2017

Holy cow!  A blog post!  What year is it?  A better question: do I make that same joke each time? The answer is yes.  Yes I do.

"So Reid... what are you doing here?" you might ask.  Great question.  The truthful answer.... I got an early birthday present: my first mechanical keyboard. Might seem like a pretty dumb reason to make a blog post to some, but to others who know about mk's having the sudden urge to type something up probably sounds totally understandable.  For reference, I got this bad boy: the Filco Majestouch 2 Ninja with Cherry MX Brown switches.  It's sweet.

So... what else is new?  This Sunday the Pats are going back to the Super Bowl to face the Falcons.  A bunch of us are getting together at Brad's to watch it.  As a pretty big Pats fan I'm extremely exited but also fairly nervous.  And of course my friends are going to be ragging on me all day, but that just goes part and parcel with cheering for a team that has been this dominant for the past 16 year.  I was just able to talk Brad's new girlfriend into wearing my spare Pats jersey, so at the very least trolling him should be really fun.

We had a great Christmas 2016 down in Kingston with Shireen's folks.  They've purchased a lovely place on a lake about 30mins outside the city.  For the first time in a decade of playing, I finally won a fantasy football championship!  I took home the cup in the Ottawa Money League as well as one of my reddit leagues (NarFFL)... made me so happy.  I get my cup on Sunday at SB51, in fact.

Christmas 2015 we spent in Feltham, England (suburb of London) with Shireen's grandmother (Bapa Gi). On Boxing Day it was on to Mumbai for Shireen's cousin Roxanne's wedding!  It was an incredible trip.  My god, the food. There was an event essentially every day for almost 2 weeks. It kept us understandably busy but I wouldn't have changed that.  I got to meet all of Shireen's extended family which was great; they're lovely people.

Skipping back another Christmas (because that's the easiest to think of right now it seems), we spent the holidays 2014 in Minneapolis.  Shireen's dad had a posting there as Consul General to the Midwest.  Their place was, as you might expect, very nice.  Sadly one of the last things the Harper government did before leaving power was giving up all foreign properties... even ones that have been gifted such as this.  Pretty sad and kind of dumb, but c'est la vie.  We caught a Minnesota Vikings game while we were there.  If memory serves it was about -15 Celsius that day... but we bundled up and enjoyed ourselves all the same.

Coming back to the present (because why not, I control the timeline here!) ... Bri and Lesley just had a baby!  Abigal Grace Hillier was born on Dec 23rd 2016 (Tibb's eve!).  She came early and gave us all (especially her mom and dad) a bit of a scare, but she's a trooper.  She's been in the NICU since then, growing and getting stronger. No news is good news type situation; here's hoping she continues along!

Shireen and I took a trip to NYC in November... just days after Emperor Trump rose to power.  We had a great time... we stayed just off Manhattan in Long Island City; our hotel was awesome, and we got a lot more for a lot less because we were off the island.  Chis and Angie went with us.  It was Shireen's fist time there... we had a blast.  Lots of walking, lots of food and lots of booze.  The weather co-operated which was always a plus.

Anyway.... that's all for now.  How about we do this again sometime (under 3 years)?  Sound good?

Cheers,
Reid

2014. Ok... so I write once a year. Big whoop. Wanna fight about it?

Shit, it must be late Feb/early March, because I'm writing in the motherfucking blog!  Yuuuup.  Apparently this is my MO.  Makes sense, I guess.  Spring is in the air, sort of.  We all get around to taking stock in our lives, yada yada.

Anyway... a recap, I suppose (and by that, I mean, let's take a look over my facebook timeline and talk about anything that stands out from the past 12 months).

In June, my brother Jason became the first person in my family to visit me in Ontario since I moved here 8 years ago, so that was pretty great.  He had just finished his undergrad degree in Mechanical Engineering and decided to buy a motorcycle and take a tour of North-eastern North America in the time between school and starting his new job in Cold Lake, AB.  He stayed for a few days and we had a great time; it was great to see him!

We had a great Canada Day 2013 weekend.  We celebrated at Bri & Beryl's place with all of my friends, and then the following day at Ashley's with all of Shireen's friends.  Pretty epic!

The fall was dominated by fantasy football.  I really tried my best this year, but once again fell short.  At least I made the playoffs and didn't finish 11th for once.  Also, for the first time in its 6 year history a man in Ottawa finally won the Ottawa Money League.  Big congrats to Brad.

We spent Christmas 2013 here in the apartment once again, and once again it was pretty stellar.  The four of us had a pretty relaxing morning, followed by an amazing dinner over at Shiraz & Zubin's family friends place.  We had our 'Ottawa Family Christmas' about a week before that, where I repreived my role as Santa once again.  It went pretty well, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to need to be a little more careful going forward; Sofia will be 5 in a few months and the bugger is already starting to get suspicious.  Time to step my game up!

New Years 2014 was hosted by Chris and Angie, and it was a blast.  The kiddos are almost outnumbering the adults now... it's getting a little crazy.  But I wouldn't have it any other way!

Had a great 33rd birthday; Bri and Beryl had Shireen and I over for an evening.  Cas and Lil were even in town so it felt like an old school Grand Falls party, complete with staying up until 3am playing guitar and being loud like assholes.  Classic.

Shireen started a new job with the government in January, so we've both been pretty thrilled about that.  I'm sorry to report that I'm still struggling to figure out my path... but it's out there somewhere!  Zubin moved out in February, so we've got an extra room in the apartment.  It was sad to see him go, but I completely understand his reasoning; I can appreciate how a young man doesn't want to live with his sister & cousin for the the rest of his life.

Looking ahead to 2014, we've got 3 weddings to attend.  It's funny to see Shireen's friends now reaching that age now that (most) of my friends have finished.  Chantal & Mike in Toronto, and Sara & Sean and Aaron and Riley here in Ottawa.  Aaron actually just asked Shireen and I to stand for him, which we of course graciously accepted.  Between the tree weddings and May 2-4 plans now taking shape, it should be a busy summer to say the least!

Anyway, I say this every time, but I promise to try and throw you an update with a little more frequency than just annually.  Well... I can't say I'll try.  But I'll try to try :)

All the best for 2014!

Reid

2013, know what I mean?

Two years.  Shit.  I'm sorry readers (all one of you).  Two years is entirely too long an interval between posts if you want to be considered a legit blog.  Lucky for me, I don't, but that's still not cool.  Please accept my most humblest of apologies.

I wish I had more good news for you.  I wish I could say I've figured things out and I'm on track to where I want to be, but that would only be a half-truth at best.  I'm still struggling to figure out what it is I want out of this life of mine; it's a battle that rages daily in quiet desperation.  But I'll get there.  Have faith in me!

I can tell you that I'm still with the love of my life.  So, that's a huge positive.  We celebrated our 3-year anniversary in December.  Pretty wild stuff when I stop to think of it.  Shireen and I have been living with Shiraz and Zubin these past two years and life in the apartment has had its ups and downs, but on the whole has been really great.  The four of us get along quite well and have struck a pretty fantastic home life in my opinion, which is nothing to scoff at.  If it's one thing I've learned in having over a decade of various room-mates, it's that co-existing peacefully with others is a delicate balance of friendship, co-operation, and respect.  Like any good thing, it requires work.  But it is indeed working, and we're happy.  The place looks great actually.  I enjoy our apartment and it's arrangement as much or more than any place I've ever lived.

So... let's see what I can recall about the past two years and get you caught up.  We had a great trip down East during the Summer of 2011.  My friends Jay and Sheila got married in Halifax in July, and they asked Matt W. and I to play them down the aisle on our guitars.  We sang Coldplay's Green Eyes, and I think it went over really well.  We took the following week off and camped our way back to Ottawa, stopping for a few days at Fundy National Park in NB and Jacques Cartier Parc outside of Quebec City.  We had an excellent time and mastered the art of the open fire bacon wrapped beer-butt chicken.  Roughing it, clearly.  The Fall of 2011 saw some big changes, as we got some new additions to the group.  Jen & Steve and Matt & Dana welcomed sons into the world.  As I write this, the Ottawa baby count now sits at five boys and one girl, with Jay & Sheila's second on the way.  The times, they are a changin'.

"The Band" Matt, Steve, Brad and I played an outdoor "gig" on Steve & Jen's patio for Haloween 2011; sort of like one last jam hurrah before the babies arrived.  I had a blast, though I think we got mixed reviews from the neighbours.  "Mom says you can play one more" was exclaimed from somewhere in the distance, while "TOO LOUD" came from somewhere else shortly after tune-up.  A great laugh.

Shireen and I spent Christmas 2011 in Carp with her family; we had a great holiday and probably went a little overboard on the gifts and cheer, but I don't think anyone ever regretted that.  We started a workout program called P90 around this time.  I wish I could tell you we fought the good fight and are still doing it, but unfortunately we fell out of it around mid-summer when we participated in Hope Beach Volleyball.  It was the first time since living in England that I was able to stick to a regular exercise routine though, and we both lost a small but respectable amount of weight in the process so no regrets to be sure.  We need to recapture that motivation and get back into something though.

We had a great May 2-4 2012, camping on Stratton Lake in Algonquin Park with Chris, Ang, Jay, Rip, Kyle, Aaron and his new dog Waldo.  The Stacey's welcomed baby Ben into the world in August.  It was around this time that we found out Shireen's father had accepted a position in Minnesota and would be moving before year's end.  The fall was filled with helping to prepare her folks and grandmother for moving away.  We acquired lots of new stuff for the apartment in the process, including all of their house-plants which have become a welcome addition to the apartment.  In fact, I've developed something of a green thumb in the process.  Who knew?  My best friend Bri moved to Ottawa around this time as well.  Always good to have more hometown boys on board.

We celebrated Christmas 2012 here in Ottawa in our own place.  While it was hard spending it away from both our families, I have to say it was really nice to wake up in my own bed on Christmas morning for the first time since I was 18.  For my 32nd birthday a few weeks back, we hosted a joint Super Bowl and Birthday party.  We had 33 people here, which was a little cramped for sure but it was a great time.  Shireen and Shiraz cooked up a storm; they even picked up a ridiculously huge football cake for me, which was big enough to feed 50 at least.  32 candles meant I needed help from my old buddy Kyle to blow them all out:

So overall, the last two years may not have been quite as eventful as years past; the onset and responsibilities of being parents has definitely taken precedence among my friends, as it of course it should.  However, we're still managing to get in a little shenanigans now and then for good measure.  So stay tuned, I promise to write more this year.

Cheers,
Reid

Spring has Sprung... sort of

Greeting and Salutations!

Figured I should touch base... not really much to update tho.... for better or for worse (I'm going to say mostly better).

Had a pretty kick-ass 30th. Ended up priming (maybe too much) at the Beryls and then hitting up the Live Lounge for my party. There was a lot of booze, sadly I do not remember as much as I should. But the gang had fun and I didn't die so I'll rule the night a great success.

Went to see Hey Rosetta! a few weeks later. They put on a great show. Unfortunately we got a little confused on the actual start time (doors opened at 7 instead of 8 like we thought) and we ended up missing the opening act and the first few songs of their show.... we were also confined to the very back of the room. So, they put off a great show and we had fun but that was a bit of a flub on our part. Ah well!

The following night, Mike and Em got hitched! They had a really nice ceremony and reception out at the Brittania Beach Yacht Club. They seemed really happy which was the most important part.

Had a pretty good St. Paddy's day... we ended up going to the Standard on Elgin which had $3.50 pints of Guinness, which you really can't go wrong with! We had a good evening, although it's obvious we're getting old when we're all home by 11pm. But in our defense we started at 4. I had fun anyway.

No news on the job front. I've been a dummy and not been as diligent as I should be. I looks like the room mates, my gf and I are going to stay put here in our apartment until the end of summer, so I've got a bit of breathing room (maybe a bad thing) in terms of timing. I'll keep you posted on progress.... I really need to be getting something soon!

Family's good... Danny and his gf Sam just bought a house in GFW. Jason just got a scholarship and a work term with Exxon in St. John's for the summer. Weasel is doing well with the NL Special Olympics and is bowling up a storm, among other things. I'm proud of my siblings! I don't tell them often enough!

Anyway... time to hit the road. Going to head to the rink early today and get some practice in before the 5pm draw. I wasn't pleased with my performance last week and I'm looking to bounce back. I'm (we're) only 2 pts out of 2nd place (and the prizes) with only a couple games left.... I'd like a strong finish!

Cheers!
Reid

2011!

Happy New Year!

Been some time, I know. Might as well recap what I can recall..

The fishing trip I mentioned in the last post was a bust... well... in terms of actual fish catching. Otherwise it was a kickass weekend in the woods with the boys. OMR managed to forget his sleeping bag... I think it went down to like 4 degrees overnight. What a guy.

Moved in with my lady in October. Big step. Sort of. I mean, essentially we've been living together pretty much since jump street, we just alternated between staying at each others places. So, in a nutshell, the only difference is paying less rent. I'll take it! I'm pleased to report that things are going well. I've managed to find a woman who can stand to be around me for more than 6 consecutive minutes, so naturally I intend to hold on to her like grim death. Again, a joke. Things are good on the love front. That is all.

Brought her home to meet the family at Christmas. All went well. Mom liked her, which I'm pretty sure is all that matters. Matt & Dana got hitched in St. John's over the holidays. Kickass time. Great to see everyone. Kind of like a mini-reunion, but like always, was too short.

Still gainfully unemployed. I think this has to be some kind of a record. Anyway... I know, I know, I'm an idiot. We're going to be looking for a new place in the spring, so I need to get my act together in the next month or so to make sure that process runs smoothly. I'm thinking about something in technical sales, but we'll see what's available and go from there.

Curling is going well... playing twice a week now. Skipping on Sundays which is a lot of fun, but challenging. I'm going to try and start teaching some of the new folks in the spare hour before our evening game. Not sure how good of a curling instructor I'll be, but it's something that people have said they want and I'm pretty sure I can do. Fun times.

Turning the big 3-0 in less than 2 weeks now. Pretty wild. I'm not really freaked out.... but it definitely feels a little strange. At the end of the day, I always say that age is just a number. But this is a big number. Anyway... you're only as old as you feel and I sure as hell don't feel all that old, so I'm happy with that.

Anyway... that's my spiel for now. Hope all is well with you, my readers, wherever you are. All the best for 2011!

Cheers,
Reid

Keep Fishin'

YO!
Just a quick note to check in. You know how it is. If I don't do this now, while I'm thinking about it, you may not hear from me for another year.

Stellar August! Got out to visit Gloria & Nate's trailer near Bobcaygeon AND Mike & Em's cottage on Georgian Bay a few weeks ago. Stellar nights, the both of them! The boat ride to Go Home bay is almost worth the 6 hour drive in itself.

This weekend is the boys camping/fishing trip. We're heading to Big Gull Lake in North Frontenac, about 2 hours south west of Ottawa. Really hoping the fishing will be great... or at least, better than Crotch Lake was a few months ago.

Got to get moving soon on ... moving. Beryl's found a new place, in Chris & Ang's building, which is pretty awesome. She seems really happy... I know she loves the location & proximity to work. Now I just need to get my head out of my ass and decide what I'm doing! The bright side is that I can always move in with the lady until her lease is up, at the end of the year. I may just do that, but time will tell.

Anyway, I must get to packing. Wish me luck! If I catch anything decent, I'll be sure to post it up! Check out my facebook profile pics to see the bass I landed last Labour Day in Algonquin. Here's hoping I can top 'General Sherman'

Cheers,
Reid

All your base are belong to Fantasy Football

That's right. It's begun. The grip of Fantasy Football is upon me. Last night, the first preseason game of the year was played. It's all downhill from here.

For those of you who are lucky enough not to know, Fantasy Football is akin to a crippling addiction. It's soooo good, but it's so bad (well, time consuming anyway). I would estimate that the average fantasy football participant (and there are millions of us) easily wastes hundreds of hours between the months of August - December researching, reading, writing, proposing trades and generally completely consumed by football. It's a beautiful thing. I hope my girlfriend will be patient with me.

I'm actually going to be signed up in 3 leagues this year. The original, my MUN league consisting mostly of my university classmates. Then there's the Ottawa Money League, which is filled with my friends here in town. New this year, I am also joining a league hosted by a local sports writer and radio sports personality, Dave Gross. The backstory here being that we needed a 12th in our Ottawa league, and Gross happens to be a co-worker of Bouz's at CanWest. Gross got the the nod, and then I come to find out that he was looking for an extra in his own league. So here I am. I'm not sure how I feel about playing in 2 leagues against a guy who's job it is to research and write about sports all day... but hey... the prospect of potentially beating him is just too enticing. Who knows, I may even get a "Reid-o is God" shout-out on my favorite radio station if things pan out for me.

Anyway... why am I wasting time on this blog??!! Time to waste time on mock drafts and rank lists!

-Reid

Frontenac Attack

Yay-O.
Ok.. so I need to start writing in this more. One update recapping close on two god damned years will not suffice. Don't get me wrong, re-caps are great... well.. better than nothing. The thing is, with those kinds of updates you really do miss the subtle nuances that is your day to day life, if you get me. It's kinda like... I don't just want to know what I did, I care more about how I felt about what I did. If that makes any sense. I just went back and read some old posts from 2006 when I had just moved to Ontario. Back then I lived alone, so the blog definitely served as a companion of sorts. Nowadays, with friends abound and gad zooks, a girlfriend, well, the blog just has a way of falling by the wayside like that weird friend you only really call when everyone else is busy.

But, I digress. My point: Write more often.

My buddy Matt whom I went to university with has a rather neat blog going. He has challenged himself to listen to all of the albums in his entire music collection in their entirety in one year. The kicker: he has over 1600 albums to select from, at random I might add. Anyway, if you're in to music or would like to diversify your knowledge on the subject, look no further. I'll add a link to "The Little Drummer Boy Project" on my Friendly Fire links bar.

Ok. Back on task. A few weeks ago, the group headed to Crotch Lake, North Frontenac (great name, I know) for a weekend canoe camping trip. When I say "the group", I pretty much mean it. There were 12 of us (plus one pup) in all.. myself, my lady, beryl, rox, stamps, ang, jen, steve, matt, dana, mike, em and sparks. What a weekend! Paddling the 3km to our site on Friday was a bit more challenging then I had hoped, as the lake is fairly open and the winds were up. The site itself was amazing. A great weekend of boozing, swimming, fishing (though no luck), campfires and moonlight. Epic. It was my girlfriend's first time tent/canoe camping, so I was very pleased to see that she had a great time.

Otherwise, things are going pretty great. I'm back on the job hunt (for real) now, so I'm hoping to have something in the next little while. Here's hoping!

Cheers,
Reid

PS. I'm 29 and 1/2 today! Six months left in my twenties. Better get cracking on my "things to do before 30 checklist".

There and back again

Greetings world... .. it's been too long. Far, far too long.

Much has changed in the last 20 months, but don't worry, much remains the same as well.

To re-cap, I spent most of early 2009 doing what I do best... being a bum. Had an amazing birthday at Ambroise which may have involved a century club and too much salt in Stamps' beer. Had a few great camping trips through the summer... ADK with Bri and the gang, canoe camping in Algonquin over Labor Day weekend which offered the most spectacular span of weather I think I've ever seen. In May, I invested a fair chunk of time and effort in the excavation and construction of Matt & Dana's back patio, which turned out pretty spectacular for a group of fools who really had no clue what they were doing. We celebrated its grand opening with a rainy tarped over Canada Day celebration.

In September I took a job doing promotions for a 3rd party marketing firm. The work was fun but the hours were long and the pay absolutely sucked. I stuck it out until March. I did, however, meet a young girl and we began dating. Shireen and I have been going strong now for 6 months and she's the love of my life. She's pretty spectacular and I'm really happy.

In November, I moved into a new house with my good friend, The Beryl. She's my best friend's girlfriend. Sounds like a sitcom, right? Well, it kinda is. It's a great spot and things are going great.

I went home for Christmas... it was great to see the family. I hadn't been back in 2 years. Had a blast with all the crowd from home. I got to say goodbye to my nan Ivany, who was in the late stages of cancer. We lost her in March. I know she's in a better place now.

My birthday in February was pretty amazing. They threw me a keg party here at the house, it was quite the time. Also, Jay & Rip had their baby. We got to welcome Kyle MacLean into the world. A welcome addition to the group.

At the end of March, Shireen and I went to Cuba together for Chris & Angie's wedding, which was a kick-ass week of sun and surf. Highlights included all the snorkeling I could handle on nearby coral reefs, partying the night away at the beach disco, beach volleyball, a day long excursion on an 80 ft. catamaran, swimming with dolphins, all you can eat & drink, swim up pool bar, an amazing and beautifully simple ceremony, and of course, spending time with my girl in a tropical paradise.

Had another amazing May 2-4 at the Lillipad... weather was phenomenal, I spent most of it in the water. There was quite the crowd; myself, Shireen, Bri, Les, Chris, Ang, Matt, Dana, Steve (Jen was home for her baccalaureate), Denika & Clayton and Stamps' sister Jackie. Brad, Dana & the bear, Jay, Rip & Kyle, and Jessica were able get up for a day as well. I manged to loose my iron ring into the lake while horsing around with Matt on the dock. Dove for it throughout the weekend, and finally found it on the murky bottom on the last day. Meant to be!

Jen and Steve got married last week. They had a great little ceremony and we had an incredible night of dancing and hilarity. Man, that is one sweaty Stamps. Many bowls and spoons were banged together. I got the honor of toasting the Bride & Groom, which was awesome. A great night!

Doctor Bri Hillier has graduated from med school at long last. He's staying here with us for a few weeks before he starts his residency in Swift Current, SK. It's 2 more years apart for Beryl & Bri, but this is a hell of a lot closer than Dublin. I'm pretty excited for him... he finally gets to start a life. He deserves it.

Anyway, I think that's about it for major updates. I'm once again unemployed and enjoying it just a little too much for my own good. The hunt begins soon. All is well in Ottawa, life is good. That is all.

Hopefully it won't be 20 more months before I post again. Cheers!

Reid

Yes, yes. Fine, fine

OK. So. This is the Earth... ROUND.

An odd way to open a post, I know. But hey, this is my blog and I'll do what a I wants, luh.

Anyway... haven't posted since August. Yeah. Pretty lackadaisical I am. But, it's been a great fall. It's not that I've had nothing to write about. Quite the contrary. Between Sunday and Monday night football, Tuesday wings, Thursday night jam session and general Friday and Saturday night tomfoolery with the gang, it's literally never a dull moment. But, I may as well recap some highlights, if nothing else to preserve them for the ages and to please my many fans.*

*2 recorded fans to date

So lets see. In September Jay left the house to shack up with Rips - we are all quite happy for them. However, that left an obvious void in the household. Enter the Lady Paul. Without missing a beat Stace moved in and we've never really looked back. Things are going great. Everyone's happy and generally harmonious. All is well at Ambroise. In October, I went Disney World in Florida for a day as a volunteer chaperon for a charity I'm involved in called Dreams Take Flight. It was easily one of the greatest volunteer experiences of my life. The smiles on those kids faces was.... well, you get it. It's not often in life that we as people get to really feel like we're special. These kids were treated like rock stars. They were kings for a day in a world where normally they face challenges most of us can only imagine. The four boys in my group were highly functioning autistic. They were amazing and we had an absolute blast. I hope I get to do this again someday.

In early November we in Ottawa were graced by a blast from the past. Vera and her boyfriend Yegee (Yirka) .. sp. visited from the Czech Republic. For those of you who might recall, Vera was the lovely young girl who took us in back in 2005 while we were touring Europe. Anyway, we finally got to return the favor back on this side of the pond. From what I can tell they had a great whilwind visit, getting to see the likes of Niagara Falls, Niagara-on-the-lake, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal. Not bad for 10 days in Canada... a first for both of them. It was great having them and we had an absolute blast, including a somewhat messy but overall hilarious going away party that involved waaay to much imported Czech hard liquor. Hahaha. It was great seeing Vera again and great to meet George. Great people.. though we couldn't really talk, we spoke often in the international language of drinking and laughter.

It's looking like I'll be spending xmas up this way. With my current situation it's very hard to know for sure if I'll have the time to take off. The airlines charging highway robbery for a seat this time of year also does not help matters. The good news is there'll be a few bodies up this way over the holidays so I'll be far from alone. Should be good times.

Anyway, that's all I got for now. Cheers!
Reid