Stuart looking intense! 

Jeff and Stuart 

Jef playing the Indian Instruments 

Nice 

Jeff bows the Guitar .... reminiscent of Jimmy Page! 

Ok, he is SUPER CUTE!!!!!!!!! Both ears up! YEAH Jackie! 

My little boy is growing up so fast!

I came home from work today and both of Jackie's ears are standing up straight now. Oh my goodness he's growing up fast. (*haha*) We went to the vet for a well puppy physical and I was please to see that he weighs 1.7 kg (3.75 lbs). That's up from 2.8 lbs on June 20th! Wow he's getting big!!! HAHA!

Jackie loves grass!

Jackie is so small that he gets lost in the grass in the backyard. Too cute!  

One ear up! Cute! 

Jack is HERE!

Ok, so how cute is THIS!!! Meet Jack.... he's my new manly puppy dog! A 9-week old Papillon puppy. He's the ultra cutest thing I've seen in a long time. Robbers beware... he's likely to be a great guarddog too! hahaha! He currently weighs about 3 lbs and he's likely to max out around 7 or 8 lbs. If you want to see a bunch of pictures of what this breed looks like as an adult check out this link The breeder told us that the ears raise up at around the 14 week mark. Too cute!!!

Jack and Erin 

Happy Canada Day in Ottawa

We headed up to Dickson's in Ottawa for a rocking good time on Canada Day. The drinks flowed, the food appeared (and I'm talking heavy duty food...two types of jerked chicken slow cooked on a charcoal BBQ and then pork souvlaki... we basically ate all day!!!), the people were great, and the fire works were amazing. We watching them from an abandonned railway bridge near the Lemieux Island Water Treatment Facility. I had never been there and it was really an adventure!

Thanks Dickson and Kristen for the hospitality!!!

Friday night = classic

[Fade into scene - Erin waking up 6:30am and walking downstairs into the Office. Eric already there, playing with her new PalmPilot.]

Erin - Are you playing with my new PalmPilot?
Eric - um... no.

[Eric with big smile. Erin giggles and picks up her phone. Dials into her answering machine. Listens and laughs.]

Erin - Well, Jen just called. Guess what she said on her message "Erin, did you ever get the cops called on you by the neighbours while you lived here? Well, I did. I wonder if it's the first time."

(Laughing)

['nuff said! Happy B-day Alex!]

We had a fun party at Lori Payne's Friday afternoon. A kind of feel good celebration of our accomplishments as a division. Here's a pic of our CDU group before changing clothes and hitting the pool! Erika looks so cute pregnant! 

Sloan at Stages!

Sloan played at Stages Friday night and of course we were there. Julie and Michlle joined us too! After a beverage at the Toucan, Vanessa was nice enough to drive us to Stages. The concert rocked. We were right up close to the stage. They kicked it off in awesome fashion with 4 of their sweetest tracks, mellowed it out in the middle and then brought it home in the end with 4 more awesome cuts! They're a musically talented band I tell you. The lead singer Chris is just awesome. He sang, played guitar, played bass and played the drums throughout the night. Wow!

I saw Pauline, Pauline the prettiest girl you've ever seen there too. What a coincidence! She was there with her daughter April. they were rockin' out too! Great night all around. I bought my Tea Party tickets for Friday July 15th too! YEAH! That will be the 10th time I see the Tea Party in concert! Woooooooohoooooooo!

Tragedy at my House!

Short version:

Dog snapped and bit the cat. Cat went to the vet for 5 days. Barely lived. Dog is gone back to the rescue agency. We can't trust him. Sad.

Tom Green & Eggs... no Ham

Friday was wet and wild! Erin, Tiff, Wayne and I went down to the Elixir to see Tom Green. It turned out to be one of the best times in a long time at a bar. Firstly, Wayne was pumped from the get go. He's a big Tom Green fan and knows his old stuff from when he had a rap band named Organized Rhyme. I had never herd of Organized Rhyme, but I do know that one song "Check the O.R." (the link has the lyrics and a link to the mp3). So they did a bunch of funny rap stuff and the crowd was nuts. They they proceded to cook some eggs. Yes...you read that right...cooking eggs on stage. Then the chanting started "What do you do when someone gives you a plate?" ... and the crowd replied in unison: "You eat the f*cking eggs!" Wow.... is this a cult? How did they know that? I don't have all the answers...but it was quite funny. Tom crowd surfed twice. I copped a feel both times. Pretty cool. They did other pre-pubescent things like throwing stuffed animals *AT* the crowd .... and spraying whipped cream in a can on people's heads. At one point Wayne got on the stage and was doing this ultra-silly dance that supposedly comes from the old Organized Rhyme days. It was hilarious how badly Tiff was embarassed by this HAHAHA! The crowd loved it!!!

So half way through the show we had "to do something that's never been done in the history of Hip-Hop." We had to sit on the floor cross-legged for 5 minutes and listen to whale music. I'm serious... whale music. And the entire bar did it... even the bouncers. Wild. I nevre thought I would sit on the floor of a bar for 5 minutes... but somehow doing it with others made it ok! WEIRD...but ok!

The show ended up to tons and tons of cheering. By now Erin and Wayne are hammered like crazy. I can't comment on Tiff, she looked ok. Erin rushes the stage and steals the mega-metal spatula from the egg cooking incident and brings it back. The bartender momentarily confiscates it as a weapon and then Erin gets it back and it goes down my pants. We smuggled it out later... after autographs! Tom came back out and Erin got a beauty: sign "Tom Green, 1992" Too funny!

So just when we though the night was done, we poured into the street and Tiff and Wayne called a cab. Wayne got rambunctious and picked up Erin and through her down on the trunk of the cab and pretended to h*mp her! They were drunk... it happens (*grin*) Well, the cab driver freaked and hit the gas and narrowly missed (by less than 6 inches) hitting another cab...he had to slam on the brakes!!!! He comes out and freaks out on Wayne saying that Wayne broke is trunk mounted antenna. The magnet had indeed come off. So to placate the freaking cab driver Wayne agreed to go to the bank and pay off the guy $65. The next thing that happen was augured by the fact that Wayne gave Tiff his sandals and house keys, and refused to let her come with him to the bank in the cab. (Hmm.... what does this mean?!?) Fast forward 10 minutes. Wayne calls Tiff's cell from home. He had gone to the bank, bolted on the cab driver...ran over to Ontario street. Explained to another cab driver that he is in a bit of a "situation" and was wondering if he could give him a ride home for $15. The cabbie said "Sure". Voila...to easy! HILARIOUS. Wayne is officially crazy! I like that about him!

What's going to happen next time Tom Green comes to town? I can't imagine!

Postscript: Erin spent the entire next day half dead with a brutal hang over on the couch. She’ll never learn that you have to drink lots of water when you drink 10 beer! *grin*

Saturday was a great day! Here's me and Big chilling on the deck after playing fetch. He's almost as tired as me! 

Ahhh... Thornley rocked the house on Friday night! It was some hard rocking head banging in your face rock and roll. They put on a great show that hit the crowd like a freight train (in a good way, of course) One example was kicking off the encore with Immigrant Song by led Zeppelin. Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet! Boy can those boy play their axes! I saw about 12 different guitars during the show too! V.Cool. Definately worth the money. Note in this picture the two pairs of g-strings hanging from ian's mic stand. He's well liked by the ladies for obvious reasons (*grin*) Thanks to Julie for being my concert buddy. Next show Sloan and the the Tea Party coming in July! Awesome! 

As you can tell the crowd at Stages was loving every minute of it!!!! 

Grocery Store Wars!

This is just too funny, especially if you are a Star Wars fan.

First softball game is in the books

We wn our first softball game.... by default... the other team didn't have enough people ;-) But we sent 5 of our people to their side and we made it a fun game. I crossed over to the dark side.... which eventually became the winning side... 7-6 when all was said and done. I batted .500. Double and a strike out on fouls...DOH!!!

10 out of 10!

I saw Star Wars Episode III yesterday with Ted and CJ. I give it a 10/10. Arguably the best movie of the six, it's jammed packed with battles, politics, back stabbing, evil, good, jedis, light sabers, creatures, ships, and Natalie Portman! And it is completely absent of any speaking roles for Jar Jar Binks! YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This movie rocks! I especially loved the way they wrapped it up at the end to make the story continuous with Episode IV. Awesome! Kudos to CJ's buddy George! (a.k.a. George Lucas)

The opening of the Sunset Ceremony for Graduation Day at RMC started with a bang! Here's the Canadian Flag being flown on the leg of a Skyhawk Paratrouper. AWESOME! 

Here's a wild and crazy tripple leg-lock maneuvre! WOW! They're cruising straight down to the ground at over 50 kmh! 

Here's an action shot of the Sandhurst team machine gunning intruders in a re-enactment of a battle. Cool! 

Aren't we cute in the stands! 

We went to walk Big today along the waterfront behind the old Kingston Psych Hospital. Look what we found! How cute! 

My b-day pah-tie

Upwards of 20 people came to my 36th b-day party on Saturday night. A good time was had by all! A special good time was had by all Red Wings fans in attendance. As they were able to feast on a home made Red Wings cake!!! Well... who am I kidding... I was probably the only Red Wings fan at the party.... but holy smokes was it good cake!!!! (*grin*) Special thanks to Julie for her baking expertise! It was a great party. I had a lot of fun. Lots of people I knew from different parts of my life came together: RMC work life, Queen's life, neighbours, old friends, and new friends. Very cool. Thank you to everyone who brought gifts even though they weren't supposed to!!! (*grin*) In addition to all the great party gifts I got, the Pièce de Résistance was the gift that Erin got me. A vintage Red Wings sweater. It's awesome! That'll keep me warm during Hockey Night in Canada next winter (haha!)

Here's the cake!!!! Courtesy of Julie Merry! 

Friday's Tea Party

ROAD TRIP!!! Friday night Patty, Ted, Julie, Erin and I hit Major Hill Park in Ottawa to kick off my b-day weekend with the Tea Party concert! But before the concert we met up with my Dad and Louise for some yummalicious wings at Local Heroes on Bank Street. It's the second time I've been there and I think these wings might be the best wings I have ever had in my life! Boy they are yummy!!!!

The concert rocked, as usual. This being my 8th time I see the Tea Party in concert. Thanks to Erin for organizing it and to Patty and Ted for letting us crash at their place!!! Awesome. The Tea Party is oppening for Def Leppard on Aug 13th at the Corel Center... will it be the 9th time I see them in concert? Time will tell. I've seen Def Leopard once before too: 1987. The hysteria tour. But that seems like so many concerts ago (*grin*) Time flies when you're having fun!

PS: Special Thanks to Jen and Alex for watching Mr. Big while we were gone! I really appreciate it!

8 of 12

I just finished my 8th course at UoP entitled Internet and Distance Education Delivery and I scored an A. This was the probably the most interesting and fun course I have taken in this Masters programme so far. I was sad to see it finish! (*grin*) I'd love to teach a course like that someday.


So, only 4 courses left. I really feel like I'm on the downhill leg here! YEAH!!!

Collective Soul Concert

Impressive! I'm not the most HUGE Collective Soul fan, but I have to give them some huge credit. They rocked Stages on Friday night. Erin, Julie and I were right up at the stage and the view was amazing. The lead singer was on fire with his moves that played up the crowd perfectly. Jumping around, spinning his mic stand around and running on top of the speakers. It whipped the crowd into a frenzy! And every song was recognizable. It's amazing when you think of all the tunes that they have done that have received radio play. They did 7 albums in 6 years too. No wonder. Wow! Their new lead guitarist rocks too! He played a mean Hell Bells intro at one point (from AC/DC).... sheesh... they should cover that song!!! It sent shivers down my spine! They covered Squeeze Box by The Who... a fan favorite it seemed! Kudos goes to the Stages staff as well who did a great job checking me for weapons with their metal detector(*grin*).

What a take down!

Have you ever been at a party that included the following things: Girls showing each other their boobs while discussing bra shopping? Deep fried sweet potatoes? Girls breaking into spontaneous wrestling? A girl getting "jerseyed" by another girl? (i.e. her shirt being pulled right over her head.) A guy smiling and wearing hockey gloves and a cup while his wife gave him repeated punches to the groin? All the while having some sweet custom made soundtrack going on in the background including some vintage Johny Cash mixed in with a little Holiday Rap by DJ Sven?

I HAVE! Thanks Jen!

Ok, what do you get when you cross one part KrazyKat with one part Patio Furniture! ... You get Stirling on top of the patio umbrella! DOH!! She's so crazy she jumped from the upstairs balcony. What a cat. 

Erin + Big! 

Big had to keep his cone on an extra weekend because his stitches weren't quite healed up yet. Poor boy! Here he is rolling around in the backyard with it on. 

Here he is again. This time with his Kong in his mouth. 

The Rose-Breasted Grosbeaks have arrived! Here's one in my backyard. They are big and beautiful.