I’m looking forward to this weekend, not only for Saturday’s ‘Pressure Washer Trials’ at the Canadian Tire Bells Corners, but also, it’s the return of the Ottawa air show at the Carp Airport! Don’t you just get a chill down your spine (in a good way) when the ‘Snowbirds’ fly overhead? A few years ago, I was lucky enough to go for a spin in a Snowbird. There were 6 of us ‘media types’ who met at the airport….5 men, and me. We had a pre-flight briefing with instruction that highly emphasized ‘how to use the eject button’. The second biggest piece of info was where to find the ‘barf bag’. When I got into the Snowbird with my pilot, I was instantly at ease because the pilot had a great personality and a wicked sense of humour. He asked me what my ‘comfort level’ was, and I asked him to do anything and everything. We spun upside down, sideways, did a couple of nose-dives, it was incredible. And for the grand finale, with a media member tucked into each Snowbird jet, we flew in formation down the Gatineau River. It was so cool to see people running out of their houses and cottages to catch a glimpse of what has to be one of Canada’s finest symbols. When we got back to terra firma, I was so exhilarated I wanted to do it all over again. I heard later that, yes, out of the six of us, 4 members of Ottawa’s astute media community did need to use the little brown bag. For info about this year’s show, check out www.airshowottawa.com
Have you been watching ‘the World Cup’? I have honestly tried to watch the game of soccer. I can’t seem to get past the size of the playing field, it seems to be about a half mile long. I get tired just watching those guys run around like that. I do like the fashions though. The other day, I was at Winners, looking for some shirts for my husband to wear to work. They had these slick Nike soccer shirts, and the official shirt for Brazil caught my eye. From the other side of the store. I think it was made of Lycra and it was such a bright neon color, I’m sure it glowed in the dark. But it was so cool, I thought I’d buy it. Then I spotted a big ceramic garden frog. In the cart it went, followed by a giant bottle of Jim Beam’s barbeque sauce. That’s what I love about Winners. IN my shopping cart, I had a neon soccer shirt, a garden frog and a bottle of barbeque sauce. None of which my husband could wear to work.
Expensive concert ticket season has once again officially kicked in. Last week, I got a pair of tickets for the Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young concert coming to Scotiabank Place July 8th. Price for the pair: $450. Yikes. Can’t wait for the show, mostly because rumour has it that Neil Young will be doing a lot of his solo stuff. I love Neil Young. IF you’re a Neil fan too, you want to pick up the DVD that just came out, called ‘A Prairie Wind’. This is a stunning concert film directed by Jonathon Demme, with footage from two consecutive nights of shows at a tiny Nashville auditorium.
I give it more than two thumbs up. 10 stars out of five.
Congratulations to Chris Labelle of Ottawa, who impressed the Canadian Idol judges to make it to the Toronto round of the audition process. Chris works at Lieutenants Pump on Elgin Street. Next time you go in for a Guinness and some fish and chips, ask Chris to sing you a tune.
Uh oh. 10 digit dialing is here. We need to start including an area code everytime we call someone across the street. There’s a big marketing campaign to get us all used to the idea. TEN DIGIT DIALING!! But, when you think about it, when was the last time you ‘dialed’ a phone number?
I’m the only one I know who actually has a phone that has a dial. It came with our house when we bought it. It hangs in the laundry room. Works great, until I get an automated operator asking me to ‘press one’. I can’t press, I can only dial. Other than my phone, who actually owns a ‘dial’ phone. But they still call it ‘ten digit DIALING’. It does start to make more sense once you consider the alternatives. ‘Ten digit pressing’ or ‘ten digit pounding’ just doesn’t have the same ring to it.
