Isn't It a Shame?

I just got back from a seriously kick ass concert.

Some of you will know who I mean by The Juliana Theory...others of you might not. But one way or the other...it was a Juliana Theory concert...and it was terrific.

But here's the thing. It was one of the strangest concerts I've ever been too...because there was practically nobody there. Without exagerating there were < 60 people there...and by the end it was down to about 40.

And I can't understand why...I know I listen to some pretty un-mainstream music...but Juliana Theory is a really rock solid band. For a long time they were basically neck and neck with Jimmy Eat World, and for me atleast a lot of their stuff is equally as good.

Anyways...long story short they put on a terrific show and really rocked out, which rather impressed me...I know I'd have a hard time getting excited playing in front of such a puny crowd. I'm one very happy camper. I just hope this isn't the last time they play here, cause I'd definitely be first in line to see them again!

If any of you have yet to check out videos and photos of the destruction that Katarina caused in New Orleans, you really should. For those of you that have, you know what I mean...

That level of devastation will take years and years to fully recover from...it really is something out of a movie. All the major bridges and tunnels and highways in the city are either in terrible shape, or in some cases "completely gone". Could you imagine just waking up the Queensway in Ottawa, or the DVP/401 in Toronto were just...gone? They expect power will take as much as 6 weeks to restore...but really, just think about it...how do you possibly rebuild a city like that?

Anyways, what really strikes me is the human nature to make the best of any situation. I've read countless articles about people looking for the positives out of this situation, and this guy is no different.

Come on, click on it. You know you want to. Its nothing vile or rude. I promise...no, really, you have my word.

What I love most about this picture isn't the fact that he's stealing beer...but that he's got a tupperware bin FULL of the stuff, but that wasn't enough. The fact that he's got one extra bottle jammed in his back pocket is what puts this picture over the top.

WARNING: This is a classic tale of "laughing at other's misfortune".

I'm feeling like I've got/will get a cold...so I packed it in very early yesterday...about 10pm.

I was awoken around midnight by one of my roomies banging on my door. When I got up he was like "dude, a pipe burst somewhere and there's water everywhere."

At this stage of the game I'm thinking "Crap! All my stuff is going to get ruined, etc etc." Well, have no fear, all MY stuff is just fine.

We went to the front door of the unit and looked out into the (carpetted) hallway. It was COMPLETELY full of water, like several inches deep. We had shoved towels under our door to block it from coming into our unit, but it was still seeping in at quite a rate - almost too fast for us to mop up. The killer though, and this is the laughing at someone else's misfortune part, was that the unit across the hall....water was just GUSHING from under their door.

I went back to bed more or less as soon as i determined that none of my stuff would be directly in harm's way...but boy oh boy, nothing like a little excitement to get the morning going.

As a secondary note...I was at my cottage in New Brunswick this weekend!! Had a thoroughly great time...thanks parents! The sister and her husband and my nephew Nelson were there! First time I've seen Marcy in a year or two and first time ever seeing Nelson!! A reasonably cute and well behaved kid!

Did lots of canoeing, tennis, swimming, hiking, card games and all sorts of terrific cottagey fun.

The weekend was stellar - Kev's wedding went off without a hitch! The weather had been forecast to be thunder and lightning, but ended up being quite nice!

The only downside was the fire alarm at 4:30am at the hotel laura and I were staying at. Yay for false alarms.

Last night on our way home we stopped in at Laura's parents place for dinner. They just so happen to have a trampoline in the back yard, and I had my first ever trampoline lesson! I hate to brag, but Yonny, watch out because I am ON FIRE! I was pulling TONS of fancy moves...moves that normally take amateurs a solid handful of lessons to master!

To further brighten my day, I bumped into the Toronto Chan Sister! Talk about a small world! I think she transfers at the subway stop that I get on at in the mornings, so I might see her on a somewhat regular basis if our schedules overlap!

Oh, and yes...I'm going to my cottage this weekend!

This past weekend I attended my first ever bachelor party.

And since then I've been doing some thinking...but it's probably not about what you might think. I'm not thinking about marriage or anything of the sorts. I'm thinking about the kinds of relationships guys have.

My bud Kaiser is one of the groomsmen for Kevin's wedding, and is one of Kev's best friends from university. This means he's up to the plate when it comes giving a speech, and I've been trying to help Kaiser come up with a battle plan...

The thing is, we're having a hard time coming up with any fun speech-worthy stories that are actually the kind of stories you can tell at a public function...the best stories we could come up involved one or all of i)drinking ii)strippers iii)pranking/trouble making iv)farting. And here's the thing...when I think about the kinds of friendships I have with most of my guy friends, that's pretty much what the highlight reel looks like!

I'm not sure if that's reflective of just me...or if really those are some of the underlying pillars in the foundation of any friendship between guys. And if it is...is that really such a bad thing?

You know...sometimes there's NOTHING like some low brow humour to make your day.

This is just exactly such humour.

It wasn't the first person's story that cracked me up...it was the nickname for the second guy, just tucked down near the bottom of the article that really got me going. Say it outloud to yourself and you'll get a chuckle too, I promise.

I've had my bike stolen, again. Simon and I collectively have quite a track record, but I am the true king of bike theft.

This time my bike was locked up in front of my work on Spadina...but get this...I had THREE locks on it. I was so friggin tired of my bikes being stolen that I went ape-wild on the bike locks...1 ULock, 1 high end Kryptonite cable lock, and 1 $20 bike store special.

I think I'm as much just frustrated that someone could do this in the middle of the day without anyone challenging them or calling the police etc. And the thing is...if they stole my bike once from work, I guess I just don't have any confidence they won't do it again.

I really don't want to bring my bike up into the office...there's really nowhere to put it, and I'd have to cart it up and down the 11 floors in the elevator...and I want a nice enough bike that I can i)bike to work - its way faster, cheaper and more fun than taking the TTC ii)go biking for multiple hours at a time on the weekend.

I think the solution is to buy a crazy expensive bike lock that comes with bike theft insurance built in.

As a secondary note:
I added Google Ads to the website a while back in large part as an amusement factor for me to see what sort of ads they decide to place on the page. Interestingly, the latest ads have been for "Grain Elevators" "Hydraulic Lifts" and..."Perma Lubrication Systems". Might have to click THAT one!

For some reason this realllly cracked me up.

Hope everyone's having a good weekend...I bought 12 corn for $1.99 and am loving it. I might buy more tomorrow!

There's also 15 pound watermelons for $2.99, and I think I'll get me some of those. Peaches are on sale for cheap at Loblaws, but there aren't any near me : (