Great Pumpkin

Last night some very good friends and I decided to go out for dinner to Ruth Chris's Steak House.  The steak was amazing.  I'll put my review of it in the restaurants section. It was fun night with lots of laughs and plenty of food.

I guess one thing that came up in our conversation last night was our individual little "quirks", some may call them pet peeves or funny habits.  It's interesting that you can know someone for so long and not know some of these "quirks".  But I guess these things make us who we are.  For whatever reason we all have certain likes and dislikes.  I'd like to think that I'm pretty easy going and I don't have many issues, but then again, if you ask my friends they may have a list 3 feet long.

Hmm, what kind of things don't I like? I don't like crowds.  I don't go shopping on weekends because of that. I guess being a bigger guy when I'm in a crowded area I find that I either get constantly hit, or there's way too many strangers in my personal space.  Don't get me wrong, if there's a party or large gathering of friends I'm all game for that, I guess it's just strangers are unpredictable and to be honest I don't think they really care about anyone else.  I've mentioned that every day I try to make one stranger smile.  It could be at Tim Horton's when getting a coffee, or holding that door for the next person to walk in, or even last night at dinner our server mentioned to me that it was the first time today that someone called him "sir". It's because we have a mutual respect for one another.  He has to respect me given that I'm the customer (whether I'm right or wrong, the customer is always right) and I can respect anyone that works hard, is professional, and is going to bring me a butter broiled USDA Prime Cowboy Rib-eye. Lol, sorry losing focus for second.  I'm not sure this making a stranger smile thing makes a difference but I don't see how it can hurt.  And really it's not like I actively search for this stranger, just being myself seems to work just fine.

We also talked last night about my desire to open up my own business.  One train of thought was to use my comedic abilities to good use. Such as being a public speaker.  Nope, not my thing.  However I have MC'd two weddings, a retirement party and going to be MC'ing another friends wedding Oct. 2011.  I would like to think I'm a pretty funny guy, but to be honest, you have to meet my friends from my University track team.  Whenever you put us all in a room together it's like comedy central live.  We represent a diverse number of cultures (Chinese, Jamaican, Scottish, Sri Lanken, to name a few) but we are all so similar.  Actually I'm surprised we get together at all as we always tend to pick on one another whenever we see each other.  Maybe we could do an Improv night at my place. I think that would be hilarious.

I'm going to have to think of some things for my buddies wedding next year, I'll probably ask you all for some ideas or your thoughts on some of my ideas.  It should be fun.

Tomorrow is Halloween, have a safe and great Halloween.  I'll be chillin' in the pumpkin patch.

bum knee

It's official, my knee is giving up on me.  After playing Tuesday night I decided to go help some friends out and play with them Wed night. What a poor decision that was.  My knee hurt so bad by the end of it I could barely get off the ground (wait... that's normal).  And to top it off I just got back from helping a buddy move.  For a family of four they sure had a heck of a lot of stuff.  Right now I'm exhausted and my knee really hurts... some one please massage me!!

Yesterday my buddy stopped by my work with his 11month old son Jacee.  What a cute kid.  However I'm noticing this more and more with boys.  When they're young they have this thing about women.  They love being held by women.  Whenever I go to lift them up they scream in shear terror.  Am I that scary? Or is it the beard.  I really haven't been keeping it neat lately. But then again, I don't blame them.  I like women too.

Here's a picture of me and the little guy.  I apologize for the crappy photo, but my buddy used my phone to take it and this was the best one.

I did finally win him over. Took maybe 30 minutes but we're buddies now.

Not sure what the plans are this weekend. Hopefully I'll get a chance to put up some restaurant reviews.

Vuvuzela!!

My friend just got back from her trip to Amsterdam, south africa. and climbing that mountain... what was it called again, not everest, Kilimanjaro! She actually made it.  She was such a sweetheart she brought me back a vuvuzela.  It's that horn thing that they were blaring at the FIFA World Cup in South Africa.  Apprently it's super loud.  It's not like I need anything else to make me loud, but I thought it was an awesome gift. 

I was going to blare it at volleyball tonight but I didn't... I really wanted to, and normally I don't shy away from these opportunities, but maybe I'm maturing... lol.  Next week I'm rocking it loud and proud!!! haa haa.

Had some great volleyball games tonight.  I'm definitely not young any more.  I find myself using some "veteran" moves in order to score.  I mean I can still hit the odd ball down but the pain in the knees right now isn't so good.  Just had an ice pack on it for a while.  I guess it's inevitable that as we age we'll never be like we were when we were younger.  However I still believe I can get back into better shape and hopefully be a little lighter on my toes.  To be honest though, I think I go to volleyball just to socialize.  I enjoy hanging with my team as well as talking to all the other teams too. Always a blast.

I've been thinking about one thing lately that I'm not going to discuss.... yet.  I'm not sure what to think, if anything at all. Maybe one day I'll find out life's little answers.  I'll promise to share when I do.

Home cooking

Why is it no matter how old you get that mothers still try to mother you?  I stopped by my parents place on the way home from work today as I left a pair of sunglasses there.  My mom tells me that she has a bunch of food for me to take home.  She's always depressed about my fridge, but really there's enough food in there for me.  I can cook.  Just this weekend I made spaghetti,  BBQ'd some burgers, and used the leftover sauce from Sat to make some tortellini. I'm no Jamie Oliver but I do alright.  My BBQ is my baby.  When I moved into my new place I decided to go all out and buy the BBQ I've always wanted.  So with some help from a friend I picked up a brand new Napoleon natural gas grill.  It's huge and it's awesome!!!  I apologize if I haven't had you over to grace in all it's glory but I will one day soon, I promise.

Can you tell what I'm cooking?  I still feel like I can put a suckling pig on there one day and fire up the rotisserie.  That'll be a good day.  Hopefully next summer.  What else should I try on there?  A prime rib might be nice.  Or maybe even a porterhouse... where do I even buy one of those?  Here's a picture of one from Ruth Chris's.

They even had to pre-cut before serving it.  If you ever decide to get a porter house it's basically a fillet and rib eye together.  The only draw back is that it's difficult to cook both sides of it to the same degree of wellness.  This wasn't mine but this 44oz beauty sure looked delicious (and it was cooked with butter). Nothing my boy Jimbo couldn't handle.

All this talk has made me hungry!!

Tired

The past week has been tiring.  I guess it doesn't help when you're out super late Friday night and then have to drive home 5hrs in the morning.  I won't get into too many of the activities that night but I got hang out with some great people.  Going to miss the boys from Alberta but I'm sure there will be a lot of laughs back at the office about them.  I'm sure I'll see them in another 3 years.  Also got to meet some new friends that I'll be sure to keep in touch with.  They're definitely something else... and I mean that in the nicest way.

During my 5 hour drive home (well it was 4 hours, I had to stop at my parents place to take a nap, and then drive to work to drop off my stuff and then drive back to my place, that took another hour), there was plenty of time to contemplate life and all it's wonderful twists and turns.  Too bad I had to just fight to stay awake on the drive home. 

Some things that came to me while I was driving:
i) my own business, I've always wanted to open my own business, doing what? I have no clue. But there's nothing like being the master of your own domain (lol).  I firmly believe that in order for a business to succeed you have to do something that you love to do, that you're willing to go thru the good and the bad times with, its more then just money, its willing to put things on hold for it and willing to put everything you have into it. I figure it'll have to do with either food (for obvious reasons) or sports.  Those are two things that I love to do.  Maybe you can suggest some things for me?

ii) Big brother.  If you know me, I've always mentioned that I wanted to be a big brother.  However there was always a lack of time and I'd fell horrible signing up and not being able to find time to be a big brother.  But really, I guess we all can find time for something we love.  I'll look into it more as I still have a few questions about the whole thing.

iii) getting back into the gym.  Yep, I'm not exactly in the greatest shape of my life.... far from it actually.  I've been having some back, shoulder and knee pains for a while now and the extra weight probably doesn't help.  So I'm hoping to hit the gym again soon.  What sucks is that the gym near my house is crazy packed after work.  I don't like it at all.  So I'm thinking about coming home from work and then going to go work out at like 7 or 8pm in hopes that it dies down.  I should try it, but honestly once I settle in home it's hard to motivate me to go out.

Those are some of the things I thought about during my drive, others I can't remember or I just wanna keep to myself for now ;-)

Monday, back to work!!

Shoot for the Moon

I guess the whole purpose of having a blog is write in it your thoughts, what you're up to, and stuff people might find interesting.  Does it have to be every day or only when something interesting happens or when I think of something witty to say??  I'll try to write in it as much as I can, but bear with me, I'm still new to this whole blogging scene and I've got a horrible memory.

For the past week I've been up in Ottawa for training.  Friday is our last day and I can't wait to come home Sat.  I've met some new people and met up with some old ones. Over all a really great bunch of people.  I don't usually talk about work and I won't at all, but this training I 'm on helped re-enforce some of the things that I've always said or believed.  We all have to make choices in life.  Some bigger then others.  But whatever choice we make, be it right or wrong, we have to live with those choices and their consequences.  However we learn a lot from the choices we make, or made in the past, or even those from friends and family.  This is called experience.  We rely on our experience, in addition to our education and/or training, to make educated decisions in the choices we make each and every day.  Even the mistakes we make in life, we can learn from them.  We are far from perfect, but in life and relationships we attempt to create the perfect world in which we live in.  I guess it all depends on what we think is "perfect" and what isn't.  And like I was just reminding a very good friend, who once told me, "Shoot for the moon, if you miss you'll land amongst the stars".  We often have to decide when to take that shot, but hopefully with all the knowledge and experience we have, we minimize those risks and hopefully have as close to our perfect life as possible.

Happy Birthday!!

Seems to be a bunch of birthdays in October.  Just wanted to wish Jenny (SB!) and Jennifer (Newman) a Happy Birthday!!! Both their birthdays were on Sat. Oct. 9th.

Here's a gift we gave SB one year.  LMK if you want another!!!

Thanksgiving!

It's Thanksgiving weekend and it's been pretty busy. Had dinner at my boy Ho's place. His girl TK cooked up a crazy amount of food... she's something else. If he doesn't make an honest woman of her soon, I'm cutting in!

My bro got married this weekend. Nice wedding, pretty laid back. Won't get much into it, but I winged the best man speech and it went pretty well. Not too many akward moments.

Was able to slide into my buddy Mike's wedding too. Damn, that was a big wedding. 300+ people?? Good times though. Rocked the dance floor with my new and favourite dance partner. She even did a back spin and threaded the needle. Lol. I was hurting from laughing. Actually those shots she gave didn't help either Red Yellow Green?? It was more like sweet, ass, and nasty.

Had a TURDUCKEN this weekend too... that's right, a chicken stuffed into a duck, stuffed into a turkey. This thing was awesome. I'll post photos of it when I get them from my buddy V.

Going to go to dinner at the folks place tonight. Always lots of food and stuff to take home. I'm bringing my own tupperware. I keep stealing my mom's and she'll go buy more if I don't return them.

After all this eating I'm going to have to get back into the gym... I've been a little lazy these days. Actually this morning I was up at 9am and decided to clean my gutters... what's up with that? I also cleaned up my backyard, did the laundry and washed the dishes. Yeah, pretty much guilt got to me, I've been using the excuse that I've got a cold to sit in front of the TV and chill.

Off to do some more eating!