February 2011 – unsung.net

Help! I’m melting!…

February 27, 2011sabres, tanga, WinterNo Comments

It looks like our snow is slowly disappearing. Today was warm enough to ski without gloves. I figure by next weekend the snow will be gone. I’m glad we did a long 7.3km/1.25hr ski today, it may be the last of the season. We covered a good chunk of Palgrave forest today. Somehow we got onto the harder ‘red’ trail. The snow was really slow. It made it super easy going up but sluggish down and flat. Often it felt like we were skiing in oatmeal. Regardless, it was a good workout. The dog better be tired tonight.

B. has been working away at the downstairs bathroom preparing it for painting. All the dated vomitville wallpaper is gone, the holes are all patched so should be ready to paint soon! We are going with colours from the Brampton house that we enjoyed. The bathroom will be Benjamin Moore’s Mellowed Ivory. The bathroom is being painted to coincide with replacing the toilet and closing our energy audit. I hate one of our toilets. It seems to be low capacity and prone to getting jammed. And you don’t want a toilet to jam…

Last night we chilled out at home and watched a movie. It was another marginal pick by B. This time it was the Drew Barrymore/ Justin Long romantic comedy Going the Distance. Granted if you put the words ‘romantic’ and ‘comedy’ together you usually get mediocrity at best. It wasn’t bad. It just wasn’t good either. The laughs were few and the direction of the movie seemed pretty obvious from the start. Still for something light and senseless it filled an evening. Rating:**1/2

The good thing about hockey games starting at 7PM is there is time to still do something afterward. It was a tight game against Detroit. The Sabres were in the led until the final minute. But a late goal in the 3rd and no goals in the shootout led to the first loss of the Pegula Era. I can’t complain about losing to Detroit… but being so close to a win again and failing is disappointing. It does make me think that the Sabres need a few more pieces from being a contender. This seems very doable in the off-season. I have little expectation that Darcy will do anything now before the trade deadline tomorrow.

Anyway, just got in from skiing, and I need to grab a bite.

Dragons and Romans

February 23, 2011sabresNo Comments

The Sabres are under new management. Terry Pegula has been all over Buffalo Media since he too the reins of the team on Tuesday. The first game of the Pegula era was tonight… It started a little slow, but the Sabres got going late in the second and won, what seems like, a rare home game. I’ve been a fan of the Sabres a long time. I’ve seen promises and players come and go. Terry does seem different to me. His intentions seem sincere. I don’t doubt he will do everything he can to bring a Cup to Buffalo. That said, it doesn’t mean it will happen. All the teams in the NHL and all the owners want the same thing. It is one of sports most difficult victories to achieve. A journey of one thousand miles begins with one step, hopefully the Sabres have taken more step closer to Cup this week. Time will tell.

Sadly B.’s Uncle passed away this weekend and she has has gone home for the wake. It is a long day for her for sure. I wish her and her family well.

So, that means I’m home alone for an evening. I usually take these opportunities to watch movies that B. wouldn’t. Tonight was no exception, I watched the war drama Centurion. It seemed to get mixed reviews. I liked it… The hack and slash was somewhat excessive at times (just seemed to have no point…really I get it, it is a big battle, get on with the story)… but I enjoyed the story, the vague historical reference to the 9th legion and the gritty adventure that it was. The female huntress Étaine was pretty badass. It is refreshing to see strong female leads. Anyway I spin it a ***1/2. I’m also checking out the Dragon Age II Demo which is also looking badass. Sigh… more money for Bioware.

Big event at work tomorrow so – good night.

Skiing, friends and a new belief

February 22, 2011Family, friends, homeNo Comments

The house was a bustling with activity Sunday afternoon. Captain and family, my parents and KK stopped in for a visit. My parents only stayed for a short while. They will be heading South for a month and wanted to say goodbye as they were heading home from my sister’s. It has been awhile since I’ve seen Captain and his baby daughter. ‘APJP’ seemed to enjoy the dog, me, not so much – which I guess is understandable. -smirk- KK brought over a guitar amp and him and Captain brought the Rock. I think Captain might be getting his own e-kit soon! KK left the amp for me to play around with, thanks! B. made her killer burgers for dinner. Yum. The evening we had a few drinks and chilled out watching the Heritage classic. (Well, the guys were watching it.) Wow, were the Flames uniforms ugly! As bad as some of the vintage Canucks outfits. It was a fun evening. While we were chilling downstairs outside there was a bit of snow storm. Regrettably Captain had a brutal drive home. I do appreciate him driving up to Caledon. Sadly B. got news of the passing of a family member. She will be away later in the week for a funeral back in Killaloe. 🙁

Sunday we drove up to Orangeville to try the Mono Nordic Ski Club’s trails. Skiing was free due to the Family Day holiday, so there were a lot of people at the club. The trails however, weren’t congested at all. The trail guide was good, the trail marking was not. Numerous times we would come out to a T-junction and have no idea where to go to stay on our level of trail. The more popular trails were in better shape than the less used trails. We tried the ‘yellow’ intermediate trail and it was a challenging and rewarding ski. The only fall I had was on the biggest downhill of the day. B. is now a downhill specialist and rocked the killer hill. Overall an enjoyable outing. We are thinking about memberships there next year. After getting home I walked the dog which made for very heavy legs afterward. While I was out B. made a delicious Guinness Beef stew. Yum. We settled in for the evening and watched a strange episode of House.

Terry Pegula is now the owner of the Buffalo Sabres! It was a moving and exciting press conference today for a Sabres’ fan…Emotional when ‘Terry’ referred to Sabres’ legend Gilbert Perreault. Exciting when he said he wants to bring Cups to Buffalo (…and within three years!). He is going to try and accomplish this with the game GM & Coach. I’m sceptical of this. Especially the GM…time will tell. Regardless… it feels like the Sabres have entered a new era. I’m eager to see where Terry can take the team! ‘Winning is not a goal, it is a belief.’ Huzzahhhhh!

Terry Time : Pegula Era Begins

February 18, 2011hiking, home, sabresNo Comments

The Sabres begin a new era with owner Terry Pegula starting Tuesday. Pegula sounds like he could be the dream owner every sport’s fan wants. He was a Sabres’ season ticket holder, loves the Western New York area and has already said he goal is the Cup. drool Yes please. Golisano also needs some praise. He kept the Sabres in Buffalo. Sure I didn’t care for some of his defensive remarks at his ‘sale to Pegula’ speech… But I believe he should be remembered favourably by fans. Pegula really has not said much yet. I’m very eager to hear what he has to say and how he plans on getting the team to be a Cup contender again. In the short term, what he is doing with the players and management. Hopefully Sabres’ fans dreams do come true! Hopefully the Sabres can get back to their winning ways today v. the Caps.

It is the Family Day weekend. The only day off Ontarians get until April. We are taking it pretty easy. Saturday we walked the dog in Palgrave forest and did a grocery run. We must have been hungry, I lost count of how many bags of chips we bought. Doh. In the evening we watched True Grit (2010). It was good… but not exceptional… We did see parts of the original around Christmas… maybe that took some of the lustre off seeing the film. I found there to be a ton of dialogue that was sometime hard to understand from Bridge’s character. The actors all played their parts well, almost too well. I also found the film to be a little slow to develop. The camera work and shots were (like the original) excellent. Rating:***1/2 During the movie we munched on Bacon/Ranch popcorn which was tasty. The Popcorn, Indiana company make all kinds of interesting flavours too… they even have a Reserve line of popcorn! Om-nom!

Well, I need to get off my ass and finish vacuuming. We have Pat and Jenn, maybe KK and maybe my parents dropping in at some point today. Should be fun.

Steamy Stinky Feet

February 13, 2011bdot, sabresNo Comments

Another week wizzed by. It was a pretty quiet week at work. Saturday we set aside some time ago to visit the spa in Collingwood, as a little Valentine’s treat. My sister and JP were nice enough to take Princess Tanga for the day. (Thanks again.) The drive to Collingwood was pretty nasty. Wind sweeps across the big open fields blowing snow everywhere causing white outs. One of the main roads near Stayner was even closed. When we arrived at the Scandinave it was quite busy. It was an enjoyable and very relaxing afternoon. There are relaxation rooms that have uncomfortable wooden ‘Muskoka’ chairs. They want the rooms to be quiet but the constant in and out of wooden chairs makes that impossible. They creak and squeak and make all sorts of non-tranquil sounds. Barb nicknamed the room the ‘stinky foot’ room. It sure was. At the end of the soaking, steam and fires we each had a massage. The RMT you get is pretty random. I prefer a female RMT but always seem to get men. eyeoll- This weekend was no exception, he was good, I liked most of his treatment except for the neck. I thought it was a little jarring. We had a dinner reservation at Oliver & Bonacini at Blue Mountain. I’ve never been and B. was interested in eating there since she’d heard some news about the chefs. The restaurant itself was long and open. I’m not sure what style they were going for, the best I could think to call it would be modern urban artsy. I’m not sure that is even suitable. It was nice but I felt there were a lot of competing styles going on. Anyway, the food. The menu had a good variety of choices. I settled on a Grilled 10 oz Certified Angus Striploin and B. got Oven Baked Ricotta & Roasted Garlic Gnocchi. Dinner was delicious as was the Classic Vanilla Bean Crème Brûlée (which sadly didn’t come in a 2L size) we had for dessert. Still… dinner was expensive. Very expensive… we thought afterward for the money, getting take-out Indian from Tara in Barrie would have been just as enjoyable and we’d have more money in our pocket. *shrug* I guess the occasional indulgence is nice. By the time we got home late Saturday we were both zonked.

Sunday we tooled around the house most of the day. B. made both a yummy turkey vegetable soup and a roast chicken for dinner. Yum! I was treated to valentine brownies as well. I spend a chunk of the day conquering Mt.Laundry. In the evening we watched The King’s Speech. The true story of King George the VI’s efforts to overcome a stammer. It was a well acted, funny and touching look at the evolution of a man into a King. I liked it a lot. I felt it was a touching and thoughtful look at an under appreciated affliction. Rating:****.

Dunno about those Sabres win a few lose a few. Another head scratching loss to the Isles today who are starting goalies off the streets of long island… who are still outplaying Vezina winner Ryan Miller. Phew…apparently Miller lost it on a reporter today. The Sabres need to find a backup they are willing to start so Ryan doesn’t have to start 30 games in a row. Ridiculous.

Mondays suck

February 7, 2011Family, friends, hockey, rantNo Comments

Gah. I’m in a dreadful mood this morning. …And this is my second time with this blog entry as the first was lost when Total Edit crashed. It has been uninstalled. Shame I liked how it functioned, but it crashes far too often and for no apparent reason. Goodbye failware. It is mind boggling how many text editors I’ve gone through and I still can’t find one I like. Re-entering a blog entry sucks. I’m tempted to not bother. Sigh. Re-entering thoughts loses all the spontaneity and reflection I enjoy by blogging in the first place. Now it just seem like tedium. I’m amused that the word of the day is dyspeptic. The timing is delicious. Why? I don’t know. I feel run down, tired, it is Monday. Shit drive in and my coffee caffeine has barely kicked in. Wow. Today I hate everyone. Hopefully this Christmas Rice Crispy square will help. I’m now saving this periodically to minimize data loss. I should know better of course…

It was a busy weekend, I don’t feel like I relaxed at all. We had the Mac family coming over Saturday afternoon to stay the night. So, Saturday morning was a blitzkrieg cleaning morning. I appreciate that they were late. I think the house was in a reasonable state when they arrived. The quiet of the house was replaced by the constant energy of three kids, four adults and two dogs. (Our cats were locked away downstairs to avoid any problems with their dog) After dumping several loads of gear we decided to take everyone to Palgrave to go skating. I enjoyed skating this time. The skates moved from ‘excruciatingly painful’ to ‘typically and tolerably’ painful… so I was able to skate much longer. Well, what I call skating. It is more of some strange hybrid rollerblade shuffle. The kids seemed to enjoy skating. It was an awesome Canadian scene as it began to snow – hard – just before we left the pond. We drove just down the road to take the dogs for a short run. Unfortunately, the kids weren’t up for the winter wonderland walk, so it was only 15-20m. Palgrave forest looked impressive with the snowfalling. I think I could have walked there much longer. At least until the coyotes began to gather. The snow had accumulated by the time we left the Forest and the drive home was ugly. The highway wasn’t plowed and finding the edge of the road was nearly impossible. At one point we rumbled along on the shoulder… fortunately B. didn’t break or I might not be writing this entry right now. The Subaru does handle really well in the snow, but it currently just has all-season tires… and the fresh slick surface felt really treacherous. We all made it home safely and the first order of business was food. We had agreed on Thai, especially after being denied last weekend. Yum. There were plenty of desserts and snacks which were enjoyed throughout the night. I especially enjoyed the lemon crack cake. After eating the Men sat down to watch hockey. Since canceling Centre Ice I rarely get to see a broadcast Sabres’ game. It was delightful to see the Sabres lay a smack down on the Leafs. Hopefully the Sabres can keep winning. They need to to climb back into the playoff race… I’m curious to see if Pegula will do anything when he assumes control on the 22nd. He claims he wants to bring ‘Cups’ to Buffalo. Good luck Mr.Billionaire! The night was relatively quiet. Everyone seemed content to grab their geeky device and flake out on a couch. It was a nice visit from the Mac family.

Superbowl sunday. I think getting the ‘Canadian’ Superbowl feed you lose some of the fanfare of the Superbowl. We drove up to my sister’s to watch the game. It was nice to not be greeted with the Twilight zone blizzard apocalypse when we took the Horseshoe exit. *blink* The football game was good, sometimes it is lopsided… It could have went either way down to the last minute and I’m happy the Packers won. I was pretty busy at my sisters. When the family gathers I get inundated with ‘fix my computer requests’. I don’t mind but sometimes they can drag on for an hour or longer which is not fun. The W7 install DVD I had was coping attitude and giving me no end of grief. Sigh. I couldn’t help but think of this T-shirt. Dinner was pizza and wings from Mr.B’s that my parents brought from the night before. The pizza is always good, the wings however, didn’t seem to sit well with everyone. B., birthday boy JP and my mother went snowshoeing while I tended to the IT helpdesk requests. It was a fun evening. My sister was sprawled out on the her new couch all night and was waited on all night like a princess. It was also JP’s birthday so we enjoyed a Skor cake my mom made and he opened a few presents. We forgot to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ and make him blow out a candle. I guess we are going to Birthday hell. *shrug* The Superbowl ‘event’ itself was pretty disappointing. To kick it off a chubby looking Aguilera did an axe job on the American national anthem. Christina, if people wanted to hear your vocal masturbation they’d pay for a ticket to see you in concert. IMHO a national anthem should be sung simply, clean and with understated passion. Oh and she got the words wrong too. *eyeroll* Surely an artist of her caliber has sung the anthem hundreds of times? At least she could see… the half time ‘performance’ with the Peas. *headslap* Wow. Awful. Awful. Awful. They make me worry about the music industry… if that is ‘popular’ music, no wonder I listen to the esoteric genres that I do. The LED lights on the dancers in the crowd and the dance choreography with them, however, was very cool. I’ would have preferred a DJ with just the dancers. Do we really need to see Fergie wax her caterwaul on stage with Slash? Vomitville.

It isn’t even Monday afternoon and I’m already wishing it was Friday. Gah.

Snowpocolypse 2011!

February 2, 2011WinterNo Comments

Yes the first major snowfall of the Winter… The News went pretty wild about it. It likely was pretty bad in the worst areas. In Bolton it seems just like a normal long snowfall. Certainly nothing special, and definitely not Snowpocolyptic. Still… I got to stay home so, whatever. *smirk* I shoveled the driveway twice.

B. moved her desk into the den. So yes we shared an office this afternoon. There was remarkably no bloodshed.

In the late afternoon we ventured over to Palgrave to go snowshoeing. It was very pretty in the forest with all the newly fallen snow. Some areas were close to a foot deep. It was a nice reprieve but it will be back to the grind tomorrow.