Sure it's Christmas eve and I should be doing other things at this time, but I saw an ad in a recent Georgia Straight which shocked and saddened me and I had to share it with you.
It was a huge ad, possibly full-page, announcing an upcoming Nickelback concert. That's bad enough. What's worse is that they are able to have a concert at 
GM Place. What's even worse is that opening for them is the band Live. You have no idea how shocked I was at reading that. And saddened. Nickelback should not be headlining at a venue such as GM Place. They should be opening for Live. Live is partially to blame though.. From what I've heard of them since Throwing Copper, they haven't really built on their potential, although I do like The Distance to Here.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go listen to Throwing Copper straight through.. uhh, I mean go put on some Christmas music..Merry Christmas everyone!
There must be something in the autumnal air.
Last night Biscotti and I went down to Stanley Park for a ride on the 'Bright Nights in Stanley Park' Christmas Train. We were accompanied by our friends D & K. We got there early, so we all took a stroll through the petting zoo area before making our way to the train's holding area. When our train came in, Biscotti and I took a seat right in front of D & K. The 
ride was nice enough, with Biscotti and I singing merrily along to the Christmas songs. About halfway through, right after the dancing gingerbread man on stilts, it got quite quiet behind us. Upon arrival at our station, we were walking towards the hot chocolate vendors when K said, 'should we tell them?' So D takes her hand and shows us a sparkling ring on her finger that wasn't there when we boarded the train (not that I'm always looking at her fingers, cuz I'm not). I believe the reaction from both Biscotti and I was 'Wha?'Très cool, oui? Congrats again D & K!
So as you may recall, Biscotti and I got engaged in early October. Then K & K got engaged in early December. Then D & K got engaged yesterday. Who's next?
Happy Birthday To You
Happy Birthday To You
Happy Birthday Dear Biscotti
Happy Birthday To You!
Over the past two days I've been tutoring myself in the field of linkable images. At first there was much confusion and anger. I'm not going to lie to you, quitting was definitely nigh. But then a breakthrough. Much like my Marek breakthrough a few posts ago, there was a sudden "a-ha" moment. Okay, not so much a moment as a five-minute span.You can see the results thus far by viewing (and clicking!) my cool sites, located là-bas ------>You can also view the results of my newfound capabilities by viewing my bookcrossing bookshelf. What? My bookshelf contains a wishlist? Just in time for Christmas? How convenient!In future posts that contain images, try clicking on them (that is, click on the images, not the posts). Sometimes you'll be taken to a relevant site, sometimes you'll see a larger version of the same image, sometimes nothing will happen, and sometimes your computer screen will explode. But that's a risk you're willing to take right? I thought so.
I have a step-nephew who is days old and in the hospital in rough shape. Pull through buddy. Biscotti and I are thinking of you.
Two stories to tell you about witnessing marriage proposals over the weekend. The first one I witnessed firsthand. It happened Saturday night when Biscotti and I went to see the Dan Joffre improv show. Two audience members were brought up to do a scene. Eventually, the two of them were on stage alone, and the guy started getting all mushy and sentimental. Sure enough, he ended his monologue by presenting a ring. She said yes. It's the first time I've ever seen a proposal in person, other than my own.That was going to be the big story of the weekend until I heard from my friend K. He called me on Sunday after he and K (yes, K & K) got back from their umpteenth trip to Paris. It started off with idle banter til he suddenly broke the news without warning. I almost missed it on my crackling phone. Readers of my blog, try to guess how he proposed. Remember, they were in Paris. (And by readers, I don't just mean Cher. I know there are more of you reading, just not commenting.. Wait, I changed that today. It's no longer "commenting", it's "sparking the glow"!) Congrats to K & K on your engagement. As I've already told you, Biscotti and I are very happy for you both. Cheers.
I've added a new site to my cool sites located on the right side of the page. It's Google Video of the Day. Every day, hundreds of people, ordinary people like you and me, upload their videos to Google Video. Then one guy, let's call him Michael, sifts through all "the crap" and posts at least one good video per day onto his blog. So check it out. And check out the other sites I have listed as cool sites. A couple of them are posted there for easy access by me, but most of them are there for you just as much as for me. Don't say I never did nothin' for ya.Here's a video that Michael hasn't posted on his site, but I saw it several months ago, loved it, and just found it on Google Video. I give you now, a DUI Stop.
After not going to the dentist for a while, I went to a new one last June. Have to say I was quite pleased. Wasn't at all like the torture that I had previously thought was a necessary part of being a dentist's patient. They tried to make my next appointment on my birthday, but I screamed obscenities at them and they changed it. So my next appointment is tomorrow. As expected, I got a postcard from my dentist in the mail last week,
asking me to call and confirm my scheduled appointment, which I promptly did. This morning, I got voicemail on my mobile. It was my dentist's office, reminding me of my appointment tomorrow. That in itself would be okay. I mean, if they have the time and energy to be calling all their patients the day before to remind them of their appointments, props to them. But no, they ended the message by asking me to call and confirm the appointment. So me calling and confirming the appointment just a week before is not enough, now I need to call and confirm once more, less than 24 hours before? Is this normal?
As I was saying, I sent out a mass email to many many people with my new post-move contact info. Since then I've discovered a secret for making all the "to" email addresses become hidden from all the recipients. All my recipients were subjected to much nonsense before getting to the relevant stuff. Has a time-traveling machine been marketed yet?
My tech savvy has been improving, but is still insufficient in some capacities. After witnessing ex-Canuck Marek Malik's attempt to garne
r a win for the surprising Rangers in the longest shoot-out of the year thus far, I had been hoping to find a way to share it with others. Then time passed and I lost interest. Today something serendipitous happened. I was checking in to see if my friend Brad had updated his blog, which is a rare thing indeed, and waddaya know, he had. Not only that, he had posted a note introducing his new video gallery, with Malik's shoot-out attempt headlining it!
So, instead of me linking you to the video clip directly, I link you to Brad's video gallery which links you to the video clip. I think I'm standing on the shoulders of giants. Immediate edit:People, I've done something remarkable in the last 5 minutes. I figured out how to link to Marek's video clip directly.With thanks to Brad, even though he doesn't know anything about it, here is a direct link to Marek's video clip: Clicky Clicky (Keep in mind he's a defenseman and hasn't scored a single goal in the first two months of the season. He's the 13th Ranger to go in the shoot-out. If he scores, Rangers win.)
So everything is gone from the rental place, and the carpets are being cleaned. Our (soon-to-be-ex) landlord was in the place recently to clean the carpets and subsequently phoned Biscotti and left a message. When we had moved into the rental place in June they had just bought the place, and promptly handed the keys over to us. So her message went like this: "You wouldn't believe it. The previous owners must have had a cat because as we were cleaning the carpets we discovered cat hair everywhere!" Whew, close call.
Tildy has been having skin problems lately, so we took her to the vet. We had thought that she might need to be shaved in the process, and guess what? She did!
Some before-and-after pics for ya:
It has always been easy to buy a blueberry muffin. Until yesterday.Biscotti and I were at Rona on Grandview Highway, browsing the Christmas sections, looking at the LED lights and artificial trees. Empty handed, we walked towards the exit, stopping at the in-store Robin's Donuts. My eyes immediately spotted a tray of 
delicious looking blueberry muffins. (I love blueberry muffins so the phrase delicious looking is redundant.) Biscotti ordered a maple walnut donut and I ordered a blueberry muffin. As the worker went to get Biscotti's donut, she pulled out the wrong tray. No, these ones here, Biscotti pointed out. I didn't think to watch as she walked to the other side to get my blueberry muffin as it would take a lot of work to get that wrong. The two bags were put on the counter, we paid with a plethora of coins, and continued our exit route.After a few steps I opened my paper bag, looked inside, and stopped suddenly. What's wrong, Biscotti asked. She gave me the wrong one, this muffin is brown. I pull it out to make sure it's not just the brown bag making it look brown. It had blueberries, but it was bran. I hadn't asked for a blueberry bran muffin, I had asked for a blueberry muffin. Blueberry bran muffins are neither delicious nor delicious looking. Walking back the few steps, I saw for the first time that there were only three trays of muffins. Side by side were a tray of blueberry bran muffins and a tray of blueberry oat bran muffins; above these were the regular blueberry muffins that I wanted and had thought that I had ordered. After waiting behind the slowest orderer ever, we give the worker back the bag and tell her we asked for the regular blueberry muffin. She looks down at the small collection of muffins and says, oh, sorry. She then grabs a new bag and proceeds to pull out the tray that has the blueberry bran muffins. NO, Biscotti and I say simultaneously. Biscotti steps up to the glass. THESE ONES, she says as she points to the tray above, THE REGULAR ONES. Worker replies, oh, sorry. Pulls out the correct tray and we finally get the correct muffin.It would've been so frustrating if it hadn't been so comical. I feel sorry for people who are that incompetent at a very basic job.
GM Place. What's even worse is that opening for them is the band Live. You have no idea how shocked I was at reading that. And saddened. Nickelback should not be headlining at a venue such as GM Place. They should be opening for Live. Live is partially to blame though.. From what I've heard of them since Throwing Copper, they haven't really built on their potential, although I do like The Distance to Here.
