September 2008 - January 2009
Two Mountains Resident Now Published Author
You may remember last February when I wrote about Colleen Baxter Sullivan's book, Lil's Way and her efforts to get it published. Well, it finally happened as Colleen signed a contract with her London Publisher. It wasn't an easy task and after being rejected many times by other publishers, she can now claim that she has become an Author rather than 'just' a writer. She is now working on a second book. Her struggle to get signed is one of perseverance and a lesson to all of us that if you really want something and work hard at it, you can do it. You can read more about it on her blog here. Congratulations Colleen, you really deserve it.
More Pictures From the Past.
Last week, I received a few pictures John Oksara and I thought I would post them here. Since I already have a fresh Two Mo (number 5) guess who going, I have put them together on this page. They are pictures from the early 70's from a couple of soccer teams and a baseball team. If you are in your late 40's, you may see yourselves in some of these.
Another thing that John pointed out to me that there were the over 100 ducks that decided to remain in Two Mountains for the winter in the little creek on top of 8th avenue. You might think that that is a good thing however with this week of bitter cold, this creek is probably frozen solid and the ducks may not survive. He's been throwing them corn and bread however 100 ducks eat a lot especially at the time. The reason they stayed is that many people fed through the summer and the easy access to food made them stay instead of migrate as per nature's calling. He suggest that in the spring, the city post signs that prohibit feeding of these ducks so that they may becoming less dependant on handouts. Great idea John and thanks for the pictures.
Olympia Entertainment Line-up for 2009
Well it was bound to happen. The line-up for the Olympia this year does not include one show that would interest the English population. I am not blaming the organizers for this but rather the poor support from the English community of Two Mountains. In the past, the have been some great shows at the Olympia and while many of the French shows are sold out with over 2000 people, the 'English' shows struggle to get 500 people and I don't think it's ever been that high. Last year's Blues Festival was really good but the turnout was a disappointment. I won't even mention the Irish Festival in July. If you want to see the entire schedule click here. This program has been announced since late November. I must have been asleep at the wheel as pre-sales have been over since Dec 11th.
Trains Added on Deux-Montagnes Line on January 12, 2009
I am repeating this article because if you are from 2mo, this will likely affect you more than the TV going digital. You will also notice a new link on the top left that will be available all the time to easily find the schedule and a way of printing off a wallet version of the schedule.
The Deux-Montagnes/Montreal commuter train schedule will be changing considerably on January 12, 2009. This line is already the best line of the commuter train system with 23 trains going into Montreal in one day. On January 12th, 2 additional departures will be available in both directions. (I that's not including the trains that only go to Roxboro). The addition of the 2 trains actually affects the departure time of 14 other trains from the Deux-Montagnes station, so you had better print out a new schedule available here. There are also 2 additional trains on Saturday and 1 on Sunday.
As a public service, I will try to resume the changes as clearly as possible in both directions. It might get a bit confusing so you will have to get a new copy of the schedule. This is probably the largest change in schedule that there has ever been. For ease of use, only the Deux-Montagnes and Montreal departures will be listed. For Grand-Moulin station, add 2 minutes to the departures to be safe although it sometimes takes 3 minutes. Click here for complete schedule changes and to print out the new 2mopaul wallet version of the schedules.
Slightly New 2mopaul Design
As you may have noticed, my page has changed, not as much as I would like, but I don't really have time for a complete redesign. Most of the links on the top left are to external weather and news sites and the ones on the right are mostly to my own site. The 2mo calendar is now on the bottom left. Hope you like it. The globe in 2mopaul replaces the smiley face and is a link to our past voyages. The golf ball is a shortcut to my golf page.
Happy 2009 With Your New TVs
Over the last holiday season, I have being hearing a few people concerned about what happens to their 'old' TV sets on the February 17th when all full power broadcast in the USA have to convert to a digital signal (Canada's date is August 31, 2011). Chances are that if you are reading this on the internet, nothing will happen. That's because most of you are receiving your signal through either cable or satellite. If you are watching American stations, you will be bombarded with this over the next 2 months so you can ignore it, however if you are watching the Burlington and Plattsburgh stations with rabbit ears or a roof top antenna, you will probably see nothing on February 17th. By nothing, I mean nothing but snow. If you have a 'new' TV and you are picking up the Digital TV signal from WCAX or WPTZ over the air nothing will change since they have been broadcasting HDTV over the air for 2 years now. You are better off than most of us since you have been getting free HDTV without cable or satellite. Anyway, if this is confusing to you, I have put together a page with good links to explain the whole thing. Click here for that page.. You can also be prepared to receive a bunch of chain letter e-mails about the impending doom to fall upon TV viewers this February. Speaking of chain letters, please read my next article.
The Infamous E-Mail Chain Letter
Here is one for my 'older' readers...Remember the real chain letter, I mean the paper version that used to go around the office. The one where management eventually had to say that if they caught anyone making photocopies (or even worse stencils) of chain letters on company equipment or using internal mail to send them, they would be dealt with accordingly. Some people were actually mailing these letters using stamps. All this because if you broke the chain, years of bad luck would ensue. There were even 'concrete' evidence that some people that had broken the chain had victim to horrible deaths and even worse forced into relationships. Electronic mail (e-mail) has changed everything. Unfortunately, it has made matters worse by 1) eliminating the trip(s) to the photocopier and 2) making it so easy to forward it to 'friends' or your entire address book. I, having a 'public' e-mail address, is victim to countless chain e-mails of which over the past 10 years have forwarded exactly 0 of them although have replied to them on several occasions. 99.9% of e-mails that promote forwarding are hoaxes. The odd one that is real is the desperate attempt to find a real missing child. I once received one of these 'real' ones where the child had actually been found over 2 years after I received the e-mail. Really some people should read their mails more often than every 2 years.
E-mail chain letters have a few goals but they should all be treated as prank calls, just hang up. Don't forward at the promise of a free laptop or a cheque from Bill Gates. Before you forward another e-mail please take a look at this website: www.breakthechain.org and especially this article from it Come on, What can it hurt?
The final thing that I would like to rant about is getting e-mail containing large attachments. These are usually videos and are sometimes very large. Again, 99.9% of the videos that are passed around as attachments in e-mail have been posted to youtube.com. Instead of sending the entire video and using an incredible amount of space on your e-mail folders (if you send a 5 meg video it also ends up in your sent mail), go to youtube do a simple search and then copy the link and send that. (right click on the address field and select copy). The receivers will get an e-mail that will open fast and when they click on the link the video will start up almost immediately. That's it, I have vented enough although I would like to talk about people who use powerpoint to type up a simple joke but I decided not to write about that.
WNDL Fun Mixed Darts Tournament
The Wednesday Night Dart Tournament is having its annual between the holidays Mixed Dart tournament on Saturday December 27 at 7:30ish. The tournament will be held at the Tartan Pub and many people will be starting the evening at the (BYOW) Lotus restaurant across the street. Drop me an e-mail if you want to go to the restaurant at 5:30 otherwise just drop in to the Tartan and wait for us to arrive from the Lotus which is excellent but the service sometimes tends to be at a relaxed pace. Cost is $6 for entry into the tournament. 
Another Landmark Destroyed by Fire
Yet another drinking establishment has succumbed the flames as the Gratten Lake Lodge was completely destroyed by fire. This 77 year old landmark situated near Rawdon was the place to be in the small lakeside community of Gratten Lake. The fire started around 6:00pm on Thursday December in the oil furnace room and spread quickly through the mostly wood structure. My thoughts go out to the community and especially 'new' owner Alex who worked very hard in the last few years to get the lodge back to its former glory. For the past two years, our Legion 185 softball team had been welcomed there after our annual game. If you want to see pictures of our last visit click here. This picture was taken by Diane after 25cm of snow.
The yellow sign reads
REBUILD
ME
DAVE
Thanks to Tina for forwarding Diane's picture to me.
This is the second of two fires that have devastated a community in the past 4 months. If you remember, August saw the destruction of Fred's Hotel in Chapeau Quebec. Another place where you instantly felt at home when you walk into it.
Santa Claus Parade Pictures Now accessible without signing in to Phanfare. Although signing in is free and you can then post up to 1 gig of your own pictures for free.
Sonny Gleeson's PGA Pool
On Saturday December 6th, the 28th annual PGA pool that was started by the late Sonny Gleeson was held at the Tartan Pub. Here are the pictures and the picks can be seen on the Pools link on the left.
Ms. Daoust Puts Out Bilingual Pamphlet
Just in time for tomorrow's election Marie-France Daoust has distributed a bilingual pamphlet. I haven't received it yet but it has been distributed. I am not sure it this was planned or a reaction to the numerous calls she got from the English community. Regardless, Merci!
Fed Up With Politics?
Those of you who have moved out of Quebec will be glad you did, otherwise you would be going through yet another election exercise. The Quebec provincial election is this Monday (Dec 8) but many of us have already voted in the advanced polling last Sunday and Monday. Here is another reason why you might be happy you moved away from Quebec. Some of you may not know, but my mother tongue is French as I only started speaking English in grade 3 when we moved from Jonquiere to Two-Mountains in 1964. Even with my French background, I feel insulted by the French only pamphlet that was slapped on my car at the train station today. Firstly, there are signs all over the parking lots at the train that no 'publicity' should be put on cars in the lot. Nevertheless, Marie-France Daoust of the Parti Liberal Quebec (I expect this from the PQ not the PLQ) put out her flyers on every car in the lot. A 6 page pamphlet without a single word of English. To add insult to injury, the last last point in 'Mes Engagements' is ' promotion de la langue française dans notre milieu de vie'. Loosely translated; 'promotion of the French language in our lives'. More loosely translated it means it could mean more negative feelings towards English of which some politicians don't realize how many there are still out here. I don't expect the PQ to cater to the English population as proven by their web site, void of any English, but the www.plq.org site does have English content.
I did e-mail Ms.Daoust requesting an English version of her flyer by e-mail. If I get it I will post it here for you. I will let you know the response. If you want to ask yourself, her e-mail address is marie-france.daoust@plq.org. Don't bother writing to Ms. Daoust with regular e-mail as it will get rejected by the mail system. The only way is to do it through the PLQ site. Anyway, It might be too late for people that have already voted but it would be nice to see if such a document exists.
Jamaica Trip
Anyone interested in our recent Montego Bay trip, it's documented now and there is even a 3 minute video to go with it. Here is the link.
New Year's Eve Parties Around the Corner
Now that it's December, it's time to decide what you will be doing to bring in 2009. That are a couple of New Year's Eve parties that I have been told about so I will pass on the information. Right now, I know of 2 dances. Simply go to the calendar and click on New Year's Eve Dance or find the info here.
Country Show at St-Agapit
On Saturday, December 6th, Production Company 'PartyShow JMc.' will be putting on a show featuring Eileen Wilson in the basement of the St-Agapit church 1002 Oka road. The show will also feature Josée Lousignan and Alex Kwan. For all the details please click here or go to the December calendar. Come out and support our Two Mountains' talent.
Boil Water Alert in 2MO and Ste-Marthe (Lifted)
In case you still drink tap water, you now have to boil it for 5 minutes as a precaution. Personally, I prefer the Dioxins from bottled water that I have had in the freezer for a while. Check out this important 'advise' from the Deux-Montagnes website. Thanks Julie for the link and the truck going around the city to announce it.
New Two Mountains Guess Who Number 4
Marg Paulich sent me a picture from the early 60's of a kindergarten class in the Gyro Club. There are 33 kids in the picture and 3 'teachers'. If you are around 50 years old, you will definitely recognize some people. Check it out and send your e-mails if you have definite id on any of the people in the picture. The link is above or here. Thanks Marg.
Where are they now?
In another installment of 'where are they now?, I received an e-mail from ex 2 mountainer Carol Marriott who after spending 25 years in Alberta has now moved to Saskatchewan where she is and is running a Equine-Assisted Learning Centre and Retreat called Ravenheart Farms. It looks like a great place to be. Check out the website here: www.ravenheartfarms.com. Keep up the good work, Carol.
Calgary's Cutest Kid
As you may remember, a few months ago I reported on the Sean MaGill's Jr. new addition into the family. So Devlin MaGill is now vying for Calgary's cutest Kid which is a contest put on by Vibe 98.5 . Sean is asking for your support to vote for Devlin. The website is http://www.vibemorningshow.com .and Devlin is in Photo Gallery 28 and is # 1407. You can only vote once a day from each IP address or he can be disqualified. Good luck Devlin.
2Mo Dukes Rocking On
A while ago, I wrote about a band called the the Dukes. It ends up that the name was being used by another band so they had to find a new name. So, like I did with my website, they just tagged 2mo in front of it. They played a great set at Canada Day and they have many of their numbers from that show posted on youtube. You can also reach those through their mySpace page here. They've played the Ex in Ottawa and their next big gig is Boxing Day at the Drizz in Ste-Marthe. Band member Larry Bisson also asked me pass the word that they can make themselves available to organizations in the area that have a good cause or any other event that you would like them to appear at. You can reach Larry at jimmytheflute@msn.com or 514-781-4564.
Unclaimed Luggage Sale - Round 2
A message from Mike, Gary and the gang - We're back and better than the first time! Our upcoming Unclaimed Luggage Sale will be on Saturday November 15th and Sunday November 16th from 9am to 4pm and 9am to 1pm respectively. Click here for the flyer.
We are truly excited about this sale as we have streamlined and lowered the prices, received some interesting and unusual objects, more good quality clothing and an extensive electronics selection. We have I-pods, PDA's, Portable DVD's, laptops, Cameras, Nintendo Gameboy, tri-pods and more!
You can check out photos of a small selection of goods available on our Facebook site: unclaimed luggage liquidation.
We thank you for your patronage to our first sale and hope to see you there.
The A-H Team Wins the 43rd SOMD Annual Grey Cup
The S.O.M.D. (don't ask) Touch football capped off its 43rd season yesterday with a tightly fought Grey Cup. The teams had been 'picked' the week prior and looked like it would be a close match. It actually was for a long time. For the first time ever, the teams were formed by sorting the players by last name, hence the A-H team. The L-T team started the scoring by an rookie Mike McKeown interception for touchdown in the 2nd quarter. Unfortunately, that was all the scoring they would have as the A-H's scored 3 three touch downs including the end of game, 99 yard scoring drive that shut down all hopes for a comeback. The final score was 18-6 and the festivities ensued. Mark Thivierge received the Mickey O'Sullivan player of the year award and I (Paul) received the Grey Cup MVP award by one vote over Mark Larose who caught 3 interceptions in a losing cause. Pictures can be accessed via the SOMD link on the left.
If the World Could Vote in the USA
Mike C sent me an interesting link where you can vote for Obama or McCain. You get to vote and then you can see the results by country. You may be surprized by some of the results. You can also learn the flags of all the countries in the world. Click here to cast your vote then see the results..
SOMD and Sonny's St-Andrew's PGA Pool News
The SOMD touch football league is about to have its 43rd annual Grey Cup Game next Saturday. Get all the latest news including the departure time of the bus from the Tartan using the link on the left. The golf season having ended, it's time for everyone to pay up (or get paid) for last year's picks. The first draft for the 2009 PGA golf season was held on Saturday the 25th of October. St Andrew's is the longest running of the 3 golf pools. This pool was started by Sonny Gleeson many years ago at the St Andrews Golf course (not the one in Scotland). The other 2 drafts will be held in December, Sonny was also a big part of those pools. Check out the Pools link on the left to see the teams picked for 2009,
Check out the Calendar
There is lots-o-stuff coming up in the next few months in Two Mountains. I make an attempt to keep the calendar up-to-date with links to more info. If you want your event listed, just drop me an e-mail. Also on the calendar page is a link to the monthly Two Mountains Families monthly newsletter by Julie Laver which contains a comprehensive calendar of events. When the link is red, this means that the newsletter is not available yet. For 'official' city events, you always click on the Deux-Montagnes logo on top of the page where a calendar resides. The Legion also has it own calendar of events that can be reached by the logo on top.
Insurance Board Information Campaign Website
By chance I found a a website today run by the Insurance Board of Quebec. There is a neat campaign going on to demystify insurance on what is covered or not or questions like does it cost more to insure a red car? The answers mainly apply to Quebec but on that page is a download of a great spreadsheet to keep track of the things you have in your home. Each tab corresponds to a room in your house, so it organizes things for you. The site is here and the home inventory spreadsheet is on the right side under the main frame. You will also find the link in my favorites.
Click here for the latest Tartan Supper Pictures
Last Friday night at the Tartan Pub was the first Friday night supper of the season. It was also Ron Potter's 60th birthday and on that night was also Danny Gagnon's 55th and Bill Fenn's 57th. The place was packed as you will see by the pictures and the Karaoke was running wild......
Ronald "Sonny" Gleeson 1935-2008
Passed away in Deux-Montagnes on October 15, 2008 at the age of seventy-three. Beloved husband of Claire Migneron. Loving father of Bradley (Corrie), and Anne-Marie. Cherished grandfather of Garrett and Justin. He will be missed by his sisters Elaine and Barbara (Kenneth), his brother Donald (Verna), as well his brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, nephews, nieces, relatives and friends. Resting at Complexe Funeraire Regional Guay Inc. 146 St.Louis, St.Eustache on Saturday, October 18 from 2 to 5 and 7 to 8 p.m. A Prayer Gathering will be held at the Salon on Saturday, October 18 at 8 p.m. Donations to the Canadian Lung Association would be appreciated. Click here to view or sign his guestbook on the remembering.com website. Click on the picture for another picture of Sonny. My sincere condolences to Claire, Brad and Anne-Marie.
