empire state of mind

In my drunken state on Saturday night, I turned into a thief. While at the Drake we ran into some acquaintances ... one of them decided to have a post-bar party and so we went back to her place. After all the wine and vodka, this seemed like a good idea. I'm pretty sure it wasn't. It was a very weird turn of events, involving a member of the 1996 Canadian Olympic team, a Native American statue and a Bee Gees dance party. As we were leaving (at 3:45 am), I thought that it would be a good idea to steal this random guy's NY Yankees* hat. It had been decided earlier that this guy was something of a dbag, and so I guess I figured he deserved to have his hat stolen. I will say that the next morning I woke up full of remorse and feeling bad that I stole dude's hat. Had someone stolen mine, even if they were drunk, I would be unimpressed. Turns out he was unimpressed. He got in touch with SS (through a mutual friend) and sent her a very kind email suggesting a drink in exchange for said hat. The exchange is supposed to happen today. What we still haven't figured out is if I will owe her, for making her spend time with this guy, as the jury is still out on whether or not he really is a dbag. Or, on the other hand, perhaps she will owe me, as he could very well turn out to be a good guy and they will fall in love and end up naming their first child after me (with the middle name Yankee of course). I don't know about you, but I am on the edge of my seat waiting to see what will happen.

*cue Jay-Z: "I made a Yankees hat more famous than a Yankee can."

good news/bad news pt.2

good news = this past weekend was a getaway to the mountains with 4 of my favourite girlfriends

bad news = the weekend was rudely interrupted by a 10K road race, for which I did not train - at all

good news = I finished said race

bad news = race included a 1.8 km uphill, at altitude, meaning I walked at least 1.8 kms, making my time ridiculously slow

good news = race was followed by beer, burger, hot tub, sunshine, more beer, birthday cake, wine, chips, cheese, wine, pasta, wine, dancing, vodka, oh, and more vodka

bad news = hangover

brilliance

Just got back from the Arcade Fire show. So amazing. Words can't really describe it.

into the wind

So remember back in June when I watched that OJ Simpson special? Well, as I mentioned then, it was part of a series on TSN looking back at major sports events over the last 30 years. On Sunday the episode about Terry Fox aired (titled "Into the Wind"). And remember when I said that I have a serious weak spot for Terry Fox? Well guess what? I cried. A lot. I don't think I've participated in a Terry Fox Run since high school ... not really sure why. Probably because I would have a hard time crossing the start line due to the ridiculous amount of tears that I would shed. At any rate, the special was great. It never ceases to amaze me that one guy, barely out of his teens, could inspire a nation (and the world) to raise over $500 million dollars to fight cancer. And kudos to Mr. Steve Nash (on a side note, BB showed me some of the Vitamin Water commercials he has done ... hilarious). The picture above is from Terry's appearance at Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto on July 11th 1980, in the midst of his run across Canada. Darryl Sittler presented him with an all-star jersey. Darryl Sittler was my brother's favourite hockey player.

pie success

So it turns out my pie was not as disastrous as previously thought. The recipe for Chocolate Pudding Pie came from a Williams Sonoma cookbook and can be found here. The problem was that the pudding did not thicken enough after 3+ hours in the fridge, so in consultation with my mother and SS, I decided to improvise and put it in the freezer overnight. I then made the whipped topping about 30 minutes before serving, letting it sit out to de-freeze a bit. And voila! The epic fail became an overnight success! I won best filling at the pie-off and second best pie overall! Who knew? Finished pie is pictured here. It was tasty.

good news/bad news

Good news = drinks last night was not a ruse to engage in threesome.

Bad news = no conclusive evidence on what drinks actually meant ... interest from all parties is still undetermined.

Good news = tomorrow is "pie-off" day at work.

Bad news = the filling of my chocolate pudding pie did not thicken and so now I am stuck with chocolate pudding soup. Will certainly not win said pie-off.

team dating

So a while ago I mentioned, in passing, the concept of team dating. Allow me to expand on this thought. I was in Seattle at the end of June with HC and SS, both of whom were going through some man drama. As the weekend progressed and we spent more time discussing the conversations that had happened, the texts that had been received and what came next, we realized that what we were doing was in fact “team dating.” I would like to clarify that we obviously didn’t invent team dating, as it goes back to the 17th century and Cyrano de Bergerac. Oh and Steve Martin and Daryl Hannah. I would just like to think that we perfected it. In our modern times, there are a variety of things that go into team dating, an essential one being Blackberry Messenger (an essential tool in my life that I have mentioned before).

This real time conversation brings many perks, but can also drive a person more than a little crazy. The issue is that you can see when the message has been delivered and then of course when it has been read. If it is marked open and there is no response, you start wondering what is going on and often times your mind goes the worst possible place, as in what you thought was witty and flirty was actually stupid and not at all suggestive. More likely though, dude just read it and then went to get another drink while pondering how to sound smart and sexy back. And can I just say that it is much easier to sound witty, flirty, smart, sexy and everything else when you have your friends around. Especially those of us who need a little entertainment in our lives and so are happy to push the flirting a little beyond the pale.

But you can’t rely on BB messenger too much because as I mentioned above, it can make you crazy. You have to find a fine balance - just like regular dating, you need to be available, but not too available. Hence the power of the last text. While in an argument you are always trying to get in the last word, but when it comes to BB messaging having the last word is sometimes a sign of weakness. It must be said that there is a certain power in letting the conversation hang. It’s the text message equivalent to being in a bar, seeing the guy you are trying to woo, but staying at your table and making him come to you (a tactic that I have never perfected by the way).

I bring this up now because I'm currently in a situation whereby a guy I know may or may not be interested in a friend of mine. He's a really friendly guy, so it's kind of hard to tell. He sent me an email suggesting the 3 of us go out for a drink. It should be noted that this didn't come completely out of left field because the drink idea had been floated by me earlier this summer, but we never really followed through. Not sure what prompted it 2 months later ... maybe he's just getting through his "to do" list? (that's what she said). So the funny thing is that now we are actually "team dating." She and I are collaborating over BB messenger what I should say in order to set her up for a witty flirty response. And so tonight the three of us are going out. Not sure of my role - Facilitator? Third wheel? Fingers crossed this is not some elaborate set up for a threesome. Cause that would be weird and inappropriate. But it would make for an excellent follow up post. Stay tuned.

I made this

So there is a record salmon run this year ... no one really knows why. I ate lots of it whilst in BC last week - on the awesome patio at Sandbar in Vancouver and on an even better patio on Gabe (BB even caught it himself)! So when reading the Globe and Mail on Saturday morning, I spotted Lucy Waverman's recipe for roasted salmon, I decided to give it a try. And it was delicious. Here is my version next to the picture from the paper. Impressive, non?

no ducky's

I woke up Saturday morning with this on my hand (sadly it's not a guy's phone number). Here is the backstory. There is a bar here in town. Well of course there are many bars, but this post is about one in particular. It's a karaoke bar. Karaoke, which of course was quite fashionable at one point (i.e. the 90s), and now, not so much. Yet this place remains popular. And not really in a kitschy, retro kind of way, because it is neither of these things. Nor is it trendy or classy. In fact it is really quite trashy. It is the dive bar of dive bars, yet somehow it has become one of our standbys. Almost our local. It doesn't really make sense. You never meet hot guys, rather you get hit on by men with moustaches (in a non-ironic sense) who can barely walk. And the music isn't particularly good. It's karaoke, so it's old faves (and not so old faves), too often ballads, sung by sad drunk people. The drinks aren't very good. To be honest, they are actually quite bad. The cheapest vodka and dodgy draft beer, so as a result the Ducky's hangovers are legendary.

The Ducky's stories are also legendary. Important events happen here. Milestones really. A few years ago, for AH's birthday we started off with a classy wine tasting at The Cellar. All went well still we started drinking full bottles rather than one-ounce tastings. This then turned into a trip to Ducky's. It went quickly downhill. She puked in the bathroom. On yet another occasion, she had her first dance with her now husband (and father to her recently born child). After SS moved into her first place after leaving her married home (aka empty tomb of a marriage) she ended up there with her mother - Sue loves to karaoke. Once we got cut off singing "Don't Stop Believing" at 2 am (before it became a popular song thanks to Glee). We went there on the first friday of Stampede a few years ago. I only remember this because there are pictures. And I'm in them. Finally, there was one particular night that HC and Christie had such a big night that they vowed not to end up there again. Hence the handwriting on my hand in the picture. It was to remind us not to end up there again. And all signs tonight pointed to us not going there. First we went out for a great meal at the hippest new gastropub in town. All signs pointed to a dignified birthday celebration. It really was quite a classy. Then someone ordered more wine. Six hundred dollars later, we ended up at Ducky's. Yep, that about sums it up.

it's the little things pt. 2

This is my friend Lily. She is wearing my fedora. She is super cool. Sadly she is not my dog. But we've had some good times together. Right now we are driving from Calgary to an unnamed island on the coast. Summer is coming to an end and this makes me sad. And so I look at this picture of Lily and I smile. It really is the little things.