Boys Night Out

Last night was Boys Night Out. Most months after our general business meeting some of the Knights will go to our local pub for a drink or two and shoot the breeze. When we leave the staff take our receipts and keep track of our spending. If we go there any other time we can request that they add the receipt to our tally. The pub calculates our spending and gives us a certain percentage back in credit. So once a year we go for a night out and enjoy our reward.

Last night we did just that. It was great. I can't remember the last time I spent 6 hours in a pub. They had live entertainment to boot. We had a decent turnout, but it would have been nice to see a few more faces. Their loss, they missed a great time.

But a very strange thing happened last night. I consumed a large quantity of beer but did not get drunk, not even a little. I have never been a big drinker, not even in university. I think the most beer I had in one night before was 8 and man was I ever sick. But last night I am sure I had more than that, and nothing.

Mind you I did eat a lot as well, and we were drinking draft. I think the smartest thing I did was drink two tall glasses of water at the end of the night. That seems to make a big difference in how you feel the next morning. I was home and in bed by 1:30 and I was able to get to bed without waking Louisa. So that is proof enough that I wasn't stumbling around when I came home.

I stayed in bed until 3 in the afternoon so it is a good thing that I didn't have any plans for today. I think I am allowed one night like that a year.

Lawnmowers and shelving units

This sure has been an interesting week. First of all let me say that I am feeling great. I was limping on Monday and Tuesday but by Thursday I was playing Volleyball at the company picnic. Everyone was real concerned because I had an operation on my heart only a week earlier. But I felt fine and everything was good. I also placed first in the apple bobbing competition. hey, you got to be good at something right. Reminds me when I was in grade 3 and I won a pie eating competition at the local community center.

Louisa finally broke me down and we purchased an electric lawn mower this week. Last year when we moved in I insisted on getting an old fashioned push reel mower. It is a lot of work and takes forever but I was happy with it. Last weekend I was unable to cut the grass because of my operation. I was going to pay the neighbor's kid to cut it for me. Louisa decided she wanted to prove to me that she could do it, even though I didn't want her to. She practically killed herself but she got it done. She vowed that we would get an electric lawn mower. After much convincing we finally did by one at Canadian Tire.

We also went to Zellers and bought a 6 cube console for the kitchen. Louisa built it with my guidance. I interpreted the instructions and she did most of the assembly. So Louisa learned the joy of assembling furniture. We even had to disassemble it half way through because we put a couple pieces in upside down. All part of the experience. It was a lot of fun. We hadn't taken the time to do something like that together for some time.

Louisa and I spend so much time together we sometimes forget to take time to do simple things together. We commute together, we work together, we take break together, we eat lunch together... we are together almost 24/7. When we come home from work typically I spend the evening in the basement and she stays on the main floor. Sometimes I think we spend so much time together that we tend to take each other for granted. As a newly married couple I think it is important that we don't let that happen.

Last nights furniture assembly was a nice reminder that we need to take time to enjoy each others company. So tonight we are going to Carnivàle Lune Bleue. It is a 1930's style carnival that is in town complete with sideshows, a big-top main event, and authentic 1930's midway. I can't wait.

Louisa and I have been going through a lot of hard times since our wedding. There has been so much illness with us, friends, co-workers and loves ones. We are constantly worried about someones health and well-being. Our surgeries may be behind us but there are many people close to us who are not out of the woods yet. We pray for them daily.

Out of Town Visitors

Last weekend we had some out of town visitors come and stay with us. My friend Gavin from high School, and his girlfriend came to stay with us. They live in Toronto and we met up with them on our last visit there. Alison is in a choir and they had a concert at the Blacksheep Inn in Wakefield Quebec.

I had never heard of this place but it turns out that it is quite the place for live entertainment. It is a bit of a drive to get to it, and not that much to see, but the town is cozy and it seems like this place has a good reputation for quality entertainment.

So they drove up on Friday and the concert was Saturday. Alison had to be there for 1:00 to rehearse and whatnot. Gavin and I decided to head back in to Ottawa for some shopping before the concert. We should have stayed in Wakefield because we spent most of the time driving and ran out of gas. Gavin realized that the tank was empty on out way back to Wakefield. We coasted into a service station on fumes. It was full service and when Gavin stopped the car the attendant asked him if he could pull forward some more. Gavin just laughed and said probably not.

When we finally made it back to the Blacksheep Inn we had a heck of a time finding parking. Then just as we are about to go in we saw a car in the parking lot and the two girls inside were waving trying to get our attention. We both looked at each other, thinking that they were trying to get the attention of the other. Then I realized that one of the girls was a co-worker of mine. Her and her friend had come for the concert. What a small world.

The concert was good. Afterwards we went to the house of the organizer for Goat stew. The other group performing was a youth group doing African drumming and dancing. The Goat stew was part of a traditional African feast we were invited to attend. I had never had goat before so of course I was eager to give it a try. After all the many country foods I ate up north I am up to try just about anything.

The had planned on driving home on Sunday but the region was blasted with a massive winter storm. We ended up getting a total of 37 cm of snow. They had no choice but to spend another night and left Monday morning.