Coon Lake

After the funeral on Monday, and some running around on Tuesday, Carolyn and I took off to meet up with some friends camping on Tuesday night. As it was we made great time for the typical four to four and a half hour drive to Algonquin, making it to the site near the far side of the park in a bit under 4 hours.

Driving the winding highway 60 in the rain after dark though was cause to slow down, and infact the two does that we had to stop for in the middle of the road ended up being the largest wildlife we saw the whole time we were up there. On my two previous trips into Algonquin park, there had been no shortage of moose sightings, but they managed to shy away from Carolyn for 5 days.

Despite a cool, windy and rainy weather system blowing through most of the time, we got enough of a break to get in some hiking and kayaking, and huddled around the fire with drinks to keep warm at night. Eventually the rain and wind was enough to start showing leaks at the seams, but having taken the van, I was able to clear out enough space in there to sleep comfortably. It ended up being so comfortable infact, that any similar car camping trips in the future will find me sleeping in the back.

There's a lot to be said for being properly prepared for a camping trip, and this time around was a much better experience than the previous struggle, but now its back to the reality of family drama in dividing an estate 12 ways, and finishing some semblance of a thesis.

Of course Carolyn noticed that this tree was well hung.

 

Time It's Time

Yesterday morning my grandmother passed away at 83. After a stroke 3 years ago, she was never the same quick, sarcastic, but gentle 'Oma' she had been to her dozens of grandchildren before. Until the end though she maintained her stubbornness, and that was likely the reason she left us when she did, refusing to go into a proper care facility.

The past few times I dropped her off and walked her back to her apartment, there was a bit of sadness in her eyes amongst the confusion that strokes are notorious for. I think it was a realization that she had lost the sharpness she had once had, and was never going to get it back. But she put on the best brave face she could, and tried to hide it from the whole family, most of whom were adequately convinced.

Born in Holland in 1924, she lived there during the war, and told stories when I was a kid of soldiers marching through their farm field, and aiding downed Allied pilots. She married an older man, with 8 children from a wife previously passed that she took to be her own, and treated them that way until the day she died. My grandfather himself died when my mother was only 4. Ultimately, my grandmother raised 12 children, as well as assisting in a great way both myself and moreso my brother in the drama that was brought on by my own father as part of our parents' divorce.

She infact lived with us at the time my brother was born; at the age of 67 still waking up at 5am every morning to go in to work at the local necktie factory. At 7 years old at that point, I would sneak into her room at night to stay up and watch the old black and white movies that were less about the movie and more about the staying up late for me at that point. Some nights she would pretend not to notice, or pretend that I was asleep, but most others she'd let me in on her late night Melba toast and cheese snack.

Moving ahead seven or eight years later, she took on the role of chauffeur and almost second-mom after my dad bailed with our family vehicle, leaving her to drive my mother to work for long hours, myself to school on the way, and housing and feeding my brother during the school week. And then, not long after my brother started spending more time back at home with some replenished normalcy to all of our everyday lives, she had her stroke (infact the largest of a suspected numerous small ones). And, as I mentioned, things were just never quite the same.

There's a time for all of us in the end, and my grandmother certainly lived a beautiful life before hers. Should there be truth to tales of angels looking over one's shoulder, I expect she's there now. Its easy to see how that concept makes dealing with death easier for some at least.

'Now that its over, rest your head'

And on the Seventh Day I Rested

After a few weeks straight of working at it every day, there are a few more doors to be painted for my room, and I can wash my hands of this renovation project. But we're finally getting some proper summer weather, and in time for a long weekend for once, so its time to kick back and take a few days off, and instead of sinking money into tools and trim and pain, carefully invest in beer for the weekend.

I say carefully because I got a call this morning from Steve letting me know the details for meeting up with him and his wife at Algonquin in a couple weeks, and am not going to have a whole bunch of money to play with for that excursion. Not working for a calendar year is starting to hurt. So long as I don't go ahead and fuck myself over like last time around when I forgot, among other things, a sleeping bag, and spent a night shivering, an exorbitant amount of money on a blanket, and the rest of my trip feeling slightly jaded with the experience.

Not all of my money lately has gone to the renovation though. The latest White Stripes album is fantastically written, and complete with the typical catchy beats and riffs that they rock out so well. My favourites from it are Rag and Bone, which has a great fun energy, and Cause and Effect which can be interpreted any number of ways and to me is a great closing track for the album.

And of course, a legitimate candidate for album of the year so far, Matthew Good's latest, which I managed to score a signed copy of 5 minutes before selling out. Hospital Music, knowing the story leading up to the writing of the album, is one of the most open and honest collections of music you could ever expect to hear, with some excellent covers of Daniel Johnston's True Love Will Find You in the End (which was also covered by Beck on one of his recent albums) and Moon Over Marin by The Dead Kennedys. I honestly hadn't heard the Dead Kennedys version until after hearing Matt's version, so I'm likely biased in describing it as a much better put together rendition, but I'm saying it anyways. That's something that can't be said for most cover versions of songs ever done, with the Jimi Hendrix version of Bob Dylan's All Along the Watchtower and Pearl Jam's take on Last Kiss being other cases that come to mind.

I'm sure now I'll think of a number more though while I kick back with a few beers on the balcony for the weekend and attempt not to sweat it out as fast as I drink it. Dunno what this whole 'Civic Holiday' is about anyways, but I'll take it!

Bonds, Barry*

Barry Bonds is now one homerun away from tying Hank Aaron's career record. While being a total classless prick for his entire career is justification enough for him to be booed mercilessly when he does tie and break the record, personality faults shouldn't be enough to keep one out of the record books (nor should they keep Pete Rose out of Cooperstown, but that's another debate). On the other hand, the undeniable tie between him and performance enhancing drugs through the BALCO scandal should be enough to at least see some note made in the record books alongside his record.

Several fellow high profile BALCO customers have since tested positive for, or admitted to obtaining and using performance enhancing drugs, including Marion Jones, Tim Montgomery and Jason Giambi. In addition are the claims laid by staff with the lab that Bonds did infact use. While obviously not guilty by association with those other people, it is pretty clear that Bonds used some form of performance enhancement during the prime of his homerun hitting career.

At this point nothing will keep him strictly out of the record books, particularly since an outright rule against steroid use doesn't appear to have existed in baseball rules at the time. However an asterisk, or an entirely separate column are justified both for his single season record (and possibly McGwire's 2nd place entry) and for the career total; "Career homeruns hit, assisted", "Most homeruns hit with use of performance enhancing drugs".

In the short term, the best I can hope for is that he continues swinging too hard at the ball through the weekend series at home, and then goes ahead and ties and breaks the record away where the fans will be more likely to give him the far less than positive reception he deserves, not only for his steroid use, but for the lack of class he has brought to ballparks and locker rooms throughout his career. Good on Bob Costas for not backing down after the way Bonds has regarded the media through the years, even better on the fans in LA or San Diego in the upcoming series' if they boo and heckle the hell out of him when the moment comes where he ties and surpasses the record.

Looking down the road, Alex Rodriguez is on pace to hit the 755 mark almost a full season faster than Barry, and he hasn't really hit the later career homerun hitting surge yet. While No-Rod has his own building collection of classlessness (take his bush league interference play in Toronto earlier this season), he still has time to atone for himself, and at least attempts to be media friendly in a city where the media is regarded as being the furthest from the same.

I'd Barbecue A Salad If I Could

The Best Part About Being 'Tragically Uninteresting'

The best part about being "tragically uninteresting" is that I happen to catch incoming links from sites like this one in my site stats. It seems that someone's taken the time out of their much more interesting lives to make a blog with what appears to be the sole purpose of trashing other UW blogs he comes across.

What's startling is that one would take the time to read through a blog they describe as boring and dribble, and even follow outlinks to its last.FM account to look at my musical preferences. What's more amazing; that they do this for a number of blogs, actually spend money on an internet domain name like 'uwspectator' to give some sense of credibility or self-importance (and yet not posting even a first name or pen name anywhere on the site), and then further take time out of their exciting lives to write summaries for each of them (mine's here)! You really have to commend the man for his efforts, after all, the only thing better than a boring blog, is a boring summary of a boring blog.

Putting aside the far too simple gay jokes though, and the apparent dislike for people who are critical of the current government's policies, instead of simply allowing things to be foisted upon them, regarding this as Conservative hatred, I have to honestly give it credit for its humourous approach.

One has to wonder though, why someone who hates Waterloo so much would choose to go there, or not move elsewhere, and instead wallow in their bitterness, and lurk around a whole bunch more websites from people at Waterloo with so many other better, and admittedly far more interesting and well written sites out there.

Poker in the Back

I need to stop drinking so much when I play poker. Sure I may still play well enough to win occasionally, but most often all I have to show for my efforts the next morning is a hangover. This morning was no exception, although we did split the fairly large pot from last night's big game between the final 3, covering some of my losses.

And my being out of action all morning really means nothing to my renovation progress as I've had to cake the drywall mud on extra thick and wait for it to dry in an attempt to mask the shoddy construction around the window and door casings. Its true what they say about old houses being a lot of work, but if nothing else, I know at least that its built solid, if not always square and even.

Speaking of solid construction, the new Smashing Pumpkins album holds up alright. Its not quite as epic as the Mellon Collie album was, but then to expect anything like that album would be setting yourself up for disappointment right from the start. That said, it rocks hard, and despite the loss of James Iha on guitar, the songs certainly aren't lacking. I think I'll be buying this one, along with the new MG when it comes out, and the Traveling Wilburys set will likely find its way on to this month's mastercard bill as well.

A job needs to find its way to me soon too, or those mastercard bills are really going to start becoming more of an issue.

Steady as She Goes

I've been semi-busy making steady progress on the renovations, while dropping more money than I'd initially expected. In the end it will be worth it though for having insulation in some of the walls, setting it in a class nearly of its own compared with the rest of the house. The rest of the walls in time too will need to be torn down and insulation put in. With the old plaster walls it'd be too difficult to simply cut holes and have a company blow in loose fill insulation and patch up the walls so that they looked like the original again, which is both a pain in the ass, and an expensive proposition.

But with the closet already lined with cedar, and drywall hung from the ceiling, and the walls to go tomorrow, I can see the daylight. Some mudding, sanding, and trimming this week, and then with any luck painting next weekend, and I can move back into some normalcy.

In more relevant news, 6 more Canadians were killed this week, with another 4 injured this morning, in continuing the mission that we were never sent in the first place to do, but coerced into by the Bush administration's own 'sweet' talking. And of all the most ridiculous things I've seen written, Harper has the audacity to say that 'now is not the time to politicize the mission'. On the contrary, it is the absolutely most critical time to politicize the mission and have the opposition make an actual assertive move to bring Canadians home from a war that never truly was about keeping the peace. Instead of sitting on their hands, passing motions of 'desire' to have troops moved out in 2009 or beyond, some action needs to be taken. The deaths of more soldiers shouldn't be cause for us to hush up and unquestioningly accept the bullshit that's fed to the people, and in particular the soldiers of this country, it should be cause for outcry. Or, we could just don our favourite cowboy hats and boots and head on down to the Calgary Stampede for some boot-scootin', and forget that whole 'Afghanistan' thing. Yee-haw!