Summer Vacation & Other Observations

I'm on vacation starting Friday and was wondering. What are people doing for summer vacation breaks this year? There's been a lot in the press about "stay-cations" due to the economic downturn. Are you going away or staying close to home? We plan a few days trips but nothing elaborate. We're starting to see a lot of "discount" deals on Mexico trips advertised. Gee, I wonder why??

In unrelated news, I saw a piece on the local news about a woman who got an allergic reaction from a pair of flip-flops @ Wal-Mart for $5.00. OK, now she wasn't threatening to sue (obviously not an American) but the Wal-Mart rep said they pulled that brand of "shoe". Now, to me, if you pay $5.00 for your footwear, what kind of quality are you really expecting?? I know people who loves the Dollar Stores. Anything we ever bought at one of those places fell apart the first time we used it. Why don't they rename these places "Buy our Cheap Crap" stores? I will say you can get cheap deals on last minute birthday cards, in case you forget.

June-July is the dead time for the NFL. The last mini camps are wrapping up and come mid July, the rush to sign all those overpaid first round picks will start. There is talk of a rookie pay scale in the NFL (like that of the NBA) in which players need to prove that they can do it at the next level before making the big bucks. Sounds like a plan to me, especially with the volume of "busts" that each draft inevitably contains. Bigger concern is the looming uncapped year & possible strike.

Hope everyone has a great Canada Day holiday next week. Is it really unpatriotic if I consider a US day trip on July 1?

Gifts

As anyone who goes near a store or watches TV is aware, Father's Day is coming up this Sunday. Not long after that is my wife's birthday. Now, I loved my dad (RIP Ron) but I've grown really tired of what my friend Dan Brown calls "Hallmark Holidays", like Mothers' & Fathers' Days, Valentine's Day, Halloween, etc. I love my wife every day; not just more on February 14. I'm lucky too in that my wife & I are to an age where birthdays do not entail the need for surprises anymore. We each let the other pick out what they really want. In her case, it's a "road trip" up to Mary Maxim in Paris and Stockade in Guelph. It's a nice drive at the end of June.

OK, now, am I becoming a "grumpy old man" for not embracing the "hallmark Holidays"? Should I be doing a big surprise for my wife? I've been considering a surprise gift, such as the DVD Box set of Keeping Up Appearances but that's about it. BTW, she doesn't read this blog so no worries about spoiling the surprise. What happens when you have to do a birthday gift? Is surprise still part of it?

Houston Football Players Not "Pussies"

OK, this one is under the cheap laughs catagory but my smutty mind enjoyed it anyway. NFL teams have just been given permission to sell advertising space on their practice jersyes. Click here to see which company wanted to post it's logo on the Houston Texans' practice jerseys.

Now, who's got the best pun to go along with this story. "Tight end" and "deep penetration" are too easy; let's see some imagination here folks!

Live Music - Wow!

Daryl has posted in the past about his love for live music and I can see his point. In the past week, we've been lucky enough to see 3 great live performances. We saw Harry Manx Friday night, Tom Wilson (fronting Lee Harvey Osmond) on Saturday in St. thomas & Colin Linden last night @ the London Music Hall.

All were great shows and even my wife said on the drive home,"we should go see more shows and take a risk on a few performers we haven't heard of".

That leads to to my question. Do you go to live concerts for bands/performers whose music you don't know? If so, what criteria do you use? Do you chose by venue (ie - that place always has my type of music so I'll try this band that is playing there)? Are there any upcoming live shows you're looking forward to? Sorry for the slowness of updates; as I warned you, summmer's almost here & my mind is turning to mush.

Nearly Summer

I can always tell when it's nearly summer because my mind basically starts to shut down. I have to work of course, but in terms of getting worked up, excited or even pi$$ed off, it just doesn't happen as much. Which means, it's harder for me to come up with things to blog about.

Once I finish work, all I can think about is going for a walk in the sun, wearing shorts & sitting on the patio with some BBQ'd dinner and a cold refreshing beverage. My mind goes into So-Cal mode (fortunately, no wildfires to go with it).

I'm not an NHL guy so the Stanley Cup playoffs holds minimal interest for me (I know that's sacrilege since I'm Canadian but I just don't care). There are too many teams now days. I mean, is anyone shocked that Phoenix couldn't sustain a hockey team, really??? Anyway, I used to be a bit of a hoops fan but that's kinda died out for me too since I got too old to play the game and since Michael Jordan retired after making that last shot against Utah (the comeback doesn't count; sorry).

Are you like me? Does your mind go on vacation even before your body gets to? Is there anything going on in the world of sports, politics or music that really has your attention right now? If so, I must have missed it while my mind was on vacation. Bring me up to date & thanks for reading.