Mishandled?

Peaks thinks we should have thrown eggs at the BMW (or rocks) instead of requesting an apology. Please see his take on things below:


Dear Mrs & Mr Rice,

I would like to sincerely apologize for throwing eggs at your windows last week. I heard that you came to my house and tattled on me. My parents have threatened to take away my BMW, which really sucks because then I would have to use my sisters Land Rover for the remainder of the year. Just remember I know that you know who I am, and I know that you know I know where you live.

Signed,

Poorly Handled

P.S. Next time if you really want to get me, call SJR, as a concerned citizen in the neighbourhood tell them you saw my BMW cruising the streets throwing eggs at houses and vandalizing property. Seeing as they are truly responsible for me and not my parents I may actually receive some disciplinary action.

Youth Gone Wild (Sebastien Bach Style)

Yikes!

Has it really been THAT long since I've posted?

So much to update, so little time before bed.

So, I will stick with some highlights.

Last weekend, I had a wedding shower! Thrown by Ty's aunts, especially for me (2 of his mom's sisters -- Patty and Leslie, and her sister-in-law, Irene). It was really wonderful of them -- I can't tell you enough just how lovely Ty's family is. Now I know that everybody knows someone who is ultra-kind, ultra-lovely, ultra-all-around-GREAT, but let me tell you, these women would give that person you know a run for your money. I honestly cannot stress enough how welcoming and warm these women are.

Now -- as for the actual shower part -- I have to tell you, it is entirely weird to have all that attention well, “showered” on you. I was extremely nervous. Like, "wow, are people noticing the sweat beads on my forehead" nervous. I kept thinking, am I opening this too slow (is everyone totally bored) or I am ripping through these too fast (is everyone thinking how absolutely rude I am). ANYWAY -- to say the least, I am now more prepared for what exactly goes on at a shower. (I should point out that no one "cleansed" me so as to prepare me for marriage. Damn -- maybe that's a special request you must put in beforehand?)

Hmmmm. Ok, get ready for this. Our house got egged. Yep, you read that right. We move into East Charleswood and our house gets egged. Go figure. We did, however, manage to catch the little shits that did it. We got the license plate of their car (a black BMW) and we went to their house. And – that’s when things went a little sideways. First off, no one lives in their ridiculously huge house during the week because they live in Vancouver. Secondly, the BMW does not belong to either parent, but rather it belongs to the 16 YEAR OLD son. Are you kidding me? Really? Your 16 year old drives a beamer? How incredibly, incredibly annoying of you. Anyway, the kid doesn’t live there during the week, because he is a boarder at St. John’s Ravenscourt. He only goes home on the weekends.

So, good old mom reveals to us, immediately after we tell her that her son egged our house – twice – that her “son is a good kid, it was probably one of his friends that made him do it”. To this I say -- obviously. What kid who has such incredibly supportive parents (I mean, only the supportive kind buy BMWs for their 16 year olds) would throw eggs at the new peeps on the block?

I requested an in-person apology. I will most certainly be back on her doorstep if I do not get one by the end of this week.

Heading to Calgary this weekend...cannot wait! I am more than excited (overjoyed, even) to see everyone!

And as an administrative note – as soon as I find my camera cord, I will post pictures. I have SO many good ones to put up.

And one tiny little last comment. I LOVED Oryx & Crake. What a spectac read. And I can already tell I am going to love The Robber Bride. Should I invite Ms. Atwood to the event of the summer??

Bohdi! This is your wakeup call I AM AN F... B... I AGENT!

Thanks for the suggestions! Much appreciated. A Bill Bryson book it will be.

So is it really only Tuesday today? Really? Then why oh why do I feel in desperate need of a weekend?

By way of a quick update -- Ty and I hosted an engagement party at our house on Friday. Very fun. I am getting to be terribly bad at taking pictures and thus have absolutely nothing to post from the party. Consider this my May 1 resolution -- more pictures, please. And on that note, I was looking through some pictures on my camera and came across some very, very entertaining pictures. How about the after-party in our hotel room in Banff after Winterstart? Yes ladies, I certainly am talking about THOSE pictures. Way too funny. I question why we ever felt the need to photo-document the night. And yet I can't erase them.

I read/heard (I truthfully can't remember if I read this or heard it and I don't have even the slightest clue where it came from -- if I am inadvertently quoting the Hills, which I may very well be doing, please shoot me. Fast.) something that made me give pause the other day. I am completely paraphrasing, so many apologies to the source, but it was something to the effect of how it's good to be good at what you do, but when you are good at something, you question it less and never feel the need to change. Now, no one could ever accuse me of being good at what I do, but I kinda like what they are saying. Or maybe it's just because it doesn't make me feel bad about desperately wishing I could re-choose my profession?

And one last one before I retire for the night. I am fairly annoyed at Hillary Clinton for challenging Barack to a debate without a moderator. I don't blame him for turning it down. The whole thing just seems so....contrived. Hillary is totally my girl, but man Hill, re-think those stunts you have been pulling lately. And I am not choosing the word stunt lightly.

Oh wait -- ONE last thought. Georges Laraque is my new favourite player after reading the article reproduced below (and scoring tonight, too). Ellis, I realize he's not a huge points guy, but I think we need him in our pool next year regardless. Just for the good guy factor.

Here's the article:

"My nephew [Jordon] was a victim of muscular dystrophy and was in the last stages of this mindnumbing disease. On Friday, after much deliberation, he decided to go off the ventilator and go along with whatever happened ... The doctors said it was just a matter of time."

NEW YORK -- The kid was 19, and he only had a few hours left. Maybe another night.
Georges Laraque had just checked into a hotel in Calgary. Hadn't even unzipped his bag when a secretary of a friend called his cellphone. Everybody gets Georges' cell number.
"She asked me if I could come to Edmonton," he said. "There was this kid who was going to die. He had a couple hours to live, they thought, and his last wish was to see me."
Laraque was playing for the Edmonton Oilers at the time. He checked out, got in his truck, and made the two-hour, forty-five minute drive back to Edmonton "in an hour and 45 minutes."
"I was driving sometimes on the shoulder. I knew I wasn't going to get a ticket, because of the reason I was going back for. Karma, you know?"
There isn't a story that better sums up Laraque, the best heavyweight in the National Hockey League who has been driven to distraction simply trying to make people happy. Other players show up late for that hospital visit, or need to be asked and reminded numerous times to commit to a school read-in? Laraque has done his best to fit the games in while answering every single request through his nine-year career.
Why?
"'Cause I love it," the 31-year-old Laraque says. "One of the purest things to do in life is to give back. I am Catholic, a Christian. The best thing to do to pay God back for giving me a chance to play in the NHL is to give back to the community.
"[An NHL heavyweight] is not what I am when I'm off the ice. I'm a nice person. I laugh all the time. When I retire, I don't want to be remembered as a fighter, as a goon. What's more important? Winning a Cup? Beating up guys? Or being there, trying to make a difference?"
"Now, Jordon has always been a great fan of hockey. To make a long story short, on Friday the Oilers found out about Jordon's plight. Somehow and with no notice, Georges Laraque came up from Calgary and visited Jordon at the University Hospital in the ICU ... He chatted with Jordon and even apologized that he had been so rushed to get to the hospital he didn't have time to pick up some hockey souvenirs for Jordon."
On April 17, the day after the Penguins had eliminated the Senators in Ottawa, Laraque told his cousin that he had an idea.
There was this school, an hour from Pittsburgh. A few weeks earlier they had sent him a Flat Stanley - a little character made by students that is mailed out along with a disposable camera and a journal. The hope is that the recipient will mail back the character, the cameras, and the journal, and the kids can see what adventures their little figure had experienced.
That afternoon, 21 fifth-graders in Ms. Marmol's class at Hatfield Elementary looked up to see Laraque standing in their classroom doorway. He had the camera, full of shots of Stanley with various Penguins. The journal was filled out.
"People say, ‘It's too much.' Well, what's too much?" Laraque asks. "People come from all over the place to watch our games. Why can't we go there?"
Laraque has kept his home in Edmonton, and every Halloween makes sure the house is decorated, and friends are there to hand out candy. He returned after his first season in Pittsburgh last summer armed with a handful of signed Sidney Crosby jerseys, then walked into the local sports station and said, "Let's give these away." Then he drove the jerseys out to the winners' homes, or at worst, met them at a Tim Hortons nearby.
"Now I run into people," says radio host Bob Stauffer, whose show Laraque frequents, "and they say, ‘Hey, you're the guy who's on Georges' show all the time.'"
As a player, Laraque has found the perfect home in Pittsburgh. He is only getting six-and-a-half minutes of ice time per playoff game, but he's playing. Last year coach Michel Therrien didn't like Laraque's fitness when he came from Phoenix at the trade deadline, and would not play him on the road in the post-season.
"I know Georges really well. I coached Georges when he was 19 years old. We won a Memorial Cup together," Therrien said yesterday. "Now, he's in great shape. He's an enforcer - he's there to make sure we earn some respect - but he can play. He's good at cycling the puck, and really tough to contain when he has the puck down low. He's a totally different player than he was last year."
Still, Laraque is like every other heavyweight: he would far rather be a skill player. In fact, he really doesn't like to fight at all.
"It's not my personality. It's my job," he says. "I don't get all revved up to fight. I'm calm. I wish the guy good luck, and I hope that he's OK after the fight. I know they have lives, they have kids and lives after hockey. I don't want to hurt anyone."
As the conversation turns to hockey, Laraque's interest wanes a bit. He'd rather talk about what a hockey player can do away from the rink.
"Look at the life we're living? Look at the world, what's going on?" he says. "If you make a lot of money, and you give a lot to charity, that's the easiest thing to do. You should go there, to the people. Spend time. Guys say, ‘Oh yeah, I give a lot to charity.' Who cares about that?"
"Georges might never know how much that visit meant to Jordon and his parents. Jordon, who was 19, died on Monday."
"When you give someone a moral boost like that, sometimes you give them the will to live. The boost he got made him so happy, they said he lived another few days because of that," Laraque said.
"The fact I have the power to do this? I do as much as I can."

Books suggestions, stat!

Am running low on reading material -- anybody have any good suggestions for what I should dig into next? I am likely placing an order with Amazon later this week, so if you have anything in mind, please let me know sooner than later. Thanks in advance!

I heart Boston. Big Time.

I am ridiculously in love with Boston. It is simply one of the most beautiful cities that I have ever been in. I flew in on Friday night, home late last night. A quick trip to watch my sister rock the marathon, and then back to business. A few notes:

- Andrea ran a 3.26. (see below for a video of Andrea and my mother's hand)
- We stayed in Cambridge, at a hotel right next to M.I.T. It was embarrassing because the recruiting people from M.I.T. would NOT leave us alone. They just kept saying – “please, come and solve this math equation for us”. FYI M.I.T. nerds, I am so above where you are, we talk in different languages. I solve equations you don’t know exist.
- Lance ran the marathon with a posse. And when I say posse, I mean he ran with 4 people around him at all times. Come now. Necessary? I think not. Take a seat, Lance.
- Went to the marathon after-party (because I totally deserved to go…watching those runners was hard work). Note: if you ever need to feel “cool”; go to a marathon after-party. Although they have lots of fun, marathoners are not exactly super cool. There were a few people randomly having “Westhawks” around the bar; will post-pictures after. For those of you who don’t know the lingo: a Westhawk = a nap taken in the middle of a party.
- We toured Harvard; went on a tour of Fenway Park; hung out in Boston Common and in the Public Garden; watched the hockey game at Cheers. Loved it all. Will post some pics when I get home because I know most of you prefer pictures to words. And that’s OK.
AND – this is being put in writing so you can appreciate that it is big news that I am going to be forced to live up to.
I want to run the Boston Marathon. I. Want. To. Run!

The Earl, please

I just want everyone to know that I realize how ridiculous it is that I love Starbucks. Apart from the philosophical and the moral stuff that I may be ruthlessly ignoring, the crux of the matter is this: I drink tea. Earl Grey tea. So, why is tea from Starbucks any different from tea at Second Cup, or TH's? It's not. And yet it just somehow is.

And I think it's OK to like something just because.

That's all.

Ok, must vent.

Post was edited for niceness by a contrite Ainsley.



On a more pleasant subject, hockey playoffs and the Masters have both begun, events which I enjoy reading about and watching (highlights) of. Yes, I’m a band-wagon jumper, as I don’t really follow hockey through the year, or golf. But I say that without shame – I mean, really, where’s the harm? Myself and Ellis have entered into another hockey pool as Amainsley, and we are totally going to dominate this year, if I do say so myself. On a more philosophical note, why aren’t we called Ainsanda? Think about that one, friends, and get back to me. We have Anaheim facing off against Pittsburgh in the finals. Oh, and we have Iginla. Can you guess who made that call?

Also, I would like to note that I received a blog comment! Yesssss. Super pumped about my first comment. These are the moments we must savour. Everybody else, it’s very easy – you can even heckle me… you don’t even have to create an account, if you don’t want to.

And lastly, before I bid everyone a good weekend, I would like to note that I have added this to my email signature: Please think green before printing this email. I think you guys should as well. See how tricky I am? The font is green. Please note that I wrote that with much glee.

And with that floating in your brians, have a great one. I will think of you all frolicking in the sun as I spend 2 straight days in collaborative law training.