Seeing as we are rapidly approaching the 2nd most romantic day of the year Valentine’s Day (Groundhog’s Day being the first), ; I thought I would offer a bit more relationship advice for men.  We all know the basic paraphernalia of this time of year; flowers, chocolates, hearts, cards, lingerie and romantic dinners.  However, let us take a few minutes and explore how to put a new spin on these boring old tired and true classics.

First, flowers.  Instead of the boring and ordinary long stem roses, try something different; I suggest a Venus Flytrap.  I saw a movie where a guy fed his blood to one and it became intelligent.  Both you and your partner can feed your blood to it and you can say you’re feeding it with your love.  I’m sure wonderful things could happen if you feed a plant with love.

Chocolates: well we all know that eating a whole butt-load of refined sugar is really bad for you.  I would suggest that you give chocolates that have no sugar added; better yet give her some raw cocoa beans.  Sure they may be a little bitter, but tell she’s so sweet she doesn’t need sugar.

Hearts: I think the most romantic gesture you could possibly make to a loved one is to rip your own heart right out of your chest and present it, still beating, to her.  If you don’t quite love someone that much, the next best thing to do is present the heart of her greatest enemy to her (of course the greatest enemy of every female is time, but that’s a completely different story).

Cards: regular cards are not environmentally friendly and so we should all cease to give them out for any occasion.  One option is of course the e-card.  The other thing you could do is scratch your message on the side of her car or write it on the wall with a permanent marker; that way it will be a long-term reminder of how you feel.

Lingerie: as we all know giving a woman lingerie is really a gift for the man; although we try to persuade her that the idea is to make her feel sexy.  If you give it to her on Valentine’s Day it’s pretty much a guarantee that she will wear it once before it ends up at the back bottom corner of her underwear drawer.  The good news for the woman is that she won’t have to wear it for very long.

Romantic dinners: well guys, putting a candle on the table at Wendell’s or Burger Hut just isn’t going to be good enough nor is buying a supersized “sparkling white pop”.  You’re going to have to take her out to a real restaurant where they have table service and real wine (Mad-dog 2020 is also not going to cut it).  You’ll probably have to spend at least $20 on her.  Just keep in mind you only have to do this twice during the year (if you forget her birthday there will be big trouble).

If you just follow this simple advice you will both have a “happy ending” to the night.  Although in nine months time you could possibly end up having to invest in a double-jogging stroller.  The good news there is that it’s a great way for a man to lose the weight he put on during the pregnancy.

Thanksgiving comes to Canada a lot earlier than it does in the US. This has a lot to do with the fact that harvesting is over sooner, since it is colder up here. We have already had frost every morning for half a month, and temperatures during the day are only slightly above freezing where I live in Alberta. This year, Thanksgiving Day in Canada falls on October 13th. Families all over will be enjoying Tofurky and Mashed Soytatoes from the warmth of their homes.

I like to think that Canadians are a thankful bunch. We should be. We have one of the cleanest, safest, largest (in landmass), friendliest and richest countries in the world. And all that with low crime rates! Talk about lucky.

Things that I am thankful for:

  • Tim Horton’s coffee
  • a great weight loss center (I lost 40 lbs this year!)
  • local and internet friends
  • my wife and children

How about you? What are you thankful for right now? And how will you be celebrating Thanksgiving?

Well, at least, it was on Tuesday; which was when I planned to post this.  The thing is I started drinking Blue Beavers just after arriving at Sebekia on Friday afternoon, and I didn’t stop until the wee hours of Wednesday morning.  I remember there were some people, and then there was some loud explosions coinciding with bright lights.  I found some pictures of fireworks on my camera, so I guess that explains it.  Everything else is pretty hazy for me…so obviously it was one hell of a frakkin’ great week-end! firework.JPG

I had to take a long hot shower before sitting down to write this.  I was covered with campfire-smoke, Off (mosquito repellent), sunscreen, weasel hair, cheese from Tim’s exploding smokies, and a variety of other unidentifiable grime and grease.  Fortunately, that can of beans I had for supper last night has finally worked it’s way out of my system.

In case any of our foreign Beer Buddies aren’t aware, Canada Day is a celebration of the day The Great Gretzky comes up from his fabled home in L.A. and gives hockey sticks to all the children who have been good throughout the year.  If they’ve been bad they only get a hockey puck in their stocking.  We leave out Big Mac’s and 7-Up for him to eat and some people will even leave out his rookie card in hopes that he might sign it.

Of course you could read about the “real” origin of Canada Day, but my reality is for more exciting.  Now if you’ll excuse me I have to slowly wean myself back to a mere six-pack of Blue Beaver before the week-end.  To all of our fellow Canadian Beer Buddies out there (you know who the four of you are), “Take off, eh!”

Seeing as Mother’s Day is practically upon us, it’s seems only fitting that we rasie a Blue Beaver and drink a toast to those who brought us all into this world (apart from us clones who were grown in large glass cylinders in labs, that is).

mom.JPG

Usually I concern myself with only my own mother (that’s her in the picture), however I have recently begun to think that maybe I should amend that point of view. After all, I have encountered a large number of mothers that I’d like to…get to know a little better. So to each and every mother out there, on your special day grab a Beaver and think upon this:
M – is for…well, mother, oviously
O – is for observing your children closely to ensure that they grow up happy and well adjusted
T – is for never tiring in your efforts to look after us
H – is for hiring the very best nanny that money can buy while you are being a career mom
E – is for your emotional stability
R - is for really loving us no matter what we do