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This year's halloween costume around the office.
Much thanks to my good friend Russ for the loan.
UPDATE!!
Voting in the office took place at 3pm this afternoon and I walked away with first prize for the costume: a hundred dollar gift certificate to my choice of four different restaurants.
Bitchin'!
Tomorrow night is gonna be a blast. 2004 will mark the fourth year in a row that I have attended Edmonton's Oktoberfest to Rocktoberfest function at the downtown Shaw Conference Centre. The past three years have been more fun than should be legally allowed.
There are several thousand people that descend upon the conference centre and pack the halls to consume a German repaste while being entertained by the sweet polka stylings of the Black Forest Band. Your entry ticket (reasonably priced at $24.50) will get you admission, a glow-in-the-dark keepsake plastic mug, your meal and that same mug filled once with beer. (Last year, as the lights were turned on at the end of the night, I threaded my belt through the handles of almost two dozen mugs left behind by 'Fest-goers and they now comprise the bulk of our cup cabinet.)
Once dinner is over, some large, sturdy, German fellow named George takes the stage and puts on a brief but very impressive drinking display. He can chug beer like nobody's business. What makes it doubly impressive is that he stands on his head, with his heels held by a cohort, grasps the glass pint with only his teeth and quaffs the beer in the space of two or three seconds. Before resuming his feet, he chases the beer with two shots of sambuca. The crowd then joins him in a raucous chorus of "Ziggy - zaggy, Ziggy - zaggy, hoi - hoi - hoi !!"
The Black Forest Band is replaced close to midnight with the headliners of the year. This is normally a has-been, washed-up '80s band that is still making the concert rounds in an attempt to relive their past glory. And for one night each year, in downtown Edmonton, they do. Previous performers have been Glass Tiger and Trooper. This year's band is April Wine.
Unfortunately, I was not able to convince my darling wife to join me at this year's festivities, given that we have an infant son and she is loathe to leave him in the hands of others until he's a wee bit older. I, on the other hand, apparently have no qualms in abandoning wife and son for a few hours away from domesticity. I have been left with the admonition that it is far better to come home drunk and on time as opposed to sober and late. I can live with that.
On October the 8th I posted a Star Wars Episode III teaser poster that has since been revealed to be a fake. These things often crop up around the time that the real propaganda machines get fired up. I have posted here the real Sith teaser poster, as I found it on AICN.
Frankly, I preferred the look of the one I posted earlier this month. But then, this one below isn't at full quality. What I really preferred about the previous poster was the higher level of subtlety. Still, this is a nice tease.
Just to get this out of the way, the adorable picture of Eliza Dushku here has nothing at all to do with this post other than she stars in the movie in which the post title is part of a cheer. (It was 'Bring it On,' A delightfully immature film about American high school cheerleaders and their quest for the national championship. I get guilty pleasure every time I watch it. Yes that means I've seen it more than once. Piss off.) Basically, I'm of the mind that anyone who stumbles across anything I write here will be slightly more inclined to read what I've written if there is a picture to draw initial attention. And if that's a picture of a bikini-clad woman, well, it's my blog and all you can do is comment on the depravity of a happily married man.
And now that you're taking me seriously, I wanted to vent a little about something that gets under my skin this time of year. Every year.
First of all, if you don't know, I am a Canadian. I was born and raised in this wonderful country and intend on living and dying in this country. Bob and Doug McKenzie, during their stint on SCTV, lovingly referred to it as The Great White North. Did you read that? The Great White North.
Every year around this time, as the leaves fall from the trees and the sky darkens just a little earlier with each passing evening, small-talk turns to the change in the weather. This is not inherently a bad thing. Were it not for the topic of weather, Small-Talk would lose one of its founding pillars. No, what I find to be irritating is how the vast majority (seemingly) of Canadians start to bitch and moan about the weather. "It's too cold; it's snowing again; the roads are slippery; I'm tired of shoveling; I hate brushing the car off..." Ad nauseum.
This coming Sunday, most of North America will bid farewell to Daylight Savings Time and, for those of us who live a significant way north of the equator, we'll be driving to and from work in the dark by December. Then the complaints will really start to increase.
I feel like grabbing a random complainer and shaking them. When the topic of weather comes up in conversation I plaster a tolerant smile on my face and make interjections about how beautiful the snow is or the crisp feel of the air as you breathe it in while I'm listening to their woes. Now, it's certainly not all Canadians that feel this way. And it's probably not even the 'vast majority' as I referred above. It probably just feels that way to me since I am bothered by that point of view.
It's Canada, people! There is snow on the ground for 6 months of the year in most of the country. It was that way last year, it's gonna be that way next year. The temperature's going to drop below -30 Celcius at some point and you'll have to gird yourself for that. If you have children, you may even have to be prepared for their school to be closed for the day on more than one occasion due to there being too much snow for the buses to get back and forth safely. You'll have to scrape ice off your windshield in the morning before you drive to work. You'll have to shovel your walk and, if you're conscientious, sprinkle sand and/or salt on your driveway and sidewalks for the post and the solicitors that insist on braving the foul weather. You'll have to incorporate an extra half hour into your travel plans to your in-laws for Sunday dinner since the city roads will be slick. You may want to buy that nifty cling-wrap style insulation for your windows to add an extra layer between your warm house and the freezing elements to save on heating costs. Let your kids use the blow-dryer to shrink it; they'll think it's loads of fun. You'll definitely have to get used to winter driving again. Most Canadians can say they've driven themselves into the ditch at some time or another. Once ought to be enough. Be careful!
For goodness sake, go tobogganning. I don't care how old you are, it never stops being fun. By the time January rolls around, the piles of snow at the sides of your driveway (or the driveway of someone you know, or don't know for that matter) should be well past your waist in height. Dress warmly and jump in them. If it snows on Friday night, get up early Saturday morning, go to the nearest school field and make big, huge patterns with your footprints in the snow. If you don't, the kids will just tramp out huge swear words on Monday anyway. Beat them to it. Make snow angels. When it's REALLY cold out, step outside your front door in your stocking feet and take a huge lungful of air through your nose. It's an experience you'll never be able to get from drinking a slurpee too fast. If it's late at night and there are no cars (or cops) around and you have an E-brake by your right hand when driving, pull a 90 degree skid through an intersection when you're turning. It's way fun. Marvel at how much brighter it is outside at noon than it was in July, even though the sun doesn't get any higher than 45 degrees above the horizon. Have snowball fights when it gets warm enough for good packing snow. Make snow forts in your yard or an open field. Have snowmen defend them with you.
And then when the spring and summer finally do arrive, you'll be amazed at how much more you appreciate the warm weather. I love winter in Canada.
If you look right below this post, you'll see the one I made regarding the full lunar eclipse that took place last night. In Edmonton and area, it was a beautifully clear night, so it was ripe for moon viewing. I took several trips out to the backyard between 7 and 10pm to get my eyes full of the last lunar eclipse before 2007. I even took some pictures. I was gonna make up a new photo album and post them in there for all and sundry to see, but the quality of the shots isn't on par for archiving them for any length of time.
Instead, here are some of the pics I took that I smallified for insertion into this post. My camera has a 2X optical zoom which can be increased to 3X via digital zoom. You get a better closeup at 3X, but at the cost of picture quality. I haven't done any searching, but I know there are much better pics out there on the net than these. Anyway, enjoy.
With all the hype, hooplah, brou-hah-hah and catch phrases being thrown around regarding the seeming exorcism of certain ghosts surrounding the Boston Red Sox and their journey towards the World Series of baseball, let us not forget one little thing:
My beloved hometown Edmonton Eskimos football club has clinched a playoff berth for the 33rd (yes that's THIRTY-THIRD) consecutive year. This a record that is unmatched in any professional sport in all of North America. Not to mention that they are the defending Grey Cup champions.
Go Esks!
