So here I sit, December 23rd, 2 days before Christmas, and I'm in my office. So much fun to do.
Everyone I talk to asks the same two questions:
Q: Are you going home for christmas?
A: No, I have to work Christmas shutdown.
Q: Is your boss some kind of a christmas nazi?
A: No, this is just what we do every year. It's my job, and I knew what I was getting into.
Let me explain a little about what it is that I do. I am a Project Engineer. As the name suggests, a big part of what project engineers do is managing projects. These projects may range from the installation of a new site electrical substation, to istalling new conveying equipment, to preforming building structural reinforcements, to puting a new roof on the plant. In order to accomplish projects that are outside the normal working capactiy or skillset of plant electricians, mechanics and millwrights, I must hire contractors. As such, a lot of what I do envolves the planning, supervision and overall management of these contractors.
Every year, every plant is granted a sum of money to handle infrastructure and maintenance upgrades. This money is then allocated to various projects and slowly used up as the year progresses. Being in the maintenance deparment, a large portion of this money comes my way (or my bosses way, to be truthful). As a result of this year-to-year type scenario with respect to budgetary allowances, we find ourselves every year with a small sum of money remianing to be spent before year end. As such, every year the plant takes a production outage during the week directly following Christmas to preform vital maintenace to equipment and to eat up all remaining budget dollars for the year.
This year, perhaps more than years past (tho I can't say from personal experience) the crunch is definitely on. I have about a half a million dollars to spend in the next 6 days. Translation: I will be on site almost around the clock every day except for Christmas day over this holiday season as I supervise and manage the contractors working on my projects.
Is it good expereince? Yes. Do I earn some credibility for being a hard worker? Yes. Do I enjoy it? Most of the time. Do I miss my family and friends and wish I could be home right now getting drunk and eating turkey? You bet your ass I do.
It's hard, but nobody said it was easy. It's life. I won't lie and say I've been completely happy. In fact, I would hazzard to say I've been a shade on the depressed side over the past few months. And this whole 'first christmas away from home' thing is now actually hitting me a lot harder than I thought it would. But that's it. I'll get though it. And hey, it's only a week and I'll be home. That's what keeps me going.
I will tell you this. My family and friends are my backbone. Without you guys (and you know who you are), the world would look a whole lot darker. Thanks for that.
And thanks for the Christmas cards too! I don't really believe in sending out Christmas cards cause I'm a big jerk, but I still very much appreciate the ones I got. Maybe next year I'll change my ways.
I'm gonna be in the office a bit, so stayed tuned for more holiday posts.
Cheers,
Reid
Saturday, December 23, 2006
Saturday, December 09, 2006
I'm Not Dead
Wow I haven't posted since August. Wow. I'm sorry guys. I'm not dead, my life has just been really busy (workwise) and not all that exceptionally interesting (outside work aka sleep).
I'm currently in Ottawa. Drove up to surpirse Northcott for his birthday. Goodtimes.
Other than that, all is well. Just bought an xbox 360 so there's my christmas right there. woot! Not looking forward to having to work over christmas, but that's life I suppose. I AM looking forward to Scott's wedding in CB on Dec 30th. I can't wait to have most everyone back in one place again. Gonna be off the chain.
Anyway... that's my story and I'm sticking to it. New year's resolution will be to keep this blog updated at least monthly and to finally FINISH adding pictures to my Euroblog.
Happy Holidays
Reid
I'm currently in Ottawa. Drove up to surpirse Northcott for his birthday. Goodtimes.
Other than that, all is well. Just bought an xbox 360 so there's my christmas right there. woot! Not looking forward to having to work over christmas, but that's life I suppose. I AM looking forward to Scott's wedding in CB on Dec 30th. I can't wait to have most everyone back in one place again. Gonna be off the chain.
Anyway... that's my story and I'm sticking to it. New year's resolution will be to keep this blog updated at least monthly and to finally FINISH adding pictures to my Euroblog.
Happy Holidays
Reid
Saturday, August 26, 2006
LMAO
I was just the vicitim of someone else's elevator fart.
Disgusting yet hilarious.
I contributed to the cause and quickly ran to my apartment.
Disgusting yet hilarious.
I contributed to the cause and quickly ran to my apartment.
Friday, August 25, 2006
You know what's odd?
I haven't told any of my friends here in the hammer about this blog.
I guess it's mainly because of the happenings in February, when the wife of a one of the electricians at work somehow managed to "google" me or something, and wound up finding my blog, and before I knew it the particulars of my rocket fuel weekend were going around the plant. Hence, I packed up and changed sites, removing all mention of my first name and any personal content beyond "reid-o". I still google myself once in while to make sure I'm still under the radar. I've been asked since then where my blog went, and told people that I took it down.
So now, the reason all this is funny is because essentially 99% of what I write about is what I've been up to... a lot of which involves the new people I've met here. So, I'm thinking I might let them in on it - on the condition that they don't tell that electrician's wife.
In other news, Ashton and his ami-femme Marie are heading to New Zealand in 12 days!! That's fucked. I'm pretty proud of him tho. I know he's kinda been itchin to do something crazy like this for some time, and the two of them have actually got the balls to get up and do it. Awesome stuff. I'm sure it's going to be an amazing time.... althought hopefully not so amazing that we never see them back in Canada agian! Who am I kidding? He's hooked on maple syrup and hockey. They won't be gone long :). Ashton's also claimed that he's going to start blogging about his New Zealand adventure, so I've added his new blog to the sidebar. Be sure to check in on the boy and see how he's doing from time to time.
Bon voyage, Ross.
I guess it's mainly because of the happenings in February, when the wife of a one of the electricians at work somehow managed to "google" me or something, and wound up finding my blog, and before I knew it the particulars of my rocket fuel weekend were going around the plant. Hence, I packed up and changed sites, removing all mention of my first name and any personal content beyond "reid-o". I still google myself once in while to make sure I'm still under the radar. I've been asked since then where my blog went, and told people that I took it down.
So now, the reason all this is funny is because essentially 99% of what I write about is what I've been up to... a lot of which involves the new people I've met here. So, I'm thinking I might let them in on it - on the condition that they don't tell that electrician's wife.
In other news, Ashton and his ami-femme Marie are heading to New Zealand in 12 days!! That's fucked. I'm pretty proud of him tho. I know he's kinda been itchin to do something crazy like this for some time, and the two of them have actually got the balls to get up and do it. Awesome stuff. I'm sure it's going to be an amazing time.... althought hopefully not so amazing that we never see them back in Canada agian! Who am I kidding? He's hooked on maple syrup and hockey. They won't be gone long :). Ashton's also claimed that he's going to start blogging about his New Zealand adventure, so I've added his new blog to the sidebar. Be sure to check in on the boy and see how he's doing from time to time.
Bon voyage, Ross.
Sunday, August 20, 2006
Peace, Propaganda & The Promised Land
My buddy Naeim has been carrying a link on his msn/google talk name for the last few weeks, and I finally took the time yesterday to sit down and watch it.
It's a mini-documentary about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. More specifically, it's about the PR slant that the American media has been placing on the events. Now, I don't profess to be any kind of world affairs aficionado, but if you've got an hour and twenty minutes to spare, I would recommend watching it. Quite an eye opener, albeit for very sad reasons.
Peace, Propaganda & The Promised Land
It's a mini-documentary about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. More specifically, it's about the PR slant that the American media has been placing on the events. Now, I don't profess to be any kind of world affairs aficionado, but if you've got an hour and twenty minutes to spare, I would recommend watching it. Quite an eye opener, albeit for very sad reasons.
Peace, Propaganda & The Promised Land
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Ontario gets a case of the Ricketts
Yo..
So it was quite the weekend, as we had hoped. Ricketts, who is one of my best friends, flew in from Edmonton last Thursday morning. He spent the day touring TO and then hooked up with PWall and Jennifer for dinner that evening. I actually had a company fishing trip out on Lake Erie that afternoon, so he agreed to meet up with me here in the Hammer later that evening for some boozin.
The boy got in around 9:30, and we headed on down to ye olde Hess Village. It was pretty good for a Thursday night... not crazy busy like the weekend, but enough people to feel like you were amongst the crowd. Ricketts and I had a few pints (including a pretty stellar Black-n-Tan at the Gown & Gavel), and we just shot the shit like old times. It was pretty sweet. We actually came to the realization that it had been a year to the very day since we last hung out - it was at his birthday/going away party back at Larkhall. How fast does a year go? In any event, it was great to catch up with the boy and have a laugh, particularly about the life and times of a particular classmate who shall remain unnamed.
Anyway... the biggest news to come from the night [with exception to the half-pack of colt cigars we found at the bar and smoked] was that Ricketts, who is getting married next summer, asked me to be his best man. I gladly accepted. It's going to be an honor and a privilege to stand for those guys. Truthfully, no one deserves happiness more - just ask anyone who knows them. So yeah.. that's big news. It's gonna make the wedding and my trip home next July all the sweeter. It also means I have to start planning the bachelor party :) Oh snap. So far, I'm envisioning strippers, a ballerina suit for Ricketts, and some sort of leather whip for the ladies to use.
We were up fairly early on Friday to hit the road for Ottawa. Traffic was alright, so we managed to get up for G on time, and were into O-town by mid-afternoon. We picked up Northcott, dropped off the ladies, and headed on down for a mini tour of the houses of parliament and downtown Ottawa. That night it was over to Bus & Matt's for Century Club (at least, for Northcott, Ricketts and I). The club went well, tho I think we started to miss a few minutes. Shoulda brought Ray's cd's! Anyway... all was well until Matt showed up with some gow and everything got a bit hazy. I woke up in the morning lying next to Ricketts on a mostly deflated air mattress with my ass on the ground and my feet 3 feet in the air. Goodtimes.
The boys and I went golfing on Saturday. It wasn't the best of days on the score card, but it was the best of days otherwise. Too bad Ray couldn't have been there to complete the 4some like old times, but from what I can guess, he was in Amsterdam getting baked at the time. After golf we went for seafood at Red Lobster. That was friggin awesome, and (as a Newfoundlander, I am honestly ashamed to admit this) it was my first time having a meal of crab and lobster. All my life, I thought I didn't like it! Turns out I love it. So yeah, pretty funny.
After dinner we went to Mabbit's for a beer, and then we headed on back to Jen & Steves for a few evening sociables. We ended up sitting in the living room and talking and laughing until about 5 in the morning. Awesome. It was just like old times.
We got up around noon on Sunday and headed to Denny's for brunch (another 1st for me). I think we must have been there for like 2 hours or something ridiculous. Again, it was great to sit with 5 of my great friends and catch up. But alas, all good weekends must come to an end, and G, Ricketts and I hit the road around 3, and burned back to the Tdot. We stopped at the big apple to grab a penny souvenir for the awesome weekend, and before we knew it, the it was all over just as fast as it began.
It's pretty crazy to think that we have all reached a point in our lives where we've stopped measuring the next time we'll see each other in days or weeks, and we've started measuring it in months and years.
I guess this is growing up.
However, it's also pretty crazy how a group of friends can be separated for months and years, and still instantly fall back into the great times they once had.
As long as I've got that, maybe I don't mind growing up.
So it was quite the weekend, as we had hoped. Ricketts, who is one of my best friends, flew in from Edmonton last Thursday morning. He spent the day touring TO and then hooked up with PWall and Jennifer for dinner that evening. I actually had a company fishing trip out on Lake Erie that afternoon, so he agreed to meet up with me here in the Hammer later that evening for some boozin.
The boy got in around 9:30, and we headed on down to ye olde Hess Village. It was pretty good for a Thursday night... not crazy busy like the weekend, but enough people to feel like you were amongst the crowd. Ricketts and I had a few pints (including a pretty stellar Black-n-Tan at the Gown & Gavel), and we just shot the shit like old times. It was pretty sweet. We actually came to the realization that it had been a year to the very day since we last hung out - it was at his birthday/going away party back at Larkhall. How fast does a year go? In any event, it was great to catch up with the boy and have a laugh, particularly about the life and times of a particular classmate who shall remain unnamed.
Anyway... the biggest news to come from the night [with exception to the half-pack of colt cigars we found at the bar and smoked] was that Ricketts, who is getting married next summer, asked me to be his best man. I gladly accepted. It's going to be an honor and a privilege to stand for those guys. Truthfully, no one deserves happiness more - just ask anyone who knows them. So yeah.. that's big news. It's gonna make the wedding and my trip home next July all the sweeter. It also means I have to start planning the bachelor party :) Oh snap. So far, I'm envisioning strippers, a ballerina suit for Ricketts, and some sort of leather whip for the ladies to use.
We were up fairly early on Friday to hit the road for Ottawa. Traffic was alright, so we managed to get up for G on time, and were into O-town by mid-afternoon. We picked up Northcott, dropped off the ladies, and headed on down for a mini tour of the houses of parliament and downtown Ottawa. That night it was over to Bus & Matt's for Century Club (at least, for Northcott, Ricketts and I). The club went well, tho I think we started to miss a few minutes. Shoulda brought Ray's cd's! Anyway... all was well until Matt showed up with some gow and everything got a bit hazy. I woke up in the morning lying next to Ricketts on a mostly deflated air mattress with my ass on the ground and my feet 3 feet in the air. Goodtimes.
The boys and I went golfing on Saturday. It wasn't the best of days on the score card, but it was the best of days otherwise. Too bad Ray couldn't have been there to complete the 4some like old times, but from what I can guess, he was in Amsterdam getting baked at the time. After golf we went for seafood at Red Lobster. That was friggin awesome, and (as a Newfoundlander, I am honestly ashamed to admit this) it was my first time having a meal of crab and lobster. All my life, I thought I didn't like it! Turns out I love it. So yeah, pretty funny.
After dinner we went to Mabbit's for a beer, and then we headed on back to Jen & Steves for a few evening sociables. We ended up sitting in the living room and talking and laughing until about 5 in the morning. Awesome. It was just like old times.
We got up around noon on Sunday and headed to Denny's for brunch (another 1st for me). I think we must have been there for like 2 hours or something ridiculous. Again, it was great to sit with 5 of my great friends and catch up. But alas, all good weekends must come to an end, and G, Ricketts and I hit the road around 3, and burned back to the Tdot. We stopped at the big apple to grab a penny souvenir for the awesome weekend, and before we knew it, the it was all over just as fast as it began.
It's pretty crazy to think that we have all reached a point in our lives where we've stopped measuring the next time we'll see each other in days or weeks, and we've started measuring it in months and years.
I guess this is growing up.
However, it's also pretty crazy how a group of friends can be separated for months and years, and still instantly fall back into the great times they once had.
As long as I've got that, maybe I don't mind growing up.
Monday, August 07, 2006
August, and everything after
Hey all...
So it's been a pretty memorable summer thus far.... i again apologize for the lapse in updates.. but the bottom line is I'm still doing better than most of you, so that's all that matters.
So... as always, I suppose I should jump back to where I left off. The weekend after my last post, my co-worker and now good friend Brad invited me up to his hometown for his bachelor party. Man, that kid was a wreck. Friggin good times tho. Just kinda reinforces the fact that small town Ontario folk aren't so different from we Newfs. It was a great weekend... and I'll leave it at that, cause what happens at a bachelor party stays at a bachelor party.
The weekend after that I went home!! So sweet. It was pretty fucked to think about the fact that I left work at lunch time on Friday, and was drunk in the middle of a feild in Red Cliff by 10pm that night. Nice. That's what I call a vacation. It was a great weekend of getting tangly with old friends (Bri, Les, Patti & I went to the concert), spending time with the fam and the extended fam, and hittin pause old school at Indian Arm pond. Patti has some great shots from the feild here. All in all, a stellar 9 days. It was crazy, cause when I came back, I felt like I had been away for a year. It was messed. But all good things must come to an end, and I look forward to this time next year when I'm back in the rock during the summer for Ricketts' wedding.
Took it easy last weekend, as we (the recent hires of my company - Jaimes, Brad, Rob, Mel and myself) were taking a company trip to Chicago to attend a seminar for new young professionals. It was basically a wine-n-dine company brainwashing session to convince us that we love our jobs and we want to stay with the company. Whatever. I'll accept your free booze, food and fancy hotels. In all seriousness, it was a good opportunity to meet some of the corporate big wigs and put some faces with the names, so that's all good.
This past weekend was pretty sweet. Hoff and Myself ended up getting lit both nights. Friday I showed up over at his place to toss a few back and watch the clock blink 420. We then proceeded to go out to a local westdale jazz restaurant for a steak dinner and some live music. Stellar. Naturally the party migrated down to Hess, where I believe their version of Mardi Gras was going on. Pretty busy spot. We went to at least 3 bars that I can remember. I think.
Much the same on Saturday, showed up for BBQ with a doz of laker and the evening pretty well writes itself. We were gonna go rent Chappelle's Show: The Lost Episodes, but they were all sold out so we got the Trailer Park Boys, which is a pretty close second.
This coming weekend promises to be good, as we here in Ontario are going to be graced with none other than the Ricketts. Should be a blast. I plan on taking him out Thursday night to show him a bit of life in the Hammer, and then we're hitting the road with G on Friday for our Nation's Capital and the debauchery to ensue. Can't hardly wait.
So yeah, things are well. Hot as hell, but I'm still kickin. Later days..
So it's been a pretty memorable summer thus far.... i again apologize for the lapse in updates.. but the bottom line is I'm still doing better than most of you, so that's all that matters.
So... as always, I suppose I should jump back to where I left off. The weekend after my last post, my co-worker and now good friend Brad invited me up to his hometown for his bachelor party. Man, that kid was a wreck. Friggin good times tho. Just kinda reinforces the fact that small town Ontario folk aren't so different from we Newfs. It was a great weekend... and I'll leave it at that, cause what happens at a bachelor party stays at a bachelor party.
The weekend after that I went home!! So sweet. It was pretty fucked to think about the fact that I left work at lunch time on Friday, and was drunk in the middle of a feild in Red Cliff by 10pm that night. Nice. That's what I call a vacation. It was a great weekend of getting tangly with old friends (Bri, Les, Patti & I went to the concert), spending time with the fam and the extended fam, and hittin pause old school at Indian Arm pond. Patti has some great shots from the feild here. All in all, a stellar 9 days. It was crazy, cause when I came back, I felt like I had been away for a year. It was messed. But all good things must come to an end, and I look forward to this time next year when I'm back in the rock during the summer for Ricketts' wedding.
Took it easy last weekend, as we (the recent hires of my company - Jaimes, Brad, Rob, Mel and myself) were taking a company trip to Chicago to attend a seminar for new young professionals. It was basically a wine-n-dine company brainwashing session to convince us that we love our jobs and we want to stay with the company. Whatever. I'll accept your free booze, food and fancy hotels. In all seriousness, it was a good opportunity to meet some of the corporate big wigs and put some faces with the names, so that's all good.
This past weekend was pretty sweet. Hoff and Myself ended up getting lit both nights. Friday I showed up over at his place to toss a few back and watch the clock blink 420. We then proceeded to go out to a local westdale jazz restaurant for a steak dinner and some live music. Stellar. Naturally the party migrated down to Hess, where I believe their version of Mardi Gras was going on. Pretty busy spot. We went to at least 3 bars that I can remember. I think.
Much the same on Saturday, showed up for BBQ with a doz of laker and the evening pretty well writes itself. We were gonna go rent Chappelle's Show: The Lost Episodes, but they were all sold out so we got the Trailer Park Boys, which is a pretty close second.
This coming weekend promises to be good, as we here in Ontario are going to be graced with none other than the Ricketts. Should be a blast. I plan on taking him out Thursday night to show him a bit of life in the Hammer, and then we're hitting the road with G on Friday for our Nation's Capital and the debauchery to ensue. Can't hardly wait.
So yeah, things are well. Hot as hell, but I'm still kickin. Later days..
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Long time no reid
Yo. So... it's been 7 weeks. Shite. I apologize for that. Looks like I went and did the very thing I usually rag on my friends for - being a blog update slacker.
Anyway, the important thing is: I haven't forgotten about it.
So... lets see if I can fill you in on the last two months of life in the Hammer.
Well... as noted in the previous post, the two Pearl Jam shows on May 9th and 10th were absolutely kickass, as expected. G and I went to the first show - sat in the 24th of the wing on Stone's side - pretty schweat. On the second night Pwall bestowed his extra ticket upon me - 13th row centre - unfuckingbeleivable. It was quite possibly the greatest PJ show of my days. Excellent times.
Had a couple of company related trips in May. Those went pretty good. Got to meet some company counterparts... got to see Chicago for the first time... got to be plastered on numerous occasions on the company tip. All good stuff.
Took the Jetta on its first international road trip on June 2. Bri, Mike and myself burned on down to East Rutherford, NJ during for the weekend. The reason? Pearl Jam of course. Bri and I had tickets to the last show of the first leg of the NA tour. Amazing as always, and definitely worth the 14hours on the highway in a 38 hour span.
Had a company golf tournament a few weeks back. Best ball. My group had an incredible day - I golfed the best I have in a long time - we ended up in second place with nine under for the day. Nice. Got a new fishing rod for my efforts. Now I just gotta get out fishing.
Pretty wild weekend 2 weeks ago. Friday Jaimes, Mike, Mel and I went to a housewarming party for Gav and Laura out in Paris. Great times. God I miss the house party. Then on Saturday I had a "two worlds" experience. We all went to a pig roast out in the country early Saturday evening. Good times sitting in the middle of farmland shooting the shit under the big sky. Then, I proceeded to hitch a ride with Mel to a birthday party in Rexdale (Etobicoke).. i.e. the Toronto Ghetto. It was the first time I've ever gone to a party and been the only white fool there - but don't get me wrong, I was very well received. In any case, both parties that day were a huge laugh, and even though on the surface the two groups of people we hung with that day seemed completely different, the bottom line was - it doesn't matter where you are, what your backgroud is, or what you look like - at the end of the day, people just want to relax and have a few beers on a Saturday night.
This past weekend was Bachelor weekend. Mike and Gammon came into the Hammer and the boys and I decided to check out ye olde Hess Village for the first time. It didn't disappoint. Naturally, we in turn got completely polluted.... from what I recall, we were all triple fisting for the majority of the evening. Tangly. Went into the Tdot on Saturday, because Les was hooking me up with all her apartment gear as she was moving back to NL. Score, big time. Gammon and I headed back to Hess again that night, tho we didn't get quite so tangly so we could better enjoy the view.
Also, I bought one of those free-standing hammocks for my balcony. Fuckin A! I'm waiting for a nice warm night and/or quality drunken state so I can justify sleeping outside. Funny.
And of course, there's the latest news: I'm coming home! Booked the flight yesterday! I'll be home in GFW from July 14th to the 23rd. Pretty swank. I only get 7 workdays of holidays my first year, so I'm taking 6 to make this trip happen. Bottom line is that I will more than likely have to work through Christmas.... so besides then, when is the best time to be home? Salmon Fest. It's also Dad's birthday. Plus I hope to see a few of my friends who are still in NL at some point during the concert. So it was two birds with one stone, and the devil I know instead of the devil I don't (with respect to probably not getting xmas off). Wow. That was a lot of cliches.
Anyway..... all is good. I'll be home in 2 weeks, and I'm really looking forward to it. Hope all is well with all of you and that you're doing a better job with your blogs then I've been doing with mine. I'll definitely try to get back on the ball. Jebus... I've got to finish adding photos to my eurotrip for god sake.
Peace Out.
Reid
Anyway, the important thing is: I haven't forgotten about it.
So... lets see if I can fill you in on the last two months of life in the Hammer.
Well... as noted in the previous post, the two Pearl Jam shows on May 9th and 10th were absolutely kickass, as expected. G and I went to the first show - sat in the 24th of the wing on Stone's side - pretty schweat. On the second night Pwall bestowed his extra ticket upon me - 13th row centre - unfuckingbeleivable. It was quite possibly the greatest PJ show of my days. Excellent times.
Had a couple of company related trips in May. Those went pretty good. Got to meet some company counterparts... got to see Chicago for the first time... got to be plastered on numerous occasions on the company tip. All good stuff.
Took the Jetta on its first international road trip on June 2. Bri, Mike and myself burned on down to East Rutherford, NJ during for the weekend. The reason? Pearl Jam of course. Bri and I had tickets to the last show of the first leg of the NA tour. Amazing as always, and definitely worth the 14hours on the highway in a 38 hour span.
Had a company golf tournament a few weeks back. Best ball. My group had an incredible day - I golfed the best I have in a long time - we ended up in second place with nine under for the day. Nice. Got a new fishing rod for my efforts. Now I just gotta get out fishing.
Pretty wild weekend 2 weeks ago. Friday Jaimes, Mike, Mel and I went to a housewarming party for Gav and Laura out in Paris. Great times. God I miss the house party. Then on Saturday I had a "two worlds" experience. We all went to a pig roast out in the country early Saturday evening. Good times sitting in the middle of farmland shooting the shit under the big sky. Then, I proceeded to hitch a ride with Mel to a birthday party in Rexdale (Etobicoke).. i.e. the Toronto Ghetto. It was the first time I've ever gone to a party and been the only white fool there - but don't get me wrong, I was very well received. In any case, both parties that day were a huge laugh, and even though on the surface the two groups of people we hung with that day seemed completely different, the bottom line was - it doesn't matter where you are, what your backgroud is, or what you look like - at the end of the day, people just want to relax and have a few beers on a Saturday night.
This past weekend was Bachelor weekend. Mike and Gammon came into the Hammer and the boys and I decided to check out ye olde Hess Village for the first time. It didn't disappoint. Naturally, we in turn got completely polluted.... from what I recall, we were all triple fisting for the majority of the evening. Tangly. Went into the Tdot on Saturday, because Les was hooking me up with all her apartment gear as she was moving back to NL. Score, big time. Gammon and I headed back to Hess again that night, tho we didn't get quite so tangly so we could better enjoy the view.
Also, I bought one of those free-standing hammocks for my balcony. Fuckin A! I'm waiting for a nice warm night and/or quality drunken state so I can justify sleeping outside. Funny.
And of course, there's the latest news: I'm coming home! Booked the flight yesterday! I'll be home in GFW from July 14th to the 23rd. Pretty swank. I only get 7 workdays of holidays my first year, so I'm taking 6 to make this trip happen. Bottom line is that I will more than likely have to work through Christmas.... so besides then, when is the best time to be home? Salmon Fest. It's also Dad's birthday. Plus I hope to see a few of my friends who are still in NL at some point during the concert. So it was two birds with one stone, and the devil I know instead of the devil I don't (with respect to probably not getting xmas off). Wow. That was a lot of cliches.
Anyway..... all is good. I'll be home in 2 weeks, and I'm really looking forward to it. Hope all is well with all of you and that you're doing a better job with your blogs then I've been doing with mine. I'll definitely try to get back on the ball. Jebus... I've got to finish adding photos to my eurotrip for god sake.
Peace Out.
Reid
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
Pearl Jam
Greatest show I've ever seen.
2 hours and 50 mins of rock bliss. Unbelieveable.
I will never forget this.
PEARL JAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2 hours and 50 mins of rock bliss. Unbelieveable.
I will never forget this.
PEARL JAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Saturday, April 29, 2006
Pack a wind breaker
Hey all...
Apologize for the break in updates. As you've probably guessed, things have been pretty busy here. I just sat down and realized I've worked about 60 hours this past week (no overtime, btw), which is pretty fucked up. Anyway, suffice to say it's nice to have a day off to collect myself.
So.. what have I been up to besides work? Well.. ended up gutting the apartment on Good Friday, which was sorely needed. Then I headed to Richmond Hill on Saturday, as G and her sisters had invited me up there to spend Easter with them, which was incredible. It was cool to just hang with her and her fam and feel like I was home, albiet breifly. Thanks guys.
Last weekend I went out to Brandford for suppa with M & J, and then back into Hamiltonia for some booze with Brad and Trish and their friends. A pretty good evening at Selonties (salon-chays)... the band upstairs was busting out some celtic and newfie songs, so that was awesome. Didn't get too tangly... just had a few and kept it fairly mellow.
Took it easy last night, just watched hockey and passed out on the couch... i was friggin exhausted. Getting up at 6am and getting home at 7 or 8pm every day wears on you. B & T have got some more friends coming in tonight, so I think the plan is to tie one on. I'll be ready.
And I'm heading to Chicago on Monday for a couple days! I've got some company training going on down there, so I'm looking forward to seeing the city and meeting some of my counterparts from different plants around the states. Should be good times. I'll let you know how it all goes down. Lata.
Apologize for the break in updates. As you've probably guessed, things have been pretty busy here. I just sat down and realized I've worked about 60 hours this past week (no overtime, btw), which is pretty fucked up. Anyway, suffice to say it's nice to have a day off to collect myself.
So.. what have I been up to besides work? Well.. ended up gutting the apartment on Good Friday, which was sorely needed. Then I headed to Richmond Hill on Saturday, as G and her sisters had invited me up there to spend Easter with them, which was incredible. It was cool to just hang with her and her fam and feel like I was home, albiet breifly. Thanks guys.
Last weekend I went out to Brandford for suppa with M & J, and then back into Hamiltonia for some booze with Brad and Trish and their friends. A pretty good evening at Selonties (salon-chays)... the band upstairs was busting out some celtic and newfie songs, so that was awesome. Didn't get too tangly... just had a few and kept it fairly mellow.
Took it easy last night, just watched hockey and passed out on the couch... i was friggin exhausted. Getting up at 6am and getting home at 7 or 8pm every day wears on you. B & T have got some more friends coming in tonight, so I think the plan is to tie one on. I'll be ready.
And I'm heading to Chicago on Monday for a couple days! I've got some company training going on down there, so I'm looking forward to seeing the city and meeting some of my counterparts from different plants around the states. Should be good times. I'll let you know how it all goes down. Lata.
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
We all got our runnins now
Well... what to say, what to say.
Since last i posted I saw the Leafs. That was pretty awesome... we won! Too bad they won't be making the playoffs. Props to B-rad for hooking me up with the ticket.
Headed up to Sudbury last weekend. Hofford had a hockey tournament up that way, and I basically came along for the ride and the party. Great times, tho my memories are sketchy. Sudbury kinda reminds me of home in a weird way. Must be all the woods, rocks and excess drinking.
I think I'm going to the Hill this weekend for Easter. That's pretty sweet. For a while there it was looking like Sunday dinner for one, but G invited me up for a meal with the fam. Awesome.
So things are good. Apartment's a god damn state. Problem is, I work a long day and come home and the last thing I want to do is cook and clean. Maybe I'll get some motivation on my day off Friday.
The new single from The Streets is a pretty good mellow tune. Chris Martin lends on vocals, tho trying to find that version on soulseek or limewire has proven to be a daunting task. My friends say dry your eyes, mate. Guess we all go our runnins.
Since last i posted I saw the Leafs. That was pretty awesome... we won! Too bad they won't be making the playoffs. Props to B-rad for hooking me up with the ticket.
Headed up to Sudbury last weekend. Hofford had a hockey tournament up that way, and I basically came along for the ride and the party. Great times, tho my memories are sketchy. Sudbury kinda reminds me of home in a weird way. Must be all the woods, rocks and excess drinking.
I think I'm going to the Hill this weekend for Easter. That's pretty sweet. For a while there it was looking like Sunday dinner for one, but G invited me up for a meal with the fam. Awesome.
So things are good. Apartment's a god damn state. Problem is, I work a long day and come home and the last thing I want to do is cook and clean. Maybe I'll get some motivation on my day off Friday.
The new single from The Streets is a pretty good mellow tune. Chris Martin lends on vocals, tho trying to find that version on soulseek or limewire has proven to be a daunting task. My friends say dry your eyes, mate. Guess we all go our runnins.
Monday, April 03, 2006
Keggerloo & Raptors too
Yo...
Yet another good weekend. Seems like that's all I do these days: work like a dog during the week, and then party like it's going out of style on the weekends. It's all well and good, trouble is, by living this kind of lifestyle I essentially accomplish very little. For instance, my apartment looks like it was hit by some form of mild seismic activity. But whatever.... it's clean enough.
So yeah, the weekend. Gammon emails me during the week and informs me of a massive keg party happening out in Waterloo. Naturally, I was entrigued. Mike ended up wanting in on the deal, so the 2 of us hopped in the Jet and headed on out. It was a pretty frigging funny night..... the 3 of us got pretty obliterated. I capped it all off on the walk home at 3am with a massive accidental superman-style faceplant into a pile of mud. I was rotten. I'm pretty sure the boys laughed so hard at me that they peed a little.
Ended up heading back to Brantford to spend the afternoon and evening enjoying the non-stop movie hit parade that is TBS Superstation with Mike and Jaimes.
This afternoon I had full intentions of finally getting out and getting some errands and apartment related stuff accomplished, as it was my first non-hungover Sunday in over a month. However, it also just so happened that my torrent of season 1 of a show called "The Sheild" completed this morning. So, over breakfast, I decided I would watch the first episode to see what the hype was all about (as most of my school buddies appear to be hopelessly addicted to it). 6 hours and 7 episodes later, I was still in my boxers, hopelessly glued to my computer screen. This is a friggin amazing show! So much for the getting the errands done!
At 4:30 I had to tear myself away from it and get cleaned up.... cause I had a Raptor's game to go to! Headed on in to PWall's where we met Gammon, and the 3 of us headed on down to the ACC. It was a very entertaining game... double overtime baby! Unfortunately, the Raptors didn't win (but that's not too bad, because they're out of the playoffs, so the shittier they do, the better their draft pick will be next seasaon). There was also a big upside to things: If the Raps score over 100 points (which they did due to overtime), ticket holders get free pizza! Score! So we hit that up about an hour ago, and now here I am back in the Hammer safe and sound.
Anyway.... another great couple of days. Time for the cycle to begin again! I gotta say, work's good, but weekends are definitely far too short. Nite.
Yet another good weekend. Seems like that's all I do these days: work like a dog during the week, and then party like it's going out of style on the weekends. It's all well and good, trouble is, by living this kind of lifestyle I essentially accomplish very little. For instance, my apartment looks like it was hit by some form of mild seismic activity. But whatever.... it's clean enough.
So yeah, the weekend. Gammon emails me during the week and informs me of a massive keg party happening out in Waterloo. Naturally, I was entrigued. Mike ended up wanting in on the deal, so the 2 of us hopped in the Jet and headed on out. It was a pretty frigging funny night..... the 3 of us got pretty obliterated. I capped it all off on the walk home at 3am with a massive accidental superman-style faceplant into a pile of mud. I was rotten. I'm pretty sure the boys laughed so hard at me that they peed a little.
Ended up heading back to Brantford to spend the afternoon and evening enjoying the non-stop movie hit parade that is TBS Superstation with Mike and Jaimes.
This afternoon I had full intentions of finally getting out and getting some errands and apartment related stuff accomplished, as it was my first non-hungover Sunday in over a month. However, it also just so happened that my torrent of season 1 of a show called "The Sheild" completed this morning. So, over breakfast, I decided I would watch the first episode to see what the hype was all about (as most of my school buddies appear to be hopelessly addicted to it). 6 hours and 7 episodes later, I was still in my boxers, hopelessly glued to my computer screen. This is a friggin amazing show! So much for the getting the errands done!
At 4:30 I had to tear myself away from it and get cleaned up.... cause I had a Raptor's game to go to! Headed on in to PWall's where we met Gammon, and the 3 of us headed on down to the ACC. It was a very entertaining game... double overtime baby! Unfortunately, the Raptors didn't win (but that's not too bad, because they're out of the playoffs, so the shittier they do, the better their draft pick will be next seasaon). There was also a big upside to things: If the Raps score over 100 points (which they did due to overtime), ticket holders get free pizza! Score! So we hit that up about an hour ago, and now here I am back in the Hammer safe and sound.
Anyway.... another great couple of days. Time for the cycle to begin again! I gotta say, work's good, but weekends are definitely far too short. Nite.
Monday, March 27, 2006
I for Inebriation
Yo,
So it was yet another stellar weekend. Bri is currently visiting Lesley in TO, and decided to swing on down to the Hammer for a few days. You can probably guess what happened next....
On Friday, Bri, Jaime, Mike and I had tickets to see the Trews. We primed up here at the apartment and then headed on down to the Underground. It was a very kickass show.. the boys definitely rocked out. We mangaged to get right down in front as well, so we had an excelent view of things. Highlights included 'So She's Leaving', 'Poor Old Broken Hearted Me', and 'I Can't Say' with a rendition of Simon & Garfunkel's 'Only Living Boy In New York' for an intro. Awesome stuff. The only thing was, the Keith's seemed to be dropping like water, and before we knew it we were pretty fucked up. Bri was having a hard time staying vertical... and once he started leaning on strangers and falling on the floor, it was time to go. Funny shit. He felt bad the next day, but truth was that I expected nothing less than drunken stupor.
On Saturday I had the crew over to my place for poker and beers. In the end there was myself, Bri, Jaime, Mike, Brad and his buddy Stacey - enough for a good laugh. We started in on the booze kinda late (10pm), but then made up for it by drinking till 5am. Goodtimes.
On Sunday we caught V for Vendetta, not a bad movie... tho I had really high expectations for it I guess, because I was slightly disappointed. The boy and I then headed to a pub in Westdale (the MacMaster student ghetto). Had a massive feed of food and finished off the weekend with a nice pint of Kilkenny. All in all, a great one.
So it was yet another stellar weekend. Bri is currently visiting Lesley in TO, and decided to swing on down to the Hammer for a few days. You can probably guess what happened next....
On Friday, Bri, Jaime, Mike and I had tickets to see the Trews. We primed up here at the apartment and then headed on down to the Underground. It was a very kickass show.. the boys definitely rocked out. We mangaged to get right down in front as well, so we had an excelent view of things. Highlights included 'So She's Leaving', 'Poor Old Broken Hearted Me', and 'I Can't Say' with a rendition of Simon & Garfunkel's 'Only Living Boy In New York' for an intro. Awesome stuff. The only thing was, the Keith's seemed to be dropping like water, and before we knew it we were pretty fucked up. Bri was having a hard time staying vertical... and once he started leaning on strangers and falling on the floor, it was time to go. Funny shit. He felt bad the next day, but truth was that I expected nothing less than drunken stupor.
On Saturday I had the crew over to my place for poker and beers. In the end there was myself, Bri, Jaime, Mike, Brad and his buddy Stacey - enough for a good laugh. We started in on the booze kinda late (10pm), but then made up for it by drinking till 5am. Goodtimes.
On Sunday we caught V for Vendetta, not a bad movie... tho I had really high expectations for it I guess, because I was slightly disappointed. The boy and I then headed to a pub in Westdale (the MacMaster student ghetto). Had a massive feed of food and finished off the weekend with a nice pint of Kilkenny. All in all, a great one.
Thursday, March 23, 2006
Message in bottle
A guy in Northern Africa found the bottle we threw off our ferry en route to Greece this summer.
Jen's blog says it all.
One of those things in life that makes you smile and realize how small the world really is.
Jen's blog says it all.
One of those things in life that makes you smile and realize how small the world really is.
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
Movie Theatre Gravity Well
If you haven't done so already, do yourself a favor and read Rob's blog. The man has some of the most funny/insightful entries going.
There's a reason he's #1 on the my Friendly Fire list there on the right.
There's a reason he's #1 on the my Friendly Fire list there on the right.
Monday, March 20, 2006
Life is Good
Holy carp. So I haven't written in 2 weeks, and somehow it feels like 2 months. Werid, but a lot of shit has happened. Mostly drinking related, which is my favorite kind of shit.
First off, lets start with the biggest news: I'm going to Pearl Jam in New Jersey June 3rd!!!! Bri and I are gonna catch the last show of the North American leg of the world tour. He was pretty bummed about missing the TO shows, so I said "fuck it dude... road trip!". It's gonna be awesome.
Next, I bought a set of Mizuno Irons! T-zoids. They're the clubs I've always wanted, and now I have them. I RULE. Can't wait to hit the links!
The last two weekends have been exercises in kickassery. The 11th & 12th was "co-worker" weekend. Brad and I went to Jaime's Friday for food, booze and poker. Got up Saturday and drove to St. Thomas where we all bought clubs! Came back, got food, and the 3 of us went to a Bulldogs game - sweet. We then proceeded to the bar where we spent an obscene amount of money on booze. The band rocked and we had a friggin blast dancing around like idiots. It was a night for the ages.
This past weekend, Pwall hosted a paddy's day party on Friday. Mike, Jaime and I headed up to TO for that. Bri and Les ended up joining us... great times. Then on Saturday Brad invited me to join him and his high school buddies on a road trip to London. Ended up hitting the straight whiskey and beers at 2pm... by 7pm I was puking.. and by 8:30pm I was back in the game. Holy fack, I was plastered. Apparently I had great difficulty making right turns. Eventually we went out to hit the pubs to see how long we could go without getting kicked out of places. Out of 6 guys drinking, 4 puked, 2 got knocked unconsious and 1 fire alarm got pulled in a club. Stellar night.
So that's what I've been up to. Buyin' shit, drinking, and having an all-around good time. Oh yeah, work's in there too. Bri's heading down to the Hammer this coming weekend, so it's shaping up to be 3 kick-ass weekends in a row. Fuckin A.
First off, lets start with the biggest news: I'm going to Pearl Jam in New Jersey June 3rd!!!! Bri and I are gonna catch the last show of the North American leg of the world tour. He was pretty bummed about missing the TO shows, so I said "fuck it dude... road trip!". It's gonna be awesome.
Next, I bought a set of Mizuno Irons! T-zoids. They're the clubs I've always wanted, and now I have them. I RULE. Can't wait to hit the links!
The last two weekends have been exercises in kickassery. The 11th & 12th was "co-worker" weekend. Brad and I went to Jaime's Friday for food, booze and poker. Got up Saturday and drove to St. Thomas where we all bought clubs! Came back, got food, and the 3 of us went to a Bulldogs game - sweet. We then proceeded to the bar where we spent an obscene amount of money on booze. The band rocked and we had a friggin blast dancing around like idiots. It was a night for the ages.
This past weekend, Pwall hosted a paddy's day party on Friday. Mike, Jaime and I headed up to TO for that. Bri and Les ended up joining us... great times. Then on Saturday Brad invited me to join him and his high school buddies on a road trip to London. Ended up hitting the straight whiskey and beers at 2pm... by 7pm I was puking.. and by 8:30pm I was back in the game. Holy fack, I was plastered. Apparently I had great difficulty making right turns. Eventually we went out to hit the pubs to see how long we could go without getting kicked out of places. Out of 6 guys drinking, 4 puked, 2 got knocked unconsious and 1 fire alarm got pulled in a club. Stellar night.
So that's what I've been up to. Buyin' shit, drinking, and having an all-around good time. Oh yeah, work's in there too. Bri's heading down to the Hammer this coming weekend, so it's shaping up to be 3 kick-ass weekends in a row. Fuckin A.
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
PEARL JAM WORLD TOUR!!!
PEARL JAM IS PLAYING THE AIR CANADA CENTRE IN TORONTO ON MAY 9th and 10th!!!!!!
AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!
I got my tickets!
FUCKIN A!
*Reid looses his shit and jumps around the room*
AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!
I got my tickets!
FUCKIN A!
*Reid looses his shit and jumps around the room*
Sunday, March 05, 2006
NEW PEARL JAM
If you're a pearl jam fan you're going to want to sit down...
TURN IT ON AND TURN IT UP!
The song is fucking awesome. Apparently it wasn't supposed to be played by radio stations until March 14th. Guess someone got ancy. Impatience is a wonderful thing.
The full album will hit record stores May 2nd. The wait is going to kill me. Check out this link for album news, including a track listing and a small interview with Eddie. Oh snap.
A SEATTLE RADIO STATION LEAKED THE NEW PEARL JAM SINGLE "WORLDWIDE SUICIDE". SOMEONE HAS SUCCESSFULLY RIPPED THIS SONG FROM THE RADIO AND POSTED IT ONLINE.....UPDATE 06/03/2006:
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD
THE FULL QUALITY VERSION OF
WORLDWIDE SUICIDE!
(released ahead of schedule on pearljam.com)
TURN IT ON AND TURN IT UP!
The song is fucking awesome. Apparently it wasn't supposed to be played by radio stations until March 14th. Guess someone got ancy. Impatience is a wonderful thing.
The full album will hit record stores May 2nd. The wait is going to kill me. Check out this link for album news, including a track listing and a small interview with Eddie. Oh snap.
"Our band is like an old car, and this record is our new engine" - EV
In the mean time, if you're looking for a PJ fix, check out my new favorite website: www.pearljamlive.com, which is a massive database of live shows since 1990 that you can listen to via streaming audio. Awesome!
In the mean time, if you're looking for a PJ fix, check out my new favorite website: www.pearljamlive.com, which is a massive database of live shows since 1990 that you can listen to via streaming audio. Awesome!
Poker from Paris to Toronto
Yo.
First off, let me just say that that last post was pretty depressing. Please don't get me wrong. I am in no way feeling down. I wrote that post at 6:40am, tired as a mofo. So, no worries.
Ok. So this weekend was officially "Poker Weekend". Good stuff. On Friday I headed out to Jaime & Mike's, and we went to Paris (not the good one) for a friendly 7 player Holdem tournament with a $5 buy-in. Yours truly ended up outwiting and outlasting the power player at the table to take home the pot. Nice. Trouble was, I had yet another poker tournament this weekend, so I feared I had used up all my luck.
On Saturday afternoon Jaime & Mike swing by for me and we head to the big city. PWall was hosting a 10 person $20 buy-in tournament with some of his TO friends. The game went pretty well... I busted out one dude within 3 hands of playing. I later found out he had a pretty big poker ego and was quite the shit talker, so everyone thanked me for my death blow. I went all in on an ace high flush (my 2nd consecutive in as many hands), and the fool called me with two pair thinking there was no chance in hell I pulled off another flush. I pulled the horseshoe out of my ass and shook his hand with it. He was not happy.
Things continued on like that for me. Won a few hands here or there, let people knock each other out. I ended up being the chip leader at my table with $50 heading into the final table of 6. That's when things took a bit of a turn. Blinds were inflating rapidly, and I just couldn't pull out a win. Finally, with an Ace high flush draw off the flop, I choose to go all in with $25. Gammon, who's nickname for the day became, "any idiot can win with the right cards", called me with a fucking pair of 3's, and wouldn't you know, I didn't get my flush. He got me. I finished 4th overall, so I didn't get any monies.
When the dust settled, Gammon (with a huge chip advantage) ended up taking Pwall down in the final matchup. It was a well played game by both guys. Bottom line was that the cards were with Scott. So in the end, the 3 Mun Engineers finished 1st, 2nd and 4th. Not too shabby. We represented. Those Archeology grad students never stood a chance :)
Great weekend!
First off, let me just say that that last post was pretty depressing. Please don't get me wrong. I am in no way feeling down. I wrote that post at 6:40am, tired as a mofo. So, no worries.
Ok. So this weekend was officially "Poker Weekend". Good stuff. On Friday I headed out to Jaime & Mike's, and we went to Paris (not the good one) for a friendly 7 player Holdem tournament with a $5 buy-in. Yours truly ended up outwiting and outlasting the power player at the table to take home the pot. Nice. Trouble was, I had yet another poker tournament this weekend, so I feared I had used up all my luck.
On Saturday afternoon Jaime & Mike swing by for me and we head to the big city. PWall was hosting a 10 person $20 buy-in tournament with some of his TO friends. The game went pretty well... I busted out one dude within 3 hands of playing. I later found out he had a pretty big poker ego and was quite the shit talker, so everyone thanked me for my death blow. I went all in on an ace high flush (my 2nd consecutive in as many hands), and the fool called me with two pair thinking there was no chance in hell I pulled off another flush. I pulled the horseshoe out of my ass and shook his hand with it. He was not happy.
Things continued on like that for me. Won a few hands here or there, let people knock each other out. I ended up being the chip leader at my table with $50 heading into the final table of 6. That's when things took a bit of a turn. Blinds were inflating rapidly, and I just couldn't pull out a win. Finally, with an Ace high flush draw off the flop, I choose to go all in with $25. Gammon, who's nickname for the day became, "any idiot can win with the right cards", called me with a fucking pair of 3's, and wouldn't you know, I didn't get my flush. He got me. I finished 4th overall, so I didn't get any monies.
When the dust settled, Gammon (with a huge chip advantage) ended up taking Pwall down in the final matchup. It was a well played game by both guys. Bottom line was that the cards were with Scott. So in the end, the 3 Mun Engineers finished 1st, 2nd and 4th. Not too shabby. We represented. Those Archeology grad students never stood a chance :)
Great weekend!
Friday, March 03, 2006
Damn you Reznor
My radio station of choice is 102.1 The Edge. It's what a I wake up to, and what I hear in my car.
I've noticed they're a little repetitive, but in general they play good stuff. Even throw some PJ in there every once in a while.
I've also noticed they are big fans of NIN, and the new nails single is called "Every day is exactly the same". The problem is, they seem to play this song every morning while I'm attempting to gather some form of motivation to get my ass up and get to work. It's a good song, but the repetitive chorus kinda bums me out.... I mean.... this is it. I've joined the working world. Every time I hear that song, I think about how true it is, and that I'm just another working stiff working for the weekend. I'm thinking that maybe this song isn't the best choice to be playing every day at 6:30am.
Anyway, that's all I have to say about that. Time to get a shower and drive to work just like every other day with Trent's worlds echoing in my head.
I've noticed they're a little repetitive, but in general they play good stuff. Even throw some PJ in there every once in a while.
I've also noticed they are big fans of NIN, and the new nails single is called "Every day is exactly the same". The problem is, they seem to play this song every morning while I'm attempting to gather some form of motivation to get my ass up and get to work. It's a good song, but the repetitive chorus kinda bums me out.... I mean.... this is it. I've joined the working world. Every time I hear that song, I think about how true it is, and that I'm just another working stiff working for the weekend. I'm thinking that maybe this song isn't the best choice to be playing every day at 6:30am.
Anyway, that's all I have to say about that. Time to get a shower and drive to work just like every other day with Trent's worlds echoing in my head.
Every day is exactly the same...
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Shrove Tuesday's Gone
Happy Pancake Day!
Invited the crew (Jaime, Mike & Brad) over to my place for chocolate chip pancakes and bacon for supper. Went over pretty well, considering it was my first real solo attempt at the pancake dinner scene. Glad I picked up a coffee table on Sunday so we could all watch Super Troopers while we ate!
It was cool to finally have them pay a visit to casa-del-reid, as I've been to their places quite a bit already. They've also treated me to a few meals as well, so I jumped at the chance to hit them back. Plus, apparently pancakes on shrove Tuesday isn't as big of a tradition up here on the mainland as it is back home.... so it was cool because I felt like I was bringing a little piece of the rock to Hamilton. And get this... they had never even heard of putting money in the pancakes. Can you believe that? Their childhoods must have sucked.
And kudos to Splash (and Veena) for finally updating his blog. I encourage you all to follow their lead and make an update to your blog right now as well.
Also of note is the new VW commercial for the GTI. The guy says "Oh Snap". I just about fell off my chair. Awesome. I knew I bought my car from the right people :) . As a side note, I've been saying "oh Snap!" in the office as much as possible since I started work. I think it's starting to catch on, as some co-workers have begun using it.
And finally, the question is..... what are YOU going to give up for Lent?
I think I'm going to aim for something simple.... like giving up blue M&M's or boloney sandwiches.
Peace.
Invited the crew (Jaime, Mike & Brad) over to my place for chocolate chip pancakes and bacon for supper. Went over pretty well, considering it was my first real solo attempt at the pancake dinner scene. Glad I picked up a coffee table on Sunday so we could all watch Super Troopers while we ate!
It was cool to finally have them pay a visit to casa-del-reid, as I've been to their places quite a bit already. They've also treated me to a few meals as well, so I jumped at the chance to hit them back. Plus, apparently pancakes on shrove Tuesday isn't as big of a tradition up here on the mainland as it is back home.... so it was cool because I felt like I was bringing a little piece of the rock to Hamilton. And get this... they had never even heard of putting money in the pancakes. Can you believe that? Their childhoods must have sucked.
And kudos to Splash (and Veena) for finally updating his blog. I encourage you all to follow their lead and make an update to your blog right now as well.
Also of note is the new VW commercial for the GTI. The guy says "Oh Snap". I just about fell off my chair. Awesome. I knew I bought my car from the right people :) . As a side note, I've been saying "oh Snap!" in the office as much as possible since I started work. I think it's starting to catch on, as some co-workers have begun using it.
And finally, the question is..... what are YOU going to give up for Lent?
I think I'm going to aim for something simple.... like giving up blue M&M's or boloney sandwiches.
Peace.
Sunday, February 26, 2006
Gushue's Gold & New PJ. Fuckin A
Brad Gushue, Mark Nichols, Russ Howard, Jamie Korab & Mike Adam of the St. John's Curling Club have won the gold medal for mens curling at the 2006 Olympics! I have never been so proud of an olymipic meal for my country as I am right now. Fuckin A. Newfie curlers are the best on earth - how messed is that? Also, this is the first ever gold medal for a Canadian Men's team. Absolutely awesome. Well done guys, you've made your country and your province incredibly proud. As today is the closing ceremonies, I should also give a shout out to all of our olympic athletes - well done! 24 medals in total, finishing 3rd overall. GO CANADA.
Also, huge news for PJ fans like myself. An auido clip of Pearl Jam's new single "Worldwide Suicide" has been posted on The Sky I Scrape. Sounds fucking awesome. Word on the street is that the still un-named album due to hit shelves May 2nd will be one of Pearl Jam's heavier releases to date. However, the HUGE NEWS is that this SINGLE will be available for download on MARCH 8 2006!!!! That's like 10 days away!!!! Pleasure overload man.
I strongly recommend that any pj fans out there should sign up/renew their membership on tenclub.net if you have any intention of catching them when they tour this album next summer.
10 days. Can't hardly wait. Oh god. I've been playing the clip over and over. This is gonna be great!
Also, huge news for PJ fans like myself. An auido clip of Pearl Jam's new single "Worldwide Suicide" has been posted on The Sky I Scrape. Sounds fucking awesome. Word on the street is that the still un-named album due to hit shelves May 2nd will be one of Pearl Jam's heavier releases to date. However, the HUGE NEWS is that this SINGLE will be available for download on MARCH 8 2006!!!! That's like 10 days away!!!! Pleasure overload man.
I strongly recommend that any pj fans out there should sign up/renew their membership on tenclub.net if you have any intention of catching them when they tour this album next summer.
10 days. Can't hardly wait. Oh god. I've been playing the clip over and over. This is gonna be great!
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
Now with 100% less ethernet cable
I bought a wireless router! It was on sale at futureshop.ca for 10 bones. How could I loose? I figure even if I don't like it or it doesn't work, who cares? For 10 bucks, I should have bought 8 and given them out for Christmas gifts.
So I'm writing this post from my couch. And now I can finally check the weather and my email from the comfort of my bed. What a time to be alive.
In other news, the stupid men's hockey team got owned this afternoon by Russia and are now out of medal contention. Fools. I bet that pegged them down a notch. Kudos to the women on the gold tho.
And Brad Gushue and his St. John's rink will be competing for the gold medal on Friday. If newfie curlers take top spot, It'll definitely be the greatest thing of all time. Go Newfs!
So I'm writing this post from my couch. And now I can finally check the weather and my email from the comfort of my bed. What a time to be alive.
In other news, the stupid men's hockey team got owned this afternoon by Russia and are now out of medal contention. Fools. I bet that pegged them down a notch. Kudos to the women on the gold tho.
And Brad Gushue and his St. John's rink will be competing for the gold medal on Friday. If newfie curlers take top spot, It'll definitely be the greatest thing of all time. Go Newfs!
Saturday, February 18, 2006
Niagara Falls, New York and stolen gloves
Yo. Bit of an interesting day. Noteworthy, that's for sure.
So my uncle calls me Friday afternoon while I'm out at a pub with my boss and coworkers having a few sociables. He encountered some confusion due to my caller ring tune - "Gold digger" by Kanye West (call me and you'll understand). After jokingly berating me for having an unprofessional ring tune, he informed me that he'd be in Toronto for the weekend. He then suggested we grab breakfast in the morning. I gladly accepted.
At 10am the phone rings. Feeling like a bag of dirt (damn you Brad and your 22oz Gin & Tonics), I answer. It's my crazy uncle... and he's on the way. So I get my shit together and meet him in the lobby. We start to drive, and he says "So... where do you feel like going?" We both came to the conclusion that since we had a clean slate for the day, would could pretty much go anywhere. Then, after naming off a bunch of places in and around the city, he suggests Niagara. As soon as I said I'd never been, that was it. We were off to the Falls.
Along the way we decided to take a spin up north to Niagara-on-the-lake for breakfast. Pretty cool little spot in the middle of wine country. Had a sample of some sparkling white after the meal, and then hit the parkway along the river south towards the falls. When we got there, we realized it was -10 and pretty windy, and we definitely weren't equipped for the weather. We drove around for a half hour until we found a Winners, and then we bought touques (and my uncle bought some boots - all he had were his dress shoes). We were good to go.
So we head on down to the river. Once we got there, I realized that I really should have gotten some gloves as well! But I shrugged it off.... I'd just use my pockets. Before heading right down to the falls, we both get short taken and make a run to the W.C. (twirlet). Long story short, my uncle notices some unsuspecting fool has left his leather gloves next to the sink. He lets what he feels is an acceptable statute of limitations expire on reclaiming the gloves, and promptly pockets them. As we're walking down to the falls, he turns to me and says "Here. Wear these." So I'm like "WTF? Where did you get these?". And he's like "I stole em!" Anyway.. I laughed my ass off and took the gloves. They're pretty nice actually.
After that little escapade, we figured we'd come all this way, we might as well say we went all the way into upstate New York. A few minutes later we were crossed the bridge and cruising around on American soil. The first 5 minutes were filled with remarks like "well.... they look like us.... ". So then we got to thinking. We're in the US. What should we do? The answer was obvious: Go to a gun shop.
Or at least, we thought the answer was obvious. We drove around the roughest parts of town for over an hour, and wouldn't you know, we didn't find a single gun shop! WTF? And they call themselves American! I thought about maybe going to a bank and asking if I get a free gun if I open an account (like in Bowling for Columbine)... but my uncle put the kibosh on that one.
Eventually we gave in to the futility of our task and headed back across the boarder, somewhat disappointed, but generally glad we had ventured over all the same.
I got back in my door around 4:30 from a pretty stellar day. There's nothing like a random road trip on a hangover Saturday with a crazy uncle to make you laugh.
PS. To any Americans who may read this... I don't think you're all gun-toting lunatics. Just 51% of you.
So my uncle calls me Friday afternoon while I'm out at a pub with my boss and coworkers having a few sociables. He encountered some confusion due to my caller ring tune - "Gold digger" by Kanye West (call me and you'll understand). After jokingly berating me for having an unprofessional ring tune, he informed me that he'd be in Toronto for the weekend. He then suggested we grab breakfast in the morning. I gladly accepted.
At 10am the phone rings. Feeling like a bag of dirt (damn you Brad and your 22oz Gin & Tonics), I answer. It's my crazy uncle... and he's on the way. So I get my shit together and meet him in the lobby. We start to drive, and he says "So... where do you feel like going?" We both came to the conclusion that since we had a clean slate for the day, would could pretty much go anywhere. Then, after naming off a bunch of places in and around the city, he suggests Niagara. As soon as I said I'd never been, that was it. We were off to the Falls.
Along the way we decided to take a spin up north to Niagara-on-the-lake for breakfast. Pretty cool little spot in the middle of wine country. Had a sample of some sparkling white after the meal, and then hit the parkway along the river south towards the falls. When we got there, we realized it was -10 and pretty windy, and we definitely weren't equipped for the weather. We drove around for a half hour until we found a Winners, and then we bought touques (and my uncle bought some boots - all he had were his dress shoes). We were good to go.
So we head on down to the river. Once we got there, I realized that I really should have gotten some gloves as well! But I shrugged it off.... I'd just use my pockets. Before heading right down to the falls, we both get short taken and make a run to the W.C. (twirlet). Long story short, my uncle notices some unsuspecting fool has left his leather gloves next to the sink. He lets what he feels is an acceptable statute of limitations expire on reclaiming the gloves, and promptly pockets them. As we're walking down to the falls, he turns to me and says "Here. Wear these." So I'm like "WTF? Where did you get these?". And he's like "I stole em!" Anyway.. I laughed my ass off and took the gloves. They're pretty nice actually.
After that little escapade, we figured we'd come all this way, we might as well say we went all the way into upstate New York. A few minutes later we were crossed the bridge and cruising around on American soil. The first 5 minutes were filled with remarks like "well.... they look like us.... ". So then we got to thinking. We're in the US. What should we do? The answer was obvious: Go to a gun shop.
Or at least, we thought the answer was obvious. We drove around the roughest parts of town for over an hour, and wouldn't you know, we didn't find a single gun shop! WTF? And they call themselves American! I thought about maybe going to a bank and asking if I get a free gun if I open an account (like in Bowling for Columbine)... but my uncle put the kibosh on that one.
Eventually we gave in to the futility of our task and headed back across the boarder, somewhat disappointed, but generally glad we had ventured over all the same.
I got back in my door around 4:30 from a pretty stellar day. There's nothing like a random road trip on a hangover Saturday with a crazy uncle to make you laugh.
PS. To any Americans who may read this... I don't think you're all gun-toting lunatics. Just 51% of you.
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
State your purpose
Have you guys ever tried to spider your way though the internet by jumping along blog links? You never know where you're going to end up. I got bored while waiting for Lost come on tonight, and one way or another, I ended up on some dude's blog from out in Alberta. It was all about his left wing girlfriend or something weird and random like that.
However, the guy had a link to Blogs Canada on there, so naturally, I got curious. Turns out there's a pretty massive database of canadian blogs... all broken down by category and what not. There's a ton on information on there, that's fors sure.
But that got me thinking. If I had to catergorize this place, what would I clasify it as? Bolonium? Seriously. This blog really only serves as a means for me to record my life and vent my thoughts to the general public. More than anything, I guess I really use this site as a means to keep my friends in the know.
But yeah... it just got me thinking about how there are all these.... "real" blogs out there (for lack of a better word) that provide actual useful information and insights to the world. This site is not one of them.
....and speaking of Olympic Curling, I can't believe BOTH of Gushue's rocks in the 11th end last night picked (caught a piece of dirt on the ice and changed course). I was on the floor in disbelief. But.... he could have won it in the 10th and he fucked that up.... so maybe he deserved that kick in the pants. Either way, win the rest of em buddy!
However, the guy had a link to Blogs Canada on there, so naturally, I got curious. Turns out there's a pretty massive database of canadian blogs... all broken down by category and what not. There's a ton on information on there, that's fors sure.
But that got me thinking. If I had to catergorize this place, what would I clasify it as? Bolonium? Seriously. This blog really only serves as a means for me to record my life and vent my thoughts to the general public. More than anything, I guess I really use this site as a means to keep my friends in the know.
But yeah... it just got me thinking about how there are all these.... "real" blogs out there (for lack of a better word) that provide actual useful information and insights to the world. This site is not one of them.
....and speaking of Olympic Curling, I can't believe BOTH of Gushue's rocks in the 11th end last night picked (caught a piece of dirt on the ice and changed course). I was on the floor in disbelief. But.... he could have won it in the 10th and he fucked that up.... so maybe he deserved that kick in the pants. Either way, win the rest of em buddy!
Monday, February 13, 2006
Brave New World
So I'm a pretty big n00b when it comes to torrents. I didn't really even know what they were up until a few months ago. Anyway, long story short, this evening I managed to successfully download, mount, install and play my first fully pirated game: Rogue Spear. What a time to be alive. This is just the beginning.
I didn't leave work until after 7:30pm this evening. That puts me a few minutes shy of working a full 12 hour day. It's not fun, let me tell you. But I had a lot to do, and I got a lot of it done, so them's the breaks. I was also feeling half guilty about pulling a double-tardy week last week (that's right... I was late Monday and again Friday when I slept in for an hour. Both incidents were booze related). So that played a part in staying late today. Plus, my boss is a habitual night owl, so it's not as though I'm in the office on my own. It's good too, cause If I need to ask him something, he's usually more than willing to help me out (unlike during regular hours when he's off his head with work).
Anyway... I'm heading to bed. Hope you all have a love-tastic valentine's day tomorrow.
Reid
"Hail, hail the lucky ones, I refer to those in love." - E.V.
I didn't leave work until after 7:30pm this evening. That puts me a few minutes shy of working a full 12 hour day. It's not fun, let me tell you. But I had a lot to do, and I got a lot of it done, so them's the breaks. I was also feeling half guilty about pulling a double-tardy week last week (that's right... I was late Monday and again Friday when I slept in for an hour. Both incidents were booze related). So that played a part in staying late today. Plus, my boss is a habitual night owl, so it's not as though I'm in the office on my own. It's good too, cause If I need to ask him something, he's usually more than willing to help me out (unlike during regular hours when he's off his head with work).
Anyway... I'm heading to bed. Hope you all have a love-tastic valentine's day tomorrow.
Reid
"Hail, hail the lucky ones, I refer to those in love." - E.V.
Friday, February 10, 2006
My reputation proceeds me
So I know what you're all asking:
Well I'll tell you. The internet is a funny thing...
So I'm at work on Monday morning, still feeling like shit after a crazy weekend of booze. I'm walking through the maintenance shop, and all the mill guys are there getting ready to head out into the plant to work. Keep in mind, at this point I'm still really sketchy with everyone's name - but on the other side of the coin, everyone already knows who I am (cause I'm the new guy).
So one of the guys stops me and says: "Hey Reid! Have a good weekend in Ottawa there?". Dumbfounded, I kind of stumbled a little, and said "What?". I mean, besides my boss and a few co-workers in my office, nobody even knew I had taken a trip.... or so I thought.
So the guy says "Yeah.... my wife was searching for the company newsletter on the net, and she came across your BLOG. We knew it was you cause it's got your picture on there and everything. So we read all about your little trip to Ottawa. How was the Rocket Fuel?"
Oh snap. So I'm thinking "what the hell?? How could you possibly come across me?".... but hey... I mean... I don't write in this thing to be private. So I kind of shrug it off. I go back to the office and google my name and my company's name. Sure enough, my blogger profile was the first hit.
The next morning, I'm walking into work and my boss calls me into his office. He says "have a seat" so I can tell something is up. So he looks at me, and with a big grin, he says: "I've got a question for you. What's a BLOG?".
Oh snap. Turns out the wife of the maintence shop guy was talking to my boss in the supermarket about it!!!!! WTF??? What I neglected to fully realize is that my plant is in a small town. The kind of small town where everyone knows everyone and there's no such thing as a secret. Anyway, long story short, it's gotten around the company that the new engineer's got a blog posted on the internet for all to read.
At first, as I said, I didn't really care. But once I found out how fast word had spread I decided to put the kibosh on the old blog address - at least for a while. The truth is, I'll probably be talking about work related stuff on here, and the last thing I want is everyone in the plant inside my head.
So I apologize to everyone out there who now has to go change their link, but I've decided to go in cognito for a little while. Fucked up hey? Makes you re-think your privacy, that's for sure.
Reid
Why the hell did you change your blog address Reid?
Well I'll tell you. The internet is a funny thing...
So I'm at work on Monday morning, still feeling like shit after a crazy weekend of booze. I'm walking through the maintenance shop, and all the mill guys are there getting ready to head out into the plant to work. Keep in mind, at this point I'm still really sketchy with everyone's name - but on the other side of the coin, everyone already knows who I am (cause I'm the new guy).
So one of the guys stops me and says: "Hey Reid! Have a good weekend in Ottawa there?". Dumbfounded, I kind of stumbled a little, and said "What?". I mean, besides my boss and a few co-workers in my office, nobody even knew I had taken a trip.... or so I thought.
So the guy says "Yeah.... my wife was searching for the company newsletter on the net, and she came across your BLOG. We knew it was you cause it's got your picture on there and everything. So we read all about your little trip to Ottawa. How was the Rocket Fuel?"
Oh snap. So I'm thinking "what the hell?? How could you possibly come across me?".... but hey... I mean... I don't write in this thing to be private. So I kind of shrug it off. I go back to the office and google my name and my company's name. Sure enough, my blogger profile was the first hit.
The next morning, I'm walking into work and my boss calls me into his office. He says "have a seat" so I can tell something is up. So he looks at me, and with a big grin, he says: "I've got a question for you. What's a BLOG?".
Oh snap. Turns out the wife of the maintence shop guy was talking to my boss in the supermarket about it!!!!! WTF??? What I neglected to fully realize is that my plant is in a small town. The kind of small town where everyone knows everyone and there's no such thing as a secret. Anyway, long story short, it's gotten around the company that the new engineer's got a blog posted on the internet for all to read.
At first, as I said, I didn't really care. But once I found out how fast word had spread I decided to put the kibosh on the old blog address - at least for a while. The truth is, I'll probably be talking about work related stuff on here, and the last thing I want is everyone in the plant inside my head.
So I apologize to everyone out there who now has to go change their link, but I've decided to go in cognito for a little while. Fucked up hey? Makes you re-think your privacy, that's for sure.
Reid
Wednesday, February 08, 2006
Ahead by a quarter century
So I'm 25 years old today! Wild stuff.
Had pretty great day too, all things considered. My boss and coworkers went out of their way to spring a suprise cake on me during a lunchtime safety meeting. That was very cool of them, and I definitely appreciated the gesture.
Gonna go to Jaime's for dinner tonight, and then myself, Jaime, Mike and Brad are going for dinner Thursday night. Should be great.
Let's hear it for being 25!
Had pretty great day too, all things considered. My boss and coworkers went out of their way to spring a suprise cake on me during a lunchtime safety meeting. That was very cool of them, and I definitely appreciated the gesture.
Gonna go to Jaime's for dinner tonight, and then myself, Jaime, Mike and Brad are going for dinner Thursday night. Should be great.
Let's hear it for being 25!
Monday, February 06, 2006
The Ottawa Weekend
Hey,
So yeah... kickass weekend as expected.
Arrived Friday night around 11:30pm as we had hoped. We actually made really good time considering we didn't get out of Toronto until roughly 7:30. We hit the beers at Jen and Steve's and ended up drinking until 5ish. Nice. It was cool to be able to have a few and catch up with some old friends. After the hosts fixed us a kickass breakfast we lazed around most of Saturday in an effort to recover/prepare for the debauchery ahead.
We headed on out to Pete & Lisa's in Vanier around 8:30pm for the rocket fuel. Turns out there would be 16 of us in on it.... so there were 3 batches worth of booze ready to go (see recipe in the post below). It was a stellar night... a lot of my old classmates were there.... it was awesome to be able to drink with them again. It brought me back to the University days of Byron Street. So natually, I ended up getting completely tossed (I last remember pouring glass #6... the next thing I know I waking up on the floor). A great night. Jenna (Jeanie) has already posted some pics on her space. I imagine Ginny might have hers up eventually as well. This photo says it all
We got up around 11am and hit Brother's for some stellar breakfast. Despite the massive booze intake, I was actually feeling pretty good.... which is good considering the long drive home I had ahead of me. By the time we got to Toronto, I decided to put the kibosh on PWalls superbowl party (sorry buddy). I was getting pretty tired and I didn't want to have to drive home after the game. Gammon didn't have a lift to Waterloo, and also our buddy Jeremy was up in the city for an interview, so I decided to head down that way to grab a bite and catch the game with the boys. Gammon offered up his air matress, and thinking that Waterloo wasn't all that far from work, I accepted.
Trouble was, when we got back to Scott's after the game, I started to look up directions for the morning, and I quickly realized that this wasn't exactly going to be a quick hop to work. I got up extra early this morning in order to make it in on time... and I still managed to be late! Traffic and the weather was extremely shitty, so it took me nearly 2 hours to get to the plant - including a dirt road detour through an Indian Reserve! Shitty. But... that's the price you pay sometimes for a kickass weekend.
Anyway, all's well that ends well..... and it was a great weekend. We'll definitely have to do that again soon... tho next time I think we'll aim for a 3 day weekend to make it really count.
Oh yeah... 3 boxes and my acoustic guitar arrived today from home! It's just like Christmas all over again.... except I already own all the presents. Nonetheless, it's good to finally have all my stuff up with me.... especially my guitar - I definitley misssed it. I also got some early birthday gifts thrown in there. Thanks family!
Anyway... I'm facking beat. Goodnight.
So yeah... kickass weekend as expected.
Arrived Friday night around 11:30pm as we had hoped. We actually made really good time considering we didn't get out of Toronto until roughly 7:30. We hit the beers at Jen and Steve's and ended up drinking until 5ish. Nice. It was cool to be able to have a few and catch up with some old friends. After the hosts fixed us a kickass breakfast we lazed around most of Saturday in an effort to recover/prepare for the debauchery ahead.
We headed on out to Pete & Lisa's in Vanier around 8:30pm for the rocket fuel. Turns out there would be 16 of us in on it.... so there were 3 batches worth of booze ready to go (see recipe in the post below). It was a stellar night... a lot of my old classmates were there.... it was awesome to be able to drink with them again. It brought me back to the University days of Byron Street. So natually, I ended up getting completely tossed (I last remember pouring glass #6... the next thing I know I waking up on the floor). A great night. Jenna (Jeanie) has already posted some pics on her space. I imagine Ginny might have hers up eventually as well. This photo says it all
We got up around 11am and hit Brother's for some stellar breakfast. Despite the massive booze intake, I was actually feeling pretty good.... which is good considering the long drive home I had ahead of me. By the time we got to Toronto, I decided to put the kibosh on PWalls superbowl party (sorry buddy). I was getting pretty tired and I didn't want to have to drive home after the game. Gammon didn't have a lift to Waterloo, and also our buddy Jeremy was up in the city for an interview, so I decided to head down that way to grab a bite and catch the game with the boys. Gammon offered up his air matress, and thinking that Waterloo wasn't all that far from work, I accepted.
Trouble was, when we got back to Scott's after the game, I started to look up directions for the morning, and I quickly realized that this wasn't exactly going to be a quick hop to work. I got up extra early this morning in order to make it in on time... and I still managed to be late! Traffic and the weather was extremely shitty, so it took me nearly 2 hours to get to the plant - including a dirt road detour through an Indian Reserve! Shitty. But... that's the price you pay sometimes for a kickass weekend.
Anyway, all's well that ends well..... and it was a great weekend. We'll definitely have to do that again soon... tho next time I think we'll aim for a 3 day weekend to make it really count.
Oh yeah... 3 boxes and my acoustic guitar arrived today from home! It's just like Christmas all over again.... except I already own all the presents. Nonetheless, it's good to finally have all my stuff up with me.... especially my guitar - I definitley misssed it. I also got some early birthday gifts thrown in there. Thanks family!
Anyway... I'm facking beat. Goodnight.
Thursday, February 02, 2006
Road Trippin'
YO!
So myself, my buddy Gammon in Waterloo, and my friends Gloria and Al in the T-dot are all piling into the TDI tomorrow afternoon and heading on up to Ottawa for a par-tay weekend blowout. We're staying with our friends (my fellow eurotrip companions) Jen and Steve. Can't hardly wait.
Gonna be my first road trip with my new car! Awesome. It's a bit of a pain that we can't really get on the road until later (after work), cause this means we won't arrive in Ottawa until at least 11ish... but whatever. The plan is to hit the booze as hard as possible as soon as we get our asses in the door.
On Saturday the plan is to hit the Rocket Fuel. For anyone who may not be familiar with this fantastic drink.... it comes highly recommended from me to get you fuct up. Here's the receipe:
Rocket Fuel
- 1 Dozen Beer
- 26oz Vodka
- 26oz Malibu Rum
- 2 cans of frozen pink lemonade
- 1/2 bag of ice
Mix contents well in large tub & serve.
1 Batch makes aprrox eighteen 12oz. servings (enough for 4 people to get completely wasted, or 6 people to get a very solid buzz on). The craziest part of it all is that despite the fact that this drink is essentially hard liquor with beer for mix, you can not taste any alcohol. I shit you not. It has to be tasted to be believed. Try it for yourself. You'll be the hero of your group.
Steve & Jen have a good friend of theirs moving into the area, so the rocket fuel party is serving as his "welcome home" party. Also, my birthday is only 6 days away, so I'm proclaiming the rocket fuel party as being half in my honor too.
Then we're getting up Sunday and hitting the road lunch time in order to be at PWall's superbowl party around 6ish. Gonna be some weekend!
Anyway, it should be good times indeed. I'll post again next week to let you know how it all went down.
Peace.
So myself, my buddy Gammon in Waterloo, and my friends Gloria and Al in the T-dot are all piling into the TDI tomorrow afternoon and heading on up to Ottawa for a par-tay weekend blowout. We're staying with our friends (my fellow eurotrip companions) Jen and Steve. Can't hardly wait.
Gonna be my first road trip with my new car! Awesome. It's a bit of a pain that we can't really get on the road until later (after work), cause this means we won't arrive in Ottawa until at least 11ish... but whatever. The plan is to hit the booze as hard as possible as soon as we get our asses in the door.
On Saturday the plan is to hit the Rocket Fuel. For anyone who may not be familiar with this fantastic drink.... it comes highly recommended from me to get you fuct up. Here's the receipe:
Rocket Fuel
- 1 Dozen Beer
- 26oz Vodka
- 26oz Malibu Rum
- 2 cans of frozen pink lemonade
- 1/2 bag of ice
Mix contents well in large tub & serve.
1 Batch makes aprrox eighteen 12oz. servings (enough for 4 people to get completely wasted, or 6 people to get a very solid buzz on). The craziest part of it all is that despite the fact that this drink is essentially hard liquor with beer for mix, you can not taste any alcohol. I shit you not. It has to be tasted to be believed. Try it for yourself. You'll be the hero of your group.
Steve & Jen have a good friend of theirs moving into the area, so the rocket fuel party is serving as his "welcome home" party. Also, my birthday is only 6 days away, so I'm proclaiming the rocket fuel party as being half in my honor too.
Then we're getting up Sunday and hitting the road lunch time in order to be at PWall's superbowl party around 6ish. Gonna be some weekend!
Anyway, it should be good times indeed. I'll post again next week to let you know how it all went down.
Peace.
Saturday, January 28, 2006
4 Weeks In
Can you believe it? I've been here for almost 4 weeks! Unreal.
So yeah, as you've probably guessed, I've gotten myself a computer! Ended up going with a Gateway laptop... P4 @ 3.06GHz, 1024Mb DDR Ram, 100GB HD @4200rpm... definitely a sweet machine (compared to my poor old 6Gb thinkpad celeron 550 - but hey... she got me though school, so I can't knock it!).
Life is pretty good right now. Work is going great. I'm getting lots of responsibility and lots of challenge, so that's cool. Plus, as I touched on in the previous post, I am one of 3 new engineers with the company. Brad started in Sept, Jaime started in Dec (she interviewed against me and they ended up giving us BOTH a job), and of course I started in Jan. So that's pretty sweet cause I feel like I've got a few people to realate to and to help me out with "newbie" issues. Plus they're my age, so they're cool to hang out with too. That's good news, because for the time being Jaime and I are sharing an office. I'm cool with that tho, because she's an awesome girl and always good for a laugh or to bounce an idea off of.
Actually, Jaime and some of her friends from Ottawa are coming in to party in the Hammer tonight... so I'm looking forward to that, as it will actually be my first real night out partying in my new city. Should be good times for sure.
I still feel like I've essentially been too busy to miss home. That might sound kind of harsh, but it really is the truth. Between long hours at work, shopping for things for the apartment, driving around in my car, and weekend road trips to friends' places in other cities, I really have been flat out. It's all good tho, cause I've got my phone all set up now, so I get to talk to the fam every few days or so (which, for anyone who knows me well, is pretty freqent for me). I do miss Newfoundland like crazy, but I'm kind of looking at like this: I'm here now. So instead of spending my time missing the days of old, I'm going to spend my time making the days of new as kickass as possible. That's a line from the book of Reid.
So yeah... it's good to be back in the land of the living (i.e. the internet). I should now be much more frequent with my posts! (and the crowd goes wild).
Until next time...
Reid
So yeah, as you've probably guessed, I've gotten myself a computer! Ended up going with a Gateway laptop... P4 @ 3.06GHz, 1024Mb DDR Ram, 100GB HD @4200rpm... definitely a sweet machine (compared to my poor old 6Gb thinkpad celeron 550 - but hey... she got me though school, so I can't knock it!).
Life is pretty good right now. Work is going great. I'm getting lots of responsibility and lots of challenge, so that's cool. Plus, as I touched on in the previous post, I am one of 3 new engineers with the company. Brad started in Sept, Jaime started in Dec (she interviewed against me and they ended up giving us BOTH a job), and of course I started in Jan. So that's pretty sweet cause I feel like I've got a few people to realate to and to help me out with "newbie" issues. Plus they're my age, so they're cool to hang out with too. That's good news, because for the time being Jaime and I are sharing an office. I'm cool with that tho, because she's an awesome girl and always good for a laugh or to bounce an idea off of.
Actually, Jaime and some of her friends from Ottawa are coming in to party in the Hammer tonight... so I'm looking forward to that, as it will actually be my first real night out partying in my new city. Should be good times for sure.
I still feel like I've essentially been too busy to miss home. That might sound kind of harsh, but it really is the truth. Between long hours at work, shopping for things for the apartment, driving around in my car, and weekend road trips to friends' places in other cities, I really have been flat out. It's all good tho, cause I've got my phone all set up now, so I get to talk to the fam every few days or so (which, for anyone who knows me well, is pretty freqent for me). I do miss Newfoundland like crazy, but I'm kind of looking at like this: I'm here now. So instead of spending my time missing the days of old, I'm going to spend my time making the days of new as kickass as possible. That's a line from the book of Reid.
So yeah... it's good to be back in the land of the living (i.e. the internet). I should now be much more frequent with my posts! (and the crowd goes wild).
Until next time...
Reid
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
Changes
Well, here I sit on the kitchen counter in my new apartment. In case you're wondering, NO, I don't actually have a new computer yet. I hand wrote this entry on paper and posted it a little while later (a la eurotrip).
So yeah, as the title suggests, some pretty big changes have taken place since I last posted. First and foremost: I got a new car!!! It's a 2006 VW Jetta TDI!! It's absolutely amazing! I bought it on Saturday and proceeded to spend the remainer of the day out joyriding around the city and the countryside. Goodtimes. I'll throw a pic or two up once I take some.
Then, on Sunday, I officially moved into my new apartment! (Changes indeed). It's pretty sweet to finally be out of the motel and begin to really get settled away. However, there is one catch: my furniture wasn't able to be delievered to me until today (Tuesday). Luckily for me, Jaime - another fellow new engineer at CGC - gave me her air matress. So that's what I crashed on for 2 nights while I waited for my bed to be delivered.
I got into my place Sunday, dropped my suitcases and spent the remainer of the day between Sears and Walmart getting myself all of "the essentials" (bed clothes, dishes, pots, pans, cleaning stuff, etc). I actually need A LOT more than what I actually picked up, but I was esentially limited to what I could fit into one cart cause there was no way I was becoming one of those "multiple cart" people. No dice. I'll just come back.
Brad - another new engineer from work - and his finace Trish had me over for dinner last night. That was very cool and hospitable of them. Steve, another engineer from work, had me over last week as well - so I've been doing pretty good! It's good to see that hospitality is not a Newfoundland thing.... it's a Canadian thing. (Ask me about my UK experiences sometime).
I'll definitely be returning the favor once I get all straightened away.
I took today (Tuesday, Jan 17th) off from work because, as I said, today is the day my furniture arrives. That also probably explains why I'm wriring this from my kitchen counter. For now, it's the closest thing I have to a chair (unless you count the twirlet).
But yeah, my apartment is pretty sweet. It's about 500 sq. feet (which after living in a motel room for 2 weeks, seems like a palace). It's got a new fridge, stove & tub, is freshly painted, and the best part - it's got a balcony! I'm on the 5th floor facing west, so I've got a great view of Dundas Valley & west Hamilton. I can already tell I'm going to be enjoying some quality time relaxing out there with a cold beer and some tunes in my ear.
So yeah.. I'm pretty pumped man. But I'll be even more pumped when all my furniture arrives and my cable gets switched on at some point later this afternoon. It kinda sucks waiting around here all day with nothing much to do - but hey - it could be worse! After all, I'm getting paid to sit on my counter and write this.
I'm hoping I'll have my computer very soon, so I'll be in touch then.
Peace
So yeah, as the title suggests, some pretty big changes have taken place since I last posted. First and foremost: I got a new car!!! It's a 2006 VW Jetta TDI!! It's absolutely amazing! I bought it on Saturday and proceeded to spend the remainer of the day out joyriding around the city and the countryside. Goodtimes. I'll throw a pic or two up once I take some.
Then, on Sunday, I officially moved into my new apartment! (Changes indeed). It's pretty sweet to finally be out of the motel and begin to really get settled away. However, there is one catch: my furniture wasn't able to be delievered to me until today (Tuesday). Luckily for me, Jaime - another fellow new engineer at CGC - gave me her air matress. So that's what I crashed on for 2 nights while I waited for my bed to be delivered.
I got into my place Sunday, dropped my suitcases and spent the remainer of the day between Sears and Walmart getting myself all of "the essentials" (bed clothes, dishes, pots, pans, cleaning stuff, etc). I actually need A LOT more than what I actually picked up, but I was esentially limited to what I could fit into one cart cause there was no way I was becoming one of those "multiple cart" people. No dice. I'll just come back.
Brad - another new engineer from work - and his finace Trish had me over for dinner last night. That was very cool and hospitable of them. Steve, another engineer from work, had me over last week as well - so I've been doing pretty good! It's good to see that hospitality is not a Newfoundland thing.... it's a Canadian thing. (Ask me about my UK experiences sometime).
I'll definitely be returning the favor once I get all straightened away.
I took today (Tuesday, Jan 17th) off from work because, as I said, today is the day my furniture arrives. That also probably explains why I'm wriring this from my kitchen counter. For now, it's the closest thing I have to a chair (unless you count the twirlet).
But yeah, my apartment is pretty sweet. It's about 500 sq. feet (which after living in a motel room for 2 weeks, seems like a palace). It's got a new fridge, stove & tub, is freshly painted, and the best part - it's got a balcony! I'm on the 5th floor facing west, so I've got a great view of Dundas Valley & west Hamilton. I can already tell I'm going to be enjoying some quality time relaxing out there with a cold beer and some tunes in my ear.
So yeah.. I'm pretty pumped man. But I'll be even more pumped when all my furniture arrives and my cable gets switched on at some point later this afternoon. It kinda sucks waiting around here all day with nothing much to do - but hey - it could be worse! After all, I'm getting paid to sit on my counter and write this.
I'm hoping I'll have my computer very soon, so I'll be in touch then.
Peace
Sunday, January 08, 2006
Reid and the Hammer
Greetings from Hamilton, Ontario!!
Here I sit at the internet terminal in the lobby of my motel! I'm hold up here for the time being until I get my situation sorted. Work is going great so far. They've been very accomodating with regards to time off to get myself straightened away, so that's awesome. My first week was mostly spent out of the office apartment hunting and what not - and it payed off. I managed to get myself a spot on Friday! Awesome stuff! It's not the cheapest of the lot I looked at, but that being said, the cheapest of the lot were absolute shit holes, and this place is Very nice, and in a great & safe location to boot. It won't be ready until the 15th (it's getting painted and cleaned), so I'll be here in the motel until about that time.
Yesterday morning I hit the road again (in my rental car) to start test driving vehicles. I've decided I'm gonna go with the VW Jetta TDI - a very swank car with great preformance and amazing fuel stats (something ridiculous like nearly 1000kms to the tank). So yeah, I had a busy morning hopping around dealerships and trying my hand at "the haggle". Hopefully if I get my insurance crap figured out tomorrow (Monday), I could have my car early this week! Exciting!
After the test driving sessions were over, it was time to hit The Brink for some furniture for my apartment! Ended up hitting some pretty amazing boxing week sales that were still in effect - got myself a quality bed, a bedroom set, couch, thing to hold the tv/dvd, and a table - all the essentials. It was awsome cause the bed I got was on 30% off, and it came with a free 20" tv, dvd player & 3.2 mp digital camera!! Score!! So yeah... I did good. The only small downside is that they won't be able to deliver the goods until the 17th, so I'm in the motel until then... but dem's de breaks!
Anyway... today yet another busy day in trying to get settled away. I'm here searching the net for insurance quotes so I can have an idea of what's out there. I'm also in the process of sourcing out my internet/cable/phone situation... fun times.
So yeah... lots to be at, but all in all things are going great. I've been too busy to really think about how much I miss home (so that's good.... I guess). But yeah, of course I do miss my fam... it's a bit of a culture shock to suddenly be moving out on my own after 4 months under the umbrella. But that's it! Life moves on.
I'll keep ya posted on life in the hammer!
Reid
Here I sit at the internet terminal in the lobby of my motel! I'm hold up here for the time being until I get my situation sorted. Work is going great so far. They've been very accomodating with regards to time off to get myself straightened away, so that's awesome. My first week was mostly spent out of the office apartment hunting and what not - and it payed off. I managed to get myself a spot on Friday! Awesome stuff! It's not the cheapest of the lot I looked at, but that being said, the cheapest of the lot were absolute shit holes, and this place is Very nice, and in a great & safe location to boot. It won't be ready until the 15th (it's getting painted and cleaned), so I'll be here in the motel until about that time.
Yesterday morning I hit the road again (in my rental car) to start test driving vehicles. I've decided I'm gonna go with the VW Jetta TDI - a very swank car with great preformance and amazing fuel stats (something ridiculous like nearly 1000kms to the tank). So yeah, I had a busy morning hopping around dealerships and trying my hand at "the haggle". Hopefully if I get my insurance crap figured out tomorrow (Monday), I could have my car early this week! Exciting!
After the test driving sessions were over, it was time to hit The Brink for some furniture for my apartment! Ended up hitting some pretty amazing boxing week sales that were still in effect - got myself a quality bed, a bedroom set, couch, thing to hold the tv/dvd, and a table - all the essentials. It was awsome cause the bed I got was on 30% off, and it came with a free 20" tv, dvd player & 3.2 mp digital camera!! Score!! So yeah... I did good. The only small downside is that they won't be able to deliver the goods until the 17th, so I'm in the motel until then... but dem's de breaks!
Anyway... today yet another busy day in trying to get settled away. I'm here searching the net for insurance quotes so I can have an idea of what's out there. I'm also in the process of sourcing out my internet/cable/phone situation... fun times.
So yeah... lots to be at, but all in all things are going great. I've been too busy to really think about how much I miss home (so that's good.... I guess). But yeah, of course I do miss my fam... it's a bit of a culture shock to suddenly be moving out on my own after 4 months under the umbrella. But that's it! Life moves on.
I'll keep ya posted on life in the hammer!
Reid
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)