The Ottawa Rabbit Hole

Well this past Sunday was my birthday, so I had a bash on Saturday to celebrate. Twelve of my dear friends came over and we proceeded to fire up the BBQ on the 4th floor patio...both grills were full baby! I didn't have enough ice for my cooler to keep everybody's beverages cold down there, so I ran out with JC to buy some. Turns out the Food Sanction runs a low supply so I had to walk to Purdy's neighbourhood and get some from the back room of the H&H. I was a little worried how well it would work out with people having to go back up to my apartment to use the washroom, etc., but turns out it wasn't too big of a problem. I grilled up a delicious steak I bought at Saslove's Butcher, but there was lots of extra food as Val brought a huge Elk sausage she had brought back from Regina. It was delicious. I am eating elk meat exclusively from now on. At one point while I was up in my apartment grabbing something, a lady on the 8th floor opened her curtains and took a picture of the patio. She either wanted evidence if we caused some problems, or she wanted to show somebody how much fun we were having. I now believe it was the latter since I never heard any complaints afterwards. Here is a choice shot from the BBQ portion of the evening similar to what she may have taken.

Around 9 we headed up to the Rabbit Hole where we all sat around and gabbed for a few hours and enjoyed ourselves. I found out that with 13 people in an apartment, even A/C on full boar can't keep it cool enough. Next time I will make it a little igloo before people show up. At one point some of my friends sprung a card and Chapter gift certificate on me. I was really grateful, but it didn't show up in my 'thank you' hugs according to them. In my defense, I had a lot of people to hug and they were all sitting down. If you want a good hug from me, meet me on my level. Here are some photos from the party portion of the evening.

You can see more shots from the evening in the appropriate album in http://eurowesley.shutterfly.com

When there were only 7 of us left just after midnight we decided to head down to the Market. We wanted to go to Bar 56, but the bouncer said it was full so we went to Collection upstairs. JC bought me a JD & Red Bull, which is an interesting drink that gets you wired! After the bar, JC, Jenn and Val came back to my place for a bit but they left pretty quickly as we were all beat. I had Purdy's keys since he was wearing swim trunks like a tourist and had no pockets, but I couldn't get in touch with him. I assumed he would just sleep on the street since he had no interest in finding his keys. Turns out he was on Mullins' balcony with Erin G. and Mullins and had his phone on vibrate. He spent the night there so disaster was averted. I saw my boy Dan in Winnipeg was online still at this late hour, so I called him up and gabbed for a bit since I was still riding a caffeine high from the Red Bull. Just after 4 I shut it down.

My actual birthday was pretty low key, and I spent most of it chilling with my boy Purdy. We got some sandwiches at Subway, ate them in Laroche park before tossing the ole softball around and shooting some hoops. After that I cam ehome to shower and talked to my family on the phone. I kept it low key, as I had a plan to go buy a webcam and then have a video conference later in the day. I did just that, as I picked up my boy Purdy again and headed to Nepean. First stop was Costco, where he successfully returned his broken digital camera completely hassle free. It's almost enough to make me want to get another membership. After that I went to BestBuy to look at webcams. There was an $80 and a $40 model which looked almost identical, so I put on my thinking cap and went for the cheaper one. When I got to the cash it rang in at $55. Turns out there is a $15 mail in rebate. I said no thanks since I hate those things, and went across the street to Future Shop. They had the exact same selection, so I said F it and bought the same camera. I never expect to see that $15 though.

After that we headed to Westboro which was so dead that disco could actually come back to life there in comparison. We grabbed some beverages at Bridgehead and then went out to eat supper at Chu Shing. As usual, the service was terrible and I don't think they said more than 3 words to us the whole time we were there. Most of our food was adequate as always, but one dish I would not recommend is the Beef Cantonese Style. Purdy and I both felt like garbage cans after that one. After supper I came home, hooked up the webcam and successfully had a web cam conversation with my mom, dad, brother and sister in law. The technology is not quite at the totally smooth level they advertise it to be, but it is definetly clearer than last time I messed with it 7 or 8 years ago. I also tried it out with my friend Dan in Winnipeg and it worked like a dream. To round out my story, I watched an incredible episode of Deadwood Chez Mullins and the shut her down. Another birthday in the books.

I am a very materialistic person, so here is a list of what I got as presents for my birthday:

My parents - the pink shirt and tie that I wore to Uhrbach's wedding which got rave reviews from everybody (note that I picked this item out and am due all fashion credit) and a $25 Blah Blah's Gift Card to buy cake and ice cream which I instead used to buy party supplies. Thanks!

Boris, Klarka, JC, Shanna, Steph, Marnie, Edith, Val, Jenn - $180 gift card for Chapters. That is a lot of books to read!! I know none of you read my blog, but if you ever stumble upon it, Thanks!

Purdy - a $2.77 bottle of Jerk Sauce. It was delicious on my steak at the BBQ baby!

Mullins & Erin G. - the book 'rabbit, run' by John Updike. I can't wait to read it!!

If you are still reading this. I hope you enjoyed it. I am now very bored after spending 30 minutes writing this drivel.

Posted by WRMB :: 10:51 PM :: 0 comments