A night with Eric Clapton!

I'd have to say that I'm a lucky man to have seem two great bands in 11 days. I was expecting a great concert and was blown away instead.

Robert Cray was the opening act and I'll admit that I'll be shopping for his album soon. His music was very mellow for what I was expecting, but it was enjoyed by me and I was a little disapointed at the length of his set, only a half hour.

Then Clapton came out to a packed Scotia bank place(Piggy Bank from now on) started with Pretending and didn't let up for and hour and a half. The encore was Crossroads with Robery Cray. The highlight of the show was Layla, I love this song, both the acoustic and the electric versions are great songs , but the original electric is the best in my books. Well Clapton rocked the Piggy Bank and it was worth every penny of the cost to the ticket. I give it 9 out 10 guitar picks!

Monday from Hell

Well I try to keep my Blog upbeat and positive with all the negativity in the world today, but I have to share this day with you!

It started with waking up, I was feeling kind of crappy due the lack of sleep and I think I'm coming down with a flu. It has been going around North Bay. I debated about calling in sick and decided to go in. I get into work and find out that the cable I fixed the previous Monday has been cut again! Since I know that this job will take only thirty minutes to an hour to fix, hop in the car and off to Trenton I go. Arrive around 11:30 and I'm thinking this could be done by 12:30 and back in Prescott by 3PM. This is where the military get fun. Calls are placed to find the keys to the water tower (200 ft+ circa 1945) an hour goes by, no call back, so I ask the air force guys to call someone up the chain to get these keys. Another half hours passes no call. I get the office in charge to start calling maybe he has the grease to make this key pop out of its hiding spot. Another hour passes and by this time I've finished watching Days of Thunder on the TV So off to a late Lunch I go. The construction boys have downtown Trenton crawling, people who know my type A personality behind the wheel, know that I'm boiling by this time. I get back and find out that someone who has the keys called! They call and the Mcpl Perry shows up, opens the door for me and up I go. Well the cable was chewed to hell, so I have to replace the whole length. The wind was pretty high(60-80KM/H) and it is blowing me all over the place, with a storm in the distance coming down Trenton's way. Did I mention it was a 200 ft+ metal tower built in 1945 ish? So I run the new cable and get two new ends on it while the tower is rocking under me, yes I'll admit it , I was thinking "what if this tower falls over with me in it?" I test the cable with the JRCC (Joint Rescue communication Center) no go. So I test the cable and one end has shorted with the ground , but what end? Two connectors, 50% chance. Well Since I have to solder the connector on, I cut one off. Yup, it was the good one! Off goes the other one and start all over again and again and again and again... Six times in total. Finally I get two good connectors and it checks out with Prescott.

By this time Mcpl Perry must think that I'm in trouble and is waiting for me at the bottom of the tower. I pack up the car and off to Prescott I go. Around Napanee I see a car on the side of the 401 with it's side mirror smashed, I turn to look back down the highway and all I see is a sea of red lights and big rigs swerving all over the road! A quick "Holy Shit!" jump on the brakes and I almost plow into the back of one of the rigs. Needed new underwear after that, but yes it gets better, about a hundred kicks down the road, my belly is telling me that I've ignored it and it wants some attention. Oh. Look a cookie from Lunch is sitting on the seat beside me. I grab for it and the next thing I know, the car is half off the highway, cruise set at 120. The underwear has a new buddy! Finally, I get back to Prescott alive, I'm locked out of the base, argh! Screw this, I get in my car and off to home I go, grab my gym stuff and work out my frustration for the day. I was feeling better till I went to the pool hall to find out what my team mates will be for this year. Yup the bad news is still a rolling. The captain is a fanatical pool player and when we are loosing can get all bent out of shape. I hope that we win a lot this year!

Actually now that I've read this post and vented an bit it doesn't seem that bad after all. Have a great day!

Nipissing Nurses Nibble in North Bay before Night in the Wall!

As promised I paid a visit to my Sister in North Bay this weekend. I was going to use my Motorcycle, but Murphy's Law hit and the weathernetwork called for rain all weekend. Guess what took my car and it was Sunny most of the weekend! Well at least the ride up and down.

Enough of that, I found my Sister's place in the "Student Ghetto" It was good to see her and that she was doing well in her new place off of residence. Her place reminds me of the place Ryan, Matt and Scott used to live in near Bayshore. I was told that she was having a pot luck dinner Sat night. I met her room mates, yes Celeste I will come back! I also met Katie's boy toy Adam. His claim to fame is having his picture, nude, on the front page of the UNB paper.

Saturday we went hunting in North Bay for the Trews album. Ok, this is a city of 55 000 people and do you think that I could find this CD? NO! North Bay only has four stores, CDplus, Wolfe , Zellers and Wal Mart. And Wolfe was only one that had their live CD. By the way is very good! Had lunch with Sis and picked up some food for the pot luck. I met the rest of the Nursing students in Marie's class. They proceeded to talk about work, Feces, Catheters, barfing and that is when I started to tune out! Yes, these are women! After the pot luck it was off to the Wall, the student bar at U of Nipissing. The music was pretty good and the place was pack for Alexander's Birthday, happy 211 buddy! The highlight of my night was this guy that grabs my Sister and starts to maul her. After a couple of minutes I saw that she isn't willing in the grope fest. So I stick my hand out "Hi, My name is Joe and she is my Sister!" Lol, the look on the guy's face and he is apologizing profusely to me then runs off.

The think that impressed me was that the School hires a bus to drive the drunks back home after the bar. I guess the city busses don't run that late! I had a blast ladies and stay away from the Army boys!

To Vero!

You have to love Ryan's look on his face as I molest his woman! Well while Vero and I were sharing an Apple Crisp at Marshy's last Friday it came up that I can make the same, but better! I got this recipe from a cook while I was in Resolute Bay. I could skip supper and just eat this! So here you are Vero!



Apple Crisp

Makes 6 servings

4 cups, tart cooking apples, sliced (Rome Beauty, Golden Delicious, Greening, Granny Smith)

2/3 to 3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup quick cooking or old fashioned oats

1/3 cup margarine or Butter, softened (I'd use butter)

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1. Heat oven to 375, Grease bottom and sides of square pan 8X8X2 with shortening.

2. Place apples in pan . Mix remaining ingredients sprinkle over apples.

3. Bake 30 min or till top is golden.

Enjoy!

Wild Guitar, with 7. 5 Million hits on his post!

I saw this guy on the news Sunday, all I can say is watch it. I have no words to describe this guy, Guitar 90, and since the news airing his site has hit 9 Million hits, 30 Min later!

He looks like a kids, but is a 23 year old guy from Korea. He claims that it took three weeks of practice before he recorded it. He has been playing for six years. I have two more to get to six for me!

The Who in Ottawa.

I saw the Who Friday night in Ottawa, I'll admit it that I don't own any Who albums, but how can you pass up a chance to see a legends of Rock and Roll. I've heard most of their music on the classic rock radio stations and who hasn't hear of CSI and their theme song?

It was great as the show went on I kept recognizing songs I had heard on the radio and blown away by the show. Way to go The Who you have a new fan, well of the old stuff, I'll give the new stuff a shake when it comes out in October.

Happy 150 000KM!

After 11250 liters of gas = 250 tanks of gas, Four sets of brakes, two sets of tires, Five sets of windshield wipers. 22 oil changes, two accidents, a few road trips, Matt's cottage parties, the Sunfire still lives!

When I first bought the car I was just starting my job at the Coast Guard. I needed a cheap, fuel efficient car to get me from Ottawa to Prescott till I found a place to live in Prescott. The good old Aries K car from college had already died a peaceful death many months before, but that is another story . The ideal of a new car that would be reliable looked very good!

While the Sunfire wasn't my first choice, Honda Civic, it was the best price at the time. After reality finally set in and driving a Corvette instead wasn't going to happen. I started the 4 year 10 month trek that has brought me to the 150 000 KM mark. Yes I can purchase a car with more horsepower or is just newer, but she has been reliable and still has some more years left in her.

Hi, my name is Joe and I'm a fantasy football junkie!

Well after many years of being bombarded with NFL football games and trying out Yahoo's Fantasy Football 2006I can say that I'm becoming a NFL fan.

The latest venture into sports for me is the fantasy football pool. You can set the amount of players and the amount of points awarded. My cousin Dave set the pool at 15 players drafted and 9 players can play any given Sunday. The rest sit as spares either for injuries or bye weeks. The Yahoo pool is very user friendly to people like myself who had a limited knowledge base in NFL football. The draft lists the players according to rank and has many stats and links to places where you can get information that you need to pick who plays each week.I find that it gets you very involved with the games that are played Sunday since your players are spread over the league. You are paired up with an opponent each week and the winner must out score your opponent.

I would recommend this pool to anyone no matter their knowledge level in football.

Need a MP3 , but there are so many!

I'm throwing a shout out to all the people I know and don't know! I'm looking for an MP3 Player for myself. I need around 512Megs to 1 Gig, I need a radio, FM is a must but AM would be nice(sports).

First what brand is the one to buy, since there are many different brands out there and secondly where is a good place to buy it!

UPDATE: First I'd like to thank everyone who took the time and gave their help on this matter. I purchased the SanDisk Sansa 1 Gig MP3 player this weekend. I found a few sites that have reviews on MP3s and the SanDisk Sansa players all gave good reviews on the SanDisk line. I did look at the recommendations that was given and the SanDisk offered the best value for the price

Letting the inner Geek out!

This Saturday Duncan and I went to the SFX show in Toronto. This was the first Sci-Fi show that either of us went to. I was expecting the people to be dressed up in costumes of their favorite character and I wasn't disappointed as you can see from the picture! Some of the costumes where very good and I only have a sample of what was there.

If you are into comic books and toys this will be your thing, but it mostly was a let down to me. I did get to see Carrie Fisher(Princess Leia), Gates Mcfadden( Dr, Crusher), Morena Baccarin(Inara from Firefly, and I must add looks better in person that the show),Juliet Landau (from Buffy),and Verne Troyer( Mini Me). At the space table Kim Poirier(hyperspace weekly) was there and man was she smoking hot!

The thing that shocked me was the price just to see Bill(Capt Kirk) and Leonard (spock). The in person autographs started at $99 and went to $399. I like star Trek, but not that much!

Would I go to the show again, no!

Arctic 2005 Photos

Well I know I'm getting older and the old brain pan is starting to loose some of the bolts that is holding the mess together, but I did manage to find the 2005 Arctic trip photos in my computer and now I can share then with you!

I have made comments on the photos and the best way to view them is to click on the set, then click on detailed view and the comment will show up. Enjoy!