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Last Sunday I had Jones, F.B and Simone and Sacha over for a pool and pizza night. Everyone had fun, including the lamp which simone toppled. One thing it did force me to do was to clean up my apartment. I swiffered quite a bit and put stuff away!
I really have learnt the key is to not put stuff off because it burdens you mentally I find. Just tackle s*&% as it comes up and hopefully things will be ok.


Baseball:

Ah the sport I love! I have been good to her but she has not necessarily been good to me. Without even considering the injury I sustained a few years ago, I have always managed to suck nicely at the sport. A slow, weak arm, a poor slap hitter, poor on ground balls. I do shag balls nicely though.
Unf. I am prob not good enough to play in the NCBL - the only league around town for baseball, but I still follow the Jays closely.

Regardless I invested nicely in two bats this year - my first maple and an ashwood plus bought a new glove. I broke in the bats when playing with friend Andy at beautiful Faulkner Field off Fallowfield Rd. This field is like what the pros play on, including a pond in the back of the field. Hopefully I can get out there again soon. In fact, a guy from work named Frank may try to get ol' purdy (who is now in Barrhaven) out and we could have fun. No word yet on whether Uhrblock will come. I think he is too busy tweeting or restricting access to tweets that is.

My interest in baseball also lies in buying a Montreal Expos hat from lids.com, which now offers free shipping to Canadian stores. This is much more appealing than paying $30 for shipping which was the case last year. I didn't buy it though.

I am also following 3 old timers in the twilight (and beyond) of their careers. They include Jamie Moyer, Ivan Rodriguez (39 years old) and Omar Vizquel (43 years old).
These guys truly inspire me as I-Rod and Vizquel are still hitting around .280 and both are within range of 3000 hits. I-Rod should hit 2800 by season's end with Vizquel only 20 hits or less behind. Both would have to play at least 2 more years I think to get it done. I-Rod is signed for next year buit Viquel will be combing the classifieds trying to find work. It is not the money at all - he is only making 1.375 mil, but it is the fact that teams don't want to give a roster spot to an old guy. Truthfully though, this guy can flat out play and is prob a better middle infielder than 3/4 of the league. Funny that Vizquel was always known for his glvoe, however, when he managed to rattle off almost 3000 hits. A first ballot hall of famer I say.
THe other guy I mentioned, Moyer, is a starting pitcher and is 47 years old! He has 268 career wins and is one of the few pitchers to win 100 games after the age of 40. Also he went to his first all star game after age of 40. Moyer's problem is that he has to undergo season ending surgery and will have to attempt a comeback next year if he wants those last 32 wins. Now, even if he does manage to comeback from an arm injury and the Phillies (or some other team) are willing to give him a spot, he has to be a starting pitcher and win on avg. 16 games for 2 years to make it to the big 300 plateau. The odds are against him but I would love to see him make it happen!
In fact, when I went to Philly to see a ball game, it was Moyer who pitched.
Other players to be watched are Ichiro who will attempt to make it to his 10th straight season with 200 hits. He is presently at 147 with 45 or so games to play. he should do it.
Also, Chipper Jones has to have season ending surgery for a torn ACL in his leg and this sucks cause Chipper was moving in on 500 homers (at 436 now). He will be hard-pressed to hit another 64 homers in the pro's at age 39, but his career batting average of .306 and personal accolades shoudl be enough to give him a Hall of Fame spot.

Nothing else going on. Saw Inception, Sling Blade, The Matrix sequels (finally).

I continue to seek someone to assist in helping the fine game of billiards/pool but I have given up on cold-calling instructors at algonquin. I will now be posting on craiglist. This should work out better (sarcastic tone).

One movie I did see that was hilarious in its randomness was Hot Rod with Andy Samberg. It was actually a touching story as well. I am going to for sure bring it up when I next see J.B. Yo Bower Bower.

My father's summer project continues to move along. I help now and then when I can but this man is amazing. At his age he puts up a beautiful project, does most of the lifting by himself. He truly broke the mold I think.

My donut search continues. I have contacted Carling Bakery who does wholesale donuts and they seem like an option to try out. While wholesale donuts usually can't be the best, it won't hurt to try them out; plus they are close to home. The downside again is you have to order ahead of time since it isn't a traditional storefront.

Remember I posted about CTV news having a competition to see what was the best chip stand? Well it turns out that Tommy's was featured on the news and it is the one I frequent. I score a large poutine with extra cheese for $6 and this can last all night. On the night I went to see Inception with Mark, I had this at lunch and I was good until 10 o clock, at which point I had some dark chocolate at home.
Anyway, after coming through over 800 comments, I compiled this list of chip wagons in the National Capital region and Eastern Ontario. You will never be without some yummy fries.

-Crispy Chips (Canadian Tire at Hunt Club and Merivale)
-Glen’s (Richmond Rd and Kirkwood
-Wes’ Chips (Arnprior)
-The Magic Fryer (Canadian Tire on Coventry)
-Calypso Water Park (Limoges Rd and Calypso)
-M & G’s Chipwagon (Bank and Sunnyside)
-Snack Shack (Wilfrid-Lavigne in Alymer)
-Pink Poutine Queen (Almonte)
-Fritomania (St. Joseph Blvd)
-Jean Burger (Wakefield)
-The Village/Town Fryer in Merrickville
-S & G’s (Carling and Maitland)
-Claude’s (Ogilvy and Cummings)
-Mom’s Kitchen (Alexandria)
-JP’s Chips (Baseline and Clyde)
-Chipmunk Chippery (Perth)
-Five Span Spuds (Pakenham)
-S & S Fries (Canadian Tire in Barrhaven)
-Fritz’s Fries (Manotick)
-Li’l Mom’s (Vars off of 417)
-Mike’s Fries (Carleton Place)
-La Patate Dorée (Eddie Street in Hull)
-The Chipwitch Wagon (Merrickville)
-Long’s Patate (Civic Hospital/Ruskin St.)
-Frenchy’s Fries (Pembroke)
-Willy’s Wagon (Almonte)
-Vanier Snack Shack (Deschamps and Hannah)
-Mom’s Kitchen (Alexandria)
-Double Decker Diner & Dairy Bar (Manotick)
-Tony’s (Richmond)
-Woody’s (Highway 7/Innisville)
-GJ’s (Trim Rd between 174 and St-Joseph)
-F & B Doghouse (South Mountain)
-Geatan Patate (Alexandria)
-Jack’s Mobile Kitchen (Rideau and Friel)
-Chantal Fries (Albion Rd. and Mitch Owen’s in Greely)
-Potato King (Carleton Place)
-The Jolly Fryer (Eganville)
-The Sweet Potato (Carp)
-Fryz Guys (Montreal and Blair)
-Glen's Fries (Canadian Tire in Kanata)
-Brian's Spuds (Arnprior)
-The In and Out Eatery (Perth)
-McCan's Chips (Quyon)

blah blah blah

Spent the w-end watching movies, eating cheese, running and helping out pop with his bump-out reno project. I also had two dinners with ma and pa. It was enjoyable.

I watched a couple of dvds from the library and have many more on the waiting list. Some of these discs are so scratched up by the time i get them, that i miss whole parts of the movie haha. Oh well it is free. That is why I think vhs is the better technology. I never get screwed around by the film quality (only once in a blue moon). Vhs is more durable I guess.

-Pressure continues to grow on Tim Hortons to switch back to freshly made donuts but I don't think it will happen. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/future-of-tim-hortons-baking-system-uncertain/article1569626/?cmpid=rss1
With strong profits and expansion into the States, we can forget about it I think. I will try Carling Bakery and may give T om and Son's another dry but i find the freshness questionnable and the selection is poor at times since the order is botched and they don't have a lot of stuff. I believe they are windinw their business down. Not sure. I read on Ottawafoodies that Stittsville Bakery closed.

-Talking about when donuts used to be freshly made on premises got me to thinking about how Harvey's used to have fresh-cut fries, but got rid of them around the turn of the millenium. It is no wonder I think that with the sorry state of fries in fast food places, there has been a proliferation of chip trucks across our fair city. See below to see what I mean.

-There is an Arby's again in ottawa so I will have to go try their BLT, Curly Fries and a shake. It is in Kanata but they don't post their hours on website. On hazeldean rd it can be found.

-Here is a CTV website competition to name the best chip stand in Ottawa. I wonder if they have considered the Chinese man ina van near Tunney's Pasture behind the Beer Store. They have over 304 comments/suggestions so happy reading.
http://ottawa.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20100730/OTT_Chip_Truck_Say_100730/20100730/?hub=OttawaHome

-I continue to deliberate over whether to enlist in espanol again. The price is $248 now with the HSt and such. Kinda steep I find for what you get. We shall see.

-Ambleside is looking better these days. Clean-up and such. Threw out a lot of papers and stuff that i hoarded over th epast 3 years.

-With the increased family size now I really have to send an e-mail around to my family to take stock of all the birthdays and anniversaries that exist. Hey, i won't recognize the day with a gift, but I'd still like to know!

-People are buying i-phones, i-pads and pens are prob next, but I don't care much. I'll stick with 80's/90s until the gov subsidizes me to switch.

That is all for now even though I am sure I am missing a bunch of stuff I wanted to comment on. Guess I don't have the energy or inclination.