Everyone And Their Dog
So... crikey! I used to complain that my family never came to see me here in Toronto (they're mostly in Windsor), but this week, they've ALL decided to come up! I've booked some time off work, and am looking forward to a nice five-day weekend. It's not going to be all that relaxing! Lots of fun will be had, though.. I'm sure of it! Here's what my upcoming schedule looks like:
- Friday night, wash and vacuum floors in apartment, meet up with James, Oriana and everyone for drinks somewhere (James just got word that he's getting a hasty hip surgery, probably in September; and Oriana's is back from school in London, England).
- Saturday, my brother Derek, his wife Karie and my nephew Evan arrive in the early afternoon. We're going to a Jays game, which starts at 1pm. My first baseball game ever!
- My best friend Stacey arrives! We'll have dinner with Derek, Karie, and Evan.
- Saturday night, Derek and Co. may or may not be staying at my place. We'll maybe go to a movie or something, since the forecast is calling for stormy weather (surprise, surprise).
- Sunday, say goodbye to Derek and Co., and then chill with Stacey aaaaaallll daaaaay loooooooong. Oh, and we might have to do some yard work, to prepare the back yard for the BBQ. I should also try and get all the peeps together Sunday night on a patio so Stacey can see everyone. Kylie will also be coming over to bake a birthday cake for Canada.
- Monday, the world is at my doorstep (I just booked this day off work). I should take a trip to the grocery store and the liquor at some point, so we can stock up for the BBQ.
- Monday afternoon/evening, say goodbye to the lovely Stace.
- Tuesday morning, decorate for the BBQ. BBQ is from 3-10pm. And then it's the fireworks!
- Wednesday, Dad and Shirl arrive early afternoon. We're going to see Dirty Dancing the musical that night. I'm totally looking forward to this!
- Thursday morning, say goodbye to Dad and Shirl, and then it's back to work. Meh!
Phew!
Labels: baseball game, blue jays, dirty dancing, family, photos, stacey, visit
Throw Back with the Navigator
So... I have to blog about this. It's the kind of thing where one particular song, or person, or... anything really (in this case, a movie) continues to pop up in random conversations. This time, it's the classic 80s sci-fi Disney flick,
Flight of the Navigator.
I remembered watching the movie when I was a kid. I remembered loving it. I knew that it was similar to other movies of that era like
*Batteries Not Included,
Short Circuit and
E.T..
Bex was telling me that she "stole" a few movies from her boyfriend, and Flight of the Navigator was one of them. I couldn't resist.
It was AWESOME. The best parts were the flying sequences, with the rad 80s electronic music pumping in the background. Think
Neverending Story (Vaaaaaaaalkoooooooor!), but instead of a big white furry dragon, it's a svelte spacecraft kind of shaped like a Hershey's Kiss, and instead of the Neverending Story theme song, it's a boop-beep-boop filled electro-pop song (with violins)! So good.
And, I was testing out that W200 digital camera this weekend... Here's a pic from the memorial that's popped up at Richmond and Niagara, honouring the
two guys that were shot and killed there on June 13th. They still haven't found the coward that did it.
And here's a pic of Ori (welcome home Ori!!!) with her beautiful hair:
Labels: flight of the navigator, movies, oriana
The Perks Are Good
Perk. An added bonus to one's employment. How and why did "perk" come to mean what it does? Apparently, it's short for the term "
perquisite". Crazy English language and it's crazy evolution.
Anyways... back to the perks. I might be able to get this camera for cheap:
Supposedly, the battery doesn't charge, so we were going to sell it for parts. However, if I just procure another battery from somewhere... I can use it. We'll see how much my boss is willing to let it go for. It's a pretty sweet little camera. I've been wanting to get a point and shoot for a long time now. I've taken this
Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-W200 home, and I'll be testing it out all this weekend. That's a big perk, right there.
Oh, and we get free crappy coffee.
Labels: cameras, work
If I can walk there faster than the estimated shipping time, can I come pick it up?
About a month ago now, I snagged a brand new copy of Wes Anderson's Rushmore (Criterion Collection) off of eBay. Some women in Oregon was selling it. Great price, quick and painless payment via PayPal (thanks blogTO), and only... what?? 2-4 weeks shipping time?? I couldn't believe that when I read it. Lo and behold, 29 days after the end of auction, the DVD finally shows up. Bah! I hope it works.
Now, I've got Rushmore and The Royal Tannenbaum's on Criterion Collection DVD. I have The Life Aquatic, somewhere, too... I just need to find out who I lent it to. Anyone??
Labels: dvd, ebay, movies, rushmore, wes anderson
Groceries, and How It Pertains To Dirty Dancing
I'm finally doing a bit of preparation for this week's meals. I've always known this was a good idea, I just never thought of it at the right time (ex: directly before going to the grocery store). So, looking at what I have in my cupboards (which isn't much), I found a few recipes that will hopefully utilize the random things I already have, with minimal amount of extra purchases. We'll see what comes of it!
The first dish is
crab quiche. I bought pie shells a few weeks ago, and have some imitation crab meat in the freezer that needs to be used up. So for this dish, I still have to buy eggs and milk (the recipe calls for cream, but I'm just going to use less milk and more... something else... I dunno).
Next will be some pita pizzas... I've got two pitas in my freezer that need eating. So I'm going to hit the deli and get a tiny amount of pepperoni and a couple mushrooms to make my favourite kind of pizza... uhh... that's pepperoni, mushroom and cheese.
Next on the list is some sandwiches. Again the deli will help me out here. I always forget how much I like sandwiches. I'll probably get some thinly sliced chicken breast, and maybe a couple slabs of bologna, so as to kick it old school style (one of my fave things to eat when I was young was bologna, cheese and mustard sandwiches at Lenora's place.... ahhh, good times). The photo above is of a delectable sandwich Eric made for Stef's birthday picnic. Soooo gooooood.
Last on the list is chili. I bought a crap load of beans for a salad that never got made, so I'll use them in a chili instead. I can freeze a bunch and it'll last longer- perfect for lunches.
Anyways... that's what I'm eating this week. Just so you know. LOL.
Another memory from Lenora's place back in Maidstone was watching Dirty Dancing over and over and over and over again. That movie pretty much taught me everything about boys and sex and whatnot. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not! Dad and Shirl are coming to Toronto on July 2nd, and we're going to take in the musical rendition of Dirty Dancing. I've heard the show is spectacular, and with all the good memories I have of the movie, I'm super excited to see it. Even though I've lived in Toronto for almost five years (five years!!?!), I haven't seen a musical since Les Mis, in grade 11 (I think it was 11...).
Labels: dirty dancing, food, musical, toronto
Television Worth Watching
I'm a pretty big fan of television. There's nothing I like more than kicking back on the couch with a bag of chips and a can of pop, ready to waste a couple hours watching The Simpsons, That 70s Show, or Lost. With the lack of pertinent prime time recently, though, I've been a bit disappointed with TV's offerings. But this past Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, I was able to catch a mini-series corroboration between GlobalTV and the BBC called
Burn Up.
The story is set in the not so distant future, when leaders from developing nations are meeting in Calgary for a summit on the new "Kyoto 2" agreement, concerning carbon trading and caps, among other things. The main characters are the CEO of a fictional oil company in Britain (Rupert Penry-Jones), the "minister of renewables" recently hired by said company (Neve Campbell), and the marketing spin doctor in charge of way too much (Bradley Whitford).
Throw in a dedicated and passionate aboriginal woman (Sandrine Holt) with a burning message for the oil tycoons and her attempt to grab attention by burning herself alive, and you've got the makings of a brilliant, relevant, thought-provoking four hours of television. Her suicide letter included hard facts on climate change affects to her people, and six simple and moving words. "Think of me when you lie."
The show was a fascinating look into government politics. At one point I said to myself, "Is that how summit meetings work?" I can only assume it is... and I was impressed. Much more organised than any House of Commons gathering in Ottawa. Even the way the US filibustered the new agreement was orderly, albeit frustrating as hell.
In the end, the good guys won, but the US still got their way. We saw dramatic changes of opinion from more than a couple characters, learned of the possibility of
waning oil reserves in the Middle East, and were shocked by the fictional (or is it?) readiness of the US government to "eliminate" any high-profile opposition. Eye-opening, to be sure. If you can find it online, I highly recommend you watch it. (Or not, since watching streaming video of previously aired programs is now illegal, stupid mofos.)
Oh, and if you're American, don't expect to see this on the local airwaves anytime soon. I'm not surprised by this at all. And as a bonus, I found some pics on Flickr from the film set taken last November:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thivierr/sets/72157602894699044/Labels: environment, television
