chugging through my head on the way down. The trip only began around 3PM and it already started off bad as the sub we bought was hard to eat while driving and there was now mustard all over my jacket and seat! After getting a scolding from Mom for asking for too many toppings, the rest of the trip went fine until hitting up Wal-Mart for some windshield washer and I couldn't find the latch to pop open the hood of Dad's truck. For a valiant 5 minutes I searched and searched but I could not figure it out. I stared at the mechanism for a solid 30 seconds to see what part connected to which. In the end I realized that it was a simple pull of a lever which had alluded me which popped the hood and we were on our way.

HWY 144 is a disaster. Small. No Cellphone towers. Snows. Argh. While there weren't any close calls, I was on edge the entire trip as we passed oncoming traffic and you were shifted to the side of the road. I felt like a big man coming down the hallway and I was Peter Parker being shoved to the side.

Mom introduced me to the CBC on the ride as the CDs Maureen gave me were god-awful. She even had mixes entitled "Soft" and "Evil". Gak. CBC was amazing....they had some amazing jazz sessions as well as a songwriting session where last year songwriters submitted 27 words that encompassed their past year or what they saw in the upcoming year of 2007 and then other songwriters wrote music to it. Very inspiring and I may ask you all to submit your 27 words so I can use them to build songs with.

In the end, we made it through HWY 144 and after some questionable directions from Mom, we arrived at the hospital (we passed by Northern Brewery!) and saw Dad on the 5th floor. I think it relieved all involved to see a) Dad in Sudbury to see a cardiologist and b) Us show up safe and sound.

After visiting for a few minutes (as it was past visiting hours), we headed to Gary and Susan's place where I was introduced to the most amazing basement (if not house) of all time - a basement with motion sensor lights, a hot tub, beer bottles from heaven's knows where and a beer keg in the fridge. A smile crept on my face when Dad prepared me for it at the hospital but when Gary was showing me how to pour the beer, it was all fun and games at that point. We then headed to their deck which they converted to a den and had fun for a few hours before retiring for the night.

So here I am in Sudbury in a bedroom typing away and hoping that Dad will see the cardiologist tomorrow. Chances are that he won't as it is a Sunday but you never know. At least he is here where some world-renowned cardiologists reside.

As for the quick update before I update the past few days: Dad has been having pain since the beginning of December which resulted in a hospital stay. Hasn't gotten better since then to the point where he has chest pain while walking to the washroom. Brought him into the hospital on December 27th and has now arrived in Sudbury today. Don't know how long we will be here. Vero has in her heart offered to drive us and take care of us but let's be honest...I appreciate that and if we do need your help, you're a phone call away.

Christmas Eve brought forth the standard fare of wrapping gifts when the clock is ticking. We ended up running out of nametags so I had to resort to the old tried and true method of sticking a piece of paper onto it with someone's name on it.

Church was fine and I would like to mention that Krista and I got a shout out for being some fine servers back in the day and how St. Mark's wished that we could find jobs in town so we could come back and serve. Let it be said here that if I ever came into some money, I would hire the church a server.

I headed over to the Townsons for an excellent feast as well as some drinks and National Lampoon's. The Losiers came over as well as my old manager at Wal-Mart (along with his family) and we laughed at some good stories as well as our favourite parts of the film. Thanks to the Townsons for hosting yet another smashing event!

I then headed over to the Konopelkys with drink in hand and finished off the night there before heading home with my family.

The next morning I awoke from my slumber to find a stocking thrown at my face. All I know is I peeked into it and noticed the words lose flab. I groaned and turned over. No magazine should say those words on Christmas morning!

After some excellent breakfast from Mom, we headed downstairs to start opening the gifts.

Highlights:

• Mom yelling at Dad for opening up one of my gifts (it was an excellent book called Run of the Town by Terrence West. He comes from Hearst and lives now in Ottawa where he has written stories about his youth in a small Northern town.) Anyhow I had picked this gift up for Dad but we didn't realize that Mom and Dad had also picked it up for me so Mom thought Dad had opened up my gift! Ha ha. We had a good laugh and I added "Quel surprise!" when I opened up my own copy.
• Maureen got me some excellent Christmas tree ornaments in the form of some characters from A Christmas Story as well as a very original gift in the form of a gift certificate to Ticketmaster to help out with all my concerts. Neat-o!
• I also got some excellent gifts from Nannies (Thanks!) as well as some other great gifts such as a work bench and some great books/DVDs.

The Konopelkys came over for an early lunch where we watched some Christmas specials on TV, had some great grub and lazed around until the nighttime. Unfortunately, Dad wasn't feeling too good again so he had to lie down for awhile. Hopefully it wasn't the turkey which did it!

Recapture some of that magique that you had when creeping down the stairs to see what Santa brought you under the tree today.

Also, gorge yourself with some wine, turkey and let's not forget the stuffing. It's called that for a reason.

Uncle Gary sent in the final Christmas survey of the year to round out our 12 Days of Christmas (however unlucky the number seems to be!). I hope everyone has enjoyed reading these surveys and I hope it got you in the mood for the holiday season which we are pretty well in the moment of right about now!

What is your favourite thing about Christmas?
Giving a gift that makes everyone say " How did you think of that ". Throughout the year listening to your loved ones, making mental notes of what they like, love enjoy, miss from years ago, etc. The spending hours, upon hours, making, building, asking, looking, searching, planning and finally giving the gift that wow's them all. Never use lists !!!!!!!! Enjoy the ART OF GIVING !!!



What's your least favourite thing about Christmas?
Sacrificing being with your family to be with the ones you love, being too many miles away to be close to them, to see their smiles, to see their happiness, to be a part of their life !! But, all the while enjoying the life you lead and the new family you created !

What's better? The Christmas Story or National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation? Why?
You must add "It's a wonderful life" to me it win's hands down over the two spoof's of Christmas. Think about your life and ask yourself this question " How wonderful is your life?"

Do you have a guardian angel, by the name of "Clarence" or "Sydney" everyone has one...mine is "Sydney" he brought Lois into my life !!!

What's your favourite drink during the holiday season?
Rum punch or Pina Colada on a tropical Island called Cuba.

What should Vero get Palmer for Christmas?
Vero should GIVE Palmer all the love that Palmer has GIVEN her all year long, Palmer on the other hand should GIVE Vero MORE of the LOVE she deserves for being a part of Palmer's life and making his a "WONDERFUL LIFE!!!"

He also wanted to add the following:
Christmas is about being YOUNG, thinking young, feeling young, living young and most of all believing in Santa.

The Holidays Gods have blessed me with a clear head after a hard night of rocking at the legion. Dad showed me how to operate the plough on the ATV and plowed the driveway for awhile as it was raining and crappy outside so everything was slush. After resting easy in the morning and picking up a few last minute things (including some wrapping paper as someone misplaced theirs), Randy and Lina came over to visit. I haven't seen Randy in a few years and had never met Lina so I was anxious for the day to begin. After talking with my folks for a bit, Randy and I retired to the basement and the magic was recaptured as we jammed together again. Randy was the first person I really jammed with when I started playing guitar. We played some classics and he introduced me to a few tunes I never tried out like Tripping Daisy's Piranhas and Chris Isaak's Wicked Game (which I remember Three Days Grace covering last year). John also showed up with his electric guitar and provided some mythical lead guitar. He is by far the most talented guitar player I have ever met. It comes naturally to this individual.

After a few hours of jamming, Mom and Dad were gracious enough to invite everyone to a feed of moose meat. We then piled all the equipment into John's Suburban and headed to Jeff's. It was nice seeing him again and it was the first time I met his wife Kate and she is lovely. We continued the jam session and John taught me a few things about playing bass guitar and I had a good time while it lasted. The night descended into madness fueled by jamming and alcohol and by 1:00 I was ready to hit the sack. It was nice to walk the long walk home in the middle of a snowy night as it reminded me of my youth as I cut through the backyard of the french high school. Too bad that it had snowed all day long and the path was about a foot deep! I navigated well until the end where it turned into slush and it was all downhill from that point!

Our Mac enthusiast Artoo writes in with his thoughts on Christmas! Please note the photo with his true love...

What is your favourite thing about Christmas?
Oddly enough, I have to dig into Christmas past for this one. Christmas time memories of yore is what I like most about Christmas. From the time the lights go up to the time we take them down, it just seems that everything I do just reminds me of great past memories.

Wether it be at four or five years old, opening up my table hockey set and Star Wars action figures at my grand parent's place on Rockwood street and then playing with my 3 cousins in the halls of that huge house -- or a couple of years back, meeting my sweet right before Xmas and us going on our first date on boxing day. Christmas time is magical.

What's your least favourite thing about Christmas?
The shopping. The hectic pace in public places. The stress that many people inflict on themselves to conform to the commercialism of Christmas. Relax people, it's just Christmas!

What's better? The Christmas Story or National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation? Why?
National Lampoon's is my favorite of the two films. I have been watching it for years. Let's face it, there is a little Griswold in all of us. I saw A Christmas Story for the first time a year or two ago. To quote Palmer on this one: 'Don't get me wrong, It's a great film" but it's not yet in my annual rotation of Christmas Specials.

Speaking of Christmas films or specials, I must admit that for me there is a new king in town. "Elf' has become my favorite of all favorites. Syrup on pasta... Mmmmmm!

What's your favourite drink during the holiday season?
Bailey's... definately Bailey's!!

What should Vero get Palmer for Christmas?
She should get him Guitar Hero 3 for the Wii or the Game Rock band for the PS3. Should she have trouble finding one of these items, she could buy him a cool Tintin book or the movies Spiderman 3 or Ratatouille in Blu Ray format. There is also an new Adventures of Young Indy Jones DVD set that just came out or the new Keane or Kylie Minogue Concert DVDs or... ... oh.. what should VÉRO buy PALMER... .Ehm... nevermind!

The drive home was a success. It was a great success from Ottawa to North Bay where the roads were bare. The drive from North Bay to Cochrane was pretty bad. Luckily for me, I felt drowsy at this point and let Vero drive for awhile. But it was pretty bad. There were a few times where I decided to stay in the non-passing lane because it was too icy to pass anything. However, that doesn't stop 20 other cars from passing me and then I have thoughts of one of them side-swiping me!

In the end, we counted 10 cars in the ditch on the way up and one was just past Moonbeam and was flipped right over. They were alright so we continued on the trip. It took us 10 hours so it wasn't that bad of a trip. We played Christmas trivia and had lively discussions with Krista (who was getting a ride).

We dropped by the Konopelkys where my parents were having a drink and we relaxed for awhile and then headed back home for the night. After some beers, great pizza and watching the Beatles Help! film, Vero and I headed out to the Legion where everyone was. Maureen also showed up for a beer and we had a good laugh when realizing that we were both wearing the same outfit - red sweater and jeans! I proclaimed "You have the town to yourself for the entire year, this is my town for one week! Go home and change!".

It was nice seeing some familiar faces and the band was in top form. My highlight of the night was when Bruce called me up to sing and we thought Back in the USSR would be a good fit. Luckily for me that I had been practicing this song for the past few months so the lyrics were fresh in my inebriated mind (as opposed to all the lack of memory on all other lyrics in this world!). So I was impressed with myself and we had a good time once we figured out what key to sing it in. Special thanks to the band for allowing me to sing on one number. I've included one photo which shows me in my rocking stance. I was telling Vero that it's a different feeling being up there without a guitar as I don't really know how to stand so I just tried to think of the greats; Robert Plant, Bono, Mom...and channeled that energy into the performance. I was offered the guitar at first but figured that it would be hard enough remembering the lyrics let alone playing with the entire band!

Highlights:

• What was with the draft beer that night? I swear there was definitely some sugar added to it.
• I have no recollection of how this started but somehow the slogan for Mike was that he was Hepatitis Free so every time we saw him we cheered this fact. Let it be clear that Mike has never had hepatitis!
• Seeing Brent take the drums for a few songs.

All in all, a good first night back home. It was good to see Danny and Carol as they are heading out fairly soon during the Christmas break as they have to go back to work.

Mom graciously sent some survey answers our way so we can round out the 12 Days of Christmas! Special thanks to Aunt Lois who reminded me that Mom did send something in as I had not put it in my Christmas Survey folder and had forgotten! She also didn't send along a photo of herself and she explained it with this message: "As you know, I Don't have a scanner so I can't send any pictures from long ago, also, you may not have realized, but I never seem to spend Christmas with you guys, since there are no photos of me." If this isn't a hint at what she wants for Christmas, I don't know what is! She sent along a favourite photo of hers where I was impersonating an old man that Nanny would be dancing with in an old-timers home.

What is your favourite thing about Christmas?
My favourite things about Christmas are getting together with family & friends and all the
decorations.

What's your least favourite thing about Christmas?
Most people who know me will know that I really dislike trying to shop for people who don't need anything (or go and buy it for themselves just before Christmas). We have long forgotten the important things about the season.

What's better? The Christmas Story film or National Lampoon's Christmas
Vacation film? Why?
I really like Christmas Vacation. I don't really know why.

What's your favourite drink during the holiday season? Slush

What should Vero get Palmer for Christmas?
The question should be what should Palmer get for Véro?

I was reading an article on old Marvel superhero toys and I found this following statement:

Needless to say, the Marvel license was snatched up toot sweet and the rest is toy history.

Read here.

This is a great Globe and Mail article about medical myths that have been debunked. I send this article out to my friend who always had some water by her side!

Read here.

iplaying: Wave Song - The Smashing Pumpkins (Mashed Potatoes)

Ah..the holiday spirit is approaching fast! I had my sociology exam last night which went well solely because the professor gave us example essay questions and indicated that she would choose two of them for the exam. That saved my ass because the multiple choice were out of this world. As in, she doesn't choose her questions from her lecture points, she chooses them from the textbook! I find this frustrating as I'm typing a mile a minute on my laptop to capture everything she says and in the end, all you need to do is memorize the textbook (which is no easy feat!). Plus there are questions that are obscure like "According to a statistic regarding population, what was the 3rd largest minority?". What the heck? Do I have to memorize every graph in the book? Argh. Anyhow, I'm hoping it went fine.

It's the last day at work before the holidays and I've already received a few gifts. I got a great Guinness Beer gift set from my manager and I also got a Christmas Trivia game from Krista. There are 1200 questions so I think that in 120 years we can use the entire set if I have a Christmas party every year!

I have to pick up some more things tonight because I haven't had that much time to shop and I will have to pack up the car tonight with things to keep me interested over the holidays. Up on the chopping block is bringing my guitar and recording equipment home, borrowing Eric's Lord of the Rings set to watch and bringing some movies that I think Dad would be interested in. I also am going to get Dad to teach me how to play Crib again. Haven't played in years!

Not looking forward to driving this weekend...rain all the way. I can only imagine what that will mean in this weather. Slush and lots of windshield washer. Guh.

Other than that, there isn't TOO much lined up for the holidays which is fine by me. Christmas Eve at the church and a gathering afterwards, I think there is a night at the Legion tomorrow night, maybe there will be another wings and beer night at the Losiers and I will probably spend New Years Eve over at Vero's.

I will try and update the blog but who knows? Holidays are kind of nice to let go of that sort of thing...

Here's some reading for you concerning Charlie Brown's Christmas.

Joe took time out of his busy schedule of unpacking boxes into his new house in Brockville (in preparation for a wild Christmas dinner which everyone is invited to!!!) to give us his thoughts on Christmas.

What is your favourite thing about Christmas?
The gathering of family together and feeling the love!

What's your least favourite thing about Christmas?
Christmas shopping traffic! Love spending the money, but hate getting there!

What's better? The Christmas Story or National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation? Why?
I go out side the box and take A Chrismas Carole with Alister Sim, Awsome! If I did have to pick, a Christmas story, I love BB guns I feel the kids pain!

What's your favourite drink during the holiday season?
Warm egg nog with plenty of Rum!Most alcohol will do, I'm not picky at all!

What should Vero get Palmer for Christmas?
How about a ice/snow brush for the car when his $2 breaks! [Palmer's Note - Man, those $2 snow brushes may not have the reach of the $20 ones, but they are indestructible.]

Whoa! Just heard word that the province of Quebec has made it mandatory for cars to have winter tires between November - April.

That is quite the ruling. Does residents get a tax break from that? Will the tire shops jack up their prices because it is now mandatory?

Here's an interesting statistic from this Globe and Mail article.

"Currently, 90 per cent of Quebec drivers switch to winter tires. But Minister of Transportation Julie Boulet wanted to make snow tires compulsory, even though buying them will represent an additional cost for some owners."

That's quite a high percentage. I never realized it could be that high. So then I'm wondering, why the heck are they making it mandatory if 90% of the population does so anyhow?

Here's another stat worthy of discussion:
"Last year, 717 people died as a result of accidents on the province's roads."

Questions (from my critical thinking mind):
- Of those 717, how many were snow-on-the-road related accidents?
- How many of those snow-on-the-road related accidents involved vehicles without snow tires?

I would think that if 90% of the population has snow tires, chances are, even if the 717 were involved in snow-on-the-road accidents, some of the cars had snow tires.

What I'm getting at is that I don't think the statistics help the case for a mandatory snow tire policy. Now, if they said it was voluntary but you got a rebate from the Quebec government, maybe the number would creep up past the 90% mark. But 90% is a heck of a lot and in many circles is deemed a good average.

I don't even know if 717 people dying due to provincial road accidents is higher compared to other provinces or if it's in line with the average. I stand by my original question as to how many of these deaths are winter-tire related.

Maybe I'm just commenting because I don't feel I need snow tires, but people who buy them anyhow are ADAMANT that they are needed and call me foolish for not doing so.

On a related note (I'm sure I'll get flack for this comment), I wonder how many accidents are caused because people think if they have snow tires, they can go about their merry day and drive like it's the summer in the middle of the winter? I'm sure there are a few.

Anyhow, in the end, considering there's only 10% of the population in Quebec that don't buy winter tires, it's a small percentage who will have their say but will get drowned out by the all the others who buy winter tires anyhow. I'm going to mark in my calendar to take a look at the province wide road deaths a year from after the ruling is implemented.

Another interesting point was the banning of hand held cellular phones while driving which is going to go into effect on January 1. I guess I agree with it…I've noticed some drivers in the past who are merging into my lane when they shouldn't and I wonder why they are doing that and then I notice they are on their cellphone. However, I've been there and done it, and don't feel that it hinders my driving but that may be my ignorance speaking and it would be interesting to take a driving test while talking on a cellular phone to see how reaction time is diminished. In the end, I don't think it's a BAD idea and it doesn't cost anyone money to not talk on phone while driving. Quick! Sell some hands free sets in Quebec for the Christmas season!

***update*** So our friend pollcrazy left this comment:
" What about the insurance industry not covering your claim because you didn't have snow tires on?". This intrigued me as I had never heard of this happening but heck, you never know with insurance companies. So I decided to go straight to the source and emailed my insurance supervisor and she said that it simply wasn't true. Now in pollcrazy's defense, perhaps his insurance company has a different clause, or perhaps he has friends that this has happened to or has seen investigative reports on this type of thing. Heck, we've all heard horror stories about insurance companies not processing your claims. At the very least, I have received a Christmas present from pollcrazy in the fact that I now have an email from my insurance company saying not having snow tires won't affect my claim if something does happen. Yay!

Day 9 rolls in...egads...we are close to Christmas! I wasn't even thinking about how close Christmas actually was until I noticed the date on my watch yesterday. I hope that everyone is done their Christmas shopping so they can relax and enjoy a good book. I have my final exam tonight and tomorrow will be a whirlwind of last minute shopping, packing and dropping off gifts. If you see an amazing looking gift on your doorstep on Saturday morning, it was from me.

Katie sent in her Christmas thoughts and she gave me a variety of pictures to choose from. I definitely wanted to put up the cowboy picture but I also thought a Santa hat may do it justice. You can decide which one you like better. Also, she sent in what can only be described as something she picked up after a ride in the Delorean.

What is your favorite thing about Christmas?
My favourite thing is probably giving gifts, whether it's something that puts a smile on your face, or inviting friends over to enjoy a meal, or giving to charity. It's such a good time of year, I sometimes have a hard time reigning myself in.

What's your least favorite thing about Christmas?
Hmmmm...I don't have a lot of least favourite things. Maybe getting up super early? Also the crowds whether in the stores/malls or the crowded living rooms.

What's better? The Christmas Story or National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation? Why?
Okay, I'm sorry, I have to go on a bit of a rant here. If you guys think that the best Christmas movies out there are the two choices listed above, boy are you missing out. The best Christmas movie, by FAR, is One Magic Christmas. There's tons of humour, some sappiness, some scrooginess, heartbreak, hope and of course Santa!!! And the two cutest kids (brother and sister) ever. Oh, and did I mention that it's Canadian. This doesn't tell you much http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089731/ but you must believe (ahem, perhaps a recurring theme in the movie) in what I say. Oh, and a very very young Sarah Polley makes an appearance. [Palmer's Note - I am definitely going to take a look at this film over the holidays! I am intrigued.]

What's your favorite drink during the holiday season?
Got to agree with the mimosa's Christmas morning.

What should Vero get Palmer for Christmas?
For some reason, I still think love is enough.

We are living in the land of 'I need my music now and there is a way of achieving that!'. Case in point, hot off of their 2007 tour, the Smashing Pumpkins went into the studio and cut four acoustic tracks which will be released on January 2. This is quite the quick turnaround. In the yesteryear, we would have had to wait until 2011. Not anymore!

They will release this EP on iTunes in the US, but everywhere else gets a sweet physical copy. I am stoked by this because...I like my physical copy. It's nice to pop it into the car stereo. It's also nice to have as a backup in case my hard drive dies. Don't know how I feel about the digital realm yet in terms of purchases.

Anyhow, I am excited for this new EP and I hope that it brings forth new methods of distribution for the Pumpkins. They are toying around with how to get their music out there when they feel it's hot and not wait until they have an album worth of material. We can see clearly that the entire industry has went back to a single-driven world (well, did it ever really leave?) where you used to buy your 45s with your new favourite song.

If you have been living under a rock (or do not have a Music World in your town), you should know that each week they increase their discounts on merchandise leading up to the January 15 closing date.

I am treating myself to some deals as I won't be around a store during the holiday break. Mainly I'm catching up on some killer albums that I have downloaded but never got around to purchasing. Like Metric's new album and Silversun Pickups.

While out shopping this holiday season, go here before anywhere else. You never know if you'll find a better deal.

I was talking to Mom yesterday and she mentioned how they were in Timmins yesterday (1.5 hours away) and picked a turkey up on the trip because it's hard to get a turkey in Kapuskasing.

What the heck? Turns out that there is only one grocery store left in Kapuskasing. So it's hard to keep turkeys in stock! I was talking to Krista about it this morning and we were wondering how many turkeys are needed? Let's say Kapuskasing is 10,000 people, are there 5,000 turkeys needed?

I think what they need to do is just get a tractor trailer full of them and advertise that they will be selling on a Saturday morning! Actually, Mom said that they have quite a few coming in through the week but they are always gone by the time she gets there! I find that incredible. I don't know if it's the case of simple supply and demand, or of lack of food shipping management. I'm going to assume supply and demand considering they have a truck coming in three times a week.

Anyhow, if someone else is missing a turkey, simply send me some money for postage and I'll send one your way!

iplaying: Hey Jude - The Beatles (Past Masters Volume 2)

Nice!

Read here.

Not only is the Hobbit going to eventually be produced, but the one and only Peter Jackson will be executive producing it!

I must admit that I am stoked as I was afraid of someone else touching the masterpiece of Middle-Earth.

What's interesting to hear about is a potential sequel to the Hobbit. Now, I don't know much about Tolkien's writings but I do know that there are a slew of works that were released that are random backstories from the universe that never saw a proper release while he was alive. So maybe there is a form of sequel that came out awhile ago in one of those books? I have read The Silmarillion (which was amazing once you really got into it) but that was based in the past. So if anyone has any info as to what the story of the sequel could be, that would be swell.

Here's a survey by our very own Dish! I lend a hand once in awhile on her site as my alter-ego Doctor Robert. Trish definitely has the holiday spirit in her at all times of the year (not unlike our friend Katie whose survey I just received and it's fab!) and she has warm fuzzy red socks to lend out at any time (as seen in the photo of me in the Christmas Rocks photo shoot.). If you ask nicely, Trish may be able to hook you up with her Christmas Rocks album for the holidays.

Without further wait...

What is your favourite thing about Christmas?
Well Palmer, as you know, I do love cheesy Christmas music. A few of my very favourites include "Ay Ay Ay, It's Christmas" by Ricky Martin, "Mele Kalikimaka" by Bing Crosby, "Last Christmas" by Wham and, of course, "What Can You Get a Wookiee for Christmas (When He Already Owns a Comb)" by the Intergalactic Droid Choir.

Also, Christmas would not be Christmas if I didn't get to harass my older sister by hiding "festivities" (i.e. really tacky fake glow-in-the-dark icicles) around her room.

What's your least favourite thing about Christmas?
The irate shoppers who cut you off in the parking lot of the mall, push you out of their way in the stores when you are trying to look at things and even rip items from your hands because they have no taste themselves and need to rely on perfect strangers to pick out gifts for their loved ones.

What's better? The Christmas Story or National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation? Why?
National Lampoon's definitely has a place in my heart. You really just can't beat the Griswold family's Christmas lights or the toboggan scene. I also enjoy the look on the grandfather's face when he yells "Squirrel!" and the line "We're at the threshold of hell!" used when everything about Christmas has gone horribly awry.

What's your favourite drink during the holiday season?
Slushy punch because it is fruity and delicious, and it contains the equivalent of my body weight in sugar (recipe available upon request).

What should Vero get Palmer for Christmas?
A Red Hots 2 Minute Hot Dog Cooker (http://evilsmurfette.blogspot.com/2007/09/every-so-often-someone-gives-gift-so.html) so he will stop borrowing mine already! (And some warm cozy socks for the same reason.)

Mike's sister writes in her Christmas survey but adds some amazing photos. Not only is she showing off the best Christmas sweater at the Christmas Party of '06, but she found two reindeer at the Kapuskasing Festival of Lights who were in an interesting position.

What is your favorite thing about Christmas?
Being surrounded by friends and family

What's your least favorite thing about Christmas?
How hectic it is trying to cram a years worth of family dinners and
catching up with old friends into one week

What's better? The Christmas Story or National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation? Why?
National Lampoon's even though I find it incredibly frustrating to
watch, the poor guy can't catch a break

What's your favorite drink during the holiday season?
Mimosa's (Cheap Champagne and OJ) on Christmas morning

What should Vero get Palmer for Christmas?
I have to agree with Nanny on this one, after all wasn't Palmer the one preaching anti consumerism and marketing ploys...

[Palmer's Note: I kind of feel bad on this one as Sam was up shopping for stuff for her wedding a few months ago and I went on some tirade (tyrade?) about how weddings are full of marketing ploys and then I felt bad afterwards. Sorry Samantha!]

Who knew I started a trend 3 years ago?

Read here.

More updates to come soon enough...Christmas party when some people can send me some photos, neighbour's house burning (!!!), a gas leak, an exam, and fun times were had all weekend long.

I'll leave you in suspense.

The weekend of fun didn't end with the party. At 4AM, we went to bed and it still wasn't snowing outside. Pshaw…storm of the decade…yeah right! However, I ate my words upon waking up at 9:30 to see that I lived on Hoth once again. I was pretty disappointed considering this would lead to me shoveling the driveway at one point.

Around lunchtime, Duncan, Mike, Vero, Joelle, James, Carleigh and Marc headed to Johnny Canuck's for something to eat while regaling in the stories of the night before. I definitely felt like Luke Skywalker while walking over to the restaurant. We had to navigate waist high snowdrifts in our driveway and knee deep snow along the roads. It was crazy!

After a decent meal, we headed home and watched Office Space which was delightful as always. However, around 3PM, Vero and Mike smelled gas in the house (and it was a different sort of gas that is usually hanging around the area). I didn't really notice it until I went outside and came back in. Grrrreat. At least my critical thinking mind realized that with the snow storm, there was probably a vent which was blocked. From noticing a few weeks ago that there were a few pipes heading out the west wall instead of the north wall like all the other pipes, I deduced that there were a few vents sticking out to my neighbour's property that I never knew about. After hauling my snowsuit on, I traveled through the wasteland which was my backyard and meandered over to the neighbours. Sure enough, after some poking and prodding I found that there were some vents that had a good snowdrift blocking them. After getting rid of the problem, I went back in and declared myself the king of the world.

However, a few hours later Vero smelled the gas once again. Hmm…problem not solved? We had opened the windows beforehand to get the smell out but that did not help. I ventured into the backyard again to see if the snowdrift came back but nothing was amiss.

We called the emergency line on the Enbridge gas bill and they told us that they would send someone but it may be awhile because of the storm. They were right. It did take quite awhile! To the point where we were making plans to sleep over at Rob and Jan's place if we couldn't get the furnace working properly.

Around this point, Mike and I got some ambition and shoveled the driveway. It's interesting how a giant chaotic storm can bring together a neighbourhood as we all helped each other with their driveway and we drooled at one guy's new snowblower. It's at this point that I found out that our neighbours had the same gas smell in their place and they had placed a call in also. Uh oh. My concerns doubled but there wasn't much I could do about it, but the fear of fire was ever present in our minds.

Eventually the gas company fellow showed up (he was excellent help by the way) and did some reasons but didn't find any gas but definitely smelled it also. He then thought that it may be coming from the neighbour's place and went over there.

Unfortunately for us, for some reason, the furnace wasn't pumping anymore heat after he left! After awhile Mike pulled the cover off and was examining it and I pulled out the handy dandy Reader's Digest Fix-It Guide (thanks Dad!) and Mike found that a hose was dangling from the fan which is connected to the gas chamber. Sure enough, as soon as he plugged it back in, everything worked fine and we had heat!

Later on, I found the gas guy and he explained that the neighbours didn't have any gas leak either but the smell was there so he went over to the place which had had the fire, and sure enough it was the cause. Turns out that their vents were blocked and gas was pumping back into their house. Also, he mentioned that there is a perfume in gas (I'm paraphrasing at this point so people can correct me if I'm wrong) so if there was gas in a house two doors down, then the perfume (scent of the gas) would be strong enough to pass through the houses and we would be able to smell it (hence the smell but no evidence of gas in the house). He turned the gas off to the place (which worries me due to pipes freezing but there's nothing I can do about it) and that was that. Problem solved.

iplaying: Meltdown (Extended Version) - Live ~ (Outakes from The Distance to Here)
Quite the exciting weekend! Scary at times with the thought of gas in the house, but things turned out fine for us. Other than another dump of snow. I need to take photos for you all. The hill next to my driveway is taller than me now. I haven't seen that much snow since living in Kapuskasing as a child.

After the insanity which was Saturday afternoon, I cooked some supper and headed out to my Critical Thinking exam.

At first, I was pretty freaked out by the questions as I really didn't know the answers. It got better as I went along as I had been focusing my studying on the later half of the class, not the stuff from the beginning. In the end, I think I did alright and I'm pretty happy about that as the exam is worth 60% of the course. Yikes!

After I left the exam, I made my way to the car and froze myself as it was pretty flippin' cold. I couldn't understand the weather reports indicating we were going to have the storm of the decade coming our way. I figured it would be another case of when Ottawa ends up being in a no-snow bubble. I went to Krista's to pick her up and then we headed to the bowling lane where Vero was having her Christmas party for the production she was working on for the past year. It was fun as they had a video of bloopers made up and they also got a cool sweatshirt made up (I'm jealous!).

We then headed to the house around 10PM where the party was in full force! I had enough time to walk into the house and Joelle and James wanted to give me a gift. They ended up getting me a Game of Kapuskasing! It's like Monopoly but has listings of businesses around Kapuskasing! They had got Mike and I each one so we didn't fight over it. This was a very thoughtful gift! I did guess it however as Joelle had mentioned seeing it in the past. You know what I've realized? When someone says "I bet you can't guess what it is!", just don't bother guessing because if you do guess and you get it right, you end up disappointing the person. ;-)

I then headed back out the door to pick up Rob as Janice was out of commission for the night. We then headed into the party where it was in full force with people playing Guitar Hero and munching on some treats brought by all. Thanks to all who brought some treats!

All in all, the night was great once again. While there is planning involved with the Christmas party, I just enjoy the fact that we can see friends and family before heading our respective ways for Christmas. It's a cozy environment where people can chat, laugh and insult each other (like Duncan being my ugly twin brother!). It never seems to end in terms of fun. People didn't leave the place until 3-4AM! This did not help me in the fact that I woke up around 9:30AM and could not get back to sleep!

The trivia challenge was once again a success. We mixed it up this year and had some drawing competitions, name that tune and random trivia. I found that the questions were easier this year but I was trying to balance from the harder questions of yesteryear. Also, there were a lot of trivia questions to pull from the hat and I guess it was just luck of the draw that brought out the easier ones. Mental note for next year - Format worked well, maybe switch it up again? Questions need to be a little harder. Not much combat between teams. We need more yelling!

In the end the women won the trivia challenge by a slim margin! They earned their right to taunt us and hold the Trivia Challenge Cup up high!

After pouring out some apple cider, we then started with the gift exchange which was great as always. There's something about stealing someone else's gift that brings out the feelings you have on Christmas morning when your sister gets something you want. ;-) James and Ferda brought THE MOST AMAZING GIFT EVER in the form of a C-3P0 ceramic head which held M&Ms. I was in awe. Benoit was also. Heck, all the guys in the room were in awe. In the end, my best friend of 2007 (Mike G) gave me the C-3P0 head at the end of the gift exchange. Please note he is now my best friend. We also noted that it resembled the little statue in Raiders of the Lost Ark and proceeded to take great photos replaying the scene where Indiana Jones makes a grab for the statue. Clearly, there was no drinking involved at this point.

The rest of the night blurred by. I popped in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation to play in the background while others played a board game called Pop5? We sat around, chatted, munched and had some good times.

Thanks to all who came out this year and we're sorry for those who didn't get the opportunity to come out do to the weather or other reasons!

Highlights:
- The #1 with a bullet highlight of the year was when Carleigh fell down the stairs. Don't worry, she's alright…just a little sore. After speaking to different people, we have the ultimate version of the story printed here for reading pleasure.

Carleigh tells Marc (Mark?) that she is going to the washroom. Flashback about three other times where Carleigh asked Trish where the washroom was and she said "The door on the left.". Carleigh then goes into the door on the right, closes the door and then the house shakes as we realize that she has fallen down the basement stairs! Marc dashed for the door and we rushed down the stairs to find Carleigh laughing at her misfortune. A collective gasp was let out by all as who knows what can happen when you fall down the stairs (let alone the harsh basement stairs which do not have any carpet!). Turns out that for some reason she thought that she was in the washroom and went down a few steps to the toilet. Hey, we're not going to question what was going through her head at the time, we are just glad that she was alright. We kept an eye on her all night though in case there was a concussion. We definitely had a good laugh at this when we knew she was alright.
- Trish's Christmas Rocks album was awarded to Krista who definitely had the tackiest, God awful Christmas sweater there ever was. We should have an All-Star competition one year against all the previous winners. Oh yes, the Trish's Christmas Rocks compilation is amazing in its production - the song choices (Spinal Tap AND The Smashing Pumpkins?!), the artwork (thanks to Benoit for production design!) and all around good nature from Trish while she posed with a Santa Claus hat and a guitar. That reminds me that she sent the photos of the photo shoot and I had a good laugh. Must post those up soon.


Notes for Palmer (to read next year)
- Label the two doors on the main level - Washroom and Basement. Although, will this really solve the problem? Maybe there should be a sobriety test going on to enter the washroom?
- Get some hot appetizers going like you did the first year (sausage rolls, meatballs, etc.). Maybe have a midnight hot meal kind of thing? May be hard to implement. Think about this more next year.
- Get a group picture! You forgot this year! There was a group photo of the women winning the trivia cup but that's it! You have nothing to say everyone was there! Or maybe you do. Mental Note: Get photos from everyone.
- We went through half a jug of apple cider. Don't buy more than one jug next year.
- You had enough alcohol. Rye was still left over. Rum, not so much.
- Maybe some eggnog next year?
- Gift exchange did not any alcohol which was welcome by all, I think. It made for more interesting gifts.

Friday and Saturday afternoon were spent studying for the Critical Thinking Exam. I came home on Friday night to find the place all decorated for the Christmas party as Vero is a sweetheart and took time out of her busy day to come by and do so. Mike was also an amazing help for the Christmas party as he cleaned the entire house. Heck, at one point I saw the fridge pulled out and he was mopping the floor! Ladies, I can arrange to supply you with a phone number for the man who can clean like no other.

I also picked up some graphic novels on Friday night that Paul and I had ordered. I am pretty excited to read Watchmen as I have never heard anything bad about it. Paul got the lion's share of graphic novels and I am happy to see that Carrie can get them to him at Christmas time for some reading next to the fire (or the furnace…)

Around 3PM on Saturday, I had hit the wall in terms of studying. I was studied out! So I helped clean a bit with Mike and then we headed out to pick up some things.

When we were leaving the house, our new neighbour Tasha was at the door. Turns out that the house next to her (as in, two houses from me) was thought to be on fire! She had called 911 and so we went over. There was the dog barking and the alarm going off but I really couldn't see much smoke. Then the firetrucks appeared. After explaining how the smoke alarm was going off they broke the window next to the front door and opened the door. We grabbed the dog and put it over at our place.

Considering there wasn't any smoke coming out, I just thought it was a false alarm but then you hear people yelling "Get the pumps going!" and "Bring the hose in!". Then we are anxiously watching the scene and someone busts the upstairs bedroom windows out and the smoke escaping is BLACK. It was incredible (in a bad way of course. I'm using the word incredible for the actual smoke coming out as there was a lot of it!).

A lot of commotion was going on - neighbours coming over, 5 fire trucks all around us, police everywhere. We went to and from our house where the new neighbours were inside. A police officer asked who lived in the building and no one knew her last name. After finding out from calling the old neighbours, I spoke with the police officer for awhile. At that moment I realized that it's a strange world we live in when we really don't know much about some of our neighbours. Sure, I know their first names, but that is about it. Mike suggested giving out emergency phone numbers and we will definitely do that before leaving on holidays this winter. It's one thing to have Eric and Annie go and check out our place once in awhile, but they would never know if the house went up in flames until they went over.

In the end, it was discovered that a candle in the upstairs bathroom was the culprit. We were also lucky as the firefighters said to Tasha that if they didn't call when they did, it probably would have spread to their own house (and who knows who else's? We are so close together…). As far as we can tell, the entire upstairs is gutted. The woman who lived at the residence did eventually come home and was understandably upset. Dad pointed out that the worst thing that can probably happen to you emotionally is a fire (other than a death or something like that).

It is a shame that something like this has happened…especially in the middle of winter and right before Christmas. Luckily she has some family and friends to help her through this rough time.

Here's some thoughts going through my head that I'd like to pass onto you…

• Emergencies are something you should be prepared for. Think about that.
• Give your neighbours some emergency numbers if you are going out of town, or even if you are still in town.
• Take a look at your insurance. Make sure you have adequate insurance to cover everything you want covered.
• ESPECIALLY during this holiday season, take care in not leaving Christmas lights around the house when you leave. Sure, they look nice when you come home, but you never know what can happen.

iplaying: Warm and Sunny Days - The Dears (No Cities Left)

Nanny Ruth is so special to me that I couldn’t pick just ONE photo of her so I took them all! Here's what her thoughts are about Christmas...

What is your favourite thing about Christmas?
My favorite part of Christmas is listening to the Christmas songs and carols (that is
now) Years ago it was seeing the children open their gifts.


What's your least favourite thing about Christmas?
My least favorite thing is listening to Tom complain about it!!! (that's now) Years ago I
had no least favorite as I loved it from beginning to end.


What's better? The Christmas Story film or National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation film? Why?
I never saw the Christmas Story film, and did find the Lampoon one rather ridiculous but
my favorite is Rudolph.

What's your favourite drink during the holiday season?
My faovrite drink of all time is MILK no matter what time of year it is !

What should Vero get Palmer for Christmas? Vero should get Palmer what ever her little heart desires !! and Palmer should be very thankful he got anything.

Evil Dead: The Musical returns to Toronto!

Click here for details.

I am already heading down to Toronto for a Matchbox Twenty concert on Friday, February 22, so we can go on the 23rd. Either let myself or Carrie know if you're interested!

Another concert DVD I sat down lately was the excellent capture of Matchbox Twenty's tour to support their album "More Than You Think You Are". This was their tour before taking a hiatus while members shifted and Rob Thomas released a mediocre solo album.

I had also seen bits and pieces of this DVD but never caught it all in one shot. It captured everything I love about MB20. Kyle Cook (thanks for the edit Eric!) is amazing on guitar. Rob Thomas is killer on vocals. The production of the show is alright. You can see them take bits and pieces from various other icons like U2 or the Rolling Stones but really…who can be original anymore?

I actually enjoyed the documentary even more which followed the band on the entire tour and highlighted behind-the-scenes happenings which showed what the crew did. I had never seen a documentary focussed so much on the crew and the production of the show. The closest thing I've experienced in this vein is the U2: Show book which is a must-have for anyone who wants to get into producing any sort of stage show. So it was interesting to see them discussing lighting and whether or not they should throw the house lights on during the last song. It's also interesting to see that pretty well all of the rock shows you see are scripted to a certain point and that if you go see one show, chances are you may see them comment in the same fashion night after night, or have the same funny moments happening.

Palmer Interruption: I have spent a long time going to rock shows and I've realized what makes one band stand out over another in terms of repeated viewings on the same tour. It's all about changing the show. The first time I realized that I was seeing the same show was when I saw Evanescence in Montreal in the winter, and then the following spring they ended up coming to Ottawa and I saw them there also. I realized it was the EXACT SAME SHOW. Even down to the comments about the tour or the city they were in. Sure, every showman has their classic comments like "You're the best show of the tour!" which is always a questionable comment but it irks me when you see the same exact motions being followed…it's like they've become their own cliché.

So when you see Led Zeppelin, or Pearl Jam, or the Smashing Pumpkins (to some extent), you see they have re-playability value on their tours because they are always somewhat different. Jimmy Page has stated that he has never played the solo to Stairway to Heaven the same on any date. Eddie Vedder has a commentary on today's issues, today's feeling at the concert…it isn't scripted. Heck, he even does research into the city they are coming into and makes comments about them (like sports teams and such). The Smashing Pumpkins pretty well have the same show going on musically, but their commentary is always different or they switch up their setlist from time to time. I think it would get pretty boring to follow a band who has such a scripted show. Although U2 is probably the exception to this rule as they have such an energy that you get a high off of being there. But they themselves switched up their ZooTV show every night in small ways so every night could be a little different.

When someone asks me why I have so many Pearl Jam or Pumpkins bootlegs, this is the reason. They have re-playability power. If they had the same show each night of the tour, I would just get the best sounding bootleg from the tour and listen to that one and I essentially have heard the entire tour. But that's not the case (which is definitely apparent with Pearl Jam officially releasing every bootleg of their tour and they sell like pancakes. Why does the term 'hotcakes' sound so much better when a hotcake is just a pancake?). End Palmer Interruption.

So the DVD was excellent and it got me excited to see the band in the spring in Toronto. I would recommend picking this DVD up for any fan. Heck, I think I got it for $8 at Music World a few years ago so it was well worth it.

iplaying: Razor - Foo Fighters (In Your Honour)

I believe I got this concert DVD last year for Christmas. I did have it on a few times but had never had the chance to watch it fully even though Eric had recommended it many times.

The Skin and Bones DVD follows the Foo Fighters on their afoostic tour where they toned down the rock and upped the acoustic quotient. I was familiar of Foo Fighters only through their radio singles and took a chance on picking up their In Your Honour double disc, solely for the fact that one disc was all acoustic and I thought that was neat. Quickly, Foo Fighters has been introduced into my main musical repertoire, with picking up their new album (which is killer…it may win the 2007 best in my opinion) as well as their remastered album The Colour and the Shape.

The DVD is great. It has a great selection of tunes, whether they are originally acoustic tunes, or acoustified rock songs. You also get some good stories behind some of the songs, especially Friend of a Friend which is a tip of the hat to the other members of Nirvana for all you Nirvana fans out there. The story about this song was probably my favourite on the DVD. I also enjoyed when Dave Grohl introduces all the members and asks the percussionist to show him every instrument in his arsenal.

The DVD made me feel like I was there enjoying a relaxing evening with the Foo Fighters. If you are a fan of their high octane performances, you still won't be disappointed with the toned down acoustic set.

iplaying: On The Mend - Foo Fighters (In Your Honour)

Vero is the latest person to send a survey in WITH A PICTURE...I'm not putting up any surveys if they don't have a picture. I'm talking to you Nanny!

What is your favourite thing about Christmas?
The long road trip back home on highway 11 playing «highway hypotheticals» while listening to Trish's Fromage de Noël (all that to finally see friends and family I haven't seen in a while).

What's your least favourite thing about Christmas?
The fact that Christmas is more and more becoming this crazy money making industry. A lot of people tend to forget what Christmas is really about. (editor's note: Is she quoting from Charlie Brown?)

What's better? The Christmas Story or National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation?
That's not an easy one...but I have to say that I always laugh my heart out when the kid shoots his eye out with the gun...hilarious!

What's your favourite drink during the holiday season?
Medium-Hot Apple Cider!! Mmmmmmm!!!!

What should Vero get Palmer for Christmas?
Isn't her love enough? :-)

I'm barely back in action here. I've been sick and I'm studying for my exam this coming Saturday. The good news is that Dad is out of the hospital and can continue his reading of this website (because we all know that's what bothered him the most about being in the hospital.) Fast fact: He said the food there was pretty darn good. That's a surprise. The urban legends are false people!

Update on Christmas Cards: If you're going to get one, they MAY be out this week sometime.
Update on Christmas Shopping: 99% done baby! Although the 1% always drags into 10% because you a)realize you forgot someone b)someone gets you a gift that you didn't anticipate so you have to get them one
Update on Trish's Christmas Compilation: Hot off the presses last night!
Update on Vero: She is now finished her contract so she gets to sleep in until noon every day and then go Christmas shopping. While she will deny this is what is going on, we all know better. Good news though, she managed to snag a contract being an assistant-producer on a short film during the month of January! I can't believe her luck…not only does she get to start when she gets back from Christmas, but it will be done in time for the trip to the Domincan Republic for her sister's wedding!
Update on Mike: He is 99% moving to a new job at Foreign Affairs Canada. He's just waiting for the beloved 'letter of offer'. Congrats mate!

Our good friend Sara (now in the East Coast!) writes in her thoughts about Christmas. Also, she gives me a crazy picture of a cat in a Santa hat which is awesome. I managed to use my mad Photoshop skills to add her to the picture.

What is your favourite thing about Christmas?
It's hard to say what my one favourite thing is, but I do love the constant radio play of the 80s "Do they know it's Christmas"...and I love booze and Christmas lights!

What's your least favourite thing about Christmas?
I totally hate the constant radio play of "The little Drummer Boy"...I mean the whole story of the song is that this poor little boy can only afford the gift of his drumming for the baby Jesus, that's ridiculous! If I was Mary, I would've told that kid to screw off with playing loud drums around a baby! I mean the kid isn't even playing an awesome drum solo, just pa rum pum pum pum, LAME!! Also, each year my love for Bowie subsides a little when I hear his version of the song with Bing Crosby, and that depresses me.

What's better? The Christmas Story or National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation? Why?
Dude, The Christmas Story is totally the best holiday movie of all time! I mean the sexy leg lamp and the ridiculous bunny suit are the stuff of comic legend. Here's one of my favourite quotes:

Mr. Parker: He looks like a deranged Easter Bunny.
Mother: He does not!
Mr. Parker: He does too, he looks like a pink nightmare!

What's your favourite drink during the holiday season?
Umm that would be eggnog I guess. See, I drink almost all types of alcohol all year round, and this is the only drink that comes out at Christmas.

What should Vero get Palmer for Christmas?
I think Vero should get you a copy of the LP soundtrack for Star Wars signed by George Lucas, that would be sweet!

It is my sister's birthday today. Happy Birthday Maureen.

I wonder if Tim Horton's gives you the day off on your birthday? I think every place of employment should give you the day off on your birthday if you choose to take it.

I hope you are doing something special. I also hope that you save me some cake!

Led Zeppelin played their reunion show last night in London England and from the rave reviews, no one was disappointed.

Here's an interesting stat which relates to me: "An estimated nine million people applied for the 18,000 tickets."

I'm going to assume that considering that everyone who won a ticket actually one the chance to buy two tickets, that means that there were 9,000 people out of nine million who got first round tickets.

I was one of those 9,000. So my odds were one in a million. ***updated***Scratch that. Matt pointed out that my math is way off. Let's see...9,000 divided by 9, 000, 000...cancel those three zeros on the end so it's 9 divided by 9, 000, cancel the nines so they are ones...1 in 1,000? Wow. That definitely doesn't sound as good. I stick by the awesome one in a million calculation for sheer story sake!

Awww yeah!

As we all know, Mike and I decided not to go due to the hefty price tag around the holidays and it worked out for the best for us as the show was rescheduled from its original date in November to December 10 due to Jimmy Page injuring his pinky finger while gardening.

Considering the smashing concert they put on last night, I can only hope that they will be hitting up North America sometime in 2008.

Here's the setlist:

'Good Times Bad Times'
'Ramble On'
'Black Dog'
'In My Time Of Dying'
'For Your Life'
'Trampled Under Foot'
'Nobody's Fault But Mine'
'No Quarter'
'Since I've Been Loving You'
'Dazed And Confused'
'Stairway To Heaven'
'The Song Remains The Same'
'Misty Mountain Hop'
'Kashmir'
'Whole Lotta Love'
'Rock And Roll'

Dad's body has an interesting way of planning out things further in life. As Dad nears retirement his body says "Scott, you have a lot of sick days left that you haven't used up. Why are you using your vacation days for the Christmas break when you have some sick days to use?"

Hence, the reason that Dad is in the hospital last night with chest pains. Hope you had a good sleep overnight Pops.

Friday night, Mike and I picked up Krista and headed over to Trish's new pad (which is even more divine now that I noticed her office has these massive doors which slide closed to make it an ideal music space) to help her put plastic on her windows.

The night got off to a delayed start as Mike had forgot his wallet and driver's license. He did a loop around but then decided to continue on without it. But then we made it another 100 meters and realized we definitely had to go back because a guitar was forgotten (the guitar would be used later on in the night). We headed back, got the stuff and then picked up Krista and finally got to Trish's place.

After measuring her windows, we headed to Canadian Tire where Mike realized he left the measurements for our windows at home! So no luck on our front for plastic. But we got some for Trish's bedroom windows and headed home where she was making some pizza for us.

Mike and I had a decent time with putting up the plastic, although the tape was wonky on the last window and it wasn't sticking properly. Maybe it was a faulty batch? Either way, we finally got it done in time for the pizza to come out of the oven and Krista entertained us with her concoction of nog-tinis which is essentially a martini with eggnog.

After a great meal of pizza and Caesar salad (can we also point out that Trish had an entire lasagna cooking for us also?! She was pretty disappointed that none of us took some home. Trish, we are not an army!) we started out with ideas for a holiday photo shoot. Trish wanted something rocking for her new Christmas album. Hence the reason for the guitar. I also managed to find a purple garland with stars hanging from it. We then fell into fits of laughter thinking of amazing album covers we could make and I personally loved the thought of Trish exiting a closet for the album called "Out of the Closet". Hilarity ensued with rock star poses and fake snakes coming out of the closet along with Trish. I was even in it at one point.

We then wanted to do a classic album cover shot of just some rock star stances with the guitar being held high. Then we got the idea of an action shot and we wanted Trish to jump off her coffee table and snap the picture in mid-air. Mike and I demonstrated how the shot should look and we had a great time trying to get the best picture out of it. My fave is one where I look like I'm floating on air while playing some Stevie Ray Vaughn. Beautiful! In the end, we realized there is a lot of work in preparing your rock star image and you can't be caught making a crazy face when you are jumping in the air while playing guitar. It's very not-rock-like.

We got a few great shots and I'm sure one of them will make the album cover. As for which one, we shall have to wait and see!

http://www.pitbullarmory.com/Squirrel-armor.html

This is why I love the Internet.

My sister Maureen was gracious enough to fill out the Christmas survey for Palmer's World.

My favourite part is that she sent it twice to me and the answers were interesting as some of them had changed significantly!

Here are both of her responses for your reading pleasure.





What is your favourite thing about Christmas?
Hanging out with friends and family that I haven't seen in awhile.//Being with friends and family

What's your least favourite thing about Christmas?
You take months to prepare for it and then it's done in one day.//the preparation and the waiting......and then it's all over in one day. [Editor's Note: I have a feeling she'll be pretty disappointed if she gets married.]

What's better? The Christmas Story or National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation? Why? I can't decide because I like them both.//Why? I can't decide. They are both equally awesome. Ralphie shooting his eye out with the pellet gun and The Griswald's car getting stuck under a transport when they go to pick out a tree.


What's your favourite drink during the holiday season?
Egg Nog//Hot chocolate and Slush.


What should Vero get Palmer for Christmas?
coal, coal and more coal HA!//Nothing, it should be all given to me :p

Beautiful holiday spirit photo gallery.

Click here.

Mom, if you have a photo of me like this with Santa, send it along!

Aunt Lois provided me with a good laugh when sending along her survey answers along with her picture.

You can see that she provided the first picture (seen here). Here is how the conversation went:

Me (thinking "What the heck? That's a picture of my cousing Keri and Santa. Maybe that's Aunt Lois in the suit?"): "Is that you in the Santa suit?"
Aunt Lois (thinking "Is this kid on crack? Does he not recognize me?"): No, can you not recognize me?
Me (thinking "Oh man, what's going on? That can't be her in the Santa suit!"): It's the eyes Aunt Lois! The eyes! There's no way that it's you!

Then she realizes that she sent the wrong picture completely and we had a good laugh. She also wondered if I couldn't recognize my own cousin Keri but of course I did, I just couldn't see where the heck Aunt Lois was in the picture!

Ah…the laughs we had.

Onto her responses...

What is your favourite thing about Christmas?
My favorite thing is the music. Always put the CD's on and wail away in my own home lol

What's your least favourite thing about Christmas?
I think the least favorite thing is that I don't have any small children in the house.

What's better? The Christmas Story or National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation? Why?
Actually my fave movie is Miracle on 34th St......both of them.

What's your favourite drink during the holiday season?
Diet Pepsi and spiced rum. YUM

What should Vero get Palmer for Christmas?
Whatever he deserves hahahahahaha

If you have not received a survey from me and wish to participate in this holidays, simply answer the questions yourself and send me off an email along with a holiday photo of yourself to my e-mail address.

iplaying: Lightning Crashes - Live (Throwing Copper)

Blade Runner (only one of the cooler sci-fi movies out there, which stars Han Solo at that!) is being re-released in a Final Cut version which will see a new transfer of the film to hi-def and (I think) some tweaks to the actual film.

Here is a beautiful article on the transfer from the negatives to hi-def format and was very informative on how they take old film stock and digitize it.

Read the article here.

I found the following note on the back of Chuck Klosterman's novel "Killing Yourself to Live" and was inspired:

"Sometimes when you're the co-pilot on a road trip, you're having such a good time talking to your buddy, gazing out the window, and listening to awesome music that you're a little reluctant to stop and get out when you actually reach your destination. That's what reading this book is like." - Gregory Kirschiling, Entertainment Weekly.

While I can go on about how great of a comment that is for a novel, I immediately thought about the road trips of yesteryear and the beauty of being both the co-pilot and the pilot.

Let's be honest, the best seat in the car is the seat which controls the music. But having that coupled with being the co-pilot is an amazing surreal feeling.

I have a fresh memory of waking up somewhere between Percé Rock and the border of New Brunswick and Vero was driving. We were passing along the coast and the sun was not quite down but you can see it dipping from its apex. The Beatles were playing. Then we ended up in New Carlisle where my grandmother is from. You know that point of the day where the sun is starting to shine into your windshield and it's kind of annoying when you're driving because you can't really see what the heck is going on outside? In the passenger seat, that's a totally different experience. It's like you're rushing by objects that don't have much form. The trees hanging across the street bring about this feeling of another world. Like we are traveling through a dream. Maybe it helps that I awoke from a slumber and it's that point where you don't want to talk just yet to the driver. You want to hold onto this moment where you are quiet and just stare out the window and pretend to sleep because you want to absorb it all in. That's the beauty of being the co-pilot. Sometimes you can just exist in the moment but at the same time, you're passing through the moment.

So the co-pilot position is pretty darn good when the conditions are right…when there is a beauty of the outside world and you are passing along. Like when you have one of those afternoons like when I went up to Hearst and it's a brisk winter day, but the sun is shining and you're getting hot in the truck but you still have all your winter clothes on and there isn't any traffic on the lone highway but you have some gusting wind and the snow is just grazing over the road. You feel like you're the only person on Earth and you even shut off all the music in the truck just to appreciate the moment you're in. Those are my favourite winter days. When the sun is shining through some clouds.

iplaying: Live it Out - Metric (Live it Out)

Palmer's World is sending out Christmas surveys to some faithful readers in honour of the holiday spirit.

First up, my friend Maren!

What is your favourite thing about Christmas?

Without a doubt, my favourite aspect of Christmas is the festive cheer. The feelings of togetherness and conviviality that come when people have the chance to sit back, relax, and appreciate the company of friends and family.

What's your least favourite thing about Christmas?
My least favourite part of Christmas is the pressure I put on myself to sample each and every offering on the buffet table.

What's better? The Christmas Story or National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation? Why?
Hello! Obviously National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation takes the cake in this battle. It’s what slapstick humour is supposed to be. Throw in a dysfunctional family and a squirrel, and I’m hooked.

What's your favourite drink during the holiday season?
Must I choose just one? It must be sparkling wine then.

What should Vero get Palmer for Christmas?
Easy – a MIDI keyboard so that Ryan can continue to make sweet, sweet music.

Special thanks for Maren for being the first to respond to the survey as well as supply a great holiday photo! Let it also be noted that Maren lent me her copy of National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation last year which has a spot in my heart.

Yesterday I watched the Clint Eastwood directed film Flags of our Fathers which focuses on the story behind the famous photograph of American soldiers putting up an American flag during the Battle of Iwo Jima during World War II. It takes a look at what happened to the soldiers who were in the original picture and intermixes with flashbacks of the actual events at the Battle of Iwo Jima.

I enjoyed this film as it had a bit of everything in it. It wasn't entirely based on what you see in the front lines of the war, but took a look at what happened behind the scenes. For example, the famous photo was used as propaganda to get more money coming in (via bonds) to finance the war. They brought back the soldiers who were in the picture to go on a tour to encourage citizens to buy bonds. The film focuses around this tour and the personal hell that some of the soldiers are going through. Flags of our Fathers is also based on a novel by James Bradley who talks about not knowing his father's involvement in the war and it turns out that he is one of the soldiers in the famous photograph.

If you look at the film chronologically, it shows the Battle of Iwo Jima, then the subsequent tour of the fellows in the famous photograph, then the interviews of soldiers by James Bradley trying to find out more about his father during the war as his own father never really spoke about it.

It was a touching tale when it got to the parts where the son is piecing together what sort of man his father really was and never realized until he was on his death bed. I enjoyed the film showing the other side of war and how a single photograph became a driving force behind a funding mechanism for the war.

Recommended.

Of note is the fact that Clint Eastwood filmed a companion film called Letters from Iwo Jima which looks at the Japanese viewpoint.

This will be a new segment on Palmer's World where I review any burgers I tried at The Works.

The Works is a restaurant here in Ottawa which specializes in gourmet burgers. Gourmet meaning that you get quite a few choices; a Kraft Dinner burger, a Peanut Butter and Jam burger…you name it, they have it!

I really enjoy The Works and wished to introduce Mike and Vero to it after our day of filming so we headed out to a packed house, put our name on the waiting list and went home for a bit. The Works is quite close to my house…close enough to walk to!

We sat down and perused the menu which is an adventure on its own. So many choices! There are probably 100 different burgers to choose from! Vero and I started off with a tower of onion rings which were delicious as they give you some dipping sauces.

I decided to order the Not So Think Lizzy burger which comes with crushed chipotle peppers, gouda cheese and bold BBQ sauce. This burger was brilliant and super spicy! Yowza! The beer was cooling off my throat! I thoroughly enjoyed it. I don’t recommend the sliced pub chips as they were grease-o-riffic. I like when my pub chips are crispy. These were soaked through and very limp.

Vero unfortunately was the victim of an not-so-cooked burger and had to wait for a new one. Mine was a little pink in the middle but wasn't too bad.

In the end, we had a great time and I will mark off the Not So Thin Lizzy as an excellent choice.

However, I must admit that something went wrong in the dinner as the next day I came down with a stomach bug and had to stay home from work. Mike commented that it may have been the giant chipotle pepper in my burger! Who knows?

If you are out there reading this and have never been to The Works, do yourself a favour if you like a good burger! They also serve their soft drinks in measuring cups!

iplaying: Never Let Me Down [Depeche Mode] - The Smashing Pumpkins (Rocket)

Tuesday morning started out like any other (other than peeking out my window in fear of another giant snowfall) but it was going to progress very differently than days in the past. Mike and I were going to be extras on Vero's tv show!

Let's recap: Vero has been working with a TV production company for the past while and they are currently filming a new TV series for TFO (the Francophone equivalent to TVOntario). Seeing that it is publicly funded, there is no worry of ratings so they are filming two seasons at once and after it airs (in February 2008), TFO determines if they wish to have another season or not. I don't even know if I can get into many details as I signed a confidentiality agreement but I think I left the aspects of the show pretty well non-existent.

After going into twenty different wrong directions in the mall it's being filmed in, we finally found the studio and Vero was there waiting for us as we were late. Well, not really late, but enough for her to start to wonder. We sat down, signed some papers and had the costume person pick out what clothes we would wear (we were instructed to bring a bunch of clothes with us). It was interesting to see that a lot of clothes don't work too well on television, such as those with stripes or crazy patterns. So it was a lot of solid colours for us.

We were then brought over to the actual studio set which was pretty cool. I've seen documentaries and behind-the-scenes things on TV/Movies so I suppose it looked pretty similar. The actual set was of a diner and we were to be the patrons inside the diner. The first scene we were in had me sitting alone at a table and Mike sitting with another extra (Karine). The process of the filming generally follows this pattern:

- They do a run-through of the scene with no cameras.
- Then they start rolling the cameras for the scene.
- They usually do a few takes and (hopefully) everything goes well. Sometimes there are missed lines or a microphone seen in the frame or something like that.
- They have two cameras running and one films a contemporary style and the other gets to do 'stylistic' filming where they can do whatever they want…panning left to right on a face, moving it all over the place. It's good to have something to play with in the editing room. Then they usually switch off and film the scene again
- In the end, even if the scene goes well, there are usually 5 times where the scene is filmed. This allows for more material for the editor to play with.

Mike said it was difficult to 'pretend-talk' with Karine as you can't really say anything so you just go through the motions. It was interesting to think about this and now I notice myself looking at what the extras do in the Central Perk coffee shop on Friends thinking that they aren't actually talking!

They then switched the scene and Mike and I ended up sitting together which was fun and utterly impossible not to crack into a smile or laugh. But considering we were pretending to just talk and be normal, this was perfectly fine on set.

In between scenes, we would go back to the other room and sit and wait to be called out. They had snacks for us to munch on and I caught up on some exam studying. The people were very nice and they seemed to have fun on the set. Like when the guy with the marker would snap the marker, the camera guys would shout out random comments before the Director said ACTION!

The Director and others are stationed outside the set watching a live feed on some monitors. Vero says that they are looking for a lot of things - are there any mics in the shot, is an extra messing up in the background, does the Director like what the actor is doing. It's all a lot to process so they have a lot of people watching the monitors. I was hoping to get a chance to see them in action but alas, I was too busy earning my pay for the day! That was another great part about being an extra. I made a cool $108 on set that day. Mike and I were saying it was a decent wage even though you spent 11 hours on set. If you could be an extra every day of the week, that could be a great job!

The lunch they provided was great. Everything is catered to the set. Vero, Karine, Mike and I toured the mall during our lunch hour and then returned to continue filming. Later in the afternoon, I am glad I had the time to have a little nap as I was getting tired. Being an extra is a little tiring as there are sometimes where you are just sitting there for a long time waiting for the scene to be set up. One time I was sitting at a computer pretending to surf the Internet and was dozing off in between takes.

Mike has a great scene where one of the main actors asks him if he wants more juice (or something to that effect) and he gets to nod yes. So he will have a great head shot in the show! I also had some good scenes like getting served some juice or walking into the scene to drop off something. We were laughing at the fact that we takes this all very seriously and in the end we may find out that we are just a blur in the background or you will see my elbow. Such is the life of an extra!

After a long day of shooting, we started descending into madness and were having a great time 'pretend-talking' in the background and eating stale croissants. We got to leave the set early (well, 30 minutes early) and waited for Vero.

Mike and I thoroughly enjoyed being extras on a TV show. They had great food, the crew and actors were fun times and we would definitely do it again! I thought it was interesting to see what happened behind the scenes to make a show. It was crazy how many crew members they had on set and their jobs. Mike was noticing one guy's sole job was to move the camera stand that some guy was sitting on. That's it! I suppose it makes for a more efficient operation if everyone has their one task to keep focussed on.

Vero took some pictures and interviewed us (although my French was pretty bad at that time of day) so hopefully we can see those up on the site sometime soon!

I will make sure to let you all know when we are scheduled to appear! It will definitely be in the late spring 2008.

iplaying: The Ghost of Jerry Lee - The Bible All-Stars (The Bible All-Stars)

Seven years ago, the Smashing Pumpkins as we knew them played their final show at the Metro in Chicago, IL. This was a crazy time for Pumpkins fans. Four months before, they spread a free album (Machina II - the friends and enemies of modern music) out to everyone. This album was arguably (and I'm arguing it) better than Machina - The Machines of God which had a proper CD release. But the record company didn't think there would be enough interest in Machina II so they said "Nah."

Then there was the November 29, 2000 show at the United Center in Chicago IL which was broadcast over the Internet. I remember sitting in my bedroom at Bayshore listening to the show and having this overwhelming feeling of "How can this be ending?" Nowadays, there's a different outlook on life and if your favourite band breaks up, you move on easily. It's not like your dog died. But back then there is so much passion put into your favourite band - going to the concerts, owning the t-shirts, having fan sites made for them…it was a part of your life.

The show at the Metro was their final show and it went back to where they started. They had played the Metro quite a few times while growing as a band so it was a fitting end. They ended up playing 4 1/2 hours which is insane. It was filmed for a DVD release but never released to this date which still angers Pumpkins fans around the globe. There were people paying $2000 to go to see their last show. There was a Machina Mystery contest which some girl in South America won which gave her tickets to the show but considering she couldn't go, she gave them (free of charge) to some fan. Awesome.

I have heard a few songs which were bootlegged that night but there haven't been any complete recordings that have come from it which I'm bummed about. I think there are some out there but people are just hoarding them for the time being.

In the end, this was the last time that we would see the band with James Iha. Seven years later, the Pumpkins are back with a vengeance but they lost their guitarist in the process (and one could argue their bassist as well but she was gone for awhile already). I dig the new incarnation of the Pumpkins but do yourself a favour today and put on your favourite Pumpkins album and think that seven years ago today, people thought that was it for the band.

Here's the setlist from their amazing show:

Set 1:

Rocket
I Am One
Rhinoceros
Shame
Porcelina of the Vast Oceans
The Everlasting Gaze
Bullet with Butterfly Wings
Spiteface (tease)
Thru the Eyes of Ruby
Blissed and Gone (with the Frogs)
To Sheila (with Linda Rowberry and the Frogs)
Mayonaise
I of the Mourning

Set 2:

Muzzle
Stand Inside Your Love
Perfect
This Time
Go
The Last Song
Last Instrumental
Age of Innocence
Thirty-three

Set 3:

Tonight, Tonight
Siva
An Ode To No One
Drown
Starla
If There Is a God
Cash Car Star
Rock On [Essex]
> Heavy Metal Machine
Today

Encore 1:

For Martha (with Billy Corgan, Sr.)
Born Under a Bad Sign [Jones/Bell] (with Billy Corgan, Sr.)

Encore 2:

Cherub Rock (with Rick Nielsen)

Encore 3:

Disarm
1979 (with Matt Walker)

Encore 4:

Silvercrank

I swear I have awoken on the planet Hoth and I am navigating the snow desert after I've been attacked by a Wampa. I could have used Obi-Wan's help this morning.

I awoke this morning, peeked out the window and saw that a bit of snow had fallen over the night. When I say a bit, I mean a lot. Thanking the heavens that the plow hadn't gone by yet, I got ready but then heard a rumble in the distance. No! The plow was coming! Sure enough, I got hit hard and from my bedroom window I realized that the damage looked severe enough for me to head to but instead.

However, the morning started off even worse than that when I heard my iPod clunking along. Oh no! Sure enough, the iPod was dead. It wasn't low on battery power, it was low on functionality power. After trying a few things, I gave in and threw it in my bag so I could play with it later in the day.

I opened the door and discovered the snow was worse than I feared. A snow drift had overtaken my walkway and I had to scale the garage wall with my Spider-Man powers. I then had to laugh at the misfortune which was the entire street after the plow went by. The snow was as high as the hood of my car! These are the days when I praise public transportation as I don't have to spend an hour shoveling the driveway and spending another hour driving the car to work!

However, I spent too much time waiting for a plow to pass me by on the street that I ended up seeing the bus passing and I was too late. Oh well. I had fifteen minutes to kill so I went home and shoveled the walkway so Mike would have a decent route out of the house in the morning. I then braved the frozen tundra route to the bus stop (which definitely felt like Hoth as no one had shoveled the walkway to the bus stop) and the bus finally came along ten minutes later.

Cursed by the fate of my iPod, I at least had a Harry Potter book to keep me company. I plan to re-read the Harry Potter novels to accomplish two things: 1) Lead up to the last novel which I haven't yet read and 2) Watch the films as I have never seen them. Unfortunately, there is only so much Harry Potter and uncomfortable bus seats you can take. The trip to work took 1 hour 15 minutes as opposed to the regular 30 minutes. Ack!

To top it all off, I get into work, have toque-head and get a message from my boss saying that she has declared a snow day and has stayed in for the day. Doh! Ah well. She called and said that I can leave after a conference call this afternoon. She is swell. However, this will give me the chance to go home, shovel the car out in time to go to my last Sociology class tonight. Why don't they shut down the Universities when it snows? ;-)

At least my iPod came to life again after I smacked it a few times. I should have thought of that this morning!

Saturday morning had Vero trucking off to a practice for her play so I headed over to Trish's new pad (which is fabulous…absolutely amazing compared to her old place!) and then headed out to the 'Not Your Grandmother's Craft Sale' on Elgin Street. It was a brisk morning so luckily I grabbed a toque from Vero's place which kept my head warm.

The craft sale was actually pretty cool as it was alternative crafts geared towards us younger folk - iPod cases, random t-shirt prints (like men dressed up as hot dogs. Ingenious!), and excellent holiday cards by an old friend - Lana! You can see her website here for her excellent wares.

We then headed out to the Lieutenant's Pump for some great brunch (for $5 you can't go wrong, and it was delicious, even for a guy who hates breakfast!) and made our way to some collossal toy store on Carling Avenue (the name escapes me at the moment). It had some great Lego selection and Thomas the Tank Engine.

We then hit up Carlingwood Mall on a whim but didn't find too much. I shouldn't say that - Trish found a lot of stuff but I didn't come out of there with too much. Seeing that we still had some time to kill, we headed to Bayshore Mall where hilarity ensued like me almost wiping out in The Bay, getting excellent help in HMV, and seeing Sandra Oh of Grey's Anatomy fame! Neat-o!

All in all, it was a good trip for the both of us even though I didn't come out with much. However, I am 93% done my shopping so I wasn't expecting to come out with much…I was there for shopping support for Trish!

I headed home to get ready for the rest of the night - Duncan's Surprise Birthday party! After deciding what would be best to wear at Laser Quest, Mike and I picked up Vero and went to the meeting spot. There was quite the crew out for his Surprise Birthday (count: 26)! Duncan's birthday isn't until December 22 but alas, everyone is usually out of town for the event so Joelle (and others) went ahead and planned a surprise birthday party for Duncan. Very nice of everyone involved with the planning.

Duncan showed up to Laser Quest and was speechless as to what was going on when he saw all of us. We laughed, we chatted, we had good times and then the Laser Quest started. Laser Quest has you running around a dark maze with a laser gun and a vest which has points which can be shot at. If you get shot at, the gun displays where you got shot and by who. There is also a tally to determine who got the most 'kills'. I had a really fun time and it helped that 99% of the people in the maze were people we knew! I did get slaughtered by a group of kids though. Those guys have great aim! My handle was Maverick (ala Top Gun fame) and Holly took the handle of Goose but in the end I accidentally shot Goose the most!

We then retired to a party room where there was pizza and pop. We had another game to play and it was great as people teamed up with one another to take out factions. We then had some cake and let Duncan open up some cards/gifts.

Unfortunately the pool hall we were heading to was booked for the night so alternative plans to go to a karaoke bar were made. However, someone put it to a vote and we all ended up heading out to a gentleman's club instead! After a few games of pool, Mike and I sat against a wall and had a good night while people came and chatted with us. Duncan seemed to have a great time so that's what counts on his birthday.

Happy Birthday to you buddy.

iplaying: Always - Neverending White Lights - Act II: the blood and the eternal life