Just Call Me Captain Numb-Arms....

It was an action-packed weekend, to say the least. Supa-mega-hyper-action-packed, to be precise. Hmmm....not enough. Super-mega-hyper-action-packed-to the EXTREME!! That's better.

Friday evening, after celebrating my co-worker's b-day, Stacey and I fell apart, veged-out and saw The Doors, an interesting flick that was incredibly well done, but I had a lot of trouble relating to it. I guess as a guy with nearly zero hippie tendencies and an upbringing that included very little in the way of Doors music, I can't be blamed. Kilmer was incredible, the directing was outstanding, and I would certainly recommend it, especially to a number of you in particular. You know who you are.

Saturday, Stacey and I ran around like the proverbial chickens with their proverbial heads cut off looking for a new place to live. We must have spent 9 or 10 hours that day looking at houses, talking about houses, thinking about houses, and coming out of houses pinching our noses and saying to each other, "That was sick-ass." We did end up finding the nearest-to-perfect place (in Kanata, this time....polar opposite to Orleans), which we have applied for, but we don't think we'll get it. If we do hear something back about it, I'll tell you all about it....but this time, I'm really not going to get my hopes up. It's *that* nice, and within budget. So suffice it to say, Stacey and I fell apart and veged-out for the evening and saw Gladiator for about the hundredth time. Only this time, we figured out that the movie has DTS. I guess we hadn't watched it since I got my surround sound system. And to quote a local audio-hawker, it sounded "just *great*," especially the battle sequence against the barbarians at the beginning.

Sunday started off a little frantic (for some unfathomable reason, Stacey's swimsuit top managed to vaporize into thin air....we know it's in the house, but we looked *everywhere* and eventually had to give up and go out to buy a new one) but got REEEEAL relaxing when we got up to Mike's cottage. Thanks again, man! We had a blast! Hawk Lake was beautiful, and Mike's cottage is the perfect kind of retreat....far enough away from everyone else so that you can't see your neighbours, lots of space, a big screen porch, a couple of coolers full of beer, and good company. Can't go wrong. We spent most of the night talking about the good 'ol days, watching for the ISS in the night sky, playing a few rounds of dominoes (all hail Chris, the undefeated Weiner King!) and trying to figure out why Fin du Monde beer foams up like an unstoppable volcano when you open it. Good times had by all.

After leaving the cottage, Stace and I had planned to check out Mont Cascades for waterpark fun, but couldn't believe our eyes when, getting there at 3 pm on an overcast day, the place was infested with overweight and generally-unattractive people and screaming kids. The parking lot was full, and all we could see was lineups for the slides. A little disheartened, we decided to give up and move on to Le Grand Splash, the park most Ottawa folk around my age remember from our childhood. Wellllll, it doesn't exist anymore. We had a nice drive, though, and poked about in Wakefield for a bit (only to fight the crowds from the unloading Wakefield steam train ...just can't win!) before coming home. To top off the evening, we went out for some mini-putt and a bucket of balls at the driving range (which made my arms all numb and my muscles all stupid), came home and veged out, watching Amelie. That movie is indescribably good. It made me happy, and warm, and joyful. The colours are vivid and intense, the characters are strong, and carefully-constructed, and believable, and Audrey Tautou is so adorable that you cannot consider any other actress in the role. Well-directed, well-filmed, well-scripted, well-DONE. If you haven't already, go see it, you won't regret it. And watch it twice, if you can't speak french very well....once for the words, and once for soaking in the visuals. Wow, I'm still reeling from it.

And now I'm back to work after a great night's sleep, courtesy of the sudden cold-snap. Sleeping with a blanket is so much better than going without.