Palmer's World

When I worked at Woolco, there was a manager there who was an avid golfer so for awhile I hinted that my uncle Arnold would be showing up in Kap to play a round of golf. He was ecstatic until a week later we told him it was a joke.

This weekend I’m heading out to the Gaspe golf tournament. Every year, this event brings the people from Gaspe into a common terrain to socialize and play a round of golf.

Let’s be honest here…I haven’t played a game of golf in my life. I went to the driving range once in the past 5 years (twice if you count last night) so I’m not expecting I will do that well. However, everyone has assured me that it doesn’t matter if you can play well. Which makes me think that there’s something a little more to this tournament – it’s not about the game, it’s about the good times.

Last night Eric and I went out to the driving range in Orleans which was good times. We were hitting them pretty good for the first 15 minutes and after that the humidity has sapped our strength. They don’t just give out humidex warnings lightly. Luckily, Eric and Annie purchased a sno-cone machine and we made a few when we got back to his place.

I can say that I was doing decent in the driving the ball part, but sucked when it came to hitting it with the iron. It may also have to do with the lack of coordination due to the heat.

I also went biking last night after work. Now that I can’t bike into work from Orleans (too far), I’ve decided to make it a point of biking for an hour every day after work (pending rain of course).

It was a decent ride but I was disappointed to find that there are no paved trails along the river like they have in the west end of Ottawa. It’s all gravel which wasn’t the best to travel on. I can proudly say that I made it up Trim Road hill alive which was an accomplishement on its own. 😉 Tonight is supposed to be 40 degrees with the humidity so I am happy that I have class to go to and not have to go biking.

http://www.gamedaily.com/Specials/Mario-Through-the-Years/?page=1

26 years? Whoa.

Imagine a picture of Bono with a mullet here. Philipp loves Bono with the mullet. Did Germans ever grow a mullet? Or was that North American tradition back in the day?

Anyhow, Vero cut my hair yesterday during the beautiful day yesterday. I dig it, but she thinks that it may grow into a mullet in a few weeks so she wants to do a touchup.

I say NAY! If I’m going to grow a mullet, I say grow for it! This will be a good segueway into the moustache that I must grow for Katie’s cottage. Considering the amount of facial hair that comes my way, I figure I should start growing the moustache around Canada Day to be ready for the August long weekend. I hope they have some amazing challenges lined up for the moustache-off.

In other news, as I have grown older, I have not cared to bend over all day long with a sponge to wash my car. Last year at Rob’s, he introduced me to an amazing invention – a scrub brush with a handle. I’m sure everyone in the world has one and is laughing at me right now, but I had never had one. So I picked one up yesterday at Wal-Mart and I am loving washing my car again! No more bending over…just scrub a little with the brush and you are gold. Or, the car is.

You know, while I’m just speaking about things randomly, can I just say that corn is amazing? Vero and I bought corn for the last two days and it’s amazingly cheap and filling. Granted, an hour later, I think your body has processed whatever it can and then you’re hungry again. But for 50 cents, I can get two corn and be full off of it. You cannot go wrong. In fact, I’m going to start a street vendor shop that sells corn.

The Glebe Garage Sale has come and went…was I impressed?

Well the sale itself is always impressive. I’m not very impressed with my purchases each year – Benoit seems to get crazy good deals out of thin air.

But, I succeeded in purchasing the one item I wanted. A weed wacker.

Oddly enough, when we went to pick up Eric and Annie, there was a garage sale going on across the street and when we got there I heard the owner and a woman talking about three weed wackers sitting right there.

Owner: Yeah, we just don’t want them anymore. I think some of them work, one has a problem with the choke. I’ll sell them each for $1.
Myself (thinking): Dang, of all the times to show up, I’m losing out on a $1 weed wacker.

I look over at Mike and his eyes are saying something to me.
Myself (to purchaser): Lady, I’ll give you $2 for one of them. I just want the electric one, not the gas powered one.
Purchaser: Oh, I’m not buying the electric one at all.

That’s how I bought an electric weed wacker for $1. It doesn’t have the spool on the end, but no big deal. It still works. Mike ended up finding one with a spool on the end at the Glebe so we will see if it works.

I loved how I didn’t even have to leave Orleans to find what I was looking for. So, in the end, I purchased a James Bond book and a book about Souvenirs of Canada. Not too bad.

Total money spent:
$1 – weed wacker
$2 – Souvenirs of Canada book
$0.25 – James Bond book
$4 – sausage from street vendor.

Puts things into perspective really.

First off, there will be no spoilers in this post, however, I will be expressing general sentiments towards which seasons I liked better and GENERAL reasons why. For example, I may say something like “I liked Season X more because they introduced some better characters”. I won’t list the characters or anything.

So if you don’t think you could handle that, then don’t bother reading this entry.

—-
5 years later, Alias is over and what do I think?
Not bad.

Alias follows the life of spies, specifically Sidney Bristow who is spy trying to juggle her real life at the same time – so you have a bunch of “Oh, where were you last night Sidney?” and she says “Oh, working on a term paper.” while in reality she was kicking some ass in Munich. The story revolves around conspiracies, family life and an ancient 15th century inventor: Milo Rambaldi. (think Da Vinci.)

So, the first three seasons were top notch. Top, top, top TV viewing notch. It was awesome. Cliffhangers abound. Made by our favourite JJ Abrams.

But then Season 4 came along and added a new storyline (along with the old) and it was meh. They redeemed it near the end of the season when they went back to the old storyline for awhile.

Then Season 5 started off just as bad as Season 4 with new characters. Plus, Sidney was pregnant considering her real-life alter ego Jennifer Garner was pregnant. I’m not saying pregnant ladies aren’t cool, but when they are kick ass spies, sometimes it takes away from the storyline.

Then, mid-way through Season 5, there was a decision to end the show so the Season started closing out the story we’ve been following for years which was great. I wouldn’t say the finale of the series disappointed me, but it wasn’t awe-inspiringly good either. Wait, that’s not right. Let’s just say that the finale kicked bigtime, but there are still unresolved plotlines. So that took away from it. Whereas, if you take a finale like…Star Trek: The Next Generation, that was an amazing finale. But at the same time, they knew there would be other stories via the movies.

All in all, Alias has been one of the best television series I have ever seen. Even though I thought Seasons 4 & 5 were sub-par, I believe the entire series was top notch and I would recommend it to everyone.

Granted, Lost has now replaced Alias in my books as ‘must-download TV’, but hey, that’s what you get when you focus your energies on a new show instead of the last two seasons of Alias.

FYI: JJ Abrams is creating a new show this fall called The Nine where nine lives are intertwined without them knowing it. Sounds like classic Lost material, but based in New York.

In reference to the American Idol finale (and no, I don’t watch this show, never have.)

Singer Billie Joe Armstrong: “I don’t know, but I had an idea. I think how America votes on ‘American Idol,’ the next presidential election they should vote in the same way and have a massive TV show that’s once a week that keeps you updated. … The new way of voting. Screw singers. Let’s go for the politicians this time.”
Drummer Tre Cool: “That’s a good idea, Billie. And for 50 cents a pop, all those calls could pay for all the campaigning.”

Honestly, the best thought that’s come out in awhile.

If you value your friendship with me, do NOT tell me how Alias ended. I just found out the series ended last night, unbeknownst to me.