Lougheed

Facebook is life changing

Facebook is really insane. I've had several "holy shit" moments with people from the distant past contacting me.  Some with new last names, surrounded by young children, some successful, others less so. 

Facebook is simple technology that could have existed 10 years ago.  The most important feature isn't the tecnology at all - it's the massive user base which was made possible by the popularity of the internet.  The utility of the application is increased by the number of users who contribute content to the site.  Web 2.0 is so different from the early years - it's still all about content and experience, but user contribution now largely defines the content and experience.  That simply wasn't possible with newspapers, radio, or television and that's pretty damned cool.

Chappelle's Show

My buddy Craig called me up with 3rd row tickets for Dave Chappelle at Massey Hall.  He was hilarious.  He has that amazing timing and delivery that make him a legend at 34.  We had an awesome time and laughed until our faces hurt.

Hockey, beer, and guitar

We took my brother to see a Toronto Marlie game on Friday night at the Ricoh. The seats weren't great but we drank beer, Kyla caught a t-shirt, and we screamed and had fun. Afterwards Marc came by and we played guitar and sang for a while. All kinds of songs I haven't played in ages somehow came back: Neil Young's "Old Man", Led Zeppelin's "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You" - we had fun and stayed up late.

Kingston farewell...and hello again.

I recently took a trip to Kingston Ontario for Leadership courses at Queen's. The program was truly amazing - very well-planned, well-staffed, and totally relevent.

I took a walk through the student ghetto (or "student village" as the PC police have tried to rebrand it) and was amazed. It was in the exact same state of disrepair as when I had left it over 10 years ago. It brought back so many memories and ghosts of students I knew walking to class on Tuesday and running blind drunk on Saturday. I loved my time there but am much happier now than I've ever been.

Angelo

I saw my old friend Angelo tonight.  Angelo and I met in the late 1980s.  My family moved to Richmond Hill and he was the guy at the party with a broken arm.  He's a Greek gentleman who was born here and loves Canada.  I hadn't seen Angelo in almost a decade when I invited him to my wedding.

Angelo is a chef now and has a condo at Yonge and Finch.  We went out on his massive balcony to admire the magnificent view of the snow-covered rooftops of Willowdale, where I grew up.  He told me the best time to be out there is on Victoria Day, because he can see the fireworks going off all the way up north at Richmond Green and then turn his head south towards the lake to see them at Ontario Place.  I don't see Ang as much as I'd like to but here we are at the SkyDome hotel on New Year's Eve, 1989.  Alice Cooper was playing the SkyDome that night.  We didn't attend the concert but we had one of the best times of our lives.

Kitsch from the past

My grandfather is 86. He has started to give me the most amazing little trinkets. On our most recent visit to the track (my grandparents live for Vegas) he presented me with a small box of coins, ribbons, and what appears to be a medal from 1918. I'll post all of them as I scan them but this one is pretty good. My grandpa has no idea who Fred Kitchen is, which of course makes it that much better.

Worst, I mean, first post EVER

Hello world!