Curt’s Basement

Hello people of this site, it has been awhile. I hope all has been well and do apologize as I have not been particularly active on the web if not for Mafia Wars lol So here is the low down. About three months ago I began showing increasing symptoms of something I have had all my life called Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Now it’s not one of those things that is always readily apparent to understand. Essentially my mind makes up convuluted ideas and to prevent these things from happening I perform a ritual of sorts to elleviate the anxiety caused by this. Yeah sounds weird right. Try living with it.

It started when I was young and in elementary school. It was simply things like walking over the lines of sidewalks but escalated to making beds ten times in a row. It died down during the years and seemed to appear in my later teenage years. This time in the form of cleaning hands often as well as reading paragraphs multiple times. And lately it has been reading, moving things, checking things, etc. Just a lot more. I knew there was a problem. I was having odd emotions. Feeling guilty over things I should not, feeling bad about things that yeah I probably should have at the time but now in the future should not. So this new year it came to a point where I felt this coming at me. I could not place it. I thought it would all pass. It did before right? However it did not and things got progressively worse to the point where I would get suicidal thoughts. You know you have problems when…So I started seeing a psychologist. Now seeing a psychologist is alleviating in itself. It’s someone who is trained to listen objectively and they are trained professionals.

Going into it I thought I was just plain crazy. I had assumptions that I had OCD but I also tend to obsess over every ailment. Oh I see a link. Anyways I did not want to go in saying ok doc I have this, cure me. I explained my life situation with all the fun mannerisms I do and he just said you have OCD and there is nothing to be ashamed of.

I was happy to hear it confirmed. The evidence was there just not something you feel qualified to diagnose with absolute certainty on your own. I know, I tried. Oh I checked out google and found OCD sites but the more I read the more I thought I had all these signs. It even felt amplified. So in all help was needed and the facts had to come out.

OCD is generally a genetic disorder (wish I had a plasmid to resolve that) where your brain does not produce enough saratonin so your brain gets it’s wires crossed so to speak. You can try via therapy to resolve the issues and control your obsessions or you may take medication which is typically prozac, elavil, paxil, whatnot which are commonly used in depressions. Oh and usually depressions result from OCD as well as a side thing. Which is exactly what happened this week.

For awhile now I have had trouble focusing on just about anything. I was rip roaring with the hub, with school ideas, wanting to expand the family, fix the car, etc. Believe it or not this all did not help me at all. I would wake up tired despite 8 hours sleep and just go through the motions. Feeling detached. This week I just broke. I had started thinking of things two years ago and just felt horrible about it. Despite that all was said and done I still had the feeling but I could not control it. I had trouble keeping still and just relaxing. I would sleep but it was not restful sleep. So I decided to go to the doctors. My psychologist god bless him is on a three week cruise. Fucker!

So the doctor provided me pills to sleep if need be as well as anti-depressants. It won’t kick in for awhile but it is a start. I also have to see a second psychologist as the clinic wants to absolutely confirm it but after me explaining everything to them well, it is pretty convincing.

Suffice it to say that is what has been keeping me hidden away. Lots of crying, lots of messed up emotions and some self exploration along the way. The best way I can describe it right now is that part of my brain tries to find anything in life that has bothered me or been hurtful and then keeps processing it in my mind. Sometimes it will just plain make shit up or keep running the event in my mind and try to analyze things to make it seem bad. Anything essentially to bother me. It is almost like a voice you have trouble tuning out. It’s very hard to deal with and understand let alone explain it to others.

I was very fortunate in the support so far. I first tried explaining the OCD to my parents about two weeks ago but they passed it off as being tired and I needed to rest. Guess thats the old fashioned way of doing things lol But when I talked to them this week after my break down and explained the process they seemed to be more ears because they visually saw the impact it was having. Everyday has been a struggle but it also shed light onto aspects of my life. My shopping tendencies, my obsession on the car, buying a house, buying a computer. When all these things or events came around it was never something I could do, I HAD to do it. I invested 100% of myself to these things. Some of it was just being selfish at times. That’s a sort of blessing of seeing aspects of your life over and over. You get to learn from all your mistakes and see what made you who you are.

I have had other things pop up which helped cause the depression. Some work issues like a person from HR who when I emailed in sick by accident replied to it thinking it was something else and saying that I was a retard and being a baby. That is just among many problems with my work but it made me realize I am just not happy there. And is IT what I really want to do. Problem is I have lots of ideas. The Hub store, I have an idea for a cafe restaurant, I am interested in human ressources studies (despite my bad experience lol) as well as mechanic since I have really enjoyed working on the camaro. But thats the crux of it all right now. Am I wanting to do a particular course or path or am I being led by an obsession / compulsion. It’s very hard to say and thats also what drives me batty.

Right now it’s taking the meds and eliminating the stressers and seeing how to better handle things to reduce the anxiety. Some days are ok but you realize at some point how much you beat yourself up on things around the house. It also makes you think sometimes you bite more then you can chew. In all OCD is a very real thing. It’s intriguing from a perspective to see how it works and scary when you experience it. But like my doctor said, it’s me VS it and the sooner I deal then I can beat it otherwise it will control me for life.

Rest assured I will be back online at some point in a better capacity then I am now. It’s just a matter of time. Oh and PAX is still on just in case any of you two started wondering. I need a vacation thought if I check the hotel door six times, guide me to the tv to distract me

I have kind of kept it on the down low, not really saying much about it. But Bonnie has been really sick the last 2 months, since right around Christmas. It was a mast cell tumor on her back right flank. She has been on a series of meds to help shrink the tumor so that it could be operable as it was too large to be operated on at the time. Things seemed to be going well, although the mass was not really shrinking in size.

Last week, the mass grew again. This time it expanded around back towards her colon and even pushed her tail out of place. Her discomfort began to grow, but she seemed in good spirits. She was full of energy and life up until Friday…Friday morning she was sick. She had been chewing on my socks and even eaten a small bit, so we believed (hoped) that was all it was. We were wrong. By the end of Friday it was apparent she was losing the battle. This morning she could not stand or walk on her own, she refused to eat, we had to force her to drink water by feeding her through a syringe, and she was whimpering in pain.

So this morning we rushed her to the vet, hoping anything could be done. Turns out Jaundice had set in, most likely due to the condition she was in from the tumor and the meds. So at 12:05pm today Bonnie passed away at the Sources Animal Hospital. It has been one of the hardest and most heart wrenching things to deal with as late. It is never easy losing those you love. Bonnie was like a young sibling or even a daughter to me. No matter how much you try to prepare yourself for something like this it doesn’t help, at all…The house will seem empty without her.

Rest in peace Bonnie, there is now no more pain for you to endure. Thank you for coming into my life and bringing me so much joy.

Hello boys. I figured I’d post something for a change.

In all seriousness, I’m not going to go all “girly” on you.  Though this picture is quite adorable…in a strange way.

Hey guys, how goes it? I’m not doing too bad all considering. Been a bit of a rough period of time. Been lots of activities, preparing for the holidays and then of course the recent passing of my grandmother. In all while the last is sad it’s also comes as positive as it was for the best overall due to her condition as well as allowing my mother to enjoy life. The funeral is tomorrow and burial saturday so had to work a bit extra to compensate for the time.

In other news I really enjoyed our friday night get together. It was a blast and Runebound was a very good game. Just haven’t had too much time to write the review up but it’s on the way with pictures to boot. Yay!! The Hub is going strong which I am happy about and to add a bit more excitement to the mix I am pleased to announce that Bioware is following our Twitter. While that may not seem that impressive it’s good exposure and just damn cool in my opinion.

On the side have been thinking about increasing our friday night get togethers. Seeing how feasible it is which thus far seem’s quite feasible. Looking forward to getting some at the table role playing going and potentially with Curt depending on his availability. I am brushing up on the Exalted stuff I had, preparing play aids and delving into adjusting Fantasy Grounds. So things are moving. I think it’s just something that NEEDS to be done.

So thats what’s going on over on my side. How are things going with everyone else?

How goes it guys? Hope things are well. Thing have been busy on my end as of late but otherwise hanging in there. Work has been actually between busy and boring. It fluctuates really depending the day or week. Some weeks there are nothing, other weeks are running around. Things are home are busy. Trying to keep things clean as we have been running around a lot during the past month. It’s incredible all the doctors appointsments, vaccinations, etc that pop up. Suffice it to say I have been dead tired, emotionally tired and in a slump. It’s not that it’s all bad mind you but just when all you do or see is work it’s hard to find the bright spots.

I’m sad to say that my grandmother who was bleeding internally has been given one week to live. I have been a bit upset about it but it only really hit me last night since I have been visiting with Lucas since my car is in the garage and no moving on to lifts from Marie or parents. Seeing someone slip away each day is unsettling. There is the option of a blood transfusion however if they cannot fix the bleeding then this will repeat itself and during the whole ordeal she may just loose the strength she needs.

So thats been also a downer. The Hub is doing great if people have been checking out. Lots of stories and even started some reviews on it. On the twitter side we have new followers and getting mentions but other news sites. So thats positive progress right. I’m looking forward to our friday get together. I am anxious to try out Descent. I found the quest guide and manual so reading through the manual. I hope it turns out to be an epic boardgame. I would like to get reviews done for them all to help buff up the hub and well, just have fun playing.

I might have a new PC on the way. Working on the details but should be able to get one “soon”. The car is spending a week and a half in the garage. They are going to remove all the rust from the bottom of the card while working on the bushings, shocks, etc. It’s a much needed job to be done and one step closers to getting the car to where it should be. I have been slowly painting interior pieces in the garage. It’s turning out well however I am using a white color so it takes lots of coats. You think warhammer would have taught me. I think the style ones brought into the car will look good. It will be sporty and stylish. It’s just hard to say with them not in there. However when the car comes back I will strip the interior moldings, seats, etc and get to work on fixing those up.

Looking at maybe another car for the winter but that’s up in the air. Just that convenience wise having one would be a real help with the baby. So yeah thats it from my end really. How about everyone else? Curt your married yet?

I decided to play this game in my backlog and already considering shelving it. The game itself is beautiful and the controls are very tight. HOWEVER….the load times are soooo bad and I mean sooooo bad. It at parts can take literally from dying to continuing 4-6 minutes. At first I thought it was a problem with the PS3 of mine however this seem’s to be a big complaint most people have. People want to love the game but the load times kill it. I might have to get the xbox version to actually enjoy it. Just that it’s a not very forgiving game. Very arcade like and nintendo hard.

After nearly a decade of being dead in the water, the old Montreal RPG Hub has risen from the ashes to become the RPG Hub! The site is still growing in features, and it might look a little rough around the edges, but the ball is rolling and things are happening *snaps fingers in the air*.

If you’d like to be an author, let me know. Furthermore, if you’d simply like to be a moderator (comments, forums), let me know. Otherwise, you’re free to create your own account and join in the community like any other.

This site is still for personal things, crazy stuff we find on the internet, and for video games and technology. The Hub is for RPGs, Board Games, etc.

Questions? Comments? Suggestions?

Well everyone, meet our new dog. A lot of things have been going on in the past month. Our oldest cat Zoe died as you all know and we have had continued problem with Eigan and his urinating everywhere. For Eigan it’s been pretty much since Lucas’s birth and a grown jealousy despite all the attention you give him. Being that it’s not clean or healthy environment for Lucas we are giving him away to a home where he might fit better. It’s really sad however it’s for the right reasons so he can be happier and Lucas is in a cleaner environment without having to watch every step.

This all led up to us looking for a dog as I wanted one for a LONG time. But Marie was uncomfortable with larger dogs as she was somewhat traumatize when she was younger. So we aimed for medium to small dogs. So I went on the hunt! I found lots of animal via Kijiji. Many are quite expensive which is an immediate turn off and many are older. We wanted a pup so he can grown along with Lucas and Tazo and learn to be comfortable without being jealous.

So we found one who will be arriving this afternoon here to my work for me to take home. She is about two months old and is a Pomeranian. It will be cool to have a travel friendly animal. Sometimes when they are too big travelling with them can be cumbersome but nope. Will be nice. No name yet. The debate rages on for the name. Was thinking maybe to continue our Full Metal Panic naming going on. Since we already have Chidori and Souskei birds why not Tessa for the dog. Hmmmm….

Marie and I recently ordered all the starter core sets for Magic 2010 however while waiting we were also getting impatient. So finally today Marie broke and said lets go to Bluenose and see what they have. I must say they have a lot of cool stuff. It’s a highly unorganized store ran by old fashioned hippies I believe but they do have some interesting items.

After much looking around I saw some cool items like the Spycraft card game (only the expansion however) and they seem to have a GI Joe game. Not sure if it is ass though. But they had a Magic area. Honestly to the person just jumping into it without assistance, it’s confusing as hell. However since we had all our stuff ordered we just wanted a quick fix. So luckily they had a $10 set which has some planes cards as well as 2 small packs of 15 cards. Basically a nice teaser to get your sets going.

Opening the box you have a giant fold out instruction manual which explains the game and the rules. Essentially you play a Planeswalker who summons creatures, cast spells & enchantments. To start you sort your cards by color. Think of these as your specialty. Each color has a particular purpose and style of play. For instance White are more on protection and Blue are controlling hour opponent. You then can pick one color or you can pick two colors and mix them. Normally in tournament play you can have a mixed deck as well but they are tougher to play. For the purpose of this starter they recommended using two colors.

So with that I selected White which was protection and Black which was more chaotic, dealing quick damage however their defense was low. Marie has selected Blue and Green. Green is nature based. The rules itself were quite simple really. You start by shuffling your cards and then taking seven cards as your initial hand. Every turn you refresh your planes cards (these allow you to summon creatures, cast spells, etc). Think of it more like mana ressources. You then cast spells, summon creatures if you can or you can place down a planes card which will then be used as permanent ressources. The more planes cards you have in play the more things you can do and the more incredible creatures you can summon. You can then attack. With black I was doing smaller damages but the were cheaper to summon or activate so I typically had the early upper hand. However it doesn’t mean you kick your opponents ass. They can choose to block if they have a summoned creature or spell / enchantment that can be put in play. Depending on your creatures power and toughness you can kill that creature or in some cases eliminate each other. After your initial attack and opponent defense you can then play any other spells, etc you want.

At first your referencing the rules a bit to figure the gist of it all. But roughly by the third game we were on our own and just playing. I was very surprised at the ease of play and unpredictability of some hands. In all were pretty much loving the game and at further expanding our sets. I highly recommend people give it a try as it’s not a huge initial investment and it’s quite enjoyable.

I also bought Marie a WoW card game starter set so she it makes it her own and generally get into it more when it’s your own thing. So we will soon be trying that. I just have to read the rules up again as it’s a bit less intuitive from what I remember.

So yeah thats about it. In other new though I beat Fable and almost finished Crackdown. Fable is pretty awesome, I like the quest cards you get. Crackdown was not an intuitive game to start really but fun none the less.

So, i ran across this today. Maybe people knew about it already, but watching it i was laughing pretty good. It’s an entire satire web show called the Guild, directed towards people addicted too WoW. It stars Felicia Day (Who is hot, and is actually addicted to WoW apparently. She is the girl in Dr. Horrible).

I first found:

Then there is the actual series. Season one is made up of 10 episodes, at about four to five minutes each. Can be found here at The Guild

Check it out if you haven’t seen it before.

Well were back from Halifax. Was a good but long travel trip. The baby made a lot of the vacation hard since he was in a very fuss filled mood. Overall it was good and thats what counts. Even got a special preview visit of Cliff which was awesome. And ironically we gave him a tour of Halifax lol

Halifax got a lot of ideas going about career and the future. So I’m now actively looking at changing jobs. There is just no consistent future where I am right now. And I don’t really see IT as being my long term goal. This is why I am now working with Marie on opening an RPG / Game store like Levalet…just elsewhere. Now thats like woah but you know what, it was a dream then and it makes you happy. Thing is these days we compromise our dreams for wealth and the mundane.

So right now it’s flipping emails off to publishers and get the low down. We would setup an online store first as Marie needs to finish school and before a physical shop takes place we need to find a place somewhere (NOT QUEBEC!) that it will work well. Now I say not Quebec in huge caps because this place is just a drag. After Oshawa and Halifax and Newfoundland we have discovered quite easily that QC is the biggest collective group of assholes on this planet.

The idea in general is to have something for everyone game wise with a focus on RPG. Basically Levalet but lets make it better. Competitive Canadian prices and a reason to come back. So right now it’s the logistics of it all. Now were not sure about what name to put it under. I was thinking maybe the The RPG Hub but that would be more a group decision since it’s mainly aimed at being a blog and hotspot for reviews, Twitters, etc. Alternatively I was thinking of Rocket Wagon Games or Odin’s Beard lol I could see lot’s of fun stuff being had by all. Anyways, this is all in the works.

So guys, what is your ideal game store? What do other places don’t have that you would like to see?

Man what an emotional rollercoaster ride this past week has been. For those that don’t know, Angie and I officially made an offer on a townhouse last Sunday. This very cute place in Vaudreuil-Dorion, it is actually really close to Cliff’s parents place. It has been a long week.

It all started with us making a slightly higher initial offer then we had really wanted. This was due to misinformation/misunderstanding from the sellers agent. Big confusion about an open house, we understood it as the place we wanted was going to have an open house and had other interested parties. So we were advised at this point to make are “best offer” and avoid any negotiations. In the long run we are still okay with that, nothing too major. So the seller accepted are offer, and then we found out the open house was on another property her agent was selling. Hence the confusion.

That aside, we were happy. Then it turns out our mortgage rep was on vacation. Our rep also just happened to forget to leave our file with her replacement, even after we explained to her we were in the process of looking at places and to leave our file accessible. Not amused. The replacement rep though was awesome, and finally got us what we needed. Although it made the fact that we had a pre-approved mortgage not work out as the huge time saver it should have been. Instead of a relaxed 3-4 days while waiting for the mortgage we had a hectic four days and scrambling to verify our pre-approval via multple faxes and stress.

Finally with all that settled, we did our inspection last night. The inspector was some chatty chinese fella, very nice, but very chatty. He even offered us helpful suggestions like “If you guys don’t like the paint, you can change it!” Good to know, never would have guessed!!! All in all though a good guy that was very helpful in walking us first time home buyers through an inspection.

All this has now officially led us to decide that we are gonna be taking the place, and as of Tuesday the final paper work will be signed. At least until we hit the notary a few days before we take possession to truly finalize the deal. We officially take possession August 29th. So anyone not busy on the 29th, we need to talk Pizza and beer for anyone that helps us move! Not much too move, just one really heavy desk and the rest is easy!

There is a perfect spot in the basement for my future warhammer table, and Angie has already given me the greenlight. So i’m hoping to have it all ready to go by the end of October. Maybe we could schedule in a halloween warhammer weekend 2

The place is great overall, large kitchen, big yard, three bedrooms, soundproof hometheater basement, all in all a fantastic place. Can’t wait to show it off!

Just finished reading through the metric fuck ton of comics. Just wow.

Detective comics with Batwoman is great. This is the first time the series has had another character let alone a female as the lead. The art style is fantastic and the story is starting to develop pretty well.

Red Robin is very good as well. Robin is no longer play it nice. He is emotionally hurt at the loss of Bruce and the fact that Dick has picked a new Robin without telling the old one. So he is crossing the line a bit which is good because you know he is justified in his emotions.

I read a bunch of Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps books leading into the Blackest Night arc. Basically there are rings for the various colors in the spectrum with of course each having it’s own corps. Every color is a representation of emotion. Green is Will power, Pink is love, Yellow is Avarice, Red is Rage, etc. There has been a war of light with all the various factions in confrontation with each other and now the absence of light (black) has released rings to dead super heroes / villains. This is somewhat of an upcoming apocalypse. It plays on a lot of emotional levels as there has been lots of deaths recently from the past few story arcs like Infinite Crisis. Already two heroes were brutally murdered by people resurrected in a WTF moment. So it’s just plain wicked to see the action.

Infiinite Crisis is pretty good. Basically this event lead into another event called 52. It was mostly used as a ploy to clean up the DC universe and correct inconsistencies in stories and mythologies. It works at doing it and you see some events that really lead into things like Batman: Rest in Peace and Final Crisis. It is pretty intense at some points with heroes being slaughtered. Literally one hero of renown gets their head punched off, another an arm ripped off and other brutal endings. I like it now as the stepped things up a notch. No longer are heroes really protected and can never be harmed or died. B-list heroes are more useful. In fact the whole arc makes them more important and 52 makes them the leaders within the DC Universe. This shows that not everything revolves around Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman.

Captain America Reborn is also a cool title to check out. Basically Steve Rogers is coming back, not sure how yet but all you know is things are leading up to it as they try and explain his death and hints at how he can return. This is very well written.

So if any of you ever want to get or follow comics well here is some cool titles. If you have any questions on arcs or wants spoilers comment and I will.

Well here I am again folks. Been a few days now in the great Halifax region. Went to see the Alexander Keith brewery which was an awesome experience and a rum cake shop. Have some swag for you my peeps but that will be a surprise. But when I do return we must sample my single malt whiskey cake they make. All local too (including the whiskey). The tour was great. Obviously you learn about Alexander Keith and brewing in 1855 plus see the premises. It’s all thematic too so you get a guided tour by bar wenches that occasionally have a tavern tune. Of course we (me times two mwahaha) got to sample some fine ale brewed on the spot which was great.

We visited Peggy Cove. At first I was like meh, a light house but it’s very charming…and inspiring for Cthulhu. Inspiration is all around this place for the Cthulhu genre, from the graveyards, the gardens to the docks. But it was nice scenery from what we saw (very foggy day).

I went to vist a second hand game store called “The last game store”. It was like a microplay type place. Had a decent selection but it seems people keep the must have titles. Unlike microplay where you can walk away with a gem over here you just have b titles on the shelves. Though I must say they had an impressive coleco vision / atari section.

Next while the baby was asleep I visted Strange Adventures which is Canada’s Best Comic Store. It somewhat lives up to the accolades given to it. It’s under a sex shop and you almost think your breaking into someone’s basement. Well it is a basement…But at any rate it has a great selection of titles. I think Fantasia would have this place whipped on the sheer number of comics back in the day but the guy has a lot of swag. Like orginal Star Trek dolls, Night of the Living Dead dolls, original GI Joe action figures. Lots of manga, a little board game section and a very very tiny RPG section.

Again I am convinced that a larger place with more selection would be better and do very well. I guess kind of like Levalet. Offer if possible some cheaper prices on a few items and voila. It seem’s like a largely untapped market here and your right by the university too. Come on these people have to game!

So I bought a metric fuck ton of comics as I want to get back into things. I came in at a good time as a few titles are starting up again from scratch due to events. I got the new Batman series. For those who don’t know Batman died in Final Crisis by Darkseid. So Dick Grayson is now the new Batman, Tim Drake (Robin) has become Red Robin and went solo in an attempt to find Bruce Wayne. So yeah got Batman, Red Robin, Gotham City Sirens (Catwoman, Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy team up), Detective Comics (Batwoman series), Gothan City Central, The Flash: Rebirth (Barry Allen is back), Green Lantern: Blackest Night. Black rings now and old heroes in Zombie form do battle with the other colored lanterns. I even got a black ring collectable with it for free. Wahoo! So yeah this was all to jump start me in all these events. Batman & Robin is impressing me a lot and all the side Batman series are looking really awesome.

So yeah thats it for now. More looking around today and maybe a tour tomorrow.

Well it seemed my PSP is bricked. Yup, it bit the dust. Basically it will not turn on anymore. I am not sure why it will not. Last I did was play Star Ocean: First Departure. I did some research and there are some ways to fix it. Basically you need to mod your battery then put a special program on your memory card and it will basically downgrade it. The bricking somehow happens when your system becomes corrupt. Apparently it’s a common problem with the system. Which = irritating. Looking online at their service department it is about $100 to repair it at the service centre out of warranty. I am hoping I kept my receipt as I am sure it’s under warranty. I mean I would almost be better at that point to just buy a new bundle. At which point I would probably get that new Rock Band PSP bundle. It’s just very annoying for this to happen.

Side Note: I managed to get Siren for the PS2. One hard to get game FOUND! I still cannot find the ever elusive Valkyria Chronicles.

Well here we are in Halifax doing what Halifax people do. Drinkng and eating….Ba-dum-ching! Just kidding but the trip was a long drive which I did most of daringly enough. The weather was good coming in but it seem’s we are to get a mega storm. We have 100% humidity around here. Luckily our air conditioning nulls the effects however out in the hallway, etc you can just feel it. So hoping it will get a tad better. It has a very Lovecraftian feel right now by the water.

I can’t say I am overly impressed with the location. Guess I was expecting more from Halifax. It’s…quaint. I think I was expecting more developed. Though I am just going by observations from our current area so it may be more developed elsewhere.

So on todays menu were visiting a haunted church, a rum cake store, their mega mall and maybe some other fun stuff.

Well our cat Zoe died today in a rather tragic way. I was removing a matted hair clump from her back and when done she ran off however only about two feet. Lucas was nearby but she curled a bit and then began convulsions. I had placed her in her basket as Marie quickly researched what was going on. It was either an epileptic seizure or embolism. The seizure were not passing after ten minutes so we resigned to take her to the vet. However during this time while I was holding Zoe from convulsing everywhere, she died in my hands. To say the least Marie is very upset since it was her cat of 13 years (91 years old). I am scarred I think from the experience of having her die in my hands and then burying her where our new flower box will be. I plan to do something nice there and found it appropriate. However not a nice start to the day before heading out to Halifax.

Hi everybody!!!

How ya all doing? Feels like I don’t really keep in touch with everyone very well. Aside from a few comments on Curts site or D&D nights seems like I barely talk to anyone often. Guess it doesn’t help that I barely use my facebook, I’m not a “twit” (if that is indeed the correct term), I don’t use googletalk much (although I should try to), and so on.

So I guess this is kind of like one of Carls big “how the he’ll is everyone?” blog posts.

Lately I have been just struggling through most days. Work keeps getting me down. Can’t stand working around so much ego all the damn time. Especially in such a crappy go no where job like this. I keep trying to shake things up and make some drastic changes, but alas they seem to fall through way to often.

I was pushing so hard so that I could begin making the move to ontario this year. But that has already been postponed until next year. Need to finish school, sigh. Still not sure if I will be able to cut out a career In photography. I love it, but I just don’t know if I have it in me to make it work. I will always practice it and maybe do some on the side. All I know is I need to figure something out, I need to know what it feels like to actually have a career…

On the home front, even though the house is looking better then it has in years it still aggravates me how much is left too do. Seems like it will always be a work in progress. My aunt wants it ready to sell by sept 1st but nobody is in a hurry to help me out with labour or financials… Angie and I are looking to get our own place to live for the next year so we can finish school. We laready have a place we like and will be making an offer Saturday. I am Hoping having a place to call my own will help with stress.

Anyways, guess I should wrap this up, my day is about to start. Maybe if people are free tonight we can play some lfd or tf2 or something tonight. As much as I love warhammer seems like it is all I’m doing lately.

How you all doing? I know it wasn’t that long ago you guys were all down for my bday, but it actually feels like it’s been ages.

e on the side

Well I think this is official as we have ever gotten on a road trip like this. But here is graphical evidence that we are indeed going. Now please note for everyone else interested, you can go to the PAX East site and do pre registration. You have the option of having your badges sent to you via FED Ex (which I did). I bought these now as I owed Curt from awhile back so rather then get lost in translation now it’s fucking booked! Oh yeah!

Good day all,

I don’t think I have talked to anyone since the wedding so I thought I would post here to see how people are doing.

My trip back from Montreal was uneventful for the most part, however on arriving… in fact we had already pulled into the parking spot in my Condo and was just straightening out the car, we noticed it wasn’t reversing all that smooth.

Thinking this was the inevitable transmission issue I have been warned about since day one I decided to take it to mr. transmission. Wow, what a ride. Felt like I was driving through a swamp.

Anyways… long story short, my transmission would cost me over $1000 to fix so I bought not so new ‘08 Pontiac G5. All of this taking place on my forced vacation… and to boot, yes… a cold, all week long.

As I sit here hacking and spewing all over my keyboard would you brighten up my day with some good news, how is it going?

Man John, you got gipped on your wedding cake topper! Should have considered some of these options!

Nerdiest cake toppers!

Ok, we’re getting down to the last couple days before the wedding and I need to ensure that everyone knows what they need to do and where they needs to be, and when. Since most were unable to come to the rehearsal last night, I will provide what info I can here.

So first, it looks like Deb and I will be able to save about a grand on wedding costs by decorating the hall ourselves the night before the wedding. So it looks like I probably won’t be able to make it for a barbeque Friday night, which really sucks. But I’m pretty sure we can all agree that saving a thousand dollars (possibly more) is a pretty strong motivator and should count as a good excuse.

Bry and I will be sleeping at home Friday night and will likely be up and about some time around 10am (although Bry probably much earlier), I’m going to aim to have a good night’s sleep and try to be as well-rested as I can. The wedding photographer will be coming by around 1pm, I think (maybe a bit later), to take photos of “The Boys getting ready”, apparently. So all Groomsmen should try to be at my place by around 12:30 so we can make sure we’re all dressed and ready to go. My address, for those who don’t know, is:

328, Westminster Ave N.
Montreal-Ouest

A quick Google maps search should bring that up no problem. From there we’ll kinda just hang out and do final preparations until around 2:30 when we head over to the Church. At the chruch you guys will be ushering the guests in and showing them to their seats in the pews. Deb’s parents and my Aunt Sue and her boyfriend are seated on the isle in the second row on the groom and bride’s sides respectively. The front row will be for the groomsmen and bridesmaids on the groom and bride’s sides, obviously.

Once the guests have been seated we all retreat into the minister’s room and kinda just relax there until we’re called out. Once we’re called out, we file out, me at the head and make our way across the isle and form a line going out from me to the right of the altar (to the right when facing the altar). Then When Deb comes down the isle and I stand next to her, the minister will tell you to sit and you guys (and the bridesmaids on the other side) can then go caterpillar like in-file into the first row of pews from the outside. That is to say, Bry and Alex, at the head of the group, will start to walk back past you guys to the right and around the end of the pews, then make their way towards the isle end of the first row, you guys just follow in the order you’re standing (we can work out order when we meet up before we go to the church).  From then on, most of you are done your jobs and can just enjoy the wedding, Alex and Bry still have stuff to do, but they know what and should be fine. Once the wedding is over everyone just kinda makes their way out the front doors of the church.

The only other thing to note is that Deb wants to film ther wedding ceremony. We’ve got a great new digital camcorder and we need someone to do the recording of the wedding. Deb’s suggestion was Joe, and that works for me. I also would have suggested Carl, but being a groomsman, that would make for some weird camera angles and POV changes.

So anyway, any and all who read this and are coming to the wedding (groomsmen especially), reply and let me know if it’s clear enough or if you have any questions.

Hey les boys,

Call me crazy, but I have an idea. July 10-12th, warhammer party at my place! Armies need to be assembled and atleast primed to play. I figure we can aim for 1000 point battles, unless we feel bold and do higher point counts.

I know it may be short between visists for you curt, but I think it would be fun. People can camp at my place. We will obviously warhammer it up lots and watch movies maybe plan some kind of rpg. I am figuring dinner on Saturday at madisons steak house. Love that place, maybe catch a movie if there is anything worth seeing.

So let me know what you guys think.

Neil

After some mechanical inspection over the past two weeks we have a bit more on the history of this car. So it seem’s this car was indeed a full fledged Berlinetta and the guy was trying to convert it to a Z28. He started this half assed conversion by putting in a Z28 engine in there. While this is all good and well the radiator is meant to cool a Berlinetta car engine. So the Z28 has a tendency over hot days and long distances to heat up a bit too much.  That and the radiator is probably dying of natural causes lol Also he seem’s to have tried to put Z 28 logo on the interior door panel however the panels are damaged because he tried to do stupid stuff and not well done.  Our theory is the guy just got lost and did not know how to manage a restoration. Or just tried to do things without research. I’m not a pro or a mechanic but I know when something doesn’t look right.

So thats a bit frustrating but really it’s not end of the world.

So not much has exactly changed since the last report. I had a fuel line filter put it. It’s pretty neat looking. It’s a see through glass tube with chromed ends with a filter inside. You can see gas go through it and the sediment that builds up. (Note this is not useful while driving making it…not useful). It was a free piece they tossed in so hey why not. I also had the drivers side door repaired a bit. Basically the pin the the door latches onto was rusted around and probably would have fallen off. So they welded that and put a material that can be smoothed out later and be painted over. I plan to eventually have the body repainted but no biggy right now. On the long term list.

I have windsheild washer pump and tubes being installed today. Being going without it for a bit which is a pain at times. The motor for the fluid was burnt out so had to change it. My weatherstrip finally arrived today so need to pick that up. Wonder how big the overall kit is. Was stuck at customs fora bit which is what held the shipping up.

I purchased a Haydens book for the Camaro which has everything on taking apart the car and rebuilding it. Mechanics needed more info on the electrical as they would have had to map it out manually which isn’t always exactly easy. So with the schematics now the security system should be put in soon.

New Dash arrives this week. So should be picking that up most likely on sunday or late saturday if all goes well. That will be a nice addition. I have removed the wood grain decal on the console bezel. Now it’s all back to stainless. I am thinking of maybe saving the bezel. I think it can be done for the cheap. I saw some guides online on how to restores it. So might give that a shot.

I have of course the suspension being changed. This is now booked for next monday.

I have sun visors and the brackets on order as the sun is pretty brutal in the morning and well, I would like to see the road. Got the visor of the ebay so yay for cheap. I also have a catalytic converter and headers coming in as it will help with emissions (catalytic converter especially since I have none currently).  I may also be changing the radiator asap depending on anything else immediate coming up. What are the odds…

So all in all things are picking up and turning out

As you all know I bought a 1981 Z28 Camaro. It was originally advertised as a Berlinetta which is more of a stylised interior model. However after some inspection I noticed a bunch of symbols on the interior which designated it as a Z28. Also the engine which is a V8 also fits the profile. I suppose the owner was not aware or just misclassified it on the classifieds section. Either way my gain. Upon visual inspection there was rust in the back. Gas tank was a concern since that had heavy rust and the remainder mostly on the back body. The floor under the drivers area was redone with modern plastic. Probably the floor rotted out and was replaced by this part. This is a normal repair for things like that so no big deal. Engine was redone witha spacer below the filter. This was apparently for look more then anything. Weatherstrip was also worn down just about everywhere and bushings looked finished.

Well it’s been a few weeks since I had the pretty old car but finally this week was the week I could drive it since I got my full license. Despite the problems visually the car rides well. However this was all stopped short when I discovered a nice little feature upon filling up my gas tank…there was a leak. Considering I bought the car for $4900 and there was obvious signs of rust it was just a matter of when something would happen. I discovered the leak when I left it at my parents place since my brother would take it to his mechanic school the following day. I was driving the Yaris back when uh-ohh. I noticed some small drips.  In the meantime I had a small bucket so the stone driveway at my parents wouldn’t be discolored.

Upon further inspection indeed about 3/4 of the way there was a rotted out part. Either way the gas tank had to be changed. So a new 21 Gallon tank has been put in place with new tank holder straps and rubber cushions. It sure made a difference. A huge chunk of rust is now gone. However after further inspection it seem’s any rubber that was on the car was all original, never changed and mostly disintegrated. This means that suspension / shocks all need a do over to be safe. Car is driveable but if I leave it unattended for too long I will just end up wearing it further and potentially causing more harm and putting stress on parts to the point of breakage.

So the parts are all being priced out by the school but it looks like all beginning of next week it will be in the shop to repair. Also my electrical is getting an overhaul as it needs to be mapped out so they can install my fancy new securirty system. I have a whole new weatherstrip kit from Texas coming in. I needed to find one that matched with my t-tops manufacturer. So that big part will also be done once it comes in. Also my windshield washer fluid will need tubes and probably new motor. Apparently the tubes are not there! Go figure.

So right now it seem’s like a fuck ton to do but it’s a lot of little things in the long run and thank god to the school and internetz I can get everything dirt cheap and no labor cost.  Essentially in mid june I should almost have a totally redone exterior mechanically. Interior I will tackle myself over time however I have a new dash which came with the car (was backordered) so will have them install that with all the other work. The interior itself is not end of the world. The console needs to be changed. The previous owner took out a little lower section and put a sporty oil and heat gage. Fugly is what I call it and will have that yanked out. I plan on installing new deluxe seat foam, new seat material, new inner door panels, new steering column, new wheel, new back panel, new trim. Basically everything though the back seats look in good shape but figure if I change the front, might as well change the set. Will be fun to dabble into what I can. I have an uber Camaro guide covering tearing down and rebuilding Camaro’s from 1970 – 1981 with schematics, electrical diagrams, etc. So will be cool.

Will try and post some pictures of the work in progress and keep updating.