Operation "Birthday Car Deck-out" complete

Sorry, just one second, trying to find a good colour.

testing

testing testing 1 2 3

 

That should do.  I was lookign for something 'birthday-ish' but ... with this background it's hard.

So A couple of days ago, Brandy and Eilidh came up to me suggseting that we hit Chris' car for his birthday.   They had the whole thing planned out after a marathon session in the Dollarama store.  It was going to be his birthday on Sunday, so they wanted to do something before then.  Here was the plan:

• wait by his work and find his car




• they had already staked out his work earlier and determined that he does, in fact, leave his car unlocked so that they can get in there and 'birthday-ize' it.  Ask Brandy about the daring stealth techniques and Bourne Identity style methods she used.


• Then, find out what time he gets off work




• That was my job (I was all coy like in asking what time does he get out of his work on Friday)


• Deck out his car




• Ribbons and bows, and big sheets of wrapping paper


• duct taping his gifts to sections of his car


• vast amounts of birthday confetti in the car


• car decals saying "happy birthday"


• securing helium balloons to his car


• glass pens to write on his windows


• Birthday cupcakes with candles that spell out "happy birthday"


• Watching the flick "Little Miss Sunshine"

I was to be the filmographer of this whole shenanigan.  Do some sort of 'production' video stuff for it and then tape his reaction.  Oh, did I mention how they thought I should stand outside for the ... maybe 1 hour it might take for him to come out, just to get him on camera.  Well, I woulda done it.  Apparently it also involved something about decking out his house as well.

Unfortunately, the best laid plans of mice and men... well in searching for the stake out we almost RAN INTO him as he was taking his lunch break.  Sheesh... imagine driving down the road, and seeing your friend's car with a bunch of birthday stuff in the back, somebody holding conspicuous cupcakes and candles and 2 big helium balloons stashed in the back seat bobbing about.  Almost ruined the evening.

We decided that we would all wait in the car after decking it out, so that nobody froze.  So, we get to his car, and we go to town, I'm video-ing like crazy, they're TRYING to do everything they planned.  But not much really works when it's -30C.  The decals didn't stick so well, the helium balloons were deflating.  The pen had oozed out into a glob of ... ink o rsomething.  And the bows weren't sticking to well to the car.  But none the less it looked awesome.  Too bad my camcorder didn't like the cold.  Nothing turned out on video.  I think i need to take it in.

So, with about 10m left to go before he was out, I decided to find my hiding spot so I could record his reaction.  I'm all decked out with scarf and toque and big jacket.  Started thinking, hey, I look conspicuous hanging out in a parking lot with a non-descript item in my hand.  Wonder what people would think if they saw me.  Just then his co-worker's car started, I was right next to it..  I nearly had a coronary.  Jeeze.  I decided to move spots.  Just incase I ended up getting maced or something.  But really, when we met his co-worker, she was all in for what ever we were doing and offered us like a 'backstage pass' to their work and get him there as well.  But we figured the total surprise thing worked better.

He did eventually come out after we had near frostbite.  He really liked the car it seemed with his "oh good god, what now?" expression.

BTW - the movie was good!

 

First day of school... first day back at least

So, I did the 'day before' blog entry... so I should do the day of blog entry.

 

Today was the first day back at the school... Nothing exciting, go figure.  They kids just had 16 days off in a row.  16 days of sleeping in until noon (or later) and now you bring them back to a regular routine.

 

Plus today was "here's your culminating activity booklet, now get to work" day, which didn't exactly go over well.  But I think they'll be ok.  Tomorrow will be in the computer lab.

 

Which is another story in of itself.

 

I asked for the morning off from PTC from Rain so that I could go and get the labs all booked.  I figured I should be there super early and get bookings done, but as I said yesterday I didn't have much hope, 'cuz there'd be already tons of teachers booking that stuff already.  When I get there for like before 9... NOBODY had booked anythign.  So i just took random days in the library and random days in the comp lab.  I didn't want to book a solid 9 days in a row ... figured soembody might raise an eyebrow or 2.

 

Well, we'll see how tomorrow goes... I'll keep you posted!

Oh, man... class is TOMORROW??!?!?!?

Okay, so... after days of waiting around and enjoying my break, it's been great!  I really enjoyed this time off... almsot too much.  I'm not sure how I"m going ot get up that early tomorrow.

 

Last week I went back to PTC, but that's only half days, so it's not much really.  Brandy was really resenting that I could 'nap' in the afternoon.

 

But tomorrow, I've got to do my 'full' day.  That's gonna be hell.  Ugh.

 

PLUS, after doing up my culminating activity, I'm now realizing they're going to need some computer lab time, so ... they need computers.  And that kinda stuff needs to be book in advance.  Plus, I'm guessin the other classes probably have the same thing in mind.  And seeing I'm totally like the 'newbie' they probably did this months ago.  Hrmm...  So I'm gonna have to go early in the morning to figure it out.  I figure if they can't get into the computer lab (any or the library), then we'll have to watch the NOVA scienceNOW episodes which might help get them thinking... I hope.  Because really, i have NOTHING left for them.  Except for exam review.

The benefits of a rust check

So, for the past few weeks I've been procrastinating... (no, not school work, tho' I have been procrastinating that as well... but that's not what I mean).  I know that rust checking your car is a good thing.  And it'll help prolong the life of the body of the vehicle.  But, just as I hadn't had a hair cut in a while (tho' I did yesterday), I just got too busy and wrapped up in other things to get it done.

 

Yesterday I noticed that y left turn signal started blinking wildly.  This means that the rear tail light is out.  Which sucks!  Because if I take it in for warranty (if it's covered under warranty) it'll still cost me $100 for the visit now that I'm on the "extended" plan.  So, what do I do?  Pay the $100 and have them do it (if it's covered), or do I suck it up and pay the $50 part and do it myself?

Being a cheap bastard I am, I went and did my research on how to actually take apart the tail light.  Took me a few days to actually find something, but it looks like I could do it.

 

But first, I got smoething in the mail that made me remember to go get my rust check done.  A "we missed you" letter and a coupon for $10 off... woopee... but remember, I'm cheap, and $10 off is $10 off.  So I take my car in, with the full intention of going to get the light after, and stopping by Greg's to have a look at the light and replace it.

 

Turns out... after getting your car rust proofed for another year has the added bonus of fixing shorts in lights and stuff.  I get in the car and the wild blinking has stopped.  I've tested it out for the entire ride home, and nothing yet... hrmm... Which is funny, because I did look earlier at the lights and thought to myself "nothing LOOKS burnt out."

 

Maybe my car is haunted

better not tell Mandy... or should i? 

Returned property

So, is it so wrong for me to get as worked up as I did over what happened at my Christmas party?

 

I'm not so sure ... but then again, I'm not a fan of people coming into my house and taking something of mine.  Who cares if it was a fridge magnet and pen?  The point remains the same.  Just not right I think.

 

Well, I had said something on MSN to the person saying "I'm out" if it was going to come to that level.  Which was probably what prompted today's package in the mail.  It was a bubble pack with a baggie with both items contained therein.

 

It does make me kinda foolish... but at the same time, I'm not th eone in the wrong here.  Am i?

New Year's party @ the J-man's

So big party at the J-man's this year.  We were starting to wonder who was going to it, as people started saying they had some other things planned.  Irregardless, I was going.  It's a good time each year.

 

This was also the first time that Mandy and I would be TOGETHER for NY in quite some time.  I had to do a last minute whip-round for some supplies (i.e. some of the last Old Navy boxing day sales... no, the $10 jeans were sold out) to bring out, and downloaded some games for the day.  Usually we bring the Atari out to his place, but it's been acting wonky lately, so I didn't want to chance it, and was going to bring the PSone I have as well... just in case.

 

Mandy and her sister had started the evening out with some bowling with her sister, cousin, and her sis's bf: Adam.  They said they had fun, I declined in order to get some rest in before the big night.  After their bowling, Kelly and Adam started hosting their "loser party" (that's what the email said) or as they called it later the "alternative / last ditch party."  Which consisted of some swimming and hanging out at the Airlane.

 

At some point in the evening, it was time to head on out to Jarron's and Mandy said I could just drive up to their hotel room.  The room was easily found by the numbers above the door... or the ones that Adam had made and put in the window for me.  By this time the slush and rain were starting to freeze and the driving a little bit sketchy.  But we made it ok... with some food, the atari and the playstation.

 

When we arrived we watched "Blackadder V"

... the New Year's special one where he does his time travel thing.  Very funny.  Even Mandy laughed.  Then, Jarron had the Olympics all set out and ready to play:

1. Penny catch (put some pennies on your elbow and do that 'snap' thing to catch them), you do 3 attempts and total the number of pennies you've caught [personally I did 38]


2. Pool table (4 balls are placed on the table and you see how many shots it takes you to pot all 4) - 18


3. Miniputt (2 stretches of carpet for you to putt a ball into a cup) - 0/2


4. Dumbbells (how many can you do on each arm in 10 seconds) - 8L & 7R


5. Dart drop (blindflolded you drop darts onto a dartboard) - 27


6. Marble game (you have this triangle thing with marbles and by jumping a marble you remove it... you see how many you can get down to) - 4


7. Street Fighter (how many opponents can you beat in one game) - 4 [tho' some were cheating and using it on EASY level]


8. Santa toss (it's an online game where you have this catapult you time and see how far santa goes, and then you average your 3 goes) - 204m

I think that was all the games.  It was pretty fun.  After that, Rory and I got to watch the Liddell v. Ortiz fight matches I had downloaded the night previously.
It was good to see Ortiz lose, and it was a GOOD fight too.  A little sketchy on the call at the end, but it was an eventuality.  If they didn't stop it then, they would have in another 30 seconds.  The Macdonald v. Leben fight was really good!

Then we watched the ball drop in NY... looked all about for Karen, and didn't see her (way to go Karen... could have at least waved to us or something).  It was about ten we started with JACKASS 2...
...man I haven't laughed that hard in quite some time.  Just a shockingly funny movie.  After that it was time for some BORAT (I had just finished downloading this as well).

After Borat, I was pretty tired, and my allergies were really kicking in (even after taking an Aerius earlier in the night), so it was time to go home.  When I got home, the allergies were still lingering and a kink in my back really made it hard to sleep.  So I tossed and turned from about 5 until 7:30.  At which point I realized I should probably just STAY UP.  And I puttered around the apt for a while and tried to stay up.  But by 8:30 I was tired again and sleep won out.  I think I slept until about 3:30 or so.  Very ni-ice.

Hope your 2007 NY was as good!

Later all

A jamming party

Okay, I know this was a few days ago, but I figure it's time to talk about it.  (i.e., i have some time to kill)

 

So it's Wednesday (or was), and we were ready to host the party.  I had gone out to buy the last few items for the party.  We needed some (dipping) pretzels, mix, cups and plates, cheese...  People were told to come by anytime after 7, but we figured most weren't going to be there until after the piping gig at the Gardens, which would be like 8 or so.  Doug wasn't even going to come by with his food until 7ish.

 

6:30 the first arrives.  And this is a funny story.  Mandy's been having a 'fun' time with the Future Shop recently, and ... well, without getting into it all, I'll just say he was supposed to come to our house at 5... so when the door buzzed for 6:30 I figured it was the FS guy... so I buzz the person in and say "MANDY, FS GUY'S HERE" so she rushes over and it turns out it's Mark.  Which is kinda funny, 'cuz Mark USED to work for FS.  And we knew he was coming to the party, just we didn't expect him... ah, it was funny.

 

After that, people slowly start to come in... Doug brings his laundry basket (of food).  He did a great job too!  2 kinds of sushi, wings, nuts and bolts, and some sort of mini bruschetta thingies.  yummm...

 

Pretty soon the whole party's in full swing.  Something like 23 people apparently.  We really had 'em all crammed in.

• Me


• Mandy


• Doug


• Mark


• Kelly


• Kristine


• Greg


• Justin


• Karen


• Rayanne


• Robin


• Lindsay


• Brian


• Brandy


• Eilidh


• Trish


• Christopher


• Cindy


• Kris


• Kate


• Ann


• Scott


• Jarron


• Rory

So a far amount of us just all bunched in together.  It was a godo time... a few bottle caps placed in precarious places.  A little perturbing that there was some plotting against my personal property.  That's very off-putting to be honest.  Especialy when my wife was asked to be recruited.  Anyways, I'll try not to dwell on it.

What I will dwell on is the total lack of the dress code.  We had said this was to be a Christmas themed party.  It was my idea to put the attire on the bill.  I had even gone out and picked up a sweater, some boxers and a tie, plus I had some stupid elf hats from earlier.  I think only Mandy wore something.  There were some talk of socks and maybe a green or red shirt spattered into the crowd, but that's about it.

All in all, it was still a good night.  I printed some Christmas cards with Trish's reindeer pose.  The food was a big hit, and it got pretty noisy... nothing loud, just the typical cocktail party din of voices.  I'll have to go and put some pics online at some point.  Didn't take too many, but enough.  There's a video of it... maybe I'll start that youtube account yet.

later

(now onto the New Year's preparation)