Lotsa news, All boring
Well I'm back from my 6 week stint in Europe. It was really interesting and I look forward to goin again in Sept ember when the big green machine sends me to London for a month. I was happy to get back here to visit my new Gretsch and was looking forward to a secretly planned visit from K. Unfortunately she was run over by someone in a streetcar so it was not to be.
Germany was okayf rom what I saw but I was expecting way more English speakers. I was told i was gonna be so far west that everyone would speak English there but no. I was right on the border of Netherlands and there was a Nato base right at this town full of Yanks, Dutch, Brits, Canadians....but no English. Granted i am pretty good at languages so I picked up alot fast so I talked german to them most of the time but it was taxing to say the least.
One weekend we went to Begium for the day and was surprised to find out brussells is the world's second largest urinal(Paris apparently is the biggest!) What made me happy is that they speak French there so I was in good shape. We had 3 Quebecers with us and they could speak the lingo because it was proper parisienne french which the frenchies here can't speak. I learned proper french when i was a kid so I got along swimmingly as you all know I'm bilingual., just so I can tell when the quebecers are planning a coup attempt.
I did get to the netherlands one day as well to drop off my single buddy off at the train in Sittard so he could have a weekend of debauchery in Amsterdam. It was markedly different the than the town I stayed in as they all speak english and LOVE Canadians. What a difference from 20 minutes down the road.
I got to a bunch of smaller places aswell as larger cities like Cologne and I did get to poke around in Zurich Switzerland aswell.
As for the work part of my trip,well, lets just say it was ghey and now its done. 32 days of 15 hour work and I'm confident I won't be returning to that building again.
On the home front things were not going well as Em had to get rid of the dog as it bit my sons face and drew blood (he's fine...no marks) So I was more than happy to get rid of that mutt as i will not put up with a dog that'll do that. Unfortunate for all parties involved as I loved the dog alot and em knew it but there is that line that won't be crossed.
A coupla month's ago Em got her new kitty from the Quebec humane society. His name is edgar and he is a HUGE Maine Coon and he is by far the coolest cat ever. He just chills and looks at people and if you touch him he makes his ideas about it evident. Cool little bastard! To qouteth the Simpson's "I call the big one Bitey!"
Also in December some of you may have heard that the military got a pay raise and it was back paid 8 months. It wasn't huge(2.3%) but it was a nice piece of change after the taxman took his share. Em told me that I always get her something when I get a bit of free money (camera,Mac,etc..) so I should get my self something....like another guitar! So I trod down to Steve's rape me in the ass Music and bought a new orange Gretsch. What an amazing guitar and i can get all the rockabilly tones out of it and that Bigsby....talk about cool. All the guitars players on my list should get one...you guys all play Les Pauls and nuthin looks cooler than rockin a big aluminum wiggle stick on a Paul!
In a coupla of months I am going to get to see one of my favorite performers...Reverend Horton Heat, play just down the street so then hopefully i'll pick up some more tricks for my arsenal there too.
The big news though is that I got tix to see Black Sabbath with Ronnie James Dio. While I am not a fan of Mob Rules or heaven and hell I got the tix for who was opening...MEGADETH AND DOWN! I have seen Deth a coupla time and was never dissapointed as they rock everytime and half the guys in it are Canadian(from right here in Ottawa) But Down haven't played in Canada in 9 years and they are my fave band as my tattoo suggests. I have seen Corrosion of Conformity back in 95 at Lee's Palace and Pepper keenan came back a coupla weeks later with Down I missed that show and I look forward to pulverizing my eardrums with some awesome NOLA metal and thrashing out to Deth once again. We'll prolly leave when Sabbath comes out because no Ozzy means no Sabbath to me.
Germany was okayf rom what I saw but I was expecting way more English speakers. I was told i was gonna be so far west that everyone would speak English there but no. I was right on the border of Netherlands and there was a Nato base right at this town full of Yanks, Dutch, Brits, Canadians....but no English. Granted i am pretty good at languages so I picked up alot fast so I talked german to them most of the time but it was taxing to say the least.
One weekend we went to Begium for the day and was surprised to find out brussells is the world's second largest urinal(Paris apparently is the biggest!) What made me happy is that they speak French there so I was in good shape. We had 3 Quebecers with us and they could speak the lingo because it was proper parisienne french which the frenchies here can't speak. I learned proper french when i was a kid so I got along swimmingly as you all know I'm bilingual., just so I can tell when the quebecers are planning a coup attempt.
I did get to the netherlands one day as well to drop off my single buddy off at the train in Sittard so he could have a weekend of debauchery in Amsterdam. It was markedly different the than the town I stayed in as they all speak english and LOVE Canadians. What a difference from 20 minutes down the road.
I got to a bunch of smaller places aswell as larger cities like Cologne and I did get to poke around in Zurich Switzerland aswell.
As for the work part of my trip,well, lets just say it was ghey and now its done. 32 days of 15 hour work and I'm confident I won't be returning to that building again.
On the home front things were not going well as Em had to get rid of the dog as it bit my sons face and drew blood (he's fine...no marks) So I was more than happy to get rid of that mutt as i will not put up with a dog that'll do that. Unfortunate for all parties involved as I loved the dog alot and em knew it but there is that line that won't be crossed.
A coupla month's ago Em got her new kitty from the Quebec humane society. His name is edgar and he is a HUGE Maine Coon and he is by far the coolest cat ever. He just chills and looks at people and if you touch him he makes his ideas about it evident. Cool little bastard! To qouteth the Simpson's "I call the big one Bitey!"
Also in December some of you may have heard that the military got a pay raise and it was back paid 8 months. It wasn't huge(2.3%) but it was a nice piece of change after the taxman took his share. Em told me that I always get her something when I get a bit of free money (camera,Mac,etc..) so I should get my self something....like another guitar! So I trod down to Steve's rape me in the ass Music and bought a new orange Gretsch. What an amazing guitar and i can get all the rockabilly tones out of it and that Bigsby....talk about cool. All the guitars players on my list should get one...you guys all play Les Pauls and nuthin looks cooler than rockin a big aluminum wiggle stick on a Paul!
In a coupla of months I am going to get to see one of my favorite performers...Reverend Horton Heat, play just down the street so then hopefully i'll pick up some more tricks for my arsenal there too.
The big news though is that I got tix to see Black Sabbath with Ronnie James Dio. While I am not a fan of Mob Rules or heaven and hell I got the tix for who was opening...MEGADETH AND DOWN! I have seen Deth a coupla time and was never dissapointed as they rock everytime and half the guys in it are Canadian(from right here in Ottawa) But Down haven't played in Canada in 9 years and they are my fave band as my tattoo suggests. I have seen Corrosion of Conformity back in 95 at Lee's Palace and Pepper keenan came back a coupla weeks later with Down I missed that show and I look forward to pulverizing my eardrums with some awesome NOLA metal and thrashing out to Deth once again. We'll prolly leave when Sabbath comes out because no Ozzy means no Sabbath to me.