Pace on Earth

Symphony no. 2

2011-03-23T22:58:00.004-03:00

With Holly being in the service industry our Valentine's Day celebration were going to be muted again this year. She pretended she didn't care that we wouldn't be able to do something special but I knew better. So when a friend offered a pair of tickets Symphony NB's show at the Playhouse the day after Valentine's Day I figured I could make a romantic night of it and jumped at the offer.

Because of her schedule we weren't going to have time for dinner and the show so I decided to surprise her with a nice meal when she got home. Risotto is her favourite so I tried my hand. I have made good risotto in the past; this was not one of them. Fortunately, thanks to people with far more talent than me, the show would not match the meal.

We had watched the Symphony's Christmas show at the Delta in December and loved it but were both excited to that full symphony sound in a room that was designed for it. We took our (good) seats a few minutes before showtime. A friend's parents took their seats behind us and were amused to see us there.

The theme of this show was 'Tales' which had me thinking that this was a symphonic version of Storytellers. I was mistaken. The music, from the instruments and, later, vocals, told the stories. And while the vocalist was singing words, they were, of course, in no language that I could understand. No matter, the music did tell a story a moved from hopeful to haunting, joyful to (apparently) enraged. Those were the stories it was telling me anyways.

The first piece, Shubert's 'Overture to Rosamunde', was an instrumental and allowed us to appreciate the difference the sound in the Playhouse provided. Truly a full, rich sound. After that conductor Michael Newnham introduced Sopranno Lynne McMurtry who provided the vocals for the rest of the show. Anytime I have seen a soloist I am amazed at the sound they put out without any amplification. Mrs. McMurtry was no different. Amazing pipes.

Having said that, I think I might prefer the symphony on its own. The vocalist was incredibly talented but I found myself lost in her voice and missing the intracacies of the instruments. And, from my two trips thus far, that is where I get the most enjoyment. I am blown away by the minutiae of the individual players and how they add up to an incredible sum of the parts that allows me to intepret the tales I think they are trying to tell. Another great performance.

I'll try the risotto again soon too.

Pace out.

Peter and the Wolf

2010-12-15T14:30:00.005-04:00

Well hello there, it's been awhile. Craiger gave me a pair of tickets to Symphony New Brunswick's Christmas performance on the condition that I write a few words about the experience. I figured if I was writing, I should write here first. So here goes.

Last night I had the pleasure of attending Symphony New Brunswick's Christmas concert which was, in part, their adaptation of Peter and the Wolf. Now, my familiarity with the symphony is limited at best. To me, and most New Brunwicker's I assume, a crescendo is a pizza McCain makes. Nevertheless I am a sucker for live music of any kind so jumped at the chance to take in this show.

What little orchestral music I do know, however, included Peter and the Wolf. We had it on vinyl growing up and although I couldn't have hummed the tune yesterday if prompted when the strings started with Peter's tune it brought back a flood of memories. I remembered that this story made me afraid of both wolves and horn sections.

After a short break the players returned and we were treated to a selection of songs from the Nutcracker. I was again amazed at how much of it I recognized. I was even more amazed, however, with the richness of the sound. I am always impressed when a band of any size can get a big, full sound and make it seem like there are more people on stage then there are. So when the stage actually is full the sound matches it and then some; so intricate. I also still don't know exactly what the conductor does but I do know he's doing something; he was out of breath and sweating at the end of every piece.

I am happy to have had the chance to see the show and bring back all those childhood memories but also to know that there are enough talented musicians in the province to make up a symphony. I especially liked the New Brunswick touch they added to Peter and the Wolf by bringing Lucien in as the narrator. I'm pretty sure of the countless orchestras around the world that have done Peter and the Wolf Symphony NB is the only one that had a Acadian speaking franglais as a narrator. Very fun show and I look forward to seeing the symphony again sometime soon.
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Pace out.

I Wish

2010-06-22T22:50:00.003-03:00

|Driving home from a (great) night of summer golf on Friday night we stumbled across I Wish, the semi-old rap song by Skee-Lo. It's actually a great song and while it's impossible to forget those catchy lyrics I somehow forgot that catchy beat. Hard not to get you moving. The next day I heard the unfortunate news that Manute Bol had passed away and this morning Normy sent me the attached picture.

Manute Bol was a freak and travelled the NBA as a journeyman freak like a modern day circus show. Except that he figured out how to make money off his freakishness. He could block shots with the best of them. He is 2nd all-time in the blocks per game average (Mark Eaton is 1st - no shit) and is the only player ever to compile more blocks than points in a career. Much more importantly, and much less well known, is that Manute was a incredibly generous and selfless man. He died nearly broke after having donated most of his personal earnings to humanitarian aid to his homeland of Sudan. Read this nice piece from Deadspin here.

Watching his story as a youngster and learing where he came from broadened my horizons and his story, and his incredible height filled me with wonder. RIP.

Pace out.

Wavin' Flag

2010-06-11T16:52:00.002-03:00

The Stanley Cup playoffs ended on Wednesday night with the Blackhawks happily beating those damn Flyers. It was good to see the Cup go to an Original Six team and not to those insufferable bastards in Philly (fans and players alike). It was a great playoffs thanks, almost entirely for me, to a nice deep run from the Habs. It was probably flukey and I'm guessing that Jaro Halak is more Penney than Dryden or Roy - although praying otherwise, unless they don't resign him. It was fun to care again though, and this CBC montage will serve to remind me for a while to come:

And now, starting today in fact, sporting attention turns (or in most cases stays with) the World Cup in South Afica. It is the biggest sporting event in the World. That is to say that more of the world watches it than anything including the Olympics. I will be watching but not like I watch the Stanley Cup. I have no vested interest in who wins. Canada is not there so there is no National pride on the line. I will hope for the underdogs and I will hope for the teams that play the game right, have the fewest divers, and don't generally look like idiots. The last one is tough because they are, after all, soccer players. ;)

Canada may not be there but we do have a role to play. (One of) the official theme for the World Cup is Wavin' Flag by K'Naan who is Canadian. Hey at least it's something:

Pace out.

Feet Don't Fail Me Know

2010-06-10T23:18:00.004-03:00

I practiced tonight for the first time in what seems like years but was actually only a couple of months. I have Plantar Fasciitis which is a painful inflammation of the Plantar Fascia Ligament which extends from your heel to your toes. It characterized by a generally annoying dull pain the mostly feels like I'm walking on bruies heels. In addition to being a pain in the heel, it's a pain in the ass.

It's likely caused by my not stretching enough prior to exercise and, just maybe, adding some extra weight as I've gotten older. Malcolm once had the same affliction and, at the time, his acupunturist told him she good prick him but it would only do some much good; the bottom line, in her words - "Mr. Malcolm, you too fat for your feet". I hope that's not my case but it's a least a part of it. I certainly am if I want to remain active.

Anyways, rugby season is getting started, I've got new orthotics, and I'm hopeful I can get back in form. As usual in situations like this, I look to Snoop for guidance and reassurance:

Pace out.

Fire Coming Out of a Monkey's Head

2010-06-01T17:36:00.003-03:00

I missed this over the weekend when it was new news but I was sad to learn today the Dennis Hopper died. He was in a great career's worth of movies including Hoosiers which is one of my favourites, not to mention one of the top 5 best sports movies of all time. He played a drunk which was a common theme for him and potentially not that much a departure from reality. A lot of his roles may have been easy for him to play; he typically played a hippie, a rebel or an nutbar which seems to match his off-screen persona. He was very funny though. I wasn't born when Easy Rider came out but the perfect age when he hosted Saturday Night Live and parodied it in the opening in '87 (sadly nowhere to be found on the internet). It was one of my all time favourite SNL skits when SNL was really great. I liked Dennis Hopper from that moment on and loved him after playing Shooter.

He was one of Hollywood's great characters and got his long-overdue star on the walk of fame just this year. He died of prostate cancer reminding me once again to quickly state Fuck Cancer.

Here is a good tune with hime talking:

RIP Dennis Hopper.

Pace out.

Ain't Wastin' Time No More

2010-05-25T22:30:00.003-03:00

Everyone one at the office was pretty excited last Friday when, early on in our morning, someone realised that the Google homepage had a playable version of Pacman embedded in it's logo. And this week, as if answering the question asked in offices around the world, a study came out revealing that the average visitor to Google stayed 36 seconds longer to play the game at least briefly. I can say that I was above that average but quickly won the game and realized you could not proceed past level 2. More importantly I only played while waiting for a conference call to start, I swear. I'm sure there were some real champs. All told, thanks to the huge volume of Google searchers, the study estimates that a total of 4.8 million hours were lost (in the U.S.). I think I would have been wasting my time some other way so I don't think The Man should blame Google.

Pace out.

Hard Road

2010-05-24T18:04:00.003-03:00

On Thursday before game 3 of the Eastern Conference Final in Montreal the CBC gloriously paid tribut to Montreal's most famous team and my favourite Montreal rocker, Sam Roberts.
The song was fairly apt for them heading home down 2-0 to the Flyers before heading back to Montreal for game 3. The team responded and dominated the Flyers. No question that home ice mattered in that one. Not so much on Saturday when the Habs were dominated right back. And now the song is really apt. The team has daunting ahead and it doesn't look good but, having said that, they've faced these odds before and that is, after all, why they play the games.

Allons-y Boys!

I hope I'm not playing Brother Down after the game tonight!

Lucky Man

2010-05-21T15:11:00.004-03:00

This picture will make me smile for a long time:I only wish they would have made the caption Lucky Dick instead of this generic line. Good for Dick anyways!

Happy Friday!

Pace out.

Touch the Sky

2010-05-18T17:31:00.003-03:00

On Sunday I attended St. Thomas' Spring Convocation to see my cousin Emily graduate (on time - congrats Em!). It was a beautiful ceremony in a beautiful setting. The grads convinced the adminstration to hold it outside and, St. Thomas being a good Catholic school, the Gods co-operated.The commencement speach was given by one of Fredericton's favourite daughters, author Sheree Fitch. Her speech was predictibly wonderful; partially rhyming and totally sincere. She spoke about the opportunity that abounds in the world the news grads were about to step into. She spoke so well that she even had this dreamer dreaming of changing the world. IT really was a great message. That's what made the post I read the next day on Deadspin all the funnier. If you don't want to read the whole thing here is Drew's take; in reality most grads are just happy to be done and the 'dream big/make a difference' message from every commencement speaker is lost on all but a few grads. Everyone else is thinking these things:
MALE STUDENTS
1) Get rich by doing as little work as humanly possible
2) Fuck as many attractive women as possible
3) Drink
4) Get married only when forced
5) Raise children who can make you rich if you yourself cannot

FEMALE STUDENTS
1) Get rich by doing as little work as humanly possible
2) Marry someone who will fertilize you with attractive babies
3) Own a home so spacious and tastefully appointed that all your friends feel like dogshit any time they enter it

The accuracy is uncanny. It certainly made me giggle. He then goes on to talk about what those few people that actually have the will to make a difference and dream big should be dreaming/differing. Good stuff. My dream is that someone would invent a toothpaste dispenser that does not get gummed up. 35 years on this earth and they are getting progressively worse. But I digress...

Happy Graduation all, enjoy the real world.

Pace out.

Mother

2010-05-09T23:14:00.002-03:00

Today is mother's day and although I didn't get to see my mom I did get to see my wonderful Godmother Nancy. Mom knows that no matter what my age Nancy will be watching out for me. I did get to speak to mom and she was in Charlottetown enjoying the day with her mother so she was still enjoying the day despite both of ther kids being on the mainland. I think mom knows how I feel but just in case she doesn't - Mom, I think you are the best. That's all.

So speaking of the best - this year's Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival is the 20th and it's looking like it might just be the best ever. In addition to previously announced headliners like Gregg Allman, John Hiatt, Johnny Lang and Big Sugar (playing with the Trews) and smaller but equally amazing bands like DJ Champion and Elliot Brood, the festival just announced Australian roots/reggae artist Xavier Rudd is coming as well. What the hell, the more the merrier. Not sure how I'm going to see it all but here's to trying.

Pace out.

A Dog Is A Dog

2010-05-07T17:02:00.005-03:00

Our boy Jebb 'the big dumb dog' Sinclair has been home for the past 10 days, fresh from a winter spent in Wales honing his craft (and also playing some rugby - j/k). During his time home he did some 'giving back' in the form of a few coaching clinics at the local high schools. I assumed that this was some kind of community service sentence but he assured me otherwise. He did a great job with the kids and made them believe that if a big oaf from Nasonworth can play for Canada, they can too! Check out the article from the Gleaner.

Our little dog is all grows up. Nevertheless a dog is a dog:

Pace out.

Feels Like '93

2010-05-02T21:43:00.002-03:00

I would not have posted this if the Habs had lost today. But they did and they are going back to Montreal tied 1-1 in their series with Sid the Kid and the Penguins. The atmosphere in Montreal this week will be electric. I can't wait to hear the crowd at the Bell Center before game 3. It does feel a little like '93 no matter where the chips fall.

The chorus is a little weak but the rap is actually pretty sweet - IMHO.

This is like fingernails on a chalkboard for any non-Habs fan.

Enjoy and, um, Go Habs!

Pace out.

So Far Away

2010-04-30T18:08:00.002-03:00

I hate to end a good week on a real down note but I can't help but relay this story. My good friend Brent Rowney was involved in a school project to interview Veterans about their experience in war. One of his students interviewed a Korean War veteran and their video won the grand prize. Unfortunately for that veteran the grand prize, a trip to Holland for Liberation Day ceremonies, stipulated that the winner must be a veteran of World War 2. So the legion was contacted and they located a veteran that was interested in making the trip and the Gleaner than ran a great piece on Ken McAllister. Ken had served in Holland before moving home and settling in Fredericton and raising a family. His wife passed 20 years ago and since then he rekindled a long-dormant romance with a war-time Dutch sweetheart. He has hosted her in Canada a few times but had never been to visit her in the Netherlands until this opportunity presented itself.

I woke yesterday to the news on the radio that Mr. McAllister had passed suddenly just 5 days before he was supposed to leave. Eerily he was quoted with this line in the first story - "I'm just hoping my health holds up because I'm looking forward to having a good time and I'm not getting any younger." That just kills me.

I wish the best to his family and to Jenny.

Pace out.

Turn Time Off

2010-04-23T16:34:00.003-03:00

Hi, Welcome back.

I took a few weeks off to see if anyone actually noticed that I stopped. It turns out people did and then I just needed to get back in the habit of sitting down and writing. It's amazing how easily a habit that involves some work can die easy. Fortunately it didn't die, it just took a rest.

This is the Flashback Friday post but in this case I'm only flashing back to last night at the Playhouse and my favourite song off of David Myles's brand new album. Last night was the CD release party and it was a great success. Dave is getting more and more polished and he's finding his groove, quite literally, on a couple of the new tracks. This tune is low-key but also low-down and dirty. If he keeps this up he'll be the Maritimes' version of Keith Sweat, mood musician extraordinaire.

I hope everyone is great, please let me know!

Pace out.

Midnight Rider

2010-03-19T20:44:00.004-03:00

The Gleaner reported today that the Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival has secured the first major act of its 20th Festival in rock legend Gregg Allman. The festival didn't actually announce the act and are still tight-lipped about what the full lineup might look like. The Gleaner must have been tipped-off or they actually did some decent reporting, which would be a new concept for them, given the terribly biased reporting regarding the sale of NB Power. But I digress...this is great news. Gregg Allman is not quite the Allman Brothers Band, which is what fans were hoping for, but this is still a win. And from what I have heard from the folks at the festival is that there is more exciting news to come. The most exciting news, from my perspective, is that it looks like I will be able to attend this year and won't be in NFLD for rugby that weekend. Sweet!

Pace out.

Show Me the Way

2010-03-16T00:38:00.005-03:00

There are certain celeberities that somehow remain in the public eye despite my wishes that they would, figuratively of course, disappear from the face of the earth. There are others, however, that I can't get enough of, and high on that list is Snoop Dogg. So I was more than a little excited to learn that Snoop has lent his voice to GPS-maker Tom Tom as a 'voiceskin' to guide you on your way home, or hizzouse, or wherever they keep tha shiznitt.

I may need to reconsider my thinking that I don't need a GPS system to get from Devon to the top of the hill. If Snoop's on board it will surely make the trip worth it. "So fly!"

Thanks Tom Tom for reminding me, once again, that it's a Doggy Dogg World and we just live in it. 'Yeah, just like that."

Gone, Gone, Gone

2010-03-10T00:47:00.005-04:00

This past weekend the ECMAs took place in Sydney, NS. After they ended in Fredericton two years ago I vowed to go to the next awards in Cornerbrook. When I couldn't do that trip I vowed to go to Sydney this year. In the meantime I also vowed to go to the Olympics, followed through on that one, and the bill from that trip precluded the trip to Sydney.* I still should have gone. The big winner, not surprisingly, was Joel Plaskett and his triple album Three. Next year's ECMAs are in Charlottetown and I'm vowing to go. I still did manage to get away for Saturday though.The Washergate crew headed back to Betts-Kelly Lodge for our annual weekend of sillyness. Good times, too much food and booze, were had by all. I don't recall who won the washer tournament so obviously it wasn't me so my title is gone.

The last thing that is gone, is amazingly, the snow off my front lawn.When I left for the Olympics* Freddy was still in full on winter. Shortly after I left the rain started and by the time I got back the river was flowing freely. Since then we've had about a week of beautiful Spring-like weather. The day at Betts-Kelly, for example, was about 10 sunny degrees. So, in the last week, much of the snow around town is long gone, notably the white stuff that was on my lawn. We are about a month ahead of schedule. Sweet!

Pace out.

*Note - The Retro-Diary is still coming!

These Eyes

2010-03-01T18:35:00.006-04:00

On Thursday night in Vancouver I very nearly paid $125 for bad seats to see Burton Cummings and a Olympic Medal Ceremony at BC Place stadium. The original ticket price was $22 and we thought better of it. Instead we purchased tickets to the next day's men's hockey semifinal featuring the USA vs Finland. We paid $200 but the original ticket price was $175 so that's not bad value.

I thought of Burton again today as I sit in my hotel in Toronto where I am decompressing before heading back to Freddy and the office tomorrow. Specifically I thought of These Eyes. I had an incredible week in Vancouver and these eyes have seen alot and I do have every intention of relaying the experience. I had fully intended to do so while on the ground in Vancouver but really just didn't have the time to stop and do so. I will do a full retro-diary before the end of the week.

Here's what I missed at BC Place:

Pace out.

The day we hit the coast

2010-02-21T01:19:00.011-04:00

Pictures don't really do justice to the drive we just made, but I will try anyway. After a great night at the K-Pub in Calgary with some NB ex-pats Jester and I climbed in our rental, dubbed the Blue Streak, for our run to the hills.From our 8am (groggy) start it was a beautiful day for a drive. If the weather held, which the forecast predicted, we would be in for an approx. 6pm arrival time in Vancouver. Once we hit the TCH toward Banff the mountains appeared in the distance, and as that distance closed they began to loom large.I had done the drive a couple of times previously but never in daylight start to finish. I did remember that the scale of the mountains around Banff to be hard to fathom and they were again this time. We took a quick ascent up Mount Norquay to snap a photo of the town and its surrounding peaks.From marvelling at the sheer size of the Rockies there was also time to marvel at the engineering needed to put a highway through them. For example this is part of the road near Kicking Horse Pass:As a history guy my thoughts turned to the incredible concept of men with 19th century tools traversing these mountains with the dream of a railroad to unite the country. They did it, with great adversity, and it became, quite literally, the ties that binded a country.

Once through Banff and Yoho National Parks and Kicking Horse Pass we descended into the Windermere Valley at Golden and our first pass over the Columbia River. The road then starts another ascent up to Rogers Pass in Glacier National Park and then past Mt. Revelstoke National Park where we meet the Columbia again, this time much wider, at Revelstoke. From there we passed throughh the Shuswaps at Sicamous and Salmon Arm where this is a typical scene:The mountains here are older and rounder than the Rockies and tree covered and this is most assuredly logging country.Shortly after our lunch in Salmon Arm we made it to Kamloops where 17 years earlier Jess and I both made out first trip there for the Canada Games in 1993. Kamloops is an almost desert-like landscape and is the start of the Coquihalla Highway that follows the Coquihalla River to Hope. Hope B.C. is the site of one personally-famous breakdown and the end of the Fraser Canyon. High Mountains surrond the town but, driving west, they quickly give way to the wide end of the Fraser Valley which essentially encompasses BC's Lower Mainland. So with the wide Fraser Valley by our side we made the break for the coast.The drive from Hope to Kitsilano took a little over an hour and a half. The afternoon in Vancouver was as beautiful as the morning we left in Alberta. It was a spectacular drive and I was happy to be able to enjoy acting as the Jester's co-pilot from start to finish. We made it to Kitts slightly ahead of schedule at 5:30 just in time for happy hour.

Much more to come.

Pace out.

Rollin, Rollin, Rollin

2010-02-19T18:16:00.008-04:00

And so the adventure begins. Early but uneventful departure from YFC only to land in Montreal which was seemingly the only city in Canada getting snow this month.A little delay but am now safely on the ground in Cowtown. The Jester Allaby, my co-pilot for this adventure, picked me up and I am now at Acorn Jackson's planning an evening of fun in Calgary before an early am run for the coast. We're rollin now...

Pace out.

Pacemaker

2010-02-16T19:54:00.003-04:00

I have a new favourite Olympian this evening after watching Maelle Ricker with her snowboardcross event. She is a local Vancouver girl winning gold in her backyard at Cypress. After the race she was so smiley and giggly it was infectious. She was tongue-tied, when asked (a dumb question about) how she felt about winning the gold. She just said how much fun she was having and then looked in the camera and said that she hoped we were too...and then giggled again. The two gold medals we've won thus far were won on Cypress Mountain by athletes from opposite ends of the country but that, to me, could not be more quintessentially Canadian. Great stories both.

Here's a happy song, en francais, for Maelle:

Pace out.

Bird On A Wire

2010-02-15T17:22:00.004-04:00

"Like a bird on the wire, like a drunk in a midnight choir, I have tried in my way to be free."

Last Thursday a NB MLA flipped the bird to one his colleagues and then exploded into a tirade that ended with an invitation to another colleague to step outside. He ended up looking kind of like that drunk in the midnight choir. Abe Leblanc is probably a tough guy (former union head) who represents a tough town. This kind of passion from politicians is, although misdirected here, not altogether unwelcome. I would just with that he would fight for his constituents concerns as hard as he would fight for his bruised ego as this clip suggests:

The ongoing debate over the sale of NB Power has these guys under immense pressure and I think this is some of that pressure releasing. Leblanc was suspended for a few days but it will be interesting to see how he addresses the media and the Leg. upon his return.

This is another flashy piece of news from the NB House that has made some national headlines, the last being TJ Burke's rendition of Pants On The Ground last month. This one is obviously of a much different tone although it seems that it too has been turned into song.

And now here to calm everyone's nerves is Leonard Cohen:

Pace out.

Neighborhood #2 (Laikia)

2010-02-14T23:32:00.006-04:00

Montreal's biggest recent band sang, in this song: "Come on Alex, you can do it. Come on Alex, there's nothin' to it." They may have singing it to Montreal's new biggest star, Alexandre Bilodeau, who just won the fist gold medal by a Canadian on home soil.

It was a magical moment; the crowd erupted in cheers and Alex's face erupted in elation as the final skier's score was revealed leaving him in the Gold medal position. During his post-race interview he thanked his family, his teammates, the country and his government funding. He seemed like a great kid just like you'd hope he is. He is, unquestionably, now a national sporting hero with that first gold at home. Hopefully the first of many.

Pace out.

Now They Will Know We Were Here

2010-02-13T15:51:00.007-04:00

The Inukshuk is one of the main symbols of the games in Van and a very fitting Canadian symbol at that. An inukshuk is one of the defining symbols of our vast Northern regions whose landscape is one of the defining symbols to the rest of the world. For most of that live close to the southern edge of the country, though, the inukshuk first came into popular consciousness thanks to this commercial:

I watched last night's opening ceremonies from a bar stool in a crowded bar. I didn't get to hear the performances or, for that matter, the commentary. Nevertheless I could see an amazing display of Canadian artistry of all kinds. I was proud as hell to see Measha Bruggergosman, a former mini-rugby player, singing on the world's stage, and hope to see it if I can watch the replay sometime soon. The visual inside BC Ploce were outstanding and the parade of performers, beginning with native dancers from across the country was outstanding. The Olympic flag-bearers, including amazing Candians from Betty Fox to Romeo Dallaire to Bobby Orr. Finally, and not surprisingly, although not without a Canadian solution of multple lighters, Wayne Gretzky was the final torch bearer and the games were underway. A mind-blowing number of people watched it and, in my opinion, it was a beautiful way to kick off the games and a showcase for our country. And now they will know we were here:

Pace out.

Canadian Dream

2010-02-12T16:41:00.006-04:00

The photo shows the gear that my wonderful Godmother Nancy gave me for my journey to the Olympics. I was excited when I got them and I am now ecstatic that the games are finally here and I can get to wear them in support of Team Canada.

The opening ceremonies are tonight but as I write this a pall has been cast over the celebration with the tragic death of Georgian luge competitor during a training run. Some serious questions will need to be answers regarding safety and some adjustments will need to be made to the ceremonies to honour the young man but, bottom line, the show must go on.

Canada is set to welcome the world and I am frankly a little more excited about the prospect of showing the world what a friendly, hospitable, talented, diverse, not to mention stunningly beautiful country we have than I am about winning the overall medal count or even the hockey. Although either of those would be nice too.

Pace out.

One Day In Your Life

2010-02-12T01:03:00.003-04:00

One day to go until the Games kickoff in Vancouver. I spoke to some friends in the city and they said the place is already teeming with people. The last couple of days there has been lots of water-cooler talk about who is going to light the flame. Sentimental votes are going to my farourite Canadian, Terry Fox's, mother Betty Fox. Terry was a local boy and embodies everything great about the human spirit. Having said that, the smart money is on The Great One. I think either would be fitting.

It must be electric in the city right now and I can't wait to join them in a week. The athlete's must be so pumped; years of work and now their stage is set.

Pace out.

In View

2010-02-09T18:46:00.005-04:00

Google Street View has finally added Fredericton to its database. The freaky Google Maps feature that lets you get an on-the-ground street level view of any place that their cameras have been no inlcudes Freddy. Their timing wasn't perfect but it could have been a lot worse. It looks as though they were here in the spring because the grass is green but the trees have yet to bloom. Ideally they would have been through on a grand sunny day in July but, on the flipside, at least they weren't here on a slushy winter day.

I looked for my house but could only catch a glimpse of the lawn as they only did a drive through of the Northside down Union. I can't believe even Google stereotypes Devon. Google, stop by Henry st. for a beer and I'll show you some Devon hospitality. I also wasn't able to find anybody doing anything untoward in my quick overview but hopefully someone picks up a photo of some couple shagging in a parked car on Needham st. It could happen.

Take some time to check it out.

Pace out.

I Believe

2010-02-08T23:47:00.003-04:00

Well the Super Bowl turned out to be a good game but not a great game. It was close and that is the main thing. It did not, however, have many defining moments like the helmet catch two years ago, the interception return or the tiptoe catch from last year. Tracey Porter's interception return might qualify but, to me, that is as much as one of the greatest quarterback's choking as it was about Tracy Porter making a play. Typically I like the underdog (and I am happy the Saints won - more on that in a moment) but I am eargerly awaiting the favourites coming through in the clutch in Vancouver a couple of weeks. I want to believe that the cream will rise and perform under the immense pressure. But I digress.

As expected, we were bombarded with Olympic broadcasting ads. Some got tired quickly but the ad for the song I Believe did strike a nerve:

The shot of the skater on the lake kills me. That feels like a quintessential Canadian moment to me. I believe!

And to turn it around from the Peyton downer, there is the flipside of that. The Saints were the feelgood story. For Canadians there will be numerous feelgood stories and we will see euphoric moments at venues and, spontaneously, all around Vancouver/Whistler and across Canada for that matter. I saw this vidoe today and I can only imagine what it will be like if a country can celebrate the same way come February 28th:

Awesome. I can't stand that song (although it is much better than Eh O Canada Go) but that video is awesome. I believe!

Finally, I did review the American commercials via Adweek and I think my favourite has to be the Snickers ad. How can you not love Betty White.

You can't lose with Betty White. She should be in Vancouver. I believe.

Pace out.

Last American Exit

2010-02-07T15:56:00.005-04:00

I'm not sure what's sadder; the fact that the marketing machine that is the NFL has managed to make Western civilization actually care about commercials or that I personally am perenially disappointed at not getting to watch them here in Canada thanks to having only a Canadian feed. At least I can claim I just don't want to have to sit through the same 10 cheap Canadian commercials.

Fortunately, I have found a website that will be showing the commercials as they happen. As of yet, I haven't found a website that will be tracking the Canadian commercials.

Luckily this year's game should be worth the price of the beer I drink on its own. At this point I could see myself being happy if either team wins; I just want to see a good game, like the last couple.

Pace out.

Rock You

2010-02-05T19:06:00.004-04:00

A bit of news that will make my grandfather proud; I have taken up curling. At least temporarily. With skip Copper Dave off on Olympic duty I have taken his place (although at the front end of the team - lead) on the as-yet-to-be-named team he is a part of for the Thursday night curling at Coliseum. I have been a fan of the game for years. Particularly on Sunday afternoon while searching for something to nap to if I couldn't find me some Bob Ross. I was never foolish enough to think it was easy but I was still surprised by how hard it is. I'm lucky I haven't killed myself yet and that's probably the best news yet. I have thrown at least a couple of nice rocks though and that is just as good a feeling as making a nice pass, hitting an open jumper, or hitting a bull playing darts. In fact, curling is really just darts on ice. It's not quite the drinking game darts is though; it's tough to carry your beer while sweeping and you'd have to have one at each end of the rink to be drinking at any pace. I think I might be on to something there.

Although we don't always win, Canada is a pretty dominant force in world curling. We should get two medals out of the curling rink at the Olympics. Curling is popular enough in Canada that they don't need to jazz the marketing up to much but if they ever do here is the song to do it:

Pace out.

O Canada

2010-01-31T15:01:00.004-04:00

I found this great tune (and video) on a friend's facebook profile this week:

This will now serve as my Olympic dream trip to Vancouver's theme song. It will also serve as the introduction to my plan for this site for the coming month. Classified has prompted me to celebrate Canadian content for the month as a nod to our athletes and their quest for the podium. It's also a nod to Canadian artists as it is looking more and more as though I won't be seeing too many athletes perform but do plan on seeing lots of artists perform.

O Canada...the countdown's on!

Pace out.

Under Pressure

2010-01-29T18:26:00.004-04:00

Last day of our quarter; last day of our fiscal year. In other words, pressure sales time Peter. We are in-line for a good finish and, thus, the potential for the ever-so-rare work-sanctioned party and a day off or two. If you are in need of some online training please don't hesitate to call; everything must go!

Pace out.

Wolf Like Me

2010-01-27T22:28:00.005-04:00

The Olympics are just 2.5 weeks away. I've been gearing up for a few months and finalizing my plans to be there for the historic event. I am excited that I will get to take in the atmosphere, the festivities, and, if I somehow get lucky, an event where a Canadian wins. But from the get-go a big focus of my Olympic dream has been the thought of being somewhere close when the Canadian Hockey team goes for gold. It's a tall order, Team Russia and Team Sweden are equally strong and, in a one and done playoff format, a hot goalie or a bad bounce can be the difference. There will also be the heavy weight of expectation on the Canadian's shoulders. I was glad to see this commercial featuring Jarome Iginla that indicates concepts like fate or hope don't win games. Hard work does.

I believe you Jarome. Dion, sorry about your luck.

Pace out.

Keep It In Your Pants

2010-01-26T23:15:00.003-04:00

You can see the NB Legislature in the above picture from last weekend and it looks like such a quiet place.

Now it's pretty rare that Canada gets mentioned on gossip/celebrity stalker site TMZ.com. Even rarer for New Brunswick and a New Brunswick politician at that. Here's the footage:

I got nothin, except to say that TJ delivered a better version than Brett Favre.

I liked Larry Platt's hit from American Idol but, for the kids, I like Young MC's message better:

Pace out.

American Pie

2010-01-25T18:44:00.003-04:00

"Bye Bye Miss American Pie"

I saw this come across the news wire earlier today. Fisheries Minister Gail Shea was pied in the face by an activist looking to get some attention. She has gotten that and I guess I'm giving her some more. I don't have much of a problem with this; we've got some history in Canada of people making political statements with pies. What I do have a problem with is that this woman was American and a member of PETA. Americans don't have a say in Canadian politics just as we don't get to decide who the American government detains and tortures. And PETA really grinds my gears, mainly due to stunts like this. They are seeking the publicity they are getting but, I think, fail to realize that this shit comes with a backlash and increases support for the seal hunt. Oh, and she was charged with assault. I can only imagine what a Canadian would have been charged with if they pied Hillary Clinton. Rant over.

Here's a song to lighten the mood:

Pace out.

All Hell For a Basement

2010-01-24T21:17:00.002-04:00

North asked me for a hand last week putting together a music curriculum for his English Second Language students. He needed songs with a Canadian theme. Being a music nazi, he wanted to put his own stamp on it, but didn't mind some input. I suggested some of the obvious choices like Canadian Railroad Trilogy and Fifty-Mission Cap . Canadian Railroad Trilogy because it is, in my mind, the quintessential Canadian History song and Fifty-Mission Cap because it makes fun of the Leafs. North thought CRT was too long and that FMC wasn't as good as Fireworks for a Hip song. I'm still not sure he was right but it's his class. I also suggested Alberta Bound and, for a similar theme, Big Sugar's All Hell for a Basement, about Newfoundlanders heading west.

North was in Taiwan when the song came out so I looked it up for him. I also found some background on the song and some very good Canadian trivia. It turns out the phrase 'All hell for a basement' was a quote from none other than Rudyard Kipling who said it in reference to Medicine Hat, Alberta and the gas reserves beneath the region. The full quote: "This part of the country seems to have all hell for a basement, and the only trap door appears to be in Medicine Hat. And don’t you ever think of changing the name of your town. It’s all your own and the only hat of its kind on earth."
That, right there, is some good trivia. Not to mention a great song.

Pace out.

Just Like Music

2010-01-22T18:21:00.003-04:00

I stumbled across a very interesting show on PBS's Independant Lens the other night. It was a documentary called Copyright Criminals about the industry dispute over sampling another artists' work. Here is the trailer:

The doc itself was very good. Arguments are solid on both sides really. There is something to be said for creative license and making something new out of something old. On the other hand intelectual property is the law and, on using someone else's original recording as a tool, George Clinton said it best - "You pay for a guitar, you pay for a piano, you pay for anything else you make a song with." Truthfully though, for me the show was truly compelling for the music and the process that went into some of that early stuff; De La Soul, Public Enemy, Biz Markie, etc. And it also reminded me of some stuff I forgot existed, like this great song...:

...for which Erick Sermon paid $200k. Damn!

Pace out.

Hope

2010-01-21T00:21:00.006-04:00

So it was one year ago that Barack Obama was inaugurated as the new President of the United States. There was a lot of hoopla about hope and change and I bought into it. I am not one to pass judgement quickly but I think it is safe to say that while hope remains, change remains elusive. One party down there plays hardball and does what they want. The other plays softball and doesn't do anything. Catch-22.

It's kind of sad that a undeniably smart, charismatic, seemingly idealistic and visionary man cannot effect change to his hopeful populace, it's a sad state of affairs. I need a pick me up and this made me giggle for far too long:
Oh Snoop, you make everything better.

Pace out.

Dixie Chicken

2010-01-17T21:56:00.016-04:00

Oh how I love a good road trip! Our Sugarloaf/Little Feat expedition was a great success.

The weather was good for the drive down, which was key because a good portion of that drive was done on the backroads of Maine. We spent Friday night in Greenville with friends and travelled the rest of the way to Carabassett Valley Saturday morning. We arrived to find out that we couldn't get into our condo until 4pm which made my ski-or-not-to-ski decision for me. I headed to the rental shop and geared up. As I carried my skis on my shoulder out the front door of the lodge the mountain loomed above me. Clouds cloaked the peak and it looked foreboding to say the least. But then a funny thing happened when I got off the quad; I remembered I could ski. It wasn't pretty but I felt comfortable and, most importantly, I was not a danger to myself or those around me. I stuck to the blue squares as I got my feet and figured 3 or 4 runs was worth a frothy reward. So we went to the mid-mountain bar, Bullwinkle's for lunch.

I enjoyed a Dave's Pale Ale and the best bowl of french onion soup I've had in about a year. It was packed with flavour (or flavor since I was in the USA) and had the perfect ratio of cheese to bread and broth to onion. Magnifique! The beer was good too. So, refreshed, we went back to the slopes for a couple more hours before checking into the condo.

It was a nice setup, 4 beds on two floors, a big living room with kitchen and a bathroom on each floor. It also had two balconies with views of the hill.Once we got home there was a race, first to open a beer, then to hit the hot tub. Sadly, the hot tub wasn't private as I had thought, but public and packed. So I took an extra long hot shower instead, and prepped for the show.

The show itself was great. I knew Little Feat because they played Harvest a few years ago and were one of my stepmom Diane's favourite bands. The were playing as part of the Bud Light Concert Series at Sugarloaf. The venue was great, the crowd was great, and the band played long and hard. They did play Willin', which was cool, and they did end with Dixie Chicken but I should note that it lasted 20+ minutes, went into two other songs, and included a Grateful Dead tease that almost caused North to faint. They ended with a rockin' version of Let it Roll. Good show.

The package for the lift ticket, condo and concert was cheap. The show was great, the condo was good, and the fact that I now know I can ski again is priceless. So, again, road trips are always a good thing. I might have to go on another. Grace Potter at Sugurloaf in March. Or maybe that thing in Vancouver next month...

Pace out.

Top Of The Hill

2010-01-15T16:00:00.006-04:00

As I write this I am getting a little concerned for my personal well-being and North is suffering from Magic Mountain Syndrome. We are going to Sugarloaf USA for the weekend for some skiing and apres-ski with Little Feat.

Magic Mountain Syndrome is the hyper excitement condition that skews reason and tries patience. North has always got it the worst, so we named it after his shaking leg before going to Magic Mountain. I do love a road trip as much as the next guy but I don't have MMS quite like North because I am little apprehensive about hitting the slopes again after a 15 year hiatus. Amazingly, the last time I skied was on a UNB trip to Amqui. They tell me skis have changed since then; they tell me that these new skis pretty much ski for you. I'm hopeful but not optimistic.

No matter what happens on the hill the off-mountain activities should ensure a good time. The reason for going this weekend is that Little Feat is playing tomorrow night. And if that isn't enough then the hot tub should do it.

Wish me luck!

Pace out.

Somethin’s Wrong With The Beaver

2010-01-12T19:36:00.004-04:00

A great movie once taught me that the dirtiest thing ever said on television is: "Ward, I think you were a little hard on the Beaver last night." That little gem still makes me giggle. I have never bothered to search hard enough to see if it was actually said, but it's pretty safe to say that it certainly could have been said, right?

Now, in much the same way Ward Cleaver's innocence was filthied by our dirty modern minds, Canada's second-oldest magazine has found itself forced to change its name because it is being unintentionally caught by porn filters. That is limiting its new readership so the name change is a business decision, by no means a moral one. Said the editor "Market research showed us that younger Canadians and women were very very unlikely to ever buy a magazine called The Beaver no matter what it's about." Well that and the fact that it's about history. Hopefully the new name, Canada's History, works and it continues into its second century.

Pace out.

Next Year

2010-01-10T22:35:00.002-04:00

I took the photo above at Carleton Park the other day. My plan is to take a photo of the river at the park once a week for the year. I hope to be able to put 50 odd photos together in a slideshow at the end of 2010 to show the full year where I live. Atlantic Canada definitely enjoys four distinct seasons and I'm hoping this photo record shows the good (and probably bad) in all of them.

Hopefully I can keep it up. This time next year I'd like to have something to highlight Devon.

Pace out.

Talking in Your Sleep

2010-01-08T01:47:00.004-04:00

This is some fine, fine Friday fluff for your review. The creator of Sleep Talkin' Man has been documenting her husband's sleep babble for the past few months. It is some of the funniest stuff I have read in a long time. Actually had me giggling, then again true babble does that to me. Some of the higlights:

"I haven't put on weight. Your eyes are fat."
"Well that's just great. Peanut butter in my crack. Goddamnit."
"Fluffy bunny + twitchy nose + big ears = great stew."
"Oh, we're going to be late for the pogo ballet, stop it!"

It's all gold, and all a messed up mirror of one man's mind. I shouldn't be surprised that I'm laughing at it though; it's exactly how Geoff Nicki talks when he's awake and that always made me laugh too.

Pace out.

Sore Winner

2010-01-06T01:38:00.004-04:00

I won! I am the Pope of Chili Town! In your face space coyote!

I apologize for not relaying the news earlier but I feared that I might be completely unbearable with my gloating. By now I should be only mildly unbearable. Before I do the world a favour and release the recipe I will tell you that this year's Snow Bowl was one of the best ever. It was a crisp day but the two most important factors were prime; the snow was soft and deep and the wind was next to nothing. There were probably 25 or so players and, as is the case every year(and as the picture shows), we all won.

But I won the Chili Cookoff and here is the recipe for my winning entry that I dubbed Winter Warmer.

Ingredients:
1 pound stewing beef
1 pound ground beef
1/2 pound hot italian sausage
2 yellow onions 1 red onion
1 red pepper 1 green
2 28oz cans of tomatoes (diced and stewed in this case)
1 14oz can of kidney beans, 1 of black beans, and 1 of chick peas
1 can Campbell's tomato soup
1 small can of kernal corn
hot chili sauce - just a little
plenty of chili powder - 4 or 5 tbsp
some cumin - 1 tbsp
some brown suger - couple of tbsp
salt and pepper
1 dark beer - Picaroon's Best Bitter in this case
2 shots of espresso

I slowed cooked the beef with an onion and about half the Best Bitter mixed with chili powder and some chili sauce. I let that go for about 8 hours while I was at work. That was really the secret to the recipe. When I got home I...

In a large pot over medium high heat, brown and crumble the ground beef and sausage. Add the onions and some chlii powder as the meat sizzles and continue stirring, adding the diced peppers as well. Stir until the meat is done. Add the slow-cooked beef. Turn the stove down to medium. Add the (drained) tomatoes and tomato soup. More chili powder, more chili sauce, the cumin, salt and pepper, brown sugar and stir it up. As it starts to bubble add the drained beans and chick peas. Add the espresso (regular coffee will do, the stronger the better) and any left over chili powder in the house. Stir and let it get to a slow boil. Stir and turn the stove down to medium-low. Let it roll for a couple of hours stirring occasionally keeping it simmering. As it thickens test it in a big bowl. If it's too hot used the leftover beer. It's ready at this point but it gets better over the next 3 to 4 days. Enjoy. I'm getting the recipe framed and put up at the clubhouse. It's a new tradition ;)

That's the gospel according to the Pope of Chili Town.

Pace out.

Sort It Out

2010-01-01T13:07:00.005-04:00

Happy 2010!

I touched on all the looking back yesterday so today is a day for looking forward. Although I should quickly say that I had a very good New Year's Eve, complete with a suit, a hot date, champagne at midnight and some of the whitest dance moves of this millenium. But I digress.

I am gearing up to head over to the rugby club for the annual Snow Bowl and Chili Cookoff. I hope to continue my streak of hitting the first drop goal of the year at the club and, more importantly, I hope to break my streak of losing the Chili Cookoff. I'm confident in my creation. It's some of my best work.

I have been pretty piss poor at keeping new year's resolutions so, this year, I have but one resolution: sort it out. It's an all-encompassing motto, from work to weekends, home to hardware, family to fitness. It starts with the chili.

Wish me luck!

Pace out.

Time Turns Elastic

2009-12-31T19:53:00.007-04:00

A pretty common theme on this here blog has been the inevitable marching of time. Any look back is met with some level of incredulity and some other level of amazement to have made it this far. That is an even more common theme this time of year as the clock rolls on and into another year. And this time into another decade. And of course that passage of time is marked by lists, lists, and more lists!. Right now, though, I am remembering where I was 10 years ago tonight. I was at a Phish concert in Big Cypress, Florida, after having driven for 30+ hours in an RV with 8 guys. It was fantastic. We had as much fun as people probably should and then some. It's difficult to find a picture that does it justice but I think the one above comes pretty close. It probably should have marked the end of my childhood but I've heard that 40 is the new 30 which means that I'm the same age now as I was in the photo. Time is elastic!

I'm happy to say that, after a decade, I'm still great friends with all the guys in that picture and all the guys in that RV. It's been a unbelievable run in my rugby world and my club feels like my family. Most importantly, although we lost Diane 5 years ago, the last 10 years were generally good for my actual family and I must say I come from the sturdiest 'broken' home I can imagine. So as I look back I make no lists but just playback the memories of a very fortunate son.

Thanks to all of you and here's to many more.

Happy New Year!

Si

Papa Don't Preach

2009-12-29T18:45:00.005-04:00

That is a picture of the Pacey boys at the MacAfee's for Christmas Eve Roast Beast dinner. I think it is the only picture taken of me over the Christmas weekend. I'm ok with that, I'm quite certain you would have been able to see the weight gain from Thursday to Monday. It was a good few days off and great time spent with friends and family.

Back in the office today and things were predictably slow. Not too many people bothered to go to work for this stubby week in the US. So I was doing a little surfing and in my virtual travels came across a handy little guide that I will keep for reference under the heading of Papa Don't Preach. You see, Dad is a regular reader of the blog and he sometimes subtly reminds me that I should give my posts more than just a cursory edit before publishing them. And sometimes he points and laughs when I misuse then for than. But only because I've got that one wrong forever and over again.

As for the others on the list; I do, continually, have to use some variation of the tricks described to make sure I've got its or it's correct and almost always put an 'a' in definitely before correcting myself. I have never made the mistake of using loose for lose though. Ever. I hope.

Pace out.

Let's Talk Dirty in Hawaiin

2009-12-23T17:38:00.002-04:00

Dad returned from Hawaii last night after being delayed a couple of hours due to the onset of actual winter. So from the land where palm trees sway to the land where the snow-covered pines sway. He came home to a full on winter storm and didn't have a winter jacket packed so when we arrived at the airport (fashionably late) he was freezing. No kidding, he was coming from 31 Celsius on the beach in Maui to -4 in Freddy Beach. Mind you it could have been a lot worse and he could have come home to -30 if he arrived a week ago.

The storm is still raging and there is no doubt that we will get a white Christmas this year. And that means we'll get to hear lots of this classic Christmas song. But with Dad coming home from Hawaii, this song holds special significance:

We're glad you're home dad, we'll keep you warm. We would be open to a Hawaiin Christmas adventure though. I'd be up for getting lei'd at Christmas too!

Pace out.

Put a Little Love in Your Heart

2009-12-21T18:00:00.003-04:00

I took some joy last week in reminding anyone who thought we were having a cold winter thus far that last week wasn't even, in fact, winter. Unofficially it started a few weeks ago when the snow came to stay and was in full swing when we went through a full on deep-freeze for a day or two last week. But officially, Winter starts today, the winter solstice and the shortest day of the year. On the downside the shortest day is not the coldest day - those days are yet to come. On the upside, however, they days are, from this point on, getting longer. It's a slow process with some dark (and fahking cold!) days to come but there is increasing light at the end of the tunnel.

I went and saw Christmas at the Playhouse on Saturday. The show was very good from beginning to end. It helped that Will was one of the baritones in the choir but I don't think my family bias skewed my opinion much; it was very entertaining. They ended the show with a song I wouldn't have associated with Christmas until I remembered Bill Murray's Scrooged. It's a pretty timeless Christmas message so that works for me. And it's light as can be so that works pretty well for the shortest and darkest day of the year.

Pace out.

Do They Know It's Christmas

2009-12-18T16:19:00.005-04:00

"Are you ready for Christmas?" they asked. I'm not exactly sure what they meant but I assumed no so that was the answer they got. I don't have a tree, I haven't bought any gifts and I haven't had a rum and egg nog yet. On the flipside the liquor cabinet has been stocked and I spent at least a few minutes enjoying some Christmas music. So I guess the right answer to their question is...partially.

This is the weekend that the holiday season really kicks into gear. Homeboys and girls come home and the fun begins. I may even start my Christmas shopping tomorrow...then again maybe not.

Here is the one surefire way to know that I am getting the spirit of the season:

"Throw your arms around the world, at Christmas time". If you say so Boy George.

Pace out.

Slip Slidin' Away

2009-12-17T19:13:00.006-04:00

This great photo (Ray Bourgeois) appeared in the Gleaner the other day. It is a cool shot, very striking. As I read the caption I realized it was a view I had seen many times walking down MacKay Dr. before is does it's big sweep left to meet University Ave at the UNB gate. It's the exact same view as the top of what was Buchanan Hill. This was the sliding hill of my youth. It is now home to one of the largest construction projects in the city and future home of the Richard J. Currie Center at UNB. The center will be a new (and overdue) state-of-the-art gym and convocation hall whose visitors will enjoy the same view as the construction worker above with better insulation. I am glad it is being built but there is a large, nostalgic part of me that was very sad to see construction start there last year.

When I was young we spent large chunks of our winter bombing down that hill on a toboggan, crazy carpet, intertube, or, later on, Beaver Bogs made out of Beaver Foods cafeteria trays. It was an absolutely fantastic sliding hill. Steep and fast and long but not so long the walk back up was too much. There may have been opposition to the development but it did not come from wistful sliders like me. In fact, thanks to one too many stupid kids slamming into the telepone pole light stanchion in the middle of the hill sliders and their sleds had been banned from the hill for over a decade. I probably hadn't slid down it in the two decades before it was dug up but I am nevertheless sad to see it go and sad to think that local snotnosed kids won't have a place to drag their sleds to when a new snowfall comes every winter. Luckily I still have some good memories. I caught air off an air bump at the bottom of the hill going top speed on a GT Racer and it was the first time I ever felt like I could fly. I landed clean and slid all the way to the fence on the other end of Buchanan Field. I was the king of the snotnosed kids that day.

Pace out.

Blue Moon

2009-12-15T18:02:00.004-04:00

Nancy and the Gleaner pointed out that this December is a rarity in that there are two full moons that fall within it. Depending on which definition you use the second full moon, which occurs on New Year's Eve, could be considered a Blue Moon. Another definition only considers a moon 'blue' when it occurs for the fourth time in one season of the year. In that case the fourth moon of any season is considered a Blue Moon. For the next instance of that definition you'll have to wait until November 21st next year. A Blue Moon for my birthday, sweet.

The terminology is not literal; it does not refer to a moon that appears blue. The origin of the term 'blue' moon is debated and that friggin' wiki doesn't give me any answers. It did reveal this much though; the Blue Moon, under any of the various definitions, is indeed rare and that is where the term 'Once in a Blue Moon' comes from. The more you know.

And the more you drink the more you think you are as cool as Dean Martin:

Pace out.

The Heat is On

2009-12-13T21:48:00.004-04:00

This was the house on Henry a week or so ago when we got our first (real) snowfall. At this point, thanks to some poor planning on my part and some slow-ass service from Leachman's Plumbing (grumble, grumble) the Bakery had no heat. Happily, the furnace conversion was completed before the weekend and the house is once again toasty warm. Just in tme for the holiday hosting season! So if you are in the neighbourhood, come on in!

The picture above is actually from a series that Carson took that night and some of them are great:

Very cool shots.

Pace out.

Gone Fishin'

2009-12-11T18:02:00.004-04:00

Shawn Graham's Liberals have been under all kinds of fire in the last year over major changes in the Education department and most recently and notably regarding the potential sale of NB Power to Hydro Quebec. There have been other issues and even some positives. The opposition to the major policy proposals has been so loud though that any positive moves have been almost drowned out. There was some good news this week though; the Crown Reserve salmon leases will remain open and available to the fishing public.

It's been a couple of years since I was last able to take advantage of any of these great spots but I was worried upon hearing that the government was considering privatizing the operation. This is good news.

This is a good tune:

Good video to boot.

Pace out.

Don't Believe The Hype

2009-12-09T18:44:00.004-04:00

A few weeks ago I was dismayed (to put it lightly) to see that the Toronto Maple Leafs had added a Canadian flag to their Leaf Nation logo implying, not too subtly, that Canada is Leafs Nation. As an added affront Allen Frew, former lead singer of Glass Tiger(and a Scot), wrote a song Free to Be (a.k.a. The Leafs' Song) which inlcudes the line "Oh, oh, oh, this is Canada's team - Go Leafs Go!". The final straw came while watching the Leafs play the Habs in Montreal last weekend. CBC interviewed Toronto head coach Ron Wilson and asked what his favourite game in Montreal's illustrious history was. He said it wasn't a Montreal game but instead it was when his US team beat Canada in Montreal for the World Cup in '96. The interviewer responded by saying that that wasn't a great memory for too many Canadians. He smirked and said "Well we hope to do it to you again at the Olympics". So the self-proclaimed Canada's Team has a coach that is trash talking Canadians about the ACTUAL Canadian team and this is ok? I think not.

All this lead to me finally pulling some ammo out of my internet cache. Leafs fans in the center of the universe will be sad to see that, as a whole, when polled, Canadians actually named the Canadiens as Canada's team. Look it right here in this article - 'Habs, not Leafs are 'Canada's team' - from the Toronto Star no less. So a big 'up yours' to Allen Frew and any Leaf fan that believes his BS.

A commenter on a related article had it right - no professional team made up of paid professionals from all nations can, or even should, be presumptious enough to call itself Canada's team. That title goes to the National Team and that is that.

Pace out.

Wonderful Tonight

2009-12-08T19:02:00.003-04:00

This is a little delayed but I needed to offer my review of TNB's It's a Wonderful Life because I consider myself an expert on the movie; simply because it moves me every time I see it.

I'll start out by saying I loved it. I had a good sense that I would when I heard director (and former Calithumpian) Caleb Marshall interviewed on CBC days before. He said this has been one of his favourite movies since childhood "whether I was watching it with family before Christmas or alone up late on Christmas Eve" and that "the last scene gets me every time". If anyone had ever asked, those could and would have been my quotes. That ending gets me everytime too and I had faith he would honour the movie as I would hope.

Their version was presented in an interesting format - "Our production pays homage to the classic film, but doesn't try to recreate it. We are staging the story in part as a 1940's radio drama, complete with live sound effects, radio jingles, and actors playing multiple characters." The story stayed true to the original almost to the letter. To top it off the performances were great as were the stage and sound effects. And yes, at the end, it may have got a little dusty in the theatre. Very cool play. Well done TNB, first rate production.

Classic.

Pace out.

Bomb the World

2009-12-04T16:00:00.004-04:00

A few years ago I came across a book called 100 Suns. It was a photography book of a series of images of nuclear explosions. The photos of mushroom clouds from nuclear test blasts were incredibly compelling. Undeniably beautiful and yet undeniably frightening.

I thought of the book today when I watched this amazing clip of Steven Colbert play-acting an atomic blast and ending the clip by saying "Well, you made it ugly":

That's some fine acting right there. Brings those photos to life. so with that as a reach of a segue, I am this evening go to see Theatre New Brunswick's stage adaptation of one of my all-time favourite movies 'It's a Wonderful Life'. I'm very interested to see how true-to-the-original they keep it and whether their version will make me as happy as Capra's. I'm excited to find out.

In another reach of a segue here is this week's flashback song. As we approach the end of the decade I'll spend a little time reflecting on what happened to the last 10 years and some of the things I got to be a part of. One of the best shows I saw this decade was Michael Franti and Spearhead at the Commodore in Vancouver. This is one of the songs he played:

Pace out.

Here It Comes

2009-11-30T19:32:00.003-04:00

We almost made it. We almost made it through November without a snowflake falling. It would have been quite something; I was born in a blizzard so I tend to think of November as a regularly snowy month. And this year we almost made it. But this morning I woke up and noticed that the light coming from outside seemed that little bit brighter and sure enough it was from a light dusting we got overnight. We actually got snow in the cold last couple weeks of October before we enjoyed the latest and, therefore, nicest Indian Summer I can remember throughout (nearly all of) November.

The snow is mostly gone now but it's a pretty good reminder of what's to come. The Farmer's Almanac is guessing that this winter will continue the trend of the last couple and we should see copious amounts of snow. I am now ready; bring it on!

In related news, Dad clearly is not ready for the snow so he booked off last week for a month in Hawaii visiting Alice. Because he likes to edit my writing (wink, wink) he checks the blog and in response to last week's Stella post he bought some beer, hopefully sang that song, and sent this picture:Classic!

Pace out.

Light My Fire

2009-11-27T15:34:00.004-04:00

The Olympic torch arrived in town on Wednesday and I took in the celebration of its arrival at Officer's Square. There was a great crowd and a great atmosphere; tons of flag waving kids being whipped into a frenzy loud music and, I'm guessing, free cotton candy. Between the MCs ranting* local performers entertained until the main attraction arrived. It had come from the Northside where my good friend Alison Brooks carried it into the school where he is principal at St. Mary's. From there swung past my place, across the Bill Thorpe walking bridge, down Queen st., and finally half a block down St.Anne's Point dr. where Marianne Limpert brought it down a path lined deep with loudly cheering fans to the temporary stage in the middle of square. There she lit a cauldron said a few words and passed it over to the politicians, at which point the people knew the good part was over. So we waited in line to get a photo:Sophie either got shy or decided a picture with the Torch wasn't worth selling out to Coke for. It was a decidely commercial evening but these things cost money so some of it can be excused - although the MC urging the crowd to chant "RBC, RBC, RBC!" was a bit too much. That's not what I took away though; that moment was singing O Canada in a huge crowd with the Olympic flame. And that was the fire it lit for me. Amazingly, Canada has never won a gold medal in an Olympics in Canada - not in Montreal and not in Calgary. I need to be in Vancouver, in a crowd of Canadians, singing O Canada when a Canadian gets to put a medal around their neck. That I gotta see.
After we left the party we went for a beer and ran into a couple hundred torch roadies at Dolan's. They, like me, had Thursday off and, like me, were taking advantage of it. I introduced myself to a few of them and paraded a crew of them over to watch some reggae. They loved it. They were a good crew and if that is even some small taste of the times to be had at their final destination, I want to be there.

Pace out.

Ne Me Laisse Pas L'aimer

2009-11-25T14:45:00.002-04:00

Since my youth in french immersion here in NB one of my favourite little lanquage games is to try and instantly translate a song while singing it. This morning in the shower, for example, I tried to translate Imagine as I sang it - vous peux m'appellez un reveur, mais je suis pas tout seul - you get the idea. It has also led to some classic butchering such as when Wheat tried to translate MC Hammer - Voici comment on roll on roll. The reason I was thinking about these translations this week is because this new Stella commercial has stumped me trying to translate it back from French.

I still have no idea what she is saying beyong - peu pas resister. And it's true, I can't resist; no commercial I have seen this year has made me want to buy that product like this one has. So tonight, with a day off tomorrow, I am going to enjoy me some Stella and probably hum this song.

Cheers to good advertising!

Pace out.

All My Friends

2009-11-22T17:34:00.003-04:00

I joked around in Friday's post about North having lived a very good life thus far. Thankfully we share many of the same friends and after the weekend I just had I think it important to be serious for a moment and reflect on the fact that life has indeed been good to me so far as well. I had a great night celebrating Scorpia on Friday at North's with some great friends and Saturday I had a great family night at Aunt Margie's. It was a great weekend and, most importantly, I got two (2) chocalate cakes with boiled icing including the all-time gold standard from Mom. What else could a man want?

Thanks to everyone for a great weekend and for making me a pretty damn lucky guy.

Pace out.

Life's Been Good To Me

2009-11-20T17:55:00.003-04:00

Serendipity - a pleasant coincidence. A few weeks ago North, being the nice guy that he is, presented me with a couple of LPs for my vinyl collection as an early birthday present. One of the albums was But Seriously, Folks by Joe Walsh. I never heard any of the songs on the album except for Life's Been Good To Me but, as luck would have it, that's all I need for this segue.

Today at lunch we were, conincidentally, listening to the radio when the DJ announced today's musical birthdays and named Joe Walsh (and, by chance, Duane Allman). I'm not sure if North knows this but he shares a birthday with Joe Walsh. Naturally they played the hit:

That one is for you pal. Forget those other losers, your friends with me, so life has been pretty good to you.

Pace out.
update - North started writing his blog again. Check it out!

The Weather Is Here, Wish You Were Beautiful

2009-11-18T17:42:00.004-04:00

Every now and again I like to prove to myself that I am not a particlarly superstitious person. So in an effort to prove that jinxes don't exist I am going to talk about the good weather we've been having without a bit of concern about jinxing it.

On the 24th of October I played in the coldest rugby game I may have ever played in and it seemed as though winter was coming early. The next week, although it wasn't beautiful, things had warmed up. The following week and since we have had only a couple days of rain and, above average temperatures, and several absolutely stunning fall days. It has been the nicest November I can remember. Typically by the end of November it's been cold, the ground is brown and darkness has set in that I am begging for the snow to fall to brighten things up. I'm sure that feeling will come, particularly as the Christmas music kicks into gear, but until then I will be enjoying the weather.

One night last week was particularly foggy and the light was really cool. I snapped this picture on the train bridge.Take it away Jimmy:

Pace out.

Let's get it on

2009-11-13T15:57:00.002-04:00

Thanks to the glory of Facebook I have been able to easily track a long held suspicion. I have always noticed a plethora of birthdays in mid-November right up to (and beyond) my birthday on the 21st. My handy Facebook feed confirms this; I had 4 'friends' with birthdays yesterday, 6 today, 5 over the weekend, 6 again Wednesday, and 14 the 5 days after that. Confirmed, that's a lot of birthdays. At some point I thought about it long enough to wonder why this apparent spike existed. A quick look at a calender revealed the reason: mid-November is 9 months from mid-February and Valentine's Day. Many of us are products of a Hallmark holiday, chocolate, wine and songs like this:

Happy Birthday Scorpio lust children!

Pace out.

The Valley Town

2009-11-11T23:44:00.005-04:00

Residents of Fredericton were shocked on Monday to learn that their (and the Provincial) Cenotaph had been damaged by vandals sometime Sunday night. A 6foot cross at one end of the main monument was pushed/pulled down. It would have taken several small people and maybe 1 bear. It would not have been easy. However, no one was caught and no witnesses have come forward. There has been legitimate outrage, much handwringing and even some righteous indignation. The question was asked online - what has happened to Fredericton that this could happen? The answer is that some idiot(s) happened to do something idiotic. Itiots have been doing that forever.

I got up this morning in Devon, walked across the Bill Thorpe Memorial walking brige on a perfect fall day, met Dad and Will at the foot of the bridge to take the short walk to the Cenotaph. As I had hoped, there was a huge turnout. By the time we arrived there wasn't a decent view to be had. At the end of the ceremony we had to walk farther down Queen st. than I remember having to do last year to applaud the parade of veterans, current troops, and cadets. The was an outpouring of support financially as well with money flowing into the legion to help with repairs. I have no doubt that whatever anger our soldiers may have felt has been replaced with pride by the warmth shown them at today's ceremony. It was great to see.

As an aside, last night I went to see a Elliot Brood at the Capitol. There was some good pre-show buzz about these guys and the place was therefore packed. The show was great; very high energy and they were very tight - great harmonies. There were many highlights but this one reminded me of home, the appropriately named 'The Valley Town':

Home sweet home.

This afternoon we played our last rugby game of the year. It was the 2nd Annual Bill Thorpe Memorial game that we play versus UNB. We had a good tough game against the students and enjoyed a beer with them afterwards. It was a great day for rugby and, for that matter, a great day all around. Bill was, and remains, a Fredericton legend. A community-minded indivudual, he would have been humbled to have the game played in his honour, and he would have swelled with pride at the show of support from the residents of Fredericton this morning. I feel much the same way.

Home sweet home indeed.

Pace out.

The Wall

2009-11-09T23:28:00.005-04:00

20 years ago today the Berlin Wall fell. I watched this on the news at the time and wasn't quite old enough to understand the ramifications. I know, because Peter Mansbridge told me so, that it was a big deal. At the time, though, the biggest concern I had was how we were going to compete in the Olympics against a unified Germany. I did grow up in the Cold War but here in sleepy little Freddy Beach, despite CFB Gagetown being so close, never felt and tangible threat. I'm sure it was different for my parents and anyone who grew up doing nuclear attack exercises in grade school. But for me the only time I was actually concerned about the threat of communists coming to Canada was immediately after seeing Red Dawn for the first time (I can vividly remember, when I was in elementary school at St.Dunstan's mind you, having a nightmare about a Russian bomber, like the one in the movie, bombing Fredericton High School).

Shortly after the wall fell the ramifications spread across Europe and within a few years even Russia was giving up on communism. 20 years on those former communist countries have made the European Union the world's largest economy. A portion of their populations are reaping the rewards of that economy and capitalism. Some of them, though, might look back to the security of socialism/communism with envy, particularly since the global economy tanked.

No matter what, it did let Berliners host a great concert:

Pace out.

Sesame Street

2009-11-06T16:40:00.005-04:00

Sesame Street is celebrating its 40th birthday this week. I, along with most of North America's kids born after 1969, grew up with Sesame Street. Big Bird, Grover, Oscar, Bert and Ernie were my friends growing up. Snuffleupagus remains one of my favourite words to say, thinking of Guy Smiley always makes me smile, and Count von Count (and this song)taught me to count. But my favourite character, bar none, is, of course, Cookie Monster. If you haven't plowed into a fresh batch/bag of chocolate chip cookies, pretending to be Cookie Monster, you haven't lived.

My friends with kids tell me that Sesame Street is still in their regular rotation with their kids and, not surprisingly, is one of their favourites to watch. How could it not be especially with the odd musical guest. Here is a good list of the top 10. I would have to say this is my favourite:

Teaching the funk; every kid on the show that day is automatically cooler than any of us ever dreamed of being.

Gotta love the Canadian Content too:

Great stuff. Great show. I wish I were four again.

Pace out.

100 Days, 100 Nights

2009-11-04T17:40:00.004-04:00

Amazingly, 2010 is only 8 weeks away. Equally amazingly, bot not surprising given this space time conveyor we've got ourselves on, the 2010 Vancouver Olympics are only about 100 days away.

The venues are all built, transportation snafus (surely under)prepared for, and the athlete's village just waiting for its supply of condoms. They estimate that approximately 250,000 athletes, training staff, administrators, diplomats, journalists and even some fans will descend upon the city in February. And while many Vancouverites look to leave, I am looking to be among the throng of visitors.

I desperately want to be in Canada's Olympic city when Canada's Olympics conclude. And for the first 10 days or so I would like to be driving across the country meeting people and catching Olympic fever with them. I'm not sure how feasible it is but I would welcome any and all ideas.

We'll call it the Drive for the Gold. What else do you need beyond a catchy name?

More to follow...

Pace out.

One More Time

2009-11-03T18:32:00.003-04:00

I didn't want to jinx anything last week and post about the Caledonia Cup. Three days after the game I didn't want to post anything until my head was clear enough to post coherently.

As you can see from the picture above, we won it. We got it back after a year's absence. It was an incredible game full full of great plays, big hits, lead changes and an amazing finish. The game matched our season. Some ups and downs, adversity, but we came through in the end. It might be the most satisfying to date. But maybe not...

Regardless, thanks to the glory of the internet, here is a highlight video of the game so you can get a feel for it yourselves:

Goosebumps.

Pace out.

Cry Wolf

2009-10-29T01:18:00.002-03:00

I got my seasonal flu shot today, the same week that the provincial government is rolling out its H1N1 vaccine plan. I am not sure that I will get the vaccine because I don't think I quite fall into the danger zones. I have, nevertheless, been fascinated by the debate the program has caused. It is a testament to the information age in which we live that so many people would have an opinion, and a platform to deliver it, on a public health matter. It is a good thing; those that want to be informed have informed arguments to view. And while I would agree that the media has blown the threat of H1N1 out of proportion relative to its spread so far, that should not mean we don't need to be vigilant. I took a history course called The History of Disease and we studied the 1918 flu outbreak. More people died from the flu in 1918=1919 than did in World War 1. This threat may be no different than the bird flu of a few years ago but that does not mean we should be prepared.

I think I will check those ages again and then probably ask my doctor.

Pace out.

The Last of the Unplucked Gems

2009-10-23T17:35:00.003-03:00

I got a call from Wheat on Monday where he let me in on a little secret. I have since been sitting on this secret wanting desperately to spread it. I have been patiently waiting for him to make some sort of public announcement, but that's just not his style, so I have been left wanting. I can sit on it no longer. On his recent trip to visit his brother in the Bahamas Wheat and Melissa got engaged to be married. It came as a shock to me mostly because I was never asked if I approved. Luckily I do, so I won't have to stand at the ceremony when they ask if anyone objects.

More importantly, this means that the list of Fredericton's most eligible bachelor's is shortened by 1 and the proud few of us that remain are the last of the unplucked gems.

Congats Wheat!

Pace out.

Long Time Running

2009-10-22T00:58:00.006-03:00

File this under the list of things I feel I should have known more about, but it appears as though the oldest living Canadian was a New Brunswicker. Sadly, as you can tell by the tense used in the previous sentence, she has passed away.

Margaret Fitzgerald was born in 1896 and celebrated her 113 birthday a few weeks ago. She was born in Tankville, just North of Moncton and spent her last days in a nursing home in town. Her only living relative is her nephew Reg King, who is 90. She was thought to be one of the 15 oldest people in the world at the time of her death.

To put it in perspective, she was born when Canada was 19 years old and had Wilfred Laurier as Prime Minister; the same year that Henry Ford invented his first horseless carriage and 5 years before Marconi sent a telegraph across the ocean. She was 21 when Canadians won the Battle of Vimy Ridge and turned 49 the year the Second World War ended. She was 78 when I was born and turned 100 the year Jean Chretien 'had to choke a bitch'.

The images of my childhood are of big cars, rotary phones, and 12 channel tvs. Margaret grew up when horses were still the primary mode of transportation, iceboxes kept food cold, and radios were 'gathered 'round'. It's hard to fathom that our generation will see as much change in our lifetime as she did in hers. I guess it helps if you live to be 113. Amazing.

Pace out.

I Don't Like Mondays

2009-10-19T19:35:00.004-03:00

Friday night I stopped by North's and picked up some vinyl that a generous friend had left there for me. This was a good little score; the Dead, David Bowie, among others, including The Boomtown Rats. The only song I ever knew of theirs was I Don't Like Mondays. So I looked up a video for the song this morning and found a few. One of them included an explanation of the song, which is a story I never know, but everyone should. Maybe most people do, who knows.

The song is about a school shooting in 1979 in San Diego. The shooter was a 16 year old girl who lived across the street from Cleveland Elementary. She killed 2 adults and wounded 8 children and another adult. After the incident, when asked the one question of why, she is said to have shrugged "I don't like Mondays. This livens up the day." She is still in a California jail.

We tend to think of school shooting to be a reflection of today's societal ills; this debunks that at least a bit. Quite simply there have always been some messed up kids. We might be producing more now but that's just demographic inflation. Plus mental illness is mental illness.

I actually had no idea what this song was about. Hadn't even bothered to make sense of the lyrics. It's a better song after knowing that. Here is the http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0qNGYxUwmU and here is someone else's sim city interpretation. No shit:

Seeing the original video now put Jeremy in context. Mind you that was almost 20 years ago too.

In reality, I don't really mind Mondays.

Pace out.

Running on Empty

2009-10-16T16:14:00.004-03:00

My intrepid friend Jonesy, the wandering financial advisor, is off on another global adventure after this one, this one and this one. He is off this time to do the one that seems to be the most physically demanding (or insane). He is going to the Sahara to run in an ultra marathon, or something like it. The Sahara Race is part of a larger, global competition called 4 Deserts which is appears to be 4 times as insane as doing 1 (which is in no way meant to diminsih the insanity of 1). Jonesy will be travelling between 10 and 50 miles per day for 6 days. In the Sahara. That's crazy.

Jonesy is taking off next week and the race itself starts on the 25th. He will be sending updates from the desert here. Jonesy is stubborn as hell. He'll keep running until his feet fall off.

Pace out.

Among His Tribe

2009-10-13T21:55:00.005-03:00

If The Rock would have won our game versus Ontario I would have spent last weekend in BC. That would have been pretty sweet. But as it turns out I am pretty happy to have been stuck in NB instead. Furthermore, I count myself very fortunate for the people I've surrounded myself with. My thanksgiving weekend entailed a big win (and league Championship) with the Loyalists, followed by a big night at the clubhouse. On Sunday I hit the road with my Dad and brother to join my sister and brother-in-law, my aunt (dad's sister) and her husband, mom, stepfather and grandparents at their house on the coast in Rexton. It was a lovely time with wonderful food and even better (hard to believe that's possible) company. It was everything thanksgiving should be and certainly reminded me of how much I have to be thankful for.

Back in the office this morning I was checking the weekend news and found this piece about an Amazonian tribe that was decimated by a greed driven genocide in the early 90's. There are only 5 members left of the Akuntsu tribe. I've always been amazed at the thought of an animal species going extinct during our lifetime but the thought of an ancient peoples going extinct and even more surreal to be reading a story about it on the internet. The remaining members will watch their own demise as it unfolds. It's a very sad testament to the state of the world.

On the flip side though, this thought made me doubly thankful that among my tribe times are good. The rugby club is fluid, some of the elders are moving on and changing roles, but others are coming into the fold. Among my family my two parental families have gotten closer and, in doing so, getting bigger. I'm sure mom would rather it would be growing with my children but I'm still hopeful for that too. For now, though, I hope they all know how thankful I am for them all. I mean I got two thanksgiving dinners!

Among His Tribe - Ween
Pace out.

Peace Sells

2009-10-09T19:30:00.004-03:00

It was announced yesterday morning that US President Obama has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The win has already been widely decried as very premature just 9 months into his presidency with almost all of his campaign promises still on the shelf. The win was basically for his re-introduction of diplomacy as a foreign policy tool for the States. He has done that, most notably engaging Cuba and Russia. At the same time, however, he has ramped up the war in Afghanistan and become more active in Pakistan. It's a dicey call but he is quite the salesman.

Pace out.

Umbrella

2009-10-07T22:21:00.003-03:00

I had to coach in the rain this evening so I purchased a dollar store umbrella to keep my at least partially dry. It will be interesting to see just how long a dollar store umbrella lasts but I was willing to bet 2$ that it would last as long as 1 practice. As it turns out practice was cancelled so it will last at least another day. It did get me thinking, however, about who invented the umbrella. It was, of course, Normy's Egyptian forefathers. Although they also appear in ancient Greece and China as well. In modern times it was, not surprisingly, the British that waterproofed it and modernized it. The more you know. I'm almost positive mine isn't made of whalebone.

Pace out.

Rio

2009-10-02T15:59:00.005-03:00

Today in Rio de Janeiro a major announcement was made to a sweaty throng on Copacabana Beach: the 2016 Olympics are coming to town. I can only imagine how much Olympic Bid Victory sex was had right there on that beach. If getting sand (or crabs) out of a thong was an Olympic event the Brazillians would win by a mile. And if figure skating can be an Olympic sport I think a case could be made for an event for the best Brazillian. I'll judge and everything. Here's a former champion:

In all seriousness, that is going to one crazy couple of weeks in 2016.

Pace out.

The Crying Game

2009-10-01T16:15:00.005-03:00

Let the Games begin!

Based on this story from Deadspin, it appears that, in this Olympic year at least, that this is not your Grandfather's Canada. We are not playing nicely. The story is, basically, that we are sticking to the letter of the Olympic rules in alloting time for foreign athletes to train at the Olympic venues. In doiing so we are not honouring previously held gentlemen's agreement held by different sports' organizations. We are well within our rights to do this as host, the sense is though, that we just aren't being very Canadian about it.

Frankly, I love it. We will still be gracious hosts, but we will use every advantage afforded us in hosting these games. In Calgary we did not win a gold medal. We don't want to repeat that feat next February. For the time being, keep on whinning World.

As an aside, I hope to make it to the Olympics but more on that another time.

Pace out.

It's Not Easy Being Green

2009-09-28T02:53:00.002-03:00

Well we lost our game against Ontario over the weekend, thus ending our ARC campaign. To be more specific we didn't just lose, we lost badly. A descriptive sportswriter may have called it carnage; 32-5 was the final. Simply put they played well and we played poorly. It was fun while it lasted.

Meanwhile, on the way home from my return flight to Moncton, I was a party to what a descriptive journalist would have dubbed "Carnage on Route 105". On my drive on that section of highway between Jemseg and Lower St. Mary's I would estimate I killed a hundred frogs. Big frogs, little frogs, all sizes of frogs. I honestly tried my best to avoid them without going off the road but I was only marginally successful with them hopping all over the road like that. It really begs the question, which that same journalist would present to his science expert, of why, exactly, did the frog (attempt to) cross the road? We'll never know of course but what we do know is that Kermit was right:

Pace out.

Rock This Town

2009-09-25T23:10:00.003-03:00

I am in Toronto with the Rock for our last game of round robin portion of the Americas Rugby Championship. We are playing the Ontario Blues and, based on the results so far in the competition, it should be a close game. It will certainly be a tough one; Ontario fairly sees themselves as a rugby power and their team is currently sitting at 0-2. They won't want to go 0-fer in front of their home crowd. We need to win or lose closely to earn our trip to BC for the final. Now that would be sweet.

First things first though:

Pace out.

Them Changes

2009-09-22T17:32:00.002-03:00

As I was heading home from work last night I noticed a maple tree whose trees had already changed to bright red. I thought to myself that it was awfully early for the leaves to change. I thought about it for a second and remembered that today was actually the first day of fall and those leaves were about right on time. I had lost track of time somewhat because the last couple of months have been busy with rugby so it certainly didn't feel like summer is already gone. Alas, it is. Fortunately the forecast this week calls for summer like temps so we that should help. Neverthelass, fall officially starts tomorrow and those leaves will keep going through them changes.

That whole paragraph was really just an excuse to play this song:

I have this album in my vinyl collection and it's sweet.

Pace out.

When the Circus Comes to Town

2009-09-20T19:14:00.003-03:00

Two weeks ago in Calgary, the 6 of us not travelling back to Newfoundland after our game there missed our flight because we went to the airport with the rest of the team when we should have checked-in an hour earlier. None of us checked our tickets, we trusted that the manager had taken care of that for us. Real adult behaviour there. This is of course nothing new for me; the Calgary airport alone has been the scene of a couple of epic airplane misses and, although they are clearly my fault, I still feel as the YYC owes me almost two full days of my life back. There are countless other misses, most notably the flight I missed by 15 minutes...and one day. But for every sad miss there are countless other near misses that end happily. Today was one of those days. Brent and I arrived at the airport at 6:50 for a 7:15 flight and the nice people of Westjet in St. John's rushed us through security and on to the plane. In the security line we bypassed the BC squad that beat us (8-7) the day before. Among this mob were some good friends from my days in BC and they had some catcalls as we skipped the queue to catch our flight. This, obviously, drew some interesting looks among the 'civilians' in the airport. They were enjoying the show; the circus coming to town.

Meanwhile back in Freddy, the Blues Festival was wrapping up. It, (way) more than any other weekend in our sleepy little town is like the circus coming to town. And I was sad last night knowing that the headliner was Los Lobos and they sing a great song about just that (sadly I couldn't find their version on YouTube so the version I knew first will have to do):

The circus is gone now and I missed it but it will be back and so will I.

Pace out.

Pretty in Pink

2009-09-18T22:47:00.003-03:00

I've spent much of the last couple of months with Le Big Dumb Dog Jebb Sinclair and he has been repeatedly asking my why he hasn't gotten any more face-time on the blog. The simple answer is that us sitting in a basement with me watching him kill Xbox zombies just doesn't make for good content. Fortunately he has now given me some fodder. The picture on the left appeared in today's Telegram in St. John's. Besides being an obvious diva, Jebb is also a quote machine and the associated article contains a couple classics. He is especially effusive of the digs we've been sharing at the Doctors Parfrey house. The Ritz-Carleton of Newfoundland he calls it. It's not far from the truth, save one key differentiator; the price.

Jebb also offers his prognostication of the game and will need to back up some of that bluster tomorrow. He does have the potential to do it. When he's on his game he can manhandle people and, as Malcolm MacAfee has always told me, it takes a man to wear pink.

Pace out.

Update: Interestingly, Saturday morning's Telegram had a picture and story on Chincy O'toole, the other New Brunswicker starting on the flank for the Rock. Chaunce is the quieter of the two National team Newbies (anyone would be) but reading the paper it appears he paid more attention during his media training. Jebb sells papers though.
Sadly, no love for Pacey from the Newfoundland press.

Hurt So Bad

2009-09-18T17:11:00.002-03:00

I made the mistake today of reading some friend's facebook status' and letting them tell me just what I was missing while I was in Newfoundland for last night's practice. Everyone raved about Susan Tedeschi's show so I went on a quick YouTube tour and found out that it appears I missed good one.

Sing it Susan:

There should be no surprise; she is married to Derek Trucks so she's got some cred. She also has some extra cred from me because I noticed her name in Diane's album collection years ago. Speaking of people I missing...Tonight is the Downtown Blues Band's regular midnight slot and, although I just can't enjoy them quite as much without Diane, I still love seeing them and the fact that Barry Hughes continues to put her feather boa on his cymbal. It's still her festival to me; which makes it doubly wonderful that, for the third straight year, Will's band, T-BonE, is playing a couple of gigs at the festival. Again, speaking of things I'm missing...

Pace out.

Wishful Thinking

2009-09-17T14:55:00.003-03:00

Last night I got to go see my one show of this year's Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival. I'm off to Newfoundland as I write this for a game against BC on Saturday. This is the first time I'm missing the whole Harvest weekend since 1998. It is, without question, the best weekend of the year in Freddy and it's been the highlight of my, non-rugby related, fun since I first volunteered at the 2nd Annual in 1992. Needless to say I'm disappointed to be missing most of it. Having said that I am excited about this game on Saturday, and, as a saving grace, I did get to see a great Joel Plaskett show last night.

Nevertheless, when he played this song I did find myself wishing that I could have done both:

Pace out.

Shower the People

2009-09-14T17:40:00.003-03:00

When I was in grade 8 I was really stuck for a topic for an oral presentation I needed to do. At the last minute I decided I would speak on my love of singing in the shower. My argument was quite mostly that there wasn't much else to do in there because you were all alone (it was grade 8) and because the acoustics were great. As it turns out we aren't all alone and it appears that a shower head is as dirty as a toilet bowl, or close to it.

Personally I think this is just a (fairly transparent) ploy by the Washington bathroom fixture lobby to force us to buy more shower heads; the recommendation that follows the warning is that people replace their heads every 6 months. No shit. Rinse, lather, and repeat.

Pace out.

Update: The Globe is now reporting that you don't need to be afraid of taking a shower. Or singing in the shower for that matter.

A Day in the Life

2009-09-11T23:45:00.002-03:00

I wasted my Tuesday at the Calgary Airport waiting for a rejigged flight plan. That makes 2 full days that airport now owes me thanks to another such mix-up a few years ago. Days like that make you appreciate just what a day means. That was timely when I read this article extolling the virtues of the four day work week. Utah, of all places, saw great success with a pilot project of government employees. They found that the 4 day 10 hour model had benefits for both employer, employee, and environment.

I can vouch for the benefits as I worked 4 day work weeks in the 90's while working summer at the GM warehouse in Moncton. That Friday off allowed me to have some fun in Moncton on Thursday night and take my time coming home on Friday. It was sweet. I remember claiming at the time that the long weekends were good for the local economy (entertainment, tourism, etc). The argument now is of the green variety, stating that the day off reduces the enviromental footprint. Either works for me...I'd just like Friday to be Freeday.

Pace out.

The Battle of Evermore

2009-09-10T17:30:00.006-03:00

In the history books this may end up being remembered as the flashpoint of a cross border war between the countries with the longest undefended border in the world.

It appears that a dispute between transportation officials in Canada and the US will make multiple charter stops in the other country illegal. This will mean that teams would have to return back to their home country before flying to the next road game. This might not affect the US teams that much because all of their destinations in Canada are relatively close to the border. But when the Habs go on their west coast road swing thy will either need to fly back and forth to Canada, fly with the masses on commercial flights, or go back to their junior or minor league days and ride the bus.

This is clearly a travesty. I believe this to be a conspiracy by the Yanks to give a competitive edge to their teams. No wonder we haven't heard a peep from Bettman on this. You do not mess with Hockey in Canada. Deadspin nailed it.

This might be the only thing that could actually unify the country to mobilize. A call to arms and a reminder to keep your sticks on the ice.

Pace out.

A Fifth of Beethoven

2009-09-04T14:13:00.003-03:00

My week's "vacation" at the Regent St. Resort in St. John's is now over. There was tons of good food and good drink but there was also a fitness test and 1, and sometimes 2, rugby practices everyday. This week was being used, in conjunction with a weekend camp in Freddy in July and the week in Walesto pick the Atlantic Rock which is the region's entry in the Americas Rugby Championship. The team was picked on Wednesday and tomorrow morning we leave for game 1 in Calgary on Labour Day. Brent, Jebb, Chauncey and myself and the latter three of us made the starting squad. That works out to a fifth of the starting squad from NB. The coaching staff has done a good job of making this squad feel like a team but before our game I do need to give a nod to NB rugby for putting its stamp on this team. And because that makes me happy, this song seems appropriate beyond its title:

Pace out.

Sweet September

2009-09-01T23:27:00.002-03:00

Amazingly, today is September 1st. This summer has absoulutely flown by; partially because there wasn't much summer weather to speak of and partially because I was busy as hell playing rugby. The latter continues (I'm currently in Newfoundland trying out for the Atlantic squad in the Americas Rugby Championship) while the former has gotten a bit better of late and I'm hoping that we are in for a nice long Indian Summer.

Either way, not that I am officially no longer a student, September no longer means I have to deal with the dread of heading back to class. Now I can relish that fall for all of its wonder. Sweater weather, fall rugby, and this song:

Pace out.

Video Killed the Radio Star

2009-08-28T16:20:00.006-03:00

Muchmusic turns 25 this week. Somehow I would have thought it was even a little bit older, I guess mainly because MTV was launched 3 years earlier. We didn't get MTV at the time though, so for us, Muchmusic was the first.

It was decidedly Canadian. It was low-budget, the hosts were huge dorks, and the first song the ever played was The Enemy Within by Rush. When it was launched, and for a decade afterwards, it was the likely stop if there was nothing else on TV. There were only 20 some channels at that time so it was a regular stop; plua Erica Ehm was hot. At some point MTV became available in Canada but they stopped showing videos around the same time. The same thing has since happened to Much. Maybe that's why they dropped the 'music' from the name. It's very rare these days that you can actually turn it on and find a video playing.

Back in the day, though, it was actually pretty great. Campy maybe, but great.

Pace out.

PS - here is the actual footage of the launch.

Furr

2009-08-26T20:20:00.005-03:00

A few months ago one of the many jackasses I play rugby with showed up at a party with the 3 Wolf Moon Shirt. It was humorously ironic; this is a shirt you would typically find in a truck stop in North Dakota so it was so uncool it was cool.

It started with a fake review on amazon and from there the meme took off. You could actually see people everywhere with wolf shirts. But at what point does wearing something uncool to be cool become uncool again. I think the picture above might answer it. At the very least, it stops becoming ironic, as noted here.

There is, however, still much humour to be found in the the wolf vein, as witnessed by Alan's wolfpack speech in the The Hangover. We laughed at this, among countless other jokes in the movie, when we saw it in Wales. I got another kick out of it when I found this song North put on my (S)iPod:

Sweet tune.

Pace out.

Free Fallin'

2009-08-21T16:06:00.007-03:00

It was recently brought to my attention that there exists a website dedicated to the waterfalls of New Brunswick. It lists all of the waterfalls I can remember ever being to, which, sadly, is only a list of 3 - Dunbar, Falls Brook, and Williams Falls at
Mount Carleton. I guess I could add the North Branch of the Little Southwest Miramichi River at Little Forks because it is basically one long chute from the Beaver pools down. So that's 4. Fortunately, the website also lists the Forest Hill Falls and Odell Falls both of which I have walked by countless times growing up in Freddy. So that's 6 and I'm guessing I'm forgetting at least a few (Fundy?, does Little Falls in the St. Croix count?) so I can at least claim a few. It's clear, though, that I have missed the vast majority. And for people in that position this website is perfect. There should, one day, be a map on my wall full of pins showing these waterfalls. Maybe one of these summers when I have any time. Until then I have a great place to plan my trip.

Pace out.

Rock Ranger Record

2009-08-19T01:47:00.001-03:00

North sent me the link to some footage he took on our perfect day in Saint John on Saturday. First a brief clip of the insane motocross jumping on the boardwalk. Remember this happened in the 20 feet that separates the Boardwalk patios from the stage.

The next clip is a surprisingly high quality video of Matt Mays from the Blue Olive. You should probably watch this:

He dedicated that song to Les Paul. Nice work North.

Pace out.

Souvenirs

2009-08-18T17:30:00.004-03:00

John Prine played the Playhouse last night and, as luck would have it, I ended up at the show. I hopped on Kijiji early yesterday afternoon to check if any poor soul had to unload a ticket. Sure enough a couple of offers popped up and I sent the first one a note. I got a response a few minutes later from Doherty who couldn't make the show and had to give up the single he found on the same site the week before. So I was the 3rd pair of hands on this ticket and very happy to have mine on it.

My earliest memories of John Prine are riding around the Maritimes with Malcolm heading to rugby games of the fishing camp. So to keep with that tradition I stopped by Malcolm and Nancy's for a beer before the show. I arrived at the show just in time to get a beer and find my solo seat. I was half expecting (fully hoping) to sit down next to some jilted beauty who broke up with her boyfriend but kept the Prine tickets in the split. No such luck. . Nevertheless, as with every seat in the Playhouse, I did have a great view. The opener was good but I was antsy for a few laughs from a legendary entertainer

Sure enough, as soon as Prine hit the stage and launched into his vast catalog that spans witty and whimsical to wise and downright weepy he had the crowd eating out of his hand. He has aged since I last saw him in Saint John 4 years ago but he still had that great old raspy voice and lots of help from his backing duo. He played almost everything you expected to hear. He did not play Illegal Smile but he did play my favourites, All the Best, Angel from Montgomery, and Paradise. I would have to say that the highlight, for the sheer delight of the crowd when he played it, had to be Let's Talk Dirty in Hawaiin.
Kicka puka maka waawaa heenee!

Needless to say, I'm glad I checked Kijiji. Thanks for the ticket Doherty; thanks for the mental souvenirs John.

No clip of last night's show yet but this one is great for his rapport with the crowd. That has not changed.

Pace out.

Perfect Day

2009-08-16T20:54:00.006-03:00

Summer around here is supposed to be full on long, hot sunny days that can be packed with all kinds of summer fun so make up for the short days and numbing cold of winter. It's a delicate system; if the balance is off it throw your mood for a year, and this summer hasn't had anywhere near it's requisite number so that balance was in question. That may be changing as the weather is finally here and yesterday I took advantage of it with a near perfect summer day.

I started off by sleeping late then driving to Surf City with the boys. Saint John is typically cooler than Freddy Beach and this day was no exception. However in this case that meant it was only 32 in Saint John and 37 here at home. A little too hot for rugby but I think our fitness work must be paying off and we routed the Trojans 50-3. I can't lie, that was a good start to my day away in SJ.

We left the game and headed to the Royal Kennebecasis Yacht Club to join Moe on his party boat. We steam up the Kenebecasis towards Rothesay and then over to the Kinston Peninsula for a swim. Perfect day for a boat ride, hot as hell but enough of a breeze on the water to stay cool. Moe's Labbatt products didn't hurt either.We got off the water and had a huge feed at Craig and Heather's.

From there we went to the Boardwalk just in time to catch an insane motocross exhibition right beside the patios on the boardwalk. It was actually nuts, only 10 or 15 minutes but crazy. I was hoping to find a clip on YouTube but no luck as of yet.

We left the Boardwalk at 11 and headed out Rothesay Ave. to get to the Blue Olive and cap off our night catching Matt Mays at the intimate little venue. The place was not packed, which was perfect, because we could get right up close and personal. He played a (relatively) short but sweet set (setlist above). He rocked out hard, jamming most every song. Highlights were Month of September, Rock Ranger Record, Cocaine Cowgirl, and an epic Terminal Romance for the encore. He also played an unknown honkey-tonk labelled California Time on that setlist. It was kick ass.

We ended the night choking on leftovers and then spent today recovering in the water at Douglas Lake just outside Saint John. It was another amazing day. Nearly perfect; hopefully more to come before summer is out.

Pace out.

While My Guitar Gently Weeps

2009-08-14T16:03:00.006-03:00

It was a noteworthy and newsworthy week in guitar history. Monday marked the 100 years since Leo Fender was born. And, sadly, on Thursday Les Paul died at the age 94. The two of them were synonomous with the electric guitar and are major reasons it is the centerpiece instrument of the most popular music of the last 50 years.

Fender was an inventor and, beyond giving the world the Stratocaster, basically invented the solid body electric guitar. Paul, around the same time, was creating his own version of a solid body which was the basis of what became the other classic rock guitar, the Gibson Les Paul. Beyond that he was sound and effects innovator and a very accomplished player in his own right.

The list of guitars of the Guitar Gods would certainly list these two guitars as 1 and 2. In fact the list for the Strat and the Les Paul (all Gibson incl) are a who's who of rock legends.

For a good clip of a Les Paul in action check this out:

For a great example of a Stratocaster in action and a fitting memorial to these two icons, here is another icon:
.
Classic. Thanks fellas.

Pace out.

We Are Family

2009-08-09T21:46:00.005-03:00

These days it is a pretty rare treat if Poppa Pacey and the Pacey siblings get a change to get together. So it was a very rare treat yesterday to get not only Dad, Sarah, Will and I together for a visit but also all of Dad's sisters and a slew of their friends. As an added bonus Mom and Sam showed up from the Island to join in.

The occasion was simpy the opportunity. Aunt Mary Ann and Dave were home from Edmonton for a vacation so we got a chance to see everyone together. I was disappointed not to get to see everyone when they got together a few days earlier but I just couldn't pass up that trip to Wales.

Great to see everyone together.

Si