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March 29 Clark, the Canadian Hockey GoalieAny hockey players/fans out there? Martin pointed me to this video, which is FUNNY! FYI, you can find the origin of the word "hoser" in Wikipedia... (sources unverified, but understood to be true via consensus of the general Canadian population).
Clark, the Canadian Hockey Goalie
Hoser
And a Hockey Haiku to finish off...
puck. the one dark thing
that tears across the gaze, its edge; our watchful eye —Matt Robinson, Fredericton March 28 My HeadWhile I was driving home the other day, I saw an advertisement that said, "Life is predictable, so your radio shouldn't be." Who's life is PREDICTABLE? Mine certainly isn't. Not that I am a proponant of repetitive radio stations, but the whole advertisement was wacky. I suppose some people have a routine that they always do - every day - every week. I don't think that is possible for me..too many things to do and try. OK, so I didn't dance at all this past weekend, because I had a wicked headache the whole time. I did get a massage and go shopping with my co-worker (Monica). I also finally met Nancy from Montreal who organises a lot of the Philly Canadian events. Oh! I found my car registration card JUST in time to renew it by the end of this week. Whew! Those "safe places" can be dangerous! Exciting stuff! Actually, I am feeling particularly fortunate today compared to Sheila's circle of friends in Nairobi. One of her friend's father passed away, another has cancer in the lymph nodes and another has a friend who just tested positive for HIV, oh plus the two families who had their adoptions cancelled after having the children in their homes for over a year. Man, my issues seem pretty dang tiny in comparison and life is SWEET. I miss Martin and my family, but life is still lovely (minus the headache). March 23 First Philly Canadian Pub Night + SalsaCanadians AND Salsa - How much better can you get than THAT? I am going to check out Jose Alberto (aka El Canario) at Tierra Columbiana (http://www.tierracolombianaphilly.com/home.asp) tonight, which is a new place for me. On Saturday, hopefully I can find the Canucks at the Canadian-owned Elephant and Castle Pub in Center City Philadelphia (http://www.elephantcastle.com/content/locations/philadelphia). One of the "PhillyExpatCanadians" who organises stuff is also a Salsa fan, so it would be cool to finally meet her (Nancy). You never know, I may already have seen her around, but just not realised the connection. Sunday I hope I still have energy to go to Alfies - if only to see the Estilo student group perform (http://www.estilodancestudio.com/events.html), since a bunch of them are in my Rueda class. Oh and at some point this weekend I HAVE to find my tax forms and stuff (UGH!). March 21 NYC Weekend TalesNot very many people responded YES to my Evite, but it all worked out beautifully anyway. JD Smith (Salsa buddy from Boston) hooked me up with a place to stay at his high school friend's apartment (a guy named Larry, who I finally realised is Larry Hama - the writer of the GI Joe comic among many other things... actor, guitar player, etc. - just Google his name to see a whole bunch of stuff on his work). Due to the storm on Friday night, I ended up going into New York later on Saturday and managed to meet up with JD around 5PM. We took a cab from Penn Station to Tribeca and met Larry and his wife Carol (and daughter). I got to see a couple of samples of JD's work that he brought to show his NY agent - he's a bladesmith (also former illustrator, trombone player, silversmith and blacksmith - see http://www.hammersmithknives.com/). I have a great picture of him describing the process he does to get the pattern in one of his blades (see the Jennifer's Photos link to the left). We went to a restaurant around the corner called the Kitchenette (great food) and then JD took a wee nap (he hadn't slept at all the night before). We headed uptown for the La Voz magazine release party where I actually met Johnny Johnson and Chris Soto (the co-founders)! It was very cool to meet the folks who put together my favourite magazine... one that I always read from cover to cover (http://www.lavozmagazine.com/). I saw DJ Jose Rodriguez from Philly who was spinning for the event as well as Choco from Mambo Fateegz (who I harrassed about getting some "On Whatever" shirts made - he he). I was curious about a DJ they call David Montreal (was this a fellow Canuck in NYC?) and after talking to him, discovered that he's really a hair stylist from Senegal who grew up in France, but spent some time in Montreal before coming to New York. Unfortunately he didn't know of any stylists in Philly :( , but he played wonderful music too. I saw a few familiar dancers from Boston (none from my evite) BUT about 1AM I discovered some stragglers in the lobby. There were Jerry (met in Boston through dancing) and Jose (friend of Laidy & Eduardo whose wedding we all went to in Spain) who stopped by to wish me a Happy Birthday. I hear Jose has become quite the Salsero! Too bad we didn't get to dance, but it was wonderful to see them. JD and I made it back to the apartment sometime between 2 and 3am - I think I was asleep around 3ish, but Larry and Carol do have a dog (a pug named Mel), so I had to be medicated - he he. I was expecting JD to sleep most of the morning, but he was up around 9am so we went to brunch at the Kitchenette (great coffee too!). He decided that a trip to Century 21 was in order (a discount designer store). On the way we passed Ground Zero and the hairs stood up on the back on my neck just like in Madrid when we passed the train station that was bombed a few days before the wedding I went to in Spain. Of course that started a whole conversation about ghosts and near death experiences, existence or non-existence of God, and various other philosophical topics that were visited that afternoon. JD has an eye for style and he helped me pick out shoes and earring for an outfit (and is even going to put together a pendant to go with it - VERY COOL). I certainly felt a bit frumpy in NYC compared to all of these put-together New Yorkers... made for fascinating people-watching though! I can't remember exactly when it was during the back and forth to the apartment and stuff, but at some point, JD and Larry were talking about their class reunion coming up (High School of Art and Design - Manhattan). They were talking about the real "characters" in their class and it somehow led to a very funny rendition of Lord Buckley's Scrooge (mostly by Larry)...
"Yes, me, I'm Scrooge and I got all Marley's barley,
and I'm the baddest cat in all dis world. I been studyin' all my life how to Scrooge people, and I guarantee I done some fine work in dat direction. "Cratchit!" "Yes, sir." "You busy?" "I shorely is, sir." "See dat you keep busy. ... and a rendition of the Ghost of Christmas past... And all of a sudden, man, Boom Here comes a great big fat spook, (exerpts from Lord Buckley's "Scrooge") I guess you had to be there, but it was very funny and my first introduction to this Lord Buckley comedian guy from the 50's(?) who obviously was quite the comic genius. Anyway, JD and I attempted to head uptown on the subway, but apparently that day the whole line was shut down for repairs (and no alternative bus or shuttle service was offered (and no signs outside the station to give you any heads-up). Dang! If the TTC tried that, I think they would be lynched by a mob... I suppose New Yorkers are used to delays and weird non-customer-friendly service on their subway system. So we took a taxi and had a yummy dinner at a Chinese restaurant on the way to the dance studio. There were some B-town folks already there (they drive down just for this dance!) and so we had fun dancing as the place started to fill up. Man did it FILL up. There must have been close to 400 people at that dance studio. It was such high energy and so packed that I actually gave up dancing for a bit and took some pictures. I got tired and decided to leave a wee bit earlier than originally planned. As I approached Pennsylvania Station there was a big commotion - lots of people corralled behind gates and even police on horses. Since the station is attached to Madison Square Garden, I just assumed that there was a game on and that this was pretty standard chaos for NYC, but it turns out there was some kind of shooting incident just before I arrived (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/19/nyregion/19garden.html?_r=1&oref=slogin). I was completely oblivious. I was glad that I caught an earlier train though, because my first train was late and I just managed to make the right connection to get back to my apt by about 11:30PM. Whew! It certainly was a stimulating day (and a half) and a pretty darn good birthday :) March 19 NYC Photos PostedI will write more later about my weekend in New York, but for now you can see photos on the KodakGallery page (see link in the left column). March 15 NYC Salsa!I am heading to NYC this weekend for some serious Salsa and crazy St. Patty's Day revelers. See "NYC B-Day" link above for all the details... call or send me an email if you are coming :) March 05 MageeThree weeks until Andrea and Al get to pick up Magee! This is the Border Collie puppy that they chose out of the litter. He came right up to Andrea when they went to go visit the puppies yesterday and was a bit more alert than the other dogs. SO ADORABLE! It is another three weeks though until he is weaned and they can take him home. March 02 Ice Road from YK to Diamond MinesHuh! The Washington Post has an article on the ice road from Yellowknife to the diamond mines in the Northwest Territories... with pictures :).
March 01 Up Here - Things are a bit different...Check out the Up Here (magazine featuring Canada's Arctic) advertisement...
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