This weekend was supposed to be a thunderstorm weekend and while it threatened a number of times, it turned out to be an amazing weekend. My friend Mark was here from Toronto for a wedding and we got out for an 80k ride in Gatineau park. I really need to bring a camera as my cell phone takes crappy photos.

A great ride on a great day, although I need to bake some power bars. I was starting to bonk part way up and feeling kind of shakey-legged once we got back. A pint of Great Lakes beer set me right though. Best way to replace the electrolytes.

The weekend before my friend Kelly was out for the Blues Festival. And the rain. We saw some great acts and did some touristy things while she was here.

It's funny that I spend more time with people coming out from Toronto than I do people I've met in Ottawa. I really need to get on that.

My first day out to the Ottawa Parkway (http://tinyurl.com/yp3n2c) and spent a couple of hours ripping around on the recumbent. Then back for a lumberjack breakfast at Kristys (the local family food place), bland food, but hugely filling. Then hung out in the back yard building a wheel and drinking gin and tonic. A nice way to spend the afternoon.

I've been trying to sell my recumbent for some time. However, I'm a little discouraged after the likes of Mr. Willy and Professor Philip have been the only respondents. Both of which, of course, offered to send me a certified cheque to cover the cost of the bicycle and shipping. Bleah.

However, I was unable to resist the allure of this piece of wonder which is now my new cyclocross bike. I've been looking forever for a classic cross bike in 58-60 cm and this it.

I accidentally wandered into the MEC sale, with various community folks selling stuff. I decided to check out the one bike table and - scoop - set of Fiamme tubular rims on Campagnolo Record hubs, a set of BMX wheels with freewheel, three cogs: Dia-compe and Dura ace, and a funky red wool cycling cap for $100 bones. Very nicely done :-)

I live close to the Carlingwood Mall, which is a bit of a blue-rinse hang out. There's quite a few seniors buildings near by and the locals like to hang out around Tim Hortons for a gab. Which is fine, better that than out driving their heniously huge cars or smoking opium.

But today, as I was putting my Dad's birthday present in the mail, two songs were playing on the intercom that gave me pause. The first was the Scorpion's Rock you like a hurricane. Now I'd expect that in Ottawa, a song released in 1984 playing on mall intercom. But not this particular song. What the locals make of the lyric "Give her inches and feed her well", I'm not sure. The second song was Bad motorscooter by Montrose. Now you may not know much about [Ronnie] Montrose's band, a bit of a one hit wonder with a self-titled album in the mid 70's. You probably are more familiar with the lead singers' name, Sammy Hagar.

In any case, not something I'd be expecting on a Saturday at the mall. I was never a huge Scorpion's fan, but hearing Montrose was a nice treat.

A new wine I've just tried is the Pierre LaPlace 2005 Madiran. Madiran's are made with Tannat grapes, topped up with Cab Franc or Cab Sauginon. Typically really tannic wines, this one is really nice after you let it breath a little. Nose is a bit of black cherry with some plum and you get a real sense of the tannins that are coming your way. Flavour is strongly tannic, but not overpowering. So that means it'll taste quite dry with the flavour of black cherry, currants, overtop of a bit of plum without being bitter. It's got some legs with the tannins dominating but you still get a sense of cherry skins. Very nice for $14.95 at the LCBO. I bought half a case while I was there.

Now that I have a job again, I can start replenishing my wine supply. Sandra and I drank my 2002 High Trellis (an amazing Grenache) a couple of weeks ago, but apart from plonk, I haven't bought much of late.

Speaking of plonk, you may already know about the Argentine Fuzion (Shiraz/Malbec) in the LCBO right now. At $7.45 a bottle, its a great value. Another great value (and a tastier wine IMO) is the Nero d'Avola Enzo di Sette Rue . Very nice for $12.95.

Anyway, one thing I don't have in my new apartment is a decent wine storage place. I decided to stick one in a closet. A convenient sale and a gift card from Christmas for Canadian Tire, and I had a new wine rack.

After reading some reviews on the Canadian Tire website, I decided to buy some #6 1 1/2" screws to replace the nails provided in this kit.

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If I'm going to keep this site (and the domain name is almost up for grabs) I should really put some posts up here on a relatively regular basis.

Work is going well. I'm pretty much responsible for the respiratory/enteric and vaccine preventable disease portfolio at work, in addition to anything else that pops up.

Ottawa is still gripped by a transit strike, which does not affect me much as I'm still biking everywhere. It's actually kind of nice not to have buses blowing by me, but as we approach day 40, it's getting a bit much. Ottawa being a fairly right wing town, most of the moaning I've heard is about the union and how they should be grateful to have jobs, blah blah blah. Working in a unionized environment and having a fairly sweet deal myself, I don't feel in a position to criticize.

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