Chicken Scratch

(posted by weekend guest blogger...uhh...Charlie?? Charlie??)

Maybe we should check back a little later.

Next weekend perhaps??

Cluck for now!

(Happy Canada Day long weekend everyone - including those that started a little early...

Yet Another Brush With Fame (Canadian...)

I thought that I had already posted a link to my latest REM column, but looks like I didn't.

It is a chance to toot my own horn to some degree, and admittedly may be more relevant to Canadian readers, but what they hey - worth a read, I reckon!

Meeting Celebrities

Enjoy!

Chow for now...

11 - You Haunt Me...

It's bad enough when Mrs. That Dan Guy and I see 11's everywhere - now I've got my sister in on it!

Submitted for your approval - a screen shot of her own blog, indicating 111 posts. As I was loading that, I noticed on my dashboard that (even though it doesn't appear on my page here accurately) I currently appear to have 11 followers.

I really need to surf me some Google on this thing...

And, only 11 followers? I need to get on that!

Chow for now!

Hold The Door! Hold The Door!

Sorry, I was talking to Mrs. That Dan Guy. You can let the door go.

But thanks just the same!

(Chow for now...)

Who Needs Time In A Bottle?

For a few months now, time has turned back for me, never mind gotten stuck in some bottle somewhere...

People from my past have reconnected, and in some cases we've even managed to catch up in person. Pretty cool. Had dinner with an old pal last night as a matter of fact.

Funny. So many of them remember me in my prime - athletic, popular, charismatic, fluent in 16 languages, a full head of hair that would have made Rapunzel jealous, a natural musician that could play any instrument put down before me, poker champion, Spelling Bee grand master, amateur astrologist, Popsicle stick engineer, algebra tutor, juggler, and pet psychic.

I wonder if they still see those gifts in me when I pass them their order from the drive-thru window??

Chow for now!


- Posted using BlogPress - too lazy to start my laptop...

Stage West Calgary - "The Marvelous Wonderettes"

Stage West Calgary

"The Marvelous Wonderettes"

For the first production of their 30th anniversary season, "The 39 Steps" had just a few short months ago set such a high standard I didn't expect another show would be able to match or even more unlikely, surpass it. After attending last night's production of "The Marvelous Wonderettes", I'd suggest that this is now the show to beat this season. Absolutely flawless - as professional an evening of theatre as you will see anywhere...

Four flawless voices. Four well-created characters. Music that spans several generations, and seemed well received by the different generations in attendance. Sheesh - I need to take a breath, I may get charged with gushing here...

I took more notes for this show than any other I've attended in the last few years, and I must apologize, I'm going to need to hang onto those to put together my "official" Calgary Herald review (I'll post a link here later when that's available for hard-copy purchase, or online viewing). I will just say that for almost every review I've written both for this space and the newspaper, I say something about how I hate to single any one performer out - but then I gleefully do so.

I can't this time. Every one of the actors has a chance to showcase solid, solid vocals - even when their role requires them to downplay their talents. Lush harmonies, true to each of the eras represented - you really will be transported back in time.

Musical arrangements, musicianship, stage design, direction - there isn't a single element that doesn't help in making this show convincingly win over the audience.

I am starting to suspect that Stage West Calgary has some sort of Dusty Springfield fetish (once again represented in the soundtrack)- but that's a good thing for listeners.

Ahh, I can't keep going on here, or I WILL use up some of the notes I need for my "official" review!

Check back later for a link to that, and to the interview I hope to have with the cast.

More to come - but get your tickets now. The show I attended was sold out - a trend I don't see slowing down once word gets out!

Chow for now! 

Learning Never Really Ends

Just like "Love Never Dies", learning never ends. And while LND didn't work out so great for Andrew Lloyd Weber, hopefully your lifelong learning experience is far more beneficial...

For example, I continue to learn:

1) Never, ever try to recreate a tightrope walk across a national landmark in your backyard with baling twine.
2) Always have Kleenex handy BEFORE you pop a nasal zit...
3) NEVER pop a nasal zit just before posing for your high school graduation picture...
4) Despite amble evidence to support my theory, I may never convince a barber to charge me for haircuts by the strand(s)...
5) You will never convince your spouse that you suffer from Stray Eye Syndrome while walking along a beachfront boardwalk in the summer...
6) Stray Eye Syndrome is the leading cause of Upside The Head slapping in North America.
7)Upside The Head slapping not only cures Stray Eye Syndrome, it may also help with popping nasal zits...

Always learning...

Chow for now!

Chicken Scratch

(posted by weekend guest blogger Charlie Chicken...)

Hello??

BUK-AAAAWK!!!!

So, this is wut a hoom-iddy-frier looks like?

I don unnerstand how it works? Where's tha water? Where's tha hoom-iddity?

Where's ma car, dude?

BUK-AAAAWK!!!!

Hey!

Look Ma - I'm a pop-tart! A whack-a-mole!

OK, OK, enough fun fer one mornin' - I'll juss pull ma head out...

Uhh, I'll juss pull ma head O-U-T!!!

BUK-AAAAWK!!!!

Fer cripes' sake...

Anyone got any butter??

A lil bit a can-ola oil??

BUK-AAAAWK!!!!

NO! NOT A HAMMER!!!

BUK-AAAAWK!!!!

BUK-AAAAWK!!!!

Cluck fer now - (call 9-11!!).... 

Slept In

Well, had a longer post planned for this morning, but I fell back asleep after my last alarm, now scrambling to attend my last sessions of this conference.

So, ta-dah! This is my post now!!

Chow for now...


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Never Trust A Smiling Maniac

That sure sounds like sage advice. However, how does one determine if the individual they are faced with is indeed a maniac, or simply an overzealous Type A personality?

Well, for one thing, you could look for whether or not they are carrying an axe. Maniacs frequently tend to wield dangerous objects, whereas keeners are typically just loud or pushy.

You should also be looking for wild hair, and wide, piercing eyes. Many maniacs resemble an electrocuted mad scientist. Actually, mad scientists are often maniacs, so do take note of possible overlap there.

Chow for now!


- Posted using BlogPress - too lazy to start my laptop...

Well Hello There Summer!

Hey, it's almost the end of June - we may be able to finally shut our furnace off!

It's been a wet cool summer so far here - while most of (the rest of) Canada has been enjoying more typical seasonal temperatures. Toronto is actually in the midst of a brutal heat wave right now.

What makes matters worse is that our hometown of Winnipeg has had great weather for WEEKS, while we've been scraping ice off of our windshield in the morning, and wearing woolen sweaters under our parkas.

Pretty bad when mosquitos have it better than we do....

Oh well, at least we've got...

We've got...

Aww hell - just bring on the nice weather already!

Chow for now!

Save The Panters!!

I understand that panters are endangered now in China? We really need to roll up our sleeves and help prevent them from becoming x-stinks!

I didn't hear if panters were panting because of jogging, or some other sort of light exercise. I don't know if they pant because of their weight, or perhaps panters are actually dogs - but it seems to me dogs wouldn't be endangered, even in China.

Maybe I need a few more facts.

Leave this with me for a couple of days...

Chow for now!!


- Posted using BlogPress - too lazy to start my laptop...

Technology - Go To Hell!!

And so my Monday starts, with yet more technology drama - will it ever end????

Is it too late to start drinking yet...

Chow for now...


- Posted using BlogPress - too lazy to start my laptop...

Today is "Try To Catch Up" Day

Ugh. Trying to balance all of my other commitments along with my day job is certainly proving to be entertaining, as well as a bit of a challenge. I can't even respond to my emails in a timely manner anymore...

Well, nobody said it was going to be easy, and neither of these issues can continue to suffer much longer - so, here's my proposed solution.

My clone "Tan" will now respond to emails on alternating days of the week. My automated cyborg robot will continue to come up with pranks to drive Mrs. That Dan Guy crazy.

Our educated teenage gorilla will begin posting here, and I defy you to see any difference from what's been posted here for years now.

Still working out a few wee kinks, but I can see this all working swimmingly!

Chow for now!!


- Posted using BlogPress - too lazy to start up my laptop...

Chicken Scratch

(posted by weekend guest blogger Charlie Chicken...)

ZZZZZZZZZZZZ...........

Huh? Wut?

Documentary??

BUK-AAAAWK!!!!

Beat it, popperotsi!!

It's Saturday mornin' - an I'm sleepin' in...

BUK-AAAAWK!!!!

Cluck fer now...

Broadway Revival - Jesus Christ Superstar

I've been glued to the TV screen lately whenever I see televised excerpts for the latest revival of the mega-hit musical Jesus Christ Superstar lately, which is running right now on Broadway.

Several of the cast members are in my audio interview archives, so if you'd like to give those a listen to (for free), simply click on the link below, and snoop around in the archives for my interview with Melissa O'Neil (November 2009) and cast members of Motown Gold (December 2010).

thatdanguy's Podcast

My brush with future broadway stars!

Chow for now...

'Tis a far, far better thing I do...

...than this post today - wow, this one is pretty lame.

Even by my standards...

Chow for now!

The Hills Are Alive...

You'd think I was going to post something about the sound of music, wouldn't you?

I don't think this post is even going to be about hills, for that matter - the popular lyric just popped into my head when I started to blog, so I went with it.

I could talk about pills - which keep me alive. My daily intake of diabetes meds...

Unlikely...

What I will I have to do is scroll back into my archives once I do post this - I got a comment yesterday from a reader to "What Does Chihuahua Mean" - my enduring top post here in this blog space.

Not that it's a particularly brilliant bit of electronic scribbling - it's just an indication that someone is clicking through, and for some reason that one stays as the lead option.

No hills, no music...

False advertising!!

Chow for now...

LA Kings!

Well, well, well...

Good on you, L.A. Kings - congrats on your win, and congrats to head coach Sutter who finally found some players with fire in their belly. Validation...

Hey, isn't that the two # 11's hugging each other in the traditional post-game skate-by handshakes?

Mon dieu!!

Chow for now!!

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes...

Once again, we find ourselves amending our television viewing habits here in the Such Is Life household.  Some decisions by choice, others by necessity...

A couple of former fav shows we have recently dropped are Gene Simmons Family Jewels, and Storage Wars. Jewels had been a terrific show for many seasons, but in what we suspect is a bid recently to curry ratings, that show has become a poor man's Dr. Phil. And Dr. Phil has long been a poor man's Maury Povich. I don't need to know WHO the hell the baby's daddy is...

As for Storage Wars...well, we never even used to watch that show, until family members raved about it. I was then trapped by a marathon of episodes on a return flight from somewhere for my day job. Had to admit, I was hooked.

However, after what felt like a two-year break between last season and this recently launched new one, I lost interest again.

To be fair, in an effort to penalize our cable provider, we are about to slash our package dramatically, just for shiggles. We expect to switch away completely in a few days anyhow, but without a contract, we have been calling every few days to tinker with our plan.

Our latest amendment will be to drop many of the crappy channels that we never watch, but pay dearly for.

Soon, our new provider will give us (as part of an incentive) either a laptop or a tablet - I know they aren't actually giving us anything, we will eventually pay just as dearly as we did to the scoundrels we used to subscribe to.

But it won't be going to the scoundrels anymore...

Chow for now!

Chicken Scratch

(posted by....oh, for Pete's sake - one delusional chicken...)

Hey, hoomans!

Check it out!

"Phesant unner glass!

YUK YUK YUK!!!

Git it??

Phesant unner glass!!"

BUK-AAAAWK!!!!

If ya don wanna git yer beek relokaytid, keep yer "pessant" joke ta yerself...

BUK-AAAAWK!!!!

Cluck fer now...

#Vitalize2012 #YYC

Excellent...

I get a photo op with the legendary Colin Mochrie and his improv partner/real-life wife Debra McGrath, and it ends up looking like one of those carnival midway pictures where you place your head in a hole cut out of a pre-cast stock photo...

I can assure you of several things:

1) They are not the over-sized giants they appear to be,
2) I am nowhere near as tiny in person as I appear in this photo,
3) The two are absolutely hilarious - like a micro-version of "Whose Line Is It Anyway", which has almost become code (or at least the gold standard) for professional live improv.

Mr. Mochrie and his spouse (whom you may recognize most recently from CBC-TV's "Little Mosque On The Prairie") tore up the stage of Vitalize 2012 up last night, with about 90 minutes of live comedy involving audience participation, proving a few more things:

1) They are both masters of their craft,
2) Audience members are to some degree unpredictable, but capable of providing comedy gold,
3) Even when kids are involved, the most common improv suggestions involve sex, drugs, and awkwardness.

Last night I could check off one more member of the cast of that classic TV improv show that I wanted to see live. I think the only one I have left now is Wayne Brady - so you are officially on notice, sir...

The chicken returns tomorrow...

Chow for now!

Opening Day, Vitalize 2012

Next time this event rolls through town, I'll have to take a closer look at the agenda.

For yesterday, my colleague and I arrived for the 2 PM registration - which left us with 2 hours to kill until the Vital Village (exhibitor's area) opened. Which we completed in about 7 minutes.

Which left us another 2 and a half hours to kill until the festivities kicked off. Egads!

Well, on the plus side, lots of walking, even if that was fun for my plantar fasciitis. Nice day here, so it was probably a good opportunity to bring my blood glucose levels down...

The opening speaker last night was pretty good - I picked up a couple of nuggets there - not the most dynamic individual, but some good messaging.

Today is back-to-back sessions, capped off with entertainment I'm really looking forward to.

Avast!

I mean...chow for now!

Making Room In My Wee Little Brain-space...

For the next three days, I'll be attending an informative assortment of sessions here in Calgary for Vitalize 2012. This event tours around the province (it was in Edmonton last year, I believe), and my city is the host this go-round.

Aimed at the voluntary sector, it should be a wealth of up-to-date current information, new trends in volunteer management, and an opportunity to see one of the last regular cast members of Whose Line Is It Anyway live. Colin Mochrie and his wife Debra McGrath are scheduled to entertain attendees one night during the event.

Too bad Mrs. That Dan Guy will be having to keep her nose to the rat-race grindstone.

BWAA-HAA-HAA-HAA-HAA!!!!!!

Latah, peeps!

Chow for now...

Getting Ready For Learnings!

I've got to wrap up any pending items at work today, in preparation for a three-day conference I'm attending Thursday to Saturday with a work colleague here in Calgary.

"Vitalize 2012" is a conference for people in an array of professional roles, but I suppose it's aimed primarily at workers in the non-profit, voluntary sector - where I now work in my day job. I love this kind of thing, and you always walk away with something. Even if it is just extra butter patties from one of the luncheons...

And now you know what I'll be blogging about over the next few days!

Chow for now!!

My Pet Unicorn

The funny thing about titles is that they often have nothing at all to do with the content of the piece that they accompany.

When I still had my weekly newspaper column, my editor loved to change the titles I sent along with each piece. Sometimes he would highlight the curveball surprise that was supposed to be the punch-line. Sometimes he would go in a direction I could never connect back to the actual column.

Occasionally, he came up with a vast improvement over what I had originally provided. I think it all balanced out.

Wouldn't it be cool to have a pet unicorn?

Chow for now...

TV's Touch

Well, we may be a little batty over the recurring 11's we encounter here in (and outside of) the Such Is Life household, but we are far from alone. Our new favourite TV show (with Canadian actor Kiefer Sutherland) is all about numbers and their context - which we hear has been renewed for a second season.

Thank god - after all  between bachelors and Snookis, it's getting to be a real struggle to find quality TV anywhere lately...

So, we continue to unravel the mystery of the number 11's relation to us, but we're happy to note we ain't as crazy as we appear to be.

At least in relation to the number 11............

Chow for now!

And now, a toast!

Maybe a little peanut butter, maybe some jam or jelly - it's breakfast time!

Chow for now...

Chicken Scratch

(posted by debonair sun-worshipper Charles D. Chicken...)

Howdy hoomans!

Good Saturday mornin' ta ya!

BUK-AAAAWK!!!!

Thought I better get out an soak up sum rayz before tha rain gits here - we gots a Shinook arch comin', and it's bringin' alon' a week a rain!!

BUK-AAAAWK!!!!

I think Muther Nature needs ta get sum action - if ya know wut I mean...

BUK-AAAAWK!!!!

So, I'm here enjoyin' tha view - the mountins, tha clouds, tha hooman-made lake, tha hawk...

THA HAWK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BUK-AAAAWK!!!!

OPEN THA DOOR!!

OPEN THA DOOR!!

BUK-AAAAWK!!!!

Uh, I'll juss be here under tha BBQ fer a while...

Cluck fer now...

And now, ladies and gentlemen - The Weekend!

It is Friday. Perhaps I had more pressing matters to discuss, but for now, all I can think of is the end of the work week. My day job work week. We certainly have more than enough projects to keep us busy, and I have PLENTY of overdue writing projects.

So, just a break from the everyday. Not a break from work-a-day.

Chow for now...