Ended up in 6th place, so out of the trophy running, but a respectable finish.  I ended up with 7 points, at my career average.  Oddly I got points from tug-of-war, log saw, euchre and poker (usually my weaker events), and nothing from darts or ping pong (where I normally rack up points). 

The pingpong final was Kirk & Alain against Craig and Paul.  People were expecting a close game (Alain usually dominates), but C&P had an amazing game and won 21-10.  Chuck looked a bit stunned.

Oh yah, Alain took charge of the steaks today, and I had a rare steak done perfectly for the first time at WB.  He also brought a bottle of wine (as normal) and so dinner was quite good.

Kirk won for the 3rd time, and also the first back-to-back winner.  Everyone's now on Guitar Hero, which I don't get (if you're going to spend hours practising something, how about an actual guitar?).  I may head off to bed.

Up early this morning at 830, for some strange reason.  People slowly waking up.  Played crib with Roach, we didn't have a board so we used a laptop.  Debated on how to set up Excel, getting all fancy with macros.  But ended just using the cells marked with the score and put x's for pegging.  Worked okay.  Tug of war starts in 40 minutes.

Wonderboy weekend 2009

Well there's 22 of us this year at Kirk's.  Craig and I were the last to arrive, around 7pm.  I actually drew decent partners for pingpong and darts;  unfortunately the round robin divisions were stacked in both events.  It was almost like the top 6 players in each were teamed up and all in the same division.  In a normal year my teaming probably would have gone 3-0 in our division;  but because of the competition I went 1-2 in both.  As a result I'm out of the playoffs in both.  This seriously hampers my chances of winning Wonderboy this year. 

On a side note,  I won at poker tonight (a side game, not part of the official Wonderboy) and a couple other games, so far I'm up a bit.

It's been a relatively quiet WB so far.  I don't think we'll be setting any records for kegs this year.

Well I'm off to bed.

The basement's now a bit more organized. I was getting tired of the boxes piled on top of one another against the wall. A couple weeks ago bought some IKEA shelving off craigslist (about $10 a set, compared to $45 in IKEA). Putting up the shelves was easy; the hard part was cleaning up and reorganizing all the boxes.


Now we can actually find candles and twine and burlap and other stuff.

...

Our lease on the BMW ends in April so we went out on Saturday to look at a couple cars. We were deciding betwen a Jetta, Prius, or Mercedes B200 (they're all priced under $30K). The Mercedes dealership was great, they sent us out on a test drive without any hassle. Even gave Heather some chocolates as we left (it was Valentine's Day). The Toyota dealership was just the opposite. The sales guy was like a caricature of a used car salesman. The Prius is backordered, and we just wanted to know if we would be able to get one before our lease is up. The sales guy hemmed and hawed and disappeared into his manager's office at least three times. I still don't know if we could get one by mid-April because we got fed up and left the place.

...

Our Sunday Ultimate team is pretty good this year, at least on paper. We had our 3rd game yesterday and we still haven't had out the full team due to various injuries. There's only 8 games in this season (because that's when the bubble comes down at BMO), so hopefully we'll be able to get a few games in as a team before the playoffs. We won yesterday 16-15, scoring our last point with about 20 seconds left in the game. The game was at 8pm so we headed out after to Brazen Head for a drink or two.

It's a short week for me this week, as today's Family Day (our new holiday in Ontario), and I'm taking Friday off for the annual Wonderboy weekend (the site hasn't been updated since last year, but it has the rules etc). It was odd to see the mail delivered today on a holiday (federal employees didn't get the provincial holiday).

Here's some before and after pics of the bedroom makeover:

Before (actually during) (check out the various shades of faux wood!)


The reveal:


The bedroom looks a bit empty because I had moved most stuff out while painting. Plus the bedding is mismatched so I took the pic with just the mattress.

...

We both needed to wash our fleece jackets, so figured it was a good night to eat at Lahore Tikka and then come home and do laundry. It was great as usual. Had the lamb kebabs and kahari chicken, a few chilies, and butter naan. Mmmm good.

...

On Saturday there was a snowplow (a little Bobcat skid loader) in the back laneway again. The Bobcat kept on going around and around the alley and front. It reminded us of WALL*E. We both cracked up.

The other day Heather noticed that Kubo Radio was papered over, and a sign that said Roy Public House. Maybe a pub? After the long wait for the bar at Curzon to open, I was a bit disappointed. The atmosphere is a bit cold at Curzon if it's not crowded (unlike, say, Barrio, which is great whether it's full or you're the only two people there). And I wish they'd serve Keiths (or at least Mill St Organic).

I got decent numbers in the SuperBowl squares pool at work: (Pittsburgh-Arizona) 3-0, 3-3, 3-4, 3-7. I won the 1st quarter!

...

I was wondering why CIBC was charging me service fees on my chequing account the last few months. I have a grandfathered account that gives me free unlimited transactions as long as I maintain a minimum balance of $1000. I called CIBC today and found out a few months ago they changed the minimum balance to $1500.

Well that's it for now.

It's a lazy Sunday afternoon. We had guests in town for the weekend, and last night we had a big dinner at home. Started with a caesar salad, then had gnocchi with a gorgonzola cream sauce, then steak with mushrooms and asparagus, and crème brûlée for dessert. Mmm good.

They're flying out later this evening, and depending on Heather's back, we're planning on having dinner at Lee Garden before going to the airport. Then we realized that tomorrow is the Chinese New Year, and the chinese restaurants could be pretty busy. We'll be there at 5pm so hopefully we'll beat the crowds.

I linked up my Twitter and Facebook accounts, so my Twitter updates will change my Facebook status (and also appear in the sidebar on my blog).

Tony (our electrician) came over on Thursday and fixed a couple of the lights that were out. He replaced the transformer on the low-voltage lights over the dining table, and the undermount lights in ktichen. Supposedly the undermount lights aren't sold in Canada, so whenever they go he has to replace them. As usual he wouldn't let Heather pay him anything, so I'll have to get him at the Superbowl party.

The city picked up the snow piles on our street on Saturday morning. Loud beep-beep-beeps from the little front loader picking up the snow and reversing to the dump truck woke us up. They also plowed through the back alleys, which I found surprising. I don't remember the city taking care of the alley in the past (although streetsweepers sometimes make it back there).

I bought some edging for the platform bed I made last week. Not sure how to attach it to the edge of the particle board (maybe glue?) but I'm sure Google has some suggestions. Also picked up paint chips of various dark browns from our local paint store. We've sort of settled on Night Shade. I'm going to paint the platform bed, Heather's old dresser, and my valet. At least I won't mind posting a picture at that point.

I made the bed today, literally. We had the TempurPedic mattress sitting on the ground, which works fine for sleeping. However it was a bit difficult to get out of in the morning (especially for Heather with her back), and dust would have gathered against it.

I found this platform bed on the web, and thought it looked easy to make.

So on Saturday I bought some 2x10s for the base, and particle board for the platform. The bed is 80"x60" and the boards are sold in 4'x8' so I had to buy two and get them cut to 40"x60". Got everything cut at Home Depot, so there was no mess and the cuts were straight. I took all the lumber to my car, only to realize that 40"x60" didn't fit in my car. So loaded the 2x10s into the car, locked it, and then carried the boards home. Luckily it wasn't too windy. (Home Depot is less than 1km north of us). Dropped the boards off, walked back to Home Depot, and drove home.

Today I screwed everything together. I covered the particle boards with an old sheet, very similar to reframing a canvas painting. (In fact the whole project was like building a deck, with two canvases on top). The frame looks quite good, with a total cost of about $30 for the materials. I thought about taking a pic, but we're not too keen on the colour scheme currently going on in the bedroom. It's perfect for a "before" picture -- medium beige walls, off-white comforter, lime green sheets, beige blanket. When Heather's done her dissertation we'll be shopping for furniture and bedding, but for now what we have works. Just not in a picture on the web.

I haven't yet built the moulding; and the wood is just unfinished pine. I may decide to paint or stain the whole thing when it gets warmer.

We also got rid of our old mattress. I posted it on craigslist on Thursday night, got a few responses on Friday, and I arranged with the first responder to pick it up on Saturday. I gave him the metal frame as well. We were going to give it to Goodwill, but this worked out just as well.

Saturday night was my highschool friends Christmas party. We all got together at Tanya and Tony's (TnT's) for dinner and the kris kringle gift exchange. This year was one of the best for gifts (our limit is $30). I got a three-tiered server, and Heather got a cool Christmas ornament that shows pics (you can load up to 50), and a bottle of Frangelico.

This morning I went out for brunch at Brazenhead with my Ultimate team, except it was only me, Trishia and Craig that showed up. I had the eggs benedict (my usual order for brunch). It wasn't very good -- I wouldn't order it again there. The eggs weren't that runny, the peameal was bland, the muffin was undertoasted and the hollandaise was weak. The potatoes weren't too bad though.

Well I should be getting to bed.