One thirty eight

I had 138 trick-or-treaters come by my house tonight. The most popular costumes were Spider Man - 4 I think, unicorns - 3 or 4 with the same costume, a couple of Scream masks with the liquid coming down the front, and I think the most popular colour - other than black - was lavender (mostly an accent colour for witches).

One season ends, another begins

Well, the Blue Bombers have ended their season in much the same fashion they exhibited all year. They lost 46-24 to the Calgary Stampeders. It was a season that we expected to go to the playoffs, but finished the season 5-13. Ugly, ugly, ugly.

It was also ugly last night in our first mixed curling game of the season. I was skipping, and was good on about 1 shot in my first 6, so the other team got up 12-0 after 4 ends. We kept going though, and actually were ahead over the next 4 ends, 4-3, so the final score 'only' 15-4.

The upside of that was most of the team was missing. Joel and Tania were in TO, and our new third couldn't make it either. It was me, Susan and Warren. Susan was probably the best of us. We should be able to do better with our regular folks out next time.

On the plus side, Newcastle beat West Bromwich Albion 3-0 today. So it's not all bad.

Quiet night at home

Just spending tonight at home, but last night I was out seeing Barney Bentall. He played a small venue with one sideman; a guy named John Ellis, who Ron and I joked about because there's a John Ellis who's a pro racquetball player. Tom Wilson of Junkhouse and Blackie and the Rodeo Kings opened the show, playing with Bob Lanois and one of the guys from Junkhouse.

Bentall was "quite good," but Wilson was "not bad." Which is to say, I liked Wilson more than Bentall. Ron's a fan of Bentall, so he enjoyed him more. Wilson was better in the sense that he rocked more.

It was an unusual audience because of how the show came together. It was put on by some guys that our friend Sherman works with in ad sales for a local radio station (well, several stations really owned by the same company). Those guys apparently came up with the idea to put on a show over a few beers, and then formed a company and went out and did it. Pretty cool, really.

Canadian Open Racquetball Classic

Just back from the first Canadian Open Racquetball Classic in Burlington. We - Racquetball Canada - hope it will develop into a "Grand Slam" racquetball event like the US Open, which I'll be going to next month in Memphis.

Dave Negrete, the IRT Commissioner (men's pro tour), commissioned me to write an article on the event for the US rb magazine. Gave me the cash in advance. Happy about that. Submitted the article today, and he seems happy with it. I wrote more than I planned and budgeted for with Negrete, so maybe I'll hit him up for some beers in Memphis at the US Open.

The Hold Steady

Saw The Hold Steady yesterday after attending another Armstrong's Point Association meeting that went too long.

The band was good. Nice music, although I couldn't always make out the words. They played West End Cultural Centre, where I've seen many great acts, like Great Big Sea, Lyle Lovett, Susan Werner, and Robyn Hitchcock, as well as some not so great shows like Evan Dando.