A few pictures from Montreal

Once every year or two a few of us try to make a weekend trip up to Montreal. A bit of a smaller group this time around, and definitely not as intense (thankfully!), and much more fun than usual!

Jeremy and Dharam, arriving in style.


First stop; obviously St. Hubert's.

Adam asked me once if there was any main advantage to the iphone over the blackberry. I give you this: St. Hubert's iphone app.


After some walking we went to beautiful Le Sainte-Elisabeth bar, with their 45 meter high ivy covered terrace...






There was a dude going around raising money for his wedding (or beers) by selling off lollipops. We all got one. Not all of us decided to put it in our hair.












We ended up staying there for a while...


Outside, glamour shots of the group!




ugh... those grins..

Dharam - lead singer and song writer; we're actually called Dharam and the jerks.
Jeremy - Bassist that scores all the groupies.
Kari - Vocals and tambourine; the only reason why anyone listens us.
Adam - Guitarist that has three solo records on the side and the only one actually making money.
Peter - No talent drummer who previously played for a garage band (in a garage) in Penetanguishene.


Wait! one last late addition to the band list!

Afterwards we decided to regroup at the hotel for a bit and look up a good place to eat dinner.




Kari helping Adam find a good place to eat on what's called 'the internet'.

Polish festival, plus a few randoms...

The Polish Festival on Roncesvalles. Jeremy and I hit the day party hard. Then we danced the night away (with a few more friends) at 317 Ronces; lucky no pictures of that.

Early indication? Thumbs up.


Donna and Chris hitting the pavement, shaking hands.






Which way is up?


Lunch. Only cheese pierogi here, but two types!






Parade.







Camera strap.




Ladies and Gentlemen, meet Tony Cauch, my banker and excellent friend! Fine job today, and everyday as part of the Ronces BA.




Ladies and Gentlemen, meet my mom!


Crawling down west.












Later, back at the festival...








The next day..


.. and maybe a few days later. Went to the Jay game with my cousin Jack. Tried the wings at the park; pretty good>.. preeety goood. Tried the dry rub and ones with a super sauce.. Louisiana something something?.. Although the dry rubs came highly recommended, the Louisiana's ones won me over.


Griffey


Jack


Ichiro


Back at home...

Sloan at the Dakota

Sloan will be playing a special benefit show at the Dakota Tavern (read: tiny) on October 19 with all proceeds going to War Child Canada – it may already be sold out by the time you read this, but tickets are/were available at Maple Music.

(via Adam and Chromewaves)

An Evening with Sloan, which will take place at The Dakota Tavern in Toronto onMonday, October 19, 2009. This very special night is part of Dakota Nights for War Child, a unique benefit concert series featuring intimate performances by celebrated artists, hosted by The Dakota Tavern and War Child Canada. Doors will open at 8:00 pm and the show will begin at 9:00 pm. All proceeds will support War Child Canada, a registered charity that provides humanitarian assistance to war-affected children in some of the most devastated regions of the world.

http://www.blog.peacemagazine.com/2009/10/09/war-child-canada-announces-an-intimate-night-of-music-with-canadian-recording-artist-sloan-dakota-nights-for-war-child-benefit-monday-october-19-2009/

I got two tickets today, so apparently some still available!

LCROSS tonight - water on the moon?

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/09/14/lcross-impact-site-picked/
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2006/04/10/lcross-to-impact-the-moon-look-for-water/

The idea is that over millions and billions of years, a lot of comets have hit the Moon. The water from these comets hits the surface and sublimates away… but if any settles at the bottoms of deep craters near the Moon’s poles, these permanently shadowed regions can act as a refrigerator, keeping the water from disappearing. It can stay there, locked up as ice, for a long, long time. Some estimates indicate there could be billions of tons of ice near the Moon’s south pole.

This water would make it a lot easier to place laboratories and colonies on the Moon; water is heavy and hard to transport via rockets, so finding some already there would save a huge amount of effort and, of course, cost. The problem is that the water was not directly detected, only hydrogen was. Confirming the existence of this water is a pretty big deal.



The choice of Cabeus A for the impact site is a good one. It’s near the south pole, it’s a likely spot for there to be ice under the surface, it’s on the near side of the Moon, so people back here on Earth can observe it, but close enough to the limb that any ejected water can be seen.

LCROSS is planned to impact the crater at 11:30 GMT on October 9, which is early morning for the U.S. (in fact, there will be two impacts; one from the spacecraft and another by the Centaur booster) The plume from the impact should stretch up many kilometers. It will almost certainly be too thin to be seen by amateur instruments, but the impact itself should make a bright enough flash to be seen if you have a telescope. The crater itself will be in shadow, making the light flash easier to spot. It’ll only last a second or two, so if you want to observe it, be prepared! NASA has a nice webpage with all the info you need to watch this historic event for yourself.

Buy your stunning LCROSS t-shirts here!