The Swamp

Posted: **Mon Feb 08, 2021 9:04 pm**

brian wrote: ↑Mon Feb 08, 2021 8:51 pm That’s pretty impressive though I’ll raise you a Canadian girlfriend (a real one) for 18 months after college and a Canadian great-grandmother who lived across the border in Windsor until she died when I was 11. Lived 15 minutes from the border until I was 11. We’d used to go just for the BBQ place right by the tunnel and then after I turned 19 we’d drive two hours to go to the bar every weekend because we were stupid as fuck. So our backgrounds are definitely similar.

Anyway, you know what I know. Average Canadians are basically average Americans except with any good qualities dialed up about 20-25 percent (which is enough to make the difference.).

You got me beat for sure, but I agree with your assessment. I'd go further and say the average Canadian is basically the nicest American dialed up 20-25 percent. In college I went to 2 day Conference having something to do with a Niagara Region cross-culture initiative. What I most remember is how hot the girls from Niagara University were, but I also remember the final session was watching the John Candy movie Canadian Bacon, then discussing the differences between Americans and Canadians. Fascinating stuff. First, half the jokes in the movie were geared towards Canadians, and if half the room wasn't laughing, I never would have realized I missed jokes. Ultimately, we all concluded that our differences stem from the old mythologies of individualism and the rags to riches stories. Canadians can't comprehend how we teach children to question authority and fight the system. I think it stems from the Colonies decision to fight the Revolution and win our freedom, while Canada still has the Queen of England on their currency and her portrait over every hockey rink.

Posted: **Mon Feb 08, 2021 9:56 pm**

brian wrote: ↑Mon Feb 08, 2021 7:51 pm
Pruitt wrote: ↑Mon Feb 08, 2021 7:25 pm
brian wrote: ↑Mon Feb 08, 2021 6:49 pm ... Though Canadian conservatives are usually closer to moderate American Democrats though many would never admit it.
Our most right-wing Prime Minister of my lifetime (Stephen Harper) would be censured by most state GOP groups.
For not being conservative enough you mean, like Liz Cheney?

Yep. Although the above comment was true even before the party was full of clinically insane people.

Posted: **Mon Feb 08, 2021 10:23 pm**

I’ll shoot for an honorable mention. My dad is a Canadian citizen, lived in Hamilton 15 years. Drove into and across Canada nearly every year growing up.

Hell I even saw the Danny Ainge-era Blue Jays play in Exhibition Stadium.

Posted: **Mon Feb 08, 2021 11:08 pm**

Grew up 2 miles from the Canadian border myself (albeit water) but frequent dinners on Peele island, regular trips to Southern Ontario and daily visits from Canadian tourists shaped my child/early adulthood.

This has turned into who’s the most Canadian non-Canadian Swamper. Should we start a poll or submit resumes to Pruitt and degen and let them decide?

Posted: **Mon Feb 08, 2021 11:27 pm**

I was born and raised in Colorado, but both my parents were born and raised Canadians from Saskatchewan. My dad played college hockey at Denver University. We went up to Canada every summer of my youth. All my relatives outside my immediate family are Canadians living in Canada. I say tea towel and toque and call my mother "Mum". I drink too much, play cribbage and watch lots of hockey.

Posted: **Mon Feb 08, 2021 11:31 pm**

sancarlos wrote: ↑Mon Feb 08, 2021 11:27 pm I was born and raised in Colorado, but both my parents were born and raised Canadians from Saskatchewan. My dad played college hockey at Denver University. We went up to Canada every summer of my youth. All my relatives outside my immediate family are Canadians living in Canada. I say tea towel and toque and call my mother "Mum". I drink too much and watch lots of hockey.

My dad keeps telling me you haven't lived until you've seen the Canadian Rockies.

Posted: **Mon Feb 08, 2021 11:37 pm**

EnochRoot wrote: ↑Mon Feb 08, 2021 11:31 pm
sancarlos wrote: ↑Mon Feb 08, 2021 11:27 pm I was born and raised in Colorado, but both my parents were born and raised Canadians from Saskatchewan. My dad played college hockey at Denver University. We went up to Canada every summer of my youth. All my relatives outside my immediate family are Canadians living in Canada. I say tea towel and toque and call my mother "Mum". I drink too much and watch lots of hockey.
My dad keeps telling me you haven't lived until you've seen the Canadian Rockies.

I've been to Banff a couple times. It is really pretty. Next time I go to Alberta, I'll ring up Degenerasian.

Posted: **Mon Feb 08, 2021 11:44 pm**

sancarlos wrote: ↑Mon Feb 08, 2021 11:37 pm
EnochRoot wrote: ↑Mon Feb 08, 2021 11:31 pm
sancarlos wrote: ↑Mon Feb 08, 2021 11:27 pm I was born and raised in Colorado, but both my parents were born and raised Canadians from Saskatchewan. My dad played college hockey at Denver University. We went up to Canada every summer of my youth. All my relatives outside my immediate family are Canadians living in Canada. I say tea towel and toque and call my mother "Mum". I drink too much and watch lots of hockey.
My dad keeps telling me you haven't lived until you've seen the Canadian Rockies.
I've been to Banff a couple times. It is really pretty. Next time I go to Alberta, I'll ring up Degenerasian.

My wife and I were about to take a trip across Canada via rail, but then the pandemic hit. We'll do it soon.

Posted: **Tue Feb 09, 2021 7:23 am**

bump for truth.

EnochRoot wrote: ↑Mon Feb 08, 2021 11:31 pm My dad keeps telling me you haven't lived until you've seen the Canadian Rockies.

Posted: **Tue Feb 09, 2021 8:08 am**

Steve of phpBB wrote: ↑Mon Feb 08, 2021 10:23 pm I’ll shoot for an honorable mention. My dad is a Canadian citizen, lived in Hamilton 15 years. Drove into and across Canada nearly every year growing up.

Hell I even saw the Danny Ainge-era Blue Jays play in Exhibition Stadium.

Oh Was He Bad at Baseball!

Posted: **Tue Feb 09, 2021 9:18 am**

I almost hooked up with a Canadian co-worker during a trip to Hartford.

Posted: **Tue Feb 09, 2021 9:22 am**

Ooh, a .75-some.

Posted: **Tue Feb 09, 2021 9:23 am**

All of my family landed in Toronto when they came across the ocean many years ago. Some of the family moved south to Maryland and others stayed up north. I visited Canada a few times
As a kid, mostly Niagara Falls and Toronto (great science museum). I went to Montreal to watch the O’s play with friends in ‘98. Almost got busted for weed at the border. That’s all I have.

Posted: **Tue Feb 09, 2021 9:51 am**

The various reactions from customer service people of collection agencies when reporting your mother's death is fascinating to me. From the very blase "thanks for letting us know" to the half-sincere "I'm sorry for your loss". From the "can we speak to the account holder to confirm you may speak on her behalf" before I've said why I'm calling to "we will mail you this and you have to send us this, this and this" to confirm she's not merely dead, she's really most sincerely dead.

Posted: **Tue Feb 09, 2021 10:17 am**

bfj wrote: ↑Tue Feb 09, 2021 9:23 am All of my family landed in Toronto when they came across the ocean many years ago. Some of the family moved south to Maryland and others stayed up north. I visited Canada a few times
As a kid, mostly Niagara Falls and Toronto (great science museum). I went to Montreal to watch the O’s play with friends in ‘98. Almost got busted for weed at the border. That’s all I have.

Toronto science museum was so much fun (as a kid), but nothing beats the Hockey Hall of Fame. Went 3 times in college, and it's the greatest museum. All of the trophies just sitting out on display with no glass. You can't lift the Stanley Cup, but you are allowed to kiss it according to the one employee watching the trophies, a woman maybe 24 years old at most. Lots of interactive games to play. I'm sure I told the story, but I had an incident crossing the border going to Montreal for a friend's bachelor party weekend. I was working at Customs and Border Protection at the time, and another guy in the van was an FBI agent. Another guy lost his drivers license and didn't think to mention it until we were close to the border, while a 4th guy suddenly panicked, telling us he brought an obscene amount of weed with him, despite the FBI agent lecturing him not to bring any. We got pulled into the Canadian Customs building for about an hour while they straightened out the guy with no license and interviewed each of us separately. I really thought I was losing my job that day.

Posted: **Tue Feb 09, 2021 10:33 am**

* My grandparents on my dad's side owned a home on a point on a lake in Canada that I spent about a month on every summer for about 10 years. We used to take water planes into the bush to do day long fishing trips. Spent some Christmases up there, as well. I wish I could remember the name of the lake, but all I remember is that our entry point into Canada was International Falls.

* Played in two Olympic style events (I played soccer, but pretty much every sport was competed) in a Sister City type deal with Peterborough in 1984 and 85. Called the Arborough games. I stayed with a lovely family up in there.

* My wife's family is mostly settled up around Ajax and Mississauga. Wife's family also owned a cottage on Rice Lake. So, while I had a brief patch of not spending time up near Thunder Bay with my dad's family, I went with the wife's family up to their cottage more than a dozen times over the years. They sold that place about 8 years ago and the closest I've been to Canada since then was in 2018 for the World Juniors in Buffalo. Which, c'mon, same thing.

Posted: **Tue Feb 09, 2021 10:35 am**

The Sybian wrote: ↑Tue Feb 09, 2021 10:17 am
bfj wrote: ↑Tue Feb 09, 2021 9:23 am All of my family landed in Toronto when they came across the ocean many years ago. Some of the family moved south to Maryland and others stayed up north. I visited Canada a few times
As a kid, mostly Niagara Falls and Toronto (great science museum). I went to Montreal to watch the O’s play with friends in ‘98. Almost got busted for weed at the border. That’s all I have.
Toronto science museum was so much fun (as a kid), but nothing beats the Hockey Hall of Fame. Went 3 times in college, and it's the greatest museum. All of the trophies just sitting out on display with no glass. You can't lift the Stanley Cup, but you are allowed to kiss it according to the one employee watching the trophies, a woman maybe 24 years old at most. Lots of interactive games to play. I'm sure I told the story, but I had an incident crossing the border going to Montreal for a friend's bachelor party weekend. I was working at Customs and Border Protection at the time, and another guy in the van was an FBI agent. Another guy lost his drivers license and didn't think to mention it until we were close to the border, while a 4th guy suddenly panicked, telling us he brought an obscene amount of weed with him, despite the FBI agent lecturing him not to bring any. We got pulled into the Canadian Customs building for about an hour while they straightened out the guy with no license and interviewed each of us separately. I really thought I was losing my job that day.

Pretty sure the trophies except for the Cup are all behind plexiglass now. That trophy room in the old bank vault is pretty cool though.

Posted: **Tue Feb 09, 2021 10:57 am**

indeed.

just lemme know when the Canadian-without-officially-being-Canadian competition begins and who wants to finish 2nd.

Nonlinear FC wrote: ↑Tue Feb 09, 2021 10:33 am They sold that place about 8 years ago and the closest I've been to Canada since then was in 2018 for the World Juniors in Buffalo. Which, c'mon, same thing.

Posted: **Tue Feb 09, 2021 11:01 am**

govmentchedda wrote: ↑Tue Feb 09, 2021 10:35 am
The Sybian wrote: ↑Tue Feb 09, 2021 10:17 am
bfj wrote: ↑Tue Feb 09, 2021 9:23 am All of my family landed in Toronto when they came across the ocean many years ago. Some of the family moved south to Maryland and others stayed up north. I visited Canada a few times
As a kid, mostly Niagara Falls and Toronto (great science museum). I went to Montreal to watch the O’s play with friends in ‘98. Almost got busted for weed at the border. That’s all I have.
Toronto science museum was so much fun (as a kid), but nothing beats the Hockey Hall of Fame. Went 3 times in college, and it's the greatest museum. All of the trophies just sitting out on display with no glass. You can't lift the Stanley Cup, but you are allowed to kiss it according to the one employee watching the trophies, a woman maybe 24 years old at most. Lots of interactive games to play. I'm sure I told the story, but I had an incident crossing the border going to Montreal for a friend's bachelor party weekend. I was working at Customs and Border Protection at the time, and another guy in the van was an FBI agent. Another guy lost his drivers license and didn't think to mention it until we were close to the border, while a 4th guy suddenly panicked, telling us he brought an obscene amount of weed with him, despite the FBI agent lecturing him not to bring any. We got pulled into the Canadian Customs building for about an hour while they straightened out the guy with no license and interviewed each of us separately. I really thought I was losing my job that day.
Pretty sure the trophies except for the Cup are all behind plexiglass now. That trophy room in the old bank vault is pretty cool though.

Really? That sucks. That was such a marker of Canadian culture to me that a room with so many valuable trophies are left out in the open, you were allowed to touch them, and security consisted of a single unarmed small woman. Now that I think about it, maybe it was just the Stanley Cup out of plexiglass. I just wasn't as excited to touch the Vezina or Lady Byng.

Posted: **Tue Feb 09, 2021 11:13 am**

It's only the Stanley Cup that's unique, right? Like they make a new Vezina every year for the guy who wins it, but only the Cup is one of a kind?

Posted: **Tue Feb 09, 2021 11:18 am**

We do skew pretty Canadian as a board.

My High School was about half a mile from Quebec, frequented a couple of restaurants and a bakery in Sutton, Qc. Lots of trips to Montreal as well. Friend's dad had an in for tickets for Habs games and it was the big city in our parts. And the Summer of 1987 I fooled around a lot with Genevieve my first real girlfriend whose family was from the Eastern Townships and for some reason felt like traveling across the border and spending the Summer in a campground.

Posted: **Tue Feb 09, 2021 11:21 am**

L-Jam3 wrote: ↑Tue Feb 09, 2021 11:13 am It's only the Stanley Cup that's unique, right? Like they make a new Vezina every year for the guy who wins it, but only the Cup is one of a kind?

There are 3 actually. The original, the presentation one, and the one on display at the HHF.

Posted: **Tue Feb 09, 2021 11:29 am**

rass wrote: ↑Tue Feb 09, 2021 9:22 amOoh, a .75-some.

Golf clap. Several in fact.

Posted: **Tue Feb 09, 2021 11:33 am**

MaxWebster wrote: ↑Tue Feb 09, 2021 10:57 am indeed.

just lemme know when the Canadian-without-officially-being-Canadian competition begins and who wants to finish 2nd.

Nonlinear FC wrote: ↑Tue Feb 09, 2021 10:33 am They sold that place about 8 years ago and the closest I've been to Canada since then was in 2018 for the World Juniors in Buffalo. Which, c'mon, same thing.

You guys are all too convinced of your opinions to be Canadian.

Our national motto should be "Yeah, but..."

Posted: **Tue Feb 09, 2021 11:42 am**

I forgot Max actually lived there for quite awhile, so it's quite a battle for second though.

Posted: **Tue Feb 09, 2021 12:17 pm**

Question 1 - Identify this type of shoe:

Posted: **Tue Feb 09, 2021 12:24 pm**

Rush2112 wrote: ↑Tue Feb 09, 2021 11:21 am
L-Jam3 wrote: ↑Tue Feb 09, 2021 11:13 am It's only the Stanley Cup that's unique, right? Like they make a new Vezina every year for the guy who wins it, but only the Cup is one of a kind?
There are 3 actually. The original, the presentation one, and the one on display at the HHF.

Oh, so it's not even the real cup. Fucking Canadians.

Posted: **Tue Feb 09, 2021 12:26 pm**

Pruitt wrote: ↑Tue Feb 09, 2021 12:17 pm Question 1 - Identify this type of shoe:

Acacias.

Posted: **Tue Feb 09, 2021 12:53 pm**

platform hightop

Posted: **Tue Feb 09, 2021 1:00 pm**

Posted: **Tue Feb 09, 2021 1:10 pm**

Posted: **Tue Feb 09, 2021 1:12 pm**

waffle stompers

Posted: **Tue Feb 09, 2021 1:36 pm**

hurryhard

Posted: **Tue Feb 09, 2021 1:42 pm**

Broom ball shoes.

Posted: **Tue Feb 09, 2021 1:46 pm**

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Exactly what I was going to say.

Posted: **Tue Feb 09, 2021 2:24 pm**

WHAT ARE THOSE?????

Posted: **Tue Feb 09, 2021 4:54 pm**

Pruitt wrote: ↑Tue Feb 09, 2021 1:42 pm Broom ball shoes.

Stumped me with that one. If you went with grippers and sliders, I would have been with you.

Posted: **Tue Feb 16, 2021 4:45 pm**

I think the "retention specialist" I spoke to at DirecTV today was genuinely disappointed that I didn't want any promotions.

Posted: **Tue Feb 16, 2021 10:18 pm**

This is my neighborhood store. I'm guessing that Kroger was looking for an excuse to close it, and is going to try to blame the city for the $4/hour 'hazard pay' for the workers. Its going to suck if it really closes...it was nice to be able to zip over 4 blocks away when I needed an ingredient for something.

Can't wait to go read the 'Next Door' site for the reaction.

Posted: **Fri Feb 19, 2021 2:33 pm**

I can't come up for any other criteria for selecting a PCP other than 'close to me' and 'attractive'. Yes I'm that shallow and thankful that I'm healthy enough that I can be. How do normal people do this? Through recommendations? Research? Reviews? What a pita. (I did have a really good male doc a couple of providers ago that I checked on first but he's not in-network. {See I'm not a total pig.})

The Swamp

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