So...
Well, I know where to begin. That would be the home of The Mez - and Dan's un-birthday party.
I remember drinking a 12 of beer and 2 shots of rye (one good and cold and one warm - yuk, sorry Mez). I remember good conversations about Mike Patton, Tool and Metallica. I remember agreeing to be Miss Lia's hot, clothes shopping date sometime in the future. I remember Dan completely shocked and enjoying himself while forcing the beer down so he could get drunk again. I remember Mez standing on the street in his slippers (Mr. Fancy Pants ;-) purging himself. I remember feeling on top of the world with awesome friends and the most awesomest girl in the world.
I remember all this and more but I don't remember how we got home :-/
Ah well. Home we got and the phone was ringing at 10:15 in the am. I looked at the clock and then freaked out. I sprang out of bed and started running for the phone all the time telling Tara that we had slept in... way in. She looked at me to say "Yah! Of course we did." But I was positive that I was late for work and the person on the phone was my boss calling to find out where the fuck I was.
Then I remembered it was Saturday and the voice on the phone was Kailen.
I calmed down and then the hangover started to settle in. I made plans to meet him for noon then sank back into dreamland for another hour or so.
Kailen got here and I went downstairs to meet him; all while watching a crazy drunk lady puke all over the sidewalk in front of the building. Yay.
We then wandered off to Pecco's so I could price bike parts. Found little comfort in the fact that It would cost me well over $300 for all the parts I would need - and the bikes I liked were up in the $2000+ range. So we wandered the market for a bit, as well as the Rideau Center then walked up to World Exchange and saw Spider-Man 2. As mentioned in my last post, this was awesome beyond belief.
Movie done, we walked back; stopping briefly at the War Memorial so I could explain the dates on the side to him then back home where Kailen unveiled birthday gifts for me ...
Kailen showing off one of the handmade cards that he and his sister did:
Balloon fun!!!! (There were aliens drawn on them!!)
Fuck Tampa, I have the cup.
The card Ocean made me.
RCMP Bears .... they will soon be living in the NSA mug judithiscariot gave me at the picnic ;-)
It was a super great day. Kailen was picked up at about 6:30 as they were heading up to their grandparents trailer (wouldn't you know it that my ex-father in-law was born on July 19th? Go me.)
Saturday night found Tara and I sitting out on Balconville sipping wine, eating home made pizza a ceaser salad and generally being dorky... nice way to end the evening.
Sunday found us up and about drinking coffee and getting a move on as we were heading, with Tara's mum to Price Club (or Costco or whatever you wanna call it) to pick up some much needed stuffs.
At one point, on the way there, Tara's mum asked me if I had priced bike parts. I said yes and told her I was thinking about just buying a new bike as it would cost an arm and a fucking leg to buy replacement parts. She mentioned that there was a sports store on Carling that was having a sale and maybe we should stop there on our way back so I could have a look. I agreed, then promptly forgot about it (there was a neat-o jacket I remembered seeing at Price Club and I was wondering if they still had any).
We got there in one piece. Breakfast consisted of poutine for moi and chicken strips and fries for Tara...
... then the shopping began.
I must admit, most of the stuff we bought was needed: tons of food items, razorblades, a knife set (because Christ knows the Giant Tiger special set we had was just that), a dry erase/cork board etc ect. Tara picked up a pair of yoga pants and I grabbed a pair of jeans and a kick ass black jacket... oh ya, and four cartons of smokes.
When all was said and done we headed back - down Carling Ave. To stop at Valiquette Sports so I could peruse the bikes on sale. I admit I had kind of forgotten about stopping to do this but the thought of checking out bikes excited me.
The bikes they had on the sidewalk in front of the store we typical "sale bikes". No name, very heavy, components that would probably break in under six months and frames so non-thought out that there is no possible way to upgrade them to anything decent. The only good thing they had going for them was they were better than anything you could get at Wal-Mart and they were pretty cheap at $300-450 clams. Just not my thing.
So we went inside and I took a quick look at the bikes in the store. For the most part, they were not much better. A tad more pricey and each had at least one half decent component on them but, still, not my thing.
I was just about to say "fuck it" when I caught three bikes at the end of the row out of the corner of my eye. Over I went.
"Nice. Real nice" was all I could think. KHS. Not a hugely popular MTB company, but they do make decent bikes and have a pretty kick ass team the last time I checked - and their super high-end downhill bikes are very very drool worthy. I have also never heard anything bad about them.
I looked at the price and didn't think much. Good price for good bikes. There were three of them; a small, medium and large. I started checking out the medium as that’s my size. I looked it over; aluminum frame, a nice set of Rock Shox Pilots (100mm travel, air suspension), a combo LX/Deore Mega9 27 speed drive train and Avid V-brakes. A pivotless 1" rear, soft tail suspension. SUN rims. The only thing that sucked was that it came with a set of clipless pedals and we hates them!!!... and, and, and...
$2100 was a good price in my books. But I didn't have that kind of cash.
Tara's mum pointed out that the bike was actually half price. $1050.
Tara said she could cover it and I could pay her back.
The sales guy came over and I asked him a few questions (mainly getting rid of the damn pedals - he'd give me a set of flats, but I'd have to keep the clipless)... then I did it.
Test ride.
Man o man was this bike nimble. Light with a nice kick forward when I started pedaling. Took corners like a dream, brakes tuned in sweet and bunnyhops were effortless... I didn't think I'd ever like anything other than Specialized bikes as my last MTB was that brand and served me well until some retarded ASSHAT stole it... but damn did this bike feel right.
I was still hmm'ing and haw'ing as I rode back up to the store.
Tara's mum had decided that if I wanted it, she'd put it on her credit and I'd pay her back.
I hmm'd and haw'd ... then I caved. $1200 with tax later:
Needless to say I'm completely freaked out. I have a bike again. Scratch that I have a fucking nice bike again. I'm freaked out that Tara's mum offered to pay (she hated me not too long ago). I'm freaked out that Tara offered to pay. I'm freaked that I can actually go biking with Kailen again... I'm freaked.
Deep breath...
OK, enough about the bike because I could go on forever if I got started just like if you asked me about why I think Windows is better than Linux...
ANYWAY... We got home, put our haul of stuffs away and then decided to head out for some dinner and drinks.
Spent an awesome evening sitting on the patio of the Highlander eating steak and drinking pitchers of beer (and a pitcher of Margarita) and listening to a really good duo that consisted of keyboards, guitar, saxophone and vocals.
Ryan showed up around 10:30 or so and we all chatted and drank and generally had an awesome time.
Crawled home around 1:30 and lay our tired asses down in bed.
Monday = my birthday. I biked to work semi-hung over and biked home from work and spent the evening with Tara cleaning up the box in the sky. Was nice and relaxing.
Thank you to everyone who helped make this past weekend so bloody worth remembering.
I have awesome friends. You all rock n' roll (except Mez who Heavy Metal's)!!
I have an awesome son. I can't wait hit the trails near your house with you!!
I have the BEST girlfriend in the world. I love you more than anything in the world.
Life, she is good.
I remember drinking a 12 of beer and 2 shots of rye (one good and cold and one warm - yuk, sorry Mez). I remember good conversations about Mike Patton, Tool and Metallica. I remember agreeing to be Miss Lia's hot, clothes shopping date sometime in the future. I remember Dan completely shocked and enjoying himself while forcing the beer down so he could get drunk again. I remember Mez standing on the street in his slippers (Mr. Fancy Pants ;-) purging himself. I remember feeling on top of the world with awesome friends and the most awesomest girl in the world.
I remember all this and more but I don't remember how we got home :-/
Ah well. Home we got and the phone was ringing at 10:15 in the am. I looked at the clock and then freaked out. I sprang out of bed and started running for the phone all the time telling Tara that we had slept in... way in. She looked at me to say "Yah! Of course we did." But I was positive that I was late for work and the person on the phone was my boss calling to find out where the fuck I was.
Then I remembered it was Saturday and the voice on the phone was Kailen.
I calmed down and then the hangover started to settle in. I made plans to meet him for noon then sank back into dreamland for another hour or so.
Kailen got here and I went downstairs to meet him; all while watching a crazy drunk lady puke all over the sidewalk in front of the building. Yay.
We then wandered off to Pecco's so I could price bike parts. Found little comfort in the fact that It would cost me well over $300 for all the parts I would need - and the bikes I liked were up in the $2000+ range. So we wandered the market for a bit, as well as the Rideau Center then walked up to World Exchange and saw Spider-Man 2. As mentioned in my last post, this was awesome beyond belief.
Movie done, we walked back; stopping briefly at the War Memorial so I could explain the dates on the side to him then back home where Kailen unveiled birthday gifts for me ...
Kailen showing off one of the handmade cards that he and his sister did:
Balloon fun!!!! (There were aliens drawn on them!!)
Fuck Tampa, I have the cup.
The card Ocean made me.
RCMP Bears .... they will soon be living in the NSA mug judithiscariot gave me at the picnic ;-)
It was a super great day. Kailen was picked up at about 6:30 as they were heading up to their grandparents trailer (wouldn't you know it that my ex-father in-law was born on July 19th? Go me.)
Saturday night found Tara and I sitting out on Balconville sipping wine, eating home made pizza a ceaser salad and generally being dorky... nice way to end the evening.
Sunday found us up and about drinking coffee and getting a move on as we were heading, with Tara's mum to Price Club (or Costco or whatever you wanna call it) to pick up some much needed stuffs.
At one point, on the way there, Tara's mum asked me if I had priced bike parts. I said yes and told her I was thinking about just buying a new bike as it would cost an arm and a fucking leg to buy replacement parts. She mentioned that there was a sports store on Carling that was having a sale and maybe we should stop there on our way back so I could have a look. I agreed, then promptly forgot about it (there was a neat-o jacket I remembered seeing at Price Club and I was wondering if they still had any).
We got there in one piece. Breakfast consisted of poutine for moi and chicken strips and fries for Tara...
... then the shopping began.
I must admit, most of the stuff we bought was needed: tons of food items, razorblades, a knife set (because Christ knows the Giant Tiger special set we had was just that), a dry erase/cork board etc ect. Tara picked up a pair of yoga pants and I grabbed a pair of jeans and a kick ass black jacket... oh ya, and four cartons of smokes.
When all was said and done we headed back - down Carling Ave. To stop at Valiquette Sports so I could peruse the bikes on sale. I admit I had kind of forgotten about stopping to do this but the thought of checking out bikes excited me.
The bikes they had on the sidewalk in front of the store we typical "sale bikes". No name, very heavy, components that would probably break in under six months and frames so non-thought out that there is no possible way to upgrade them to anything decent. The only good thing they had going for them was they were better than anything you could get at Wal-Mart and they were pretty cheap at $300-450 clams. Just not my thing.
So we went inside and I took a quick look at the bikes in the store. For the most part, they were not much better. A tad more pricey and each had at least one half decent component on them but, still, not my thing.
I was just about to say "fuck it" when I caught three bikes at the end of the row out of the corner of my eye. Over I went.
"Nice. Real nice" was all I could think. KHS. Not a hugely popular MTB company, but they do make decent bikes and have a pretty kick ass team the last time I checked - and their super high-end downhill bikes are very very drool worthy. I have also never heard anything bad about them.
I looked at the price and didn't think much. Good price for good bikes. There were three of them; a small, medium and large. I started checking out the medium as that’s my size. I looked it over; aluminum frame, a nice set of Rock Shox Pilots (100mm travel, air suspension), a combo LX/Deore Mega9 27 speed drive train and Avid V-brakes. A pivotless 1" rear, soft tail suspension. SUN rims. The only thing that sucked was that it came with a set of clipless pedals and we hates them!!!... and, and, and...
$2100 was a good price in my books. But I didn't have that kind of cash.
Tara's mum pointed out that the bike was actually half price. $1050.
Tara said she could cover it and I could pay her back.
The sales guy came over and I asked him a few questions (mainly getting rid of the damn pedals - he'd give me a set of flats, but I'd have to keep the clipless)... then I did it.
Test ride.
Man o man was this bike nimble. Light with a nice kick forward when I started pedaling. Took corners like a dream, brakes tuned in sweet and bunnyhops were effortless... I didn't think I'd ever like anything other than Specialized bikes as my last MTB was that brand and served me well until some retarded ASSHAT stole it... but damn did this bike feel right.
I was still hmm'ing and haw'ing as I rode back up to the store.
Tara's mum had decided that if I wanted it, she'd put it on her credit and I'd pay her back.
I hmm'd and haw'd ... then I caved. $1200 with tax later:
Needless to say I'm completely freaked out. I have a bike again. Scratch that I have a fucking nice bike again. I'm freaked out that Tara's mum offered to pay (she hated me not too long ago). I'm freaked out that Tara offered to pay. I'm freaked that I can actually go biking with Kailen again... I'm freaked.
Deep breath...
OK, enough about the bike because I could go on forever if I got started just like if you asked me about why I think Windows is better than Linux...
ANYWAY... We got home, put our haul of stuffs away and then decided to head out for some dinner and drinks.
Spent an awesome evening sitting on the patio of the Highlander eating steak and drinking pitchers of beer (and a pitcher of Margarita) and listening to a really good duo that consisted of keyboards, guitar, saxophone and vocals.
Ryan showed up around 10:30 or so and we all chatted and drank and generally had an awesome time.
Crawled home around 1:30 and lay our tired asses down in bed.
Monday = my birthday. I biked to work semi-hung over and biked home from work and spent the evening with Tara cleaning up the box in the sky. Was nice and relaxing.
Thank you to everyone who helped make this past weekend so bloody worth remembering.
I have awesome friends. You all rock n' roll (except Mez who Heavy Metal's)!!
I have an awesome son. I can't wait hit the trails near your house with you!!
I have the BEST girlfriend in the world. I love you more than anything in the world.
Life, she is good.