Another Stampede Run?

Posted on July 14, 2012 by kdarcy21

Today has been a good and bad day.

Started out with a buffet breakfast at Smitty’s with BP & SH – awesome food there and one of the best breakfast buffets that I have had recently.  We then went to the Cross Roads Market and did a tour there and then dropped by a Jeep show for a bit.

Speaking of Jeeps, mine isn’t too healthy at the moment.  It is going in first thing Monday morning.  The engine is knocking quite a lot.  A few people at the Jeep show have suggested a couple of things – guess we will see on Monday.  I will have to clean it up tomorrow for sure.  It is quite dirty.  Anyway, I am within the power train warranty so it shouldn’t cost me anything.

This does however screw up plans to go to Montana and Lethbridge tomorrow – I am not driving the Jeep anywhere right now.    A round trip is about 40 km or so and I really don’t want to be doing that at the moment.

So, tonight we are supposed to hit Stampede again and catch some of the fireworks – should be a good time.  Going to txt SH after dinner which consists of Knock your Socks Off Chicken.  BP should enjoy, as long as he doesn’t catch fire.

Posted in Personal, Vehicles | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

A Friday to relax

Posted on July 13, 2012 by kdarcy21

Today was pretty well a day to relax.  Started out with breakfast at Smitty’s – not bad at all, a little pricey, but good. Both BP and I had naps after breakfast.  I woke up again at 10:30, lazy boy slept until noon.

We were going to go to Canada Olympic Park in the afternoon to try the zip line and bobsled, but instead we just took it easy.  Again, I had a nap.  I love napping while I am off – one of the best things to do on a day off.  The dogs can always be tempted into napping as well.

Tonight we drove to Marble Slab for an ice cream – so good and about 1/2 of the price of the one in St. Catharines too.

Tomorrow, weather permitting, we are heading back to the Stampede.  We are starting the day going for a buffet breakfast followed by a tour of the Crossroads Market.

BP heads back to Ontario on Monday and I head back to work.  My week off has flown by – only two more days.

Enjoy your weekend.

 

Posted in Personal, Zeus, Blondie, Hera and Twix | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Protected: BPs First Off-Road Adventure

Posted on July 13, 2012 by kdarcy21

This content is password-protected. To view it, please enter the password below.

Posted in Vehicles, Zeus, Blondie, Hera and Twix | Tagged , , | Enter your password to view comments.

Calgary Stampede

Posted on July 12, 2012 by kdarcy21

BP and I hit the Calgary Stampede yesterday in the afternoon and again in the evening.  I will say, it was much better in the evening than it was during the day.  It wasn’t as hot so the crowds don’t get to me.  I wasn’t as crowded either which is always good.

I don’t have any tickets for any of the rodeo events which is too bad.  They sold out VERY quickly this year which isn’t too much of a surprise seeing as it is the 100th Anniversary of the Stampede.  I am going back on Saturday, a friend from work has VIP passes.  I am not sure if the VIP passes include any of the events but if they do, that will be VERY cool as it will be the championship round.

The midway and what not are quite large at Stampede.  Great food as well, but, I am really not too sure what else there is to do there – I guess I should pick up a guide…

Today, we are heading to Maclean Creek to have a BBQ.  No plans for the morning, it is nice just to relax and take it easy – doesn’t always have to be go, go, go…

Posted in Personal, Vehicles, Zeus, Blondie, Hera and Twix | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Canada Olympic Park

Posted on July 11, 2012 by kdarcy21

BP and I visited COP yesterday morning.  We went to the top of the ski jump tower and watching some of the zip-liners do their thing.  Looked pretty cool for sure.  I would have tried it myself, but we are going to go back on Saturday morning I think and do it then, as well as the bob sled.  Should be awesome.

They have what looks like a pretty cool summer camp for kids at COP.  There were hundreds of mountain bikers going EVERYWHERE.  The ski lift that we also did was very cool.  There were racks for the mountain bikes – a convenient way to climb the hill for sure.  Before I saw the racks on the chair lift, I was wondering how the kids got their bikes to the top of the course.  I would not want to walk up the hill, never mind walk up the hill pushing a bike and I would never consider riding my bike up the hill…  Quite an insane idea.

The course looked challenging.  I am sure it would be fun, you’d have to be careful of course, but it looked awesome.

We had a relaxing afternoon and then watched the MLB All-Star game at Boston Pizza.  It wasn’t much of a game really – ended (effectively) in the top of the first inning when the National League scored 5 runs.  The AL pitching wasn’t good – at all.  Several bad plays by numerous players ensured that the Nationals were taking it.  Oh well – guess the AL didn’t want home field advantage for the play-offs – AGAIN.

Today, I think we are hitting Stampede.  I think it opens around 10am, not sure.  I guess I should check that out.

Posted in Personal | Leave a comment

The vacation continues…

Posted on July 10, 2012 by kdarcy21

BP arrived safe and sound yesterday.  His flight was late.  Three whole minutes.  Damn planes…  Parking at the airport was pretty reasonable.  I was there for about 45 minutes and it was just over $6 – not too bad really.

So, on BP’s day 1, we did some shopping at Sunridge Mall, he bought himself a cowboy hat.  We had lunch at Earls on 16 Avenue.  We took it easy yesterday afternoon, watched most of the home run hitting contest and had BBQ chicken for dinner.

I met up with my ex roommate last evening as well.  He’s been banned from the complex by the police – that’s a good thing.  He wanted to know if I would let him move back in – ummm, let me think about that.  No.  So, he’s going to arrange to get his stuff and I think that chapter will close.  He was sober and apologized for being an “ass”.  Well, you were more than an ass, but I accept.

BP hit bed early – the time difference plus the fact that he had been up since about 2am killed him – he crashed before 11pm.  Can’t say that I blame him.

Anyway, I think we are touring Canada Olympic Park today and perhaps the Spark Science Centre as well.  I would also like to go to the Calgary Tower.  We have to hit Stampede, I know we are going on Saturday with a co-worker from my work but I think we will hit it before then as well.  I would like to get an off-roading trip in somewhere, that will depend on my buddy being available to go out – off-roading alone isn’t a good idea.  We are planning on going to Edmonton and visiting the West Edmonton mall (Friday, I think) and Sunday we are heading to Montana and the on the way back stopping in Lethbridge to catch the Okotok Dawgs playing the Lethbridge team.  I also want to go back to Smitty’s for their breakfast buffet this weekend – AWESOME food.  Maybe I will see if SH wants to join us on Saturday.

So, all in all, it will be a busy week.

I was accepted as a Big Brother on Friday.  The Little Brother that they wanted to connect me with has already been matched so now the case-worker will find another match.  I am sure that will proceed next week or so.

Well, time to start my day – enjoy yours.

Posted in Personal | Leave a comment

Really, today is the start of my holidays…

Posted on July 9, 2012 by kdarcy21

I was off on Friday which was sort of the start of my holidays, but, the office was closed on Friday so we all had the day off.  Then there was the weekend and that really doesn’t count because I am almost always off on the weekend.  That leaves today, Monday, July 9 as the start of my holidays.

OK, now that that is settled, I can continue.

BP arrives in a few short hours – 3 hours or so actually.  I still have a LOT to do around the house before I leave to go and pick him up.  Knowing my laziness, I will get to 1/4 of the things that I wanted to get to.

  1. I have washed 1/2 of the dishes – glasses and pots/pans remain.  Not bad there.
  2. I need to assemble the 6 dining room chairs – hmmm…  I can’t see this one being done today.  They have remained, unassembled since I got here in April.  I do plan on getting to them though.
  3. Laundry.  Yeah, lots of laundry.  Plus, when the idiot broke the window, he also knocked over a basket of clean laundry so it needs to be done – again.
  4. Setup of the guest room – well, this one won’t take long and has to be done.

I am sure that there are other items on the list and I will get to them, eventually.  Hey, I purchased cereal and milk for BP for breakfast – that’s not too bad.

Anyway, back to my holidays.

We plan on going to the Stampede, of course.  Not sure when we are going, but we will go and likely twice at least.  We are planning on heading to Montana for the day, Friday I think.  We are going off-roading, not sure when.  Tonight is the home run contest and tomorrow is the All-Star game – I think we will catch the game tomorrow at Boston Pizza.

We may head to Edmonton at some point and hit the West Edmonton Mall – I have never been.  Not sure if BP has or not.

A trip to Banff may also be in order.  It is only about 2 hours away.

Well, here’s to vacation.  Have a good week.

Posted in Politics | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Calgary’s Finest

Posted on July 8, 2012 by kdarcy21

Last night (and early this morning) were interesting, that’s for sure.

My roommate (ex roommate now I suppose) likes to have a drink or two (or twelve) and he isn’t one of the nicest drunks in the world.  Before he moved in, he said something along the line of “oh, I have an occasional drink”.  Oh really?

Anyway, so last night he is fairly toasty.  Now I have been drunk on a few occasions, I will not deny it.  When I am drunk though, and I am sure people will attest, I am sillier than I normally am – if you can imagine that.  When FM is drunk, he becomes a tad too argumentative and hostile – those are not good qualities of a drunk.

So, I am playing a video game last night on my computer and FM asks me to drive him somewhere.  Well, I can’t because I have had a couple of drinks myself and I am not one to drink and drive – I guess, in looking back, that is what started the argument.

While going back downstairs, he trips over my fan that is in the doorway between the living room and kitchen.  He knocks a bunch of other crap over as well so I yell at him.  I really don’t like to be in the company of drunk people.  They of course think they are hilarious when drunk – the sober people of course think that they are idiots.  I am sure that people really didn’t want to hang around me back in my late teens and early 20s when I was pounding back a few.

So, our argument over the fact that I won’t drive him somewhere escalates and he at one point threatened me – I don’t exactly remember why.  At this point, I told him that I thought it was a good idea that he find another place to live.  Now comes the sob story that essentially, the whole world is against him and I am picking on him.

Over the next 1/2 hour or so, he threatens me, wants me to go outside, wants me to “go home”, this is “my town” (um, from what you have told me, you are from Winnipeg, Manitoba, so I don’t think Calgary is “your” town) and he takes 2 swings at me (I am able to duck under them) and pushes me, twice I fall – once I am not expecting it and the second time I trip over the Jeep roof in my kitchen (ok, that’s another story).

I told him that no, I am not going to fight him and I am not going to put up with him shoving me – I told him if he did it one more time that I would have to call the police.

He challenged me to call them saying “the police know all about me” and shoved me again.  OK, fine – grab the phone, dial 9-1-1.

Didn’t take long for the police to pick up, the dispatcher is getting the information, etc.  About 5 minutes later the police arrive and escort him, not arrest, to some sort of “detox” centre for him to sober up.

I am told that if he returns, I am to call the police again and he will be arrested.  OK, fair enough.

I decided to wait up for my second roommate – this one, HT is a normal person…

Around 11/11:30, there is a knock at the door.  Now, in the meantime, I have asked the building manager for the complex that I live in to see if she can find me new locks for the doors so my first thought is that it’s here.  Nope, FM has taken a cab back here – nice.

Anyway, with my other roomies assistance, we are able to shut the door and lock it – I also lock the windows.

I call the police as I have been told to do and this time, it takes MUCH longer for them to answer the call – now that is something I have not experienced when calling 9-1-1 in the past.

I explain that my roommate has tried to get back into the house after I have kicked him out and the police have taken him to “sober up” for the night.  She indicates that they are very busy tonight and that an officer will be there as soon as possible.  I am just about to hang up with her when I hear smashing glass in the basement.

After I tell her this, her tune changes and she informs me that the police are on their way, immediately.  FM has broken the window to the basement (where his room is) and I can hear him downstairs.

Six officers arrive in less than 2 minutes and in looking at the broken window, they say something like, “there is no way he climbed through there”.

Well, they go downstairs and sure enough, there he is.  Now, he’s escorted out, this time wearing cuffs and he’s under arrest – for forcible entry as far as I am aware.

I have to fill in a police report and finally hit bed around 2am.

So, he’s been kicked out – this is a good thing.  His crap is still here, that isn’t good.  I need to change the locks today and arrange for him to get his crap.  The police told me to call them to arrange to have them here when he picks up his stuff – very nice.

I am hoping that this saga will end and that he doesn’t carry on or something…

Guess we will see.  I can move to another property that this company owns without breaking my lease – that’s a good thing.  Might go that route, depending on what goes on in the next few weeks.

More updates to come, I am sure, but, if it’s all the same to you, I hope I don’t have to update this story and that it ends here.

Posted in Personal | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

It’s Saturday

Posted on July 7, 2012 by kdarcy21

It is only 8:45 and I have already been a busy boy.

I was up shortly before 6am, sort of sucks that I don’t sleep in, but I catch up in the winter.  Went to Wal-Mart or as Magoons likes to call it, Wally World.  Had to pick up some sheets for BP’s bed while he is staying in Calgary – also purchased him a pillow – what a nice friend I am, eh?

I have to mail DB’s birthday gift to him.  I am unsure if it will arrive by his birthday on the 11th or not but it’ll be close.  I have to hit the Sunridge Mall again (return something) and the bank and Cross Roads Market – shaping up to be a busy morning.

The Calgary Stampede will be in full swing now.  I may stop by at some point today, not sure.  Don’t really want to go by myself, but, I wouldn’t mind getting a feel for what is there before BP arrives on Monday.

Today is also the first day of my vacation – yesterday was Stampede Day so the office was closed.  The party out in Okotoks was great – good band, great food.  Very nice ranch with amazing views – I am surprised that she ever wants to come to Calgary to work.

Well, seeing as the bank opens in 15 minutes, as does the market, I guess I am off.  Enjoy your weekend.

Posted in Personal, Work | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A bad used car experience

Posted on July 6, 2012 by kdarcy21

I was reminded of this event that occurred just over a year ago.  I was thinking of purchasing a Jeep Wrangler Unlimited and I did an internet search for one.

I located one that was in the range of years that I was looking at with the appropriate mileage.

This email was received today from them:

===== THEIR EMAIL =====

Hello Kevin,

Did you know that since 2009, the number of car loans has increased by 88%? This is a staggering climb, and it is a reflection on the quality of services provided to used car shoppers. With more and more vendors competing for your business, dealerships such as Mark Wilson’s in Guelph have grown their credit departments to serve you better.

Wilson’s gathers all the best lenders in the industry and fights for YOU – because if we can get you a comfortable loan, you will buy one of our cars. Providing you with satisfaction is in our best interest!

We offer you:

  • A special low rate on approved credit
  • Good OR Bad Credit Financing (divorced, bankrupt, widowed, young consumer)
  • Over 450 Vehicles to Choose From Readily Available
  • Special Program for recent graduates: NO Co-Signer Required!

Fill out an Online Application to Get Started

 

Let us help you find the right vehicle & payment plan!

Sincerely,

Mark Wilson’s Better Used Cars

I laughed a little bit after reading that.  I have not heard from them in over a year, May 2011 to be more precise.  Here is my reply to their email:

===== REPLY =====

Hi there,

I have moved to Alberta so I would like to be removed from your mailing list.
If I was still in Ontario, I must say that from my first experience with you, I would never purchase a vehicle through your company.
A little over a year ago, I was searching for a Wrangler Unlimited.  I found one at your dealership.
I called and enquired about it – don’t remember now who I spoke with but this particular sales rep did not get back to me in 4 business days.
I called back and asked to speak with the Sales Manager and was put through.  I will admit that I was a bit sarcastic with him, which, in my opinion I had every right to be.  He was down right rude to me and threatened to hang up if I didn’t cut out my sarcasm.  Here’s a hint – if a customer is sarcastic, you put up with it – you’re in sales.
Anyway, I expressed my concern with the first sales person I spoke with and was assured that this is not the way that your company conducts business.  He called me back in an hour, as promised, and put me in touch with a finance guy.  He called me back, not the next day (as promised) but over a week later.
At this point, I had pretty well determined that I was not going to purchase this vehicle through you, but I gave him another chance.
After another 3 days of not hearing anything (after being promised a return call the next day), I purchased a vehicle elsewhere.
About a week later, I received a call from another manager or someone similar, I believe that his last name was Wilson.
I explained my issue(s) to him and he seemed sympathetic, but, since I had already purchased a 2009 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited, the exact vehicle that I was trying to purchase through you, I was no longer interested.
He asked me to send the exact email that I am sending tonight.  So, a year later, I received an email from you so I figured I would reply, expressing my concern.
So, to summarize:
First sales guy NEVER returned my call
When I called back and asked to speak with the Sales Manager, he was a complete moron with no concept of customer service – he at least started the ball rolling with the finance guy
The finance guy did not follow up with me as promised and eventually lost the sale
Over a week or ten days later, another follow-up – too little, too late
I understand that this may have been a series of bad happenings that would normally not occur – if they did, you would not be in business.  However, you lost my business a year ago and because of my experience, I would never give you the opportunity again.  I wouldn’t go out of my way to bad mouth you, but, if anyone ever asked me, I would relate this story.
The email address that you likely have on file that I would like removed is kdarcy21@gmail.com.
All the best – please treat your next customer better than you treated me.
Kevin D’Arcy
===== IN SUMMARY =====
I have nothing against them and I would not have made this entry had they not emailed me today.  I find it a little funny that they email me after a year though, very odd.
I took a quick look at their web site and don’t really recognize any of the names.
The really funny part is that my email to them bounced.  Apparently, info@markwilson.com (Or whatever it is) bounced back to me.  So, I guess they won’t see this.  Oh well.
Posted in Personal, Vehicles | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment