Jul
17
House!!
Filed Under | Leave a Comment | Kristina
Anyone who’s ever read this knows by now that we bought a house. What you might not know is that I just added a whole bunch of pictures. 
Sep
8
Broken Image Links
Filed Under blog | Leave a Comment | Kristina
Well, I’ve finally taken the time to update the software on my blog. Unfortunately, in the process, I lost some images I’d previously posted to the blog. You can feel free to assume I’m lying when I say this, but I will at some point go back and try to fix the broken links in the old posts. For now, enjoy our pictures from our trip out East last week!
Dec
20
How to Label Wine Bottles – The Easy Way.
Filed Under | Leave a Comment | insanity
We have finished our first batch of wine, and it’s time to label the bottles! I did a little thinking about this, and I came up with the following procedure.
First, get a bottle, your labels, and a not-too-thick towel. Something that is soft, but will have some support and won’t let the label go flying everywhere as you try to apply it. I do not suggest a bath towel, as they are too thick, and the label can “float” around too much. You’ll end up with a crooked label with a ton of air bubbles.
Unfold the towel, and place it on a smooth surface. You’ll want to make sure that there aren’t any folds under it.
Next, peel the backing off the label, and place it face-up on the towel. Be careful to ensure that the label is flat. This is crucial.
Lay the bottle on the towel to one side of the label, and about 1/4 of an inch away from it. Line up the bottle so that it is square with the label. Taking a little time here will ensure that the label goes on straight.
While applying even pressure to the bottle, roll it over the label, slowly. You don’t need a lot of pressure, but enough to keep the bottle and the label flat. Make sure the pressure is even (use two hands.), and the label will go on straight and without any air bubbles.
You now have a somewhat straight label on a wine bottle. I hope that is what you have been aiming for.
All that is left is smoothing the label out. I suggest that you use your towel, and, working from one side of the label to the other, rub it smooth. This should work out most (if there are any) air bubbles, and ensure that the label is clear.
Nov
26
Great Big Sea!
Filed Under music | Leave a Comment | Kristina
Last Tuesday, I received a Great Big Sea newsletter. In it, they discussed their Christmas show in St John’s, which probably sold out the minute it went on sale. Hidden down near the bottom of the newsletter, they mentioned that they were playing at the Grey Cup festivities this past weekend in Toronto. I normally would never hear about such a show because I have no interest at all in Football, so I’m glad I actually read the whole newsletter. I also normally would have a hard time justifying spending $53/ticket on a concert, especially when there are 3 other bands on the bill, only one of which I’d ever heard of, but my sister had offered me tickets to “something” for my birthday (back in June), and I just had to tell her when/what I wanted to go see. Since I had yet to actually get back to her on anything in a timely manner, I called her up and asked if she’d sponsor this event. She agreed, and we bought the tickets that night.
We managed to get to the Metro Toronto Convention Centre at around 6:15 or so. Amazingly, there was still parking in the MTCC parking garage, so we could leave all of our stuff (coats, etc) in the car, and not have to worry about a coat check. Doors were set to open at 7. We had no idea what to expect as far as seating or anything else went, so we decided to get in line for the door right away. I would say about 10 minutes after we got there the line had easily doubled, and by the time they started letting people in, it basically encompassed the entire bottom floor of the convention centre. We were standing right in front of the men’s bathroom, so had a lot of traffic passing in front of us. A number of people asked what the line was for. When the reply was “Great Big Sea”, a couple of drunken idiot football fans asked “Why??” As my husband pointed out to me, if this was the biggest event of the evening, which I’m pretty sure it was, the organizers of the Grey Cup festivities just replaced one crowd (the football fans) with a completely different crowd (the great big sea fans). I’m sure there was some amount of overlap, but it didn’t seem like a whole lot. Not necessarily the best of ideas when you’re planning a party. I can’t complain, though, it was my first opportunity to see my favourite band in about 3 years.
When we got into the venue, we discovered that for the most part, it was one giant marketing opportunity. Nissan, Lay’s, Dewalt, and Urban Male Magazine all had fairly large displays. A handful of other companies had smaller ones. We grabbed a slice of pizza, since we had a late lunch and hadn’t actually eaten supper, then found ourselves a couple of stools to get off our feet for a bit. Spirit of the West was on first, at around 7:30 or 8. They were pretty good, and I actually recognized a couple of songs. I’ll have to remember to look into buying an album sometime. Lowest of the Low was on next, probably around 9ish. They really didn’t leave much of an impression on me. *shrug* Not bad, though. After that, the organizers ran a stupid beauty pageant thing. One bikini-clad girl from each city with a CFL team. None of them sounded very intelligent. Then, finally, at almost 10:30, the main act came on. 
As soon as they came out, I said to my husband: “What the heck is that on Alan’s face?”
I don’t remember the order, but I just went through their discography, and they played all of the following:
Donkey Riding
When I’m up (I can’t get down)
The Night that Patty Murphy Died
I’m a Rover
Consequence Free
Ordinary Day
General Taylor
Lukey’s Boat
Mari-Mac
Excursion around the Bay
Captain Kidd
Walk on the Moon (this is a new one)
Jack Hinks
Run Runaway
Helmethead
When I am King
Sea of No Cares
Penelope (they had a trumpeter on stage, I can’t remember his name)
Scolding Wife
And, if I recall correctly, they finished off the encore with Rant & Roar. Somewhere in the middle of their act, as is their custom (particularly at shows that aren’t part of a tour), Alan did a little “guess the song” game with the audience. They started off with Video Killed the Radio Star, did I’m Gonna Be (which at that point, made this the 4th time we’d heard the song that evening, with the others all being on loop between acts), and ended with Bohemian Rhapsody. I was really impressed with how well such a large audience managed to keep together for so long. I think Alan was too. He actually seemed quite surprised by the audience participation on a few songs. I don’t think he expected this many great big sea fans, as opposed to drunken football fans. Speaking of drunken football fans… I’m always surprised (though I probably shouldn’t be) at the type of people who attend these events, then get all huffy when the people around them start singing and jumping and generally being rowdy. It didn’t happen to me this time, but when I was at their show at the Tulip Festival in Ottawa a few years ago, one lady turned around and said to one of the guys I was with, “If I wanted to hear you sing, I wouldn’t have paid to come to this concert.” Um… hello, lady.. if you’re not a GBS fan, you shouldn’t be here, and if you are a GBS fan, you should know that they encourage this type of behaviour in their fans. And, if all you want is to hear the band sing, then buy their album, because their concerts are interactive.
Alan also said right after the first song that they didn’t realize how big the event would be. Looking behind us (we were right behind and to the side of the sound/lighting stage), there was a huge crowd, and considering that it was basically standing room only, that’s a lot of people.
Here’s a shot of the whole band. I wasn’t actually this close, I snagged the pictures from the great big sea online kitchen party, where someone had posted it:
Nov
13
I really should watch the RMR more often
Filed Under politics | Leave a Comment | Kristina
I watched a re-run of the Rick Mercer Report tonight, between getting batches of cookies out of the oven. The rant from the episode can be found here. Considering the state of the Liberal Party, I realize there’s not much likelihood of a federal election anytime soon, unless Harper calls it himself, but I found Mercer’s closing comment rather insightful:
So heading into a federal election where Stephen Harper might form a majority there’s only two explanations: the social conservatives have been sold down a river, or they know something we don’t.
It hadn’t occurred to me, because regardless of their actual actions, in my head, Conservative Party of Canada==Alliance==Refooooooorm, but he makes a good point, in that they really haven’t been behaving all that “conservatively”, all things considered. I don’t believe for a minute that the social conservatives have been sold down a river, considering that the leader of the party is one of them, but I do have to wonder how long the “so-cons” will be patient with regards to handing out money without policy changes in return. Is Harper simply waiting until he forms a majority government to implement anything particularly conservative in nature? The recent throne speech gave some indication that he has every intention of proposing some rather bad policies soon, but it’s hard to say what exactly will be proposed, let alone passed.
While I was looking up the link to this month-old rant, I ran across the most recent one. In it, Mercer points out that Harper not only refused to go to the recent annual National Press Gallery Dinner, but he ordered his cabinet ministers not to attend, as well. This really says it all:
If I were the Tories I’d be a little bit worried. The economy is red hot, the dollar’s through the roof, the GST is coming down, everyone’s working and the Tories are still only 4 points ahead of Stephane Dion. And everyone thinks he’s an idiot.