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  • Beta Test

  • Aunt Lois

    Before I start, can I just say that I don’t have a picture of Aunt Lois anywhere in digital land? I was going to attach it but alas, there is nothing, so I stuck it out with an amazing picture of myself grilling a grilled cheese. Can you have a grilled cheese without a pickle? I think not.

    Anyhow, today, Aunt Lois and Uncle Gary go under the knife for surgery. Around 1PM I believe. Now, I’m trying to rack my brain to figure out what Aunt Lois is going in for…let me consult some other websites on the subject…ah yes.

    “Aunt Lois has a ‘rare hereditary blood disease Aceruloplasmenemia’. This blood disease causes an Iron Overload in her blood stream and was depositing Iron on to her internal organs. Treatment has now seemed to stabalized her, but the iron is still prevalent within her blood stream as she does not have enough of the blood product Ceruloplasmin to mobilize the iron within her body. Treatment includes regular blood plasma that contain a higher than normal concentration of the product Ceruloplasmin and the occasion removal of blood.

    A few years ago, however, Lois developed another rare disease called Rapidly Aggressive Crescentic Glomerulonephritis, which caused her kidney’s to start to fail. Well, to make a long story short her kidney condition digressed to the state where she had to go onto dialysis in April, 2006. A year or so ago, it was determined that Lois would need a kidney transplant eventually, and as a result the hunt was on, so to speak.”

    Well, Uncle Gary stepped up to the plate for the woman he loves and offered up his kidney. Now, I asked Mom what it meant to give up your kidney other than the fact that you’re giving up a piece of your body. Essentially, things are good to go in the both of them, it’s just the fact that the extra kidney is a backup. If I’m way off on this analysis, feel free to grill me Gary!

    So that’s that…they are finally getting a chance to go into surgery today which must be a mind trip and a half. I can’t say that I’ve ever had major surgery so I don’t know how I would feel in the situation. I would like to think that I would be the calm and collected Palmer that you all know and that I would be cracking jokes with the surgeon (unless his name was Dr. Nick). So I’m hoping that the spirits are high today going into the operation and that you are both looking forward to some copious amounts of jell-o.

    Now, Aunt Lois is the cats meow in terms of Aunts. I’m pretty sure I mentioned this before, but she was the one that would bring me to the comic book store while visiting and wait patiently. That’s some serious Aunt-power right there. I can imagine that I will have learned this power when I become an uncle. As for Gary, he is also the cats meow for coming through (and also trying to spearhead a Christmas light competition! Perhaps next year. I will hit up the Boxing Day sales for a Griswald-like purchase.) for Aunt Lois (and heck, the rest of the family while we’re at it) so I send my heartfelt thanks to you Gary.

    I invite Aunt Lois and Gary to swing a post-surgery blog entry our way to see how the whole thing went! We want the sordid details like:

    • What type of ice cream did they serve?
    • Are the nurses of high calibre?
    • Did you see any ER type moments happening around you?

  • Casino Royale Found!

    Hey, I just found my copy of Casino Royale tucked in my desk drawer at work! Yes! The day is brightening up!

  • Da Funk

    I’ve hit this weird funk during the Holiday season where I am feeling slightly depressed. I have no idea where it’s coming from, but the usual holiday season just isn’t doing it for me. I sit around thinking of all the stuff I have to get done and it just brings me down.

    I have a 20 page report due by next Friday for my Qualitative Research Methods class. That on its own isn’t too bad (well, so I think..), but I am coupling it with the fact that Christmas is upon us and I have to pick up some gifts. This is the first year I have NO ideas for people. I’m usually good at this! I am depressed because I have no good ideas for anyone. My gifts this year will be crap this year people. Be warned.

    So then I think “Ok, well, I’ll have enough time to work on the report and gifts this weekend.” but then I realize that the Annual Christmas Bash at yours truly is being held on Saturday! Holy mackerel, I have to get prepared! Hello Cleaning the House and picking up supplies.

    Then there’s the whole Christmas party at work on Thursday which I’ve decided not to go to. This is very unlike me. Why am I not wanting to go to the work Christmas party? Well, I won’t go into the details here, but there’s just circumstances surrounding it which leave me saying “Bah Humbug.” Doh, I just remembered I have to pick up something for the needy family by Thursday! I was supposed to do that tonight. Groan.

    What about my Christmas cards? I’m so late with them! I just got them today and still have to pick up stamps and whatnot. Sigh.

    Ya see? That’s what the life of Palmer is all about right now. Sure sure, my faithful readers are reading this saying “Whoa buddy, suck it up, we’ve all been there!”. Well, maybe you have, but not the Palmer. Holidays are his fave of the year and right now all I want is good ideas to pop in my head for gifts and for my report to be done. This isn’t the time to be working on reports and studying for exams! They need to adjust the school year so you get a month off as of December 1st.

    Ten bucks says Vero will read this and say “Don’t come out with my friends on Friday. Take some time for your report.”. Thank you, but it’s not needed. I think the report will be fine…it’s just everything else at the moment.

    All I need is to curl up with some apple cider, some Crown Royal and a copy of National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and all will be fine in the world.

    Alright, alright, this post makes me realize that I’m whining and I should be thankful for the good things in my life. Fine.

  • A Further Chapter in Bus Etiquette

    Here’s another rant about public transit etiquette.

    Let’s say you are exiting the bus from the back and the bus is such that they have two doors to exit from.

    Well, if you are exiting, do not immediately turn in the opposite direction upon exiting the vehicle. Walk a few steps forward until the coast is clear and then proceed in your direction.

    Otherwise, you basically smash into the other gentleman getting off the bus to the direct opposite of you and then when you smash into him, he holds up the line of people behind them and a crazy mob-like mentality occurs like barracuda in the sea of blood and it’s all over Gonzo.

  • Claude and Sylvie’s Wedding

    Well, my wingman flew off into the sunset on Friday night as we went to Claude and Sylvie’s wedding reception. After writing a final exam that afternoon (which…I think I did as well as any man writing 5 essays in 3 hours could do…) I was pumped to go have a good night. They had actually got married down South somewhere so this was a reception for the folks who couldn’t make it.

    Vero and I rushed to the mall to pick up a wedding gift and then I headed home to get dressed. Unfortunately, I had forgotten that my pair of dress shoes were left at work so I had to make a detour back into Quebec. After picking up Trish and Vero, we headed to the reception hall which was amazingly decorated. I liked the stark contrast that the bright pink colours created. I had to set up the laptop for a presentation of photos which ended in disaster as the laptop didn’t have Windows XP on it, so it doesn’t have a built-in slideshow feature. After some fiddling around with it (and some heckles from various women around me), I managed to find some mass import feature in PowerPoint which saved my ass that night. An hour later, the presentation is up and running and I finally have time to run to Subway as I had not eaten yet that day. In hindsight, I suppose I really could have mowed down on the food at the wedding but I thought that would be rude (but in the end, there were a ton of leftovers).

    The MC was a good time, the DJ was alright also. He wasn’t as bad as Jason’s (“He sucks donkey balls!”), but Claude wasn’t too impressed with him. All in all, I’m a fan of the DJs that play the older music at the beginning of the night and ends it off with some newer stuff. It’s the make of a good DJ.

    The speeches were great, but the highlight of the speeches is how the karaoke gig next door were singing Feliz Navidad during the best man’s speech and we couldn’t hear a word that the best man was saying. It was amazing.

    The night progressed well other than Pierre spiking my rye with some Tobasco sauce. I found out an hour ago that Benoit retaliated for me, but I was receiving the blame for it from Pierre that night so I was on a manhunt for whomever spiked it. Then Pierre retaliated again. First, you smell some olives, then your lips go numb. That’s what Tobasco sauce in your drink is all about.

    I beat Benoit to the garter belt which was amazing. Then they went East Coast Style where I had to put the garter belt on the leg of the girl who caught the bouquet. I had told her I was going to have some fun with her and fondle her leg a little for the show, and she had no problem with it.

    While blindfolded, I realized that putting a garter belt on seems a lot harder than taking one off! I had to use my hand at one point to get it over the foot. Anyhow, things were going decent and then the MC stopped everything and when I took the blindfold off, I realized they pulled a switcheroo on me and they had put the bride’s mom there instead! We all had a good laugh!

    Other than that, things progressed well. We had an excellent table and I got to chat up with a few people I don’t get to see often, as well as Pierre’s wife whom I had only met at their wedding for a whole 2 minutes. She is pretty cool.

    The night ended at 1 and we headed home amidst a giant snowstorm which hit in the past few hours. Two thumbs up for the wedding!

  • Behold, The Music!

    Troy unlocked the Pandora’s Box for me a few nights ago when showing me how major keys in music work and what chords sound good together.

    In some ways, it is some information that I knew along (ie, what chords sound good together), but never realized there’s an actual science/math reason behind it.

    With this, I wrote a song in honour of Stompin’ Tom the other night which is a great tribute to the legend. After reading his biography as well as a biography on the Beatles, I realized that music isn’t supposed to be all serious-like. It’s about writing about anything you want, like the gum stuck to the bottom of the shoe!

    Now that the knowledge in my head has increased, I anticipate quite a few new songs coming out of my head.

    Thanks to you Troy! You don’t know what you’ve released.

  • Review: Magical Mystery Tours

    Reading Magical Mystery Tours by Tony Bramwell felt like a magical mystery tour. Enter the realm of the sixties…an era which I hadn’t really researched or heard about, although when I think about it…I suppose my parents were in the prime of their life when the late sixties occured. Were they part of the psychadelic movement? Something tells me Dad wasn’t a hippie…but who knows? I should consult the old photo albums!

    Tony Bramwell is a childhood friend of the Beatles, growing up with them in Liverpool. There are insights to the beginnings of the band, as well as the music scene in general all over the nation at the time. It’s an interesting read to see not only the inner life of the Beatles, but the financials aspects and how the record companies ran back in the day. For example, the industry was very-single driven. Now, that is definitely the case nowadays (“Hear your favourite hit single on the airwaves NOW!”) but the single is usually found on the album of the day.

    Not back in the day. Singles were singles. Released on vinyl with a B-Side. Rarely showing up on the actual album. Very strange.

    The story follows the Beatles throughout their lifetime and then focusses on Tony Bramwell’s life after the Beatles which is exciting on its own as he was big in the music industry being affiliated with the Beatles. For example, he promoted Bruce ‘The Boss’ Springsteen and convinced Paul McCartney to record the soundtrack to Live and Let Die, the first Roger Moore James Bond film. Neat!

    The best parts of the book were the random encounters with various celebrities such as Mick Jagger and Keith ‘Keef’ Richards, where John Lennon accuses them of being a country band, and how Keith Moon gave Tony Bramwell his apartment as he was bored with it. Imagine!

    These are the stories legends are made of, and Tony Bramwell gave me insight into this wonderful time.

    Thanks to Mom and Dad for picking this one up for Christmas last year. It was a great read!

    iplaying: No Use – jazzanova (In Between)

  • Ferda’s Birthday

    Good times were had at Ferda’s birthday. I started out the day recovering from the YPS (Young Public Servants) Christmas party which brought us to the Naval Association, Paddy Bolands and the ever faithful Heart and Crown. We closed down the Naval Association and it was nice to sit by the fireplace at Paddy’s as we encountered an ice storm during the party. Maren and I thought we were literally going to fly off the bridge at one point.

    I then went over to Claude and Sylvie’s to help Claude set up his modified Xbox. While most of the night was spent figuring out his wireless router, we achieved mild success and are now plagued with problems concerning the version of the XBMC he is using. Will have to do some further digging.

    After picking up Mike and Trish, we headed to Barrhaven for the party. I had some moments of serious doubt while driving out there as I couldn’t tell if I had past the turn-off or not. We finally managed to find the right street and we got out of the car and started searching for their house. Here is an excerpt from that night’s conversation:

    Trish: Hey, isn’t their house number 96?
    Me: I don’t know?
    Trish: What about the street name? They live on Palmytown (name changed) Hey, we’re only at #32 on the house numbers!
    Me: Well…we must be on the right street. Hey, when did they build apartment buildings here?
    Trish: Ryan, are you sure we’re on the right street?
    Me: Of course we are! Let’s go find a street sign. Here’s one…it says…Gallywagger.
    Me: (pondering)
    Me: Ah crap.

    Then we all had a good laugh as we were lost in the maze which is Barrhaven (or any suburbia for that matter). I knew generally where we were as I am a human compass and discovered we were one block off from the target.

    The party was in full force when we arrived. The majority of people were downstairs playing the new Nintendo Wii (which is fab). We had some munchies and chatted with everyone while trying to evoke some good Hollyisms from Holly.

    I hope that Ferda equally had a great birthday party!

  • Talent Show at Work

    Yesterday I had the great opportunity to participate in a talent show at work. They ended up renting out a theatre in the Museum of Civilization that seats 500 people! Yowzahs! I sang Through The Glass by Stone Sour (one of the Top 40 hits out there right now) along with co-worker Shawn who is big into these things. He found out I played guitar back when we were baking bread a few months back so he thought I may be interested.

    All along, I thought “Sure, this will be fun” but I didn’t realize the sheer size of the production until going for a soundcheck in the morning – along with those handy dandy monitor speakers at your feet so you can hear how you sound. That threw me off big time as the monitors were so loud that I couldn’t hear myself strum. That freaked me out for the remainder of the day, but luckily the sound guys turned them down for the performance.

    Gigtime hit fast and Shawn was nowhere to be found. Doh! There were people rushing around trying to find him so they told me to just go on stage as it’s no fun watching an empty stage. I saunter out to some cheers (thanks to whoever cheered!) and sat myself and plugged myself in.

    The first thing that struck me was that the spotlights make it so you can’t see the crowd. So it was surreal experience…almost like I was alone on stage with a black void in front of me that has whispers and claps coming out of nowhere.

    The MC came out to talk a bit while Shawn was getting ready (no jack cord) and we had a good banter together. My favourite part was when he mentioned our Director General was in the audience today so I made a comment that she was the best DG we ever had. That had the audience roaring! Sophia actually caught all of this on video which was great.

    We started off as soon as Shawn was set up and ripped through the song. It was great. I must admit that I had some lyrics at my feet which became my crutch and I read off of them. I’m so used to them and have no faith in myself when it comes to memorized lyrics. I feel that if I’m searching my head for what lyric comes next, then I don’t put as much passion into my vocal performance. However, I know I had memorized these lyrics as I had been practicing for some time now, but when the crutch is there, you take it. Not a big deal. In the grand scheme of things, when you’re in a theatre that size, no one notices what directions your eyes are pointing towards (aka, down at the floor at your lyric sheet).

    Everything sounded great and we were both impressed. It’s funny…I realize that the performer doesn’t get to take the applause in afterwards…it’s just a rush off of stage and a rush of adrenaline now that you’re finished that hits you and you don’t even realize what’s going on until you’re backstage and thinking “Hey, they’re clapping for us!”

    All in all, a great experience. I have no idea how many people were out there. I would estimate between 200-300. Probably your standard wedding size. One day I’ll hit up the stadium tour circuit and see what the crowds are like there. Speaking about stadium tours, one of the guys there was telling me their band won a competition to open for Tom Cochrane years ago at the Corel Centre. He said it was surreal playing for that many people. Awesome!

    Thanks to Shawn for inviting me to take part in the peformance du jour.