The Peterson Family Christmas Letter 2007

It's that time of year again. Time to click on over to the Peterson Family Christmas letter and Variety show. That's right. This year there is a bit of something different. You will notice that we mention that you will be holding it in your hands. That's right we decided to kick it old school this year and publish it to paper. So keep your eye on the mail and you may get the PFCL delivered to your door. That is if we have your correct address.

CLICK HERE to read the letter that everyone will be talking about tomorrow around the water cooler, OR just wait to read it when it arrives in your mailbox. Oh and you can read all the old classic letters HERE. 2005 AND 2006

Merry Christmas from the Peterson's and TundraTalk.

McKenna shares the Cup with her school...

Austin and the Grey Cup at MacNeill School from hamiltongbp on Vimeo.

As you all know, the Saskatchewan Roughriders won the Grey Cup recently. Because the Peterson's moved to Regina. Yup, when we move to a city, their teams automatically win a championship. It is a proven fact. Look it up. I dare you.

We teach McKenna to give and share with others as much as possible. It is important to instill in our kids to give back to the community whenever possible. So, today McKenna gave back. She knows that the reason the Grey Cup came to Sask was because of our family so she wanted to share the Grey Cup with her school. So she arranged to have the head coach, Kent Austin, bring it to the school for a photo op today. What a great kid. I am so proud of her. That is her front and center in the red shirt.

The coach, whose kids go to McKenna's school, brought it in, told some stories (rated G stories) and then let the kids take a pic with the cup. There were of course a lot of dads in the house. Including me of course. But at least I did not send McKenna up with 5 championship hats to autograph. That is sooooo obvious sending your kid up to get autographs. Five caps? C'mon, what kid is going to bring five caps to get auto's on? Only the kid whose dad wanted to get one for himself, one for his buddy, and three to sell on ebay. Loser. I did not even get an auto. I only shook the man's hand and congratulated him. First class all the way. Really, I just forgot to bring something to sign. I suck.

Needless to say she got her class to pose with the cup, and she was front and center for the class pic with the cup. Nice job McKenna. Too bad your old man can't take a pic to save his life.




Oh, and you will notice that in the class pic, she is touching the cup. I am so proud of her. Man tears, on the spot.

Oh and one more thing. Yup, I got a truck. I am soooooo cool. Have a great weekend!!!!!!1

You're Welcome Saskatchewan...

Well, we did it again. That's right. Yet another championship under the Peterson's proverbial belt. In case you missed it, and I figure most of you in the states did, last night the Saskatchewan Roughriders went to Toronto, played the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and won the Grey Cup. Now most people would say, "Chris, what the hell are you talking about YOU did it again?" Well, if you would just shut up and listen to me I will tell you.

It seems that every time the Peterson clan makes a move, the local team wins a championship. So it has nothing to do with their team, skill, or management. It has everything to do with the location of my stuff. Let's see, where do I start.

Most might think that it all starts in Green Bay, well, I beg to differ. When we moved to Des Moines, shortly after we got there the Des Moine Suckaneers won the Gold Cup. The National Junior A championship. I believe the Iowa Barnstormers under the grocery bagging Kurt Warner won the AFL championship (under coach John Gregory). So that was stop number one.

Stop number two was the holy land. Green Bay Wisconsin. That was around 1995-96. We all know that at that time Brett Favre was in his second year of MVP'n and he led the team to Super Bowl 31 and the world championship. Now you playa hatin' queen fans will point out that that is when he was hooked on vicodin. Wrongo, moosebreath, that is when he KICKED vicodin and the rest of the NFL's ass.

Also whilst the Peterson's were in Green Bay the Gamblers, of the USHL junior A hockey, won two Gold Cup National Championships under Coach Don Granato. Lead in goal by TT vetran Ty Conklin. Oh and the baddest D man to ever skate on USHL ice, Jeff 'give 'em the' Finger. Nice. Oh and an also ran was the Arena Football team the Green Bay Bombers who won the title in 98.

Oh, but it did not stop there. We then travelled north to Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Let's see, the Eskischmos won two Grey Cups while we were there. The AAA team the Edmonton Trappers won the championship and the U of A Golden Bears won many hockey championships. The Oilers made a run at the Stanley Cup but came up one period short of winning it. Oh, the junior football team, the Huskies, won a national championship also.

Which brings us to today. The Saskatchewan Roughriders won the Grey Cup last night in Toronto. It was awesome. We spent the day at the Davis' and watched the game. Lots of kids, lots of food, and a great game.

Shortly after the game we all piled in the car and went downtown to witness the chaos on Albert Street. McKenna and Dakota went also. Dakota watched it all from her car seat and Donna and McKenna got out and high fived all the crazy Rider fans in their cars driving up and down Albert. Well, there wasn't much driving just a lot of sitting in traffic. Albert Street runs the length of Regina and it was bumper to bumper from North to South. Amazing. Fireworks, honking, cheering, and tons of open containers. Of course as the leader of TundraTalk Nation I took my camera to document the proceedings. Here it is, enjoy...


Untitled from hamiltongbp on Vimeo.

Dallas is goin down...

Adrian Peterson who?

Hell ya!! Thanks to the Packers 34-0 win on Sunday, Mr. Dahl, of the Minneapple Dahls, now owes me two 24's of Leinies. NICE!!! That game was totally sweet. Even better I was in Bismarck on Sunday and it sure was nice to be shopping around in the city and listen to all those queen fans whine and complain about how crappy their team is. Whilst I was at Target I heard at least twenty of them crying and whining.

Even better, whilst I was at Grizzly's eating a fine lunch and watching said game, this couple came into the place and asked the bartender to change the channel from the game and the dude told the woman that he couldn't because there was some of us watching it. She gave me a dirty look and said, "Oh, I bet it was HIM!" and pointed at me (because I was flying the colors, as I always do on game day). I just smiled and tipped my glass at her. Her husband mumbled something under his breath about the Packers and buried his face in the menu. Just like a queen fan to turn off the game. If the Pack were down like that, there is no way in hell I would turn the game off. Stupid queen fan. I just cheered louder from then on every time Favre threw a TD.

I was so proud of McKenna when she pointed to the kid with the randy moss jersey and said very loud "Daddy, we don't like the purple team. They are bad." I almost shed a man tear on the spot. When ever we went into a store selling queen jersey's she was under orders to take the Packer gear and put it in front of it. She is a good kid. So good I rewarded her with a gold Favre jersey.

Shane Keller, of the LA Kellers, sent me this note...

Hi Chris,

I am the ultimate glutton for punishment. I am watching the Viking-packer game and simo perusing Tundra Talk. The mental anguish is near unbearable.

Anyhow, I was reading Martys' fire report. I didn't know he lives in Canyon Country. I'm willing to bet I could throw a rock and hit his house on my commute to work (14 to the 5 to the 405). I'm not exactly sure where he shot the video from, is he somewhere off of Via Princessa (spelling??). My brother-in-law lives in Canyon Country right below the water tower where the fire quickly spread to the day it started (my brother in law is on Shan-gri-la up the hill off of Soledad Canyon Road).

We were at his house that Sunday when the fires started and no, I was not the kid playing with matches that started the fire. We left his house at 5:00 P.M and by 9:00 he and his family were evacuated. Thankfully they did not lose their house, but it came right down to their neighbors back yard. Small world.......

I read an article in the Hazen Star (yes, I still get it and love it, a great taste of home). Their was a nice article on Nick Chase and his bust of a nation wide illeagal imigrent ring..OH GOD THE PACK JUST GOT ANOTHER TOUCHDOWN...F#%K now fieldgoal...27-0 I'm 2 minutes from shutting off the game and starting my yardwork chores of the day :-( Oh my God Fox just left the Viking-Pack game and went to the Eagles-Skins ha ha.

At any rate, back to Nick, that is so awesome. Perhaps he might arrange to have the Feds meet and arrest you at the Canada/North dakota border for being the ringleader of an elaborate International Dakota Kid Sunflower Seeds smuggling ring? Be very careful my friend, very careful.

Take care,
Shane

P.S. The fart story was awesome LOL

Yup, Marty lives right off of Via Princessa. No the street name does not relate to his orientation. He is a Packerfan so no princess there. Here Marty's reply...

Shane is right.. his brother's house is in the video that I shot.. The development is in the right hand corner of the video that I shot.. The group of houses that is just about straight back over my back wall - up on the opposing ridge.

Nick Chase, of the "Plenty Bushie Enough" Fargo Federal prosecutors office, has quite the rep for kicking criminal ass. He is a member of the TT Nation from day one. We are all proud of his accomplishments. CLICK HERE to read about his accomplishments.

Oh, and yes I am very careful when I cross the border with all my contraband. No problems this weekend crossing with my four 24's of Leinies, 8 boxes of PB Cap'n Crunch, and 4 bags of Funyuns. We did have to wait almost two hours to cross though. Lots of Canadians coming down to take advantage of the US money being of the Monopoly value. As did I.


Steve Iverson, of the Moorehead Ivy's, sent me this joke...

Little David was in his 5th grade class when the teacher asked the
children what their fathers did for a living.

All the typical answers came up -- fireman, policeman, salesman, etc.
David was being uncharacteristically quiet and so the teacher asked him
about his father. "My father's an exotic dancer in a gay cabaret and takes off all
his clothes in front of other men. Sometimes, if the offer's really good, he'll go out to the alley with some guy and make love with him for money."

The teacher, obviously shaken by this statement, hurriedly set the other children to work on some coloring, and took Little David aside to ask
him, "Is that really true about your father?"

"No," said David, "He plays for the Minnesota Vikings, but I was too
embarrassed to say that in front of the other kids."

That is a classic. Love that joke. Speaking of a joke, the queens lost Adrian Peterson after he scorched the Pack for what 70 yards. He sucks.

CLICK HERE to read how the queens fans are off the bandwagon. Nice. CLICK HERE to read about how the Packers are now Americas Team. The writer who wrote it I believe covered the Oilers on the Stanley Cup run. I spoke to her on occasion during that time. She was pretty cool, obviously because she knows the Packers rule.

Of course thank you again to PackerPalace Dot Com for the pics and the logos.

Once again, because it is easy...

Courtesy of PackerPalace dot com.

A Minnesota Viking family of football supporters headed out one Saturday to do their Christmas shopping. While in the sports shop the son picks up a Packer jersey and says to his older sister, "I've decided to become a Packer fan and I would like this for Christmas".

His big sister is outraged by this and promptly whacks him round the head and says, "Go talk to mother". Off goes the little lad with the Packer jersey in hand and finds his mother. "Mom?" "Yes son?" "I've decided I'm going to be a Packer fan and I would like this jersey for Christmas". The mother is outraged at this, promptly whacks him around the head and says, "Go talk to your father!"

Off he goes with the Packer jersey in hand and finds his father. "Dad?" "Yes son?" "I've decided I'm going to be a Packer fan and I would like this jersey for Christmas". The father is outraged and promptly whacks his son around the head and says, "No son of mine is ever going to be seen in THAT!"

About half an hour later they're all back in the car and heading towards home. The father turns to his son and says "Son, I hope you've learned something today?" The son says, "Yes, Dad, I have." "Good son, what is it?" The son replies, "I've only been a Packer fan for an hour and I already hate you Viking bastards."

Packers Number One, AGAIN...

Once again the Packers have come out on top again. This time Sports Illustrated did a survey on the Best NFL Fan experience. N surprise, the Packers and Lambeau came out on top. To read the survey CLICK HERE. The Packers rated highest in pretty much everything from parking to atmosphere. Their description of the tailgating is dead on. "You can smell the brats from miles away" at a tailgate that has "so many grills going it must be the cause of global warming." You ain't kidding you can smell the brats. That is one of the things I miss the most. Getting near the stadium on game day and smelling all those grills going. Floyd Fairweather, of the Minot Humanities teaching Fairweather's, once told me he could "smell the brats all the way in Sheboygan" on game day. The other nice thing is they have big pits for people to put their hot coals at the end of the game. Those things will still be steaming on Wednesday after the game.

They also mentioned my favorite beer in the rating. Of course, what would a day in Wisconsin be without beer, something the Leinie Lodge offers with "lots of very cool Wisconsin beers for about the same price as regular domestics." That's right, I am going to Minot this weekend and I am going to for sure pick up some Leinies. So I can watch the Pack AND sip a nice brew from the homeland. Nice.

Where do other teams rank? Well the Bears clock in at 20. I have tailgated at Soldier Field. It was a good time, but we were about a mile from the stadium in a lot that had more people parking for work than tailgating. Donnelly's Bengals were 19. Need to work on that. The one that I am most happy about, is the queens. That crappy purple team that we all love to hate comes in at second to last. That's right, their tailgate experience is usually as bad as their team. Well what do you expect from grown men wearing braids and purple.

So to summaraize...Packers good, really good. Bears, Bengals, and queens, bad, really bad. If you want to have the best NFL experience you can get, go to God's country, Wisconsin. If you can score yourself some duckats, have yourself a Brat, drink a few fine Wisconsin brews, watch Brett Favre win, and go home happy.

Plus while you are there you can stop over at the Wisconsin Cheese exchange and get some of the best cheese you will ever taste. I know the last time I was there I brought a ton home.

Oh, if you click on the picture up at the top of Lambeau, you will notice that Brett autographed it. I have that pic, not autographed of course, but if you look closely to the lower left hand corner. On the field in the corner of the endzone, there is an extremely cool and good looking guy. He is wearing a vest. Yup, that's me. So there is a website where you can buy an autographed Brett Favre picture of me. Nice.

Go Pack Go!!!

STRIKE!!! No not me this time...

Once again, the news coming out of Los Angeles is big. At least the networks think it is a big deal so they talk about it a lot. Last week it was the fires, this week a strike. So who does TundraTalk go to for any news that is huge in La La Land? That's right Marty Frey. I sent him a note yesterday to see if there were strikers outside his building and if he could send me pics, and yes, he did.

We are big time here at TundraTalk. We have bureaus all over the world. We have a bureau in Edmonton, Regina, Minneapple, Seattle, Fargo, Bismarck, Garrison, Florida, of course Wisconsin, and well, you name it we got it.

So lets do it like the big timers....NOW lets send it out to our Hollyweird Bureau, with Marty Frey to report on the strike that is affecting EVERYONE's TV set. What are you seeing where you are at? What is the feeling on the lines at NBC?...

Oh yeah.. good times.. Only it's not like when you were doing it.. The two groups involved in this strike have plenty of money and blame to go around on both sides. The issues here are very different and the people who are really getting hurt by this are the people who work on the shows.. The carpenters, Electricians, stagehands and all the companies that make their livelihood around the production of TV shows and movies. The people who can least afford this - are the ones that will be most affected.

Here are some pics for you..

Jay Leno has stopped by for the last two days to drop off doughnuts for the striking writers.. They aren't neccessarily his writers as the WGA was smart enough to take Warner Bros. writers and have them striking over here and take our guys and have them in front of the Warner Bros. lot. That way it's not personal with the people you have to work with. Some other wacky stuff going on.. A man dressed as a giant yellow taco tried to interview some of the strikers - he left rather abruptly.

The Burbank cops stop by every once and a while.. I don't think they really are here to deal with any strikers getting out of hand as they are the most polite strikers I have ever seen. The cops pull up and chat for a minute - maybe hand out a couple bottles of water and then head on over to another lot. These guys aren't the most dedicated strikers - they show up about 9 AM - knock off around Noon for lunch. Back by 2 pm and then they are cleared out by 5 pm every day.. I'm in by 8 AM and I don't leave until at least 7 pm at night so I don't really have any interaction with them. I'm thinking of maybe going on strike as the hours are better.

NBC Studios has had to lay off a bunch of my friends who normally work on The Tonight Show starting today. Again - those are the people who are going to be hurt by this - not the studios or the writers.

Back to you Chris....



Sweet report Marty. Nice work. Yup it sounds completely different from my strike. Goons, scabs, and a lot of swearing on mine. Yeah, good times. I just hope the people who got laid off during this dispute will get thier jobs back. Strikes are bad most everybody involved.

Good luck and I hope that this ends sooner rather than Later.


NEXT: It is viqueen week again so any of you queen fans feel lucky, bring it!!!! The Pack are 7-1 and on a roll. Was that sweet on Monday night or what? The game against the Chefs was equally as awesome. Number Four is truly on a mission this year and I am glad to be along on the ride.

ALSO:

I also added this to my car this week. That's right, I am down. I am the most dedicated Pack fan around. Everywhere I go now people know not to mess with me. All those queen fans, step aside. Don't F with that guy. He is down with the Pack. Thank you, and Good Night Now!!!!

I will leave you with a joke courtesy of the PackerPalace dot com. Enjoy.....

Wisconsin Temperature Conversion Chart...

60 above - Floridians wear coats, gloves and woolly hats. Wisconsin people sunbathe.

50 above - New Yorkers try to turn on the heat. Wisconsin people plant gardens.

40 above - Italian cars won't start. Wisconsin people drive with the windows down.

32 above - Distilled water freezes. Lake Michigan's water gets thicker.

20 above - Californians shiver uncontrollably. Wisconsin people have the last cookout before it gets cold.

15 above - New York landlords finally turn on the heat. Wisconsin people throw on a sweatshirt.

0 - Californians fly away to Mexico. Wisconsin people lick a flagpole.

20 below - People in Miami cease to exist. Wisconsin people get out their winter coats.

40 below - Hollywood disintegrates. Wisconsin's Girl Scouts begin selling cookies door to door.

60 below - Polar bears begin to evacuate Antarctica. Wisconsin's Boy Scouts postpone "Winter Survival" classes until it gets cold enough.

80 below - Mt. St. Helen's freezes. Wisconsin people rent some videos.

100 below - Santa Claus abandons the North Pole. Wisconsin people get frustrated when they can't thaw the keg.

297 below - Microbial life survives on dairy products. Wisconsin cows complain of farmers with cold hands.

460 below - ALL atomic motion stops. Wisconsin people start saying "Cold 'nuff for ya?"

500 below - Hell freezes over. The Minnesota Vikings finally win the Super Bowl.

Gemini fever, and THE best story EVER...

Okay, before we get to THE story, I will give you some background. I spen the last four days working for the CBC broadcast of the Gemini's. Basically the Canadian version of the Emmy's. Good gig, good money, hard work, and the chance to see celebrities. Can't go wrong with that.

The first three days were spent running cables, setting up monitors, putting cameras together, rehearsal, and pretending I knew what I was doing. I am good at that. AS you can see from the pictures there were a lot of cables to run. Lucky for us we had good weather. The set for the show was outstanding. Looked great in HD. I helped put down some track for a dolly camera. That was cool. Never did that before. Kinda slick operation. Again the CBC sent out their big guns from TO to run the cameras. I was positioned with camera 7. Which was a hand held camera located stage left right in front of the stage. Great spot to see the show, that is if I were not working. Basically my responsiblity was to make sure that camera 7's cables did not get tangled or up on anyones lap.

So from my position the celebs that were within spitting distance were, Tom Jackson(Actor), Georges St. Pierre(Ultimate Fighter), Matt Domingez(Sask Roughrider), Howie Mandel, Rick Mercer(political humourist), Brent Butt(Corner Gas), Paul Gross(actor, Due South),Mark McKinney(Kids in the Hall), AND Corey Haim. Nice. Cory Haim of course is famous for making really BAD movies. I still remember the first time I saw Licence to Drive. Changed my life. Okay, Lost Boys was good. Lucas wasn't bad. But Meatballs Three was horrible. Or was it MB4? It does not matter. He was a pretty nice guy. Almost too nice. He seemed to be really hyper, or just really happy. Maybe medically happy? Who knows. Oh, and very tanned.

Okay, as you can see, I take bad pictures. Especially when I probably was not supposed to be taking pictures. So they are a little blurry. The things I do for you TundraTalk Nation. That is Cory Haim in the pic above. Really it is. Oh and it really is Howie Mandel in the green shirt and hat. Really.









This is Paul Gross. Really...






















This is Brent Butt. Really...



























Oh and this is George Sromboloupolous. Really...










HERE IT IS, THE STORY TO END ALL STORIES - This one may be better than the Curt Henning story. Really. So it is gameday, Sunday, and we are rehearsing a few of the presentations. Trish Stratus is there to present with Howie Mandel. She is sitting in the front row talking to the writers. I am in my position kneeling on the floor (so as to not be seen by the other cameras), feeding cable to the camera. All of a sudden Trish gets up from her seat and walks over right next to me and leans against the stage. We are rehearsing and the director said for everyone to sit down. I thought this was odd that she got up and wanted to stand right next to the stage front and centre. She looked over to me and said "Is it okay if I stand here?" Of course what am I to say, "Hell no!! Go sit your ass down." Uh, no. I said "You can stand wherever you want." In the back of my mind I am thinking "why the hell does she want to stand here?"

I go back to my job and I notice that she is looking at me weird. Kinda like she is trying not to be noticed. THEN, I smell a real nasty fart hanging in the air. I know it is not mine, cause, of course a guy knows these things. The camera guy that I was working with is too far away. Then it hit me like a piledriver from Ric Flair. TRISH STRATUS JUST FARTED!!!!!!! Unfu#king believable.

So I am looking around to see if anyone else notices the sulfur smell coming from Trish's ass. She must have eaten something nasty last night. Nope, on my own no one is anywhere near the dead zone. She then leaves ground zero and goes back to her seat in the front row. I am now appalled. She came over and left me a present. Unfortunately it was a present that I did not want. I knew the guys would not believe me. I needed someone to confirm what I just witnessed, or smelled. Who knows what could happen next. Wait, I do.

Then, I hear her talking to the writer in the front row. She says, get this, "The camera guy over there has really bad gas." and gestures towards me. UNFU#KING BELIEVABLE! She comes over drops ass then goes and blames it on me. UNFU@KING BELIEVABLE. The writer of course, looks at me then says, "Oh, I'm sorry." Yeah sorry I don't come over there and kick your ass poindexter. IT WASN'T ME!!!! Do I have to explain it again? Guys know their own farts. It is kind of like they can keep track of stats and figures from sports. It is kind of like your fingerprint, except you don't use ink, you use your nose. On a side note, if you know what your homeboy's farts smell like, you have been spending too much time with your homeboy.

Here I am minding my own business, and she does that. I guess we should not expect anything less from a professional wrestler, but man. Even I know you don't rip one like that in public. So here I am, the host of TundraTalk, and Sunday rolls around, I did not have a brush with greatness pic to share and I thought the only thing I was going to be able to tell you was that I saw a Lost Boy. No pic with Strombo, no pic with Howie Mandel or Ric Mercer, wrongo. I got more than a brush with greatness, I got a brush with Trish Gaseous.

Oh, and as Donna pointed out so eloquently, she presented the Gemini award for Best Comedy to the show, wait for it, Corner GAS. Ha, ha, ha. Oh and the lead actor is Brent BUTT. It all makes sense now. Kinda.

There was a red carpet and everything. ET Canada was even on hand to ask all those tough questions like, "What are you wearing?" and "Who are you dating?" and "How does it feel to be here?". You know, the kind of shit that is important to all of us. Those are the ET Canada mic monkeys in the front of the pic on the right. Monkey's are funny.

Okay the show goes off great, we tear out all the cable we just got done putting into the building, and I decide to go to this party that SaskFilm is putting on in the sound stage over at the CBC. Not a bad gig. It was the official wrap party for the show. Here is bozo the clown, me, in all my work clothes crashing a ritzy party. Nice. FREE BOOZE. That is all that needs to be said. Matt Wright, of the Regina Wrights, was my wing man, or maybe I was his, no matter. Oh, please welcome Matt into the TT fold with open arms. He is a good guy that I have worked with at the CCMA's and the Gemini's. He is from Sri Lanka, not sure why I know that, but I do. Anyway, I managed to get a brush with Greatness photo with Ultimate Fighter Georges St. Pierre and Matt was VERY jealous, not really but it makes a better story, so I got one with him and GSP also. He also got one with Ron Maclean. Very cool.

So to recap, I did not get the holy grail, the BWG pic with Georg Stromboulopolous but I did get to meet him breifly. He is very cool and the real deal. I did not get Matt's holy grail BWG pic with Cory Haim. However, I did get farted on, and blamed for said fart by Trish Gaseous. Not a bad weekend. Not a good one, but not bad. Oh, wait, I did get my pic with Evangeline Lily, you know the chick from Lost. Nice...

NEXT: Marty Frey, of the Hollyweird Freys, sent me this pic and this note the other day....


Chris,

Can you pick out the kid that has got to be your illegitimate child?

These cute little tykes were told to "make funny faces for the camera".

The little tyke has learned by this early age - something that took his possibly father years to come up with..

Yes - I'm talking about... THE DOUBLE GUNS!
Marty
What do you mean Marty? Where would you get the idea that that kid takes after me? I think you are dreaming. Wake up.







Have a great week!!!!

FIRE!!! California drops off into ocean!!!

Marty Fire Two from hamiltongbp on Vimeo.

Above you will see some video. That video was shot by none other than Marty Frey, of the Hollywierd Freys. He, of course, lives in canyon country California. He is another of those transplants who work in the city but live outside the city. NOW WAIT A SECOND AL GORE!!! He is not one of those a holes who contribute to the smog in the city, he rides the LRT in to work every day. Get off your soap box.

Anyway the video in question was shot from his back yard. Nice Marty, the world is burning and all you do is sit back and sip a ice cold Tie Dye. What, you couldn't run over and open up a tap on a hose and put that bad boy out? I spoke to him yesterday and he said that the Santa Ana winds were blowing away from his house so he just waited it out. That is one of the things that I always liked about Marty, calm under fire. This time it was literally FIRE. Nice. He told me that he just sat there and watched the houses blow up. Quite a show.

I personally think that this whole fire thing is a conspriacy theory. After all they just shot all that footage on a lot in Hollywood. Just like the moon landing, all this fire is just one big movie sponsored by the government.

No, really, Marty is right in the middle of the shit. He gave me some LINKS to CLICK , to see fire INFO. Just click on the links and see for yourself what the hell is going on.

Marty sent me four clips, only two I could read so here is the second of the clips from his back yard. I have been to his back yard, I have played drunken poker in his back yard, that my friends is a great back yard. Poker on a Green Bay Packers green and gold poker table. Nice.


Marty Fire One from hamiltongbp on Vimeo.

Have a great day, and I hope your house does not burn Marty, or anyone else for that matter.

I am working the rest of the week on the Gemini awards show here in Regina, so I may have a few brush with greatness photos to share. The Gemini awards is Canadas version of the Emmys. Nice. We will see who and what shows up for the show. Wish me luck.

TundraTalk the Podcast, Regina Style...

Okay, first off this time I have a great photo of Cory Blashill, of the Edmonton Blashill'S, managed to get a brush with greatness pic with the guys from the show Road Hockey Rumble. That is huge. In case you do not know this show, find out. What these guys do is cruise accross Canada in a motor home and stop at different cities and choose teams and play road hockey. Usually there is a theme for the teams and the winner of the most games wins the RHR trophy. The loser gets punished. Great show. Here is a little bit to show you how great the show is. If you want season one, I have it on DVD I can cut you a copy if you offer a trade of Funyuns or PB Cap'n Crunch. Anyway, funniest show ever. They actually had me and Cory shooting stuff out of our nose funny last season.





NEXT I had the opportunity this weekend to do a podcast. That's right I finally got a show done. Jon Ryan, the punter for the Packers, who is from Regina, was in town selling sattelite systems at Audio Warehouse. I took time out of my day to wander down, get a pic with him, and do a TundraTalk, which does not suck. Just click the link to the right and enjoy. Great conversation, and a great guy. How awesome is that, the Pack are 5-1 and I get to do an interview with a Packers Player. NICE!!!

Have a great week.

Talking to Americans...

Okay, today I have for you a bit of a study. WAIT, don't surf away, just listen for a minute. This study is aimed at my peeps down south of the border, yup, America. There was this show that aired a few years ago on the CBC. Rick Mercer has always included in his show a segment where he talked to Americans. Thus the title "Talking to Americans". Basically it is Canadians making fun of Americans on how little they know about Canada. My answer to that is basically who needs to know about Canada? Really.

After living here now for 8 years, wow, 8 years. That is a long time. Anyway, I think that a person should know a bit about the Great White North just to round out their education, oh and also in case you get interviewed by Rick Mercer.

Now you may be saying that "There is NO way I would ever be interviewed by that dude. What are the chances?". Well, pretty good since I know two of the people he talked to in the show. Really. One is a lady (Susan Reilley) who was the assignment editor for WOI when I worked there, and the other is Don Schmith's, of the Des Moines Schmiths, brother (I think, I have yet to confirm it). So you really need to know it COULD happen.

Back when this show first aired I tried to do this study by sending the DVD around to you to report on then send it on to the next person. Well that did not work well because the second person on the list did not forward it. It kinda got stopped before it even got started. This was of course before YouTube and all the technology that allows me to put it up on the internet (did you know that it is for more than just porn?) so you all can see it.

So now you are saying what is the catch? Well I just want you, the American, to take some time (45 minutes) and watch the show and tell me what you think. I might have the chance to meet Rick one day and I would love to show him what people south of the border think of this show.

Send me a note and let me know what you think, or if you think the things that they are making fun of are important for you to know. Did it stir up that American pride that says no one makes fun of an American, with oput some payback? Let me know if you understood any of the jokes. Let me know how stupid you think that some of the people are. My thought is that most people could not point out anything past their own state let alone something from Canada. This is serious, I want to have quite a few things to share.

For those of you who want to cheat, I prepared a cheat sheet for you to read as you watch. Just print out this page and follow along with the jokes. If you get through the show and don’t need this sheet, good for you. If you don’t, don’t worry about it because you really don’t need to know any of this information. Really. Good luck and ‘Take off Eh!”

Make sure you let me know what you think. Oh and you Canadians can let me know what you think also. As if you need an invitation to let me know what you think. Just do it.



Talking to Americans from hamiltongbp on Vimeo.

Talking To Americans
A Study of an Inferiority Complex

Here it is the cheat sheet for you the un Canadian. This should explain all those times during the show where you go “huh?”. For the times where the laugh track is going and you aren’t. And just to let you know who the hell Paul Martin is. All of these explanations are in the order that the questionable word appears in the show.

1. Mulrooney - Brian Mulrooney is a former Canadian Prime Minister who was very unpopular for his apparent ass kissing to Reagan. He is not Eskimo.

2. Bouchard - Former Quebec Premier (like a governor).

3. Gil Duceppe - French politician.

4. Saskatchewan - Province in Canada just above Montana and North Dakota.

5. Paul Martin - former Finance Minister of Canada. Politician.

6. Tet Dumaird - French for ‘Head of Shit’.

7. Locien Bouchard - Former Quebec Premier. Not a King.

8. Bannock Bread - Naitive bread. Very heavy bread.

9. Caribu Eggs - No such thing. Caribu is like a reindeer. They do not lay eggs.

10. Ferme Le Bouche - French for ‘Close your mouth’.

11. Menegez - French for ‘to eat’.

12. Poutine - French dish that is fries with cheese and gravy.

13. West Edmonton Mall - Largest mall in the world located in Edmonton Alberta. Huge tourist attraction similar to the Mall of America. Owned by the same persons.

14. Beaver Balls - Not a real food. Only exist on male beavers.

15. Saskatchewan - Canada province that is landlocked. No ocean, no cod, no seals.

16. Toronto - Located in Ontario. No polar bears.

17. Tim Horton’s - A chain of coffee and donut shops here in Canada. Tim Horton was a former hockey player for the Maple Leafs.

18. Jean Chretien - former Prime Minister of Canada. He is French, white. Not black or Asian.

19. Peter Mansbridge - Chief anchor for the CBC. Not a bridge.

20. Canada’s Navy - Has access to ocean. Has ships.

21. Gordon Lightfoot - A singer from Canada that is not a chief. No rhino’s in Saskatchewan, let alone a hunt.

22. Woodie - There is no $5 coin in Canada.

23. Jean Chretien - former Prime Minister of Canada.

24. Provinces - Canada has Provinces not states.

25. Guy LaFleur - Hockey player for the Montreal Canadiens.

26. Labrador Wolly Elephant - Labrador is a part of the Mairtime Provinces and there are no elephants, let alone wolly ones.

27. Vancouver Caribu - Vancouver is in British Columbia and there are no Caribu in Vancouver, except in the zoo.

28. Timbits - Tim Horton’s sells donut holes and calls them ‘Timbits’.

29. Hullaballoo - Hull is a town in Ontario and the word ‘Hullaballoo’ is not slang.

30. Blinky Mulrooney - Brian Mulroony, former Prime Minister of Canada. Just another chance to call him a brown noser.

31. Toronto Canada - Ottowa is the capital of Canada.

32. Jean Poutine - Poutine is a food and Chretien was the Prime Minister.

33. Joe Clark’s Hole - Joe Clark is a politician in Canada who is still working in Ottowa. Not a national park.