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Yesterday during the day was going fine and dandy but little things creeped up in the evening that put me in sour mood.

First up was having to scan about 30 pages of mortgage application forms and then find out later that night that the broker couldn’t print them off! Doh!

Second up was the fact that my musical muse is starting to creep back into me (must be the lovely sunsets seen from the office window around 8PM) so I took a crack at writing some lyrics for a song of Troy’s that I’ve been toying with for awhile.

I finally realized that I was hitting a writer’s block at a certain point and I have been for the past six months on this particular tune. So I finally said “Screw it, I’m going to record what I have and use it as a working piece that I can send to Troy and bounce some ideas off of.” The problem is, I have packed up all my worldly belongings and they are in the basement. I pondered if I should tear open some boxes to find the microphone.

In the end, I did just that. With microphone and headphones in hand, I went to the office and pulled out the trusty Fostex MR-8HD recording unit and set it up. All I had to do is load up audio from the Macbook and voila, I could record vocals.

However, there was one flaw in this plan. Turns out that the software that integrates with the MacBook and the Fostex is not working anymore. Clearly this must be due to me upgrading to Snow Leopard a few months ago. Nooooooo! I spent the next few hours searching for information on the Internet but to no avail.

At 10PM when Vero got back, I left the Fostex in disgust and wondered what I’m going to do with this hunk of junk now that I can’t even use it with my computer. Argh.

To top it all off, no potential buyers knocking on my doors. Thanks for the selling tips Uncle Gary! Much appreciated! Also, I would like to thank Katie and Aunt Lana for reminding me of the greatest trick in the book for washing windows…vinegar! How could I forget that?

Sunday morning came with the realization that we were going to hold our first open house ever.  We had no idea what to expect.  I chatted with the neighbours who are selling their house and they said they had a few people drop by to look at the place.  They were excited at the thought of the open house as well and hoped they had a lot of traffic.  I also talked with a few other neighbours and they said that they have seen great success with open houses.  This news invigorated my weary soul and I went out to buy some cookies so the house could smell delicious and also offer a treat to those visiting.

The open house was schedule for 2-4PM (a common time for open houses) and someone came knocking at 1:40PM.  Vero bounded towards the baking sheet for the cookies and hid it under the counter.

First up was a real estate agent who was checking out the house next door and wanted to see ours.  We’re not sure if the person with him was actually interested in a place or not, or if they were also a real estate agent.  The agent gave us a great tip seeing that this was our first open house.  He basically said it’s great to let people peruse the house on their own and let them know that you’ll be around if they have any questions.  This was the best advice we could have received as we were following them through the house at first.

We ended up with five showings during the entire day.  I personally don’t feel that this was a large amount, but Vero seemed quite confident about the whole thing.  I didn’t get a good vibe from anyone but at the same time, I’m sure I was the same thing when looking at open houses.  For all I know, our house is in the back of someone’s mind and they will call again to take a second look at the house.

We did find it interesting to note that we saw two groups of people visiting the other open house and not our own.  We can only deduce that a) They didn’t like their townhouse so they automatically assumed ours looked the same b) They didn’t go for private sales.  Either way, it was a little disheartening to see someone not even bother to look at our house.

Two hours later the open house was over and we went to pick up the directional signs we had set up in the neighbourhood.  All in all, an open house isn’t hard work (well, let me point out that the hardest work is getting the place looking great!) as long as you are fine with people roaming around your house!  It’s a strange feeling to just stand in the kitchen while you hear people roam about and open closets around the house.

We will definitely have another open house this coming weekend and we are thinking of extending the hours from 12-4PM.  It doesn’t make sense that 2-4PM is the common time to look at a billion open houses.  I think there would be an advantage to have it longer so people can come visit our own before others.

I will admit that this is the first time in my life that I’m not entirely positive about a life matter.  I believe I’m just impatient…heck, it hasn’t even been a week yet!  I’m sure that when this is all over, you will hear me say that “it wasn’t all that bad” but while we’re in the middle of selling our house, there is always the thought of “why hasn’t it sold yet?”

Day Three of Selling the House had us finishing up everything we can possibly finish up.  Vacuuming, scrubbing and de-cluttering the place had made the house we live in a different beast altogether.  In fact, I don’t even think it *is* the house I purchased five years ago!

Around lunchtime we dropped off some empties and I treated myself to some Mill Street Stock Ale.  We then headed in search of a chip wagon on this glorious Saturday afternoon.  The one at the old Canadian Tire on Tenth Line had moved (to places we’re not aware of) so Vero thought she saw one in Vars so we headed that way.  Why not?  We’ll be driving to Vars a lot more in the near future!

We get to Vars and what Vero thought was a chip wagon was the pizza shop.  We drive by our new house quickly (as there were people there and we don’t want to be creepy) and am touring around looking for a chip wagon but no luck.  It’s around 1:30 and we haven’t eaten yet today so we’re thinking Embrun must have a chip wagon so we start heading down the road across the highway.

Sure enough, Vero was right and the chip wagon is in Vars but on the other side of the 417!  Sweet!  It’s looks great.  The menu boasts 100+ classic chip wagon items and there is a good crowd around.  This is a good sign!  We were asked to order right away and I got the classic…a whistle dog and some fries.  Vero got the poutine.

It was a good set-up they had going there…a LOT of picnic tables.  They also took phone orders so you could simply come and pick your order up!  The food itself was great as well.  The whistle dog was as good as they get and the fries were scrumptious.  Vero is a die-hard fan of chip wagons (as she worked in one as a kid) and commented that they made a great poutine, along with the ‘correct’ poutine sauce.  Perhaps Vero can explain on here what the ‘correct’ sauce for a poutine consists of!

We then headed back down the highway to see how long it would take to drive into town.  It took around 15 minutes to get to Blair Road but we’re unsure where I can park my car and catch the bus.  There is a ‘gold pass’ Park and Ride but I’m not sure if I want to spend extra money to park my car to catch a bus.  There is the option of parking at the shopping mall but I’m not sure if they are heavy-handed in handing out tickets.

Mike came over to the house to load up his motorbike into his truck.  That wasn’t as painful as we had thought it would be!  Althought the first time up the motor died and we were stuck with a motorbike halfway up a ramp.  We decided to settle in to the backyard where it was 23 degrees and had some Mill Street Ale and some steak on the BBQ.

We then watched a few episodes of Modern Family (which is a new favourite show…I love Phil.  LOVE HIM.) and a new show (to us) called Sons of Anarchy which was described as ‘Sopranos meets Motorcycle Gangs’.  All in all, it was a decent first episode and I’ll get around to watching a few others.  Mike, of course, was hooked as it involved motorbikes and tattoos.  All it needs is a guitar and Mike would have the trifecta.

Thursday night I decided that I need to be aggressive in the selling of my house.  For example, I noticed that the neighbour was having an open house through a Realtor on Sunday.  We are attempting to sell the house through Grapevine (privately).  So we realized that if they were having an open house, it would only make sense to have our own open house at the same time in case someone wished to see both houses.

So Friday morning the ‘open house’ signs were obtained from Grapevine and Friday evening was spent fixing up a few other things around the house…putting some top soil down on a patch of grass and cleaning windows.

Cleaning windows became the devil’s chore.  I will relay a good tip for future generations reading this journal entry…do not, DO NOT use Mr. Clean in your water when washing your windows outside!!!

I originally went ahead with some Windex on every window but I noticed that it really smeared the outside and didn’t make for a nice looking window.  I tried a few other times and had the same results.  I then thought that maybe there was just too much dirt on the outside of the window and that I should try and wash it before using the Windex.  So I concocted some water-Mr. Clean combination but it really didn’t do much at all.  Actually, it probably made it worse.  At this point, my fuse was short and Vero was also wondering what I was doing wrong.

In the end she made me realize that Mr. Clean shouldn’t be used!  So I went ahead and pour some Windex into a bucket of water and that seemed to do the trick.  Four hours later, I got the hang of it!  Bah…cleaning windows.

At this point, one day later into selling the house and having listings on Grapevine, Craigslist, UsedOttawa and Kijiji, I had emails from agents looking to represent me.  One agent did in fact call us saying he would like to drop by with some potential buyers but they said they would just show up during the Open House as we were still getting things ready.  Grapevine indicated that the listing had been viewed 200+ times at this point, one day later!  Sweet!

Day One of the selling of the house involves seeing the ‘For Sale’ sign up on your lawn.

Funnily enough, there is also a ‘For Sale’ sign up on the front lawn of my neighbour two doors down.  Woops?  Hopefully this has a positive effect on all parties involved!

Tonight was spent finishing up various things in the house which needed fixing up.  Trim around the kitchen, heavy duty cleaning, etc.  God bless Vero as she pushes me to do the little things that do not bother me, but may bother others.  She is a Godsend when dealing with my easy-going ways.

Vero and I bought a new house together!

Here are some pictures:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/palm0014/sets/72157623718586653/

It has been a crazy week. It is unbelievable how fast you have to act on a house that is sold around Ottawa. We literally saw it Tuesday night and put an offer on it the next day. Home inspection and septic inspection went great.

Let it be known that if anyone is looking for a townhouse in Orleans, now is the time to get in touch with me!!!

Last night I went to see the play Rappel for the second time (and Karilee and Andre joined me). It is my duty as a boyfriend to attend at least two showings of a play my girlfriend is in. Plus, as an anglophone, it doesn’t hurt to go twice so I can figure out what is going on!

Rappel was written in 1985 (for the life of me, I can’t find the information on the play right now!) and deals with a person’s thoughts of suicide. He deals with his inner voices who appear in the form of The Cow, The Pope and The Muse. The Cow is definitely a hilarious character and it doesn’t hurt that it is played a hilarious actress; a good friend Veronique (not the Vero you know and love, but another one).

Let’s put the cards on the table…as an English guy, I had a hard time following the language in the play the first time around. It would have helped if I knew the basic storyline (which I found out afterward). The second time around, I knew what to expect so I enjoyed it a lot more and I could follow the dialogue.

The play is definitely out of the ordinary from what I’ve seen in the past. There are crowd interactions, there are hilarious moments where they demean a secondary character Alain Lalonde (who has the unfortunate case of being the guy who stole the main character’s girlfriend, but also accidentally kills the main character’s cat and the replacement cat he bought as well), and there is a lot of surreal moments.

The acting was great all around. I enjoyed all the main characters. The lead definitely made us believe that he was a man struggling with his inner demons, while the three main characters in his head provided some excellent comic relief for such a morbid topic. The angels running around the room where also excellent and I found myself noticing that they do a lot while they are off the main stage which people may not notice as everyone is focused on the main characters.

Two issues:
– Promo Video: You may have seen the promotional video for the play listed on this site a few weeks ago. This promotional video was awesome…it had girls in fishnets, it had insanity running through it, it had some dude chained to a chair, it has great music. It was an excellent promotional video. It made me excited to see the play.

However, the video had little to do with the play. No girls in fishnets, no guy chained to a chair, no cannibalistic, manic-depressive witches running towards their prey. So really, I question what the point of the video was? Was it to hype up the play but not accurately reflect what to expect? If that was the intention, bravo. But disappointment was my name the first time I saw the play because it was nothing like the video. Truthful marketing? You be the judge. (or I’ll be the judge and say thee nay).

– Lady Gaga: Sure, Lady Gaga is the new Madonna and Marilyn Manson who likes to push people’s boundaries and that’s great! Also, this play is all about pushing boundaries as well. But to throw a Lady Gaga song in the middle of the play directly after the only other big song of the night (‘King des Losers’) was jarring and felt out of place. It didn’t fit and I really questioned if the artistic choice of putting this song into the play was one that was thought out or another instance of “Hey, I really enjoy Lady Gaga and all she stands for, so I’m going to insert it into the play because I think it will be awesome!”

I compare this to when you start out in your artistic life (whether it be a songwriter, a director, a filmmaker) and you have so many great ideas rolling around in your head and you want to use them all so you try and make a promo video (which was awesome, but misleading), and you insert some Lady Gaga into the play (which we all love on its own, but in this case felt unneeded) but really, it’s just not needed. A wise editor once told me that the hardest thing in life is to know when to edit enough out that it becomes better for the audience.

But the greatest issue of all:
Is not an issue but a compliment. As the token Anglophone, I went in there with hesitation as I really don’t know if I will enjoy it if the language goes over my head. But the thing is, the play had so much energy, action and interaction that not understanding half of it didn’t matter. It was most fun I’ve had at a play. It had a spirit that I have not seen in many plays…one where the people on stage are just having a great time and that energy spreads into the audience. It is an entertaining piece of theater to watch and I highly recommend going to see it. My favourite character of the bunch was The Cow and she had me cracking up every time she moved or spoke. Well done Vero (not the Vero you all know and love, but the other one).

Rappel is in its last week of showing at La Nouvelle Scene. Thursday at 6PM, Friday and Saturday at 8PM.

It’s a given that I’ll be picking up an iPad. But I’m really enjoying the thoughts of what the iPad can do that are coming out right now.

For example, let’s talk about music on the iPad. No, no, I’m not talking about music, I’m talking about sheet music, or more importantly (to me!), GUITAR MUSIC/TABS!

Gizmodo’s article made me realize that instead of hauling a bunch of binders full of music, I can simply have them loaded onto the iPad and set it up on the music stand! NICE!

Granted, it would really suck if someone bumped into the music stand and the iPad went flying!

But I already refer to all my music on my computer when I’m playing and don’t bother with my binders unless I’m playing elsewhere. Also, it would keep things nice and organized and I could conceivably do a search for a song title or an artist.

I wonder if it would be large enough though. I wouldn’t think there would be a problem, but you never know.

Mike had the most amazing idea the other evening while we were at an Our Lady Peace concert. He thinks we should write a book about concert etiquette, along with some stories from the road.

I think this is an amazing idea and we already have some ideas forming about what we can talk about. Heck, there is even rumours that with the new Apple iPad coming out, we may be able to self-publish! Sweet!

Here’s some topics of interest. Feel free to suggest some others!

– The Epic Lawn chair vs. Standing Room at Summer Festivals debate
– When to Stand and when not to stand at a concert
– How to Navigate a Crowd
– Ticket Buying Tips
– What to do when someone passes you something
– Should you wear a rock shirt of the band who is currently on stage?
– How to sing along to a song
– How to show your appreciation to the band on stage (ladies, listen closely)
– Are you hear to photograph, or here to rock out? The ongoing saga of technology in the hands of teeny-boppers.

Some classic stories that will come up:
– The road trip to AC/DC (Toronto 2000); including girl in car who we saw later at the concert, old dude passing us something in front of the security guy
– NIN in 2000 w/ Eric
– Checking out buddy’s sister at Nickelback (?)
– Obtaining tickets for AC/DC 2009
– KISS!!! And the ruining of Vero’s night
– U2 in 2000 when the car broke down

And if we decide to incorporate other tales from the road, I can think of a few:
– Troy’s encounter with a lit cigarette

Wired has an excellent article about how there is a theory about how cosmic rays may be the cause of Toyota’s woes.

All I have to say is that if this isn’t the case, I sure as hell want to congratulate the marketing genius at Toyota for thinking of this story!

~~~
(Scene: Boardroom at Toyota HQ)
Head: Alright people, we need to come up with an explanation for those mechanical parts that have broken.
Marketing Person #1: How about faulty components from our Ontario plants?
Head: Not bad, not bad…
Marketing Person #2: How about we tell them that we were experimenting with flux capacitor technology in hopes to give the Delorean a run for its money?
Head: I think you’re pushing the limit there.
Marketing Person #3 (after putting down his comic book): Why don’t we just say that we think that some cosmic rays may be interfering with the electronics on the car?
Head: Great Scott! You’ve got it!