Monthly Archive for July, 2007

Honeymoon in St. John’s

Published on July 29, 2007 in 2007, Chris and Leah and Our Wedding. 2 Comments

I had originally intended to write daily updates, but as we did not have the advertised wireless internet access, no daily updates could be posted…

The rest of our pics are in the Photo Gallery – check ‘em out!

Sunday, July 22
We woke at 5am and sleptwalked our way through our getting ready routine. Ann from Black Tie Limosine picked us up and we were on our way. The airport was surprisingly busy for 5:30am on a Sunday, but we made it through in short order. We flew with West Jet – my first experience with them – and the flight was great – I really like the seatback TVs. I think that this should be standard on all flights. The flight attendant who did all of the in flight announcements was very funny, and really made the trip enjoyable. (“We are about to land, please return your seats to their full upright, and most uncomfortable position.” “The safety routine was so much fun the first time in English, let’s do it again in French!”)

We touched down in St. John’s exactly on time and hailed a cab. Ten minutes and $25 later we were into our B&B for a nap… which, coupled with the rainy weather, turned into a full day in bed!

Monday, July 23
Promptly at 9am we picked up our rental car and headed out to Cape Spear – the most easterly point in North America. The road to Cape Spear made me long for my road bike as it seemed to be transplanted from the Tour De France. After a couple of hours exploring the grounds and the lighthouse we headed out to Ferryland for a picnic. The drive to Ferryland is a lot of fun, and continued my thoughts of transplanted Tour De France routes. (After we completed the days adventures I learned that the Tour De Shore actually takes place on much of the route we drove!) Once in Ferryland we made our way out to the lighthouse, first by car, and then the final 20 minutes on foot.This Is A Great Sandwich!

At the lighthouse you choose your meal, they give you a picnic blanket and a flag. You take these items and head out onto the surrounding property to choose a location for your picnic. The staff prepare your meal and deliver it to you based on the colour scheme of your flag. We sat in the sun, listening to the waves and birds, watching the whales and enjoying our picnic lunch for a couple of hours.

After lunch we decided to continue down the coast to check out Cape Race and Mistaken Point. Cape Race is a lighthouse and radar station – made famous as the location to receive the mayday call from the Titanic. When you see the location on a map, they look like they are in the middle of nowhere. It’s only once you make the drive that you realize the really are in the middle of nowhere!! It’s a 20 kilometre drive down a single lane, really rough gravel road to get the Cape Race Lighthouse, and although it is a neat sight to see, there really isn’t anything there aside from the lighthouse and radar station.

At this point we reviewed the map and realized that we were half of the way around the Irish Loop so we figured that we might as well complete it. We did, and it was great to see some more of the Newfoundland countryside. In a move certain to disappoint some Newfies, we had dinner at East Side Mario’s – the only one in Newfoundland!

Tuesday, July 24
ItWe decided to check out some of the northern Avalon communities and headed to the Admiral’s Coast. The drive along the shore is really beautiful with a number of awesome vistas. As we drove we saw street after street of new homes being constructed, but never saw any towns per se – no grocery stores, no shopping areas, etc. It was very strange!

After a slow lunch at the Beach Cottage Restaurant in Holyrood, we headed for home. Both of us were growing tired of the road, and the clouds were starting to win their battle with the sun.

A successful nap at the B&B, and then we were on our way to dinner. We opted for The Casbah – Renée was our waitress and ensured that we had a great time! It is a wonderful little restaurant with a great, great staff! The menu featured Cod tongue, and I asked Renée about it. She insited that we try it, but cautioned us that it is an acquired taste, and she is not a fan of the “gelatanous” bit. She called over Katie, another waitress, who corroborated Renée’s comments on the tongue. She had the chef prepare two of them for us, complete with scrunchions – fried pork back fat. I ate most of one tongue, and a bunch of scrunchions, but one was more than enough for me. Thanks Renée!

Wednesday, July 25
Checked out Newman’s Vaults and it was really neat. Our “guide” was great, and shared all kinds of awesome info about the vaults, and St. John’s. Had Tea in the Crypt at St. John The Baptist Cathedral. We chatted with one of the church lady’s and told her that we were in St. John’s for our honeymoon. A few minutes later we heard the lady’s start singing… and the sound got closer, and closer, and then they were surrounding our table and singing “Love And Marriage” to us! It was really sweet, and they brought over a couple of mini-cheescakes in place of a wedding cake.I Love Tea!!!

They asked us to sign their guestbook and to my surprise, the previous two visitors both had the same last name as us!

Later that afternoon we visited The Rooms – a new archives and museum situated in an amazing location overlooking the city and harbour. After touring The Rooms, we headed back down the hill into town for dinner. We were in the mood for a pub, and the first one we saw was Nautical Nellies. As we walked in the door, we were greeted by a smile and wave from behind the bar. Katie, from The Casbah, also works at Nellies! She made it her mission for the evening to help us have a great time, and get us Screeched in!

Following dinner we headed back to the Cathedral to take par in the Haunted Hike – a guided tour to some of the haunted sites in St. John’s. It was a bit cheesy, but our guide is a great story teller, and really gets into character. A definite must for any traveller to St. John’s.

Thursday, July 26
Sloan on George StreetMuch of Thursday was spent lounging around our room – I think that we finally started to come down from the high of the wedding/honeymoon. We wandered along the waterfront for a little while, checked out the War Memorial, and Leah rode a Newfoundland dog. The evening saw the kick-off of the The George Street Festival kicked off with a concert by The Novaks and Sloan. The Novaks tried hard, but their music didn’t excite me. Sloan took the stage to the standard slooooowwwwwnnnnnnn chants and kicked into a raucous set of new and old songs. We left after about 45 minutes as it was just too damn loud! I knew the words to most of the songs they played, but had a hard time discerning them from the, at time, piercing sound coming from the speakers. Despite our early departure, I enjoyed their set, as always.

Friday, July 27
We went to Cora’s for a late breakfast – we saw it from the harbour and wanted to sit on their patio – sadly the patio was not open, but we were so hungry that we ate there anyway. Earlier in the morning I watched a large sailing ship come into port, and made a note to return on Saturday for the Open Ship event.

We spent much of the afternoon relaxing at the B&B before heading back to The Casbah for dinner.

Saturday, July 28
By The Gorch FockLots of walking. Lots. Walked to the Marriot for breakfast, and then up to the Johnson Geo Centre – half way up signal hill. After exploring the Geo Centre we made our way to the harbour to visit the Gorch Fock. By this point, Leah and I are in full-on sweat mode – it is very hot out, and we need to find some shade, and a cool drink. So where else should we head but George Street! We had lunch at Green Sleeves, and then headed back into the hot afternoon sun in search of ice cream and some souvenirs.

Our ice cream fix was satisfied by Moo Moo’s Ice Cream – despite the neverending uphill walk to the place, it was worth it. We struck out on the souvenir hunt, but we were not disappointed. The ice cream was that good.

That evening we made reservations for dinner at Bianca’s – a final treat to ourselves on our honeymoon – and what a treat it was! Great food and good wine made for a memorable evening with my new wife as we said good night to St. John’s for the final time on this trip.

This is it!

Published on July 21, 2007 in 2007, Chris and Leah and Our Wedding. 2 Comments

Today is our wedding – I can’t believe how quickly it has arrived!

Yesterday we had a quick rehearsal and every thing went as planned. Whew!

Last night Leah stayed at her parent’s – this is the first time I’ve spent the night alone at home in nearly a year! It was a very strange experience, and thankfully, not one that I will have to endure again.

Tee off is less than an hour away; after golf we’re into the set-up, and then the ceremony and reception. Everyone has told me that the day will fly by, and that we should take time to enjoy it. I know we’ll try to…

The Reason The Music Sucks

Published on July 20, 2007 in 2007, Chris and Complaints. 1 Comment

Record companies.

There. I said it. The reason that music sucks is the record companies. Creativity and business are generally at opposite ends of the spectrum, but sadly that understanding seems lost on music biz execs.

But there’s more to it than just that the record companies suck. Creativity can be fast or slow, but it cannot be rushed out in time to meet the pre-holiday sales period. Yet that is what happens. I think that CDs should be sold in a format whereby the more units that are sold, the lower the price per unit becomes. This might encourage people to wait until an album is a proven winner before snapping it up in huge quantities at the lower prices. For hardcore fans that buy everything their favourites release you could buy a membership in a fan club that would grant you access to fixed pricing.

And then there is the topic of digital downloads. Every song should be available for 99¢ on iTunes. With record companies getting 70¢ (that’s the current rate) for a product with nearly $0.00 in production cost (I know it costs money to record, produce, market, etc…), they should be over the moon! But they aren’t. Universal Music Group (UMG) wants a share of each portable music player sold. They negotiated a deal with Microsoft where Microsoft pays UMG $1 from each Zune sold. As I think the latest sales figures for the Zune are hovering around the 64 units sold mark, I think that Microsoft pulled a fast one on UMG, but when you look at Apple – 100,000,000 iPods sold, that’s a lot of money going to UMG. Why should UMG profit from the sale of an iPod. If I, as an educated consumer, fill my iPod with music from strictly non-UMG artists, why should they benefit? On the flip side, if I fill my iPod with music from UMG artists why should they benefit twice? Once with the sale of the music to me, and again with the sale of the iPod?

Come on, this is just ridiculous.

Only two more sleeps….

Published on July 19, 2007 in Chris and Leah. 0 Comments

That’s all I can say…it’s just so exciting….only two more sleeps. Woo-hoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You mean to say that you haven’t been doing this all along????

Published on July 18, 2007 in 2007, Chris and Complaints. 0 Comments

Mayor MillerAfter Toronto city council decided to defer Mayor Miller’s motion to implement two new taxes on Toronto residents, the Mayor shot back with “immediate cost-containment measures, including service level reductions.” These measures include the cancellation of his $1.2 million office expansion/renovation!!!

I’m astounded tht the city doesn’t operation this way all of the time. I know it’s a far fetched idea, but how about the city officials actually work for the people, and make decisions in the best interest of the people?

It’s no wonder that the city is in a financial crunch when staff have been living in a world where they can just spend, spend, spend.

PHOTO: ANDREW WALLACE/TORONTO STAR

A Fistful Of Quarters

Published on July 15, 2007 in 2007, Chris, Cool Web Stuff and Movies. 0 Comments

When I was younger I used to love playing video games – old-style arcade games were my original addiction, specifically Pac Man. But like most, I also enjoyed Donkey Kong. But I was never very good at it. Billy and Steve were. Check out the upcoming documentary about them: Billy vs. Steve

Knocked Up

Published on July 14, 2007 in 2007 and Movies. 0 Comments

Today we went and saw “Knocked Up” and thoroughly enjoyed it. There seems to be a group of actors that are all making movies together… and for now, the movies have all been funny. It’s strange to see the same actors in the previews that are in the movie you are seeing – that happened today with Superbad. Many of the actors in Knocked Up were in The 40 Year Old Virgin – Steve Carrell even has a cameo as himself.

A highlight of the movie for me was Ryan Seacrest’s rant about “stars” today and how they are morons with a bunch of yes-men suckling from the money teats they offer. His rant centred around Jessica Simpson – who makes an uncredited cameo – and what he was going to talk to her about in an interview. Not her breasts, not her fathers comments about her breasts, not her sisters nose, not plastic surgery. He suggested that he discuss the war with her, and discuss her ideas on an exit strategy for the US Army! Awesome!

It was a fun couple of hours at the movies on a rainy Saturday afternoon.

What Kind Of Person Are You?

Published on July 13, 2007 in 2007 and Cool Web Stuff. 0 Comments

When you follow this link, you will be presented with a series of images. Click the one that best represents your answer to the statement at the top of the page.

At the end it will give you a profile of yourself… mine was “Dreamer”. What are you?

OK. I’m intrigued.

Published on July 10, 2007 in Chris, Chris and Leah and Movies. 0 Comments

www.1-18-08.com

Click on each of the photos. Make note of the time.

Watch this trailer!

The Rolling Stones didn’t sing “Mother’s Little Helper” about the nanny, did they

Published on July 10, 2007 in Chris and Leah. 0 Comments

This theme of women’s mental health has come up twice for me in recent weeks. Both in a great book called “The Birth House” and now in this article below.

I can’t articulate how I feel about both of these things just yet (the right word for a mix of anger, outrage, sadness and a happiness at being a women in the 21st century just hasn’t come to me so far) – but have a read of this article below or pick up “The Birth House”.

Why do women turn to pills so often?

Unearthed time capsule shows tranquillizers were a ‘typical’ woman’s ‘helper’ in the 1950s. Half a century later, why has so little changed?

Jul 09, 2007
Antonia Zerbisias
Living Columnist

When Desperate Housewives’ Lynette Scavo (Felicity Huffman) raided her kids’ Ritalin to get through her day, you had to wonder how June Cleaver and Margaret Anderson managed their pearls- and picket fence-perfect lives.

Maybe Father didn’t know best.

Maybe Mom didn’t leave it to Beaver.

Maybe she left it to Miltown. Or Tuinal. Or Nembutal. Or one of the other tranquillizers the mostly male doctors of the time would prescribe for millions of middle-class and upper middle-class women who were unhappy with their lot in the baby-manufacturing boom.

After all, during the war years, they had paycheques, independence and identity.

Afterward, as Betty Friedan would note in her landmark 1963 bestseller The Feminine Mystique, they had Betty Crocker, Swanson dinners and the Fuller Brush Man.

Which might explain a curious event last month in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Citizens there excitedly turned out to watch the unearthing of a 50-year-old time capsule – a 1957 Plymouth Belvedere loaded with artifacts of its era. Among them, a “typical” woman’s purse which contained bobby pins, gum, loose change, a compact, cigarettes, an unpaid parking ticket … and a bottle of tranquillizers.

What made that purse “typical” is lost in the sludge of the oil town’s past. Even Tulsa Historical Society spokesperson Barby Jobe could offer little: “There is no documentation.”

What’s more, although the car was protected from nuclear attack, it was vulnerable to water. The medicine bottle and its label became too degraded for identification. So we’ll never know exactly which tranquillizers that “typical” Tulsa gal was popping.

Says TulsaWorld journalist Randy Kriehbel, who has been following the story: “All I can tell you is what was reported in the newspapers at the time.”

Which was not much, since women’s concerns didn’t rate a lot of coverage back then.
The fact that the town officials considered a purse containing tranquillizers – as well as a photo of a 20-year-old bride – as representative of womanhood in 1957 reveals much about the tenor of the times.

“What was that culture saying about women?” says Toronto therapist Barbara Everett, speaking on behalf of the Canadian Mental Health Association (Ontario). “That this was as common as lipstick, that they needed to be drugged.”

In his 2003 book Prozac on the Couch: Prescribing Gender in the Era of Wonder Drugs, Dr. Jonathan Michel Metzl reviews the history of women and psychotropic drugs from a socio-cultural perspective. He notes that, in the 1950s, “the anxiety caused by women’s discontent … threaten(ed) to rupture civilization’s progress narrative.”

Women and tranquillizers has long been a common motif – from Judy Garland to Marilyn Monroe to Jacqueline Susann’s Valley of the Dolls. Just think of all those movies in which the doctor emerges from the woman’s boudoir and says to the stoic husband, “I’ve given her a sedative to calm her down. She’s resting now.”

Hysteria, after all, was a descriptor used exclusively for women.

According to Metzl, in the 1950s, Miltown was the “happy pill,” the “restorative cure” that would “bind” the unhappy pre-women’s liberation housewife to her restrictive life.

After Miltown came Valium. The Rolling Stones didn’t sing “Mother’s Little Helper” about the nanny, did they?

Valium was followed by tricyclic antidepressants such as Elavil. Then came the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (Prozac, Zoloft, Celexa, Paxil, etc.) and a host of sedatives (Halcion) and anti-anxiety drugs (Ativan, Xanax). Some are combos – such as Effexor – and are advertised in women’s magazines as aids for overcoming stressful social situations.

“There’s a pill for every ill,” says Everett.

And so today, we have Desperate Housewife Lynette. Plus the new critical hit The Riches has Dahlia (Minnie Driver), a con artist posing as an affluent housewife, joining her neighbour in a pill addiction.

But, while women no longer need to be sedated into submission like they might have in the 1950s, they are still the predominant users of prescription psychotropic drugs – especially in Canada, the country with the highest usage of such drugs in the world.

According to statistics prepared for the Star by IMS Health Canada, a private health information firm, nearly twice as many prescriptions for psychotropic drugs such as tranquillizers and antidepressants are filled for women than for men. Men only outrank women in treatments for Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

“Women are two times as likely to experience depression,” says Everett, who also authored Mental Illness and Addiction in Canada for the Mood Disorders Society of Canada.

“The added factor is that women are actually prepared to talk about bad feelings and being miserable and, as a result, are more likely to present themselves for assistance – whereas our social cultural upbringing means men just suck it up.”

“Women are simply more willing to admit to a problem and they are more likely to go to a doctor,” says Louise Crandall, spokesperson for the Canadian Pharmacists Association.
Which is probably why the Canadian Mental Health Association reports that 36 per cent of Ontario women have experienced a mental disorder, versus 22 per cent of men. Post-partum depression is a big issue, with up to 80 per cent of new mothers experiencing some form of “baby blues.” Anxiety is also more prevalent among women.

But is it because woman are hard-wired for more mental and emotional issues? Or is it something in the culture, the way we live our lives, the expectations society (and we ourselves) have of us?

The answer could very well be found in a sodden handbag now on display at the Tulsa Historical Society.