It was another busy weekend. Here's my re-cap update!
Friday PM:
I had planned to pick up Ryan and Claire at the Kilgour Estates early after work because Gary got free tix work to the Argos - Als game at the Rogers Centre (with a 7:30 PM start time). However Claire had a school friend over visiting her until 6 PM. When I did get around to departing, I found the entry / exit door to the garage broken (could not lift). Service men were working to repair it but in the meantime I found my exit route was blocked. So we had to regroup and improvise. I called up to Kilgour and instructed Ryan and Claire to catch the TTC down. I met them at King Station. We then proceeded over to the RC from there.
The Argos tix came courtesy of the CAW (the union at Gary's employer -- Bombardier at Downsview) who have some sponsorship arrangement. The CAW issue vouchers have to be redeemed at a designated booth located near Gate 5/6 to obtain tickets. Last time we went to a game (versus the Eskimos) we arrived earlier and scored excellent seats (near the 20 yard line). This time (thanks to the garage door snag) we were later and not as fortunate in our seat selection. We ended up down near the 5 year line at the Jumbotron end of the stadium. We just managed to get in the gate before the rain started to pour down! Thank heavens for the retractable roof!
The field had been completely reconfigured from the NFL regulation playfield they had set up for the Bills exhibition the day before to a CFL regulation playfield. (The NFL playing field is shorter and narrower.)
The Argos' game performance was pitiful. They were clearly outplayed offensively by Anthony Calvillo and the Als. The Argos could muster little on offence under either QB (Kerry Joseph or Michael Bishop) who split the playtime. In what not nearly as entertaining a game as the Eskies game we saw a few weeks back. In fact, the most exciting elements of the stadium experience were the audience participation game show elements including Name that Tune, Deal or No Deal (featuring Rona tool boxes in place of suitcases), Power of 13 (guess the attendance (it was close to 30,000) figure within a 13,000 red-zone range) , the armchair QB football target toss (if you win, you get to keep the armchair!) and the unitours package holiday giveaway (where a blind-folded contest was directed to a midfield target (by fan noise) to claim the prize). Unlike the Argos, no audience participant went away a loser on the night!
We wound up leaving early (after the third quarter) with the Argos down by a score of 28 to 11. I believe the Als and boatmen traded field goals after we left, so we didn't miss much. We got home in time to see Michael Phelps win his 8th gold medal of the games live.
Saturday:
AM: We went out for breakfast at Frans (corner of Shuter and Victoria Sts) and then shopping to the EC. We wound up at Sears' Super Saturday around 9 to purchase some clothing items for our upcoming cruise (less than a week away now). Ryan & I purchased shorts and tees while Claire got a few tees. There were some great deals since the remaining Summer apparel is at close-out prices now (tho the selection was thin)! We also went to Bluenotes where Claire found a back to school hoodie. (Her school requires a uniform but they get "civies days" occasionally.) The total toll was around $150... not bad!
Following shopping, it was back over to Dekla in the Liberty Market village to review the redesigned Scovolini kitchen that Boris had worked on for us there. We were very pleased with his design (version #12) tho the price quotation was still toward the high end of our budgeted range. He committed to speak to his manager and try to get it down to a "best price".
PM: Ryan had to get up to Finch station to hitch a ride to a video taping session he had to attend on behalf of Kumon, where he has been attending after school math study session since he was in grade 5 (and now also works as a part-time instructor). Kumon were filming footage for inclusion in a documentary featuring Kumon students from around the world. Ryan was selected by the operator-head instructor at the franchiser location he attends (at Middlefield and McNiccol) to be one of the students interviewed for Canada. Ryan was give a $50 Indigos/Chapters book token for his efforts.
Shortly after Ryan's return from his video interview session, and following a light supper, we headed out to attend a screening of the movie The Dark Knight in the IMAX theatre at the Scotiabank (formerly Paramount) theatre at Richmond and John St. We caught the King streetcar there. This was the fifth weekend of release for the movie and the first time all of us had seen it. We arrived (what we considered) early so did a bit of shopping at Indigos. Claire bought the new Mylie Cyrus CD and the first book in author Stephenie Meyer's bestselling Twilight saga for teens. When we did get to the theatre (I had pre-ordered tix online and printed them at home) we were surprised to see how long the line formed was outside the IMAX auditorium! In any case we were still able to claim good seats at the centre.
The Dark Knight is by far the most realistic and darkest of all the big screen Batman movies. Heath Ledger's final role as The Joker is extremely creepy. I came away feeling very unsettled. There was a smattering of applause at the end. Unlike most Summer blockbusters, the movie does not over-rely on outlandish CGI special effects or stunt sequences. I was glad we paid the premium to see it in the big screen IMAX format.
After the game we returned home in time to watch Usain Bolt (Jamaican track athlete) win the 100 m dash gold at the Olympics, claiming the title as "fastest man alive"
Sunday
AM: The 10:30 mass at St Mikes Cathedral featured a special guest homily from a visiting priest from a parish in the Philippines, that was quite interesting. He was soliciting foreign mission fund donations to help educate seminarians studying for the priesthood in his homeland. Unfortunately, the cathedral has no AC in the Summer and Claire started feeling faint during the Eucharistic rite. I ended up taking her outside to get some fresh air. She rallied fine after that. I am hoping she isn't coming down with a bug (I was felling cold-flu symptoms last week and Gary is down with similar symptoms today) given our upcoming vacation plans. I am going to purchase out of country medical insurance coverage on line, just in case!
PM: We went "back to school" shopping at the Staples location at Parliament between Queen and Front. Claire needed a new back-pack in addition to the usual school supplies. On the way back from there, I made the mistake of stopping by the Sobeys (at Front / Princess) to pick up a few grocery items. I proceeded to the express check-out (8 items only) and wound up behind a woman who had at least 30 items in her basket (most of which were veggies that required weighing). The cashier was inexperienced at recognizing the items and her scale was malfunctioning so it took forever to check out... sooooo frustrating! Don't you just hate when that happens!
Overall, it was a hectic but entertaining weekend.
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