Joginder Madra's Place on the Web

Wayne Brady at the River Cree

Wayne Brady - King of the improvisational song. This was my first foray out to River Cree to see a show and I came away with a feeling that, like all casinos, that place must make a mint! First of all, the casino was packed...and then you count all the people that are there to see a show. The venue itself is nothing fancy - just a big inflatable dome with AV equipment.

As for the show itself, Wayne Brady and his parner in crime were hilarious! I especiallly enjoyed the back and forth as they tried to mess each other up.

John's 40th Birthday Hoo Ha

Well well well. Johnny-boy has turned the big 4-0. Had to fly solo to this as Charlene was up in GP. Hangin' with the Hewitt clan is always a good time and this was no exception. Random thoughts:

• It may have been a ruse, but I want to hear Ian speak about the zero-footprint house in Riverdale
• For a family event, there seemed to be a lot of bras thrown around
• The birthday cakes were astonishing

Edmonton Folk Music Festival

Another year, another trip to Gallagher Park for the Edmonton Folk Music Festival. This time though, the trip was a bit farther as we no longer live in the neighbourhood. Random thoughts on the weekend:

• Missed Thursday as I was still in Toronto and missed a chunk of Friday returning the rental...grrrrr
• Laura must have been transporting dead bodies with that tarp of hers. I swear at least 10 people passed out aroud me when I opened up the tarp.
• Witnessed perhaps the greatest workshop ever when Broken Social Scene, Serena Ryder and Royal Wood made up a song on the spot.
• A Folk Festival without harrowing weather just doesn't seem right
• I thoroughly enjoyed getting out of the heat and eating Earl and Marilyne's food
• Another Folk Fest and another Leslie sighting
• Who the hell ate my cousin?
• Notable acts: Broken Social Scene, Royal Wood, Serena Ryder, Andy McKee, Colin Hay, Michael Franti and Chris Isaak

An Old Time Saskatchewan Wedding

The things we miss as a result of "family obligations". For the first time since the inaugural event, I'll be missing the Edmonton Grand Prix...now known as the Edmonton Indy.

That said, the trips to Saskatchewan tend to be fun. This time, it's for Darlene's wedding...in Cudworth. Some random thoughts on the weekend:

• Charlene's cousins have raised some really nice kids
• It's always good to see the twins
• Staying in Saskatoon turned out to be good as we were able to visit with Charlene's Aunt Mary before heading back home
• We shall never speak of what happened just outside of Elk Island National park

Tanya and Chris's Wedding

July 18 to 20 - Tanya and Chris's wedding in Toronto. It's always good to be able to tie in some fun with some business. Our itinerary:

• July 17 Flt AC154 from Edmonton to Toronto
• July 20 Flt AC127 from Toronto to Edmonton

This time, we're staying at the Cambridge Suites. Spent Friday in meetings, but we were able to meet up with Carl for dinner and some Batman. We got tickets for the 11:15 pm show and started lining up a bit before 10:00 pm. I think the line-up experience was a bit new for Charlene (who secretly wanted to be there despite all of her protesting). Good to see some people in costume, but I didn't get the guy dressed up all in red. I was secretly hoping to see some guy in a costume that had nothing to do with Batman at all....kinda like the guy showing up at about 4 minutes into this classic video.

Saturday was the wedding itself and it was very nice to hang with some of Charlene's McGill friends. Somehow, we kept going back to what our wedding was like.

Sunday was breakfast with Jackie before heading back home. The return flight was nice as we won the "Air Canada Lottery".

Hello Alex!

Tuesday June 24, 2008. 4:45 am. Donald and Carla welcomed Alex Georgia into the world. I find that babies look pretty funny when they come into the world, but you could tell that Alex was a cutie. And that hair! As all good uncles should do, I'm saving up my pennies for a drum set.

Saltimbanco

Cirque du Soleil - Saltimbanco at Rexall Place. After seeing Delirium, we were really excited to see the origins of the Cirque du Soleil. It was flat-out amazing...from the acrobatic performances to the clowns to the pacing...it was amazing...

Jeremy Hotz at the Winspear Centre

The week of culture continues. Thank goodness for the Wednesday off. This marked my first comedy show at the Winspear and it was pretty good. It definitely reinforced the idea that you probably don't want to sit in the first row at a comedy show. SAME!

The Vagina Monologues at Myer Horowitz Theatre

After 30-some-odd years, this was Ruby's much celebrated return to the stage. And she did a great job! The set up was a bit different this time as there were more actors and more interaction and movement about the stage. Some of us even enjoyed chocolate vulvas (vulvi?) at the break.

Hawksley Workman at the Winspear

Just after we got back into town, we had maybe an hour to get rested up before heading out to see Hawksley Workman. We were both looking forward to the show as he's always a little different..and in a good way. There were a few sound gremlins at the Winspear that night - we could see the sound engineers behind us feverishly trying to solve it. Too bad we couldn't stay for the entire show (I blame the pumpkin I was with). But seeing the opening bit really was the highlight. I gotta get me a tiny drum kit...

The Streak Continutes

Edmonton vs. Colorado...with a view from above. I worry that I'm getting a little spoiled...going to a game and sitting in a "regular" seat just will not be the same. Anyways, this time we lucked into the suite life when we were asked if we were free to go to the game on Sunday night. After a few milliseconds (for politeness), the answer was yes.

It was really nice as JMo had invited kids to the game as well. It's nice to see kids at hockey games...especially since it's so expensive for the most part. Anyways, I know little Isaac was really into to it. You can see that the acron doesn't fall far from the tree with that one.

Seeing how the Oilers won again, they are now 3-0 when I watch from a skybox. If there was only a way to get me 82 games in a skybox per season...

The Suite Life - revisited

Once again, we succeeded in our quest to support the United Way. This time we get to see Edmonton play the New York Islanders from the sky suite. Good game. A few rarities on this particular evening:

• Four goals for the Oilers
• A shutout for the Oilers
• A regulation time win

I can't believe that after all these years people are still booing Mike Comrie...time to get over it don't you think? Besides, you would have thought that Chris Pronger would have taken all the heat off of Mike Comrie.

Oil Kings!

Oile Kings vs. Calgary Hitmen. Location: Edmonton Journal Box. A lot of fun really. Definitely a step or two down from the pros, but the crowd had a great time. It must have been 70% kids...or at least it seemed that way.

The Big Move

The day finally came...time to move on out. Goodbye Cloverdale, Hello Rio Terrace. Moved the office on the weekend of Nov 17. Moved everything else Nov 24. Still can't reconcile how someone so little...living in such a little place could have so much stuff. And this was *after* Marilyn had went through pruned Charlene's stuff.

Thank goodness we had a good supply of free labour. We'll have to thank our help more appropriately once the renos are done.

Hawaii

Ahhh...the Honeymoon...finally some R&R after all the wedding planning. Our itinerary:

• Aug 21 Flt UA8453 - Edmonton to LA
• Aug 21 Flt UA0069 - LA to Lihue
• Aug 28 Flt AQ30M - Lihue to Kahului
• Sep 2 Flt AQ207V - Kahului to Honolulu
• Sep 3 Flt UA0042 - Honolulu to Denver
• Sep 4 Flt UA6641 - Denver to Edmonton

Aug 21 to 28 - Kauai. We thought we would start with a smaller, quieter island. We didn't expect the roosters to be crowing at all hours...really...*all* hours. We had some amazing experiences...the snorkeling was fantasitic as was the drive around the island. Our stop at Queen's Bath was particularly memorable. We even splurged on a helicopter ride...which was absolutely worth it.

Aug 28 to Sep 2 - Maui. Maui was probably our favourite stop. There's something nice about being right on the beach. While the food in Kauai was for the most part amazing, we like the variety that Maui offered...not to mention the price point was better. One hightlight was Charlene's transformation from someone who agreed to surfing lessons to be with her husband to someone going out to catch extra waves. We're both looking forward to our next surfing holiday...hopefully I won't need a trip to the dentist next time. The drive around the north part of the island was memorable too...we missed the Sports Illustrated swimsuit shoot, but we did love the adventure of driving the narrow roads. The fireworks display when we ate on the beach was nice too.

Sep 2 to 3 - Honolulu. Some TV shows seemed like they were on all the time - Mythbusters, Dirty Jobs, Rainbow Wahine women's volleyball and America's Next Top Model. We must have watched Tyra Banks through four seasons of ANTM over a couple of days. Are we proud? No. It is what it is. We definitely preferred the beaches in Maui to Waikiki...there's just too many people to *really* enjoy it...especially when we've been going to quieter beaches. We did manage to walk through all the designer stores. You know a place is expensive when a guy in a suit opens the door for you. I'm glad we got out of the Prada store before we took too much of a liking to how a certain leather sport coat looked on me. Expensive? Yes.

Finally, it was time to go home...we didn't want to go...believe me.

The Big Day

Didn't feel nervous...not even when the bride showed up late. I couldn't help feel the emotion when I saw Charlene walking down the aisle. All in all, we couldn't have hoped for a better day. The venue was great. The weather was wonderful. The band was amazing and it was great to see everyone enjoy themselves. I wish we had more time to spend with every one, but I guess that's one of them deals. I have to say that the Hotel MacDonald staff are probably the best amongst all of the Fairmont properties....even if the room was considered a torture chamber by some :-).

Edmonton Folk Music Festival 2007 Edition

Another great year of music and probably my last as a Cloverdale resident. It was great to be able to share the event with Tia and Mika....we've been telling them about the festival for years now. As per usual, Annette and I did the tarp runs. We had treamendous success for the Sunday night - and what a lineup. That was probably the best Sunday lineup I've ever seen. Some highlights for me:

• Ozomatli
• Michael Franti
• Los de Abajo
• Marty Stuart (best rendition of "Staying Alive" I've heard in a long time)

The Gathering of Men

A day of facials, pedicures and poetry reading. Really.

Oliver! at the Citadel Theatre

After running around and looking at registry stuff and talking about $800,000 homes that we weren't going to buy, it was time for some culture - Oliver! at the Citadel Theatre. It's certainly a young crowd on a Sunday afternoon. The play itself was very well done - particularly the set design...so well conceived. I found the second half's tone more fitting. Somehow, all the mugging for the audience after each musical number didn't seem right. But perhaps that's my bias showing. For me, the gold standard will always be the 1968 movie musical. Overall, it was nice to get out and get TROGDOR!! out of my head for a while.

The Police with Fiction Plane and Sloan at Commonwealth Stadium

My first Commonwealth Stadium show since the Rolling Stones and probably the first big event since the Heritage Classic. I got the call when Adam couldn't make use of his ticket...you need to be ready when you're the understudy.

Didn't know what to expect from Fiction Plane, but they were pretty good...I'll definitely check out more of their stuff. Sloan is still going strong after all these years. I remember them being the college radio darlings when I was in university.

But the real reason most of us went was to see the Police. The opened strong with Message in a Bottle and took off from there. They reworked a few of their songs and it gave the guy behind us some grief, but he mellowed out with a bit of help. Some random thoughts:

• Time passed by very quickly. 10:30 pm and the end of the Police's first set came very quickly.
• We played spot the celebrity. Allison spotted Kevin Karius and I saw Sigourney Weaver...or maybe someone who looked like her - perhaps my rewatching of all the Alien movies has something to do with it.
• I'm not sure who has more celebrity status, the real Kevin Karius or the fake Sigourney Weaver.
• Security was very conscientious about checking for tickets before letting people onto the field - except when the bald guy in front of us went...somehow he always managed to make it down undetected.
• I didn't think that cotton candy would be a big seller at a rock concert, but they had the best cotton candy salesman in the world shilling that stuff. He made you want to have some and he was always replenishing his stock. So he either sold all of it or kept giving away free bags because he smacked them with his cotton candy pole while dancing with his flunky.