It could be the end of the month in the sales world, it could just be the first snowfall of the year, or the cosmic dancefloor could just be moving to the negative charge. Whatever it is something is making the folks in the office more than a little batty today. Just now two of my co-workers did a straight faced trade-off of the theme song from Mary Tyler Moore. The whole thing...it was really quite something. It seemed almost rehearsed. These guys are a couple of ex car salesmen so I doubt that it is some old schtick from the Wood Motors variety show but it was definately something. At the end they just walked away, hand in hand, smiling. Good stuff. "You're gonna make it after all!!!" As for the Neutron Dance well whoever came up with that was clearly a little off-kilter. It's classic 80's really; there is no other explanation. Check out the video though, if just to harken back to the days when Eddie Murphy swore in his movies. Those were the days indeed.
We found this last weekend doing some (harmless) web surfing latenight last weekeend. I have been telling people that this theme is up there with Magnum PI as one of the top 80's tv themes. This one is less remembered but may be even better musically. Frankly any song with such effective use of clapping is a winner in my books. Listen for it...I think you'll be happy you did.
Now the show itself was also one of my favourites based solely on the name. But, over time, I came to relate to the odd couple pair of Rick and AJ Simon. I flipped-flopped on who my favourite Simon brother was over the years but I have resigned myself to the fact that I'm more of of an AJ than a Rick. Although my hair doesn't feather like it used to.
TV Trivia - Simon and Simon was also the show that saw Tim Reid follow up his famous role of Venus Flytrap from WKRP in Cincinnati. That show gave us Gary Sandy's signature role of Andy Travis whose hair is, without question, the gold standard by which all other Feathered coiffs are measured. Jester was close...
So, as mom reminded me this morning, it was 32 years ago today that I was born. She also reminded me that it was in a blizzard and I was born two weeks early. It has been said (and I've taken to saying) that it's the only time I have been ever early for anything and I've been making up for it ever since. And yes, I will be using that joke forever. I will let North follow up with an indepth look at my life but I will share with you two things he won't know. Interesting memory I can't remember: A)Mom or Dad will correct this story but I fell down the stairs when I was 2 years old and got hernia and still have the scar to prove it and B)Apparently I wore braces on my legs when I slept to correct severe intoeing (pigeon toes). (Help Mom or Dad!) Interesting memory I can't forget: Remember those stories you heard about lawn darts before they were banned? Well I was one of those stories. When I was about 9 or 10 I was playing in our backyard with some older kids. The only instruction I had been given was "don't play with the lawn darts". Oh, DON'T play with the lawn darts?!? I, of course, DID play with the lawn darts. And in move that displayed cartoonish stupidity we played a game whereby you won by hitting another lawn dart thrown up as a target. So obviously the closer you got to the target the easier it was. So I got close and threw my dart at the target dart and it ricocheted off my dart and straight into my nose. It stayed upright, suspended in my right nostril, until it slowly turned and fell to the ground followed by a steady stream of blood. I was a statistic. I still have the scar to prove that one too.
I hope you all have a Happy Simon's Birthday.
Pace out
If you want to find out wht important events happened on my birtday you can Google a day and it brinks up the wikipedia entry for that day. For example - November 21. It's a colossal waste of time.
I never have a hard time remembering North's birthday because it falls pretty close to my own. Otherwise I find him to be a thoroughly forgettable individual devoid of both class and couth. On the other hand he is the all-time standard by which all others are judged on my own personal Unintentional Comedy Scale. So we'll keep him around... And now just for fun here are a few of my favourite tidbits on The Man, the Myth, the Legend that is, Geoff North. Nickname - Clau, Clack, Endicott, the Captain (of the fairy), Two or Twenty. Favourite Food - Dulse(in a paper bag!) beside a hotdog platter. Favourite Movie - Revenge of the Nerds. Favourite Band - Modabo. Favourite Secret Idol - Stephan Lessard(I will not argue this). Favourite People - Authority of any kind. Favourite Question - "Can I see some ID?". Best Quote - "I apologize again for the other band sucking so bad". Favourite Memory that he forgets - In grade 8 for his birthday I gave him Def Leppard's Pyromania on vinyl. Favourite Memory the he can't forget - In 1998 as we struggled to locate the requisite vehicles for a road trip to see Jimmy Buffett on the day of our departure he lost his mind and threw the phone book at those of us who were less distressed. The phone booked openned to the Yellow Pages at the letter A where Anger Management could be found. True story!. (Update - Apparently it was S for Stress Management - thanks to Normy - you'll get yours)
Now my favourite fact about North is that he is one of the few out of all of us that will read all of this and love it because he knows it's a sign of respect. Maybe not admiration, but definately respect.
The commercial on its own is good but find it even more amusing thinking that it is likely based on a real conversation between Normy and Jester in Hanwell. "This box is driving me nuts"
I'll be honest, I just didn't think I'd miss Disco Dave this much. I mean he was only here for a short time, didn't talk for the first month, and once he did couldn't be understood for another. But it's happened. It's been 10 days now Dave and the whole house has gone to shit. Normy's been watching (old world)football and Everybody Loves Raymond non-stop; Jesse's sleep patterns are all f-ed up (even moreso) and I've had strange cravings for Raisin Bran at odd times for the past week. It's like withdrawal. Oh also, it has become apparent that the strange odour in the house wasn't you after all. Sorry about that mate. I would like it very much if you came back right now to restore order in the household. I assume that you have had warm sunny days since you have returned ot Scotland because we have a had shite weather since your departure. There has been so much rain that there is a real threat of a flood. It's as if the whole city is crying. Thanks for the update, glad to hear that you made it home ok. My favourite part of the message without question is that you signed it "disco". Gold!
Remembrance Day has always been a special day for me. I have early memories of making the short walk around the corner and down Church St. to the Cenotaph. Dad instilled a real sense of importance to the day and in my mid-teens I became aware of a big reason why. His grandfather, my great grandfather,William Pacey fought in The Great War and died at Grevillers March 27, 1918 during the last German offensive of the war. He was part of the force that stopped it. He fought for New Zealand as a member of the ANZACs. He was 25 at the time and my grandfather, Desmond, was less than a year old. It's difficult to comprehend; I have now lived longer then he lived. He left his family on the other side of the world to go and fight for King and Commonwealth. I read today that there are three(3) Canadian World War I vets still living. The youngest one is 105. Each year the numbers of veterans marching down Queen St. after the ceremony drops. This year it seemed there were far more veterans in buses than there were in formation. The veterans of the World Wars will not be with us much longer (the very youngest of the WWII vets would be at least 80) but they will soon be replaced by the veterans of current conflicts. These men and women deserve the same respect that is given to the vets of the World Wars.
It's important not to mistake remembrance with politics or debate with a lack of support. Debate should never be stifled and by the same token neither should remembrance and respect.
Pace out
PS - I am currently planning a trip to the World Cup of rugby in France next fall so hopefully, by this time next year, I will have had the chance to visit Vimy Ridge and my great-grandfather's grave in Grevilliers. That will be something.
November 5th is Guy Fawkes Day - I would try to explain it to you but it would take too much time and I would probably be making alot of it up anyways. So rather than mis-inform you I'll just give you the link. If you want to know what it's all about then click here. Our motives were purely secular(I swear to God!); we replaced the fence at the rugby club last year and the old one had been drying in the parking lot all year and needed to be removed...in spectacular fashion. So we (or more specifically Malcolm "the Burninator" MacAfee) stacked it into the perfect burning cone and sparked it up(interesting trivia - the term bonfire did not come from the evolution of burning cone fire to bonefire to bonfire as you might expect but instead came from the Acadian coast of New Brunswick where pyro frenchmen have been saying "Bon Fire Esti" since before the expulsion). The fire, as you can see, was indeed a good one. We put the fire out at 11pm with almost everything burnt out. This shall now be a Loyalist tradition we just aren't sure if it will be every November 5th or the day after our last game. I'll keep you posted.
Now for those of you that did read the wiki you will know that Guy Fawkes conspired to burn down the British Parliament, essentially just a fella trying to stick it to the man. So in honour of Guy Fawkes I am not going to pay my cell phone bill until I get paid. Take that Rogers!
Seven years ago, in 1999, the club won it's first Caledonia Cup since 1979. Even for those of us that played the game that day it had been a long time coming and the culmination of a lot of hard work(and also the culmination of some hard partying). After the game we were truly ecstatic and there is a great picture of the team that played that day and the members of the 1979 team that were on the sidelines. Great stuff.There is also this picture taken immediately after that gives a glimpse of the emotion. When it was developed Scotty asked me if my outstretched hand was indicative of how many of these we would win. I told him that it certainly wasn't a conscious thing and more than likely was just me trying to get the feeling back in my fingers. Either way the picture got framed and as time went on that's what the hand came to mean. Fast forward 7 years and, with our 51-5 victory over the Valley Bulldogs in Kentville N.S., that picture has proven prophetic. This was our 3rd straight win and 5th in 8 years. We played some of our best rugby this year and, despite the scoreline, beat a good team on Saturday. What may have been my favourite part of the day was watching the number of our fans that made the trip from NB. We had nearly as many fans on the sideline as the hometeam and it was (and has been) great to share the Cup win(s) with them all. My next favourite part was drinking straight from the Cup followed closely by the realization that THE bar in town was in our hotel. Kentville now knows what I'm laying down.Good year fellas - Thanks.
I've got a whole other hand; let's keep it rollin'.
Getting ready to hit the road to Kentville, Nova Scotia for the Caledonia Cup. This will be our 8th appearance in the Caledonia Cup in the past 10 years. And if we are successful in defending it we will have won 5 of those 8.
The Cup was slightly mistreated at some point after last year's win and was in need of some repairs before we brought down here to defend it. I took it to a jeweller and he re-attached the Cup to it's base and wouldn't accept payment for the work. He was happy to work with such a nice piece he said. There is a great history to the Cup but I don't know enough of it. It has been played for for over 80 years though.
I would have included a picture but I'm starting a new superstition; no pictures of the Cup before the game. I am looking at her right now though. Hopefully she'll stay with us after the game.
