Well What d'ya Know

Its that time of year again! Bob’s Big Brain needs to sharpen up for game day. Yes, it’s the return of ‘World Trivia Night’, North America’s largest live trivia event with 2500 participants. The event is not til Friday November 2nd (at the Aberdeen pavilion, Lansdowne Park) but this Tuesday I will be hosting ‘Team Captain night’ at Moe’s Newport Restaurant, a bit of a ‘trivia warm-up’ with fast-paced trivia questions being fired out to very enthusiastic trivia and pizza lovers. Trivia master Paul Paquette is back on board and it will be a ton of fun. If you’ve never participated in ‘World Trivia Night’, get 9 other people together, give your team a silly name, and register TODAY at www.worldtrivianight.com! It’s a huge fundraiser for ‘Champions for Children’ (over half a million dollars raised over the last 10 years). Our humble team, ‘Bob’s Big Brain’ will be back, trying to best our 15th place showing for the past 2 years. See you November 2nd at the Aberdeen Pavilion!

One night only…this Wednesday…promises to be the best girl’s night out, like, EVER!! Its called ‘What a Girl Wants’ , a fundraiser for the Ottawa chapter of the Canadian Liver Foundation. The Westin Hotel will be the hotspot with one lively event, where you can mix and mingle, enjoy delicious food, and get hooked up with the latest fashions, beauty treatments, jewellery and handbags! I will be there, probably never very far away from anything chocolate. For more information about ‘What a Girl Wants’, go to www.liver.ca!

Be careful what you wish for……..
Last Friday my husband Rob and I had dinner in the market then went to get the car at the city parking lot, where ‘lo and behold’, there was Ottawa Senator Mike Fisher at the parking payment machine! I of course immediately ran away. Not sure why, maybe its because I was worried about saying something completely unintelligible, which happens when I meet certain famous people. Rob had to go to the payment machine so he and Mike Fisher chatted away about this and that….play-offs, injuries, etc etc. I finally re-appeared only to see Mike Fisher drive away in a big black SUV. Sheesh. I missed my opportunity to say something to him like…..hmmm…what a sunny day it was today and tomorrow’s forecast looks good too.

Speaking of the Senators, the regular season starts this week and everyone is SO pumped about it , they have been incredible in the pre-season!! GO SENS GO !! It starts Wednesday night in T.O against our favourite rivals, the Maple Laffs. Keep listening to BOB FM, on the ‘Morning After’ we will be giving away tickets for Thursday night’s home opener against, yes, once again, the ‘Maple Laffs’. We look forward to another great year, and remember, if you are stuck in traffic behind Ray Emery, he always has the right of way.

Sssh don't move

My husband and I went for a drive on a backwoods road in the Gatineau Hills and this guy just appeared. I fumbled to grab my camera and get a picture and he stuck around just long enough for this shot. What a beautiful deer!

Its Never Too Early for Blue Rodeo

Blue Rodeo in the Byward Market! Canada's favourite band rocked 'Canada AM' to promote their new CD, 'Small Miracles'. Never thought I would see Greg Keelor up and awake at 8 o'clock in the morning. The new CD is great, its true Blue Rodeo, with upbeat Jim Cuddy songs matched by Greg Keelor's more complex and introspective tunes.





Jim Cuddy meets with fans

Jim thinks Greg is funny

(above) Greg and Jim do the interview thing on Canada AM

Live Bands for Breakfast

Blue Rodeo is coming to our own backyard! This Friday, Blue Rodeo puts on a live outdoor concert right here in the Byward Market, on York Street, during the breakfast hour! How cool is that. Blue Rodeo will be, like, just one street over from where I work. You should come on over, the show is free to the public and the band is going to introduce new songs from their upcoming album ‘Small Miracles’. The crowd will start gathering around 6:30am. I think every day should start with a free live concert. There would be a lot less grouchy people in the workplace, if you got to stop and see a live band on the way to work every day. Dancing in the streets in your white blouse and skirt or your suit and tie, clapping along to live music, trying not to spill your Tim Hortons, yeah…..that’s a great way to start a day. I think I’ll suggest that one to the mayor. I can’t think of one reason why he wouldn’t go for it.

One of the things we love about our pets, is the way their personalities change over the years….just like people. My dog Hudson, the tv-watching dog, has just picked up a new habit. Maybe he saw it on tv. Hudson now gets my attention by tapping me on the shoulder. When he wants something, oh…I don’t know, maybe a cookie, or a sandwich, he now just lifts his paw and taps me on the shoulder while I’m sitting at the computer. He just did it now. That’s why I’m writing about it. I have to go for a minute, Hudson wants a piece of garlic bread.

OK. I’m back. Now my dog has garlic breath.

Did you get your Bruce Springsteen tickets? I hope you fared well. When you think about it, you’re not only getting one of the best rock ‘n roll shows around, you’re also getting 2 tv stars too. Max Weinberg on drums … star of the Conan O’Brien Show. Steve van Zant on guitar and vocals. Star of ‘The Sopranos’. (he played Tony’s loyal buddy Silvio). Speaking of Steve van Zant, Bruce Springsteen has a couple of nicknames for him. ‘Little Steven’, and ‘Miami Steve’. Bruce started calling him Miami Steve when they were kids in New Jersey. He got the name because he and his family went to Miami once.

And now….. a completely useless fact. Richard Gere’s middle name is ‘Tiffany’. Go ahead. Bring that one up at the next party.

Date with THE BOSS!!!

Gentlemen, start your engines! Ladies, start your engines! Everyone, start your engines! Then start your computers, charge up your phones, make sure you have gas in the car, maybe even a lawn chair and a sleeping bag. Its MEGA CONCERT ticket buying time once again!! At least I ‘think’ it will be. I’m pretty sure it will be. I am, of course, talking about none other than BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN AND THE E STREET BAND, coming to Scotiabank Place on Sunday October 14th and the tickets go on sale at 10 am MONDAY SEPT 17TH!!! What to do, what to do? Hope you have the ‘fastest finger’ on the phones? Or the ‘highest speed’ internet? What about doing the old fashioned thing, calling in sick and lining up outside Sports Experts? If I’m not mistaken, the last time Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band played the Corel Centre (as it was called in 2003), tickets sold out in 71 minutes, which I believe is still a record. And if you have never seen Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band live in concert, believe me when I tell you, outside of your wedding day, the birth of your children and grandchildren, and the unconditional love of pets, and maybe Christmas, that there is no greater joy on the face of the earth than a Bruce Springsteen concert. And I am not one to exaggerate.

Dogs Would Rather Eat Cheese Than Say Cheese

What a great day!! It was so amazing to see all the wonderful supporters of the Ottawa Humane Society and of course the dogs too – for the 19th annual Humane Society Wiggle Waggle Walk-a-thon! I had a great time sharing MC duties with A Channel’s Kurt Stoodley. Give yourselves a big pat on the back (or on the head), over $127,000 raised for the shelter!! I wish I could have taken a photo of each and every dog at the event. But dogs just don’t sit still! Lol….Anyway, here are some pictures from the day…enjoy!

The Arboretum Goes to the Dogs

We’re wiggling and waggling again!! Pictured above: Ottawa Police Chief Vern White and Hudson (my dog adopted from the Humane Society). Please join HONOURARY CHAIR of this year’s Humane Society Wiggle Waggle Walkathon, Ottawa Police Chief Vern White, along with about 1300 dogs and even more people this Sunday at the Arboretum! Chief White has two dogs, Macy and Ari. Ari was in fact adopted from the Ottawa Humane Society! I hope to get some photos of Chief White and his dog at the ‘Wiggle Waggle’ this Sunday. It’s a great day for the whole family and a very important fundraiser for the Humane Society, so please download a pledge sheet and we’ll see you Sunday!! All info is on the ‘pet friendly’ section of this website, or go to http://www.ottawahumane.ca/!

I was wearing white pants yesterday and someone told me that you’re not allowed to wear white pants after Labour Day. Is that still true? The person who told me I couldn’t wear white pants after Labour Day was wearing shorts and sandals. So, I could’ve worn a bathing suit to work, with a hoodie, high heels, and leg warmers, and that would have all been fine, as long as I wasn’t wearing white pants because it was after Labour Day.

Ottawa Senators goalie Ray Emery got into a scuffle on the 417 yesterday while driving his Hummer to hockey practice. Isn’t that now considered the official start of the Senators new season?

Being such a tv-aholic, I’m really looking forward to the new tv season. But there are so many programs that I can’t watch because I didn’t watch all the episodes last year, so I have no idea what’s going on…like ‘Heroes’, ‘Lost’, ‘Prison Break’….and I know I’ve been given umpteen chances to watch the entire season of these shows…but there just aren’t enough hours in the day. In today’s world you can watch tv shows on the internet, on your phone, your ipod, there are even refrigerators with tv’s built into the door. We were visiting a friend in Barrhaven and his neighbour had a big HD tv in the garage. He was watching a re-run of ‘24’. Must be catching up before the new fall season.

Ottawa Citizen movie critic and reporter for Bob’s ‘Morning After’, Jay Stone, is at the Toronto Film Festival. He has to watch a whack of movies, write reviews, the usual stuff. But on occasion he’s also in the same room as Brad Pitt! I don’t think he’s as impressed by that as much as I am. Come to think of it, I recently had to remind Jay that he once dined next to Angelina Jolie. He had forgotten about that. Jay is more impressed with someone who has a kitchen with recessed pot lights.