Vacation Headache #1 - solved

I spent some time working the phones with the car rental agencies last night. National, Alamo, Enterprise, Avis, Thrifty, Dollar, Budget.

Some of them were helpful -- I talked to National-Alamo's call centre for a while, and the woman was trying to be very helpful. Matt at Laguardia was a decent chap, but couldn't quite believe that it was illegal for me to drive a US rental car into Canada. Matt in Bangor, Maine was likewise accomodating. The fellas in Portland, Maine were polite but less trying-hard.

Budget's toll-free line got me Roger in Fredericton -- nice to talk to a friendly maritimer.

I called Thrifty and got a woman who was ... a pain. I called Dollar and got the same woman!

It was all ultimately futile. Nobody could set us up with a Canadian-plated car to drive from NYC to Halifax.

So we looked at other options.

Train? No go.

Bus? We don't have a hunting knife. (Too soon?)

American rental driven half-way and switched to a Canadian car? Not doable.

Rental driven to Portland or Bar Harbour, then the Cat fast ferry to Yarmouth, then a bus or something to head home? Just too complicated and too expensive. The Portland-Yarmouth ferry is $99/person +$10 border fee, and the only departure is, IIRC, 8am. Just too much hassle.

We briefly considered renting an American to drive the rental car across the border, but figured that could lead to complications beyond our tolerance.

So ... I pitched a new plan ... stay an extra night in NYC and fly home.

Problem was, our hotel couldn't accomodate us for an extra night.

No bother. I hacked away at the keyboard and did some math. Came up with a new hotel for the extra night, worked out a reasonably-priced flight on Delta, and wrote it all down. Ran it past Amanda, who doesn't deserve to be this stressed-out on her first week of vacation, and got the approval.

Booked. Done. Fixed.

An extra day in NYC for about $140 more than flying home the day before. Good deal.

Now we just have to figure how to get to Newark, NJ to get home to YHZ!

Thanks to all the people who suggested strategies for our vacation endgame! And impersonal man-to-computer thanks to Google, Expedia and Orbitz for their assistance today.

Vacation headache #1

Our plan was to fly to Ontario, do the Ontario thing, then fly to New York, do the NYC thing, then rent a car in NYC and drive back to Halifax through Maine and New Brunswick.

Amanda set up the car rental a few weeks ago with National-Alamo, and the only outstanding thing to settle was the discount rate offered through my employer. When sorting *that* out today, the customer service gentleman said he'd heard that Canada Border Services Agency seized American rental cars at the border.

Sounded fishy, but I just called CBSA and they say that's correct.

It's illegal for a Canadian to drive a car with American plates in Canada. So they'd seize the car and give me an ouchy fine.

Alternative solutions that sound good (and by good, I mean in theory, not that I feel sufficiently smart at this exact second to make them work):

- drive a rental from NYC to some border town, then walk, hike, skip or swim across the border to Canadian border town and pick up another rental; or, drive a rental to a border town that deals with these confounded CBSA issues and may have a stock of Canadian cars on the lot
- arrange some kind of car-sharing deal through one of those fuzzy-wuzzy Internet drive-my-car boards
- break down and buy plane tickets from NYC to Halifax. Boo! We wanna shop in Bangor and have a nice night in a Bangor hotel

Helpful (?!) links:
- Car Rental in the USA and Canada (independent site from 2004 -- doesn't mention my plight)
- A message board post at canadavista.com
- Novacarhire.com says so, too

The People's Picasso of Havana

We heard about guys like this before going on our tour, but I still ended up shelling out 4 CUC for two quick-and-dirty caricatures of Amanda and I. Here they are, plus a shot of the guy who did 'em. I don't think they look anything like us, really.

Big Ass On Skis

Exploring the wilderness on skis., originally uploaded by BigAssSuperBlog.

We took advantage of the nice weather on Saturday by taking a trip to Ski Martock, about 45 minutes away from Halifax outside of Windsor, Nova Scotia.

I haven't been cross-country skiing in ... well ... 25 years? I feel really old to be able to say I haven't done something in 25 years. That just feels so wrong.

I skied (that doesn't look like it's spelled correctly) about as well as someone who hasn't skied in 25 years would, especially if he wasn't a good or even adequate or even passable skier 25 years ago.

As you can see from the "Scott The Explorer" shot above, I had wet spots on my pants from several falls. As you might not be able to see from the shot above, I landed on my poles. I (mostly) straightened them out.

All in all, a good day out.

More pics in the Big Ass Photo Gallery.

Anticipating many Google hits now for "big soggy ass" and "big ass poles" etc. Silly Google.

Additional notes ... yes, my glasses are fogged up there ... skiing is hard work! ... The photos were taken with a Motorla Razr2 phone on loan from Rogers Wireless to be reviewed on an upcoming episode of Maritime Morning. If anyone has any cool tips for using this phone, lemme know, 'cuz for all I know, it's just a really skinny phone with a good camera on it ... And, I lost my mittens. I think I lost them when I was returning the skis or boots ... I almost lost my beloved Boognish (Ween) hat early on the ski trail, but another (athletic, skilled, polite) skier picked it up and returned it. That would've been the second Boognish hat I lost, having had one fall out of a car at the Avalon Mall in St. John's, Newfoundland early in the decade.

Cuba now, New York later?

We're booked!

We've set up a vacation to Cuba for March. One week in the sun, sand, and endless bacon of the all-you-can eat buffet. Ah, the life of an otter -- laying back in the water with food on my tummy.
I still hope to get to New York City later in the year for another vacation, but Amanda's concerned finances may not allow such a trip.

Fortunately, the amazingly talented folks at Infinite Solutions have served up a guide to enjoying NYC on $100.

I strongly recommend checking out the rest of the Infinite Solutions videos. You'll be surprised how much you learn.

Followup to Donair Salad request

I sent out an email about my Donair Salad article. I asked for feedback from King Of Donair, Bash Toulany's, and Venus Pizza, as well as from two webmasters who feature extensive sites about Halifax donairs.


Chris at TheGreatness.com (a fantastic Donair resource, btw!) responds:

Dunno. I would think, given the Mediterranean emphasis on salads and the North American "chicken caesar salad" phenomenon, that such a salad would make some
sense. It's a natural evolution from the "doner kebab" and green salad combo that is common in Turkey and, by extension, in European towns with large Turkish populations. But Canadian donair has a well deserved reputation of being the food you eat when you don't care about healthy eating. How do you mix that with the healthy clientele that usually wants a salad? Maybe it would work, but it's one more item on the menu to keep track of.

So far, none of the other leading donair innovators or commentators have replied to my request.

My premier's funnier than your premier

Reminding me a little of the antics of former Toronto mayor Mel Lastman, Nova Scotia premier Rodney MacDonald hustles to get David Letterman to come to Canada's Ocean Playground.

And given today's dearth of news, this is today's top story.

It's nice to get away

Amanda and I spent the weekend in beautiful Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia.

We went there in the summer for part of our vacation, and Amanda rightly suggested we return for our "official" arbitrary anniversary in the fall. So ... we did!

Ahhh ... two nights in the luxurious King George Inn, with a two-person jacuzzi tub, genuine artificial fireplace, antiques, a newly-installed king-sized bed, and the meticulous hospitality of Faith McStravick, the "pancake queen" innkeeper.

Only problem was ... the town was pretty much closed. It's the off season. No farmer's market. Few shops. The Port Royal habitation across the bay was closed for the season.

And to my extreme disappointment, the First Computermuseum of Nova Scotia does not even exist any more. That's right. Their web site doesn't say so, but the storefront housing the museum is completely empty and for sale. The museum wasn't open in the summer, either, but it was clearly still there. Grr.

We managed to get some good food at Cafe Compose, an Austrian-themed restaurant by the water. And a delicious lunch at Leo's, a cafe in Adams-Ritchie House, the oldest documented building in English Canada. Omigod, a 12-grain homemade club sandwich so thick I could barely stretch my mouth around it, with a side of mushroom barley soup. Good eats.

We drove out to Kejimkujik National Park for a stroll through the woods. Ah, nature! We even saw two deer. (Two deers? Two deer.)

The drive home took us along the "scenic route" on Highway 1, through lots of small towns and colourful leaves (leafs? leaves). One town stood out as the most bizarre; there were as many pumpkin-people -- that is, scarecrow-type constructions with pumpkins for heads -- along the side of the road as there must have been actual inhabitants. Decidedly odd, but a helluva good effort by the townsfolk.

The drive also provided my first opportunity to listen to the CBC. Seriously, I've never really listened to CBC radio before. We listened to the tail end of Stuart McLean's Vinyl Cafe, and it was dead-on interesting. A show called Wiretap featured an entertaining guy calling his friends on the phone. A show called Tapestry in which the host interviewed a former businesswoman who became a Zen Buddhist monk. An in-depth interview with former WWF champion Brett "Hit Man" Hart. Really good stuff. Completely unlike the radio I do, which is perfectly fine. We serve different purposes. CBC is for people who have time to sit back and take in some good, long storytelling. My station is for people who have just a few minutes to get up to date. That's fine. One or the other isn't bad or good. They're just different.

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Pictures are up on Flickr.

Scott Simpson is now married

Okay, calm down. I didn't want to give my friends and family a heart attack -- just a little WTF?

The headline refers to the August wedding of my friend and (recently departed from journalistm for a career in the music industry -- congrats!) coworker Laura Graham, and her man Scott Simpson, who I've blogged about in the past. Amanda and I were invited to their wedding in beautiful Judique, Cape Breton.

The wedding was set to take place on Kintyre Farm, but weather forced a change of plans. Instead it was held indoors, and it was still phenomenal. A few of us ducked out after dinner to head back to the Troy Lodge Cottages for a few drinks before returning to the reception, but the weather turned from bad to horrible, and we were stuck inside, missing the dancing and live music. I hear it was magical.

The night before the wedding is a story in itself. They planned a ceilidh (I hope I spelled that right) at the Celtic Music Interpretive Centre in Judique, and Laura said I should bring my gear and play a few songs. I did. It was a blast. Aside from karaoke, I've only performed in front of people twice before -- once at a small open mic in Toronto, and a few weeks later at my farewell bash at the Spotted Dick in Toronto. I'd never performed with a backup band in my ipod. I got on stage and realized that the playlist containing my backing tracks was not on the ipod. Horror! But I found the individual tracks in the "Recently Added" playlist, so I made it through. I sang my first song a whole octave higher than I should've. I forgot some of the words in my second song, even though they were printed out in front of me. And I started the third song a bar early. No matter -- people dug it all. Folks danced. It was a blast. I was very sweaty. I really want to do some more of these open mic dealies.

Afterward, many folks returned to the Troy Lodge Cottages for the after-party jam. It turns out several members of the wedding party -- or at least the bunch of guys jamming at the Interpretive Centre -- were members of the Johnny Favorite Swing Orchestra, and some of the other guys were just plain talented as heck. So, the joint was a-rockin', as Scott Simpson (the groom) and his buddies took up guitars, pianos and whatever else was around, in a beer-fueled kitchen party in a cabin in the woods by the Northumberland Strait. Good times. 'Til Amanda got sick, anyway. I'll leave that part out, 'cuz it was kinda gross. Anyway, uh ... yeah, kinda gross.

But we made it to the wedding the next day ... it was emotional ... beautiful ... inspiring ... and the ribs were to die for, dahling.

Here's some video shot at the ceilidh and at the wedding. I hope you like.

Vacation wrapup, way way late

Hola, amigos. I know it's been a long time since I rapped at ya. But life's been busy for the past month or so. Lots to blog about, so let's get at 'er, starting with this wrapup of the big Big Ass Summer Tour 2007.

Saturday, July 21, Amanda and I set out on a big drive, aiming to get to Riviere-du-Loup by sundown. First stop was Wendy's somewhere to try the new Baconator. Yes, two quarter-pound patties of fresh-never-frozen beef, six strips of bacon and two slices of cheese. The Baconator delivers. It's a little mushy, and the first half is best, 'cuz it's hot.

It was a cloudy, rainy day heading through New Brunswick. But more distracting than the rain was the accumulation of bugs on the windshield. I used the gas station squeegee to wipe off the slime each time we stopped for gas, but we could barely keep ahead of the insect carnage.

Arrived in Riviere du Loup and negotiated through the town courtesy of Mapquest's left-right-left-right-left-right-left directions, instead of going straight down one road. Ended up at Motel Boulevard Cartier. You'll note that the motel is attached to the local St. Hubert Chicken restaurant. In fact, the check-in desk is right next to the take-out counter. Check that... the check-in desk is the take-out counter. We checked in to the unremarkable but perfectly passable room. No non-smoking rooms available, unfortunately, so it felt like a real old-school experience, back to the days when all the rooms were smoking rooms. I promptly noticed a fly on the ashtray, turned around, and was delighted to find a flyswatter sitting on its own hook. Thwap! First amentiy used.

St. Hubert, in my mind, has always been the franglais equivalent of Swiss Chalet. And I luvs me some Swiss Chalet. So we ambled over to the restaurant to try out a quarter chicken and frites. This ain't no Swiss Chalet, kids. Tastes like cafeteria food. We added a bit of Nova Scotia flavour by purchasing some Keith's beer (Keith's Red, weirdly enough) to enjoy with dinner. Entered to win a Keith's guitar. Haven't won, so far that I've heard. Our friendly server Benoit told us about a fireworks show scheduled for 10pm down by the water. Cool beans! I luvs me some fireworks, too. If Swiss Chalet had fireworks, they'd be on to something, man. Fireworks show was better than the July 1 one in Halifax, I shit you not.

Next day was time for the killer drive of the trip, from Quebec to Bradford. Lunch was at McDonald's ("Mc Do'"), and the difficult problem of ordering a Bic Mac, no pickles, no sauce (my choix du jour on the rare times I go to the Arches) en francais. Amanda grew up in Northern Ontario (town of Swastika -- look it up) and actually worked her previous job in french, and we negotiated frickin' Paris together, so I figured ordering a Combo #1, no pickles, no sauce would be a breeze. But me, I learned Ontario core french, in which they teach you the names of things. French immersion, sure, you sound like you know the language, but you don't always end up knowing what stuff is called. Amanda was unsure what "sauce" was in french, even when I suggested that it may be "sauce". Pickles were a whole other matter. I asserted that "cochinons" was the word. She didn't know. So, between her and the counter man, I got a Big Mac sans sauce, but avec pickles. I could pick those off. Pickles, it turns out are "cornichons". Unsure so far what "cochinons" is, if anything.

Goddamn Ontario driving. The drive from the border to Toronto is ... is ... is ... no fun. Just no fun. The 401 isn't beautiful to drive on. Worse still when there's a collision and rubberneckers and idiots thinking they can get a tiny bit further ahead by cutting through the service station, then coming out four abroad into a one-lane merge, ending up driving on the shoulder, and ... anyway, Amanda convinced me not to shout anything out the window or hop out and slug someone in a Rav-4.

We crawled into Bradford quite late and found a Pizza Pizza open late. I don't miss Pizza Pizza pizza. Panzerotto Pizza and Wings, yes, I miss that. Toppers Pizza is good, too. But Pizza Pizza isn't the kind of pizza I miss, you know what I mean? Settled in for a nice night at Amanda's folks.

Off to my old stomping grounds on Monday. Bradford is just north of Newmarket, where I was raised. We hit Upper Canada Mall, where I worked at Compucentre as a teenager. Ate in the food court (Made In Japan/A Teriyaki Experience), shopped around, bought my nephew some cool sunglasses at some baby-stuff store. Saw my old house. Jee-zus, Newmarket has grown. Huge. Very different.

That night we had steak and caesar salad. I luvs me some steak, y'all. Then Barb and Wendall took us out to the movies. We saw Hairspray starring John Travolta. Amanda turned to me in horror during the opening sequence -- "Oh my god. I forgot to tell you, this is a musical." No bother. I knew it was a musical. I spent part of the movie trying to figure out where they shot it -- Toronto, obviously, but it was neat to figure out all the locations. Good flick, despite Travolta, drag or not. The popcorn was fan-tas-tic. Fantastic.

'Manda's mom took us to Ikea on Tuesday. See, the first Ikea in North America was across the harbour in Dartmouth, but they closed it down years ago. Shame! So it was a treat to go to Ikea for the first time in more than two years. We didn't buy anything huge, but it was fun to dream. Ikea actually serves good food in its cafeteria. Meatballs and soup and little potatoes! By this point in the trip, I was getting very tired. Nearly fell asleep in the car to and from Ikea. Dinner was burgers and corn and more caesar salad. Good times.

On Wednesday, we had a surprise lined up for my parents. We'd been swerving my mom and for weeks about our vacation plans, based on my sister's suggestion of arriving unannounced. It worked. We pulled in to Stratford and visited with my sister and baby Ewan for a while, then rolled over to the 'rents abode and walked right in. My dad looked puzzled. Mom was in the basement doing laundry, so I just walked right down and surprised her. Clearly she wasn't expecting it. Oh, I forgot to mention -- a Baconator for lunch. We indulged in Dairy Queen after a dinner of BBQ chicken at Chris and Shannon's.

Amanda drove off to London the next day to visit her sister Amy, while I walked around town with Shannon and my dad. Stratford's a beautiful place. It was nice to spend some time with family seeing their town again. We took my folks out for dinner at the nice hotel -- prime rib for all! And DQ to follow! A fireworks show down by the water was supposed to cap things off, but it started inexplicably early. Who starts a fireworks show at 9:15pm in early August? Just ridiculous. So we missed the whole show. Back to Shannon's to hang out with them and the baby some more. That baby is such a hoot. Hilarious. Babbling and screaming and freaking out and making faces. Tons of fun.

The tour resumed Friday as we dined on nachos at Shannon's, hung out at mom & dad's a while longer, then hit the road for Toronto! We found Sandra and Byron's new house -- eventually -- I had the wrong address. Had the wrong address for a few weeks, apparently, as I sent her birthday card to the wrong place. Their new place is delightful! A renovated place north of the Danforth with lots of room and high ceilings on the main floor. Just fabulous. We went down to the Danforth for a filling and tasty Greek dinner. Byron even ate octopus, or squid, or some tentacled beasty that was in the middle of the plate of dips. It was great to see my friends again; it was like we hadn't been apart for long.

Amanda went out early the next day to visit with a relative, and I went to breakfast with S&B. Good food, good company.

Off to Quebec City! We managed to find a Lick's Homeburgers restaurant on the way out -- one of the things we really miss about Ontario. Big, juicy, garlicky burger. Yum yum yum.

The drive to Quebec was a long, long one. We took an impulsive detour through Trois-Rivieres in an effort to take the "scenic route." We should've learned from the Banff trip that the "scenic route" is just a narrower road with more trees. As we arrived in Quebec City, it began to pour rain. Like, seriously, lots of rain. Somehow, somehow, we got to our hotel, parked, and checked in at the Hotel Auberge du Quartier.

We learned that the beautiful breakfast room was no longer the breakfast room, and no longer beautiful. The man at the desk told us that a guest had recently returned to his room thoroughly drunk and puked all over his sheets. He pulled off the sheets and put them in the shower for a rinse. He left the water running and passed out on the bed. The shower flooded the place, and thus, the breakfast room was ruined. Shame. On the up side, we'd get breakfast around the corner, gratis. We hunted down a local pub in the rain and ate a well-earned meal -- some kind of fancy panini sandwich for me, chicken caesar for Amanda.

Br....

... (Oct 3 2007) okay, this post has been "in progress" for a month and a half now. Let's just say that the Quebec vacation was wonderful. We walked a lot. A lot. Walking and walking. Saw lots of beautiful stuff, and ate some great food. Took a horse-drawn carriage ride. I'm gonna rush through the rest of this.

I wanted to mention that on the first day, I noticed that Scientology was front-page news in the paper. Apparently the "Church" is trying to improve its image in the city by expanding its storefront operation. The paper had a two-page spread. Nothing about Xenu.

We also spent a delightful weekend in Annapolis Royal, staying at the King George Inn. The place is effing gorgeous, and Faith the innkeeper is a whirling dynamo of a host. Highly recommended. I think we'll stay there again. Having never heard of Annapolis Royal before, we were blown away by the rich history and quaint feel of the small town. It was the capital of Nova Scotia before anyone dreamt of Halifax. The oldest English-marked grave in the country is there.

We also went out on the Digby Neck, along the Bay of Fundy. We went on a disappointing whale-watching trip -- only saw a few whales, it was cold, and Amanda was sea-sick. Ate scallops of several varieties. They was good.

On the last day, we went to visit the famous Balancing Rock. A whole lot of stairs -- seriously, a lot of stairs -- and a nice view. Pretty cool.

Okay, this post sat unfinished for a long, long time. And it's, IMHO, still unfinished. But now you have a small idea of what we did on our summer vacation. For pictures worth several tens of thousands of words, check the appropriate gallery on my flickr page.

Yes, the inclusion of virtually everything I ate was intentional. Two weeks of eating and travelling, two weeks of morning-show shifts with dinner right before bed, and a recent habit of eating cinnamon buns at work have pushed my weight up to "before un-weighted" levels. Crap.

More Schmaps!

For the third time, the folks at Schmap! have included some of my photography in one of their internet-based tourist guides. This time, they've tackled Calgary, where I ventured last year to help launch a new all-news radio station. We had lunch at a nice place in the Eau Claire Market, and I snapped a picture of our meal, plus Amanda's hand, featuring a ring she'd just acquired at one of the shops. You can see it in context on the Schmap! site. And, as always, here's a box so you can grab your own free Schmap!

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Yes, yes, I know. I promised to update the blog, and I haven't. Stuff to be covered when I get around to it include:

• the summer vacation to Ontario, Quebec and Annapolis Royal (pictures already on flickr)
• the big Cape Breton wedding of Scott Simpson and Laura Graham, including video of Big Ass Superstar performing at the Celtic Music Interpretive Centre
• updates on the new album (?)
• you may have missed my birthday. It was August 12. I'm 34 now.
• and other whatnot, including why gay men love my flickr page, tales of softball heroics, and how cinammon buns can sabotage six months' worth of weight loss

A heart-warming, gut-churning trip to Ontario

Hey, what a trip.

We flew out to Ontario on Saturday for a week-long tour. We flew with Westjet, and really enjoyed it. The price was on par with Air Canada, and a lot more fun. The satellite teevees in the seatbacks made the time fly. The cabin crew cracked jokes and sang. Free cookies. Lots of fun.

My dad picked us up from Pearson and drove us to Stratford for a quick visit with mom, and then over to visit my sister Shannon and her hubby Chris, and their new baby Ewan. Chris and Shannon are taking to this parenting thing really well.

My folks hooked us up with a mack-daddy suite at the Arden Park Hotel, which was our base for the first half of the week. They also kindly lent us the pick-up truck for easy and reliable transportation in the cold and snow. Cold (!!!) and snow! What a novel concept this winter!

Amanda drove us in to Toronto on Sunday. She went to Ajax to visit family while I spent the afternoon with my good friend Sandra. It was nice to spend time with my buddy, talk, and play some video games like in the old days. Amanda and I went out for a classic dinner with Sandra and Byron at Swiss Chalet, then headed back to Stratford to rest.

Spent lots of time hanging out with Shannon and the baby. I got to hold a baby for the first time. It was sweet. Such a little tiny person. Y'know, cats are great. I love my kitty. Kitty is fun to play with. But it's not the same as holding a baby and just watching its face. And this baby certainly has Simpson in it -- it can fart like a cannon.

Dinner at the the Boar's Head was cold (air, not food) but nice. The baby kept quiet through the whole meal.

Got some hearty exercise from shovelling my parents' driveway. Holy crap, apartment living has its benefits -- indoor parking and no shovelling.

Back to Shannon's for dinner on Tuesday, with some tasty lasagna. Things took a churn for the worse later that night, though, as you'll see in the Un-Weighted entry below. Dinner with mom and dad Wednesday at the hotel was nice, but would've been nicer if I'd had an appetite to eat more than a few forkfuls of the tasty stir-fry.

We got a whole bunch of fantastic pictures and videos from the Stratford leg of the trip. The baby and family are photogenic, for sure. I panicked when my camera choked on the new memory card, though. I bought two 1GB CF cards on sale at Future Shop during the boxing day sale, and tried them out on this trip. Somehow the camera believed there were no photos on the card at one point. Then, the pictures showed up. Then, memory card error. Then, no pictures. I went back to the old card for safety. Thankfully, all the photos have been recovered. Check the galleries later to see what gets put up.

After spending as much time as we could with my side of the family, it was off on the VIA train to Toronto on Thursday for a visit to the folks at my old station, 680News. It was nice to be recognized and welcomed by so many familiar faces. Howdy to Leah, Anne, former bandmate John, Kevin, Peter, Sultan, James, Ron, Thomas, Cara, Taiwo, Marlane and anyone else who I got to see again. The place looks the same as ever, but with more awards on the walls and new faces in some of the seats.

Wendall picked us up and took us up to Bradford for the next leg of the trip. We were greeted at Amanda's mom's place by two of the most enthusiastic dogs I've ever met. Smoochie and Molly love to play. As much fun as I wish the cats would play catch with us, I still prefer kitties.

After chilling with Amanda's sisters Amy and Ruth (who's heading off to Australia for six months) and family members visiting from the west coast, we all got dressed up Saturday for a wedding. Amanda's cousin Stephanie married Phil at The Doctor's House in Kleinburg. It was a lovely ceremony. The four-course dinner was delicious -- cream of broccoli and asparagus soup (yeah, yeah, but it was good!), spinach leaves with almonds (yeah, yeah, but it was .. spinachy, but good), those little miniature chickens stuffed with wild rice (yummmm) and cheesecake for dessert. I got to chat with some regular BigAssSuperstar.com readers -- apparently this blog is a popular read with Amanda's family, including one prominent member who reads while at work for the Peel Police. Well, that explains some entries in the server logs! The Derbyshires were warm and welcoming folks.

Sunday we visited Amanda's granny at the Sunrise Senior Living home in Aurora. Nice place! They have a separate family dining room that Barb booked for the whole clan to have lunch. And lunch was delicious. It's a pricey joint, but appears to be well worth the money.

Amy and her boyfriend Kendall drove us back to Pearson for the return flight home. By then, Amanda was quite sick with a cold and unable to fully enjoy the Westjet experience.

We arrived back at BigAss HQ in Halifax and sat down to some grub before unpacking. It was nice to be back in our own beds after a wonderful, rewarding trip to see friends and family who are far away but not forgotten.

It'd been more than a year since I'd seen my mom and dad. Months since seeing Shannon and Chris. Longer still since seeing Sandra and Byron. Bloody ages since seeing many of the folks at 680. But it's heartwarming to feel that things are still the same after all this time.

Thanks to everyone who helped make our trip so special! I love you all and miss you. We look forward to seeing you again, whether here, there, or on the infernet.

And special thanks to Laura for taking care of Kitty and Kitty while we were away. We think they missed us, but they're not as easy to read as dogs.

More Schmaps for yous

The folks at the Schmap! travel guide site have done it again! They've used four of my Flickr photos in their latest product. It's a guide to Banff, where Amanda and I enjoyed a lovely visit in the spring. They've again offered me the opportunity to offer you the opportunity to take the opportunity to download one of these beasties for free. As with the Halifax guide, I have no idea how much they're supposed to cost, but free's free.

Free Schmaps for Big Ass readers

I was recently approached by a company that makes downloadable travel guides. They call themselves "Schmap" ... They wanted to use some of my Halifax photos for an upcoming interactive guide to this city.

Well, the thing is done. And, as a contributing photographer, they're letting me offer y'all a free download of the Schmap Halifax travel guide. Yeah, free! I don't know how much it's supposed to cost, but free's free. Watch for my shots in the section about Point Pleasant Park. The "picker" ought to appear below.

Coming soon: A Schmap guide to Banff, also including some Big Ass photography.

Motel mystery bug: The Video

End of the tour

Whew! Back home after a whirlwind trip that took us to four provinces, three provincial capitals, two national parks, a resort and three motels, too many servings of french fries, several gorgeous sunsets, two swims in the ocean, an unfortunate encounter with a jellyfish, a visit with whales, the viewing of an eagle, too many encounters with insects including two at motels and dozens on the windshield, one wedding and a Jack & Jill party tonight. Lots of pictures and some video to be added here in the days to come.

And, no, the TV show people have not called. The tension mounts. Not enough tension to spoil the vacation, though. Back to work Monday -- for me, it's the 4am morning shift for two days ... three days of regular shift ... then two weeks of the morning drive before another week off. Ah, summertime.

This just in from the red planet: No news

Hola from the Stanhope Resort in PEI. Vacation is going swimmingly -- literally. Went swimming in the ocean today. Was having a good time in the cold water until I swept past a jellyfish with my flailing arms and got stung. That kind of killed my nautical buzz, so we relaxed on the beach in the sunshine. More on that, of course, in the post-vacation update. Lots of pictures, too. But, for now, the important news.

There is no news. Still no word from the "What Not To Weigh" people (kudos to Little Sister for the name), despite the expectation of a yea or nay call Monday about being cut or not cut. The BlackBerry hasn't buzzed. My colleague who is also trying out for the show has also not received word. I'll get notice out as soon as I find out either way. If they give me the go-ahead, the anticipation of professional dietary intervention will be timely, as we've been eating entirely too many french fries on this trip. If they give me the boot, that means I can resume the healthy eating and add generous portions of exercise when we get back to Hallyfax.

Touchdown in TO

I tried to post a nice little entry here with my Blackberry .... about how a nice Air Canada check-in lady got us out of Halifax on an earlier flight .... a make-up flight for people who had been dicked around by the weather all day .... but somehow the e-mail-to-blog thing didn't work. And now I'm writing on a MacBook Pro, and Windows cut-and-paste keys don't work, and I can't figure it out and we have to get running to a wedding. So .... yes, we got here safe. Yes, we got here in good time. They told us we were going to the wrong terminal, but no biggie. Thanks, Air Canada lady, for hookin' us up! And I'll try to figure this Blackberry posting thing soon. Gotta scram!

Here comes the rain again

A snapshot from around 2:50pm from the local weather radar. We're supposed to fly out to Toronto tonight, but Tropical Storm Beryl is about to smack Halifax with 50mm of rain and 80km/h winds. Sweet merciful crap. Hoping it's not as bad as they're making it out to be. Problem is, out here, it usually is just about as bad as they make it out to be!

Eating in, eating out

We've been going out for dinner on Friday nights for most of the time we've lived here in Halifax, but in recent months, I've tried to make the extra effort to pick a nice restaurant for a more romantic start to the weekend. Something more fine-dining than Swiss Chalet, but not Da Maurizio every week. We've tried a few great restaurants in town:

• Il Mercato on Spring Garden Road. A busy Italian restaurant with a nice atmosphere and decor. We've tried the pork tenderloin, the steak, the lamb, and a delicious bruschetta.
• Jane's On The Common is a small place with a window on Halifax Common, a big greenspace in the centre of the city. Small and cozy. The food was artfully presented and full of flavour.
• Vivo Bistro on Windsor Street was recommended by a coworker. It's on the main floor of a big old house. The food was pretty good -- I had a chicken curry -- but the room was rather loud.

Restaurants on the local to-do list include Sweet Basil, Duffy's, and a fine-looking French place in the historic pedestrian mall around the corner... name slips my mind right now.

We went out for some great meals in Calgary, too:

• Hy's Steakhouse has been around since 1956. It's a classy, pricy joint. Makes The Keg look like Swiss Chalet, but honestly, I've enjoyed my Keg steaks more. Not that the Hy's beef wasn't good, but I shouldn't have ordered one with the trademark BBQ sauce. I'm not a sauce connoisseur, and would've been better off with a naked steak. Amanda's peppercorn steak tasted great, but was apparently very peppery.
• Bow River Barley Mill in Eau Claire Market highlighted a visit downtown. Eating on the patio on a cool day under propane heaters, I devoured a steak sandwich with a side of tortellini soup.
• Denny's next to the hotel. Generally good food. A visit to Denny's will tell you why so many Americans are fat. Generous portions of delicious but not particularly healthy food at decent prices. At least here -- the Denny's we visited in Niagara Falls had the prices jacked up.
• Earls (not Earl's or Earls'). I don't know how many Earls run the place. Punctuation aside, great eating. I ordered the Jerk Chicken Breast but ended up eating the Curry Chicken. I didn't know I got the wrong thing until we reexamined the menu to look for dessert. No matter -- the curry was damn good. The dessert we'd been coveting, however, was not available.
• Chili's. Another American chain. Nothing exception, but nothing to complain about. I think I had another steak.
• Botanica, the restaurant in the hotel, served up good food. Hotel restaurants -- boring, right? Sure, I guess. But the ingredients were fresh and flavourful and the prices reasonable. The stir-fry was crispy and bright. The steak was among the best I had on the trip. Amanda says her Monte Cristo sandwich was enlightening, and an omelette drew praise.
• I ventured over to "My Donair" behind the hotel, drawn by its nearness, my cultivated fondness for donairs, and its claim to serve the "best in the west" ... well, the west is missing out. Dry, bland, nothing to recommend these donairs. And I just noticed that two of the chain's outlets were cited as part of an e. coli outbreak a while back.

Our trip to Banff was brief, so we had to choose our eating carefully:

• Melissa's beckoned as our first stop in search of brunch. It boasts all-day breakfast and light lunches, which sounded just right. I enjoyed a little tiny steak; Amanda had a perfect soup.
• We chose the Maple Leaf Grill for our big fancy dinner. I selected a steak with herbed mash and the biggest honkin' onion ring ever -- just perfect. Amanda's Brome Lake Duck with vanilla bean risotto, bok choy and ginger rhubarb sauce was a huge hit. (Photo) The bruschetta was tricky to eat, but oh so tasty. The oil-and-balsamic mix was the best yet.
• Our way-outta-town meal was suggested by the staff at the Buffalo Mountain Lodge. Craig's Way Station was a packed diner with all-day breakfast. Nothing fancy, nothing special, and the service was downright slow. But the food was decent. Diner food that hit the spot.

After all that, we've decided to get on the healthy eating bandwagon. Cracked open the heart-and-gut-healthy cookbooks and picked some good starters. Amanda's been cooking up some great stuff. We're getting adventurous and lovin' it. Plus, with a new barbeque and patio set on the balcony, the options have opened up significantly. Fired the thing up last night -- what a joy.

Operation Dolphin Trainer is a go

Some of you may have heard me speaking in recent weeks of a "secret misson" to be carried out around this time. No, I didn't join a cult, nor was I plotting to bring one down. Nothing quite so....crazy. Life's been challenging enough without that flavour of paranoid delusional drama.

No, it was a corporate misson labelled by one colleague as "Operation Dolphin Trainer." See, I was invited by the company to fly out to Calgary to take an existing radio station -- and flip 'er.

As of 6 o'clock this morning (local time, which is way different than the clock I finally got used to), oldies station CFFR became 660News, All News Radio. (Here's how it sounded.)

My sincere apologies to anyone who was left out of the loop or kept vaguely in the dark on this one. Orders were for secrecy on this project, though I've since been told that, aside from the specific timing of the flip, this was the worst-kept secret in the industry. I hope anyone back home who found out about this at the last minute will understand the hush-hushedness of the operation.

I also had mixed feelings about the karma of station format flips. I'd always felt that gassing radio staff in the name of ratings is cruel and sad, and was wary of the bad voodoo that participating in such corporate bloodletting would mean to my karmic future. I was relieved to be told that the oldies outfit was mostly voicetracked and very lightly staffed, and that nobody would be canned. (In fact, the news format is so staff-heavy, it'll result in many more new hires). I hope that's true, cuz even though change is inevitable, I don't wish to be part of suffering.

I'm flattered to have been asked to participate in this launch with some great people from Vancouver, Kitchener, Saint John, Halifax, and the pros from Toronto, where it all began. Nice to see some familiar faces again, and some talented folks from other markets.

I can't say much about Calgary, the city, so far, as I've pretty much just seen the airport, the ride from the airport to the hotel, the hotel, the ride from the hotel to work, work, and a nearly sidewalk-free 40-minute walk through industrial parks on my way to buy fruit, juice and Carnation Instant Breakfast. And one trip downtown for dinner (nice place called Murrieta's). Hoping to see more over the next three weeks. I know this is work, not vacation, but I'd feel better being plugged in to the city I'm talking to and about.

All my love to the folks back home! And congrats to everyone who got 660News on the air today. They say launches are the most fun, and I'm excited to have now been part of two.

(PS ... There's a donair place a block away from the hotel. Go figure.)

Christmas wrap

A week and a half overdue, but here 'tis. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, joyous Festivus to all.

I had some much-needed time off over Christmas, and spent most of it in Ontario visiting friends and family and generally doing the Christmas thing.

Flew in to Toronto on the same flight (same aisle) as coworker Jennifer Macdonald. In fact, she had all three seats to herself and stretched out for a nap. Lucky her. I zonked out for a bit but didn't get any significant sleep. Canjet was good, cheap, and cheap.

Spent some good time with mom, dad, Shannon and Chris, and the Simpson cats in Stratford, and enjoyed some delicious wraps for lunch/dinner. Mmm, bacon.

Headed up to Bradford for Amanda's side of the family, and met their new puppy. Good times there, and a big ol' traditional xmas meal. I was reminded of a Simpsons moment after some time with the little dog, Molly:

Burns: "Dogs are idiots! Think about it Smithers! If I came into your house and started sniffing at your crotch and slobbering all over your face, what would you say?"

Smithers: "Uh, if you did it, sir?"

We visited with Amanda's grandmother and aunt for an hour, and 'manda headed home on the plane to return to work. Back to Stratford for another night with the 'rents, then back to continue the tour in Toronto.

Visited the 680News gang for a while and caught up on the office gossip. Hit House of Lords for a new haircut. Dropped by the Church of Scientology Class V Org afterward for a stress test and baffled a French-Canadian Sea Org member with my utter lack of stress and astonishing knowledge of the inside workings of her organization. Chatted up the local franchisee about the South Park episode that exposed Incident II. Bill says, "Oh, yes, I think my son told me about South Park. Isaac Hayes plays Cook." Bill claimed no knowledge of Incident II, and I wasn't about to have him sent off to Ethics by telling him more than he knew. Though I think he was lying.

Got to chill at the Magic 8 Ball launch party with John and Rick (see below), then grooved the next night with Michael "hainsworth.com" Hainsworth. Hey, Jimmy. Thanks for the tour! Howdy to Mrs. H who was sleepin'.

Sandra & Byron returned home from their westward adventure in time to kick back on Friday night before shuttling me to the airport after our traditional post-xmas lunch at Swiss Chalet. Big thanks to S&B for putting me up in the Monkey House during my time in the T-Dot. Greatly appreciated. Nice to be able to give my buggy a hug.

Thanks all around to everyone who was able to share some time. Halifax is great, but I miss y'all.

New Year's Eve was pretty cool. We stood on the balcony with champagne and watched "The Most Intense Fireworks Display in Atlantic Canada." Then watched the replay on Eddie and noted that our view was much better. Flicked over to Dick Clark an hour later (it was 2006 here before NYC) and felt bad for poor ol' Dick.

Back now to the regular weekly grind and its regular weekly stresses and tribulations. Ratings have begun at the new radio station, so the intensity is being turned up for the next coupla months.

Photos from the Christmas meal-and-present-fests are up in the flickr section, but some of the folks in the photos still aren't signed up as "family" to get access to them. Don't you want to see the BigAssSuperstar Holiday Butt Crack Spectacular?

Magic 8 Ball: Decidedly So

The latest CD release from BigAssSuperstar and gang, Magic 8 Ball: Decidedly So, has hit the streets.

Copies of this new double-disc package were distributed to most regular bigasssuperstar.com readers during the holiday tour through Ontario. Stops included Pearson International Airport, The Cat House in Stratford, The Dog House in Bradford, The Monkey House in Willowdale, the stately Bain Estate near Greektown, Your Fired (sic) in Richmond Hill, Nana's in Ajax, and the official launch party at the East York rehearsal space/recording studio where the 8-ball was first shaken.

Disc One is the complete debut/farewell concert recorded live at The Spotted Dick in Toronto on September 23, 2005. Ten audio tracks plus CD-ROM extras including pictures from the night of the show, MP3 versions for sharing, and even a few videos.

Disc Two is a collection of notable recordings from the Jams At Rick's sessions, 2003-2005. Nineteen CD tracks including standout covers of songs by cub and Ween, plus four previously unreleased original recordings: No More Holidays, Pick Up The Phone And Call, Cookies at Rick's, and the epic Everybody's Got To Die/Moderation.

I joined Rick and John in the green room at the East York complex for a private listening of both discs. It was a trip back in time to some joyous moments. Good times. We all wished we had instruments there to jam for a few hours once again. But since that wasn't practical, we talked about collaborating over the infernet to produce more music through the magic of MP3 and multi-track recording. Anyone who's got a copy of Decidedly So is invited to suggest songs on there which would merit a more polished recording.

I hope to have sample tracks from Magic 8 Ball: Decidedly So, plus ordering information, online some time in the (near?) future. Meantime, if you're desperate, get in touch and I'll see what can be arranged.

Rock over London -- Rock on, Chicago. Wendy's. Do What Tastes Right.

Remembrance Day, Year of the Veteran

I grew up not having much interest in war or Remembrance Day. This was in the Reagan 80s, the days of 99 Red Balloons and Culture Club's The War Song -- when "war" meant only World War III, global nuclear annihilation. I sort of understood the "never again" message, but since that was the extent of my understanding of war, the whole November 11 thing got misunderstood as some sort of celebration of war. I didn't really feel compelled to investigate further. It kinda turned me off. I wasn't interested in learning more than I knew, which wasn't much.

Then I got assigned a story for Remembrance Day in 2004. I was asked to do three reports summing up Canada's military contribution. Well, that ended up being a crash course in history. I forget who I interviewed, but I learned a lot in a short time. I started learning more as I learned about my girlfriend Amanda's family tradition of marking November 11. Her dad was dying, so she was heavily emotionally involved in the event on that particular occasion.

Some months later, I got another assignment. A Second World War vet's Victoria Cross was going to be auctioned off. The school he attended in Toronto decided to help raise funds to prevent that from happening. Jan DeVries, President of the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion Association, addressed the kids at the school and helped them -- and me -- understand why this was a big deal. Eventually they got the money.

Talk got around to a long-dreamed-of trip to Europe timed to coincide with two other couples' trips, to meet up and have a great time. Amanda said it'd be neat to visit the D-Day beaches in Normandy if we could. I figured, sure, that'd be interesting. After all, there was a really touching cell phone commercial a while back in which a guy called his grandfather from Dieppe and thanked him for everything. That always made me a little teary, so I figured we might as well, if it could be done.

So the Europe trip approached, and I started watching documentaries. There were plenty on, since this year has been the Year of the Veteran. I watched Saving Private Ryan. Those frightening hours playing the video game Medal of Honor were put into context. I came to appreciate even more that this war wasn't just war for war's sake, or war to make a point, or war for oil or money or destiny or ego or whose president had the biggest dick. This was serious business.

It became even clearer when we went to the Musee de L'armee in Paris, and learned more about how close the Nazis came to winning. This wasn't a matter of Good easily stomping out Evil. Evil had a pretty good chance at taking over. Evil had its shit together. The good guys were idiots at points. Good needs to smarten the hell up sometimes. The same week, we went to the big parade down the Champs-Elysees to mark the 60th anniversary of VE day. It made everything seem a lot more serious.

My folks graciously fronted some money to rent a car, so we drove to Normandy to see the D-Day beaches. The Juno Beach Centre laid it all out in Canadian historical terms -- what the country was up to while Hitler and his gang were stomping around, why it took so long to get involved, and what Canada put up to do its part. It became more than just words on a page, or facts from long before my time, or the sad stories of old people. It all gelled, and became deadly serious.

We stepped out of the Juno Beach Centre and onto ... Juno Beach. There we were. There's where it happened. There's where all the documentaries and movies and books and lectures came to be real, real, really real. German machine gun bunkers, still there. Rocks and stones and shoreline and water as far as I could see. The same water that was full of ships and shrapnel sixty years earlier. The same sky that was full of planes and airships. Calm and beautiful now, but the scene of some nasty stuff, and a place that changed history.

We moved on after gathering stones for some friends. We quickly got lost on the narrow roads of Normandy, and pulled a right turn in search of restroom facilities and a place to reorient the map. But there were Canadian flags off in the distance, so we moved ahead, and found the Beny-Sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery. We spent a good long time there quietly looking at the graves. So many dead people. And we'd stumbled upon it by accident. Another serious moment.

From there, it was off to search for Arromanches to see the Mulberry Harbours. More massive and spectacular reminders of what went down. We stayed a few minutes and headed off to Omaha Beach, known as "Bloody Omaha" -- where the nasty stuff in Saving Private Ryan happened. Well, that wasn't quite as impressive, as it's sort of touristy now. And the American war cemetery was closed. And it was getting dark. We had to head back to Paris. That's a whole other story, but I'm sure having absorbed so much history and gravity didn't make that leg of the journey any more fun.

So, to the present. I've been here in Halifax since late September. We're not even unpacked and settled completely. I haven't quite found my groove yet, and I don't know enough about the city and its history. I do know that this is a military town and always has been. There are men and women in uniform everywhere. There are ships in the harbour. There are bases around the city. There's a cannon that fires every day at noon from the old fort at the top of the hill outside our apartment window. It's Remembrance Day in the Year of the Veteran, and Amanda lives here with me. Her dad died early this year. She wanted to go to the ceremonies, and I wanted to go with her. Luckily, we both had the day off.

It was my first time at one of these ceremonies, as far as I can recall. It was a cool breezy morning with some cloud but much sun. Lots of people showed up. But there weren't a lot of wrinkly old veterans there. Sure, hundreds of them left on a special Via train for Ottawa two days ago, but there just aren't as many of them around any more. They aren't here to tell their stories. They aren't around to tell people that their battles weren't necessarily like the battles we hear about in the news today. Their fight wasn't to prop up the profits of Halliburton, or to show the world who's boss, or to keep the homeland in fear in an effort to keep them from realizing there's nothing in government to inspire them. Their fight was to keep badasses with evil intentions from taking over the world -- something those badasses actually had a good chance at doing.

It was good to see so many people show up to pay their respects. I'm glad I was there. And I'm glad I could be there not just to be there, but with more appreciation than ever before of why I was there.

For a photographic retrospective, check my Flickr pages, over on the right-hand side.

Peace!