Bob's Place To Share

2003-11-25T23:17:00.000-04:00

Life Is Great
Topic Inspired By Chandra

Like a barefooted walk on a soft sandy beach to the sound of waves crashing up against the rocks. Like the feeling I get when I wake up to see a new day and go to sleep exciting for another to come.

Life is great.

The sound of a fine tuned piano playing one of Beethoven masterful pieces. The voice of my grandmother telling me how much I mean to the voice of my parents letting me know I have done well.

Life is great.

Like the feeling of pride when I lend a helping hand to the sense of honor I feel to have such amazing friends. Like the taste of good food to the taste of a good drink.

Life is great.

The smell of freshly mowed grass to the aroma of freshly cut flowers. From the look of ocean waters to the taste of fine wine.

Life is great.

Like the way I feel after a hot shower to the feel of softness on my face after a clean shave. Like the way I feel when I make someone smile to the glow in my eyes when someone makes me feel good.

Life is great.

Like the atmosphere around a cool fall evening bonfire. Like the taste of a popsicle on a hot summer day to the sound of rain pounding on the roof during a stormy spring night.

Life is great.

The thought of living many more years to the mere vision of one day having a family. From knowing I live in our worlds best country to the feeling I get when I think about one day visiting others.

Life is great.

Born in 1980, I sit here today at the age of 23 years old knowing that I am incredibly lucky. Life has been fairly good to me and with years and years to follow in the future I am always excited for a new day to come. There is so much to see, so much to do, so so much to be apart of.

It is simple. Life is great.

Take care all...

2003-11-23T00:21:00.000-04:00

Michael Jackson - A Monster In My Mind

I know I know. Nothing has been proved yet but I have always had an eary feeling about Michael Jackson. He is by no means a normal person and this latest unfolding just might show his true colors. Who else can dangle their baby over the balcony of a hotel room and not have any punishment given? It is obvious that Michael Jackson because of his name has gotten a way with a lot. It appears that it would be coming to an end and it is about time.

It was ten years ago that the same information was brought forward against Jackson. No one testifed and it was settled out of court. Because the child at that time did not go through a trial many believed that he was innocent. This time it will be different. The child will be going to trial to relay the same information that was relayed to his counsellor. The latest developpments all came from a child who was attending a regular therapy session. During one of them he revealed what Michael had done to him thus creating the investigation that led over 70 law enforcement representatives searching his Neverland Ranch and home. While conducting the search there were multiple things found that include:

- Video tapes
- The only way to get into the spare bedrooms in Michael's home was to go through his own bedroom
- A secret room in his house that had candle's and a number of photographs of young boys

That is 3 out of the many finding's that law enforcement discovered while searching his residence at the beginning of it's investigation. Do we know what is on the tapes? Do we know what the photographs completly entail? Do we know why you have to go through his own bedroom to get into the spare bedrooms in his house? No we don't know the answers to these questions but it gives off a strong feeling of something being wrong.

Many people discuss how he is now living a childhood that he in the past did not get to live. It would be completly understandable if he did but being over 40 years of age and having sleep overs with 12 year old children, allowing them to sleep in his bed with him, the photographs, the video tapes, etc is completly inappropriate. This sounds like a case of Michael Jackson being obsessed with children more than anything else to me.

Time will tell, the trial with disclose a lot to all of us. In my mind Michael Jackson is a monster and it just may now come out. There are too many things that he does that is completly inappropriate. After his first occasion of this information coming out Macauley Culkin came out and said that he is a good person and very charitable to children. This time when asked Culkin did not say that at all. Makes you wonder.

So many things do not play in his favor. From leading people from the psychology field saying that he has done and continues to do inappropriate things not realizing that he is a full grown male. Child sleepovers, making children walk through his room to get to the spar rooms, a secret room with photographs of children and candles is enough for me to say Michael Jackson has a serious problem and it needs to be dealt with.

I know there are many people who feel the same and I know there are just as many who feel the opposite and that he is a good person. Everyone by all means has the right to feel what they like. I have 2 words to express how I feel about him.

A Monster.

Take care all...

2003-11-13T01:27:00.000-04:00

Why Bush Needs To Put More Focus On The United States
It Is Not The Glory Land He Makes It Out To Be

There has been a lot of information relayed to the world via George W Bush that I do not agree with but nothing more than his bullshit rants on how the United States is the nicest and safest place to live.

After watching “Bowling For Columbine” I have become to understand that he is not in any position at all to preach the above because in reality the United States is the world’s worst nation when referring to weapons and unnecessary deaths.

Michael Moorer did a fantastic job with this documentary. He opened many an eye with his incredible research, fascinating statistics and very upfront and conversations with many of the people who live in the same Country as he. The United States.

Facts show us all that the United States averages over 11,000 gun related deaths a year while other nations such as Canada, France, England, etc average in between 65-120 a year.

Alarming if you ask me.

If George W Bush does not recognize that and begin to do something about it soon then the United States is going to be in a very bad shape. There numbers are growing every year.

I had to talk about this. After watching CNN today and hearing Bush talk his glory I thought it was about time someone talked about how the son of a bitch needs to wake up and realize he has some issues in his own country to deal with as well.

He might want to put some focus on them. He is not in any position to say half the shit he says. Maybe one day when he cleans up his own land he will be but he sure is not in any position right now.

Take care all…

2003-11-09T23:59:00.000-04:00

I know it has been a while since I have last posted. I have always said that I would never post for the sake of posting that I would only ever do it when I had something effective to write about. I am glad to be back and hope you enjoy the latest post.

From A Smooth Highway To A Torn Up Side Road
Like Sands In The Hour Glass, These Are The Days Of Our Lives

Life can take some really unexpected turns on us when we really think about it. One day our lives can be driving down the smoothest highway right in the middle of Paradise on a hot and sunny day and then the next we can be driving down a torn up side street in the outskirts of a tough town.

I will say that I have it really good. I tend to be driving through Paradise a lot more than a tough town. Recently however I found myself driving down one and noticed that it is really not that bad. Maybe it is because I spend most of my time in Paradise that I feel this way, or maybe it is because a tough town really is not a bad place to sometimes visit.

Life is one big classroom with each and every day playing the part of a lesson. Whether we are in sun shiny Paradise or a tough town we are learning life’s lessons. At times when we do, we are educated in a way that is sometimes hard to deal with which is where the tough town comes into play and sometimes we feel positive while it is occurring which is were Paradise is brought into the scheme of things.

Each and everyone one of us has things happen to ourselves that we welcome with open arms and naturally at times we have things that happen in which we wish did not.

We are all going to have our beautiful days in Paradise and we are all also going to have our gloomy ones in a tough town.

Being a very strong individual and holding onto the fact that Paradise is so beautiful and that we will find our way back to it if life takes us for a ride down the torn up side road makes the whole trip to a tough town so much easier.

Life is too short to have an extended stay in a tough town.

Paradise is the place to be. Spend as much time there as you can. I know I do.

Take care all...

2003-10-31T17:21:00.000-04:00

It is simple. Blogger can be shitty sometimes. I had a whole Halloween post ready to go and I lost it.

Shit.

Have a good Halloween all...

2003-10-27T13:38:00.000-04:00

The Old Wives Tale About Swallowing Chewing Gum

Towards the end of the night lastnight I realized that I had chewed about ten pieces of gum throughout the day. I also realized that I swallowed every one of them. I remember when growing up being told that for every piece of gum you swallow it takes 7-8 years for it to leave your body. If that was the case I had about 70-80 years of gum in my system from the day alone and hundreds of years of it in my system if I add up every time I have swallowed a piece of gum in my life.

I decided to research it a little bit to learn more about what happens to our bodies when we swallow gum. Here is what I found out.

Gum does not linger in our stomachs and is infact digestible. Gum is eliminated in the form of human waste in the same way and at the same rate as any other swallowed matter. It comes out the far end relatively unchanged from the form it entered, but the point to make is it does come out on schedule, not 7-8 years later.

Chewing gum unlike a lot of other foods, barely gets smaller no matter how hard or how long we chew it. Its resistance to being broken down by the teeth works to support the fanciful notion that it has special properties which allow it to lurk in the digestive system year after year. Since we know we're not supposed to swallow gum, our imaginations kick in, creating a reason to support why we shouldn't swallow it. Who's imagination kicked in first to come up with the old wives tale that a swallowed piece of gum will remain in your system for years I am not sure.

Gum is not a food. About 15% to 30% of it is gum base, a natural or synthetic indigestible rubbery substance. Vegetable-oil derivatives can be added to keep gum soft. Glycerin maintains moistness. Sorbitol and mannitol add sweetness to sugarless gum, and mannitol is often used to dust the gum, along with starch. Artificial and natural flavorings, colorings, preservatives, sugar, saccharin or corn syrup, can also be added.

Many of us chew gum naturally. Chewing the resin of trees is an ancient habit, so our gum chewing habit has probably always been with us. In 1848, John Curtis of Hampden, Maine, observed loggers chewing spruce resin, and from that sight saw the opportunity for business. He boiled the resin, skimmed it, poured it, cooled it, rolled it, cut it, dusted it with cornstarch, and wrapped it. The gum was priced at a penny for two pieces. Other companies followed, but the paper industry used up too many trees to leave a steady supply of spruce resin for the gum manufacturers, and the industry faltered.

A key event in the history of chewing gum involved the notorious Mexican General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, the very man who ordered the taking of the Alamo and had all its defenders put to death. Santa Anna introduced chicle, a rain-forest tree resin to New York inventor Thomas Adams with the idea of marketing chicle as a rubber substitute. That was not to be, but this particular resin turned out to be more useful as a chewing-gum base. Today the Adams name still appears on boxes of Chiclets. The gum industry took of from there.

A little bit of history on chewing gum for you and some facts in regards to the old wives tale surrounded by swallowing it. I will probably always swallow gum, it just naturally happens but atleast now I know that it will not be lurking in my body for 7-8 years if I do it.

Take care all...

2003-10-24T04:18:00.000-03:00

Simply Amazing What Technology Can Do
The Chance To See And Talk To Someone While Being On Different Sides Of The World Is Coming

Today while reading Ra McGuire's blog at ramcguire.com I came across some extremely interesting information that I want to share with everyone. The information posted on Ra's site is via Die Puny Humans.

Simply amazing.

"A window between cities that allows people hundreds or even thousands of miles apart to meet and talk in real time could make its debut in Britain next year.

Tholos, named after a type of circular ancient Greek temple, consists of a large round screen nearly 10ft high and 23ft wide. Its designers hope to see one of the first two in the world become a new tourist attraction in the centre of London.

The London Tholos would be linked to an identical one in Vienna. Through them, people in both cities will be able to see and hear each other in real time.

The cylindrical structure contains a unique technology that simultaneously transmits and receives high definition live moving images. People standing in front of London's Tholos would see a wrap-around picture of the scene in Vienna. At the same time, a similar London image is displayed in the Austrian capital. Citizens in both countries would be able to face each other and talk via an array of directional microphones and loudspeakers, which keep conversations private.

Effectively, it is like meeting up in the town square - except that you might be on different continents.

There are ambitious plans to expand the system into a network linking at least 16 European cities by 2008, and then others in North America and Asia... "

Take care all...

2003-10-23T15:44:00.000-03:00

There For 68 Years To In The End Be Turned Into A Grocery Store - Unfortunate.
From Hockey Greats Gracing The Ice To Aisles Of Groceries

It was in 1931 when Maple Leaf Gardens (An original six arena) was built at 60 Carlton Street in Toronto, Ontario Canada to be the home of the National Hockey Leagues Toronto Maple Leafs. It served as their home from 1931 up until the end of their 1999 season. At the beginning of it's tenure people would arrive at the arena getting out their old Ford cars wearing top hats and long trench coats, while the music of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr was playing on outside Arena speakers. At the end people would arrive in their Jeep's, 4x4 Trucks, and convertibles listening to Eminem, Dave Matthews and Busta Rhymes.

It served as the home of Toronto Maple Leafs for 68 years. They won 11 of their 13 Stanley Cup Championships while playing in the Gardens. Players like Bobby Orr, Henri Richard, Gordie Howe, Bobby Orr and Wayne Gretzky graced the ice on many occasions to provide incredible entertainement to millions of people.

Now to my point. Recently Loblaws purchased the Gardens and has full intentions in turning it into a Grocery Store and Fruit Market. A main stay in the National Hockey League for over 60 years, home to 11 Stanley Cups and no museum, no historical site yet instead a Grocery store. Hockey is a big part of Canada, we breath Hockey here and to have Maple Leaf Gardens turned into a Grocery Store and Fruit Market is an insult.

Turn it into a Museum, the game has never been bigger in this country than it has been in Toronto. It could very easily be done and with the Hockey Hall Of Fame only minutes away, it would be much nicer to go to the Gardens to see some memorbilia than go their to buy some apples.

Take care all...

2003-10-20T05:24:00.000-03:00

The Simple Things In Life

The lights are turned off, there is one candle burning and I am listening to some of the most relaxed music I have ever heard. My head is tilted back, my eyes are shut and my mind is in a complete state of comfort.

The odd bit of outside air makes it's way into the room. I feel so fresh.

As I lay back I leave everything and enter my own little world. I vision myself laying down outside amongst the tall grass that belongs to an open field. I can see the stars, I can hear the odd crackle in the woods. I am so at peace.

I think about the simple things in life and how much they mean to me. They are rarely thought of but always there and always feel good. My eyes opening in the morning to sunshine streaming through my window, the way my face feels immediately after a good shave, a nice song playing on the radio while getting dressed after I awake. Small in regards to the whole scheme of things but definitely appreciated.

How my body feels after a workout, how refreshed I feel after a shower, the smile on my face after I talk to my grandmother, each and every laugh I share with my friends. There are so many times where we are in the moment but do not really think about it to realize just how much they mean.

Major twists and turns will always be apart of our lives but the small things, the simple things in life will always be there too and no matter what twists or turns we take those simple things when thought of will bring a smile to our faces.

Take a minute to think of a couple, you will come up with so many things that you never realized made you feel good.

Fresh air blowing across your body on a hot day, the smell of something good in the kitchen, the lyrics of a good song, a night out with great friends. The smell of a campfire and a funny movie.

Just a couple that come to mind...

Take care all...

2003-10-15T15:51:00.000-03:00

One Of Our Own Fans

Lastnight the Cubs had a chance to go to their first World Series since 1945. What stopped them from holding onto a 3-0 lead in late in the game with only 5 outs to go?...One of their own fans. Below is an article I located on ESPN.com, a great job writing it by Jayson Stark.

This loss for the Cubs lastnight was not like the New York Yankees losing. The Yankees have had a many of tastes with it comes to winning. We are talking about the Chicago Cubs here, a team who has not won a World Series and had the taste of a Championship win in 95 years since 1908.

I feel sorry for the fan who caught the ball lastnight, he could have possibly cost his, mine and many others beloved Cubs a chance to go to the World Series.

Take a read, it is a great article. Tonight the Cubs and Marlins play game 7 with the winner going onto the World Series. Go Cubs!!!

Fan reaches out and robs Cubs

By Jayson Stark
ESPN.com

CHICAGO --
We don't know his name. We don't want to know his name. We hope no one in Chicago ever learns his name.

We hope he already has joined the witness-protection program. We hope he can start a new life somewhere, rooting for a team thousands of miles from the North Side of Chicago. We hope he forgets. We hope the people of Chicago forget about him. But that will never happen. No way. Because the Cubs lost a playoff game they couldn't lose Tuesday night. And one reason they lost it is because a 26-year-old guy in a Cubs cap saw a baseball coming his way and decided to try to catch it.

If he'd just seen Cubs left fielder Moises Alou no more than a yard away, leaping toward the seats in foul territory, glove outstretched, he undoubtedly would have pulled his hands away. But this was a guy stuck in his own little tunnel. And once he flicked that ball away from Alou's glove, it became a tunnel with no light on either end.
Asked if he would have caught that ball if The Fan hadn't gotten in his path, Alou replied: "I think so -- almost 100 percent. At the same time, I kind of feel bad for the guy now.

"Everybody comes to the ballpark and wants a ball," Alou went on, after the play which kept alive an eighth inning that turned into an eight-run debacle, which turned into an 8-3 loss in Game 6 of the NLCS. "It's unfortunate it happened. I was very upset. I was there. I got there in time. I jumped. I had my eyes on the ball. But everybody who goes to the ballpark wants a baseball. Hopefully, he doesn't have to regret it for the rest of his life."

But with all the national air time The Fan got, how can he not regret it? Only if the Cubs win Game 7, we suppose, and it becomes just another surreal October memory. But how do we know it can ever be that simple?
Asked if he was worried about The Fan's safety after the way he was berated, cursed and abused by his fellow Wrigley-ites, Florida's Jeff Conine said: "Yeah. I am. We're all concerned about that fan. Seriously.
"I couldn't believe, in a game this huge, that a Cubs fan would do something like that," Conine said.
But then, players almost never understand the way fans think, just the way fans almost never understand how players think. "I see what people do for a baseball," Conine said. "They fall on their face. They drop their kids. They spill their beer. They'd do anything for a $10 baseball."

But amazingly, Alou was more understanding of the basic instinct that causes people like this to reach for baseballs when there should be a voice in their heads telling them, "NOOOOOOO." "They don't go to school," Alou said, "to be taught what balls not to touch." Still, this fan touched a baseball he shouldn't have touched. And now the team he roots for might never recover. "From that point on," said Cubs shortstop Alex Gonzalez, "it seemed like everything changed in the game."And by everything, he didn't mean just the outcome. The entire mood of the park changed.

"As a player," said Florida's Mike Mordecai, "your concentration level is so high that most of the time, you really don't hear the fans. You're concentrating on the moment, and you don't hear what's going on around you. But once that fan interfered with the ball, it seemed like it took some of their attention away from us and put it on that guy."
And as that eighth inning careened onward, things got so ugly that security went from trying to protect The Fan to trying to persuade him to leave. Eventually, after resisting, he agreed to be escorted to a holding area inside the stadium. And he didn't even wind up with the ball. "We'll be talking about that guy for a long time," Mordecai said. "We need to send that guy a box of chocolates."

No, they need to send him a beard and a wig and a new set of clothes. We hope he slipped out of Wrigley Field unrecognized and went off into the night in safety. We hope he can live the rest of his life without being known as The Fan Who Cost The Cubs The Pennant.
But that isn't how life works in this world of tabloids and talk shows and cameras that see everything. The Fan didn't wind up with the baseball. But he'll never get rid of the scars. Now the question is: Can the Cubs?

Jayson Stark is a senior writer for ESPN.com.

Great article that sheds so much light on what the one play really did. I have cheered the Cubs on for years, since I was a little kid and I will be pulling for them like no one else tonight. The Cubs, their fans, the city of Chicago and Baseball deserves to see the Cubs win tonight and go to the World Series.

Take care all...

2003-10-12T15:41:00.000-03:00

It Has Been 58 years Since Being There, 95 Years Since Winning It

Today the Chicago Cubs take on the Florida Marlins in game 5 of the National League Championship Series. A win will put the Cubs into the World Series for the first time since 1945 and the chance to win a world championship which they have not done since 1908.

Much has happened since the Cubs last played in the World Series which includes the inventions of the color TV, cable TV, computers, the internet, space flight, Elvis, the Beatles, Springsteen, Walkmen, cell phones, lasers, CDs, DVDs, MP3s, VCRs, ATMs, microwaves, Frisbees, credit cards, debit cards, AstroTurf, retractable domes, sliders, splitters and so much more.

Being a fan of the Cubs for so long makes this year incredible. Through the ups and downs the Cubs have hung in tough and now is their time, look out Boston or New Yord because the Cubs are going to the World Series and are going to play their hardest in hopes of winning it.

Go Cubs!!!

Take care all...

2003-10-12T01:46:00.000-03:00

Thank You John Cabot

Normally when we set high expectations for something it rarely seems to reach the level that we have set out. Normally we are left with the feeling of our expectations not being met. Maybe it is because we set them too high, maybe it is because we want it to be something that in reality it is not.

Sometimes our expectations are set high and those high expectaions are exceeded. Case in Point my trip to the Cabot Trail.

Wednesday night I got a call asking me if I would be interested to go around the trail from a great friend Dave who said it would be himself, his fiancÃ© Jenn and her sister who is down from New Jersey to attend their wedding. I immediately got excited and said that I would love to go as I have wanted to for a very very long time. After seeing picture after picture of the world famous trail in which tourists from all over the world come to go around I was now going to get to take pictures of my own.

Cape Breton Island, where the Cabot Trail lies was discovered in 1497 by famed explorer John Cabot. When arriving on the Island he brought many Europeans with him that included a large number of Scots as well as some of the Irish, French and English. Cape Breton has since become a stronghold of Gaelic culture, some say more fiercely Scottish than Scotland. The Cabot Trail named after the individual who discovered it was first driven on in 1932 by Reverend R.L. MacDonald and to this day is world famous and extremely popular with tourists. It's beauty, unique scenery and scottish feel makes people come to our Island not once, not twice but multiple times, it simply grows on you.

I want to thank Dave, Jenn and Terri for giving me such an amazing day. There truly is no place like Cape Breton Island, not only is the scenery incredible but so are the people. You truly are what Cape Breton is all about and I really thank you for thinking of me when you planned this trip.

Below for everyone is a link that will take you onto Google and show you many images of the Cabot Trail. Please take a look, you will not be disappointed. Today over lunch the guys and I noticed that a cruise ship had docked. I hope part of their trip is seeing the Cabot Trail because it is definitly something that cannot be compared to anything else and anyone who is here should take the opportunity to take in what is so breath taking.

On an ending note, the Chicago Cubs are one win away from going to the World Series. The last time they were there was in 1945 in which they lost. The last Championship they won was in 1908, I am like a little kid on Christmas day watching them play and have the opportunity that is right now in front of them. Go Cubs Go!!!

Take care all...http://images.google.ca/images?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=Cabot+trail

2003-10-03T23:43:00.000-03:00

Rekindling Of Christmas Memories From An Unlikely Source

Remember when you were a little kid and you asked for something specific for Christmas and did not get it? Remember how much loss you felt?
I had that feeling tonight for the first time since I was probably six years old and did not get the convertible I asked for. All year I have been cheering my favorite sports team on and for the first time in 5 years they have reached the post season. For the first time in 14 years they have a chance to win the National League Championship and for the first time 95 years they have the chance to win the World Series. Throughout the whole week I have been on the tips of my toes in excitement for their first round series with the Atlanta Braves to start.

Game one went to the Cubs and game 2 went to Atlanta, so I knew tonight's game was going to be a big one as the first team to win 3 games moves onto the National League Championship series next week. All week I have been looking forward to Friday night's game, a night that I am off and can watch it. I sat on my couch with a drink and some snacks feeling like a little kid at Christmas and what happens to me? The fuckin game is in a rain delay. Talk about a major piss off, I remember myself saying every word in the book for the minute following as I laughed in disbelief.

Talk about disappointment, but atleast it did not last too long. After about 45 minutes the rain delay ended and so did the memories of a bad childhood christmas. Rememeber when you were a child and you asked for something specific and after opening all your gifts it appeared like you did not get it but you were then told to go and look in the hall closet to see that you did. That is the feeling I am having now so Christmas is still with me. At the beginning the game was not there but in the end it was.

Thank #@#%.

Go Cubs!!!

Take care all...

2003-09-27T23:53:00.000-03:00

Cape Breton Island - Magical

As I sit here right now and listen to some of my favorite music I am taking some time to reflect on where I am right now and how happy I am. I know I am most known for my crazy antics, my nights out, off the wall jokes, etc, but I also have a sensitive side to and Cape Breton Island really does bring so much of that out of me.

No jokes tonight, no crazy remarks just me talking about how much this place means to me.

When I moved here I left behind many great friends and an amazing family. With all of them being 24 hours away one would think that I miss them very much. Well that is true, I miss them like you would not believe but I also recognize how good I have it here and how lucky I am. People often here me say that Cape Breton Island is so magical, to the extent where I will never leave. That could not be more true. I would live here in a fridge box on the side of the road before I would move back home to the city and live in a nice house. I was meant to be here, what I am about is right here along side me on this Island and I would not give it up for anything.

I used to play baseball back home and enjoyed it but here I can play baseball with the smell of ocean in the air. I used to walk downtown at home, here I can walk downtown and have people I don't at all know ask me how I am doing. I used to see lobster in the grocery stores back home, here I see it in the grocery stores and know it came from the ocean waters that lie minutes away from my home. Back home people say "Hey how is it going" just like many people from other places would say it. Here people say "How is it goin by" which is unique only to Cape Breton.

There are so many thing's that allow Cape Breton Island to stand out from everyone where else. I know to many of the locals the ocean, amazing people, scenery, etc is the norm but to me it never get's old and I never take it for granted. Your reading about a guy who came to Cape Breton Island from a city in Ontario where normally people are going to a city in Ontario from Cape Breton Island. I came here because it seemed like it was the place for me to be, an adventure for me to take seeming I had never been here before and did not know a single person.

I sit here now like I always have realizing that it was the best thing I have ever done. I know so many people who I appreciate so much and can call amazing life long friends. From day one they have allowed me to be down to earth Bob and also crazy Bob. They come to me when they need something and they always let me know I can go to them when I need something myself.

I have had over 7,000 readers come to this page since late June of this year and I just thought it was about time I talked about what inspires me the most. Cape Breton Island.

Later by...lol...that is my Cape Breton lingo.

Take care all...

2003-09-25T00:37:00.000-03:00

Some People Are Just Completly Nuts!!!

I just got finished watching the 2 hour season premier of "The Bachelor". One guy who gets to interact with 25 women. Sounds good right?...Damn right it does, lucky bastard he is but let's not also forget that....

FACT #1 - Some people are right out to lunch.

FACT #2 - Let's face it. Going on a reality television show to meet our Mr/Mrs right is silly. We are not going to find them there, it is all a game in which everyone is trying to win. No one is being themselves, they are being who they need to be in order to impress the person/people their trying to convince.

As I watched tonight I noticed person after person saying they loved this individual after speaking to him for 2 mins. Are they fuckin out of their mind or are they just out to lunch? A 2 minute conversation is not going to decide whether you love someone or not. Logically love entails so much more. It involves personality traits too and I would think they are more so important than anything and take time to reveal and experience. That is just my opinion.

FACT #3 - Some of the individuals tonight were some of the craziest people I had ever seen. The ones who he chose to keep around were naturally happy and excited, that of course would be the reaction of anyone who was in the same situation they were. But some of the ones sent home were nuts, hysterical and many of them had this sick look on their face. A look that we may all see if our family dog of 15 years got hit by a big fuckin truck with huge tires. The dog is ok, smile because life goes on.

We should never let someone else bring us down. The actions or words of someone else should never depict whether we ourselves are happy or not. Only our actions and our words should play ownership to how we feel about ourselves.

I just found it extremely amusing seeing all these people cry 2 litres of tears because someone they spent 2 mins with did not chose to spend anymore time with them. It even goes to the extreme where one of them possibly tries to commit suicide. Confidence is number one, if you don't have that you are not ready to be with someone else in my mind. Accepting the positive and what you are looking for is the easiest part. Accepting the rejection and disappointment is the hardest but most important.

The old saying.."If it is meant to be it will be" is so true. If we are strong we are unbeatable at the best and worst of times. If we are weak we are beatable at any time. I would think strong is the way to go.

Take care all...

2003-09-21T17:14:00.000-03:00

A Full Day Of Fun With Friends And "The Drink"

Another great day yesterday that began at the ball fields on the far side of town. It was the first annual Island call center tournament which had 7 teams there to compete for the championship and most of all to play for the charities that were being supported.

The day began at 9am at the field where our first game was to be held. I cracked open a Keith's beer and remembered telling myself "Bob get some food in your stomach when you can because this is going to be a looonng day". After having a couple of beers and winning our first game 17-1 I made my way home inbetween games to make myself a bacon and eggs breakfast. It was great until I had a glass of rum shortly after it. I quickly forgot about how good it tasted and immediately began enjoying the new found taste of my drink. I should say drinks, I believe I had 3-4 of them before game 2.

I made it back to the field for our second game at 12noon with a 2L Sprite bottle mixed half and half with the trusty lemon rum and sprite. We ended up winning game 2 by a score of 7-2. I could not stop laughing, my drinks were tasting good and I was having a great time with everyone. It was such a great day to play baseball and an even better day for a great group of people to get together and hang out and share some drinks.

We won game 3 but I was definitly feeling it afterwards. A big collision at first base has me sitting here today feeling like I am 92 years old. The play started with a ground ball hit to shortstop that was bare handed by our player. He threw the ball over towards first and it was a little high so I jumped for the ball hoping to have my feet land down on the bag in time for the out. The fact is that the ball was thrown to high for me to catch so that did not at all happen. What happened is that when I jumped the player ran right square into me nailing my side and kidney and throwing me a good distance, about 5 feet from the bag when it all ended to be exact. I came down hard on my shoulder and back and instantly felt some pain but not too much due to the "sprite" I had been drinking for the past couple of hours.

I feel it today, I will not tell you I don't because I really do. We ended up winning our 3rd game and moved onto our 4th in which we won as well which took us into the finals. By this time I am feeling great, all the sore muscles in my body were non existent as I had gone through about a quart of rum throughout the day. I laughed so hard on so many occasions probably for no apparent reason. I am always a happy and smilin guy for the most part so when I drink I am even more so. I really did have a great time playing, I love the game so much.

We made it to the finals and lost out by one run losing by a score of 2-1. After saying goodbye to everyone I made my way to the liquor store to pick up some more drink and then home to shower so I could begin the night off before heading to the hall for the get together with everyone.

I thought I drank a lot at the tournament, well I did but I definetly matched it at home I have to say. We had about 7-8 people over at Steve's for a pre party get together and Terry and I as usual got into the shots. He had me doing shot after shot after shot. We went through a lot of Sambucca, almost a pint of Peach Snapps and a quart of Sour Puss.

Conversation Of The Night
Steve - You have very nice baby blonde hair and blue eyes
Girl - I have brown eyes
Steve - Well they are blue in the dark

LOL

Just prior to 11pm we arrived at the hall and there was a good number of people there. I grabbed a drink and began socializing with the many people I recognized and the many I did not know at all. I was pretty sore at that point from the day on the fields and I was a little sun burnt as well but I still managed to get out on the dance floor for a while which was good. I will admit I am not the greatest dancer in the world but I can keep up, I have some game. I remember at one point in the evening someone saying to me " I never knew you could move your body like that. You always seem so layed back". I laughed and said " I can't dance, I just have a lot of energy I like to throw around on the dance floor from time to time."

We left at 12:30a-1:00a and went down to the store where Steve and I picked up some pizza burgers and then headed back to the building. We all hung around for a bit and shot the shit until eventually everyone made there way home for the night to sleep.

I woke up this morning feeling great until I stepped out of bed and noticed that my back was really sore. I could barely dry myself off this morning when I got out of the shower hence the mentionning of me feeling like I am 92.

All in all it was a good day and in fact a good weekend that included:
- a day of baseball
- a lot of drinks shared with some really good people
- a guy at one of the local bars approaching me trying to sell cheap picture frames, umbrella's and car cables out of a box.
- a dream about me being an alarm clock that went off and would not stop.

To finish it off I will be laying back tonight and completly relaxing. It is time to rejuvenate a little bit.

Take care all.....

2003-09-17T13:28:00.000-03:00

Fall And The Coming Of October Only Means One Thing

If was on top of a mountain I would shout it out as loud as I could. If I had air time on the radio I would announce it to everyone, if I had the ability to post advertisement on the world’s most looked at billboards I would post it in the biggest and boldest letters I could find.

Fact is I do not have the ability to do any of that so I am going to write it right here for everyone to read in size 12 font and Times New Roman lettering.

Ok here it goes.........

The major league baseball playoffs are approaching. October may be the month of my birthday but to be honest the playoffs are what makes the month for me.

The Chicago Cubs are in the race for a playoff spot and I am very excited. You see I have been a Cubs fan since I was a little kid and the team has not won a Championship in over 80 years. Every year they make it to the playoffs which has not been often they are getting closer.

I am a life long fan of the Cubs and will be cheering them on every step of the way.

Go Cubs! Or as Harry Carey would say Cubs Win Cubs Win!!!

I sure hope they continue to.

Had to share…

2003-09-15T23:41:00.000-03:00

This, That, And Everything

Ahh yes time to write again. I appologize for the delay in between entries.

Tonight something kinda funny came up in discussion that I wanted to share. Why is it that people with money at times do stupid things?

We were talking about Wynona Ryder tonight and how she is worth millions of dollars yet she found the need to shop lift 15 dollars worth of cosmetics. How funny is that when you think about it. Someone who could afford to buy the whole dept store she was in decided to steal a measly 15 dollars worth of cosmetics and get arrested for it. No one ever said everyone who has money is intelligent. Who knows maybe she left her wallet with 25,000 dollars in it at home on the 30,000 dollar marble table with gold trim that sits just inside of her door.

My head is full of information right now, I think I am just going to throw it all on this page.

- I will never play proline with Mike again, damn bastard.
- My grandmother fell and broke her foot, she is having a pretty hard time with it.
- I had a dream lastnight about going for a walk around the cabot trail and having a moose pick me up by his antlers so I did not have to walk.
- I love Cape Breton Island
- I may have the opportunity to go around the Cabot trail this fall. I am really looking forward to it.
- I have drank approx 4 litres of water a day over the past week. Why I have not pissed myself into next month I am not sure.

Onto other things.

I cannot wait to play baseball this weekend, I am really looking forward. Every week for the past month a good group of guys from work have been meeting up to play 3 hours of baseball. I enjoy it so much, there is nothing better than hitting the field to play some ball so the tournament should be good to say the least.

Ryan Malcolm should win Canadian Idol tomorrow night. If things were based on only tonight's singing Gary out performed but on an overall outlook Ryan should definitly win.

Oscar De La Hoya was robbed on Saturday night when the decision went to Shane Mosley. There was no way Mosley won that fight, I think when his trainer in the 12th round told him he had to knock out De La Hoya to win says a lot. Oscar definitly should have won the decision and it was obvious that something went on in the background to cause the decision to go to Mosley. A disgrace. I am slowly losing faith in boxing.

The Chicago cubs are in a race for a playoff spot. They have a great young team this year with the coaching intelligence of Dusty Baker who can take them far if they play well.

There is a porn on the dish right now called "Poetic Justass", lol.

Imagine dinosaurs were around in today's world. That would be nuts, to think about seeing Tyrannosauras Rex's and Brontosauraus's stroaming through the woods instead of the deer and squirels we see today is a crazy thought.

I wore my glasses today for the first time in a while due to my eyes bugging me. I guess looking at that eclipse in grade 8 did not do wonders eh.

I could go on and on I really could, but I think I will end the entry now or else I will be here all night. Your reading about a guy who always has a lot on his mind. I am constantly thinking.

Take care all...

2003-09-09T23:03:00.000-03:00

Canadian Television...What A Joke!

It was only a couple of years ago when American Idol hit the television and instantly became a North American hit. Seeing it's success inspired Canadian television executives to launch a version inside of Canadian which naturally was called Canadian Idol. I mean how wrong could they be right, with American Idol being a huge success obviously Canadian Idol would follow in it's footsteps right.

Well here is fact #1. Probably 98% of the television programs we watch are American based and on American television channels. Why? Because Canadian television for the most part is terrible, horrible, and the quality of our programming to say the least is very amateur. This was definitly proved tonight during a live telecast of Canadian Idol.

Tonight was supposed to be a pretty big show with the contest down to only 3 competitors. As usual before revealing who was eliminated they gave everyone a chance to sing one last time. First up was Gary Beals who sang a Stevie Wonder hit. All went fairly smooth throughout his performance but that smoothness was soon about to come to an end. Second up was Billy Klippert from Calgary who began singing a Stone Temple Pilots song. About half way through his performance he stopped singing, he had to because of his music skipping. Everyone immediately looked at eachother and said the exact same thing. "How embarassing is that". As we laughed and shook our heads I really did come to the realization that Canadian television is very sub par. Just when we stopped laughing it happened again. It was now Ryan Malcolm's turn to sing, and his performance began well as he opened up with a couple of lines of a famous Neil Diamond hit. The sad part is that those couple of lines were the only ones he got to sing as his music as well began to skip. His performance like Billy's was cut short and turned into a commerical break.

Fact #2. How embarassing. Millions of people watching at home, got to see a live telecast of Canadian Idol which is supposed to be one of Canada's premier television programs put itself in the dumps as 2 out of 3 songs skipped live on national television.

Fact #3. No doubt we watch 98% of our television on an American channel, our television industry is shit with little to no talent at all. First mistake was they had very little singing talent on the show now the participants left cannot even sing there songs because the music is skipping. Maybe they should stop using the CD's as coasters, or instead of using a cheap 95$ CD player they bought at Zellers purchase something a little more professional. Maybe then our television programs will be a little more tolerable.

Embarassing if you ask me. That is something you would never see on American television.

Outside of Canadian Idol's terrible progamming we also have another good example of how good our television is. Open Mike With Mike Bullard. What a fuckin joke that is. I think tonight Mike's guest are John Smith who owns the John Smith Diner on Banko Street and June Richards who owns a local Apple Orchard. I think maybe I have recognized 1guest he has ever had on his show. The only reason I recognized him was because he was the one who sold me a program outside of the Skydome before attending a Blue Jays baseball game. lol, I can only laugh. We have so much talent yet we are putting it all to waste. Example Ben Mulroney. He is garbage like his father former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney is. Yet we use him to host a big national program when we have so many talented people out there who could do us proud.

Honestly take a second to think of your favorite television programs. How many of them are Canadian? The majority of people will probably come up with one which is most likely the news.

I could go on and on with this one, it is frustrating to say the least. Canada is the number one country in the world. Were better than this.

Take care all...

2003-09-08T22:27:00.000-03:00

I Never Would Have Thought

Recently I wrote a post about searching for my name on the internet with curiousity of what the other people associated with my name have done. After realizing that the search came up with many results I thought it would be fun to post a lot of them making a joke about everything that I have done.

Today I had someone approach me informing me that they also ran a search under their name on the internet and something truly amazing came out of it. Below is the email I recieved, I think that it is just best if it is read.

Recently, I had a conversation with Bob, and he was telling
me about a Google search he did on his name.
He came up with some great findings on people who shared his name -
We laughed a lot at some of them!

I was inspired!!

I know my name would have no matches found on Google -
My first and last names are both quite unique.
So I searched just my last name to see what would happen.

I found lots of matches - most of them linking back to my cousin who is a
sound engineer in a recording studio in New York.

I kept filtering through and came across an e-mail address for a girl who
shares my last name.
Well - I thought - I have nothing to lose, and everything to gain.
So I e-mailed her - hoping that the address would still be valid.

It was.

2 days later I received a response from my cousin - Tenika.
It turns out that she is 12 years old and very interested in
the Canadian side of the family and eager to stay in touch.

I then passed her address along to my 12 year old daughter, who
can't wait to get to know her "new" cousin.
My daughter e-mailed her today, and is waiting to hear back.

Potentially, this can turn into a life long friendship, between 2 girls
- cousins - one in Canada - one in the United States - who may have never
even known each other existed - if not for Bob.

Because he took the time to share his search with us, to share a laugh.
Because he made it sound like so much fun, we just had to try.....
Because he has the ability to motivate people..................
He had a hand in bringing together 2 branches of a family -
2 girls who now get to learn all about each other - that may
have never come to meet otherwise.

How can you thank someone for that??

Thank You Bob!!

Receiving this email and hearing about this story has completly made every past, present and future post completly worth while. I have always enjoyed writing and always felt that it was worth while to myself but after having this story shared with me I can see that not only did my writing do good for me but it also did some good for someone else. It came as a complete surprise to me and I will never forget about it.

Just when you least expect something truly incredible to happen to yourself it does. Amazing. I am very thankful for the story being shared, it is something I will always hold onto.

Take care all...

2003-09-06T00:51:00.000-03:00

A Little Bit About Me

I have been writing for quite a while now and thought it was about time for me to tell everyone a little bit about myself. You all learn a lot about me through reading my posting's but I thought that if I took some time to provide everyone with some direct facts that it would give everyone a chance to know a little more.

- 50 things about Bob -

1. I am 22 years old
2. I have 1 sister and 1 brother
3. My parents have been married for 28 years
4. I played a minor league baseball game in Olympic Stadium
5. I have 6 golf holes in one
6. I love sports - You name it and I watch it and play it
7. I love to cook
8. I ran up on stage at a Trooper concert
9. Normally you can tell how I am feeling by looking in my eyes - They often speak for me
10. I sponsor a child through Worldvision
11. My favorite food is pasta
12. Favorite movies are Silence Of The Lambs and Scent Of A Woman
13. My favorite color is blue
14. I love the Osbornes - listening to Ozzy attempt to talk is hilarious
15. My grandmother is one of my best friends
16. I cannot wait to one day be a father - The day I find out is the day I will be a very excited guy
17. I live on an Island
18. I would never want to live anywhere else - I love it here and I love the people
19. I love to write
20. I have more plants and trees in my apartment than a rain forest
21. I will be a judge in an upcoming Island Idol singing contest weekly until it is finished
22. The last time I was called a bastard was when I was 5 and stole a chocolate bar from the store. My mom was not pleased
23. At age 12 I got caught handing in a story I said I wrote when I didn't. It was one by Robert Munsh - I did not know he was known
24. I used to have a Friday night show on an Ontario radio station - that ended when I told an inappropriate joke on air
25. The first music concert I ever went to was Pink Floyd
26. I used to have nightmares as a child of myself almost falling over Niagara Falls
27. I do not like President Bush. I think he is War hungary like his father was
28. I do not like Jean Chretien. He is almost as stupid as George Bush is
29. I do not like any politician. They all lie, it is the ones who get away with the most that win elections
30. I first learned how to swim when my grandmother threw me in my parents pool and said swim or else
31. I love psychology
32. I am all about having a good time. Life is all about having fun
33. My family lives 24 hours away from me
34. I see dead people - kidding
35. I believe in ghosts
36. I have been to 50 major league baseball games
37. The last place I vacationned at was Clearwater Beach, Florida
38. My friend Lawson's newborn baby arrives in a couple of days with it's mother from Ontario - I am real happy for him
39. I recently acquired a home gym
40. I am brutally honest - I always say what I feel
41. I really want to go on a Whale watch. I have not seen much of the Island since arriving. That is one thing I would like to do
42. I need to find someone to do that with
43. I love a good joke
44. I am sensitive but also in many ways extremely strong
45. I would like a cold glass of milk right now - Since I do not have any and there are no cows close by I will remain wanting one
46. I grew up in the country
47. I would like to do a lot of travelling
48. I enjoy going out to the bars but am also completly ok with staying in too
49. I love life
50. I would not change my life for anything

I hope that has given you an opportunity to get to know a little more about me. I am sure as I continue writing you will continue to learn more.

Take care all...

2003-09-02T00:22:00.000-03:00

Have I Ever Done A lot!

For being only 22 years old I sure have been through and done a lot. Just doing a random search on the internet under my name to refresh myself with some of the thing's I have done has completly opened my eyes and made me realize that I have done way more than I thought I had. There is so much about me I completly forgot about which includes:

- Professor of Low Temperature Physics
- Market Street Railway volunteer coordinator for many years
- Atlanta Studio Pioneer - Inducted into the Georgia music hall of fame.
- Won a year's supply of Uncle Jack's canned corn in 2001.
- Umpired many little league games at Whidbey Field in Milwaukee
- Son of an orphan
- I played baseball for the New York Yankee's in the Mickey Mantle era
- Founded a law firm in 1990
- I usher at a Church in Maryland every Sunday
- I have a son named Terry who recently won carnival employee of the year for the Baltimore region Carnivals association.
- I have done yearly stand up comedian acts in New York and Minnesota since 1989.
- Almost drowned in 1983 as a lifeguard trying to save a women's dog.
- I am the author of the magnificent biography of Ralph Waldo Emerson.
- Chief Operating Officer of Toronto-Bid, which pushed to get the city as the site of the 2008 Summer Games
- West Indies Cricket player of the year in 1987.
- Written extensively for nationally circulated computer trade publications such as Network Magazine and BYTE.
- Wrote "Memoirs of Alexander Campbell"
- Won the Orchard County bakeoff from 1995-2000.
- I own and operate a contracting company.

No one can say I have not done anything. For being the son of an orphan I believe I have done well. Shit, I have no time to myself at all. With my many careers, volunteer time, church services in Maryland, autograph signing's for being the West Indies Cricket player of the year, etc, I am constantly on the go.

Since there is an opportunity for me to go and layback for a while right now I am going to take it. I have to wake up at 5am to open up the contracting offices and law firm so I am not far out of bed.

Take care all...

2003-08-31T22:02:00.000-03:00

Marriage/Commitment

I used to fear marriage/commitment. I did not want to make a mistake. I saw many people get married or commit to one another for the wrong reasons. For sexual reasons, or just because they thought it was the logical thing to do. Then I watched, as they became bitter and petty in regards to their relationship. I looked at older couples and saw mutual toleration of each other. I imagined a lifetime of bickering and could not imagine putting myself or someone else through such a thing. And yet, on rare occasions, I would see old couples who somehow seemed to glow in each other's presence. They seemed really in love, not just dependent upon and tolerant of one another but truly in love. It was a really nice sight, and yet it seemed impossible for myself. I would always ask myself how can they have survived so many years? What keeps love alive in them, when most people seem unable to even stay together, let alone love each other.

When two people first get together, they tend to see their relationship as existing only in the space between the two of them. They find each other very fascinating, and the because of the infatuation they have for one another they do not see much of the outside world only what they are experiencing in their own. As the relationship ages, the outside world becomes important again and sometimes we see things for how they really are. I cannot base a relationship just on what her and I do during our own time. What she does with her time, how she treats others, etc is a big factor in me really determining whether it is going to grow or not. The person she is outside of our relationship, how we are in the outside world is very important and plays a big part. That is why it is so crucial that things are done the right way. This will allow us to determine things at the earliest moment possible. Whether it is a positive or a negative.

Overtime I feel I have learned a lot. The secret seems to be in choosing well. Good people can create a bad relationship, even though they both dearly want it to succeed. It is important to find someone with whom we can create a good relationship with from the beginning. Unfortunately, it is hard to see clearly in the early stages as the majority of people tend to be someone outside of who they really are to initially impress. There also tends to be a sexual hunger that we tend to focus on at times more than anything else. We need to find a way to see beyond this initial sexual fascination and focus on what is most important. Personality. We need to stop thinking with our third leg and start doing the right things. We need to look for what matters.

One of the most important to me is laughter. Laughter tells me how much I will enjoy her company. If we can laugh together, and not at the expense of others but what we during our moments say then I am feeling good about the relationship. If we can make each other laugh, we can always surprise each other. And if we can always surprise each other, things will never get old.

I no longer fear instead I really look forward. I will never rush into it for the wrong reasons, I will always take one day at a time and if it happens, it happens. If I believe in my heart that I have found someone with whom I am able to grow, I will nourish it taking care of it for as long as she allows me too. I have to pick right, if I don't I may one day fear it again when really I would prefer to see myself experience it.

I am 22 years old and feel I am very goal oriented. Many of my goals I have will one day stem from the roots of a family. Before I have a family I need to find someone special. But am I ready to? I am not sure. Starting to put a little more focus on it I guess. Did a lot of thinking today.

Take care all...

2003-08-26T23:09:00.000-03:00

2003 - A Year Not Quite Over And One I will Already Never Forget

Everyone has a year that they will never forget and this one is definitly mine. With it only be 75 percent complete I have already learned more about myself this year than I probably ever will in another. Through faults, mistakes, good deeds and opportunity I have discovered more about myself than I could have ever imagined.

When the year began I told myself that it was going to be 365 days that I will never forget, that I would be true to who I am and do as I wish, that is exactly what I have done. Has everyone enjoyed everything I have said and done? Absolutely not but no one ever will. Aslong as I can go to bed at the end of the day accepting of who I am, I am happy. I have to live with myself, no one else does.

I have determined a number of things this year including:
1. I am a very strong guy
2. I am a very sensitive guy
3. I am only going to live once, I am going to make damn sure I do what I want to.
4. The positive are welcome, the negative are not.
5. I have amazing friends.
6. My friends and I live surreal lives in so many ways.
7. I continue to learn so much through good deeds, mistakes, etc.
8. I cannot wait to find someone who adores me like I will them.
9. I really look forward to one day being a father.
10. I will not be able to choose my best man. Steve and Lawson will both be up there.
11. I love my job. I really care a lot for the people I work with.
12. I really do have a great family.
13. The wisdom my grandmother has and continues to share with me is priceless. I will never take it for granted.
14. My grandmother herself is priceless.
15. I would not change my life for anything.

Take some time to think back on the years, there is always one that sticks out where we have learned so much about ourselves. That is what this year has done for me and there is still 4 months of it to go.

I really just want to say thank you to all of my friends ending this entry off for being who they are, I respect them so much and they have just as much as anything else played a big part in this year being one I will never forget. Lawson having his daughter, Steve playing on stage with Trooper again to Shawn and Meaghan getting engaged. The experiences I have had with my friends and the time I have spent with myself this year has been unbelievable. I have learned so much and with there still being some time until the year I ends I look forward to adding to the experiences I have already had celebrating them all at years end and for many years to come.

Take care all...

2003-08-24T12:47:00.000-03:00

Melanie Doane

Last night I went to a Melanie Doane concert. To be honest when going I was not sure what to expect, as with her out of the limelight for a couple of years to make a new album and raise her child could play an effect in how she performs.

A young guy by the name of Stephen opened up for Melanie and was very good. He had a voice similar to John Mayer sitting on a stool playing his acoustic guitar. Even though I was not a fan of his song choice he definitely can sing, opportunities I am sure will come his way.

Melanie came on stage just shy of 9pm and did a fantastic job. I was very impressed by her talent as she played 5-6 musical instruments and did so while 7 months pregnant. She has a very strong voice with a lot of range, I could have sat there and listened to her all night. Maybe not last night because I was pretty exhausted but on any normal night for sure. I never really thought pregnant women were too attractive or so to say sexy but she was absolutely beautiful.

After the show all I could think about was how disappointed I was that there was not more people there. Melanie Doane is from Nova Scotia and has very strong Cape Breton roots. Her sister was there who teaches music on the Island and her father also has taught a lot of music in Halifax. I felt like going up to her after the show in the lobby and telling her that she deserved much more of an audience. She is so talented and it had to be in ways demoralizing to go out on stage and see so very few there.

Rita McNeil was involved in an outdoor concert on the harbor last night celebrating Cape Breton music which most likely played a part in the minimum audience at the Doane show.

For anyone that was at the show last night I hope you enjoyed it like myself. If you were not there you missed out on a great performance and I strongly suggest you see her when she comes back. Below are just a few of her accomplishments.

- Her songs have been featured on television shows Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dawson's Creek, That's Life and Party of Five
- Best New Artist honors at the Juno Awards
- Four top 40 singles
- Multiple successful albums

Not high honor credentials yet but this has all been done in a short period of time as she is fairly new to the music scene. Talented she is and I am sure many more great things are to come. Great thing is she is one of Nova Scotia’s own.

Go see her if you get the chance, you will not regret it.
www.melaniedoane.com

2003-08-22T11:46:00.000-03:00

Curiousty Takes Over Again
It is Friday morning and I have had little sleep. Once again after returning from Old Branch Road I am restless and have not been able to sleep much at all. With my video camera completly charged we were off to once again experience the road and this time on a night where it was completly dark outside, no stars in the sky, etc. Earlier in the evening a friend told us about this old farmhouse that he went too years ago. He along with a couple of friends were made aware of it while over hearing a conversation at a local Tim Horton's. He would not really get into much detail in regards to what happened when he went to the house but was very adament on not going into it with us, that it took him month's to get over what happened to him when he initially did and he did not want to experience it again.

We needed to see this house which was way out in the North end of a local town in the middle of absolutely nowwhere. After deciding that we were going to experience it before going back to Old Branch Road this night was sure to be one to remember. Before leaving I took my video camera out and let everyone say one thing in it before heading off. Eric said " We will return I don't believe in ghost's", Rick said "Sandra if I do not come back thank you for everything" and Terry said "Nobody lives forever".

As we make our way out to the old farmhouse Rick fills us in on the story of Old Branch Road that he has always been accustom too. The story is that a girlfriend went to a party with her boyfriend down Old Branch Road many years ago and he ended up breaking up with her while they were there. She was extremely upset and tried to leave asking everyone who was departing for a drive, no one gave her one. Feeling that no one liked her she ended up hanging herself in a tree down the road, story is to this day she has never got out of the Old Branch Road and to this day will look for a drive out by coming out of the woods to tap on car windows.

As we approached the road to our first location the only thing we past in a 30 km stretch before was an old school house which was completly boarded up and had 2 old rusted swing sets outside infront of it. I was already beginning to feel a little creepy as we reached the drive way to the house. It is right before a bridge and very close to the water, extremely narrow with tree's over hanging at all times. It was completly dark and the drive way was very long in length going into the woods, way back into the woods before it ends. I felt like I was going to puke when I saw it, my stomach completly turned over when I realized how long it was, how far back in we needed to walk, how long it is to run out if we need too and that there is absolutely nothing around for kilometres. We got out of the car and brought the video camera with us, as we made our way out we video taped the road and talked about ghost's and what we believed in and what we did not. Now it was time to experience. Rick stayed back at the car, not willing at all to be apart of the house, he actually jumped out of the car as we begin to pull in abit saying he was not going any further and would wait at the road. As we walked down the drive way, as tree's brushed up against our arms we noticed that the flashlight was quickly dying off and we could barely see at all. We decided at that point we were going to turn around and make our way back to the car and attempt to drive in as much as I we could in hopes of reaching the house. In knowing that we needed to go in the back door of the house due to their being no vacant doors in the front we wanted to get as close as could to make this was easy as possible on one another. We all jumped into the car as Rick stayed back at the road waiting for us. The original plan was to have him with the car and if something happened he could start it up and by the time we ran back we could be off on the road in the matter of seconds. That plan was gone. About 100 feet in around a corner we crossed some old railroad tracks as we made our way to the house. After driving for a good period of time we realized that there was a way for us either to go forward, to the left or to the right and that there was going to be alot of walking needed because after the driveway it appeared there was a long narrow path that was going to take us to this old farmhouse on the water. With our flashlight almost out and us not being able to pick up new batteries due to us being in the middle of nowwhere and it being very late we made our way back deciding that we would return another night. We meant back up with Rick and made our way to Old Branch Road. We soon arrived there seeing the old Cemetary on the left hand side of the road, lit up by little orange lights, the only light we saw during our stay. It was pitch dark out with not a star in the sky. We decided we were going to drive the road so we could go through it's entire length. Making our way through was talked about it's stories, the people who have driven through the scenic route on a nice day to the people who hung themselves on cold nights. We did not see anything tonight, the footage shows how dark the road is, how enclosed it with the tree's hanging over the road, etc.

We are going to return the old farmhouse and look forward to it. Our curiousity has been activated, can we experience what our friend and some others have? Everytime we asked him he said "I will share with you what happened after you experience it for yourself. I want to see if you go through what I did ten years ago when I was there". We are also going to return to Old Branch Road, a scenic Trans Canada Route during the day and a dark cold story told road at night.

Even though we did not get anything on our footage, the possibilities will be endless when we go back and have light. There is a lot of darkness on tape along with some voice and discussion, next time there will be the same but with a lot of vision. Due to it being so dark and not having any light with us the only footage really taken was in the vehicle on the way out and as we discussed the stories behind the places, and other experiences we have heard about.

I am a believer.

Creepy in deed and not over yet. The adventures will continue.

Take care all...

2003-08-21T21:20:00.000-03:00

The Old Branch Road Project #2
Tonight will be the second time where I go back to the Old Branch Road, no females this time, just a group of us guys. My video camera is charging and will be completly ready to capture the darkness, sounds and possible sighthings that we have been made aware of since our first visit. You see the ghost is hostile towards men but will not bother you if a female is around. Tonight we go back, what will happen, what will we hear, what will we see?

I will share everything with you tomorrow. I will shortly re experience Old Branch Road but this time with a video camera that will capture it all.

Take care all...

2003-08-21T18:23:00.000-03:00

A Wednesday Night Out
Lastnight my friends and I attended a karoake function at a local hall. We do not normally go out during the week and drink but the odd time do make our exceptions. Lastnight was one of them.

I spent most of my afternoon out in the sun playing some golf prior to the night's festivities beginning. This summer I have been out in the sun alot, and it has definitly got the best of me. I am pretty dark, I should begin investing in sunblock to take care of myself a little more. With the amount of sun I have been getting I think that would be a pretty smart idea.

I got home from the golf course and was roasting from the heat and meant up with Terry to do you guessed it, go back outside into the sun. We decided since it was a nice day out we would walk down to the liquor store to pick up our booze. We left my place and made our way through the cemetary, not the place I really wanted to be since our excursion out to Old Branch Road. That and the last time I walked through it was late at night when I went for a run with a friend and tripped and fell way too close to a freshly dug open grave. Needless to say the cemetary and I do not click, we are not great friends, it will not be a standing member in my wedding.

We made our way down a couple of streets and through a couple paths before ending up at the liquor store. As we walked towards it I was amazing yet again of the fact that there were twice as many cars in the liquor store parking lot than there was in the grocery store lot. For anyone who has never been here, this place can party, the people that live here are some of the best people in the entire world. If you want to have a great time come to the Island.

After getting our booze we made our way back home and began sharing a couple of drinks at about 5:30p. Steve came home from work and soon joined us, followed by others who came throughout the night. After drinking for 5 hours we left for the karoake party at the local firehall. We arrived and noticed that not many individuals were there, outside of our group and another friends group who came from the party he held there was approximently 10 others there. The drinks were still there, the music was too so we were ok and in hopes that others would soon arrive. After a while others did venture in to support the function which was greatly appreciated. Towards the end of the night I remember going up to one of the DJ's and saying "There is not too many people here, I am feeling ill and am going to shortly sing so others will be ill along with me". I shortly after went up and sang with a group of people confidently feeling that I had done just that. For anyone who does not know, I will not be getting a record deal anytime soon.

We left just before 1am to go home. After visiting with Shawn, Maegan, Eric, Cheyenne and Nina for a while I ventured home to sleep. Waking up this morning I realized that I had a pretty interesting dream throughout the night.

I was a ceiling fan in the living room of Kathy Lee-Gifford. As I spun around and around the sound of her voice and laugh was driving me nuts. I kept yelling "Turn me off, flick the switch!" so I did not have to listen to her. If I was turned off I did not hear anything but aslong as I was on and spinning I could. She could not hear me, so I was tortured as I had to sit and listen to her talk and laugh with her children Cody and Cassidy. To do all I could so I did not have to listen to her I ended up using all of my strength to stop spinning eventually breaking myself which made matters even worse. I was taken down from the ceiling and replaced, eventually sitting in a flea markets for days before Star Jones from "The View" bought me. She bought me for 2 dollars and I remember being insulted saying I was worth alot more than 2 damn dollars. Needless to say I had to listen to her sexual endeavors until I used all of my strength to stop spinning and break myself again. I ended up spending days in a flea market once again and woke up before I was ever bought again.

All in all it was an ok night. When the guys get together and hangout it is always a good time, we would never have it any other way.

PS - Good singing Lawson, you too Steve. Also thanks Lee for setting off your car alarm as I watered the grass behind your car.

Take care all...

2003-08-18T10:39:00.000-03:00

The Old Branch Road Project

CAST
Bob
Steve
Terry
Morgan
Eric
Cheyenne

The evening started out fairly normal with myself and a group of friends attending the movies to see Freddy vs Jason. Seeming we all watched the individual movies growing up we thought it would be a good idea to go and see the most recent. The movie was not what I was expecting or hoping for with there being to many moments of comedy meaning that I spent more time laughing during the movie then feeling moments of creepiness. After the movie ended we were a little hungary and decided to stop at Burger King for supper which is where we came up with our next idea for the evening.

Standing out in the parking lot we discussed this place way out in the north end of a local town. It is well known and notorious for being extremely haunted. Stories relayed discuss how many years ago a young couple went down the road for a drive and eventually stopped so he could use the washroom. He got out of the car and never returned, and after waiting for a period of time the young lady got out of the car to look for him. He never was seen again and she ended up freezing to death in the woods. Sources say that if you drive down the road slow enough she will come up and tap on your window looking for a drive. More information was relayed in regards to 11 people hanging themselves from one tree on the road. We all wanted to go out to this place to see what it was all about and split up into 2 cars and begin making our way out.

After searching for the road and not being able to find it we drove until we came across some individuals that we could get directions from. Seeing 3 highschool students walking up the street we pulled over and asked them "Hey guys, do you know where Old Branch Road is?". They replied with "Yes if you go up the street behind you and turn left once you see King's road it will take you right up to the road. When you see the graveyard your there because Old Branch is right across the road". As they said that they were looking at us almost in wonder of why we wanted to go there. So after thanking them we turned around and made our way up to king's road which eventually took us to Old Branch. My body was so full of energy and seeing the road only added to that. It was pitch dark outside, the road was very slim in width and tree's at times over hung making the whole situation very uneasy. Across the road was a grave yard full of unmarked graves.

We had decided that we were going to get out of the cars and walked down the road. As we began walking in, it was noticed that the farther we got the darker it got, we definitly made sure we were in sight of eachother walking in a group no more than 2-3 feet apart. As I walked up the road I at all times had this cold feeling like we were being watched. We continued walking until we noticed a big box that was laying down in the woods a little bit. We stopped and flashed our low powered flash light on it just prior to tossing a rock. When the rock hit the box we all looked at eachother knowing something was in it. We at this time have no idea what was but I can assure you the sound that was made when the rock hit the box was very solid. About ten minutes in we came to a part of the road where tree's really over hung onto the road. As we approached we all had this weiry feeling as if there was something up there standing in the middle of the road. With the flashnight not being strong enough, we had to continue walking to see if our feelings were right. It looked like there was a little light on the inside's of each side of the road but the center was one pitch black dark spot. We finally got there and this very strong sense of something was evident to a couple of us, we soon after turned around to make our way back to the vehicles.

On the way back we were talking about how if there was something there we would like for it to prove itself to us, we wanted to leave knowing that all the stories that have been told could very well be true. About 20 seconds after talking about that a couple of things happened. Terry who went with us threw a rock into the woods making branch breaking noises that scared the living shit out of me and sent Steve running with myself following him as I scream real loud. After we calmed down we continued walking up the road with a little more ease due to knowing Terry threw the rock and sharing some laughs. That is when we walked under the over hanging area again and stopped to hear and big sound of wind cross the road. Hearing that made us begin walking a little faster, making our way back to the car. With adrenalin in our bodies we once again discussed how we would like everything to come out that was there. A very well groomed cat then walked out of the woods to come up to us and follow us all the way back to the vehicles. We finally reached them and the cat sat on the road and watched us get in them and did not move until we pulled away.

We did not think anything of it at the time. On the way home we talked about how we may not have physically seen something but we defintly felt something and heard things on a couple of occasions. Once I got home the uneasy feeling continued, I felt like someone was following me every where I went. It was about 2am in the morning when I received a phone call about some information concerning Old Branch Road. It turns out that it is one of the most haunted locations in eastern Canada and that there is a ghost that consistently spends time on the road who dislikes men and can be very hostile. It also says in the document that if you have a female with you that the ghost will leave you alone. As soon as we read that, we became very uneasy with the situation.

-. Thank god we had Cheyenne there, she probably saved us from going through a lot more.
-. What would have happened if Cheyenne was not there?
-. Where did the cat come from? We were in the middle of nowwhere and it was very well groomed. Was it more than a cat and why did it stay close to Cheyenne?
-. What was in the box?
-. What did we see in the distance under the over hang?

Below is the document that we found on the internet:

"There's an old road here on Cape Breton Island known as the "Old Branch Road" It's supposedly haunted by a few ghosts and at times are said to be hostile. Story says that the ghost dislikes men and will leave you alone if you're with a female."

Do we go back again without Cheyenne? I sure as hell do not want to but there is also a part of me that wants to go back and re experience.

2003-08-13T10:14:00.000-03:00

Why Oh Why

Dreams, what is with the dreams. Why can't mine be normal, like myself winning the lottery or playing in a major league baseball game. Instead my dreams have to be all fucked up and completly off the wall. To be honest in ways it does not surprise me, my friends and I always talk about how surreal our lives are, this is just one surreal aspect of my own. I have fucked up dreams.

The other night I had a dream that I was using the face of my iron to toast my bread. As if that was not enough. just when the dream could not get any weirder I kept doing it until I went through about 2 loafs. After I was done toasting the bread I walked out into my living room to see a lot of people with aprons on sitting in chairs. I asked them why they were there and they told me they had come because they had gotten word of my new invention of toasting bread with the iron and they wanted to taste test the finished product. I looked around the room and noticed that all the chefs were women thinking this could be good, my iron invention could have brought great things to me but that thought quickly left when I noticed they all sounded like Fran Drescher from The Nanny.

I woke up at that point and once I opened my eyes and realized what I had just dreamt I smiled and said to myself "another one to add to the list".

Tonight before I go to sleep I am going to pray and see if I can dream about something normal like winning the lottery I talked about earlier or playing in a professional baseball game. With my luck I would not be surprised at all after praying if I dream about Jesus winning the lottery or playing in a professional baseball game.

Take care all...

2003-08-09T16:19:00.000-03:00

Singing In The Pouring Rain
Day 2 is complete and what a show Trooper put on. Raining harder than it was the first night, the people still came out to see Canada's number one party band. Ra, Scott, Brian, Gogo and Frankie love coming to the Island and the Island loves having them hear.

The pre concert festivities began at 4pm with myself discovering a new drink. I normally drink Bacardi Lemon Rum with sprite but I thought I would try it with Vanilla Coke and I am glad I did. It was a great drink and I continued drinking it until the bottle of coke was gone. I then moved to the usual of lemon rum and sprite. Sitting at my place with Terry and Shawn I quickly found out that I was infact feeling very well. I had been sitting down for a while and when I stood up I felt like I was running in circles when in fact I was standing still. That and I could not feel my lips. To be honest with it raining so hard, the more drinks the better, it was going to assist in tolerating the wetness. The pre party hang out continued up until about 8pm or so when we all decided to make our way into Sydney but prior to doing so making a stop at Walmart so everyone could pick up poncho's, yes poncho's. So there we are in Walmart loaded, I managed to buy some gum but did not pick up what we all went for, poncho's. I decided I did not need one, let the rain hit me, it is only water, no need for a garbage bag covering me up. After introducing myself to about 30 people and meeting up with a few I already knew, I decided it was time for me to leave Walmart, I would much rather watch Trooper perform than hearing "You have the right to remain silent" as I was led out of the store.

Just after 9pm we arrived at the concert, with a young lady by the name of Laurel Martell singing. She really impressed me, I had heard quite a bit about her and thought she did a great job. Making my way up to the very front of the stage, I looked back as the rain pelted my skin and noticed that despite the weather a lot of people came out to see Trooper. It was in the thousands, and everyone of them went crazy when they hit the stage as they performed many hits and some of Canada's most recognized songs. Midway through the show they sent security down to get Steve out of the stands so he could come on stage and sing again. He did an awesome job, they had the vocals a little low for him but that is the sound man's drop of the ball, the Stever sang well once again with the guys. It was just shy of 12am when the show ended, the rain was still coming down hard but everyone that was there at the beginning was still there at the end. Ra and the guys went over to the booth and took a lot of time to meet up with the fans and sign some autographs before they headed out to a local bar for a while.

With it calling for more rain today and possible thunderstorms tonight I do not think we are going to attend Chantal Kreviazuk's show. I have had enough rain pour on me over the past 2 days. With Chantal being mainly a ballad singer, I could not picture myself sitting in a chair getting poured on listening to her music. If it was Trooper, or something high in beat I would be there but I just do not think I could do it listening to her genre of music.

All in all the weekend has been great. A night of relaxation is in the works, I look forward to it.

Take care...

2003-08-08T13:02:00.000-03:00

Singing In The Rain
Day one of the Islands music festival is complete. April Wine was the headliner lastnight and with the rain coming down thousands still showed up to see a great performance by some local acts and as I mentionned April Wine.

The afternoon for myself began at 2pm with Steve and Terry. We had a couple of drinks and as the time passed more people showed up to join in with us on the festivities. A good friend of ours was there with his fiance as well who is from New Jersey, this was going to be her first night out in Cape Breton with hundreds of the locals themselves and I am sure many tourists as well. Welcome to Cape Breton Jen, you will love it.

We sang some songs, shared some stories and all left for the the concert at 8:30pm. I had been in touch with someone throughout the night and decided to give her a call on the cell phone on our way there to set up a meeting spot for us. I called her and told her that due to the car being jammed with people that the best thing for her to do was meet me at one of the local banks because I had to withdraw money and we could walk down from there. I am not sure how well I was speaking at that time, to be honest when I am drinking I am really confident in the fact that I am easy to understand but in all reality it is probably the opposite. So I passed the phone to Steve which probably was not the best thing to do as he was in the same shape I was. What I should have done is right away passed it to Lawson who does not drink, but I didn't and I paid the price for it. We pulled up to the bank and Steve told me that they were going to pick her up and then come back to the bank and dropped her off. I said ok and got out of the car to withdraw some money for the night, Terry got out of the car as well. He was in the worst shape of us all, and told me he was going for a walk down to the concert and would meet up with us later. More on him later on in the entry. I went into the bank, withdrew and then waiting for Lawson to return. After 10 minutes I began thinking "Ok she was not ready, I must give them more time". After waiting for another 10 minutes, I knew something was up because she only lives down the road from where I was. I made my way to a local sports bar and restaurant and attempted to call Lawson on his cell phone and did not get a response. I could not really see the numbers on the phone too well so for all I know I did not phone him, and to be honest I am not completly sure of what his cell # is, I have it written down at home but I thought I would take my chances. Worst thing that could have happened is calling a wrong number and getting Betty who was in bed and not pleased with me calling, I was definitly ok with taking my chances. With not reaching Lawson, I began walking down to the concert, not completly sure of where it was or where I was going. After 20 minutes I finally made it there, I was finally were we were all planning to be for the night. I meant up with Steve after 10 mins of searching through hundreds of people. The first question I had for him was "Why did you leave me at the bank?" His response was quite mumbled and very difficult to understand so I appologize for not being able to recreate it right now for you. After getting it, the questions stopped, and some drink tickets were purchased. I was so impressed to see so many people come out for the event despite the weather, the rain never bothers me and I am glad so many people feel the same way. It is only water. After a couple of drinks we meant up with Lawson, Meaghan, and others. I told Lawson I was going to get him back for leaving me at the bank, even though it was a mistake because he thought I was walking with Terry down to the concert, I will still get the bastard back. Making a drunk man walk for 20mins, not completly knowing where he needs to go is just wrong.

At one point of the night a lady from work came up to me and asked me how the night was going, I said it was going great, I was seeing alot of good friends and people from work out, it was all an all a great night. She asked me what time I got there and a smartass said "He got here 30 mins after the rest of us." I looked at her and smiled, in my head knowing I will get them all back. I then began inquiring on where Terry was, we had not seen him at all throughout the night, no one knew where he was. The night soon ended with April Wine playing one of their biggest hits, I along with Steve and his lady friend went out for a bite to eat, and the others went home. It was approximently 1:30am when I got in and right straight to sleep as I knew that I would be doing the same thing again on Friday which would be today. Terry arrived home late lastnight as well when 2 women saw him on the street and sent him home in a cab. FYI - He will not be drinking tonight. Sprite possibly.

Tonight Trooper headlines the stage, it should be an incredible show, I look forward to seeing everyone again and having an awesome time.

2003-08-07T00:45:00.000-03:00

A Passion For The Game
After a dream I had lastnight I have come to the conclusion that I have the same feeling now that I did when I was kid. I want to be involved in major league baseball. Whether it is as a player or coach, possibly even a GM role. I started playing baseball when I was 6 years old and have loved the game ever since it. I hold a passion for it like I do everything else in my life.

Growing up my dad owned a workout gym in town and was also involved in with the minor hockey association. Since I was a summer kid, my dad gave up his presidency with the minor hockey association and began focusing on baseball with my older brother and I. It was something that came naturally to us, we were always competing against eachother for MVP of the year, most homeruns, hits, etc. A couple of years passed by and and the Cincinatti Reds came to town to host a camp in my local area. My brother attended and did very well, being one of the 20 out of 500 who recieved a very positive scouting report. I was too young at the time to participate but was there front and center watching every minute of the action until the day ended picking up all the pointers that I could.

After deciding that I wanted to be a pitcher I worked all winter on my wind up and the pitches I would throw the upcoming season. Fastballs, curve balls and especially the knuckle ball. The season came and I found myself being the ace of the pitching staff starting every game. The knuckle ball was not a pitch the league batters were used to so it allowed me to go 20-2 for the season helping my team go all the way to win the league championship. It was my first year in rep baseball and I was going to the season ending all-star game to represent my division. I pitched 5 no hit inning's in the game throwing 14 strikeouts and walking one batter. My team ended up losing the game 4-3 but it was a good game and I pitched solid which was all I could ask for in my first showing in an all-star game.

Baseball was big in my area, many spectators came to watch the games, many locals came whether they enjoyed the game or not to support all of us who had big hopes and just truly enjoyed playing the game for ourselves and anyone who wanted to watch. At seasons end I was approached by the individual who coached the A Rep team, this was the best team in the city. He asked me if I wanted to participate in the teams winter tryouts for experience, I definitly took the offer and thanked him for the opportunity. The winter came and so did the tryouts. Indoor batting practice, fielding drills and pitching clinics. I worked for 4 hard weeks with the team on my pitching fundamentals and it definitly payed off, I learned so much about the game in that short period, fundamentals and knowledge that I will always have. Two days before Christmas I received a call from the coach. He called to tell me that I had a great tryout and that he would like me to join the team and be the 4th starting pitcher the teams pitching rotation. I was so happy could not help but take a moment to myself and really realize that I was making the strides I had always hoped to with the game.

I had a very good season that year going 7-6, not a great win/loss record but definitly solid for someone like myself who was not due to make the team for another couple of years. I took the winter to continue working on my game and it had really set in over the season that this is what I wanted to do, I wanted to be apart of baseball, the sport that I truly had a strong passion for. The following season came and I was ready to have a solid year but one short time period on one day took all of that away from me. I was at highschool and about to leave one day and instead of pushing the door on the handle I put my hand on the glass and my arm went through it. I ended up damaging my arm very seriously hitting arties in my hand and wrist, including major cuts to my upper arm and some fingers. I was sent to the local hospital and than sent to another facility due to my injury being too severe to be treated at our local center. I had a surgeon complete work on my arm, and I followed up with him on several occasions over the next couple of weeks followed by me physiotherapy beginning which lasted many months. I practically had no use of my arm due to the damage that had occured, it took alot of pain and hard work to learn how to fully use it again and to this day at times the strength is just not in it, at times it just does not want to cooperate with me. My season was done before it really even started, and all of my hopes dashed with it. I knew that I could not afford to miss a season at that level and as much as I wanted to say that everything would turn out ok I knew my chances of playing baseball again were pretty slim. I could not catch the ball, and when I needed to bat I knew that putting myself infront of a fastball was risky due to the weakness in my arm. If it were to get hit, I could add to the damage that was already there.

To this day I love the game of baseball, I have such a passion for it. I love watching it and I never turn down a friendly game, if I am available to play I would do all I could to be there. Maybe I am past the stage of being able to play the game at a professional level but I would love to get involved with the game in some manner. Whether it is in the office or coaching on the field. The game was so good to me for so long, not only do I owe it to the game but I always owe it to myself aswell. I love the game, and individuals who love it need to help take care of it and support it, that only makes the game itself better.

I have had many great baseball times in my life, rain or shine I have some spectacular memories that I will always hold onto. They date back to when I was 12 and played in a baseball game in Montreal's Olympic Stadium to when I was 21 and went to see the Seattle Mariners play the Toronto Blue Jays and caught 3 games balls sitting on the 1st baseline.

Baseball, what an amazing pastime and a game that I truly treasure. It may not be today and it may not be tomorrow but one day I will be apart of the game of baseball again. Office or field, whatever one comes to me I will cherish and do the best I can to ensure that the game is treated like it treated myself.

"Now, you tell me, if I have a day off during the baseball season, where do you think I`ll spend it? The ballpark. I still love it; always have, always will." --Harry Caray--

Goodnight all - April Wine, Trooper And Chantal Kreviazuk over the next 3 days at one of the Islands best music festivals. It will be a great time even though the weather is calling for a strong possibility of rain. Like Ra MacGuire of Trooper sing's "Were here for a good time, the sun can't shine everday".

2003-08-04T22:35:00.000-03:00

Bottled Water
"In a remote corner of the Canadian North, deep below 5,000 acres of virgin forest, the Ice Age created a rare geographical formation called an Esker-Nature's perfect purifier. Bottled at the source, this pristine water comes to you exactly as Nature intended: untouched by man. Esker. Water like no other."

Deep below 5,000 acres of virgin forest my ass. That is some of the biggest bullshit I have ever read. The so called spring water I bought is from some remote corner?...I think not. It is probably local water that was run out of a tap that had a filter on it. The company that sells it most likely sat in a conference room for 3 hours trying to come up with an attractive slogan they can put on their bottles so it will sell. This is what the actual slogan should be:

" In a kitchen full of dirty dishes, just two doors down from our company conference rooms is a tap, a filtered tap. It is changed every 3 days so that the water we bottle for you is clean. We do not look to the virgin forests of the Canadian North for our water, we fill our bottles right here in our company building through our employee kitchen sink taps. Esker - The same tap water you are drinking now, except ran through a filter"

If they wanted to be honest, that is probably what they should have put on their bottles. But in order to make money you need your product to be attractive to the consumer, so in all reality I understand why they utilized the slogan they did. There's is much better than mine in the money making sense.

2003-08-02T21:07:00.000-03:00

Live In The Moment – Do Thing’s Today

Live life in the moment, not in the past and not in the future. Say and do things because you truly feel you should, don’t hold back because of what the future might hold, were not there yet, we are in the present and need to live that first. We cannot be worried about what is going to happen tomorrow because of the things we do today, we may not get to tomorrow. We cannot take each day for granted.

When the majority of us sit and think about life we visualize 50, 60, and 70 years. The fact is that we do not know how long we are going to live, life really is way too short for us to hold back on things that we would to do today because of us thinking that we have plenty of time to do them tomorrow. We do not know if tomorrow is going to come, hence the point that we really need to enjoy ourselves on a daily basis and live in the moment.

If you love someone and want to tell them, tell them today. If you have always wanted to go and enjoy a sunset do it tonight, don’t hold off until tomorrow.

I wanted to write about this because I feel like so many people hold back from saying and doing things they want to when life is too short and we really cannot afford to do so.

"I did not get to where I am today worrying about how I am going to feel tomorrow" - Ron Wright

Night All…

2003-07-30T16:02:00.000-03:00

New Ocean Born In Eastern Canada

I just finished washing the ocean off my kitchen floor. I started filling the sink with water so I could wash the couple of dishes that were sitting in it and forgot about them allowing for litres of water to pour and gush onto my floor leaving a wonderful amount of water to clean up. The Atlantic ocean looked like a rain puddle compared to this mess, I can assure you of that.

As soon I walked into the kitchen and saw Boblantic Ocean I held my head low in complete disappointment of myself. Remember when you were a kid and you did something to upset your mom how you felt, that is the look I probably had on my face at the time. That look quickly went away and the profanity arrived and was there to stay until I finished cleaning up which was about 30mins.

They should create a sink that has sensors on it. When the water reaches a certain line towards the top of the sink the water stops and you have a perfectly filled sink to wash your dishes in. I know people like myself should remember they began running the water, but it was just a thought because I am very positive that I am not the only to have done this. I recall an individual by the name of Steve having it occur twice in one day, I could not imagine that, I would have lost it. I would have told the floor to fuck off and left it on it's own for a couple of days hoping to see the heat evaporate it all up. Actually the only time I would not clean it up was if it was a really hot day out and there was opportunity for me to purchase a lounge chair and have a cold one in the goodness of my own home.

Time for a dishwasher I think.

2003-07-28T00:08:00.000-03:00

Another Kodak Moment

Today I went through one of the funniest experiences of my life. I had just left work and thought I would go downtown with Ian to pick up some chicken for the pay per view that was on tonight. Before I went to pick it up I thought I would stop at the drug store to pick up a couple of things. I picked up what I needed and made my way to the counter. As I walked towards it I could not help but notice how pretty the girl at the counter was, she had a striking smile on her face and just overall seemed very happy as she rang through her customers. I stood in line and soon after my turn came to pay for what I had picked up. After I paid I started to make my way towards the door to leave and the alarm went off on me. So I walked up to the counter where the girl who rang me through was and an older lady and said "Should I lay on the ground until they come or just raise my hands in the air?". They laughed and I said "I at times get embarassed easy, I cannot believe you guys did this to me". The older lady than looked over at me and said "It would have been a lot worse it you had condoms in that bag son". I immediately began laughing, looking over at Ian shaking my head in disbelief of the situation that had just occured.

I live an amazing life that I would not change for anything. Everyday I have something happen to me that I can classify as kodak moment. They are moments that I will never forget and always be able to picture. One day I am going to write a book about the life myself and my friends live. Excitement, adventure, drama, fun, and laughter just seems to follow us all around all the time, I would not change my life for anything and I do not think any of them would either.

Like everyone else not everyday is the greatest, but their is no such thing as a bad one and the all the little kodak moments that surface in my life on a daily basis keep the smile on my face. There is nothing better than a good laugh and I must say I am lucky to be able to do it as much as I do.

Goodnight all...

2003-07-25T18:18:00.000-03:00

Negativity

The amount of negativity in this world is completly disgusting. It is truly unfortunate that there are people out there who have nothing better to do with their time and lives then pick at the good things that other people are trying to do for their community and the world.

If you are one of these people go out and do something with your life. Stop sitting around waiting for shit to happen, get off your ass and do some good instead of making yourself seem like a negative person which this world really has no space/room for.

I am someone who thrives on positivity, I live to have fun and enjoy myself hoping to make a difference a long the way. I have no room for negativity at all, if it surfaces from anyone I do all that I can to turn them into a positive and if I cannot do that there is no room for them in my life, I shut the door on them and politely ask them to go visit someone else.

Does it seem like I am worked up right now? That would be because I am, life is too damn short for people to sit and piss around trying to take all the good feelings away from people who are doing good things and trying to make a difference with their life. I see it way too often all over the place and it is unfortunate. Those people need to grow up and make something out of their lives instead of sit around on their ass and watch everyone else do it. Join in on it, you may feel a little better about yourself and feel less of a need to see the good others are doing and point negatives at it when they are nothing but positive situations.

NEWSFLASH - Grow Up!

Awww I feel much better now. People like that just frustrate me because there is no need for people to sit around and do nothing. There is something for everyone to do that will allow them to also make a difference. They should consider doing it, the perception of them would be a lot better than the one out there now which is they need to see they have a life and possible should look at doing something with it.

Take care all.
Thank you for continuing to read.

2003-07-24T23:14:00.000-03:00

Dedicated to Benesister Hamwiinga - Bene is 8 yrs old and lives in a small community in Zambia with his mother and 4 brothers. His father recently died, he is everyday struggling to hang on in the third world country he calls home.

There are millions of individuals out there who are currently involved in the same situation that Bene is. They struggle each and everyday with a little to no water supply, practically no food and very little education to provide them with hope for a future.
They are surrounded by poverty, suffer exploitation and are exposed to conflict.

I have it really good and I am now sharing that with Bene who is the foster child I recently began sponsoring. Instead of going out for supper unecessarily or buying food items on my grocery list that I do not need to have I am going to save the money and send it to Bene so that I can help take care of a child who deserves to be taken care of and deserves to see hope for a future.

I have in the past thought about sponsoring a child but have just never taken the next step in regards to beginning the process. Today that changed and I have to say I have a really big smile on my face right now, I already feel like Bene is a very special part of me. It is pretty amazing to think about how I am feeling right now, I have always wanted to make a difference and I truly feel that I can do that for him, bringing hope for a future which is something he truly deserves. I look forward to sending regular letters communicating with him so he knows that he has someone out there who cares about his future.

My great friend Steve began fostering as well, the two 8 yr old boys we are sponsoring are friends in the same community. What better way for two great friends to make a difference than to help take care of two great friends who truly need our help.

Please visit www.worldvision.ca if you are interested in becoming a foster parent to a very special child. For 33$ a month you can make the difference in a child's life, there are so many that truly need our help.

PS - If you have not seen the movie "About Schmidt" please make a strong effort to do so. I saw the last bit of it at Steve's lastnight and saw the remainder of it today. It definitly played a big part in me making the call today to foster a child.

Goodnight all...

2003-07-24T00:02:00.000-03:00

Love At First Sight

Love at first site? Absolutely impossible in my mind.
Lust at first sight? Absolutely possible and in my mind what love at first site actually translates into.

I would think that in order for someone to love another they would need to go through a period of time in which they get to know the person's personality, how they would react in certain situations, their level of sensitivity, do they care, do they have respect, am I physically attracted to them, etc. To me in order to be completly physically attracted to someone the personality has to be there too. I know of many people who started out pretty but once I got to know them and saw their piss poor attitude the word pretty quickly turned into pretty fuckin ugly.

If someone looks at someone and says they feel they have experienced love at first sight, I would think no you have not you are just physically attracted to them, you are accepting of how the person looks. Really when you think about it, love at first site is impossible because you need to spend time with someone in order to get to know them, you cannot look at someone and tell they are caring, respectful, funny, etc. You can only look at them and initially determine whether you are attracted to them or not and want to possibly invest time to get to know the rest of them.

Love is taken too lightely today and in many cases I believe mistaken for lust and infatuation. It is a lot more special and rare than I think the majority of people realize.

Goodnight all...

2003-07-20T14:47:00.000-03:00

I Must Say I have It Good

My friends and I do some crazy things sometimes, the majority of our time is spent laughing our ass off but there are also times where the down to earth side of our friendship shows. I moved here from another province and all of the things my friends do to make me feel like I am apart of their families is greatly appreciated. I could never thank them enough for the support and fun times we all share together.

Last night I got home from work and headed across the hall to Steves place who is without a doubt one of my best friends. I walked in his door and he was cooking supper for his date, it did not take 2 seconds for him to say "Bob I got enough on the go for you to have some too."I replied with "It is ok man, you have the date tonight, and you two enjoy your dinner." Steve then replied with "No man it is cool I am going to set a place up for you at the table". I remember taking a second to think that not everyone would do that as this big sense of appreciation just soured through my mind. We are normally spending our time cracking jokes about each other but the odd time we do down to earth things and this was definitely one of them. The dinner was great, and after it was over I cleaned up his kitchen for him and then left leaving the night open for the two of them to spend some time.

12:30am came and Steve called me. He was really excited about his night; I could hear it in his voice. I grabbed two Rolo ice cream bars and went over to his place to talk for a little while. He had nothing short of a big smile on his face the whole time and it was completely due to the down to earth girl he spent the time with. You ever experience something that feels so good that no matter what you are watching or who is talking to you, you cannot help but only think about what is making you feel so good? That was Steve last night; his mind was completely devoured with the great feeling the night had brought him. Steve has had a rough go lately so this was definitely one of the best things to happen to him in a pretty long time, I could not be happier for him.

The whole night made me think. I truly have great friends and they definitely deserve to feel like great people because they truly are. There happiness is just as important as my own is, even though we joke around most of the time I think it is important for them to know that I care a lot and would do anything for them.

They all have amazing potential, and I consider them all to be a very intrigal part of my life. To name a few:

Lawson - Is an extremely talented musician who writes is own original music and sings in a voice that is unique to him. He is upfront, blunt and completely open consistently sharing his views and opinions. He is a good listener and takes no shit from anyone. His family is close, very united and like himself very caring and giving.

Shawn - Is 6"8 inches tall, a huge man but one of the nicest guys you will ever meet. He is a very layed back guy, with a lot of goals and the ambition to reach them. He is engaged to Meaghan who is a great girl that cares for him just like he cares for her. He has a close-knit family who is completely supportive of him and always willing to help out when needed. He has a good head on his shoulders, cares a lot about his friends and is never shy about letting them know.

Meaghan - Is credited with being the best thing to ever happen to Shawn. With their wedding scheduled for next summer, the days are counting down to the best day of their lives. She is a very fun, caring and supportive person who does so much for Shawn, Steve, Lawson, myself and so many others. She is a special person with out a doubt. She is upfront, honest and very open to letting you know what she thinks. When you are excited she is excited along with you.

Steve - Is a naturally entertaining person. He is one of the first people I meant here and plays a big part in my life. He is hilarious, musically talented, caring, smart and crazy just like I am. Steve, Lawson and I get together almost every night of the week and it never gets old, the friendships we carry are stronger than anything.

The list goes on and on. If I were to write something about everyone of my friends this post would be pages in length. They all know who they are, I appreciate them so much, and could never thank them enough for the people they are.

Another down to earth moment. I told you from time to time I would have them. I just thought it was about time I designated a complete post to my friends.
I have the best friends in the world.

Have a good day everyone,

"Are we going to be friends forever? Asked Piglet. Even longer, Pooh answered. "
--A. A. Milne Winnie the Pooh

2003-07-19T19:53:00.000-03:00

A Personal Evaluation

After spending hours with himself evaluating his life which included the past, current and future he feels like a new person. He proudly acknowledges that he does not regret anything he has ever done, that all decisions made have been made due to him truly feeling they should be. Everything said was him expressing how he feels, standing up for his opinions and what he believes in.

It began with him sitting on a couch listening to some of the world's best music. Hearing songs from Scotland, Paris and Greece allowed him to completly open up to himself and expand his mind. He was relaxed, very layed back and asked himself the following questions.
1. How do you feel about your past?
2. Are you happy with the present?
3. What do you want in the future?

Past
He is happy with his past. Going through some difficult times has made him a stronger person. Being with someone for a very long time and seeing them leave hurt but tought him a very valuable lesson. Live each day and never take anything for granted. Things are going to come and go but aslong as you feel good about yourself things truly are not that bad. He does not regret anything he has ever done, he has always communicated to people how he feels ensuring he stands up for who he is and what he is all about. He is so thankful for the family he has and the great friends who allowed him to learn about life at a very young age. His grandmother played an intrigal part in him being the person he is today, growing up he had her along with many other people take him underneath their wing to ensure he could be the best person possible. 2 of his grandparents died while he was a teenager and he continues to carry what they have shared with him today. He has had and continues to have his faults, he has made mistakes like everyone has but overall he has no regrets about his past.

Present
Things are going very well for him. He is 22 and at a young age very happy with his career and personal life. He moved to a new location for his job and feels it is the best thing that has ever happened to him. The local people continue to amaze him, the atmosphere is one he feels suits him to the best, it is a place he will never want to leave, it is so him. He has amazing friends who provide him with great times, he is so thankful for them. One can sing with the best of them, one can entertain like no other and one is 6"8 but one of the nicest guys you will ever meet. The list goes on and on, he has such great friends. He is a single guy, living on his own looking for someone who can commit to building a foundation with him. "There is no such thing as a bad day, there are just some that are better than others". He carries that with him everyday. There are somethings he would like or want in his life but he does not need them. They will come when they are meant/supposed to. He would like to continue expressing himself, sharing his thoughts, views and opinions. He feels it is important for everyone to stand up for themselves, he would like to ensure he continues to himself.

Future
This was something he spent a lot of time thinking about. At the age of 22 he has a lot to look forward to. He would like to have a family begin by the time he is 25-26 years of age, he is really looking forward to sharing time with one incredible person, he is also looking forward to being a father. If he meets someone who already has children he is ok with that, if she does not that is ok too. He would like to build a nice house, support the special people in his life and continue to live each day at a time.
He hopes that his career continues to blossom, in feeling that a career is the beginning of the family life foundation this is very important to him. He wants to continue to have fun, enjoy time with his friends and live life in the moment. He will continue to learn and become a better person. Life is one big classroom to him with everyday being a lesson.

Taking this 4 hours to completly evaluate his life has completly rejuvenated and added to the passion he has always carried with him.

The person I just wrote about is me, thank you for all continuing to read what I have to write. I really wanted to share this with you, it was one of the best things I have ever done for myself. It is a brief summary of what I thought about and I strongly suggest that everyone does it if they have not already done so. It takes someone like myself who is positive and just completly adds to the positivity that was already there. If you are someone who is going through a difficult time or maybe just needs to bring themselves up a little bit take the time, do yourself this favor.

Have a goodnight all.

"One person with passion is better than forty people merely interested." - E. M. Forster

2003-07-17T16:36:00.000-03:00

Last week it was the recognition being giving out to "fuck". This week it is the word "shit".

Consider this:

You can be shit faced, shit out of luck, or have shit for brains.
With a little effort, you can get your shit together.
Find a place for your shit.
Buy shit, sell shit, Lose shit, find shit, Forget shit, And tell others to eat shit.
Some people know their shit, while others can't tell the difference between shit and shineola.
There are lucky shits, dumb shits, crazy shits, and sweet shits.
There is bull shit, horse shit And chicken shit.
You can throw shit, sling shit, catch shit, shoot the shit, or duck when shit hits the fan.
You can give a shit.
You can get yourself in deep shit or be happier than a pig in shit.
Some days are colder than shit, some days are hotter than shit, and some days are just plain shitty.
Some music sounds like shit.
Things can look like shit and feel like shit.
You can have too much shit, the right shit, the wrong shit, or a lot of weird shit.
You can carry shit.

The list goes on and on. I saw this and had to share it with everyone. Thank you to IB for sending it to me, you definetly know your shit.

2003-07-17T13:29:00.000-03:00

Ever come across something that is just completly wrong?
The other day I was introduced to this website that allows individuals in jail (inmates) to look for pen pals, people to talk to and communicate with. I went to the site to check it out and was completly amazed at what I saw. No wonder why so many people laugh at the Justice system, it is a fuckin joke. If someone is in jail for murder charges or because they have raped someone and this is an example there are many other reasons for people to be in jail but those two are are the ones that stand out to me, they should not be able to do this, they are lucky enough to still be alive, they need to feel the pain like their victims did. Why they are being allowed to look for so called friends, love, etc, is way the fuck beyond me. And who would want that from them amazes me even more.

Do you remember the woman in South Carolina who locked her two children in a car and drowned them by sending it into the water?
She is on this site, describing herself as a kind hearted individual. Like hell she is, she killed her two children, and should be sent into the water herself. Below is the exact description of herself she created.

"I am 31 years old. My birthday is September 26. I am looking to meet new people and, hopefully, become friends. During my spare time, I enjoy reading, working puzzles, and writing. I love rainbows, Mickey Mouse, the beach, the mountains, and waterfalls. My favorite color is navy blue and my favorite flower is the daisy. I am a Christian and I enjoy attending church. I consider myself to be sensitive, caring, and kind-hearted. I´m currently serving a life sentence on the charge of murder. I have grown and matured a lot since my incarceration, but I will always hurt for the pain I´ve caused so many, especially my children. I hope to receive letters from those who are not judgmental and who are sincere. I look forward to hearing from new people and, hopefully, finding new friends. May God bless each one of you! "

This is the woman who pretended to want to find the killer/killers of her children after they were found in the water knowing that she did it. Sincere, fuck no, kind-hearted fuck no, worthy of anything but being sent into the water herself, fuck no.

These people do not deserve this opportunity, they need to feel what they did, not eat steak and potatoes as they send and receive letters with the public.

I believe in forgiveness once they get out if they prove to be individuals who have turned themselves around but while in jail serving their time they need to be eating bread, drinking water and not being able to communicate so much with the outside world. They were taken out of it for a reason, let them realize what they did and do their time for it.

I can see it now the next reality series will be "Jail Bait". Women and Men looking for the perfect inmates.

2003-07-15T21:26:00.000-03:00

Where Are The People That Can Sing?
Do we have extremely talented musicians in Canada? Of course we do, we have some of the world's best but I can tell you one thing, there is not one of them on Canadian Idol. So far to date I have honestly sat embarassed watching the show. I recently was a guest judge on one of the Island's singing competitions and I have to say atleast 3-4 of them easily could have replaced individuals currently performing on Canadian Idol.

One guy in the top ten cannot talk properly let alone fuckin sing. We have better talent than this, why are they not on the show? Did they not audition, did the judges pick the wrong people, or do we just not have near enough talent to host a country wide show illustrating singing talent?

I am not sure, but the show is embarassing, I along with many others who I have watched a couple episodes with cannot believe that a singing competition that is supposed to showcase our Country's best talent is showcasing who they are. The Maritimes in my mind has the best musical talent in our Country. If they would have pulled all of their contestants from the Maritimes the show would have been a lot better and it would have been very difficult for the Country to select individuals to move forward as all would have been worthy. The show as it is now currently shows no one worthy of a record contract, radio time or even the television time they are currently getting. Who knows maybe next week someone will stand out, but overall the show has been horrible, the individuals on there are not our best talent, not even close.

3 people off the top of my head who could be on that show right now representing Canada. People who can sing.
1. Lawson
2. Lindsay
3. Steve - Ok wait 2 people Lawson and Lindsay. Steve is too fuckin old to audition.

Goodnight all...
PS - I propose CTV launches Cape Breton Idol. The amount of musical talent here is amazing.

2003-07-15T00:46:00.000-03:00

Chalk This Dream Up As One Of My Weirdest
It is time to share another dream with you. Last night I had most definetly one of the weirdest I have ever had. Why do I have these weird dreams? Hell knows but I have to say they provide me with some pretty good laughs first thing in the morning which is never a bad thing.

The dream began with me standing in the living room of a mansion. The ceiling's were high, chandaliers were dangling and the scent of cavier was in the air. I turn around and who is behind me? No not Robin Leach but Demi Moore and Bruce Willis. They said "Welcome to the Willis's" All I could think about at that point was Willis from Different Strokes so as I chuckled I said "Thank you Demi and thank you Bruce". The tour of the house began, and out of nowwhere Bruce begins to cry as he enters the library in his home saying that he has always wanted a writing desk but could not afford it. I immediately in my head thought "Bruce Willis just told me he could not afford a writing desk, he has multiple chandaliers in his house, he has made countlesss movies but has no money for a desk, what in the fuck".

As the dream continued I found out that my house had been torn down by the town due to a possible land mine being buried underneath it. I was staying at Demi and Bruce's house for a couple of days while the town assisted in finding me a new place to live. After having dinner on my first night there I decided I would go to the local furniture store and buy Bruce a desk on a month by month payment plan. When I had it delivered to the house, he was gone, there was a SOLD sign on the house and new people were moving in. Who was it but Richard fuckin Simmons. He was running up and down the stairs with mattresses, pillows, night tables, etc as he motivated the movers ahead of him to continue moving as fast as they could. Not knowing what to do with the desk I approached Richard and asked him if he knew where the Willis's had went. He said they bought some property where the town recently tore down a house so they could build a new home. After hearing that I told the movers to take the desk and dump it into the first river they come across. I ended up staying at Richard Simmon's house for a couple of nights watching sweatin to the oldies video's constantly. The weird thing was that as we watched them we ate junk food that consisted of chocolate bars, ice cream, chips, etc. I do not remember anything else after that point, I awoke soon after.

I am not even going to begin to look that dream up, that is too weird and fucked up for me to even begin reading about.

Goodnight all...

2003-07-13T23:29:00.000-03:00

The Word "Fuck". I believe It Is Time To Give It The Recognition It Deserves

Today I read this great article on the internet. I think it deserves a post of it's own. Enjoy.

Perhaps one of the most interesting and colorful words in the English language today is the word "fuck". It is the one magical word which, just by its sound, can describe pain, pleasure, love, and hate. In language, "fuck" falls into many grammatical categories. It can be used as a verb, both transitive (John fucked Mary) and intransitive (Mary was fucked by John). It can be an action verb (John really gives a fuck), a passive verb (Mary really doesn't give a fuck), an adverb (Mary is fucking interested in John), or as a noun (Mary is a terrific fuck).
It can also be used as an adjective (Mary is fucking beautiful) or an interjection (Fuck! I'm late for my date with Mary). It can even be used as a conjunction (Mary is easy, fuck she's also stupid). As you can see, there are very few words with the overall versatility of the word "fuck"..

Aside from its sexual connotations, this incredible word can be used to describe many situations:

1. Greetings "How the fuck are ya?"
2. Fraud "I got fucked by the car dealer."
3. Resignation "Oh, fuck it!"
4. Trouble "I guess I'm fucked now."
5. Aggression "FUCK YOU!"
6. Disgust "Fuck me."
7. Confusion "What the fuck.......?"
8. Difficulty "I don't understand this fucking shit"
9. Despair "Fucked again..."
10. Pleasure "I fucking couldn't be happier."
11. Displeasure "What the fuck is going on here?"
12. Lost "Where the fuck are we."
13. Disbelief "UNFUCKINGBELIEVABLE!"
14. Retaliation "Up your fucking ass!"
15. Denial "I didn't fucking do it."
16. Perplexity "I know fuck all about it."
17. Apathy "Who really gives a fuck, anyhow?"
18. Suspicion "Who the fuck are you?"
19. Panic "Let's get the fuck out of here."
20. Directions "Fuck off."
21. Disbelief "How the fuck did you do that?"

What a fucking word eh, no pun intended. I think it is safe to say that with the dynamic use of the word "fuck", it holds a place of it's own in our ever so broad vocabulary.

Take care all, I hope you had a good day. I am off for the night.

2003-07-12T13:55:00.000-03:00

What a night, where do I begin.

The day began with Lawson and I going for our usual Friday drive around the Island with our camera's looking for some good snap shots. We took some great pictures while on our escapade and shortly after dropped them off at the 1 hour photo place. While we were waiting for them to get developped we came back to my place and watched the dish and ate some lunch. We decided to watch Jenny Jones with the topic being woman who are trying to determine who there babies father is. Anyone who has a child and is not sure of who the father is should wake up and realize that maybe they need to slow down a little bit, that just may be an alarm to you that your getting fed the drumstick a little too often by too many people. The end of the show came and so did the results. One woman had 3 guys on the show and one at home that she thought could be the father. But due to her sleeping with over 60 guys none of those 4 were it. Atleast she has cut the list down a little bit. Lawson and I could not stop laughing, in actual reality it was sad because the children deserve to know who their fathers are but we could not get over how out of the loop some of the people were on the show.

The night was soon approaching and a long with it Steve and I's judging debut. We were asked a short while ago to be guest judges on the Islands singing competition that is currently being held. We arrived at it's location and it was packed with people, there was not much room to move around with and there was no seats in sight. A lady approached us and told us that we should be sitting at the front directly looking at the stage, that she just needed to complete setting up our spot. An hour later our seats were ready and we sat down socializing with Donald who runs our local music theatre, a true masterpiece to the Island. The competition was held and there was some great talent and there were also some that did not have the potential. As the night continued so did the drinks, Steve and I drank many double vodka and orange juices, it seemed like every 5 mins we had to get another. During the intermission period I mentionned to Steve how he should get up and sing to get the place goin, I told him I would but if I did that our competitors would only be singing to he and I as the rest would leave. Steve got up and sang Roadhouse Blues by the Doors, Were Here For A Good Time by Trooper and Pretty Woman by Roy Orbison in which he sang to a girl sitting behind us that he has been talking to for the past couple of weeks. They will be seeing more of eachother I believe. Our night of judging ended and we hit the local bar for some more drinks and dancing. We walked in and there was a pretty good lineup at the bar waiting for drinks. One of the guys came over to me and said "Hey Bob, what can I get you?" completly taking care of me. Steve and I get this every week we go, that must be a sign that were regulars. Either that or we tip well. After the bar we went down to the pizza shop to grab a slice of pizza, followed by us going to Tim Hortons, I had this craving for a Boston Creme donut. I walked in and they were out of most donuts so I had a blueberry muffin which cost me approx a dollar, I left the girl behind the counter a big tip, it looked like she was having a long night. Before we left, and at this point we have 2 friends of ours with us, we decided to buy a group in the corner a round of coffee and snacks. I think I spent 20 dollars in there after all the snacks, drinks and tips I left. It was definetly time for me to go home to bed. We got back home and I could barely walk up the stairs and once I got up them I needed Steve to unlock my door which he himself had trouble doing. Awww I was finally home, time for sleep and that is just what I did. I hit the pillow and was out in seconds. I woke up this morning and felt great, if I was one to get hangovers which thank god I never get, I would have felt like a mountain of shit this morning.

So it was another good night out, another spectacle, another Island memory. A good time had by all.

Have a good day everyone.

2003-07-11T00:19:00.000-03:00

Picking Up At A Wake
The other night I was talking to a friend of mine who relayed to me that one of her girlfriends picked up at a wake. I could not believe it and to be frankly honest I did not want to either. Who would pick up at a wake?...I could not imagine myself going up to someone and saying "You look beautiful in that black dress, wanna hit a movie?" That is absolutely crazy.

I would love to come across the person for me, but I would also like to ensure it is done correctly. Meeting her at a wake is just not the way I want to go. I would not want us to have to look back on our relationship and tell everyone we met at Uncle Peter's wake. Fuck that, I would rather meet her behind the food bank sharing seconds with the town's friendly squirrels.

I just cannot fathom the fact of someone picking up at a wake. *Whispering to someone in the row ahead* " I know we are in the middle of the Eulogy right now so I will make this quick. I think your cute, I was kinda wondering if I could get your number, maybe we could hook up some time."

Come on, a wake is not the place to pick up. I have only heard of this happening once and I hope to hell it is the last time. Very rarely does a question come to mind in which I cannot answer. Why would someone pick up at a wake? That is one of them.

Have a goodnight all.

"I'm dating a homeless woman. It is much easier talking her into staying over."...*Garry Shandling*

2003-07-10T02:00:00.000-03:00

It is 1:25am I cannot sleep, my body is tired, but my mind has something it wants to share. One of the great things about this site is that it allows me to express myself, completly open up and share how I am feeling through the words that are going through my head.

Tonight I dosed off on my couch for a period of time and started dreaming of my grandparents.

When I was a kid growing up in the country our Sunday ritual consisted of my grandmother and grandfather coming out to visit. Every Sunday they would pull in the driveway waving packages of gum and chocolate bars out of the window. They were always as excited to see us as we were to see them. My grandfather would play catch with me, talk sports, update me with current events and fill me in on his great war stories. My grandmother would tell me how important school was, what the real world is all about, and even from time to time share a good joke. They were incredible people. It is unfortunate they are not here today, they were such an inspiration and played a big part in my life growing up. In 1995 at the age of 84 my grandfather began losing weight, I was one of the first to notice that he was just not looking like himself. He was shortly after diagnosed with Cancer, it completly devasted my grandmother even though she did not show it as she wanted him to feel good about himself and have the feeling she was ok. I can recall it like it was yesterday. I was sitting on the couch with my grandfather watching a Toronto Bluejays game when my grandmother told him she was going to go with my mom to the grocery store and also do some other shopping. She asked him if he needed anything and he replied with "There is 200 dollars on the counter, go out and buy yourself a dress." I then knew that my grandfather was not feeling well, he was extremely ill and knew that his time was coming. He had never before told my grandmother to buy a new dress, and if he did she was paying for it. She shopped a lot and he just got to the point where he would tell her to spend her own money that new clothes was not a purchase that the two of them would benefit from. I always told him that it would benefit him too because when he walked with her hand in hand he would be able to say to everyone "This is my beautiful lady". He always looked at me like I was nuts when I said that. But this time he was ok with the dress being purchased with his money because he wanted her to feel beautiful on the day of his funeral, a day where he knew she was going to be very upset. A couple days passed by and it was the night of my dad's work Christmas party. My mom got all dolled up, my dad even dressed up as well, they were looking forward to a great night out, Christmas was around the corner, the holiday spirit was flying through the air. Since my parents were going out, my brother and I decided to host a party. Mounds of people arrived at the house throughout the night, many swimming in the pool, many as well enjoying the barbeque and camp fire. We decided to unplug the phone as we were not sure of how to quiet everyone down if my parents were to call. The night ended, the morning soon came when we decided to get a head start on cleaning up. At 10:17am and I will never forget it the phone rang.

It was my uncle who said "Bob I have been trying to get a hold of you since 11pm lastnight. Grandpa passed away lastnight Bob, he held on as long as he could but just could not any longer. Craig (my dads other brother) and I were at the hospital to spend some time with him before he eventually passed away. We were trying to get a hold of you to contact your dad to so he could be there"

I will never forget the instant pain in my heart when I heard that my grandfather had passed away and that my dad could not be there due my brother and I hosting a party and turning off the ringer on the phone. My grandfather was a good man who cared a lot and definetly deserved to have my dad there. My dad definetly deserved to be there. If my grandfather were here today for just one moment I would say sorry and I know that he would tell me to take it back but I would still say it. I would follow that by asking him to play some catch and thank him for being a good man. What a good man he was. He is not here physically but he definetly is through spirit.

After my grandfather passed away my grandmother was openly devasted. She would not sleep in their bed, only on the couch, she was heart broken, my grandfather always took care of her and he was no longer there. My family and I spent more time with her to ensure she was ok, she ate well, shared some laughs and was on many occasions tucked in for bed. Over time my grandmothers desire for life dissapated to the point where one day she fell and entered the hospital due to being so weak. Months previous she was ok, strong and living well, but as soon as my grandfather passed away a lot of her did too and it was very evident. My grandmother after being in the hospital for a couple of weeks passed away, I was with her on the day that she did, she was so peaceful with the fact that she would be soon seeing my grandfather again.

I was lucky to have these 2 individuals (Rich and Olive) as my grandparents. They were amazing people who carried so much care and passion with them for eachother and for my family. I have this feeling that they are looking down on me right now as I type this. I can just picture my grandfather now saying "I cannot believe I paid for the dress" while my grandmother looks at him and says "I looked damn good in it, best 200 dollars you ever spent".

I had to share my memories of them with you, when I woke up from dosing off I felt like it was them wanting to know if I still thought about them. I think about them all the time and am proud to say they were my grandparents.

I think it is time for me to go to sleep for the night, take care.

2003-07-09T18:54:00.000-03:00

Man Wakes Up After Being In A Coma For 19 years
Imagine waking up after being in a coma for 19 years. 19 years behind the world, completly unaware of what has developped over almost two decades. That is what happened to Terry Wallis who recently woke up after being in a coma since 1984. A tragic car crash left Terry and his friend under neath a bridge after their car plunged into a near by creek. Terry's friend was instantly dead, Terry himself went into comatose. A month after the crash Terry's daughter Amber was born, a moment Terry could not be present for, a moment he and his wife had talked about for years.

Days and months passed by with no sign of Terry awaking from his a coma. Many difficult nights were experienced by his family, a sudden accident had put their son into a deep sleep that he may never awake from. As the years passed by they still held onto their hope, Terry was a strong individual who normally got through anything that entered his life with ease. His mother said she could tell he was hanging on, he was fighting hard and that one day Terry was going to awake from his a coma and experience the life he and his wife had for so long talked about.

19 years later to the surprise of his family and many medical physicians Terry awoke from his a coma. He said his first word (Pepsi) followed by multiple complete sentences. His family has been quoted as saying that Terry is now a non-stop talker believing to this day that Ronald Reagan is still the President of the United States. With Terry a waking also comes times of sadness his father Jerry relays. Terry has asked on multiple occasions to speak to his grandmother who passed away, often receiting her phone number in hopes of calling her.

An amazing story, 19 years after going into a coma Terry Wallis has woken up. He still see's things as if he were living in the 1984, it will take time for Terry to adjust to being in a new millenium, time I am sure he and his family are completly willing to take.

Terry's tragic car accident occured on Friday the 13th in 1984, last month after 19 years Terry spoke his first word on the date of June 13th. This so happens to be a Friday the 13th as well. Terry's is now 39 years old, his daughter is now 19, he has been married for 21 years to his wife. He has a lot of catching up to do with his family and the world.

It is truly amazing that after 19 years of being in a coma Terry can still speak, hear and see. We really do not have it that bad, we should consider ourselves lucky, I know I do.

A story for the ages. When I read the article I had to write about it.

PS - If you would like to read one of the many articles written in regards to Terry's miracle go to http://www.msnbc.com/news/936560.asp

2003-07-08T01:46:00.000-03:00

The weird dreams have come back again. I just woke up after having one of the weirdest dreams I have ever experienced. I had this dream that I was a piece of celery stocked in the shelves of a local grocery store wondering if someone was soon going to pick me up and throw me in a steel caged shopping cart. My eyes were white and open large, consistently looking to see if anyone was approaching my area. I did not want to become part of a soup, neither did I want to have cheeze whiz or peanut butter spread over top of me. I just wanted to stay in the grocery store where the air conditionning was, on the shelf that I was currently so comfortable sitting on.

After waking up, I layed and bed and laughed my ass off. I was completly curious on what the dream meant and decided to look it up. I was actually surprised with what it translated into, the weird dream I had actually meant great things.

Food - Means that I am pleasurable, that fortune is coming to me in regards to love. (About damn time)
Air - Success and happiness surrounds my life.
Home - Means that I am happy with people who are in my life. This includes family + friends.
Eyes - Means that I have strong vision and see things very clearly.
Green - Growth and serenity. The simplest of things satisfy me.
White - People feel they can rely on me. I have an abundance of energy and vitality.

Have you ever thought about looking up your dreams?
You just never know what they mean.

Back to sleep I go, it is 1:45am, I need some rest for the morning.

2003-07-06T14:22:00.000-03:00

Life is something truly special and it is unfortunate that the majority of individuals neither see or recognize that. Take a second to think about when you won the race to life. Picture this. You're a little sperm and your swimming along side millions and millions of others trying to be the one to win the race, swimming as fast as you can to be the one who wins an opportunity to go through something very magical. Really think about it for a moment to put it into perspective, if anyone of the others were to have out swam you, you would not be here, it is simple you would not be known, not be thought of, and not have the opportunity to make a difference. I am proud of the fact that I out swam all of them, I believe it is true that whether we currently like water or not, we can all say we are incredible swimmers.

Funny to read and think about for sure, but when you really put thought into it there is deep meaning and a lot of fact to what I just said. In knowing that we should all feel confident that we can get through anything, we should hold a strong passion for life, one that only gets stronger as each day passes, never dwindling away. The stronger we are as individuals, the better the good times are and the easier it will be for us to get through the tough ones.

What am I passionate about? I am passionate about my life, I am passionate about the people who surround it and I hold a true care for their lives just like I do my own. I want to make a difference, I feel that I am here and have an opportunity to leave a lasting impression and that is exactly what I want to do. I would not have it any other way. I grew up in a good family, have great friends and one hell of an imagination and sense of creativity that allowed me to get a strong sense of what life is all about at an early age. Some may say it is impossible to be passionate about everything that surrounds your life. My answer is that yes it is possible when you ensure that everything in your life is positive and is only going to make your life better. Anything that would give the opposite effect would not have space, the positive is welcomed negativity reflects a closed door. Therefore I am passionate about every aspect of my life, I have welcomed them all with open arms and therefore they deserve the best from me, they deserve my passion and I will always ensure they receive it. Do I have more passion for some things than others? Absolutely I do but it is important to know that the passion is there in regards to all aspects.

I will continue to work hard at making a difference and hope to leave this world one day donating a forever lasting impression. If I do that then the people in my life can take what I passed onto them and share it with everyone else.

PS - Friday night was a good time, Steve and I saw the expected and unexpected once again. We had some people over to the building and had a great night. I will keep it at that. Drama Drama Drama.

Quote – “Life is one big classroom with everyday playing the part of a lesson”

2003-07-04T01:04:00.000-03:00

What a night tonight has been. I was sitting in my living room listening to some music when I heard a girl say "Don't leave, stay here". I got up and looked outside of the window and saw her sitting on the back of the trunk of a car that was started and backing up. I sat for minutes and watched the action unfold, it was like I was at a good movie and could not remove my eyes from the screen. The car backed up about 50 feet slowly, at this point the girl is still on the back of it. I watched as it sped forward with her hanging onto it with her dear life yelling to the guy in the front to stop and get out. I probably should have said something but I felt like a mime at the time, my whole body was consumed with what was going on, it was like I was apart of a live episode of "Real TV". She finally got off the trunk of the car and stood aside as he drove onto the neighbors lawn and at one point almost into the building. I went over to Steve's place where Morgan and Terry were and they had been watching as well. We kept looking at eachother saying "what a crazy nut", followed by Steve and I looking at eachother saying "You know what, we are probably going to get blamed for the tire marks on the lawn". You see anytime there is a party the landlord thinks it is us holding it, when most of the time it is not. Believe me we take credit for the ones we hold, but when we are addressed concerning a party we did not we make sure to notfiy it was not ours. We live in really nice places, no need to take credit for parties that are not ours and get the kick for it.

Friday night is going to be a drinking night for Steve, myself and many others. Everytime Steve and I share drinks we have a great time full of the expected and the unexpected so I am sure I will have lots to share with you.

Have a goodnight everyone, I am off for some rest.

PS - Happy 4th of July to all American readers.

2003-07-03T18:56:00.000-03:00

Sorry about the last post to anyone who read it, I normally type more than just 3 lines but blogger fucked up on me and I was unable to complete it. My post and publish button was looking like it was not an option to me so I hit it to check. It posted my entry and I was not able to delete it as the delete function would not work. I am just now able to get back in and things are still acting up.

NEWFLASH - Blogger is crap.

I have removed the entry and will post at another time.

PS - Kyla I hope this answers your question.

2003-07-02T23:22:00.000-03:00

Congratulations goes out to Vancouver for winning the right to the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. Seems like Canada Day has stretched into 2 days with the announcement of the games being won. Ok enough congratulating, I had a brief moment of feeling that I am physic tonight. Let me set the stage. It is shortly after 9pm, I had just finished eating supper and was letting my stomach settle so that the moment of being bloated did not arrive. I am wondering what time it is. Here is the conversation that took place.

Bob - "Hey Linda what time do you have there?...Is it 9:18pm?"
Linda - "Bob how did you know it was 9:18pm?...Your really far away from the computer, there is no way you could see it"
Bob - "I just had a feeling it was 9:18pm, is it actually 9:18pm?"
Linda - "Yeah it really is"
Bob - "Call me Miss Cleo, I think I just had a physic moment"

Isn't that great, I actually knew what time it was without being close to a clock or computer. Enough sarcasm, it was pure luck, I will begin thinking I am physic when I can predict lottery numbers or tell someone how many hairs are going to fall out of their head on a given day.

On to something a little more serious. Today President Bush responded to the recent tragedies in Iraq where US soldiers have been killed in recent attacks. I am completly behind the reasoning on the US present in Iraq and I commend all troops who were/are there to fight for the freedom of not only the local civilians but the world. Saddam Hussein is completly against what our world is all about and all who have risked their lives in this fight should be very pride and carry a big sense of pride with them. Not only did they serve the United States, they have served the world. Local civilians now have an opportunity of freedom, security and moving forward positive opportunities for themselves and their families. The only thing that bothered me about the comments he made was when he stated "Bring them on" when commenting on how he feels about the recent attacks that have occured. As the President of the world's most powerful country I would think that better verbage could have been utilized to keep the dignity flowing, to me when I read those words or hear them being spoken the words "confrontational" or "war hungary" come to mind. I support the troops and I support the American people but I do not support some of the decisions Bush has made throughout the process.

What do you think?

Au revoir for the night.

2003-07-01T22:47:00.000-03:00

Happy Canada Day!!!

I would not want to live anywhere else in the world as I live in a country that truly cares about it's people, one that provides me with security, oppurtunity and freedom. From the ocean waves on Cape Breton Island, to the Rocky Mountains in British Columbia. From Niagara Falls in Ontario to the silent prairie fields in Manitoba. Canada is a gem, a true treasure to the world and all us living here should never take it for granted. Take a few moments to picture how it would feel to live in a third world country where there is practically no food, the water that is dranken is about as clear as an eye test is after 10 drinks. The clothing that is worn is made out of rags, the chance to clean up is far and inbetween. Reality is that hundreds of people in these third world countries die every single day due to a lack of nourishment, water, and an unclean living environement.

We feel it is a bad day when we go to a fast food restaurant and order a hamburger for lunch that has the wrong condiments on it, a day where it rains when we want sunshine, a night where it is a little cool when we want it to be warm so we can go for a walk. Fact is these are not bad days, they are just days where things did not go as we would have liked them to. We have clothes on our back that we can regularly wash, we have food in our cupboards that allow us to eat everyday and remain nourished, we have televisions that allow us to stay abroad with the world's current events, we have telephones to stay in touch with our families, we have water to keep us from being dehydrated, we will live in a clean environement that subtracts itself from many of the worlds diseases, along with all of the above we have so much for to feel lucky about.

Today is our countries birthday and our country is beautiful, this is a day were we should all really take a moment to think about how lucky we are to be living in Canada. All it should take is the brief thought of a third world country to truly set in stone to all of us that we truly have it really good, that there is no such thing as a bad day, there are just some days that are better than others.

Happy Canada Day!!!
Goodnight.

Quote 1 - "Canada is one of the planet's most comfortable, and caring, societies. The United Nations Human Development Index cited the country as the most desirable place in the world to live. This year a World Bank study named Canada the globe's second wealthiest society after Australia."
Time magazine

Quote 2 - "I am a Canadian, free to speak without fear, free to worship in my own way, free to stand for what I think right, free to oppose what I believe wrong, or free to choose those who shall govern my country. This heritage of freedom I pledge to uphold for myself and all mankind."
John Diefenbaker (From the Canadian Bill of Rights, July 1, 1960.)

2003-07-01T14:11:00.000-03:00

I Have been reading a lot of great blogs lately. I located a site through Google that I wanted to share with you. There is a lot of great writing here, hundreds of blogs for you to go to that deal with music, tragedy, humor, adventure, etc.

- www.globeofblogs.com -

PS...5 sites that I would like to specifically share with you are below. 3 are great friends of mine, one is the lead singer of Canada's all time party band and the last is a woman in California who has a blog I regularly read and enjoy.

1. Lawson MacDonald - LawsonMacDonald@iuma.com - Great friend and musical talent. Search for Lawson MacDonald.
2. Steve- Stevesthoughtfulspot.blogspot.com - A great blog, that has many regular readers.
3. Lanti - www.damnedandunpredictable.blogspot.com - A very unique person who is upfront, blunt and open with opinion.
4. Ra Mcguire - www.ramcguire.com - Lead singer of Trooper, a musical genuis who also blogs and is a great writer.
5. Kimmy - www.kimbalina.com - A woman in California who's blog I regularly read and enjoy.

I shall be in touch again later on today. Have a good one.

2003-06-30T22:28:00.000-03:00

Nothing extremely exciting has happened to me today, and I just do not have it in me to make something up so please forgive me. All the writing in this blog is going to be factual, no make believe here, no telling you it is jam sandwhich when it is actually spam. But I did put some thought into a couple of things that I would like to share with you.

1. Why did Mister Rodgers always leave at the end of his show if that is his house?
I was thinking he was going to his beach house for dinner before returning to his in town mansion for a goodnights sleep. He did make a lot of money you know.

2. I have always had the goal of being married and expecting my first son or daughter by the age of 25. I have always said that one day I would like to share the knowledge/Support/Direction and positivity with someone special like my grandmother, parents, etc did and continue to do with me. I was thinking about all of this today and asked myself if there was anything that could occur that would not make this happen. In the matter of seconds I said no without any hesitation. I would love more than anything to locate Mrs "The One", I think it would be great to have someone special in my life in which I can show true appreciation too, in which I can clearly see and recognize how much I mean to them and completly enjoy giving it all back. My grandamother has always said "You should never need someone, you should only ever want them". I do not need that feeling, but I truly want to experience and enjoy it because I do really that I have a lot to share and I also feel that there is someone out there who can instill great things in myself. If she does not come along that will be ok though because I live my life everyday trying to share as much as I can with the great people who surround me in my life. If someone special does not enter my life by this time I would still like to have the joy of bringing up a child at a decently young age. This way when they are 20, I am not old and forgetfull, instead I would be at age where I can go out play basketball actively with no pains, go to the beach and play some volleyball yet again without any pains. So after a lot of deep down thinking I have decided that when I am 25, I am going to adopt a child if I am not in the midst of being with someone special who would be having my own.
It is so important to me that I take everything that has been passed onto me and share it with others, this is something I am excited about now and need to ensure I do because I owe to the ones who have instilled the good in me and because I truly want to play an intrigual part in someone being brought up to be one of life's truly genuine people. If someone special helps me with that, wow what a beautiful bonus but hey if she is not there that is ok, this is definetly something I can do on my own. Who knows after I adopt maybe I will be the first person to marry themselves.

Enough sharing, if I continue to do it people will think I am generous...kiddin.
I am pretty hungry right now, nothing would be better than for me to go home and spend some time with the GF....only if I had....and no I am not talking about a girlfriend I am referring to some garlic fingers.

All in all it was a good day today, I hope you all had a good one as well, I am off for the night. Goodnight.

PS...I was eating supper tonight and someone relayed to me that her sister was smarter than a whip. How smart is a whip, where did that come from?...Last I heard a whip was used to slap the ass of a horse on the last lap of the kentucky derby.

Quote - "Whenever I see an old lady slip and fall on a wet sidewalk, my first instinct is to laugh. But then I think, what if I was an ant, and she fell on me. Then it wouldn't seem quite so funny." ...Jack Handey Deep Thoughts

2003-06-30T13:21:00.000-03:00

It was nice to sleep in a little bit today. For the next couple of days I will be working a later in the day shift to help out, so there will be some opportunity for me to catch up on the zzzzzz's that I have practically had none of over the past week. When I came home lastnight, I was completly exhausted, I layed on the couch to watch the baseball game at about 9:30pm and almost immediately fell asleep. Broadways Johnny Get Some Sleep had begun with no intermissions.

As I walked into the kitchen this morning I noticed that I had crackers on the counter and an open container of peanut butter, I was not sure why it was there, I would not at all normally eat it. I went down to my bedroom looked on my pillow and saw that awww there was some peanut butter on it, and that my floor was covered in cracker crumbs. There was so many of them I thought for a second I had a hampsters and they were his cage chips. I linked the two together and realized that I had some crackers and peanut butter lastnight as a sleep walking snack. It could be worse, I could be eating raw hamburger sandwhiches or raw pork on a sesame bun.

I am doing laundry right now, and to be honest am happy I can do it at home. Some of the people you can run into at a laundry mat are frightening, the only frightening thing about doing it here is when I look out the window as I put my clothes in the dryer all I see is tombstones as I live extremely close to a cemetary. But there quiet neighbours, I cannot complain. I mean if they want to watch me put my clothes in the dryer that is cool, but atleast I know they are not going to tell me that my socks are ugly.

Have a good day...

Quote - "Taking care of yourself today is preparing yourself for tomorrow"...Me

2003-06-29T15:21:00.000-03:00

Another nice day on the go today. Breezy but hot, enjoyably comfortable. Looking back at my late night entry lastnight I see that the skills I so greatly showed in the grade 7 spelling bee championship were not present. I can spell, just not when I am seeing 4 of each letter. It was a great night as always, that kinda began out of nowhere. When I got home just before 9pm I was thinking I would have one or two drinks with Steve, and than turn in early for the night completly forgetting about that fact that Steve and I cannot do that. So yes it happened once again, you guessed it I meant an 76 year old lady lastnight who I am now engaged to...kiddin what happened is Steve and I drank, danced and then drank and danced some more.

It was hot in the hall, at first I thought it was me but I quickly took a gander and noticed that there were many attractive people attending. Kiddin, I have been getting a lot of sun lately and my skin is hot, no matter what I do to cool myself down, my skin feels warm. Picture yourself dressing up like it is a cold winters day, the temperature is -20 and the wind is brisk. Now picture yourself dressing up like that on Daytona Beach....that my readers is how I am feeling right now, hot, the sun has moved in with my skin and I would like it to move the hell out.

Today, I sat down on the park benches in town for my lunch. I thought it would be nice to get some fresh air and some sun. After sitting there for about 15 minutes this older man walked up to me and said "Hello, beautiful day out isn't".....I said "It is a great day out sir, I am glad I came down to sit back for a bit". He than said "Life is good, enjoy it, you only get one" and starting walking away. I noticed that he went up to every garbage can around the area looking inside, picking up empty chip bags to see if there was anything in them. It was a very precious lesson to me, it clearly tells us all that no matter how bad we may feel at times we have it, there is always someone out there who is feeling it that much more. I wish I had money on me at the time, I would have loved to take him to lunch, as I walked back up from town, all I could think about was how I hope I see him again so I can treat him to a good meal.
A very decent fellow who went out of his way to say hello to me, just an everyday guy sitting on a park bench like many others. This world needs more of him.

A post that started off talking about a goodnight of drinking, and the non use of my grade 7 spelling bee championship skills, ends with a life lesson given to us by a down to earth harmless fellow in a small town on Cape Breton Island. I could not think of a better way to end this entry, he is what Cape Breton is all about. Friendly, caring down to earth people.

PS...I bet you thought you would never read a sensitive entry. I can understand from reading the previous entries where you would get that but I shall tell you that from time to time they will come. There are just somethings you have to share and today's moment was one of them. Just do not get used to them, they are far and inbetween, lol, kiddin.

Have a good day...

Quote - "This is the beginning of a new day. You have been given this day to use as you will. You can waste it or use it for good. What you do today is important because you are exchanging a day of your life for it. When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever; in its place is something that you have left behind...let it be something good." ...Anonymous

2003-06-29T10:23:00.000-03:00

Good morning all. I feel like a million dollars, it is a beautiful day out. Another day to begin, I hope you all like myself enjoy yours.

2003-06-29T04:43:00.000-03:00

I have had a couple. 4:13am currently I feel wonderful, what a rock on niight. Tonight I had the pleasure of attending a wedding reception. I cannot complain, mes non, I cannot complain. I had a coupld e of drinks with Steve tonight before hand and when we wenr t to the reception everyone looked awesome, the women looked beautiful in their outfits, the guys looked like they wanted to be come closer friends with the people in the outfits. I remember approaching one at one point of the night and telling her that she was the most beaurtiful one there........she actually was.

I did some dancing, got down and boogied, oh yeah this g funk can giver er.

Aftet the reception I eaded back home, I was feeling wondeful by then, Stevie was as well. Just beofore we made itr up to our place we noticed a house padrty on the go by our place, we stopped in for a drink or 2, ended up being 5 or 5. It was a goodd time, I actually broguht one of the bridesmaids back tp the paty with me after going home to make a drink. Corrin, Chad, Amy, Kim and the rest were a cool crew, Chad fishes and told me I could have some fish, Steve liked a chair in their living room and I believe they are giving that to him. We had a good time their, goodh time had by all. Thanks to Amanda (bridesmaid who came with me) for a good time too, she was cool, had me laughing all night while there.

You know what I am too drunk to contieunuy thuis, I cannot spell like I would like to, this hformer grade 7 spellin bee champ has too much rpride in his spelling skills. I must get some rest, much needed. Congrtats to the wedding crew, congrats, congrats, congrats. Merry Wedding, I must get some sleep now, the stud needs to close the doors on the nisght, end the parade, sing the last lline in the song.

Goodnight all, no quote tionight, I beelive I have typed enough.

2003-06-27T21:36:00.000-03:00

I must have slept really well lastnight, it had to have been a deep sleep. I woke up this morning and I had my fan on my bed directly in front of me, a bag of dill pickle chips and some pop along side me as well. I do not at all remember having any of them in bed with me when I went to sleep. To me that is the sign of a good one.

When I woke up it was really hot out, it was definetly a great day to go outside and spend some time in the sun. I gave Lawson a call just after lunch and hung out at his place for the afternoon. When I first got there we had the TV on, Jenny Jones today had women on there who wanted to prove to their friends that their body parts were real. I spent most of the hour thinking if I had an ass like that I would not be on television, I would be sitting at my kitchen table looking through my Richard Simmons daily diet planner wondering what I was going to eat for lunch that was going to help me loose the ass I have. I had soon saw enough of the unattractive ladies trying to say they were hot gear so I made my way outside and the sun was still hot, it was a great feeling. I spent about an hour out on his deck by the pool, I could feel the UV Rays entering my skin, by the looks of me moving forward sunscreen might be an idea.

Time on the deck passed by, the afternoon departed and the early evening approached. We decided that we would take a drive up to see the soon to be new wedding couple to see if they were still alive after the festivities last night. You see prior to the bride going out to the bar she had one of her friends drop her ring off to the groom because she did not want to lose it. Her friend dropped it off and said "She wanted me to give this to you" and left. He had no idea what was going on and got a little upset thinking that she decided she maybe did not want to get married. The fact is she was giving it to him to hold onto so she did not lose it, awww the drama, if it is not me I am glad to see it, makes life exciting. I walked in the kitchen totally forgetting that lastnight I played a major role in turning everything in her house upside down. She was not pissed at me though, but from what the girls have told me when she walked in from the bar lastnight she was livid and spent most of the night repairing the artwork we had left behind. The two girls who came in lastnight when Steve and I were re arranging put her lingerie on her teddy bears, at first she thought it was us and was not pleased, today I along with Steve are very thankful for her friends fessing up. She was eating chicken as she was telling me this story, thank god I was not there lastnight when she first saw the display, everyone may have been eating my right and left forearms. I need those.

7pm came, it was Wedding Rehearsal time. As we approached the church we discussed how there shall be no commenting of the ladies while we are inside as it would not be right for us to do. I entered the church and approached the stairs, the first thing I did was neal down on them and thank the lord for making the bridesmaids beautiful. The discussion we had just before getting there was now invalid, gone, no longer of any value. As the bridesmaids walked down the aisle I looked at Lawson and said "ah oui, we must thank the lord this evening before going to sleep". He then said Bob your going to hell, stop it. I shortly after caught him with a smile on his face that would translate to the same thing I said so we were then even and I feel that because of that I am not going to hell alone... he will be joining me.

Another eventful day, tonight there is not much on the go, going to share a couple of drinks, and attempt to not think of the women Lawson and I saw today walking up the street in a lacy white sundress with nothing on underneath. If I begin to think of her, there will be a lot on the go tonight which would primarily include my lunch, my bathroom and the garbage can that sits inside it.

Goodnight all, I hope you have had a nice day, enjoy your night.

Quote - "Everybody should believe in something -- I believe I'll have another drink". -- Anonymous

2003-06-27T00:53:00.000-03:00

What a day today was, a surreal Thursday in many ways. The post shows Friday due to me not completing the post before midnight. I woke up this morning after a great nights sleep. I had one thing on my agenda today other than just going with the flow, retrieve a new bank card due to my previous one floating somewhere in the Atlantic ocean right now. Newsflash when you go swimming and are not fully unclothed you may lose somethings that are actually of good to you. My loss was my bankcard, but luckily enough the ladies at the bank helped me out by hookin me up with another one.

I left the bank and decided I would walk a little further downtown and sit on one of the park benches to get some sun, it was beautiful out. As I am sitting there all I could think about was how many people walked by me and were border line right out of it. For a period of time I thought I was at the Side Show Olympics, sitting in the first row. That thought quickly left me when I heard a lady say "I will be right back", as I look over I see a lady at the age of approx 35 talking to her baby which is in a stroller. She started walking away from the baby, leaving it beside the park bench she was sitting on. I was in complete awww, I could not believe, as I watched her walk up the street I was trying to think of what was the best thing for myself to do. I saw the lady enter the local drug store and got up and went to the park bench by the baby. There were a lot of people around the area, I was not sure if it was her granddaughter or grandson so I thought the best thing to do was go and sit by the baby so it was not alone and wait for the lady to come back. The baby kept looking at me like I was pablum, I continously thought about how much I would like the lady to return, she eventually did 15 mins later. As she approached the bench, I asked her why she did not bring the baby, leaving it on it's own. She did not say anything to me, put her hand on the stroller and began to walk away. I took a few minutes to myself at that point, asking myself why the man upstairs puts such gifts in the hands of the undeserving. I then smiled as I thought about how much I am going to care for my son/daughter when the day comes that I am a father. My buddy Lawson is going to be a father in August, he is going to be a great dad, I remember that thought running through my mind as well as I walked into Tim Hortons to get an ice cappucino.

My day continued and soon enough the evening arrived. Lawson, Steve and I hung out in Lawson's garage/outdoor studio for a couple hours prior to attending a friends bachelor party. We got there and everyone was very drunk, I actually thought for a second I was at the local legion, but the lack of 80 year olds dancing to La Vida Loca quickly devoured that. Steve and I soon after being there decided that we need to do something to the groom to be's house, as tonight was his bachelor party, a night to celebrate manhood before his soon to be wife takes over. We turned everything in his house upside down, I mean everything from couches, chairs, to the kitchen table and his bed. I am sure his fiance will be pissed when she sees the artwork we did but it had to be done, could not resist the urge. As Steve and I were upstairs re-organizing his bathroom we heard a couple of girls downstairs. We immediately looked at eachother as we were laughing and said "oh shit, what in the hell are we going to do". We quickly bolted for the guest bedroom, shut the door, turned out the light and tried to remain as quiet as could......truth of the fact is we were bursting in laughter, it was impossible to hold it in. All we could hear was "awww shit, she is going to lose it". They came up the stairs, our laugther at that point got louder but we were still trying our best to keep it in. Were thinking we were caught, that they were going to know who did it then out of nowwhere we did not care if we were caught when we heard "Who wants to see up strip?"...at that point we turned on the light, opened the door and said "why hello ladies, how are you?"...priceless. The two of them were beautiful, especially the one in the back she was extremely attractive and I remember naturally after seeing her we looked at eachother and said "ah oui" a statement that has become famous between Lawson, Steve and I meaning oh yes, nice indeed. We then walked downstairs and went outside to meet up with the rest of the guys thinking hell we were going in there to turn furniture upside down, it ends with us seeing 2 beautiful women and too boot asking us if we would like to see them strip. Screw lotto 649, luck had struck. They eventually left, not stripping and headed back over to the bachelorette party which was being held in my building. Our luck quickly left.

Lawson, Steve and I soon left and went back to Steve's place. When we got there the door opened to the bachelorette party, and out they all came, multiple beautiful women, who eventually came over to hang out for a while. They were all quite drunk, once again the legion thought came back to me, followed by me thinking if women at the legion look like this that I would be attending regularly. The thought quickly left as I recalled back to a night Steve and I spent at one of the local legions, believe me they do not look like these women did. If I was looking for no teeth and a good pension I would definetly be there dancing to La Vida Loca, but instead I am looking for a nice down to earth girl who has respect, goals, a sense of humor,etc. I will continue going to the local clubs where I will not find it but atleast I do not have to dance to La Vida Loca with the toothless.

All in all it was a good day, an eventful one but hey life has to be exciting, today was and I hope tomorrow is too.

Goodnight all...

I have wondered..... What does cheese say when it get's it's picture taken?

2003-06-25T22:31:00.000-03:00

I believe tonight deserves a second posting. I would like to take the time to thank Ra for inserting a link on his personal site to my blog and I would like to thank the band as a whole for linking my blog on their main page at Trooper.ca.

You guys continue to do so much for your fans, we grow as fans each and everyday.

PS...A comments section has been created for the site. At the end of each entry please feel free to let me know what you think. Click on comment and your on your way.

Night.

2003-06-25T20:55:00.000-03:00

I over heard some bar stories today and they completly inspired this entry. Enjoy.

- The Proper Way To Tell A Guy You Are Interested Ladies -
This is a topic well needed to be discussed about, believe me. Many women are beautiful inside and out, and could do no wrong. Many are complete treasures to our universe and some just go about things the wrong way. I am sure this goes for us guys too but that is for a female to write about, I am a guy, I need to shed some light on what I see.

How many times have you had a woman grab your ass, grab your nuts, tell you they want to take you home and ride you like a rodeo bull, like an italian stallion or simply ask you to throw the ole hot dog down the hallway?.

I think it is very important to first off say that yes those comments and actions can be flattering to some, especially to me after 4-5 drinks but to others they will look at you with the impression you sleep with more people than a Hollywood madame, play with more wieners than Mr Schneider himself. The trait of intelligence, self confidence and not only outside beauty but inner beauty is what a true guy is really looking for. Guys who just want sex will gladly accept those comments and actions and pull a couple of your muscles, but if you are looking for a guy to spend time with, get to know and to possibly build something with you need to go about things a little differently. This way you do not only get the pulled muscles but you also get respect. Some of you complain often about guys doing this and guys doing that. How about looking for the right ones?...huh, might be wise mes senioritas. In many cases women who say they want to be ridden like Funny Cide was this year to win the Kentucky Derby may very well be looking for more than just sex, but if you do that the impression we will get is just the opposite.

If you want to do things the right way and all people should, try doing this and you will more so impress guys instead of tending to make them lean away. I think it is important to say as I begin to write this that this is for women who want more than sex, if you are women who just want sex and nothing else the posting ended for you in the first paragraph. You can keep grabbing the ass, nuts, etc and I am sure you will get the sex you want. If you are a women who wants to get to know an individual, take the time to possibly build something than this is the beginning of the post for you and I hope you enjoy the insight I give to you. So let me set the scenario for you, a very simple scenario with a very simple set of actions to take. This is not rocket science, all this takes is a little intelligence and some logical thinking, guys are not looking for geniuses and therefore it does not take one to make him interested. It is however important that you approach him properly, the first impression is either going to be a lasting one or the very last one you make, keep that on your mind as you decide to act. The first step is approaching him. When you take that step make sure to be confident, feeling that either way things are going to be ok, because if a guy senses no confidence things are already against you so it is important to be upbeat and very self confident to get things started on the right track. Guys like women to be very forward, upfront and blunt, don't beautify anything just tell him how you are feeling bluntly but in proper manner. At first the completly natural feeling is that you know a guy and would like to spend time with him to get to know him a little better. That is always what happens at first right, moving forward there are many directions that can be taken that you and him will decide on together so this posting is about the beginning, how to allow it to start. An important thing to remember is you have to be yourself, keep things as natural as possible, life only begins to become difficult when you differentiate from who you are, or you are not being yourself to begin with. Below is some guideline on what you could say to a guy at the beginning to start things off properly and give off the right impression. If you want a guy to feel that you want to get to know all of him, not just certain parts, ie the pogo then this is crucial.

"We have spent some time and the more I spend with you the more I feel like I would like to get to know the complete you. I do not in anyway want to rush into anything, I just enjoy the time we have spent and if you are interested I would like to spend a little more."

"I know we do not know eachother too well but if you are interested I would like the opportunity to get to know you better, and I would like to give you the opportunity to get to know more about me"

"I know tonight is the first night that we have seen eachother, spent anytime at all but I have to say it has been alot of fun and I would like to spend more if you are interested"

If you notice there is a common trend in all the suggestions above. One they are short and simple because you do not want to over do it, our attention spans are 2-3 mins and two they all promote the verbage "if you are interested". It is important to include that because it then does not leave anything in question, there is no opportunity for him to say "What do you mean?"......"Are you saying your interested in me?".....This will allow the discussion to run smooth, that is important. Remember be yourself, upbeat, and express your interest properly. Not all situations are going to be the same, but it is a guideline and I hope it helps. I think the guy insight will give you yourself some insight on how we think and what we are looking for.

And for all who just want the sex I have one below for you.

" I am wetter than the 25 inches of rain Mississippi saw this past spring, take me home and unleash the vacuum, it is time to dry me off."

That should work for you.

Goodnight all...

Quote - "We could learn a lot from crayons: some are sharp, some are pretty, some are dull, some have weird names, and all are different colors ...but they all have to learn to live in the same box."

PS I had another weird dream. Dreamt that Rosanne Barr sang the National Anthem at an Oakland Athletic's baseball game like she did in the mid 90's and she forgot the words. Only difference was that after it happened everyone starting blaming me telling me they could not believe I forgot the words. I was banned from all US ballparks, it was shitty I am a big baseball fan.

2003-06-24T22:25:00.000-03:00

What an amazing night lastnight and a great way to introduce this blog. The last week has been weird for me, I had a dream about being the author of all of the books in the Oprah book club, another consisted of American Idol being cancelled for the season due to myself not being able to appear on the show with Burt Bacharach due to already being booked as a guest on the Caroline Rhea show. Lastnight put those dreams to shame, a day I look forward to every year, the day Trooper comes to rock the Savoy.

A completly surreal day began at lunch hour when I went to the liquor store to pick my friends for the night (Mr Rum and Mr Sambuca). You see here in town the liquor store is attached to the grocery store, a chance for everyone to spend 5 dollars on bread and cheeze whiz and then 100 dollars on our booze, something we naturally do. So I go into the liquor store and picked up my alcohol and must have stood in line for 10 mins, behind approximently 10 people. After I got my booze I went over to the grocery store to pick up my mix and may have seen 3 people. As I walk through the store looking for my sprite I catch myself laughing outloud, in amazement that there are 30 cars in the parking lot and maybe 5 of them have to do with the grocery store, how fitting.

2pm comes around, I have showered and am ready to begin. I meet up with Steve across the hall and the drinking begins. It is always Steve and I who share a couple before anyone else shows up. Steve on the long island ice tea, myself on the rum, as each drink goes down, we begin to laugh more, and times arise where we become sensitve and tell eachother how great of friends we are, that is always followed by the two of us throwing out a Ric Flair slap, the chest then hurts very bad.

After 10 drinks and 10 shots, I am feeling as good as Michael Jackson does in a childrens playground and probably just about as excited too as we are under an hour away from Trooper at the Savoy. We all hop into cars and make our way down to a place that is legendary to Glace Bay....yes you guessed it The Legion for some darts and polka dancing, lol, kiddin we were off to the Savoy.

We enter the savoy and the electricity is wild, the lobby is full of people, every second person I see I know, the night was going to be amazing from the very beginning. Forever opened the show, at this time I have had 3 vodka and orange juices and feel like playing the roll of Bernie from Weekend At Bernies, you know the parts where he just drops to the floor.

But I did not, yours truly hung in there and enjoyed their performance, a definete kudos goes out to Peter Christmas their bass player who in my mind is extremely talented and the music industry should be very greatful for the magic he shares.
Trooper hit the stage shortly after, Ra and the band came out full of energy ready to provide us all with once again a great show. Myself, Steve and the 30 plus friends we brought with us stood up, and rocked along with them throughout the night. The majority of the crowd remained in their seats, but still showed a lot of appreciation for them standing up at times and cheering very loudly. I am 22 years old, I have to rock with the band, I have to be interactive and show my energy just like they do. It was not like I was going to a presentation delivered by the Queen which I would still prob do the same thing for, I was at a Trooper concert, a performance by Canada's all time party band!!!

The concert ended and out to the lobby we went. After many autographs signed by Ra and the guys, it was determined that the band was going to come back to our apartment building to hang out. I, Steve and the others could not believe it, we were going to get a chance to sit back and shoot the shit with the band that we look up to, the band that just provided our Island with a magical night. Back to the building we went, we spent about an hour with eachother, sharing stories, drinks, and many laughs. I had the pleasure of taking some time to talk to Scott their bassist. After the band toured my apartment he mentionned to me how he noticed my golf clubs, that they were left handed and that he is an avid golfer himself. Scott not only are you a great bass player, a true musical genuis to our country but you are a down to earth guy who fit right in, you all did, Ra, GoGo, and Frankie fit right in with you and you deserve to be thanked for providing us all with a lifelong memory that we will never forget.

The night ended with the band and ourselves at the Atlantic Ocean. You see Frankie Baker is new to the band and this was his first Maritime experience, so he had never got a chance to see the Atlantic ocean we all get to see everyday. We all made our way to the water, and shortly after arriving Frankie and GoGo wanted to experience it. 1:30am and I find myself in the ocean with Steve and GoGo, Frankie had made his way in just prior. It wasn't like we were on Ed The Sock and there was all these hot women in practically nothing in the water with us, it was just myself, Steve and GoGo chilling out, until GoGo experienced a lobster at his feet, then we got the hell out, lol.

The night ended with the guys dropping us off back at our building. We all became close by the end of the night, we shook hands, and did not say bye instead it was until next time. Not only is Trooper Canada's all time party band, they are also very down to earth guys who love having a good time. They will always be welcome and we thank them for a night that topped our previous best. It includes myself and Steve waking up in someone's back yard with crows pecking, and hard dog shit under our blankets. That is a story for another time.

Goodnight all...

Quote - "When I get real bored, I like to drive down town and get a great parking spot, then sit in my car and count how many people ask me if I'm leaving. "
*Steven Wright*