Happy Holidays!

I hope you all have an amazing holiday season. I hope the New Year brings you happiness and dreams that come true. I'm so glad that you are all a part of my life.
Love Mel

December, Really?

I just published the last blog and realized that everything I wrote is from a month ago. Crazy! I need to keep these shorter so that I actually get them out in a timely fashion :)

Let's start off with the awesome book I'm reading: 'The Time Traveler's Wife'. I am loving this book and can not put it down. I'm so excited when I find a book like that. Lisa leant it to me after I saw it on Chapter's top 100 list. I'm about half way done and I just started.

I have been on quite the book, tv and movie kick lately. I finished book four of the Ender series by Orson Scott Card this week. Every time I read one of his books it amazes me how excellent his ideas are. I also read 'The Wizard of Oz' for the first time. Hey, why aren't her shoes red in the book (they're silver)?

I joined zip.ca awhile ago and I am loving it. They send you DVDs in the mail. I have over 400 dvd's on my list so far. It's great, I get to watch TV shows and movies that I wouldn't necessarily buy or rent. They just show up in my mailbox. Mostly I have been getting tv shows lately, but I have quite a few documentaries on my list that I can't wait to see (thanks Jason for all the ideas). I just finished watching Charlie Chaplins' 'The Gold Rush'. I now only have 11 movies of the AFI top 100 movies of all time to see. I am really enjoying having DVDs delivered to my house at random.

Lisa has me addicted to the TV show Veronica Mars and I am not entering into my first foray of downloading tv shows off the internet. It takes about 3 hours for each episode, but I just can't wait a year for season 2 to be on DVD. I need to know if she will pick Logan over Duncan!

A couple of weeks ago Michelle and Liz hosted a Murder Mystery dinner. How fun! I'm hoping to host one myself in the future. The discussions of who the murderer was were great.

Only a couple more weeks until I head to the Caribbean for my sailing adventure. The crew (7 of us) met to go over our shopping list (the grocery store delivers our food to the boat). I can't wait. I just joined a gym to get myself in shape for my new bikini. Christi has me all excited about diving in the ocean. Of course, I am still really freaked out, but not freaked out enough that I won't at least attempt to dive while I'm there.

Lisa and I met Dorie for a drink this week to congratulate her on her engagement to Alec. Congrats guys! Can't wait to see the pics from South Africa and Europe. (Many of you think I travel alot, well, I get alot of my ideas for Dorie.) Oh the craziness of transit, it took me over two hours to get to the restaurant. Due to the rain, both buses were 15 mins late and then I was on a subway line with two broken down trains ahead of me.

I finally made it to London to see Dad and Sue's new place. It's beautiful (of course). We had a really good weekend and I can't wait to go back up to visit. Of course, it is really close to Huron County so I can't see me getting back there that often ;) But, they did just get a hot tub, so I suspect I will try to visit as often as possible.

This past weekend I headed to Kitchener to finally see Teresa and Greg's new place. It's really nice and Tree is so happy (which is great to see) with it. The gang (Tree, Heidi, Cara and I) normally try to get the families together for the holidays and in the summer. Unfortunately, it hasn't happened for awhile. Luckily, most of us were able to make it to Tree's place on Saturday night. Only two no shows: Mackenzie had a hockey game so Jeff and Mac were not able to join us (you guys were missed!). It is always so great to get together. We have known each other since at least 1986 - that will be 20 years next September (when we met Cara), which means I have known Tree and Heidi for over 21 years (Dorie, I am now afraid to calculate how long we have known each other). It was great to see all the kids and also reminisce about when we were kids in Goderich (Jen, Greg and Jeff normally feel a little left out when we get started). Everyone appears to be doing well.

As for hockey, it has been a pretty great couple of weeks. We haven't lost in 4 or 5 games. This past weekend we played the 1st place team (they are 6 points ahead of the 2nd place team and 2nd, 3rd and 4th are within a point of each other). The first time we played them, they beat us 7-0 and laughed whenever they scored. They were not so happy this week. We tied 0-0. Big difference. Our team is definitely coming together. I am recovering from the game, though. I got in the way of two shots on net within one shift. The one bruise is pretty sore, but definitely worth the stopped shot!

Last night (Friday), Tim and I went out with Lisa for her birthday. I missed her party last week :( and luckily was able to get together with her this week. It was really nice, we played Trivial Pursuit and the Chapters board game. I won at Trivial Pursuit and Lisa, of course, won at the Chapters game. I could have given her a run for her money. I answered about 4 questions in a row, but I kept landing on the same spot that sent me back to the Library. Damn the dice! I actually received a question on the book I'm reading today (Farley Mowat's 'The Dog Who Wouldn't Be'). Crazy.

I finished off the Time Traveler's Wife this week and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (what's with all the traveling books?). I highly recommend the Time Traveler's Wife (I believe I said that above, but it is worth repeating).

Hope everyone is enjoying the beautiful snow. Have a happy holiday!

Hockey and Work (and Blonde)

Since mid-October I am hard pressed to know what I've been doing other than playing hockey and working my butt off.

For Thanksgiving we headed to the cottage. Being the Thanksgiving weekend, it meant putting the toys away for the winter. Last spring the boat got stuck in the mud. So, Dad decided to build a driveway on the back part of the lot. It was so much fun. He rented a bobcat and there were these huge piles of dirt for us to move. All the guys in the cottages in the area stopped by to play in the dirt. Here's the finished product.

A couple of weeks ago I broke a stick in my hockey game. It was very exciting, I've never broken a stick before. The ref was yelling at me and I didn't know what to do. Apparently, I needed to drop the stick. So, I dropped the stick and skated back over to my bench. I don't understand how they were not ready with another stick for me, or for my sub to switch with me. I was fighting for the puck, you wouldn't have thought they would have seen what was happening. We won 4-2 and we are currently in 5th place out of 8. The team is definitely starting to gel and it is great to have a coach (so rare in rec hockey). This weekend's game is at 11:15pm, which I am not looking forward to. I'll be at the office all weekend working on a project, so an 11:15 game is the last thing I wanted.

Halloween has come and gone for another year and once again there was Tim's annual Halloween bash. I must say this year's was an exceptionally fun time. I didn't make it to my skating class the next morning because I was pretty sure that if I tried to skate I would throw up, but it was fun none the less. Unfortunately, my camera became broken at the party. Something about letting drunk people touch electronic gadgets, maybe a bad idea. I did get the pictures off of the camera before it was sent away to get fixed. I won't post the incriminating photos of Tim licking the alcohol off of the counter (and dare I say, the floor). Once again Simon and Tammy had the best costumes.

Christi and I had the idea of being Tim's conscience for the evening. We had the costumes right, but I just couldn't stick with the plan. Apparently, I am not the person to try and help people to do the right thing. It was fun being blonde, though. Maybe when I get tired of the red, I'll go to blonde full time.

We ended up watching Nightmare on Elm Street later on in the evening and as always it freaked me right out. I still remember the first time I watched Nightmare. It was Leasa Collinson's house after our first night of drinking. I believe Teresa threw up that night and if I remember correctly, I was yelled at for spilling the alcool (oh the wonders of alcool). The group of us (I think there were 7 of us out that night - I think Kaite was even around then) were walking around Goderich in January and once we got back to Leasa's we started watching the video that Lonnie Rumig (wow, blast from the past) had lent us. I didn't sleep at all that night, I was so freaked out. I thought Freddie was going to kill me in my sleep. Why, oh why, am I am so intrigued by horror movies, I should know better.

Anyway, Halloween was a lot of fun. Hope you enjoy the pics and I hope everyone had an excellent Halloween. I wore my costume to work for Halloween. Almost everyone was in black, except for me. Everyone was wondering why I thought I could pull off an angel costume :)

This past weekend Christi and Mike had a basement warming party. Mike has put in a beer tap in the bar, how cool is that (with a Detroit Red Wings tap no less). A poker game broke out and I have to realize that Texas Hold 'Em is just not my game. I need to stick with 7card stud. Even though I kept losing, I had a lot of fun. Can't wait to go back to Vegas. Hopefully, the next time I go to Vegas someone will actually go out to the bars with me (I want to dance on the bar at Coyote Ugly). Unfortunately, there are no pictures of this party since the camera is being fixed. I'm hopeful that it will be back by Christmas.

Well, that is about it for me. I hope everyone is enjoying the fall weather. I still take the motorcycle out once in awhile, but it is about that time where it has to be put away. I should do that soon before it gets too cold.

Jason and Megan are in BC

I heard from Jason last night and he and Megan made it to BC in one piece. (Okay, when I started this message it was last night that they made it to BC - Oct 12, 2005).

Yes, they are in BC and Jason has been working in construction since they got there. It sounds like this week he is being offered a programming job in Langley. Which means they will be moving to the same city as his best friend, Chris. They hit a snow storm on their way out there and a flat tire on the way into BC. But, the car did get them there and they sound very happy.

It took me about a month to get this published, so I should publish it now or it will never make it on the site.

Serenity

Joss Whedon is a genius. Lisa and I went to see the movie Serenity on Friday night and it was amazing. What the new Star Wars should have been. I loved one reviewer's comments where they said it was like a story about Han Solo. I can't believe I never watched the show Firefly when it was on TV (of course, I have heard how bad Fox messed that one up). I have ordered Firefly on DVD and I can't wait to watch it all. I definitely recommend this as a go see this fall! I wonder what Joss will do next (well, I hear he might do the Wonder Woman movie). Buffy is still my favourite Joss creation, but Serenity is definitely high up on the list, can't wait for a second movie.

My brother and Megan have packed up their belongings and have hit the road on their way to Vancouver. This weekend they were in Waterloo for a food conference, and they both think I should look at moving there. I know I loved going to school in the KW area, so who knows. Maybe I will get a chance to go back for my Masters in Math.

Did anyone in the area get to enjoy our amazing weather this weekend? It was like mid-summer weather. I couldn't believe how warm it was on Saturday. Tim and I went rollerblading in the sun, so nice. Yesterday I spent the beautiful day in cold arenas. My first day of hockey school. Well, it's more of a skating school in full hockey equipment. It was great. There were 5 women and about twenty guys. My legs burned so badly after the class. Then I had to play hockey last night. The game did not go as well as last week. We had a full bench, but lost 7-0. Which is fine, whatever, but the other team laughed at us after each goal. What are we twelve? It's supposed to be rec hockey. We are looking forward to playing them again later in the season once our team has played together a little bit (this was our first game as a new team - last week 5 of the 6 women had played on a team together in the summer).

I realized yesterday that my blog was devoid of talk of the books that I have been reading. Well, as most of you know I read alot (not as much as Lisa, but alot). I just started reading 'The DaVinci Code'. I was trying to put this off until it came out in paperback, but then I heard it wouldn't be out until 2007. That is just a little too long for me to wait. I have read all of Dan Brown's other books (Angels and Demons was excellent), so I broke down and bought it. So far, liking the book. But then anything that questions the church is okay in my book (please go read Christopher Moore's 'Lamb, the Gospel according to Bif, Christ's childhood pal' it is one of the funniest books I have ever read). Before I picked up DaVinci, I read Ethan Hawke's book 'Ash Wednesday', it was okay - not great, not horrible. 'October Sky' by Homer Hickham was really good. If you have not seen the movie, I highly recommend it. It is a true story about a bunch of kids in West Virginia that want to join the space race. I am definitely going to have to start chronicling my book reading in here so that I can remember what all I have read. I'm hoping to read the next book in the Ender Wiggin (Orson Scott Card) series once I'm done Davinci.

On a DVD front, this past week, Lisa got me addicted to the TV show Arrested Development. She has the first season on DVD and it was so funny. I love TV shows on DVD, no crappy commercials, no waiting for next week's episode. I can't wait for her to get season 2 (I think it shows up in the next couple of weeks).

I finally watched 'Spirited Away' (Japanese Anime by the same team that made 'Princess Mononoke' - my cat's namesake). Jason has been telling me about this movie for so long and finally I had a chance to watch it. The animation and story is very cool. This weekend I also watched 'Finding Neverland'. Johnny Depp is such an amazing actor. I think I may go back and read Peter Pan again; I would also like to read the story that inspired this movie.

I guess that is about it for this week. This upcoming weekend is Thanksgiving (Lisa and I had a long discussion on this non real holiday this weekend). Heading to the cottage with Dad, Sue and Rachael. Should be nice and relaxing. No hockey or hockey school, which sucks. Why they continue to have classes / games on the long weekend, I don't understand.

Storm Begins Another Season

My hockey team (Storm) has started another season. Our first game was at 11:15pm last night. I am so tired today. We didn't have the best start to the season. Only 6 skaters showed up. Throughout the summer we always had two lines of forwards and at least one sub on defence. Not so last night. I had forgotten what it was like to almost play the entire game. I had a couple of shots on net, though, which is unusual for me. We tied 1-1, which we were pretty happy with considering they had a full bench and had obviously played together as a team before. Not that we hadn't played together before. We had one new player last night, but the rest of us had played together before. We have last winter's goalie back this season (her broken thumb is all healed up) and it sounds like a number of the women from last winter and this summer will be back. It should be a good season.

On Saturday I headed to Brampton to watch my old baseball team play in their tournament. I hadn't made it out all season and I didn't recognize them - they all had matching purple shirts. They looked good, but they lost the game I watched - they had fun though. I hung out for lunch and I'm hoping to play again next year. I had forgotten how much fun it was to hang out with them. Not sure how they did during the rest of the tournmanet because I had to leave early. Rob (or one of you other guys), leave a comment on the page as to how the team did the rest of the day.

Update: they won the following two games and were champs of the B division. Way to go guys, wish I had of stayed around for the rest of the day.

Before I moved to the suburbs I used to go see movies all the time. Now I hardly ever go. That was until this weekend when I saw two movies in two days. On Friday, Lisa and I went to see 'an unfinished life'. Oh, Robert Redford is just damn sexy no matter how old he is. On Saturday night, Julia, Karen, Kevin and I went to see 'Just Like Heaven'. It wasn't near as cheesy as I thought it would be (well, there was one scene that was way too cheesy). I quite enjoyed it. Of course, I love Mark Ruffalo so I knew I would enjoy it. I definitely recommend it if you are in the mood for some fluff.

Next week Lisa and I are going to see Serenity. This is the sci-fi film brought to us by the creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I never watched the TV show (Firefly) that was the basis for the movie. If I like the movie I'm planning on getting the show on DVD. I normally love Joss Whedon's shows, so I suspect I will enjoy the movie.

But, the movie I really want to see this fall is 'Wallace and Gromit and the Curse of the Were-Rabbit'. If you have never seen a Wallace & Gromit animated short, I highly recommend that you do. The creators are also responsible for Chicken Run (which I loved for all the Steve McQueen references).

Sports and TV

The television season has begun and already I am hooked to new crappy television. Some of the old standbys are back and a couple of us have a message board where we can discuss Amazing Race and Lost, etc. I was extremely hopeful that I would like the new show 'Bones'. Angel (David Boreanaz) is in the show and boy did I love him as a vampire. He's alright as a federal agent, but the female lead just annoys me, so this show is now off of my list.

Lost begins tonight and Rachael and I can't wait to put our feet up and find out about that stupid hatch. It freaks me out. Amazing Race starts next week and I believe Julia and I are getting together for an AR party at her new apartment in Toronto. For those of you that know me well, you are probably aware of my obsession with The WB network (they are the home of Buffy). Well, I appear to be weaning myself off of them. They still have Gilmore Girls, but I'm not all that excited about some of their other shows. I guess this means that maybe I can get rid of the WB and get my tv costs back under control. I'll have to see about that.

I am also extremely happy that my sports / activity seasons are about to start again. Hockey starts this Sunday. My first game is at 11:15pm. Work is not going to be fun in the morning. I have found a really good deal on a car rental so that I can get to my games. The motorcycle is all good for most things, but hockey equipment is just too difficult to cart around on the bike (especially once the snow starts). I am also signed up for hockey school this fall. I'm really looking forward to this (it is mostly guys, but at least one of the women that I went to Austria with is in the class). I'm hopeful that this will get more comfortable on the ice and I will be able to fight for the puck this season.

I am also signed up again for Belly Dancing. Next to ballet this is definitely my favourite type of dance. Unfortunately, it is just too difficult and expensive to take ballet here. I highly recommend taking this if you get a chance. Christi and I are also signed up for aquafit. It's funny, I have a pool all summer that I don't use. Come the fall I'm paying money to get into a pool. Yes, you all know that I'm weird.

Red Heads Have More Fun

That's right I have gone red. While watching Buffy (yes, Rachael is still addicted), I noticed Willow's hair (Alyson Hannigan). It was so cute and Rach said I could definitely pull it off. See the pic to see if she was right. I love my new hair. I wish I had of gone red before. Rach also got her hair cut, doesn't she look good?

That night Tim and I went out dancing to show off my new 'do'. We started out at 'On the Curve'. That lasted about 5 mins. The band was so horrible, we even asked for our cover charge back. Then we headed to Crocodile Rock. I haven't been there in years and I'm so glad we went there. It didn't start out so well as the DJ was crap. He kept mixing all of these songs together so I would get all excited about a song and then it would be gone. No chance to dance to it at all. But, the music did get better and I hardly left the dance floor (I'm sure you are all surprised).

Then I saw this guy across the bar. Before the end of the night we were dancing. His name is Ricardo and he's from Portugal. He was here to visit his mother with his friend Bruno. They had been here for a week when I met them and they had one week left in their vacation. Not long enough! We hung out most of the week and I am definitely smitten. He left for home on Sunday night. Which was actually good for me as it meant I was finally able to get some sleep. Throughout the week that we hung out, the three of us were out until around 2am every night. They were on vacation, so they were able to sleep all day (which Ricardo apparently did), but I had to be up for work at 6:30 every morning. Work was difficult last week, but it was worth it. Unfortunately, they only really got to see Mississauga, a bit of Toronto and Niagra Falls. Not the most favourable impression of our beautiful country, if you ask me.

They think our country (and me specifically) is crazy. They just didn't understand our non-smoking mentality (yes, he smokes - I know, I can't believe I like someone who smokes and I'm sure none of you can either - he says it is because he's Portuguese, and he's probably right - which is exactly what Lisa said as well). They really didn't understand my whole vegetarian thing and when I mentioned that I don't drink pop, well, Bruno asked if I was from another planet. I think my father often wonders the same thing :). I don't know what it is about him. I think Rach was happy they were around because I actually allowed them to order a pizza with meat when we had dinner at my place and she had someone to smoke with! But, they had to go home.

At the end of my crazy week with the boys from Portugal, I headed to the cottage for a going away / birthday weekend for my brother. The weather was beautiful and the lake was so nice. Jana and I went for a really nice canoe ride and try as they might the speed boats were not able to tip us. Rene tried all weekend to convince me that I didn't need to get back in time to say goodbye to Ricardo. He lost the argument. Doesn't the lake look beautiful? This may be last time at Jack Lake for us. With Jason leaving, we appear to be losing our contact to the

So, my baby brother is leaving soon. It hasn't quite hit me yet. I have already made tentative plans to head out there next August. And of course I can't wait to go snowboarding in the Rockies. How cool would that be?


Labour day weekend I went to Peterborough to hang out with Jason and Megan. We played some Bocce ball. Unfortunately, I was not paying attention and my green ball got lost in the grass. We spent about half an hour in the long grass trying to find it. Finally, Jason had to lie down and roll along around until he found it. We then headed to Dad and Sue's cottage for the rest of the weekend. A bit of tubing and a really nice boat ride for really expensive gas. I like this shot off the bow of the boat.

Ottawa and the Luggage

This past weekend, I rode my motorcycle up to Ottawa. I was a little worried, considering the length of the trip, around 6 hours. But, it was a beautiful day! I headed out of work around noon and realized that I had lost my motorcycle key. Are the fates against me? What is it about me lately and losing things? So, my sister kindly picked me up and drove me home to get my spare key. Finally on the road by 1pm.

I just want to say that Hwy 7 is quite beautiful and awesome on the bike. So twisty! The traffic wasn't bad, I made it to Heidi and Jen's place around 6:30 (with a stop for lunch and a couple stops for gas). The only time I hit traffic was once I was in Ottawa at rush hour.

Heidi received an Xbox for her birthday and I was hooked. I hardly left the cottage at all. CSI is so much to play! We also tried out Halo (not really for us) and a couple of other games that were fun. My thumbs hurt so much by the time I left.

We celebrated Heidi's bday at Ottawa's pride parade. Jen was actually in the parade with the Ottawa Library book mobile. Way to go Ottawa library. It was an extremely sunny and hot day and we believe we all were suffering from some sun stroke by the time it was over.


While in Ottawa I received a rather weird phone call from a woman in London (Ontario). It appears that her husband had found some luggage on the side of the 402 (for those of you who don't know where that is, it's between Brantford and London). A rather odd place for my luggage, wouldn't you say (there was also someone else's luggage beside it). Needless to say, the luggage wasn't completely full when I got it back. Electronics were missing and of course, my clothes didn't all smell so good after being on the side of the road for a couple of weeks. The luggage smells so bad! Thanks dad for washing my clothes. So, now I am dealing with the police and my insurance company to see what can be covered.

The moral of the story - don't fly air canada. No, that's not the moral (well, one of them). Don't trust the security at airports (anyone can steal your luggage - any one can get into the baggage claim area); check your fine print of any gold credit cards that may have travel insurance (there's a lot of it and they don't cover what you think); check the airlines fine print, there is a ton of stuff that they don't cover if you have it in your luggage; keep a copy of all of the cards that you have in your wallet (you never know what you might have to cancel or remember that you have); don't take any clothing that you really like (it's a bitch to try to replace); don't keep anything other than clothing and toiletries (not glasses or contacts) in your checked baggage.

I guess that is about it for today. Back to work I go. I'm off to visit with the police tonight to file a report on my stolen bag.

I hope everyone is having a more fun end to their summer, than I am. I can't believe it is September 1st. That reminds me: Happy Birthday Grandma!

Air Canada Sucks - the ongoing saga of the lost luggage

Okay, my luggage is still 'in tracing'. Not lost, no Air Canada wouldn't want to admit that. I came back from Montreal on Aug 10, but my luggage is still not at my house. To me sounds like lost. Did you know that Air Canada does not have a customer service phone number (probably because of people like me)? After 5 days of my luggage being lost I was given a fax number and that was it. The central baggage department told me that after 5 days it is really out of their hands and all I have is the fax number. Boy, that makes me feel special. Of course Air Canada won't give me any details as to when they will consider the bag gone for good. Which means I can't file a claim with my home insurance because the bag may miraculously appear some day.

I hate them, I hate them, I hate them. I can not stress enough how frustrated I am with Air Canada. If they lost it, that's crappy, but just let me know so that I can get on with my life and start replacing my stuff. Of course, most of it I can't replace because I actually took clothes I liked that no one carries anymore. God forbid I wanted to wear stuff that I liked on my trip.

Gilmore Girls on DVD

So, it is a beautiful day outside, but I seem to be inside watching WB shows on DVD again. This time it is Gilmore Girls (1st season). This show is so good and I can't wait for the 6th season premiere next month. Exciting things are happening for those crazy Gilmore Girls. I love a show where the main character carries a book everywhere she goes (just like me).

Last night I played a couple of games of softball. I've been sub-ing for a friend's team at work. Whenever they don't have enough women and will get that auto out I get called in. You know I used to be not a bad ball player, but really I need to play more than once every four weeks. But, we won both games last night and the scores were crazy 15-11 and 16-14 or something like that. It was fun though and I got someone out at home plate, so that was cool.

Has anyone picked up the Explore magazine this month (Canada's outdoor magazine)? (PS thanks Liz for getting me interested in this mag.) This month they have 'The All - Canadian Adventure Life List - 100 Things you have to do out there". It is so cool, I've done about ten of the things on the list and I can't wait to add some more to my life experiences. Number 18 was actually in my last blog, having your picture taken on the Long Range Traverse overlooking Western Brook Pond in Newfoundland. Woo hoo! I know my brother has a few of these and I can't wait to take the mag to the cottage to find out how many my father has done. I recommend this issue to anyone that loves our great outdoors.

Just a quick note about the blog: you can leave comments for my blog at the bottom of the blog by clicking on comments. You will need to sign up as a user, but this way everyone can see you making fun of my adventures and poor grammar. My sister Rachael tells me she has some comments to make about the last blog (something about being embarrassed about her addiction to Buffy).

Mel Report Summer 2005

Okay, my first Blog. Let's see how this works for the Mel Report. (Just in case you didn't know, my name is listed as Wo Kai Li - my Chinese name.)

Wow, I can’t believe the last Mel Report was after my trip to Europe. That seems so long ago. What in the world have I been doing since February?

Well, first off for today, my father and my step-mother Sue have moved to London (Ontario, not England). I haven’t seen the place yet, but I hear it is really nice. It means a longer trip to the cottage for them, but it sounds like they are enjoying it.


Other big news, I bought a new motorcycle and it is beautiful. It’s a Honda Shadow 750, the other bike was a 250, so this is much bigger and I am still getting used to it. This summer I made it to Friday the 13th and the run to Port Dover. Apparently around 100,000 people show up in town for the day. It was a beautiful ride up (even though Tim did get us lost a couple of times). The ride back wasn’t as nice as it was raining pretty hard and the 403 was not a fun place to be in the rain on a bike (if I never have a transport truck pass me in the rain again, that will be great). We saw a ton of beautiful bikes and it was a really fun day. The bike was pretty dirty by the end and I spent most of the next weekend cleaning it up (ah the joys of owning a motorcycle). Rain on the Bad Ride as well. Actually, now that I think about it, I seem to get rained on a lot on my new bike. But, it is so pretty! Here it is at Dover.

Back in March I went to the annual Toronto Math Alumni event. I was asked to run the pool tournament this year, I beat the dean of Math a couple of years ago, so they thought I would be a good choice. It was a lot of fun, from there I was asked to help with my 10 year reunion at Waterloo. I was asked to talk to my classmates to get them interested in going back to Waterloo. I can’t believe I graduated ten years ago. It seems like yesterday (at least some of the time).

March of course, also brought along St. Paddy’s Day and some green beer. A group of us from work went to the Irish Pub in Mississauga. There was a great band and some Irish dancers.

Congratulations to my friends Liz and Michelle who got married this spring. My friends Christi and Mike welcomed their son Alex to the world a couple of weeks ago, so congratulations to you guys as well.

I made it to a few concerts this year. I started it off with Maroon 5. Not a great way to start the concert season off. I really like their album, but I don’t know. Maybe I wasn’t in the mood for a concert that day, or I let everyone else’s thoughts on the band (many people were making fun of me) influence my thoughts, but I just wasn’t that impressed. The lead singer is pretty full of himself.

But, a couple of weeks later I went to see Green Day. Wow! Definitely in the top 5 of all of the concerts I’ve been to (and I’ve been to a lot). Billie Joe can put on a show. I definitely recommend that if you get a chance, you go see this band. Now, the fact that their new album is called ‘American Idiot’, might be influencing my thoughts on why I like them so much. I didn’t sit down the entire concert! A couple of weeks later I bought tickets to see Green Day again at Molson Park in Barrie. The Barrie show was this past weekend. My friend Tim made the trek to Barrie with me and was able to get us to the front of the stage. So, we hung out in the heat for a couple of hours waiting for the show to start. A couple of women fainted near us. They wouldn’t let you bring water in and there wasn’t any water to purchase around the concert area (ice cream and popsicles, but no water). It is just getting crazy at concerts. Anyway, once the first band came on, the crowd surfing and the moshing started. I had so much fun, probably because Tim was making sure that I didn’t get kicked in the head. Then Jimmy Eat World came on the stage and the crowd surfing got a little crazier. Someone landed on Tim and kicked me in the back of the neck. We got the security guards to pull us out of the pit so that we could make sure Tim was okay. The paramedics checked Tim out and he decided to tough out the concert. Well, I really wanted to back front and centre for Green Day, so I left Tim off to the side and said I would be right back. Famous last words, it felt like forever before I was able to get back to him. I made it back to the stage for the first song and Billie Joe was right there. It was very cool and then it got very scary. The moshing was much crazier and it became really hard to breath. So, I figured that I really needed to get out of there. It was pretty much impossible to go back the way I came, so I tried to get to the security guards and get them to pull me out. Well, it took another couple of songs before that was able to happen. I remember Billie Joe introducing the songs, but I can’t remember the band playing them. I finally caught the eye of one of the security guards and he must have seen the look of fear on my face because he was able to pull me out of the pit. I believe that is where my huge bruise came from. The next day I couldn’t walk, my bad knee was swelled up to twice the nice of normal. But, it was so worth it! I’m hoping that next time they are in town I get my butt back into the mosh pit and realize that I won’t die. I know I keep saying that I am going to try to only go see a band once (that way I can see more bands), but you know me, I get obsessive and right now I’m pretty obsessed with Billie Joe. See how close I was?

In May my friend Julia and I saw The Killers at Molson Ampitheatre. It was a fun concert, but boy did we feel a little old and straight to be at that concert :) The problem with this concert was the sound guy. I think if looks could kill, that sound guy would have been dead a couple of times over. The first two bands were almost impossible to hear because of the band sound. I think we would have jumped over the sound board and attacked him if it had of continued through The Killers set.

My friend Karen and I went to see Erasure at Massey Hall. What a great smelling concert. The lead singer was in fine form. He is so flaming, it was fun. For Blue Savannagh he came out in gold sequined boots, sparkly blue speedo underwear and pink fans. He was definitely having a great time and so were we, we danced throughout the whole show.

Not too many sports this summer, just hockey. Our team just finished our round robin in playoffs and we went undefeated. Our championship game is next week. We play the team that was really upset that we beat them. They hadn’t lost a game all season and then they lost to us in playoffs. After the game we won they were asking us how much we paid the refs. They were some sore losers, should make an interesting game next week. We have the best cheerleaders: a couple of the brothers perform a song and dance after each of our goals, they do cartwheels and walk around on their hands. It makes for some fun games.

I saw two movies in the theatres this summer, the beginning of a series and the end of series. It was great to see The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy on the big screen. Not as great as the books, but definitely entertaining. Must read the books again. And of course, I went to see Revenge of the Sith. Midnight showing where I almost got attacked my an out of control jedi (well, I guess it was my fault for almost walking in between vader look alike and an Anakin). Oh the cheese! ‘Ani hold me like you did by the lake’, I can’t believe this movie came from the same guy that brought us the original Star Wars. Now, it wasn’t as bad as Attack of the Clones (which I still haven’t been able to stay awake through), but was no where near as good as the original three.

I’ve been up to the cottage a couple of times this summer. The last time my sister and I had a blast tubing behind the boat. There were some excellent wipeouts. So much fun! I passed my test for my boating license. I’m hoping dad will teach me how to drive the boat this summer. Maybe this weekend!

Back in July, Dad, Sue and I threw Jason and Megan an engagement party at my grandmother’s in Goderich. We rented some Sumo wrestling suits. I believe a good time was had by all. Unfortunately, Alfie did get hurt. Sumo suits can be dangerous in the hands of the Woodalls! Here are Megan and Sarah trying to take each other out. I believe Megan was the grand winner of the day.

On my continuing quest to see the world, I was able to see more of Canada this summer. Liz, Michelle and I headed to Newfoundland for a hiking trip. If you ever get a chance to get out East, I highly recommend it. It was so gorgeous. We drove and it took us about 20 hours to get to the ferry in Cape Breton island. Once we got into New Brunswick we hit maritime time. It took 15 minutes to get a coffee and bagel at Tim Horton’s. That laid back thing took some time getting used to. After an 8 hour ferry ride, we made it to the west coast of Newfoundland and our first day of hiking. It rained quite a bit on our trip, here I am with my pack in the rain.

We did a two day hike through Green Gardens at Gros Morne National Park. At first, it really didn’t look like anything green, it more looked like Mars with all of these red rocks. But, then we definitely understood the name. It was quite pretty and we were able to look out over the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Then we hit the chest high thistles. I’m not sure how these did not affect Liz, but Michelle and I started our cursing at this point and I don’t think we stopped for two weeks. After the killer thistles we came upon the sheep. All of a sudden there was this field of sheep staring at us. And it appeared that they were all hanging out in the area where we were to set up our tent. So, we had to watch out for thistles, sheep and sheep poo. Well, the sheep let us have our camping spot, but they definitely let us know that they weren’t happy about it. The next morning the sheep were around again. Unfortunately, we got in the middle of the herd and they started to chase Michelle. Here is our lonely tent in the middle of the sheep field.

After the run in with the sheep, we made it out in one piece and headed to the ranger's station to take our test. Yes, my vacation included a test. To hike the Long Range Traverse in Gros Morne National Park you need to prove to the ranger that you are capabable of reading a map and using a compass. This was a very stressful time, if we didn't pass what were we going to do for the next six days? Well, I think the ranger was just impressed that we already had our map. The group of guys that were taking their test at the same time as us, didn't even have a map and hadn't brought their compass inside for the test - we were happy that they were taking the North Rim and wouldn't be on the Long Range with us. The point of being out on these trails (well, this was a trailless trail) is to be away from other people. Now, there was another group on the same hike as us - the group of 4, but more about them later. So, we passed our test and the ranger really liked Liz's GPS (it was pretty cool - the map was downloaded into it and it had different sites marked for where we needed to get to). After passing our test we headed to a regular camp ground and got ready for the next six days. Up at 6am to pack, get breakfast, drop off the car and wait for the taxi (we left the car where we came out of the trail and took a cab to the starting point). Well, we waited for the taxi. Luckily, my phone did have coverage and we were able to get a number for the cab company - they had forgotten about us (a bit of panicking ensued). But, they did pick us up and we made it to the boat dock in time. To get to the start of the long range traverse you have to hop on a boat tour of the fiord (well, what used to be a fiord). When the boat dropped the ten of us off at the dock all of these people started taking pictures of us. Here is the veiw from the dock, we then had to climb up for eight hours to get to our next camp site. It didn't feel like 8 hours, it felt like forever.

So, here we are at around the beginning of our day. Six hours of the rocks and boulders and tuckamore. What can I say about tuck (it rhymes with a word that we said a whole lot throughout the day). It pulls at you and grabs you and doesn't let you out. The only good thing was that I didn't feel in danger of falling because there was no where to go once the tuck got a hold of you. At one point Michelle and I got stuck in the mud and were ready to just stay there and die. Liz has the patience of a saint to put up with our complaining.

Why did we put ourselves through this? For the below shot:

Unfortunately, I could not appreciate it when I was there. I was so tired and just wanted to get to our campsite. A couple of days later, looking back through the pics on the camera I realized that I was actually there and it was spectacular. We had another two hour hike after this to get to our campsite. When we spotted the yellow tent of the other campers I don't think I have ever been happier to see anything in my life. The group of 4 offered us some tea, the sweetest raspberry tea I have ever had. We were so tired, that I think we would have been happy to just lie on the tent pad and never put up the tent. The camp site was gorgeous: a stream went through the middle of it. The next day we made our way along the sort of trail (there were a lot of game trails - as we found out) and actually made really good time. Our second camp ground came with our own private beach. Unfortunately, it was freezing and the bugs were crazy so we couldn't really enjoy it. We ate inside our bug netting and then hid in the tent. The night before we shared the camp ground with the group of 4, but unfortunately, one of the group of 4 got really sick on the second day and two of the four stayed at another site and the other two decided to keep hiking to try to get out. With no cell phone reception there was no way to get help for their friend. We found out when we finished the trail that the guy had gotten dehydrated and had been airlifted out.

The third day started out okay, we thought it would be similar to day two. Well, we soon learned to not mention any thoughts on this trip as they backfired on us every time. Remember how I mentioned the many game trails before? Well, we ended up following one of them and after a while we were lost (sorry Liz, we were misdirected, the GPS told us exactly where we were and the map told us where we wanted to be, we just weren't on the trajectory we were supposed to be on). So, while Liz tried to figure out which way we should go, I looked up and there in front of me was a caribou (probably twenty feet away) staring at us. Unfortunately, we didn't have a camera close by. We saw a moose swimming across a lake and Liz came across a moose in the bushes. We finally found our correct path and looked down at our next campsite:

There was a waterfall and rapids (for those of you from Goderich, it was very similar to Benmiller Falls except that the water was freezing, but felt so good on the feet). It rained in the evening and the next morning it took us forever to get across the river with our packs (it did not help that our campsite was marked incorrectly on our map - thank god for the GPS). Then the fog rolled in and we could only see about twenty feet in front of us (so the day was spent picking a rock and taking a bearing and then picking anothe rock and taking another bearing). I suspect it looked similar to Scotland (those of you who have been let me know).

At the end of this day we had to hike down what I'd like to call a cliff (but not quite that steep). So many times my pack got caught on the rocks and I thought either I'm sliding all the way down, or I'm never going to get out of this spot. It was so exciting to get to the bottom of that hill. We then camped and looked forward to our next day when we would summit Gros Morne mountain. While we were setting up the tent we heard this noise and looked up and across the little pond to see the following:

Momma and baby moose. They tried to hide in the bushes, it was so cute. The next morning there was a crazy wind storm and we thought we might lose the tent. But, we didn't have to get up early as we had a very lazy type day. It was very exciting, no packs, no packing up the tent. It was great. Well, until we got to the top of Gros Morne and the fog had once again settled in:

Liz was not happy with mother nature at this point. So, we made ourselves some chairs out of the rocks and waited her out. Then the fog lifted and we had some beautiful views. The fog came in again the next morning for our walk out. We smelled so bad! We had an awesome meal when we got out (so hungry for something that was not dehydrated).

The next day we drove from the west coast to the east coast. St. John's. We took a drive to Signal Hill and looked out over the Pacific Ocean. Now, if any of you have driven in downtown St. John's you may realize that the streets are crazy. The maps didn't have names and the streets changed constantly. I thought Michelle might kill me for suggesting that we go into the city.

The next day we went for a one day hike on the East Coast Trail. It was so pretty, looked like the caribbean. Here is a picture of Michelle in her best Indiana Jones pose.

We then headed to Cape Spear, the most easterly point in North America. There were a bunch of whales out off the point. It was kind of cool to say that I was at the most easterly point. After this hike we stayed at a Bed and Breakfast. A real bed (well, I had a cot). It was so awesome, we spent two days at the Bed and Breakfast. While out on the east coast I broke down and had fish and chips. It's been over a year since I switched to being a vegetarian, but boy was that fish tasty! The next day we took a break from hiking and went horseback riding (my frist time) and kayaking. Michelle's horse kept biting my horse's butt. Freaked me out, but control was kept and I had fun. Kayaking was fun, but we did not see any whales and didn't really see any Puffins (I really wanted to see Puffins). We did get to take the kayaks into a couple of caves, which was cool but freaky. The next day we left the b&b for our last two day hike. This one was back onto the east coast trail to see 'The Spout'. The Spout was pretty cool, this underground river meets the ocean and forces the water up through the rocks. It sounded like a dragon (like Smaug) was breathing down under the rock and every so often the steam would be his breath.

By the end of the trip I could sleep anywhere! Then we headed for home, a 14 hour ferry ride where I pretty much read the entire new Harry Potter. So much better than the last one! Well, that's it for my trip to Newfoundland. Well, there was lots of other stuff that happened and over 600 photos between the three of us. The next trip is going to be much more calm. I'm heading to the British Virgin Islands with my friend Tim to hang out on a Catamaran sailing around the islands for ten days. Hopefully I get over my fear of the water and can actually take my diving certification out for a spin.

So, last week I went to Montreal for work. Didn’t really feel like hanging out in Montreal and was happy to be going home. Then Air Canada lost my luggage. It has now been over a week and no luggage. So, I have now bought new glasses and a new camera. The camera has a 15 day return policy, what do you want to bet Air Canada finds my luggage in 16 days. Don't rely on gold cards for insurance on flights, check the fine print. My gold visa isn't paying for anything and Air Canada is only giving me $100. Thank god for home insurance. But, it is such a pain, must of the clothing I took is irreplacable. It is hard enough for me to find clothes that fit and now I have to go and try and find more. Crappy air canada, it was from Montreal to Toronto! But, my favourite part is that when I call the baggage department they tell me that the luggage is not lost. When I ask if they know where it is they say no, so I keep asking them if they understand the definition of lost because I don't think they realize that that is the definition of lost. (Liz, I think in this case I'm correct.)

My sister, Rachael, has moved in with me for a month or so. It is great having someone in the house again. Back in May, Jason's friend Rene moved in. It was great having someone that cooked all these vegetarian meals. Rachael isn't quite as on board with the vegetarian thing. But, we have had Thai and Indian since she has been here and so far she's liking them. While she's been here I have gotten her addicted to Buffy (the Vampire Slayer, that is). As some of you know, I am addicted to shows from The WB. I have every season of Angel, Buffy, Roswell and Felicity on DVD. We are currently in the process of watching the third season of Buffy. TV shows on DVD are just so addictive, you can just keep watching another episode (plus I have a 5 disc DVD player so you can pretty much put the entire season in all at once). During my recovery from the Green Day concert I watched the entire final season of Roswell in one day (18 episodes). So, I am now back on my Jason Behr (lead actor) kick. He's just damn good looking. But, knowing me I will be off that in a couple of days and on to my next obsession.

Well, that's about it for me. I know this first blog is pretty long. I had a lot to talk about. Now that I have found this site, I can write about what is going on every couple of days (I can hear the groans out there).

I hope everyone is having an excellent summer and I hope to hear what is going on with everyone soon.