Today I am still itchy.  Yesterday I was at a school that had a lice epidemic.  Nothing like watching kids get called up single file to have their heads checked to make you suddenly get the urge to scratch. 

I am spending this evening, sipping diet Dr. Pepper and writing Christmas cards.  I was on the ball early and had my cards made before the end of November.  I'm also done all of my Christmas shopping which is good because I had to wait in line for like 3 minutes the other day at a Shoppers Drug Mart and it made me so angry. Bah-humbug!!  You know how there is that saying, there are no stupid questions??  Well, I disagree -- there ARE stupid questions and I am always in line behind the person asking them.  I will admit to having very little holiday cheer and was more than happy to do 80% of my shopping online from the comfort of my couch. I sound pretty grinchy, don't I!

Did all of you catch, Colbert's Christmas Special?? Neil and I were talking to someone the other day who had no idea who Stephen Colbert was.  I was like, man, are you living under a rock??  So if you are living under a rock -- please check out The Colbert Report on The Comedy Network.  Here's a teaser from his Christmas special:

You can call me a Christian but that's not wholly true,

'cause have I got a present for you!

As for what is happening in Ottawa.  Why do people get their panties all in a twist?? We will be voting again soon (I'm sure) whether we have a conservative minority or a lefty coalition.   And please, before you call this coalition move undemocratic -- read up on how our system of government works.  It is perfectly legitimate.  I'm not saying the timing is right or even that I support it -- I'm just saying that I cannot stand people that whine and say something completely uninformed like that it is undemocratic.  Or that whine that the left is siding with Separatists.  Harper had to kiss Separatist ass to keep his last minority going as long as it did and if he wants to survive post pro-rogue he will be kissing Duceppe's ass again.  Like it or not, unless someone wins a majority, parties will have to find a way to work with the Bloc.  That's just my 2 cents.  

Day 3 (Saturday)

We got up and headed for some free pancakes!  Afterward, it was almost noon so we thought we'd venture over to Riderville since it was going from noon to 3AM on Saturday.  We go to buy our tickets and are about to step in to check it out when we remember we want a hand stamp so we can get back in later. We were pretty confident that there'd be a line later in the evening and were fully prepared to wait in line to gain re-entry.  What we were not prepared to do was to pay the $10 cover again.  What absolute nonsense.  As were the tales weaved by the ladies working at the door trying to justify this.  First, they claimed it was the fault of the Ti-Cats (the Ti-cats were co-hosting the event this year).  We called their bluff and inquired as to how the Ti-cats were at fault and they could not explain so instead they decided to blame the CFL.  While I'm sure the CFL does have guidelines about how the venues at Grey Cup need to be run, I hardly think the rules would be different club to club.  I pointed out that Spirit of Edmonton had no cover charge.  Then I went on a bit of a tirade where I expressed my disgust that Rider fans (and there were a lot of Rider fans there) had THE MOST POORLY RUN EVENTS -- HANDS DOWN.  I mentioned Riderville last year and of course they blamed that on the Toronto Metro Convention Centre.  Excuses, excuses.  We were so mad we actually asked for our money back (they gave it) and we left.  I removed all my green for the remainder of the afternoon in silent protest.

Instead, we grabbed some brunch, took in Montreal's Christmas parade, lounged around at a coffee shop and shopped.  

That night, we had some people over to the condo for drinks. 
We left feeling quite happy and ventured out to Rue Crescent and hit the
pubs.  Things are a bit sketchy but I'm pretty sure we annoyed our
waitress. 

These blue things were tasty... 

 Took lots and lots of pictures like this...

And before you think we were doing anything too low-brow, I'll have you know I got to brush up on my french. "Bleue, s'il vous plait"

Unfortunately, there was a big frou-ha-ha and members of our party were accused of not tipping our waitress enough (she actually was ballsy enough to come to the table and ask for a bigger tip even though the menu said parties of 6 or more had gratuities automatically added to the bill AND we tipped in addition).  All I know is that the drinks stopped coming so we had to move on.  Still, I was having a good time!  I think most of us were!!

Don't we look like we're having a good time??

That is why we agreed to take that kick in the teeth called Riderville.  We wandered over, paid the cover and went inside where I was immediately confronted with this:

'cause I always tip the ticket taker $100 bills

Anyhow -- I am not going to bitch about Riderville anymore.  We did have some fun while there. For starters, Tom Wilson (Junkhouse, Blackie and the Rodeo Kings) was playing when we entered -- have a listen here.

Second, it would have been sacrilegious to make the trip to Grey Cup and not support our team.  

A sea of green...

Day 4 (GAME DAY)

I know it sounds redundant, but we started the day with breakfast - what can I say, it's important and it's N's favourite!  At Grey Cup village, they were cooking up a 40,000 egg omelette.  It looked a little something like this:

Unfortunately, we were hungry and it was taking too long to cook so we did end up elsewhere for breakfast.  We had thought we would spend the afternoon sight-seeing but found ourselves a bit out of sorts so we opted for naps again.  Around 3PM, we began the trek out to Olympic Stadium.

The game itself was only so-so.  We found it painful to cheer for Calgary so we didn't and when the Al's started to lose, it became more painful.  The half time show wasn't great -- especially if you sat on our side of the field and got to see the back-end of the stage.

I must say that the Riders have the most supportive fans in the league. Surprisingly few Stamps fans in the house when compared to Rider support last year in TO.

Overall, we had a good time at the game. Though, this time around, I'd say I had a better time out and about in Montreal than with Grey Cup stuff in general.  Must have something to do with getting to experience your team win it all last year only to fall short this year.  Last year's Grey Cup in Toronto will be hard to top, me thinks.

All pictures are now posted and can be found here.  Check 'em out!!

Ahh Grey Cup, what an interesting mix of people!  There are die hard fans (there are still Baltimore Stallion fans out and about).  There are fun partying revelers.  There are people dressed in strange and yet amusing costumes.   There are a whole bunch of sad, lonely and pathetic drunk douche bags (yes, that sounds harsh but is oh so true).

Our bartender last night, summed up Grey Cup like this:

Grey Cup is a celebration of football.  It's not just a celebration of 2 teams making it into a final game.  Look around, every team in the CFL is represented whether their team is here or not.

What he said is very true.  There are fans here from every team and every part of Canada.  That is a big reason why Grey Cup is awesome.

Day 1

We arrived in Montreal, Thursday around noon.   We had rented a condo downtown and it turned out to be a really nice place, very close to everything.  We had originally thought we'd need to get a metro pass but we found that we could easily walk everywhere from the condo.  

After we unpacked, we headed out to Old Montreal.  We walked the cobblestone streets, popped our noses into a shop or two, grabbed some lunch, and wandered back home.  To be honest, I'm not sure I was overly impressed.  I guess this was my second time through Old Montreal and after travelling a bit through Europe I was rather underwhelmed.  Still, I think it was worth the walk-through. 

Thursday night, we ventured up Rue Peel to the Mcleans Pub for supper.  There were a pile of fans inside and service was painfully slow.  Just when our patience was starting to wane, the Rider Pep band invaded the pub playing an assortment of Rider classics.  We were instantly pumped again -- good times!  

Have a listen, here!

After that, we were off the the Spirit of Edmonton party.  Now, the Eskies -- they knows how to throw a party!!  No cover, huge room, reasonable drinks, good music, etc.  While there we ran into a few people we knew and collectively decided to head to the Peel Pub.  Neil's friend Trevor had been there the night before and had said the drinks were cheap!  We get there to discover that the Thursday night drink special was $0.99 shots.  All I will say is O-M-G!!!!   I will NOT disclose how much was consumed.  I will just say that by the end of the evening we had all decided we needed to purchase, "I survived the Peel Pub" t-shirts and it was a ways into day 2 before we got home.

Day 2

I awoke feeling not so fantastic.  However, N and Kathy woke up fine.  I was seriously jealous.  We got ready (decided it was appropriate to wear our Peel Pub t's) and headed out to the Calgary Stampeder Pancake breakfast.  Essentially they give you a pancake sandwich with a sausage patty in the middle -- yummy!  We wandered around the Grey Cup tents but there wasn't too much to take in.  We continued up Rue St. Catherine.  St. Catherine Street is an interesting mix of malls/shopping, restaurants and a sprinkling of strip clubs. 

Lots of people out and about.  The shopping was great!  By mid afternoon though, I needed a nap.  Something was making my head throb.  Not sure why I wasn't feeling so hot... hmmm.  Anyhow, N and I abandoned Kathy (she wanted to shop) and went back for a nap.  We needed to rest up for another night out.  We are old.

The plan had been to go to Riderville but that was not meant to be.  We left shortly after 7 to find some supper.  We walked passed the Windsor Ballroom (where Riderville was) and there was no line.  People were walking in and out.  We continued up the street to Carlos and Pepe for some yummy Mexican fare.  By the time we were done, Riderville was lined up onto the street.  Still, being Rider fans, we were like -- no problem -- should move quickly.  How WRONG we were.  After waiting about 15-20 minutes the line hadn't moved at all.  People were coming out but no one was being let in.  Again, this leads me to suspect that it was a bit like the organizational disaster it was last year....  We had friends inside who said it was packed, that drinks were expensive and that the party itself wasn't great.  We didn't know what to do.  Lucky for us, we were right behind a big group of Lions fans who decided to send a small group over to Spriit of Edmonton to see if there was a line there.  Word came back that there wasn't, so we high-tailed it over there.  Good thing too, because we weren't there long before we heard that there was a line to get into the Edmonton party too.  We ended up staying for the rest of the night.  To be honest, it was an early night -- we were home by midnight.  That's what happens when you have a crazy first night... night two is for recovery so night three can be crazy again.

Tomorrow the tentative plan is for pancakes, a jaunt up Mt. Royal, more shopping and we have to get into Riderville, even if it sucks monkey-balls, which it might.  We may finish by checking out the pubs on Rue Crescent.  Been told that there is a great party vibe in the pubs along that street.

Grey Cup photos will be posted here as time permits...

I've been rather lazy with the posting around here.  In my defense though... this month has been the month of the nasty cold.  The kind of cold that knocks you off your feet.  Every dry hacking cough you spew wrenches every last ounce of strength you have.  Your sinuses overflow and you go through several boxes of Kleenex.  At the end of two weeks, you are still not back at 100% but you are over-joyed that you can get through the day without:

a) losing your voice

b) falling into bed the minute you get home from work, thus sleeping for 12 hours and still feeling shitty

On another note, how about those Riders? I'd like to say I'm surprised that the Riders didn't make it to Grey Cup, but I think my last post says it all.  Still, I'm headed to
Montreal this Thursday to partake in the Grey Cup festivites this
year.  Should be a good one!! It's not to often that a host city
actually makes it to the final to play in the big game.  I'm hoping
that this brings a new dimesnsion to the insanity that we usually encounter
at Grey Cup.  Good times are ahead I'm sure.  We will have a laptop with us in Montreal and I hope to post updates from on the road so check back later this week!