Now that that’s out of the way and I won’t get slammed for stealing precious intellectual property, I have a few things to say to my unborn child.

Stephen Hawking has just announced that time travel is possible. With that in mind, even though I don’t have a large hadron collider and a rocket ship faster than the speed of light, I’d still like to imagine I can visit you 20 years down the road and ask you all the things you wish I would have done differently. My hope is that you’ll love me dearly and tell me you don’t regret one moment of being my son/daughter.

In reality, you’ll probably tell me you really wish I’d bought you that computer/phone/apple gadget you wanted so badly when you were 16. I’d like to think I will teach you not to place such value on material things, but I know I like shiny things with buttons and touch screens and such, so how could I deny you of the same wants?

Here’s a few things I promise to do with you as you grow up. I’ll keep it bulleted, cause I know how kids these days hate reading.

• Take you to your first, seventh and twenty-third concert. Rock, folk, indie, funk, soul … we’ll vary it up. Just no emo/screamo/justin bieber. for the love of all that is sacred. no justin bieber.
• Let you beat around my old guitars. Get a ukulele / mandolin / schroeder’s piano from peanuts in your hands at age 5. maybe sooner, if your mom allows it in between all the books she’ll have you reading.
• Talk to you like a human being (in addition to all the gibberish baby talk).
• Teach you to sing (and harmonize with your dad). Remember it comes from your diaphragm, not your throat! Unless you’re Ray LaMontagne. Then it comes from that cloud of smoke inside your lungs that you never exhaled. On that note, don’t even think about being a smoker.
• Read to you. You’re going to get literature totally crammed down your throat by your mother, but I want some input, too. I’m going to read you cool shit like The Age of Spiritual Machines, High Fidelity and when you’re ready, 1984, For Whom The Bell Tolls and Fight Club. I’ll leave the ones about kids with magic sticks, rings and hats to your mom.

That’s all for now … you’re going to get such an amazing cultural education at home, that I can promise you. Oh, and before I forget, we’re going to love the absolute shit out of you.

Sincerely, your dad.

Realizing it’s been a while since I discussed how it’s going, I decided it’s time for a quick update on my situation. Avoiding beer drinking is actually going quite well. Last night I finally rid myself of the Red Stripe that had been lingering around in my fridge, taunting me. Other than that, I”ve been able to do all the fun things I normally do and find great alternatives to drinking beer – either not drinking at all, or enjoying a glass of wine or two.

One interesting effect of my choice to abstain from that most delightful combination of malts and hops is that I just drink less in general. I find myself in situations where normally I’d have a beer or two without thinking about it and since I can’t do that, I decide to have water or nothing at all to drink. And I think that’s where this choice is really going to make an impact for me. I’m not completely cutting myself off, but at the same time, I’m drinking a lot less and that has made me feel much better, health-wise.

I also started playing dodgeball one night a week, which has brought back some familiar injuries originating from my days as a box lacrosse player – specifically my weak knee. It’s been a struggle coming back every week without crumbling but I think the more abuse I give my body, the more it can take.

So I’m starting an ultimate frisbee team for the spring league – but I need more players (girls especially). Any0ne in Winnipeg who is interested, do me a solid and fill out this survey.

So now that I own both the iPhone 3G S and a MacBook Pro, I really don’t see what possible use I could have for the new iPad. First off, what a terrible name. I’ve been reading for weeks that the rumoured names for the device were iSlate, iTablet, iPad … and iPad wins. Get ready for the maxi pad jokes, Apple. Actually, MADtv has that pretty much covered in this sketch from four years ago.

And okay, it’s a nice device for consuming media, and the iBook store is neat, but the iPad falls in its ability to be a do-everything device. It lacks a camera and it doesn’t multitask. I heard one defence for the iPad stating that it was made this way on purpose, as to not pull sales away from the MacBooks. That makes sense, but then what do I need the iPad for? I haven’t quite figured it out.

So the fanfare and the hype that has been building up for weeks didn’t quite deliver what it promised, but when does it ever do that? I’d say rarely ever. Maybe iPad version 2.0 will take some of the critics cries into consideration.

Another disappointment I felt during the whole Apple CES keynote was that I expected iPhone OS 4.0 to be released, but it looks like I’m going to have to wait for that, too. I guess that’s okay, though, as I don’t think I’ll upgrade to OS 4.0 until blackra1n or somebody else figures out how to jailbreak it. And my guess is Apple is going to make it a lot harder to do this time around.

All being said, yes. I’m a total Apple fanboy now.

And look at the super awesome shiny wonderful case I am getting for my MacBook! Excited!

Don’t get me wrong, there are interesting things about places in Saskatchewan. Saskatoon has a decent music scene, but not nearly as good as Winnipeg. Watrous’ claim to fame is both the Manitou Springs Mineral Spa and the fact that it was selected as a location for TSN’s Sportscentre broadcast in August 2009.

As I tweeted about on Thursday, I was mighty disappointed with the music scene on a Thursday night in Regina. I want to go into a bit more detail than 140 characters will allow.

It was Thursday night and I had just finished a long day of client visits. None of my Regina coworkers were up to anything but I had a rental car and some free time, so I decided to check out what was going on downtown. I hit up a sushi place first and then popped next door to a pub called O’Hanlon’s to see what was going on. I took a little tour around the pub, which looked really nice. High ceilings, just the right amount of Guinness and Keith’s ads (and mirrors) on the walls. So I go up to the barkeep, a nondescript looking chap wearing plaid, as cool kids do, and asked him if there was to be a band at the pub that night. No, but a DJ is spinning tonight. Okay, no thanks, unless it’s RJD2, Kid Koala or Girl Talk, I’ll pass.

So I ask him if there are any other venues around with live music tonight. His reply? “No, not on a Thursday.”

Not on a Thursday? Maybe Winnipeg has spoiled me, but I expect there to be live music happening somewhere pretty much every night of the week. Especially Thursday through Sunday. That’s a given, isn’t it?

I implore you, people of Regina – either do a better job of promoting your music, if in fact there is music happening that said bartender is unaware of, or just make it happen. That’s all. Have a lovely weekend.

Let’s start with the other night. A repeat of my previous outing, wherein my guitarist comes over and we swap song ideas and then head out on the town. This time we make our way to Carlos and Murphy’s, a fine Mexican establishment in Osborne Village. We sit down and while pondering that near-impossible choice between burritos and enchiladas (I swear they’re exactly the same), the waitress takes our drink orders. One Corona and one water, please.

And wouldn’t you know it, she returns with two Coronas and no waters. Now I am forced to do two totally cringe-worthy things: number one, let that delicious beer sit untouched on the table, and two, tell the waitress that yes, I wanted a water and not a beer. She says “oh, I just assumed you wanted the same.” Under normal circumstances, yes, absolutely. But not for the next 362 days.

So, vow-breaking situation averted, I managed to get through the night without a beer again. I think I may eventually just have to remove myself from situations where drinking is encouraged. But I refuse to abstain, bull-headed as it may sound. But how, dear reader, can I remove myself from this?

Apparently staying home is even something I have to worry about – because my friends come over with beer and leave a single solitary Red Stripe in my fridge, just to taunt me. You bastards.

So, Thursday night, my guitarist and I had a bit of a writing session and then went for a drink after at the Toad in the Hole, my favourite establishment in Winnipeg and probably the place where I consume the most beer. It was a virtual gauntlet-running for me, as I had to deny myself of routine: typically the first thing I do when I walk in the door is step up to the bar, and I don’t normally have to order. Cliff, the friendly neighbourhood beer-slinger, knows when I step up and give him a nod, it’s his cue to slide a cold pint of Keith’s my way.

Needless to say he was a little thrown off when I ordered a red wine. I happen to quite enjoy a glass of red wine, but it’s definitely not what the Toad is known for, as far as quality goes. Despite this, it was surprisingly potable. Delightful, even. But for fuck’s sake, it wasn’t a beer. I was met by confused looks from the regulars I normally see. What’s with the vino, bro? Oh, you’re not drinking beer for a whole year? Are you fucking insane? Yes, yes I am. And I’ll thank you to curb your follow-up questions.

The rest of the night was spent making my quest to avoid malts and hops a point of every conversation, getting advice on what the best low-cal drinks are, and trying some of them. Red wine turned to long island iced tea (definitely out, too much sugar content) and then to ceasars (also ixnayed, for its hangover-inducing qualities).

Last night, I tried a rum and juice on for size, which I’m also tossing out as an option, as the juice is just too heavy. I could only consume one before getting that feeling you get when you drink too much juice. You know, where it just sits in the pit of your stomach, sloshing around and reminding you not to drink too much juice? Yeah, that one. I ended up back at the Toad (I told you it was my favourite), and without a clue what to try next, stuck with water.

I have one concoction to try still, before I give in to just drinking vodka/waters, which I have a feeling aren’t particularly tasty. It’s something that my new twitter friends at Boozeblogger wrote a whole post on just for me … and it’s called The Resolute. Thanks boys! I’m going to give it a shot.

Considering it’s already mid-January, I deem the following statement not to be a new year’s resolution, but more of a challenge to myself and a step toward better health. For the next 365 days, I shall not consume a drop of the frothy, delicious, buzz-inducing, malty, hoppy goodness known as beer.

I can hear the gasps of horror and groans of disappointment for miles around. I can also hear the snickers of cynicism. Am I insane for attempting such a thing? Maybe. But I promise to you, dear reader, that during the next year, I will do everything in my power to ensure that not an ale, lager, stout or draught will touch these lips.

Now don’t get me wrong – that doesn’t mean I’m going altogether dry. What, do you think I’m crazy? No way. It just means that after a healthy amount of consideration, I have deemed that there are other ways to get a nice buzz on and keep my caloric intake to a minimum. That’s where I need your help – what’s the healthiest drink? Wine? Martinis? Tequila? God, I hope it’s not tequila. That would be awful.

Also don’t think that this idea doesn’t scare the absolute poop out of me. Beer is a big part of socializing for me. I like to have them at the pub during a rousing chat with friends, whilst watching a great live show and sometimes with a meal at home. This is going to be tough. But I’m convinced that I’m going to come out feeling better about myself.

Also, when my year is up, and I reward myself with a lovely pint, it is going to taste like the best beer I’ve ever tasted in my entire life. My plan after that is to keep beers in the mix, but to consume in moderation. We’ll see how it goes, folks.

So here we go. 2010 – a year without beer. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

I am going to post something at least once every two days in 2010, starting today. It won’t always be awesome, but it will be something. That is my promise to myself and to whoever else finds this stuff! Consistency is so important in the blogging/social media world and I really need to start practicing what I preach. So here we go. 2010 will be the year of the blog for me. Or so I say now … we’ll see how it hashes out.

Broken Halo's self-titled debut album.

I don’t normally do posts about personal stuff. I’m not sure why. No one else writes on this blog … it belongs to me, so why not make it personal? Well, here we go – a bit of a personal update from yours truly.

A lot of changes have come about for me as of late. I decided to leave my job at the end of the month in order to take on more freelance work this summer and focus on music. Yeah, music. Readers of this blog who don’t know me probably won’t know that I’m the singer of a rock band called Broken Halo. We’ve been together 7 years, done 1 rather successful tour to Western Canada (granted, that was 5 years ago) and released one album that has slowly but surely been selling copies or individual downloads online.

But it’s been two years since we released any music and it’s about time we did it again. So this time around, with my advertising and marketing experience in my back pocket, we’re going all out on making sure this album succeeds both critically and commercially.

There have been a lot of bands out there who start out going it alone and are actually making a career out of it. So who’s to say a little rock band from Winnipeg couldn’t do the same, with a little drive, some smart marketing and an assload of touring? My hope is, no one.

But in this post I want to just give a shout out to a few more blogs I love that I did not mention in my previous post. So here goes.

I’m on my way by Lindsey Anderson

Lindsey describes herself as follows:

Her blog is a lovely blend of humorous rants and pointed opines on a wide range of topics – personal triumphs, civic issues, the female persuasion, music, sports and relationships to name a few.  It’s an oft-updated place that chronicles the life of a downtown-dwelling Winnipegger in a unique fashion.

Cake Wrecks by Jen Yates

The subtitle to this says it all – “when professional cakes go horribly, hilariously wrong”. Check it out and have a good chuckle at these nightmares made of fondant, icing and cake from decorators with mush for brains.

That’s all for now, folks, check back soon. I’m going on a blogging spree.