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  • Katie’s Cottage Weekend 2006

    This past weekend (a Civic long weekend for you Ontarioites, but not for us workers in Quebec) brought us back to Katie’s cottage for another weekend of good times, GREAT weather and…good times!

    I enjoy going to Katie’s cottage for numerous reasons, but most of all, the fact that there are certain things that happen every year which you look forward to. For example:

    • Canoe trips
    • Seeing Pete passed out every year when we arrive on Friday
    • Shotgunning of Schlitz
    • Random Goodness (for instance, this year consisted of us all growing ‘staches)

    The moustache competition went well although a few people ‘forgot’. No worries though, by the end of the weekend they had some sweet ‘staches going on. I won the prize for ‘Most Dedicated’ which I was very proud of.

    We played a heck of a lot of bocce ball (urban style where you there are virtually no rules as to where you can throw the p’tonq) and there was some great food out there. I enjoy the system Katie has set up where everyone is in charge of a meal so you don’t have to bring up food for yourself all weekend – just take care of the one meal you’re in charge of and feed everyone. We’re not talking about bologna sandwiches here, we’re talking about ribs and salads of all sorts and breakfasts from the Gods. Mmm boy!

    The MacGyver canoe trip was great! The boys truly enjoyed their t-shirts and we packed up the canoe and headed out with Pete in a kayak and Keith and Paul in another canoe. The water was higher this year so it made it an easier trip, although the choppy waters on the lake swamped us a few times which was unfortunate. We managed to lose two MacGyver shirts, my sunglasses, Philipp’s hat and random oddities in the canoe (along with our empty jar of pickles, oh Philipp, you are a man after my own heart!) in the process, but we managed to come out unscathed and the lake was surprisingly shallow as we managed to walk the canoe back through it. Stupidly enough, I didn’t bother taking a life jacket which won’t happen again! I can say I was luckily not in a dangerous situation where I needed it, but there’s no reason to take chances. Safety first people! And no, Miguel and Philipp don’t count as lifeguards (even though they have the physique of them. They are like…David Hasselhoff.)

    Our objective was met though in the high waters of the Crow River off of Chandos Lake. We managed to make it past the beaver dam which stopped us last year and we went even farther than thought! We ended up in a utopia of wilderness, where the water ended up being shallow enough to run around in and marvel at the beauty which was this land of ours. I believe Keith was super impressed with the whole canoe trip and going into the backwoods. I’m sure he would have come out last year if he didn’t accidentally impale himself with a koob stick and had to go to the hospital for a broken tailbone. Ouch.

    Thanks to Katie and Miguel for being some excellent host/hostesses and I’d like to say that the travellers in our car were happy for being invited (as well as Vero whose visit was a first time! Although she is burnt to a crisp!)

    I almost forgot the other adventure we had when leaving the cottage. We had missed the garbage pickup time so each of us had to bring a bag of garbage. Thinking we were ingenious, we headed to the beach to drop it off in their garbage bins seeing that the car was packed and we didn’t want Carrie to have a bag of garbage on her lap for a good 20 KM into the nearest town. Unfortunately, we failed to read the signs which said ‘No household litter’ in the garbage bins which brought forth some dude in a pickup truck filled with garbage saying that we weren’t allowed to drop it in there. We had thought that the dumps were closed for some reason, but they were not so we had to pack up the garbage again. Unfortunately when we put the bag back in the car, the thing was ripped so some brown sludge dripped over some luggage and Carrie’s leg, and my car. ICK ICK ICK! Furiously, I threw the luggage from the trunk into the backseat and was going to put the garbage bag into the trunk but it was leaking too much.

    Here comes another dude dropping off this garbage and the pickup truck dude comes to intercept and says “Hey, is that household waste?” “Nope” replies the dude. “Just a bunch of beach toys.” The pickup truck dude then says “Well, I’m heading to the dump anyhow, why don’t you throw it into the back with the rest of the garbage?”. I ask the guy “Hey, can we throw ours in there?” in which he replies “Nope.” But he offers us an empty garbage bag which helps out with the dripping mess.

    We are not some punks trying to litter here. We put the garbage into the big metal bin so that bears could not get into it. We are human beings here – help a guy out and throw it into the pickup truck filled with 32 bags of garbage that you’re about to bring to the dump anyhow. It’s the human thing to do.

    Anyhow, that was the weekend! The trip back was uneventful other than multiple stops. Most times on a trip, I’m all about getting back ASAP…this time, we took our time and took in the sights.

    On a random other rambling note, this is the second pair of sunglasses I’ve lost in the span of a month! I’ve had a hard time finding sunglasses I want this year and when I decide on a pair, I end up losing them! At least I’m not one to spend too much on them and ended up spending a whole $18 on the two pair. I should just give up and super-glue my aviators back into shape. They are my faves.

  • “Old at heart but I’m only 28”

    What I’ve accomplished so far at 28 years old (starting today of course!)

    • Bought a house
    • Grew a moustache
    • Beat Ninja Gaiden (alas, only with the Game Genie to get by this one insane level)

    So far, so good. I can’t say that my life has been hell. I have been given a pretty sweet ride these past 28 years and I owe it all to my family, my friends, and my charming personality. Also, my modest ways.

    What I look forward in the next year:

    • Getting a grasp on finances (pay back those parents!)
    • Maybe starting work on a basement (depending on how finances go)
    • Learning more music theory (from the almighty Troy)
    • Visiting Philipp a little more
    • Earning enough trust so I can take care of Eric and Annie’s baby

    Speaking about Eric and Annie’s baby, this morning I had a wicked time going to the hospital and checking out an ultrasound of Baby Desgroseilliers! The kid was cool! It stuck its tongue out at us, has this wavy crazy hair and the heart was beating super fast! It was crazy how fast this heart was going! Ultrasound technicians have a cool job…I think it would take awhile to get the hang of it but after that, it’s like scanning for babies!

    Anyhow, a big thanks goes out to Eric and Annie for inviting me to this event. It may be the last ultrasound for awhile as the baby is due next month!

    Tomorrow’s Update: What did Vero get me for my birthday. ;-P

  • MacGyver Tour of Duty

    This weekend Vero and I will be heading out to Katie’s cottage which is guaranteed good times. I anticipate that we’ll be having a bocce ball tourney as per our love of the game that was started on Canada Day (started for me at least!).

    I am looking forward to Philipp, Miguel and I undertaking what I like to call ‘The MacGyver Tour’ which consists of us canoeing up the river and crossing various beaver dams.

    This started last year where we got a little adventurous and decided to go as far as we could in the canoe as it had never been done by us before. My only beef was the fact that we all left our shoes back home thinking we would stay inside the canoe. Hesitantly and complaining all the way, I jump into the beaver dam muck which definitely consists of some form of feces and fall up to my knees in various spots.

    At one point, we could not manage to pull the canoe up far enough over the beaver dam so out of nowhere, Philipp (or was it Miguel?) lets out a mighty roar – “MACGYVER!!!!!” and he summons the power that we need and singlehandedly launches the canoe over to other side of the beaver dam. We stood in awe at the awesome might which a lone human could hold within their body. It was an inspiring moment, however, we lost the magic as soon as we were heading back and SOME people had to be towed in their paddle boat by us lone canoers. We were not impressed.

    I hope that this weekend shall bring equal adventures as last and that Keith does not break his tailbone again.

  • Velcome!

    I would like to congratulate two people who have made the cut to the right-hand bar blog area.

    Jen – whose blog was an enigma for some time but then turned out to be an amusing read for yours truly, especially after getting some inside thoughts on the beast we all know, the hot dog eating man himself, Matt. Check out Come on – it’s simirable!

    Troy – Heck, I haven’t even read any of his posts as his first forray into the life of blogging, but I’m sure it will be a good read filled with the things Palmer’s love: music, beer and good times. If the world had a clone of me, it would be Troy. Granted, he’s the older cousin, so I suppose I’m the clone of him. Whatever. Clones are cool. Check out The Palmer Project.

    Let’s talk a little about Blog Etiquette. We’re all new to this so here’s a shout out for some advice.

    Let’s be honest…some blogs on the right hand sidebar are dead ends. They have nothing new, as in people have dropped off the face of the earth. Seeing that EVERYONE who publishes something on the Net wishes to have it kept clean and tidy (right….), it is rude to remove a blog from your ride hand side bar if they just don’t make the cut anymore? Or is it good to leave it there for archival purposes? Let’s just say Matt’s blog has become close to the cut on many occasions to then jumpt back to life with grandiose posts about sumo wrestling in bubble wrap (bravo, bravo). So if you have any thoughts on this subject, air them out!

    In a random news event of great things coming back from the dead – The Hilarious House of Frigtenstein is returning!!! Oh man, this was the greatest show ever! Especially with the disco wolfman. I heard it’s coming to the Space Network this fall.

  • Highway Hypotheticals


    When we’re on the road for a long trip, Highway Hypotheticals come into play. I can’t recall who coined this term, but I’m sure it was during one of the numerous trips with Carrie and Philipp.

    A Highway Hypothetical consists of posing a hypothetical situation to the car inhabitants. The more risqué the better. Controversy is a must during a long car trip.

    The trip back down from Kapuskasing was fraught full of Highway Hypotheticals. Some of the faves that came up were:

    • Would you sleep with someone for $1M without having the chance to discuss with your partner?
    • Would you rather live in the Star Wars universe or the Star Trek universe? (Please note that Vero came up with this geeky question!)
    • If you could enhance your body with cybernetic implants, would you?
    • Would you place a GPS tracking unit inside the body of your child?

    As you can see, fun questions all around! There are always the classics such as:

    • What sense would you choose to lose?
    • Arm or a leg?
    • Blind or deaf?
    • Death by drowning or burning? Yes, yes, sometimes we get pretty morbid but it’s interesting to see what people would answer!

    The next time you’re on a long roadtrip, implement the Highway Hypothetical game and there is guaranteed fun, as long as there are some people who can actually contribute some good questions!

  • The Trip to Saint-Jacques-de-Leeds

    On Friday, Vero and I headed out to Saint-Jacques-de-Leeds which is an hour south of Quebec City. I like Quebec. Other than the traffic jams at 5:30 on a Friday in Montreal, I like Quebec. I think it’s way more beautiful than Ontario. The valleys are key. We traversed through a slew of valleys and the sun was setting and all was good in the world when we hit up the village.

    Hung out with Grandma Payeur on Friday night which was great as I got to see some photos of Veronique as a kid (always a plus!) and was introduced to Croque-Monsieurs, pieces of toast with cheese and bacon on them. Mmm boy! They reminded me Dad’s ‘Cheese Dreams’ which were full slices of bread, toasted with cheese, bacon and Worcheister sauce. Yum!

    Saturday arrived and we slept in and walked around the village to pick up some groceries for the camping night and we stumbled upon a heritage site where they spoke about the creation of the village and whatnot. This is where I started my forray into Quebec history – Saint-Jacques-des-Leeds was originally Leeds Village (and is also still known as such at the Post Office.). The English Anglicans settled there, built a church, had a good time. I wondered where the heck the French came from all of a sudden to change the name of the village?

    Saturday evening brought forth some camping and swimming. Good times were had with Vero’s cousins and friends and I must admit that I held my own amongst the French speaking folk (and a few beers doesn’t hurt either!). It started raining as soon as we got there so we hung up a few tarps and we had a good campfire going on, but around midnight when I wanted to go to bed, the pain of camping in the rain ensued as we had to lift the tent over to the car to fill up the air mattress, then we returned the tent back to its spot, meanwhile making sure that every spot on the walls were touched in some fashion so water seeped through easily. There were puddles of water inside already and after a few hours of passing out I awoke to find that my sleeping bag was soaked on the sides and bottom.

    Vero’s cousin’s boyfriend came by and asked if we wanted to go home…this was 4 o’clock in the morning, the eurobeats were still pumping from the car stereos (this wasn’t a provincial park so there’s no curfew) and all of us were wet. But we realized we are troopers and we can’t have some rain scare us away!

    Well, not until at least 8 AM when Vero and I realized we had 2 hours of sleep and were just lying there with water dripping on our heads and we were soaked. We packed up and headed home and slept until the early afternoon.

    Sunday brought forth some poutine next door and we went to see the farm in behind Grandma Payeur’s place where Vero proceeded to touch an electric fence! Her arm was numb and all, and we were wondering why there were no signs posted. I must admit I thought it was a little funny. We went over to the church to pay some respects to Grandpa Payeur and then I had a nap on the grass overlooking the valley and all was good in the sunny world. We went home, had some hot chicken sandwiches and hung out with Vero’s extended family for awhile.

    All in all, an amazing trip to an amazing village. I love the small town feel. There’s just so much to do around the area if you are into the wilderness. Otherwise you would probably be bored.

    Mom filled me on the whole ‘changing names of the village’ thing. Turns out (here’s a history lesson that I’m sure everyone but myself knew). Supposedly Quebec wasn’t really that French until the 1960s. That’s why my parents could come from Gaspe and not have to speak French – because the businesses were run by the English which started from the Battle on the Plains of Abraham when the English kicked butt. But then a quiet revolution occurred and the French took back the land in the 1960s and now what you see in Quebec is an anti-English province, with their own churches and schools (and the renaming of all the villages!). Who would have thought?

    I recommend that anyone who is making a trip through any province get off the highway for awhile and take some backroads. That’s where the magic of the land lies – in the heart of a valley.

  • King’s Quest III Remake

    http://www.infamous-adventures.com/

    What is the greatest thing about the Internet?

    That geeks from the old days get together and update key adventure games so that they are a lot more visually appealing and a lot more fun to play!

    A few years ago, I stumbled upon AGD Interactive who redid King’s Quest I and II into VGA with the point-and-click interface that we all love from the mid-90s Sierra adventure games! Awesome. Good times are had. Sierra redid their original games with this interface but must have not made that much money on them (perhaps heralding the death of the adventuer game) so they didn’t bother with the rest of them.

    In comes these great, great communities who revamp these old games and put them out there for free! Amazing!

    I played King’s Quest III VGA for about an hour last night and am about 1/2 way through it. Why so fast? Well, considering I probably logged a good 250+ hours to do so when I was a child and really couldn’t find the magic wand for a good year and this was the day before walkthroughs and the Internet (although I’m pretty sure they must have had a hint book for sale – I had bought one for Police Quest!), I must say that I’m pretty well an expert of the game now and can whiz through it. I am overly impressed with the game so far and it has brought back fond memories and am awaiting the arrival of the voice pack for the game (although most of the time I just like to whiz through the text anyhow).

    If you are up for a good time on the computer, download King’s Quest I VGA to start off your adventures in Daventry! My mom and I used to play these games and I think she gave up while I kept on truckin’. But I think she would have a good time with them nowadays and she should go ahead and install it on her computer.

    On another note to my faithful readers, if anyone of you has my King’s Quest Collection, can you please return it?

  • Ambition Lost

    I have suddenly lost all ambition to blog in this past week. It’s like nothing insane has come out of my head to talk about.

    But I am sure that after a few sentences I’ll go on for hours.

    In other news, let’s talk about summer is cool and all, until you hit what I like to refer to as “the gauntlet”.

    It’s the time where you won’t have a single weekend to yourself anymore. The summer is officially over as you will be travelling every weekend to and from exotic locales within 900 kms of home base. In the end, it will contribute to the ‘best summer ever’ but when you’re approaching it, it’s hard to swallow.

    That being said, here’s an iteniary (sp?) for ya:
    This weekend: Going up to some village in Quebec, Saint Boogala Shaqa Shaqa Rim Ram (or something like that. They all sound the same. They don’t have one word!) where Vero’s parents lived for awhile and where her cousins and grandmother currently reside.
    Weekend after: Hello Lumberjackfest! Everyone is welcome. Suck it up and do the drive for 900 kms.
    Weekend after that: Katie’s Cottage Weekend! Boom! The power of MacGuyver will be summoned for that weekend!
    Weekend after that: Actually, I’m back in Ottawa! This ain’t too bad, but I heard rumours of a bachelor party going on?
    Weekend after that: Well, I guess I can’t complain too much as I’ll be back in town once again, but I think there may be a wedding that weekend to go to?
    Weekend after that: Hey, is that Labour Day weekend? That’s going to be a doozy. Going to Sault Ste. Marie for a wedding, then hopping over to Tobermory to see Troy at the cottage.
    And somewhere in all of that, I wouldn’t mind hightailing it to Meaford to see Danny and Carol along with Mike. Still undecided on whether or not to check them out during the fall where the salmon run happens, or end of August where the beaches are killer.

    Oh, liver, don’t die on me now.

  • Review: Nintendo DS

    James and Ferda dropped by to pick up some French language test books (you shall rock that exam Ferda!). But the true gem last night is I got a taste of what my youth.

    Back in the day, I was a hardcore video gamer. I knew it all, I played it all, but more importantly, I knew the secret codes to the Konami console games. 😉 I don’t feel that I lost out on my youth because I was inside playing video games all the time…that’s the way I was and I think I turned out alright. Hogwash to all these people saying kids should get outside…as long as I’m not stuffing my face while playing video games, things are good! Heck, we all know I was a think stick of a man back in the day. Hmm…I’ve gone off on a tangent but now I’m wondering if there was a correlation of my sleek physique and my video game playing…

    Anyhow, back to last night. Ferda mentioned she was a Tetris champ so we had a challenge and she was pretty good. Although I don’t think any of us in the room are of Carrie/Annie calibre. They are Tetris masters. Definitely.

    But then while playing James pulled out his Nintendo DS (Dual-Screen) and showed it to me. At first I was thinking “Alright, I’ll give this a look since James is really into this.” but I didn’t think I would be super impressed since Benoit had showed me one before and I really wasn’t impressed.

    Well.

    Was I wrong.

    The Nintendo DS is the latest in an evolution of the Gameboy. Gone are the small black and white screens of the handheld generation of video gaming. This screen was huge, it was colour and the graphics were magnificent. I played a little Tetris which had a few new features (which I consider cheating features but who’s counting, right?) and then checked out some Super Mario Kart which was amazing.

    But the truly mind-blowing feature was that it could connect to the Internet so you could play certain games (like Tetris and Mario Kart) against somebody out there in the world. AWESOME! Let’s think back to those days where you’re sitting down alone in your room playing some game and thinking “Dang, it would be great to have someone here to play against at this moment.” and see the lone controller sitting next to you so then you start up a two player game thinking that you can manage one with your set of hands and then one with your feet…alright, no one as actually tried this, right? 😉

    Anyhow, I thought that was the greatest part of the DS…multiplayer via the Internet. Incredible. I had heard about it, read about it, but never really tried it out.

    Plus, the other good point about it all is that it seemed like the games were simple…they went back to the old school type gaming – side scrollers in particular. Gone were the ‘Doom/Quake’ style games where you just hunt everything and kill them. We’re talking Mario going around kicking some Goomba ass! That’s what people love. At least, that’s what I loved. I gave up gaming a long time ago because I just didn’t find the new games interesting. They were more about their special effects, their spectacular moves, but rarely about their gameplay.

    Is the Nintendo DS cool? Definitely. Is it cool enough to bring Ryan back into the gaming world? Unsure. We all know I’ve travelled down this path before when I got the Xbox for Christmas and sadly, didn’t find it all that interesting. It turned out to be an amazing media center though that I use every day, but the games on the Xbox sucked. I don’t think I’ll be rushing out anytime soon to pick up a DS, nor do I want it as a gift (as Vero thought I was hinting towards after raving about it last night on the phone and she said “Are you saying all of this because your birthday is coming up?”), but I will try one out a little more and see if I’m interested.

    So far, I give the thing 2 thumbs up, but I’m sure if I have third thumb and the Game Boy Advance Adapter for it, there would be three thumbs up just for the coolness of backwards compatability. I dig that kind of thing.

    This post is dedicated to Carrie and Philipp who I know would love to play this…especially Mario Kart, and ESPECIALLY the fact that they could play Mario Kart against each other in different cities via the Internet, or if they were in the same room together.

  • NEWS FLASH!!!

    This morning brings one of the more funny headlines that I’ve seen in awhile.

    “Lavigne ate junk food before wedding”
    From here.

    Heaven forbid! Now, I know what you’re all thinking. “Ryan, why the heck would I care about this?”

    That’s a good point! In fact, I’m here to tell you that every inconsequential detail of your life is relevant to SOMEONE out there.

    I would like to start my own online news strip with headlines of my friends and family that would be a shocker for sure, such as:
    “Ryan eats bagel before starting his work day!”
    “Moustache – Day 8 – Coming Along Fine!”
    “Chicken is flipped, not once, but twice in Palmer BBQ last night!!! Shocking photos inside!”