I'd need a passport to get my salt water taffy by the ocean. That would suck.
The world according to IdRatherBeSkiing
- Thread starter IdRatherBeSkiing
- Start date
So last fall my son and I started planning our hockey games. We did 2 Leaf games in Toronto. The Leafs @ Buffalo dates did not work for us. We also looked at opportunities to see Conner Bedard. My son has not seen him. I saw him playing for the Regina Pats when I was visiting my dad in Saskatoon. Last year we bought tickets to Chicago @ Buffalo but if he didn't get injured before that game. So this year we looked at when Chicago was visiting Toronto, Ottawa, Buffalo, Detroit, Pittsburgh and Columbus all reasonably close or close enough for us to consider. Toronto and Ottawa games were insanely expensive. Buffalo, Detroit and Columbus dates didn't work. This left Pittsburgh tomorrow night. I got tickets in December.
Now that the time has come, hearing horror stories of Nazi American border guards and stories of people with Canadian plates being deliberately rear ended I am 'concerned'. I know all the really weird stuff about rear enders came from Florida but still. So if you don't hear from me for a couple of days, I am likely vacationing in El Salvador. I do hope it is uneventful and we get to see a good hockey game. Ticketmaster says it is Yacht Rock Night in Pittsburgh as well as $1 hot dog night. Dinner plans are taken care of.
Now that the time has come, hearing horror stories of Nazi American border guards and stories of people with Canadian plates being deliberately rear ended I am 'concerned'. I know all the really weird stuff about rear enders came from Florida but still. So if you don't hear from me for a couple of days, I am likely vacationing in El Salvador. I do hope it is uneventful and we get to see a good hockey game. Ticketmaster says it is Yacht Rock Night in Pittsburgh as well as $1 hot dog night. Dinner plans are taken care of.
Overall the trip was good. My son and I enjoyed the hockey game. We found the people of Pittsburgh to be very friendly. The staff at the arena were extremely helpful. Our seats were top row and unlike other arenas with stadium seating there was no bar or rail in front. It meant the view forward was completely unobstructed but it was unnerving. We elected to Uber to and from the stadium. The return driver was very friendly. He provided snacks, water and candy as well as a tour guide speech of Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh is a very pretty city. The downtown is very modern and seems to be very functional. Baseball, football, hockey and soccer (minor league) are all relatively close to the downtown core. The hockey arena is very nice. Good views from all angles.
We sat in the same row as some season ticket holders. We got a lecture on rude Canadians who apparently get up in the middle of a play to go to the concessions or washrooms blocking the view. We just nodded for 2 reasons. We were trying to blend in for the most part and not announce we were from Canada and she was right. There is no convention in Canada's sporting events to wait for a break in the play. Some events prevent you from returning between breaks but nobody stops you from leaving. I can see how this could be viewed as rude if practised in a different setting. We do not practice this ourselves but the conversation started when her husband stopped in front of us to pick up some litter at the request of one of the stewards. It didn't bother us but started the conversation which drifted to those rude Canadians.
The border crossing was uneventful. It was almost completely deserted. 2 booths with only one other car in sight. It was erie. Last time I saw it like that was in 2021 when border was closed for covid. The border guard asked about the cooler and how long we were staying. She checked the cooler but that was it.
We did not announce to too many people we were Canadian. The uber driver asked and we didn't lie. I suspect the hotel employees knew as they had the address and saw my drivers license. I got to enjoy Fox News eating my free waffle this morning. It felt really weird this time. Not sure when my next trip is (will elaborate in my next post).
We are now home safe. Our schnauzer was happy to see us. She spent a couple days at a dog sitter. I did not leave 3 pages of instructions. Our cat was indifferent. She spent the time alone with extra food as it was only 2 days.
Pittsburgh is a very pretty city. The downtown is very modern and seems to be very functional. Baseball, football, hockey and soccer (minor league) are all relatively close to the downtown core. The hockey arena is very nice. Good views from all angles.
We sat in the same row as some season ticket holders. We got a lecture on rude Canadians who apparently get up in the middle of a play to go to the concessions or washrooms blocking the view. We just nodded for 2 reasons. We were trying to blend in for the most part and not announce we were from Canada and she was right. There is no convention in Canada's sporting events to wait for a break in the play. Some events prevent you from returning between breaks but nobody stops you from leaving. I can see how this could be viewed as rude if practised in a different setting. We do not practice this ourselves but the conversation started when her husband stopped in front of us to pick up some litter at the request of one of the stewards. It didn't bother us but started the conversation which drifted to those rude Canadians.
The border crossing was uneventful. It was almost completely deserted. 2 booths with only one other car in sight. It was erie. Last time I saw it like that was in 2021 when border was closed for covid. The border guard asked about the cooler and how long we were staying. She checked the cooler but that was it.
We did not announce to too many people we were Canadian. The uber driver asked and we didn't lie. I suspect the hotel employees knew as they had the address and saw my drivers license. I got to enjoy Fox News eating my free waffle this morning. It felt really weird this time. Not sure when my next trip is (will elaborate in my next post).
We are now home safe. Our schnauzer was happy to see us. She spent a couple days at a dog sitter. I did not leave 3 pages of instructions. Our cat was indifferent. She spent the time alone with extra food as it was only 2 days.
So I found out on the weekend that I will be a grandpa again. My oldest daughter is having a forth kid. Due November. She lives near Columbus, OH. My tentative plan was to visit Columbus the last week of August prior to Labour Day. But now I am thinking of delaying to January to see the baby. If I do that I may just spend 2 weeks at the lake (SK) with my dad.
That's great! I think my grandchild count will remain stable for quite some time.
Mine too. One kid who is in no rush. I didn't have a kid until I was in my 30s. I get the feeling my son will be the same way.
I decided to move this here rather than continuing to derail the other thread. Reposting.
Sometimes a date brings back stuff. 1978/Grade 10 is that date. I have sat on this stuff for most of my life. The only person who knows what I am about to write about was my wife. I have decided that dumping on the anonymous internet may be therapeutic since I no longer have that one person I could talk to about it. If any of this is going to make you uncomfortable, move on to the next post.
I was always into drama at least in high school. I sucked at it but I was into it. I had bit parts because well I sucked at it. In grade 8 I was stage manager since I sucked that bad. In grade 9 I got a bit part. The teacher/director doing the play was Mr. D (I don't know why I feel the need to protect his name). He was partially disabled. He got around in a wheelchair but could walk short distances with a cane. I was always a bit shy and didn't really fit in much and I guess add a love of drama to that mix, I was perfect. Mr. D asked if I would accompany him to watch plays at the Globe Theatre. He had season tickets and needed someone to help him with his wheelchair. I believe he actually talked to my parents and got permission. I would get free plays and intermission snacks and drinks (soft). Seemed like a good deal. I think I wound up doing it for 2-3 years. The problem was that once the lights went down, Mr. D kind of felt me up. Mostly my legs and lower body. His specialty was squeezing my knee. I really didn't know how to handle this so I didn't. My parents were thrilled that I was getting free plays and they liked Mr. D. So I sat there and tried to focus on the plays. This was the late 1970s. There didn't seem to be a reasonable option to report him or a way out.
In grade 10 I got Mr D for both of my English classes. He actually was a good teacher but I was the only grade 10 student to get him for both halves of the course. They did semesters and they split the English somehow. At the time I really didn't give that particular co-incidence much thought. It's amazing what becomes into focus when you are no longer young and stupid and can look back on things objectively.
Those are the clear memories I have. I do have broken memories of going to his house for at least one party. I haven't really tried to look deeper at those because frankly I don't want to know.
In Grade 11 I was in a play again. Mr. D was the teacher/director. This was his last year. A female cast member made a formal complaint against him for sexual harassment (I don't think that was the term used then but that is what it was). The result of this was that Mr. D was no longer allowed to direct school plays. Gotta love how things resolved themselves back then! The part that still kicks me is I was at a post-play party with the cast. We stayed up all night and watched Monty Pythons Holy Grail. It was my first time seeing Monty Python. But I digress. Of course the big topic of discussion was the accusations against Mr. D. Nobody believed her. And I piled on even though I knew they were almost certainly true. This is the part of the whole mess that I feel most crappy about. In order to hide my embarrassment I made it harder for someone else abused by him.
My wife was always a good researcher. Some time in the 2010s she took his full name and researched him. She found his daughter. She e-mailed her about her dad (without sharing why she was asking). It turns out he died in prison. He was not in prison for diddling but for tax fraud or something like that. It is comforting to know he is dead and his last day of life were likely not pleasant. His daughter also was not mourning his loss.
Sometimes a date brings back stuff. 1978/Grade 10 is that date. I have sat on this stuff for most of my life. The only person who knows what I am about to write about was my wife. I have decided that dumping on the anonymous internet may be therapeutic since I no longer have that one person I could talk to about it. If any of this is going to make you uncomfortable, move on to the next post.
I was always into drama at least in high school. I sucked at it but I was into it. I had bit parts because well I sucked at it. In grade 8 I was stage manager since I sucked that bad. In grade 9 I got a bit part. The teacher/director doing the play was Mr. D (I don't know why I feel the need to protect his name). He was partially disabled. He got around in a wheelchair but could walk short distances with a cane. I was always a bit shy and didn't really fit in much and I guess add a love of drama to that mix, I was perfect. Mr. D asked if I would accompany him to watch plays at the Globe Theatre. He had season tickets and needed someone to help him with his wheelchair. I believe he actually talked to my parents and got permission. I would get free plays and intermission snacks and drinks (soft). Seemed like a good deal. I think I wound up doing it for 2-3 years. The problem was that once the lights went down, Mr. D kind of felt me up. Mostly my legs and lower body. His specialty was squeezing my knee. I really didn't know how to handle this so I didn't. My parents were thrilled that I was getting free plays and they liked Mr. D. So I sat there and tried to focus on the plays. This was the late 1970s. There didn't seem to be a reasonable option to report him or a way out.
In grade 10 I got Mr D for both of my English classes. He actually was a good teacher but I was the only grade 10 student to get him for both halves of the course. They did semesters and they split the English somehow. At the time I really didn't give that particular co-incidence much thought. It's amazing what becomes into focus when you are no longer young and stupid and can look back on things objectively.
Those are the clear memories I have. I do have broken memories of going to his house for at least one party. I haven't really tried to look deeper at those because frankly I don't want to know.
In Grade 11 I was in a play again. Mr. D was the teacher/director. This was his last year. A female cast member made a formal complaint against him for sexual harassment (I don't think that was the term used then but that is what it was). The result of this was that Mr. D was no longer allowed to direct school plays. Gotta love how things resolved themselves back then! The part that still kicks me is I was at a post-play party with the cast. We stayed up all night and watched Monty Pythons Holy Grail. It was my first time seeing Monty Python. But I digress. Of course the big topic of discussion was the accusations against Mr. D. Nobody believed her. And I piled on even though I knew they were almost certainly true. This is the part of the whole mess that I feel most crappy about. In order to hide my embarrassment I made it harder for someone else abused by him.
My wife was always a good researcher. Some time in the 2010s she took his full name and researched him. She found his daughter. She e-mailed her about her dad (without sharing why she was asking). It turns out he died in prison. He was not in prison for diddling but for tax fraud or something like that. It is comforting to know he is dead and his last day of life were likely not pleasant. His daughter also was not mourning his loss.
There were also 2 other occasions where I escaped what would have been bad situations. Not necessarily through any smarts on my part but an occasional good instinct among general stupidity. I know my parents tried to warn about stuff like this but I don't think they did it in a way that related to me. When I was 6 or 7 my mom warned against going with strange men because they might "stick my penis in my behind". This was how I heard it. I never understood how that was even possible and imagined I was being warned about it since it would be extremely painful.
My first near miss came on a family Christmas driving trip to California in 1975. I was 13. We had done Disneyland and stuff in LA and were looping back north. We spent a couple days in San Francisco. One day we went to the Aquarium. I was taking my time absorbing the exhibits and had fallen behind my parents and sister. I was looking at some fish and a guy Phillipe came up to me and started talking to me. He was very knowledgeable about the fish. He offered to take me on a tour of San Francisco. I thought this was cool so I called for my parents (my good instinct amount general stupidity). They were just around the corner and came back. The end result Phillipe did give my whole family a tour of San Francisco. I guess once trapped he took the easiest way out. He wanted to correspond so he got my address. He wrote me a letter a month or so later requesting some recent pictures of myself. This seemed too creepy so it ended there.
In the summer of 1977 (I was 15) I went to Camp Saskcadet as a part of Air Cadets. It was a wilderness survival type camp. But it was the camp you went to when you couldn't get into any of the good camps or programs. Most of the good camps were at the Penhold Air Force Base in Penhold, AB. On top of being in a sucky camp, one of the weeks happened to cover the same week as my family was doing their annual trip to Crystal Lake. I didn't adjust very well. I was incredibly home sick and I guess I went frequently to the main office to complain and arrange calls with my parents (for the part of the trip they were still in Regina). The commander did what I thought was a comforting thing. He took me out on his boat for some boat rides. I liked it because it was like the lake. Then one of the rides he stopped the boat in the middle of the lake. He suggested it was a good place to go skinny dipping. So we did. I actually got in the water before the whole thing just creeped me out so I went back into the boat (my good instinct amoung general stupidity). That was the last time we did a boat ride. Next time I went to the office he told me to quit whining and man up. Which is ironically what I did. I wouldn't say I enjoyed the camp but I survived it (ironic for a survival camp).
Looking back I can't believe I was so naive and trusting. Each of these could have turned out differently. I also always wondered how I coud be so attractive to creeps and losers yet be completely ignored by teenage girls (until 1979 that is). Seemed weird to me.
My first near miss came on a family Christmas driving trip to California in 1975. I was 13. We had done Disneyland and stuff in LA and were looping back north. We spent a couple days in San Francisco. One day we went to the Aquarium. I was taking my time absorbing the exhibits and had fallen behind my parents and sister. I was looking at some fish and a guy Phillipe came up to me and started talking to me. He was very knowledgeable about the fish. He offered to take me on a tour of San Francisco. I thought this was cool so I called for my parents (my good instinct amount general stupidity). They were just around the corner and came back. The end result Phillipe did give my whole family a tour of San Francisco. I guess once trapped he took the easiest way out. He wanted to correspond so he got my address. He wrote me a letter a month or so later requesting some recent pictures of myself. This seemed too creepy so it ended there.
In the summer of 1977 (I was 15) I went to Camp Saskcadet as a part of Air Cadets. It was a wilderness survival type camp. But it was the camp you went to when you couldn't get into any of the good camps or programs. Most of the good camps were at the Penhold Air Force Base in Penhold, AB. On top of being in a sucky camp, one of the weeks happened to cover the same week as my family was doing their annual trip to Crystal Lake. I didn't adjust very well. I was incredibly home sick and I guess I went frequently to the main office to complain and arrange calls with my parents (for the part of the trip they were still in Regina). The commander did what I thought was a comforting thing. He took me out on his boat for some boat rides. I liked it because it was like the lake. Then one of the rides he stopped the boat in the middle of the lake. He suggested it was a good place to go skinny dipping. So we did. I actually got in the water before the whole thing just creeped me out so I went back into the boat (my good instinct amoung general stupidity). That was the last time we did a boat ride. Next time I went to the office he told me to quit whining and man up. Which is ironically what I did. I wouldn't say I enjoyed the camp but I survived it (ironic for a survival camp).
Looking back I can't believe I was so naive and trusting. Each of these could have turned out differently. I also always wondered how I coud be so attractive to creeps and losers yet be completely ignored by teenage girls (until 1979 that is). Seemed weird to me.
Dude WTF? You had shit like this happen 3 different times? A big difference in the severity of all of them but still, shit man.
The aquarium thing is weird. You're clearly right about what he was going for. Really weird he wound up doing the tour though. He was that committed to being a degenerate that he went through with all of that for the chance to write to you later on. That's gross.
And the skinny dipping is wild. how would he not get caught doing that shit even in the middle of an empty lake if it was at a camp with a bunch of kids and adults?
This all makes me think of a story I recently pieced together. It's actually a happy memory but my mom was worried. I'll post about it in Koopland.
Also I really want to make the joke that with all those incidents you must have been a super hot early teen......is that inappropriate?
Except for all those Northern Lights pool girls but you just didn't make the move......I can certainly relate, I missed so many clear opportunities at that age cause if a girl didn't come up and kiss me or say I want you I rarely made the first move.
Turns out that story I was thinking about I already posted:
So these people are both dead and they had no kids....I'm not doing any weird privacy thing by posting this picture. This is Ellen and Peter. Ellen was my mom's great friend and Peter was her husband and they wound up moving onto my childhood street.
So I told you guys I was looking through pictures to try to find a clue to the safe combination and I came across this picture.
It made me think for the first time ever that Peter was the early '90s me. Peter, was a giant child just like I am at 41 right now.
He was the coolest adult growing up because he was right on my street and I could always run over to Ellen and Peter's house and Peter would have some sort of like mission that we would go on. One time when he literally drew out a treasure map and buried old metal boxes of treasure around the street and we went and dug them up together. And even if he didn't want to go on a mission, he was a woodworker so I could just go in his shop and he would show me how to use band and circular saws and and stuff.
He was just a big kid. I tell Pam all the time how much I'm looking forward to playing Barbies with her girls and that's not a lie. You know I'd rather be playing like Ninja Turtles, but if it's got to be Barbies I can have a shit ton of fun playing Barbies. I've already looked into space Barbies. There's a whole line of them.
Anyway, it reminded me of something...... At one point I remember my mom talking to me while it was just she and I in the living room or whatever and she asked me, "Does Peter ever try to touch you" or some kind of question like that?
And of course I was like "No Mom gross. Why are you asking that? Stop being weird."
But I kind of do get it. Like you know Peter was just a big fucking kid who would have a shit ton of fun playing with like a 10-year-old. So my mom was just being a good mom.
That memory made me laugh about how ridiculous it was cuz Peter was awesome and it also made me think about how my mom was pretty cool looking out for me.
I've had similar incidents. I'll get around to telling those stories at some point. Don't have time for big posts right now.
So today we started cleaning out my wife's office. It was also her living quarters for most of the time she became incapacitated. For reasons I won't get into it worked out best that we generally were separate sleepers during this time. At any rate, today we started working through the stuff in the office. My daughter came to help and drive the whole process. It was tough but we got through it and it was a good experience. We laughed, cryed as we went through stuff. We had 5 bags of donation stuff 2 big loads or recycling, one load of trash and 5 bags of stuff and one piece of furniture that went back with my daughter. We only covered one small part of the room. This was the first step. Most of the stuff in the room was pretty much exactly how it was left when my wife passed. We will do another day in August.
That's cool man. Shit like that sucks but it can also be somewhat cathartic when you're with family. I had a similar situation when we cleaned out my dad's apartment with my two aunts and my uncle.
Did you find anything that you forgot about or were unaware was in the room?
Yeah if I were married to you I'd be a separate sleeper as well. Hahahahah sorry. I obviously left off the "during this time" to punctuate my joke.
Did you find anything that you forgot about or were unaware was in the room?
Yeah if I were married to you I'd be a separate sleeper as well. Hahahahah sorry. I obviously left off the "during this time" to punctuate my joke.