Happy (belated) 2nd Birthday to Blog!

It's been (slightly more than) two years now, and I still haven't gotten sick of this thing. In the last year I made 38 posts, so a little less frequency than the year before, but I've noticed my posts getting longer.

Let's see... highlight reel. This was nowhere near as productive a year as the year before, but I attribute that to being busier at work (so, more productive in that department, I suppose). But here goes:

Cooking
I've gotten a lot better with this, and have that BBQ course I took over the spring to thank for my newly found love of preparing foodstuffs. Whereas last year, sandwiches, freezer dinners, and GD Mrs. Vanelli's was the norm, I'm more and more bringing leftovers. Whereas last year I was most pleased with my carpentry, cooking has taken over that spot.

Woodworking
That's not to say I've gotten tired of the woodworking. In the last year I made a console table, endtable, two plant stands, and a dresser. Hoping to have my wine rack done soon. So less prolific than last year, but still all right. The dresser was a major undertaking.

Electronics
Finally got an electronics workbench set up in the house. And not much gumption to do anything with it. Still, I did get one project finished (power supply), and have the parts for a couple of more. Maybe when I run out of woodworking projects, I'll have more mojo to get at this stuff.

Piano
I've learned a few more songs, and started playing with this French choir thing in a very token role. I'm hoping this role will be expanded...

Home improvements
Got the Tyvek job done. It hasn't really been adequately tested yet, but so far no complaints. I was hoping to get my shed sided, and now fall is running out. Ugh.

Hmmm... I guess that serves as a resolution recap as well, saving me the trouble of doing that. Ha HA! Two birds, one stone.

Catching Up

OK, so it's been a couple of weeks, but I was away for last week with negligible net access.

Wine Show (October 18)

Every year it never disappoints. We sampled a bunch, and there were a few really nice ones, including a couple of Carmeneres and a Chiante. We came up with a new strategy to beat the line at the end: at about 2:00pm (midway through) we went to the checkout and just got them to send boxes to the liquor stores of our choosing, and then go back to the show and get hammered.

Afterwards, as has become tradition, we headed back to my place. Wolfed down some Creole chicken that I had on the crockpot, which I think was a hit. Then we started with the drinking games. Goddam "bus rides" got us sloshed. It went on like this for a while. I kept looking at the clock, expecting it to be near midnight, but it was only 7 or 8. Ridiculous. I don't know the exact timelines of people coming and leaving, but the night ended at around 1:00, I think, after a solid 12 hours of drinking. Can't wait till next year.

Holland (October 20-26)

So that Sunday was spent cleaning up the house and packing. My flight left early on Monday. I arrived in Montreal for an 11 hour (!) stopover. I was about to leave the airport to hit the town, but I ran into my coworker from the Ottawa office who was also going on this trip with me. We (mostly he) decided it would be best to further get our ducks in a row for the meeting while we were still awake. That's because when our flight arrived in Holland, we had about an hour to get from the airport to the meeting -- after already having been awake for about 25 hours, excluding the couple of hours of sleep I got on the plane. Needless to say, the meeting was perceived through a haze.

We had this ridiculously opulent, five star hotel on the beach called the Huis Ter Duin. I would have called it a king size bed, but I think it was even bigger. And I think it had more square footage than my house. And all mine for three glorious nights. I slept hard each of those nights, since each day was a nine hour meeting, followed by a huge supper, and then drinks at a pub called the Punt. The best part of Holland is its proximity to Belgium -- specifically, Belgian beers. The Punt had a list of over 70, and I think between the six of us regulars, we tried them all.

So after the work part we headed to Amsterdam. Didn't get there till late Friday, so we didn't see a lot. The hotel there was considerably less opulent -- my room was triangular, which reminded me of living on Bond Street. We managed to check out the Van Gogh museum while there, which was cool. And we walked to the Heineken brewery museum, only to find it was closed for renos. And by the time we made it back to Madame Tussauds, there was a ridiculous lineup. So a couple of disappointments, but we managed to cover a lot of the scenic parts of the city and snap a few photos (which I may post here...)

The trip back was uneventful, which I guess is a good thing. And now back to work -- the upshot of the meetings is that I still have to work like a dog, but with a less insanely compressed timeline than before. At least for this one project...

Loves me long weekends

A belated Happy Thanksgiving to my Canadian readers.

It was a pleasant weekend. No late nights, but they were enjoyable nevertheless. Friday we parked ourselves at West Side Charlies, where we (specifically, I) watched a hockey game and had some conversation (Andrea and Ginny doing more of this). We availed of their cheap buckets. This lessened the sting of my team losing in a shootout.

On Saturday I ran some errands, and then had a visit with Jon who had just returned from a hunting trip. Shot the shit for a couple of hours that afternoon. Then over to Ginny's for some mac & cheese (sweet!). Met up with Craig and Andrea afterward, and Craig removed my stitches -- it's good to have another index finger again. Thence we headed to the Peter Easton where we met up with Tim. The idea (at least for me) was to watch the hockey game, but the seating wasn't close to a TV, so it turned out being taken in via updates from bar runs. All good, as my team thumped the opposition.

Sunday I was a powerhouse. Got a lot done on the wine rack, and actually started the sanding and staining process. Also got some more slabs chopped up and started moving the drier ones into the shed. This worked up a healthy appetite for mudder's Thanksgiving dinner, which was awesome. Finished the evening having a few beers and a natter with Ginny. Also tested my slabs again, 1.5 months of drying later. They still hiss a bit, but they burned well. They also burn quickly... a whole log rack only lasted 5 hours or so.

And yesterday I lazed for the most part, except for doing that piano-at-French-choir thingy again. The flu is getting better -- I think -- but it really sucks in the morning. As the day goes on, I feel back to normal. Hopefully it clears up before Wine Fest. Oh, and Holland, which was finally given the green light. Just waiting to hear back from the travel agent before it's made official.

And the Fall Flu Hits Dave

Like clockwork, I tells ya. Just not very good clockwork. Last year I got hit with the flu in November, but this year October is the chosen month. It's been a pretty harsh couple of weeks on my body, what with the back pain, finger being sliced, and now this.

I'm all right with the timing, though. It should have worked itself out by the time Wine Fest rolls around, and for my trip to Holland. Speaking of the latter, that still hasn't been finalized. I was just about to buy the ticket today, when I get an e-mail telling me to hold off. Apparently there are outstanding visa issues with the other parties attending these meetings. I first heard about the meeting in August. It was supposed to be the end of September. Then the last week of October. Now it's Oct 20-26. Or maybe not. I'm starting to see why people around here are at best indifferent toward business travel.

Eh, short one today.

It's good to know doctors

Especially when you're clumsy like I evidently am. I'll get to that in a bit...

It's been a hard few days on my liver. Thursday we hit RPW again at Junctions. Soooo much better there. Some quality heckling to be heard. The highlight, and main reason we went there, was the barbed-wire death match. What of Vince Austin's career now?

Friday night we successfully resurrected our happy hour idea. This week was the GTP, since it's nearby and very affordable. Had a few more drinks at my place, and then Ginny and I made downtown. First to check out her friend's band at CBTG's. They had some balance issues at first, but they got sorted out. Then we headed over to Dooley's to meet up with Tiff and her crew.

Saturday involved my usual plunking down of cash at hardware stores. I was going to side the shed, but it was far too windy to be dealing with Tyvek that day. But I still managed to be productive. I worked on the wine rack for a bit, and then I had some quality axe-time chopping the larger slabs in half, in an attempt to make them dry out more quickly.

You'd think that's where I would sustain an injury. But no. The injury came later that day, while I was chopping potatoes, only to have my hand slip, resulting in eight inches of German steel slicing my left index finger. It wasn't a huge cut, but was still bleeding after a half hour. So I gave Craig a shout and queried his medical expertise. Unfortunately, he was just going into a movie. But it was still quicker for him to see that movie and come over, rather than me going to the ER and waiting for God knows how long.

So it was hilarious -- he shows up with a sack full of medical gear and he stitched me up on my kitchen table. Three stitches, smooth as silk. A well-deserved MD. It was mid-procedure that people started showing up. One of whom is a little squeamish about this stuff, so I can only imagine that must have been a joy to open up the door and be immediately confronted with that scene.

Anyways, we put it behind us and did some good drinking. Then headed to the Georgetown which was a blast. I don't know how much I had to drink when I got there, but it was a four-star hangover this morning...

The last few days...

...have really been all over the place. Last week was marred by a resurgence of my back pain, which I thought I had done away with. I can't think of any one thing that would have caused it; it must be an cumulative thing. The important thing is that it now seems to be better.

The weekend was pretty good. We went to see RPW again, this time at the CLB. It was weird being in the presence of so many young'uns, given that I'm used to seeing it in a bar capacity. I've concluded that alcohol definitely augments the experience. The best part was that Dan, who was back in town for the weekend, attended and didn't seem to know what had hit him. Afterwards, we headed to the Grapevine for a nightcap.

Saturday was tame. I had a list of to-do items, none of which were accomplished. I did manage to meet Paul and Stephanie's new son, as they were heading out to Paradise and stopped by my place on the way. Cute kid. Seeing Paul with his son was one of those "God I'm getting old" moments. I shortly thereafter napped for two hours, which really helped the back (yep, getting old indeed). Went to West Side with Ginny and Hanz for some pool in the evening, and then to Trinity Pub where we were all subjected to very loud, very not-good live music. After one drink there, we called it a night.

Sunday was more productive. I reorganized my workshop (now that the back was better). I like this new system. I have two waist-high shelves around the perimeter, so that I can lay stuff on them while working, rather than having it all accumulate on my workbench (which is mostly reserved for electronics). Managed to start and finish the drawer for my wine rack, which was a big bottleneck (oooh... wicked pun) in the project. I also got more lumber at Kent, so I have enough for three more projects now. Unfortunately for me, this stuff doesn't just put itself together...

That evening, Ginny came over and I made some carbonara (which was, uh, very al dente). Had some wine and gave Jenn a pre-surgery phone call (who is out of hospital and doing well, BTW).

Monday I found myself playing piano for a French choir. Yep. A cousin of mine asked if I could do that for a couple of hours every Monday night. The nice thing is that it's a good opportunity to practice speaking French, which is a skill that has really rusted out over the last decade.

That's all for now. This post is totally incorrectly dated, since I just realized that it was in my drafts folder...