Well, this seems to be the tradition, so here’s a list of bullets resolutions for 2009. Let’s see what I can make of those.

The year of the purge

 I want to get rid the things I don’t use. They might be books, dishes, games, CDs, clothes… I keep too many things just for the sake of keeping things, and I will do my best to get rid of all the clutter in and around the house, the car, the office.

 I want to get rid of ideas that don’t bring anything new to the table. Life is too short for rehashing the same ideas over and over again. Out with the old, in with the new. I’ll be the new blood needed in every situation.  

 I want to get rid of the online addiction I slowly built up over the years. Facebook, Twitter, Delicious, Blogging, Google Talk. Email on gmail, at work, from my blog, at home, on my Blackberry… Who needs to be connected at all times like that?

 I want to get rid of the friends I don’t care for. I have enough obligatory drama in my life from work, I don’t need more than absolutely necessary. 

 I want to get rid of the extra pounds I’m carrying. I’ve been saying that for years now, will this  be the year it finally happens?

In pure Call of Cthulhu tradition, I’ll keep the last bullet for myself for when the actual madness comes in 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…

Happy New Year Everyone!

It’s no real secret that I can – at times – be very vocal about things that irks me. I blame it on my Sicilian heritage, via my grandma, you know that Ol’Latin boiling blood thing. Anyways. On top of the list of things that really really push my button, not being able to park a frakin’ car stands head and shoulder above everything else. I give you the trifecta of being an asshat:

That woman is not handicapped, she parked and literally ran in the store. She’s parked over two spaces, one of them a space reserved for handicapped drivers. The kicker is that there’s plenty of parking spaces available, as only 4 spaces out of the 36 spaces are occupied (two by her car).

Why couldn’t she possibly park 10 feet to the right boggles the mind. This is the original picture: Look, you can clearly see the two empty spaces right there! Was it really that hard to park 6 feet to the right?

If that wasn’t enough, all of this was to get to the liquor store. Yes, my English speaking friends, the SAQ stores are our liquor stores in Quebec, like the LCBO in Ontario. Who needs liquor that bad at 11:00 in the morning? 

Maybe I do.

Meh.

In other news

We ordered our special St-Sylvester menu from Les Fougères. Champagne’s in the fridge. We’re ready.

I’ve uploaded some of the Christmas pictures to Picasa.

XMAS_2008

This is a Christmas recap post. I will list all the goodies I got this Christmas. It’ll be pretty boring, really. Unless I find some way of making it interesting…

DVDs: FMIL got me Heroes Season 2 because she thinks I’m a villain and Deadwood the complete series because she thinks I’m a cocksucker. This joke only makes sense if you’re somewhat familiar with the series.

Golf Club Baboon: Mister1981 drew my name for the secret Santa and got me this amazing golf club cover that looks like a baboon Muppet. I’ll be the envy of all the other golfers when I take this bad boy out for a spin. He threw in a few golf balls, tees and a gadget to help replace the green when you poke through. What is this saying about my game I wonder:  ”You loose balls, break tees and mess the greens! Keep your clubs hidden you loser.” Nah, I’m sure it was all meant in a good way.

Gift Certificate: Those were promptly transformed into board games (Chromino, Six), books (Chevaliers d’Émeraude) and some puzzles. This is an awful mistake, considering that gift certificates take this much space and games and such take that much space. You really need a picture?

Wine Fridge: Nothing says “we know you’re a drunk” like an 18 bottle wine fridge. Seriously, this is one of those time where you should pay attention to what you’re saying. I mentioned that I would like to eventually get that, and my parents go and get it for me. I wish they would’ve heard when I said I was considering getting a 72″ plasma, a PS3, an X-Box360, a new car and a motorcycle. 

Money: That will be used to gently ween down my fancy coffee addiction in the new year. That’s right. Looking back, I realize that I drink way too much coffee, to the tune of ::cough:: ::cough:: dollars per week. That really doesn’t make sense.

Well, it looks like I didn’t find a way to make things interesting after all. Maybe with a picture?

Home at last!

Don’t get me wrong: I honestly enjoyed my Holiday break at this point. Really.

After 1 hour of re-packing the thousands of gifts in smaller and smaller bags, 30 minutes of carrying everything down and fitting everything in the car, 4 hours of driving in the warmest (+14) and windiest weather in years for a December 28th: We. Are. Home!

I’m really happy to be home, because after 7 days of sleeping at FMIL’s house, eating amazing but slightly exagerated meals – my mom had TWO turkeys. I’m really happy she never heard of a Turducken – visiting families of all kinds, playing cards, making puzzles and drinking until the wee hours of the night/morning, it’s cool to go back to the being-at-home-routine of eating healthy (okay healthier), going to bed at decent times and drinking in quantities that do not rival medium countries. 

And most importantly, home is where the heart sex is. 

Gotta go!

In other news…

Holy Crap I made it on another list, not just the naughty list! I seriously want to take a few moments to thank Dawg for including me on his list of funniest bloggers of 2008. 

Here’s the comment I left on his post:

Oh look, I made Dawg’s list. Meh. 

Seriously, I’m so not worthy of being on that list! Thanks for including me, I guess now I should really get my act together and start writing half decent things…

I am honored.

And I will get my act together I promise. Starting tommorow tommorow-ish.

Made you look.

Carry on while I giggle like a little kid. That is all.

Today’s the day.

If you’re not satisfied with anything I wrote here, you can return those posts today for a credit.

We’re still in Sherbrooke, I miss my laptop and my bed. The weather is not really cooperating today so we’re staying an extra day before heading to Chateauguay and then Gatineau. I’m guessing we’ll take care of the few odds and ends we have to do before heading out – for example, we received gifts certificate to a store that’s only in Sherbrooke.

In other news: We’re addicted to puzzles­. Who knew you could have that much fun for 3$?

If you were a reader of my old blog, you know that last January I had a very public discussion with Poppy about the quantity of underwear I should bring to Africa for a 16 day stay. Thanks to Poppy, I ended taking 16 pairs. However, I always strive to learn from my past experiences, and I figured I could probably learn a little from the one giant mistake I made from my travel to Africa.

So for this Christmas trip to Sherbrooke, I decided to test a theory, and see what happens. Here’s what I brought:

Notice how the 3 pairs of jeans, 3 t-shirts 3 pairs of socks and 3 pairs of underwear are exactly the same (Well ,except for the underwear but bear with me here, m’kay?)? This allows me to PACK LIKE A RPG GAMER. Look:

It’s amazing that no one thought of that before. By taking identical items, I’m allowed to stack them one on top of the others and save 75% of the packing volume needed! I couldn’t do that last year because I brought different items that couldn’t be stacked. It’s frakin’ brilliant if I say so myself.

Now if I could only find that place where they sell portals back to my house, all my traveling challenges would be taken care of.

In Sherbrooke: So as you’re reading this, I’m most likely in Sherbrooke. I’ll be visiting families and friends for a few days. This post has been written Monday night. I’ll update if I get access to a computer and some time. 

This is it. 

Reset your calendars. There’s only 364 days left before Christmas. Let’s all vow to shop earlier this time around, m’kay? Don’t act like this is too early, you know you need all the advance warning you can get.

Good day!

In Sherbrooke: So as you’re reading this, I’m most likely in Sherbrooke. I’ll be visiting families and friends for a few days. This post has been written Monday night. I’ll update if I get access to a computer and some time. 

I think LovelyWife finally snapped. 

As you are aware, CutieDaughter’s been hosting the best head lice party in town but with school out, we figured we’d get some respite from the six-legged critters. Well, no dice. Monday night, less than 12 hours before we were scheduled to drive to Sherbrooke, LovelyWife found one really really small small small nymph in CutieDaughter’s hair.

It was about this big: 

.

Unless you’re one of those people still running you monitor in 640×480, then it was much more smaller than what you’re seeing. 

We immediately went to DEFCON 4 and by that I mean LovelyWife went ballistic while I sat down in the living room writing a few posts for the next few days. She rushed to the pharmacy to talk to the pharmacist. Even if they told her that some new nymphs were completely normal within the first week of the initial treatment,  she still bought some special shampoo, washed kids hair and her hair, washed all the bedding and bagged a truckload of teddy bears. 

Did I mention this was also the night we wrapped Christmas gifts and packed the suitcases for our trip? It just keeps getting better, doesn’t it?

You know, as I’m typing this I’m watching Worst Week, and it fits. I don’t think I could watch that show too often, as it makes me cringe every other minute or so. I feel for that guy I tell you.

In transit: Well, unless you’re some freak that stays up until 00:01 to read new posts ASAP. Oh wait that’s me. So as you’re reading this, I’m most likely on the road between Ottawa and Sherbrooke. I’ll be visiting families and friends for a few days. This post has been written Monday night. I’ll update if I get access to a computer and some time. 

When we bought our house about 8 years ago, we made sure to write in the offer that we wanted all the light fixtures left in the house.

Of course, there was some stuff we didn’t notice about the house before we bought it, like oh, I don’t know, the carpet in the downstairs bathroom for example – but that’s another story. The light fixtures were another one. I swear that on a clear night, when the breeze is just right, we can still hear the old owner laugh. (more…)