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The Ottawa Rabbit Hole |
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My old blog, featuring my 2006 European Vacation and other wacky adventures : Extras :
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June 2006 : Credits :
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Tuesday, August 29, 2006The One That Got AwayHave you guys heard all the buzz up in Poltimore? Who is this Benjamin fellow everybody is talking about? Well it's me, and the buzz is centered around the 18 inch pike I almost pulled out of Lake Champagne up at Mullins' cottage. Friday night I headed to Walmart with Mullins and loaded up on fishing supplies for my new hobby. Saturday we headed up there along with Erin G and Uhrbach, and met Grimey and Andrew 'Meat' Mullins up there. After some unsuccessful fishing attempts for bass with some poor little frogs pulled out of the mud, I switched to my expert lure and started casting for bigger game. People doubted I would get anything and wandered away to find other things to do. I kept faith in myself, and low and behold my rod started bending as if Davy Jones himself was pulling it down to the bottom of the lake. I struggled to reel in whatever beast dared challenge me, coming so close as to see his massive frame flopping out of the water. Andrew ran to aid me, and when he tried to wrestle the monster I had snagged it valiently gave one last thrust, snapping my line and swimming back to freedom. Never defeated, I spent the rest of the night and a good portion of the next day in the lake trying to recapture my new nemesis but to no avail. I swear from this point forward to capture this beast, retrieve my stolen lure and once and for all triumph over mother nature and all her minions.  See more photos here.  
Tuesday, August 22, 2006Playing Catch UpI don't feel like posting a huge blog about the rest of my trip out West since I am so far behind. I had a great time visiting with family and friends, bought a lot of stuff and watched Mission: Impossible III on the flight home. You can check out all the pictures from my trip in my shutterfly collections at http://ottawarabbithole.shutterfly.com or click this direct link to that album. After I got back on Friday night, I got a bit of stuff in order and then Saturday afternoon I hightailed it up to Mullins' new cottage in Quebec. Thanks to his incredible map I made it without too many missteps. The weather on Saturday was great and I got in a bit of lobsterizing and relaxing. I was at one with nature so I took some photos to rival BvT. Unfortunately Sunday was cold and rainy, but we made up with it with an old fashioned game of stick ball.    All photos can be found at the following link. Sunday and Monday night I just chilled out, unpacked a bit, got groceries and caught up on some TV. Getting back to work has been tough after two weeks off, but I'll get back into the swing of things soon enough. After work today I visited Dr. Acula and dropped a pint of blood for Canadian Blood Services and ate a delicious blueberry fritter as my reward. Afterwards, I met up with Mullins, A-Train and the Ertlbachs for some delicious burgers at the Works. We were not suckers and didn't fall for the tower of rings, but the A-Train did sucker himself into a vanilla milkshake which didn't sit well at the end of the night.  After dinner we headed out to the east end to watch our Ottawa Lynx take on the hated rivals the Pawtucket Red Sox. It was a nice back and forth game, but the most enjoyment came from the usual mocking of other people in attendance. I think in the end the Lynx crushed the Paw-Sox 8-4 or something. I was too busy thinking about getting home to blog the game to pay attention.  All photos can be found at the following link.
Wednesday, August 16, 2006MyspaceWhile blogs are all the rage in Mechanicsville and surrounding areas, but out on the West Coast the thing to do seems to be Myspace. Apparently this craze has caught on with my family as well as 12 year old girls all over the country. Based on this, I have decided to beef up my old Myspace account which previously just featured a picture of me flipping off the world. This site is actually pretty cool as a lot of bands have official pages on here which you can link to from your site and feature their music and videos on your page also. I imagine I will give this page as much attention as I do this one once the initial interest has worn off, but for the time being, check out http://www.myspace.com/ottawarabbithole
Thursday, August 10, 2006SeattleI imagine most of my faithful readers already know that I am in Seattle this week for a work conference. I am just hanging out in my hotel room this evening, so I decided to write up a blog entry on the laptop I had to borrow from work. I don't have an internet connection, so I'm doing this up in a notepad file and will post it online tomorrow. Friday night my boy Purdy stopped by and we had some drinks on my balcony and Saturday morning we headed out for breakfast at John's. I probably won't see him again for six weeks as he is heading out on vacation the same day I get back to Ottawa, so we got in one more bullshit session. He probably won't survive his trip either, so I may never see him again. My flights were uneventful, and my brother was at the Seattle airport to pick me up as promised. On the way back to his place we stopped and looked at his workplace and grabbed a pizza for supper. At his house I said hello to his wife and we ate some pizza. Sunday we all headed out to downtown Seattle where we caught a Mariner's game at Safeco Field, checked out a couple local establishments and ate some Thai lunch. It was an exciting game, but sadly my boys couldn't pull it out. After the game they dropped me off at my hotel in the heart of downtown Seattle. I grabbed some Subway and played it cool the rest of the night. Monday was conference day. I gave my talk in the afternoon and it went fairly well. It's hard to flub up a 15 minute talk too much. After a hard day's work, my brother picked me up again and we went out with some of his friends from work to 'Drinks on the Links', which is an organized miniputt league. It's a pretty good idea and I wish there was something similar to this organized in Ottawa. I got along with his teammates pretty well, so when it was over I went out to a karaoke bar with them while my bro headed home. I sang 'Dr. Feelgood' by Motley Crue with a couple of his team members, but sadly none of us knew it too well and it came off terrible. I requested a few more songs I knew better afterwards, but the DJ kindly lost my requests. Tuesday, I attended the conference in the morning, but took the afternoon off to relax. First I met my brother again for lunch and got beef briskets at a local butcher shop. They were delicious, and much better than the ones at Lone Star Cafe in Ottawa. After he left, I explored some of my surroundings, including the local shopping malls. I picked up a nice pair of shorts at Nordstrom, then I grabbed a tall Java Chip Frappachino from Starbucks and chilled out in a little square for a couple hours people watching and listening to my mp3 player. I grabbed supper at a Chinese Deli my bro recommended and then just played it cool again in my hotel room, watching some television. Wednesday, I again took the afternoon off to walk around Seattle. I had some pho at the only vietnamese place I could find which was in Pike Place market (I later found one right around the corner from my hotel). After that I went down to the waterfront and checked out the Seattle Aquarium. It's not overly extravagant, with the most exciting thing being the octopuses. I'm not sure it was worth $12.50. After that I walked up to the Seattle Center (home to the Space Needle) and walked around a bit. I didn't pay to go in anywhere since I was getting to be a hungry little fella. I came back to my neighbourhood and ate a greasy burger and fries at Johnny Rockets in the mall next door. It hit the spot and was just what I needed. I sat at the bar and watched numerous people get pissed off as they were ignored by the overly busy staff while they waited to order food to take out. One lady waited for at least 10 minutes, and was still there when I left. I guess she really wanted a Johnny Rocket burger and none of the other 10 food places in the mall would have cut it. During my travels today, I talked to two strangers and both were creeps. One lady approached me at an intersection and told me how upset she was when she saw a dog with a penis and no testicles. I did not want to get in a conversation with her so rather than saying 'He was probably neutered' I said 'huh'. Later I was approached by a homeless guy with one arm and one eye. He promised he wouldn't hit me with his cane, so I gave him a dollar. Well that's all. Tomorrow is the last morning of my conference, then I check out of my hotel and spend the next two nights at my bro's before heading up to Canada for the rest of the week. Keep it cool everyone.
Wednesday, August 02, 2006MECHANICSVILLE TORNADO WATCHFor the first time I can remember in my 5 years in Ottawa, there is a tornado watch for Ottawa. I was out playing volleyball in a torrential downpour earlier, and the rain has just kept on coming. I would like to add here that the lady from last week who brought her toddler to volleyball has moved to #1 on my shit list for bringing the child back again, this time in a rain storm with potential for lightning bolts...for shame stupid lady, for shame. So far, my phone has already fallen victim to this storm, as it stopped working after being in my wet back during volleyball (despite the fact the pocket and phone itself did not seem to get wet). I can only wonder which of my beloved items might be next to go, if not my life itself. As you can see from this picture, Ottawa is clearly fucked.  During these troubled times, my mind reflects to a happier time, in which I watched an episode of Roseanne where they had to weather a tornado. The usual care free white trash nature of the Conner family was shaken as a tornado beared down on Lanford. While they still managed to throw in their fair share of laughs, the tornado scene itself was no laughing matter. I am still haunted to this day by Roseanne's blood curtling scream as the power went out and the show faded to black. Thankfully, everybody was okay and life soon got back to normal with Becky's boy chasing, Darlene's tomboyishness and DJ's usual antics. The producers of Roseanne have taught me to fear mother nature, and I have learned above all else, stay away from the windows. If this is the last thing I ever write, I want Mullins to sort out my affairs as he is the closest to me. My only request is you give my CD collection to Hammer. I know how he would love that. God bless everybody. We had a good run.
Tuesday, August 01, 2006Action Packed WeekendI seem to have done a lot this past weekend, but I don't feel like typing up a big blog entry so here are some highlights in the form of a mad lib: Friday night I went out to eat at blank with blank and blank. Afterwards we purchased some blank at blank and went back to my place to blank and blank. Okay I am tired of that game. Saturday night I went to a BBQ hosted by a friend at work. He put out a great spread and provided ample food for everybody. Had a good time chatting with various people and eating some double cheeseburgers. Sunday morning I went out for breakfast with Purdy, Mullins and Erin G at the Bagelshop and then we wandered around Westboro where I spent about $10 in iced treats. Late afternoon I played beach volleyball, then hit the couch for the whole evening. Last night I played on my shitty volleyball team and once again have sworn I'll never go back. Luckily I miss the next two weeks since I'll be out of town. Well this was a terrible blog entry. I am bored writing it, so I feel bad for you having to read it. Sorry internet.
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