Archive for May, 2004

Lot’s of stuff has been going on the last couple of days that I could tell you about. Went yard-saleing on Saturday, helped some friends move, went out riding, saw some wildlife, watched my sister-in-law and her boyfriend finish the Ottawa Marathon 10k road race, became a member of another church, went to a buffet lunch with about 60 people, went for a long walk, saw much more urban wildlife, washed my car for the first time in a long while. But if I told you all about that, there wouldn’t be time for any insight. And that’s the point, isn’t it?

Well maybe it’s not. Maybe my blog isn’t about searching for meaning in the daily things when I’m not doing it outside of the blog. Maybe it’s just about keeping in touch with friends and family that I don’t get to see very often anymore. But then, what if it’s how I’m living through the events that have made people want to keep in touch with me? Do I write my blog for the people who read it, or just for myself? And if so, who cares if I write more like I speak, and not always in a grammatically correct fashion? (By the way, Jenn took a phone call last week from someone correcting “Jenn and I” — I had to just laugh.)

I think I’m at least partly a people pleaser, so I want to know. Since Doug told me that he liked that my blog wasn’t just about basket ball practice and eating fries at McDonalds, I’ve been conscious of how I write. Curse you Doug! Feel free to comment. I’ll feel free to read the comments and continue blogging as I feel. That’s not selfish is it? Gee, I hope not. I’m already too selfish.

Whoa! I have the current weather conditions on my desktop for Ottawa, Thunder Bay, Sudbury and London, Ontario. It’s 14° and partly cloudy everywhere! I suppose I no longer need to know the weather in London. Any suggestions as to what I should change it to?

That’s supposed to be like when you scold a dog. I’m a bad blogger because I haven’t blogged much in the last week. It’s been tense and I haven’t been up for it.

I’ve been waiting to hear about a job I’m up for in Thunder Bay. I called earlier this week and was told the decision would be made by Friday. So, yesterday, after picking Jenn up from work (she works half days on Friday) and running some errands, I called — and got the bad news. No job for me in Thunder Bay quite yet.

We went for our weekly mini-putt after the bad news with Jenn’s sister and boyfriend. I was on course for my first sub-50 game — 23 after 9 holes — but I got a 6 on one hole in the second half and missed a couple easy putts. 52 I think — the score card isn’t here. Jenn however finished with 47!

We played the other, more “realistic” course after the “fun” course (not so fun when you can break 50 though.) I beat every one on that side with a 59. Go figure. Maybe I’ll graph the results next time. Oh, next time, we’re going to the driving range and putting course in Kanata I think.

I had a dream last night that Jenn and I had a baby. His name was Daniel and he was the best baby ever — very warm and soft. We were totally unprepared for him, it’s like we weren’t expecting. But he was cool with sleeping in the guest bed. He didn’t cry at all, either. I guess that’s why it was a dream. Oh, and the best part, he kind of grew from newborn to fun-baby-sized overnight, so I was feeding him his baby food and he figured out how to feed himself. Jenn asked him “This bite of food is going to your nose. Where’s the next bite going to?” I bent over him, flexed my arms and growled at him — like a wrestler — and the baby said “My big, beefy arm!”

Oh, and I went and saw Shrek 2 last night with some friends from church. It got me thinking about my name… Thanks to every blogger out there who picked up the slack this past week. I’m reading!

My parents came to visit Jenn and I in Ottawa this weekend — that’s why I haven’t posted since last Wednesday. But to provide a brief recap of the past few days events, in a style so loathed by Doug, here I go. Warning, it’s not brief, it’s long.

Jenn only had to work Friday morning because she’s on summer hours. So we picked her up at lunch, grabbed a bite at home and hit the annual Ottawa Tulip Festival. After walking around, snapping some pictures and eating a Beaver Tail we went to the experimental farm and wandered around some more looking at plants. In the evening, we hit the mini-putt course for our weekly game. I finally beat Jenn this year, and came too close for comfort to breaking 50. Starting the 18th hole I had 49 strokes. I was a tad too light and because it was an uphill lie, I rolled all the way back and off the hole. Starting again, I sunk it off the tee. Crushed.

Saturday we braced for the beginning of the sour weather that was predicted and hit the road for Montreal. They day turned out to be sunny and warm. We parked downtown and walked to the Old Port. I watched some street performers, we looked at artists painting in the requisite “historic town centre artist’s alley“ and had lunch. In the afternoon we walked up to China town where Jenn bought a steamer and I tried to get some bubble tea from an internet lounge — they didn’t seem to notice me there, so we left without. To entertain me, we all took the metro to Olympic Stadium and walked around the old Olympic Park.

Sunday we got up bright and early for another excursion, this time to a maple syrup farm and then Perth, Ontario. We swung by church on the way and I dropped off the bulletins. How was I supposed to know that Barker was there? Glad she enjoyed the service without me. We enjoyed fluffy pancakes with real maple syrup for breakfast and then went to see the animals. The ox were out in a large pen but were too relaxed in the sun to visit us. We wandered around another big field looking for the sheep and lambs that we saw on the way in. We found them, got really close and took some good photos — I’ll post them when I get them developed. Then we wandered around historic Perth. While Jenn and mom hit the little shops, I slept outside in the sun. Another beautiful day when showers were forecast.

Monday it did rain though, but that didn’t prevent us from doing the Byward Market. Jenn and I bought some herbs (how do you pronounce that, Tyler?) some naan for supper and a great wine rack marked down to $10 from $50. I also got some bubble tea that I’ve been hearing about. I liked it, black tea with milk. Jenn wasn’t expecting the tapioca balls — I had done my homework and read about it, so I was prepared. Mom didn’t go for them either. I’ll have it again, but I don’t expect it will become as habit forming for me as it is for others.

Oh, and we played a number of games of sequence over the weekend. For the record:
Set One (Saturday Night): Boys won 3 straight in best of 5
Set Two (Monday Night): Girls won 3:2 in best of 5
Set Three (Monday Night): Boys won 2 games and then we retired for bed.

I got some photos developed today and there were some O Train shots on the roll. So, check out my post from the day I rode the O Train and my post with the comments about the O Train’s display for the pics. If you look closely you can see my bike at the Bayview Stations behind the black pole on the left.

Jenn got to experience someone yelling at her from another car because she was driving the Bora TDI today. It was her first time. Some guy in a Jetta wagon was really excited and wanted to know where she got it. She assumed that he was asking about the badges on the rear so told him “In Germany!” Bet that dashed his hopes of trading in for one at the local dealership.

Oh yeah, and Jenn took a funny picture of me in Sudbury a month or so ago, and I put it on the www.shroomazoom.com main page. Check it out!

I emailed Tom Rivers today. He’s the guy who did The Unfriendly Giant radio program a number of years ago. I told him about my UFG flash cartoon and he wrote right back with the following…

Pretty neat, eh?

You might notice a little change to Sgt. Pepper’s Army if you haven’t been here in a while. We’ve decided to drop some of the Beatles News aspects of our site in favour of a more conversational style. We sill have all the Beatles Biographies, history and Critiques that you like. Now, we feature more essays and thoughts — and we welcome your comments too. So, welcome back to Sgt. Pepper’s Army. Richard and I hope you will visit often.

This weekend, Jenn and I were out along the canal for a bit. She had her inline skates going and I was riding my bike. At one of the locks I ended up pulling Jenn up the hill behind my bike. We sat down on a bench above the locks and watched people and boats. There is a great boat moored at the Hartwell locks called the Fair Jeanne and when Jenn decided to head home, I stayed to observe it.

It’s landing is on the canal, but it has a huge mast, so it’s really a sailing ship. My guess is that it’s about 80 feet long too. But it got me thinking, is it a boat, or a ship? What’s the difference? Is it just size?

The owners were working on her and there were some kids on deck too. They were sitting on the mast (which was down and lying horizontally along the roof of the cabin and the deck. After watching me sit across the canal for a couple minutes, they started waving at me. I ignored them. Then I acknowledged them. Then I waved back. Then they started talking to me.

So, I asked them who owned the Fair Jeanne — Their dad. How old is she — 70 years. Is it a boat or a ship — It’s a boat. What’s bigger a boat or a ship — This boat is. What about a row boat — It’s a sail boat. Can I come on board — We’re supposed to be working…

I noticed today that the German restaurant that I was asking about a while ago is named something slightly different that I reported. It is “Easthaus zum Doff-Kung.” I imagine that makes a difference, but the bable fish still gives little insight.

Now, I’ve got to be careful with my posts about Sunday morning, because I know of at least one guy from church who reads my blog from time to time — but Andrew will get the joke. Never the less, I think I’ll continue to give insight as to how my mind sometimes wanders during the sermon.

Today, the sermon was on the Holy Spirit and his work in our lives. One of the scriptures was taken from Psalm 57. One verse in particular got me going off on a tangent and this is the result…

Psalm 57:4 “My soul is among lions; I must lie among those who breathe forth fire, even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows and their tongue a sharp sword.”