Ryan J. Allen » travel

Dessert Mastery

Ryan J. Allen — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 04:59:10 +0000

I was invited to dinner at Adam and Kyla’s tonight. I brought dessert. I made Peanut Butter Cup Cookies and Pretzel Turtles. Both turned out really great. I didn’t make any changes at all as baking is a bit unfamiliar to me, but I did make enough to have lots leftover. My coworkers will be pleased tomorrow.

Oh yeah, I went to Australia and Seattle over the holiday break.

PEC Marathon on Sunday

Ryan J. Allen — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 03:07:53 +0000

This Sunday is the PEC Marathon. I’ll be the only one I know running. It has an 8am start time, which should put me in at the finish around noon. I’m in no rush, as I have already beat my marathon goal for the year. I think it will be cool just to finish my third marathon.

Alex might come cheer at the end. Aunt Judy is walking the half so there’s a chance I’ll see someone else I know there, too. I’m hoping I’ll get to see her at the half-way point at least, even if they’re not yet ready to start.

A part of me hates that these running events are always on Sunday. I miss hanging out with God in church.

I’m going to motorcycle there.

MK’s Surprise Party, Bluesfest, Aventure Lafleche Photosets Posted

Ryan J. Allen — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 00:43:45 +0000

Hi Internet,

I have posted some new photosets to my Flickr account. In chronological order, MK’s Surprise 30th Birthday, Bluesfest 2011, and from a trip to Aventure Lafleche’s aerial adventure. It is worth noting that these events all took place before Stephanie worked her magic on my hair, which is now beautiful. None-the-less, they are enjoyable.

So, enjoy.

Sport

Ryan J. Allen — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 22:02:38 +0000

I may have posted already indicating what is upcoming for me with respect to sport, but I thought I’d go over for my own benefit.

On August 20th I will be in Toronto to support the runners in the Midsummer Night’s Run. I will not be running. Some family members are running the 15 km run and I just couldn’t bring myself to run this when there is a 30 km option. I will use this as an excuse to visit Toronto, keeping my quarterly visits up.

On September 18th I will be participating in the Army Run Half-Marathon here in Ottawa. I have entered a team, which is four people strong, and have no hopes of winning. None-the-less, it will be fun. There is some discussion by people around me to do the 5 km run, which I fully encourage.

On October 2nd I will be undertaking my third marathon, the County Marathon. I have heard great things about this marathon and look forward to seeing if it lives up to the hype. I have no specific goal for this marathon other than to have fun.

On October 22nd I’m taking Will and his girlfriend to participate in the CN Tower Climb. It has been a few years since I last participated in a climb, and I have never done the climb in the fall. It should be a fun time and I hope everyone in our group will be successful in completing the challenge.

That’s all that is on the docket as far as sport is concerned. It should lead will into the sloth period that is Winter.

Family Reunion and Windshield Performance

Ryan J. Allen — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 21:53:08 +0000

I was in Kingston this long weekend for a family reunion. It was fun, and nice to see many family members I hadn’t seen in a while all in one place. It was organized by my aunt and she did a great job of keeping it entertaining. There were a few moments where I thought “can he/she say that?”, but in the end I figured it was all fine since we’re all family.

I organized a few of “my” generation to have breakfast one morning. It was nice. I hope we can do it again. I wanted something a step-up from greasy-spoon but not quite top-tier so I decided on Windmills, which fit the bill perfectly.

The ride to and from Kingston was the first long-distance ride with the windshield. It performed well. I removed the windshield for my time in Kingston but re-installed it for the ride home. On the ride home I decided to try 401+416. The windshield made the ride so comfortable that I rode at highway speeds and exhausted my primary fuel before I reached Ottawa. It wasn’t that much faster than if I had taken highway 10 or 15 but I did it not for time savings but rather so that I would be familiar with the windshield’s performance for the same ride that I would do in two weeks.

In two weeks (well, one week now) I will be riding down to Watkins Glen for the NASCAR race. AdamJ and I are going and I am pretty, pretty, pretty excited. I can’t help but think that Adam is more excited, though!

The week following will be a trip, hopefully by motorcycle, to Toronto. I can’t help but think it’s time for a new bike with a few of these longer rides. To be honest, when I took the windshield and bags off of my motorcycle on Wednesday morning my bike felt small. I have been on the lookout for what I might want next but haven’t come to any conclusions.

Family Filled Weekend

Ryan J. Allen — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 02:06:53 +0000

I had a family-filled weekend.

Thursday night I made a shrimp pasta, and visited with Will until I almost fell asleep. Friday morning Will and I went to the gym, then Starbucks, then joined Alex, Mom, and Aunt Shelley for lunch at the Golden Rooster. Then a drive with Nana, Shelley, and mom to Toronto.

The four of us stayed with Uncle Steve and Aunt Cynthia Friday night. Mom and I went for a 10 km run on Saturday morning, and Shelley joined us for the first couple of kilometres. We started our drive to Hamilton, picking up Erin on the way, got stuck in traffic, but still made the main event: Robin Hood the musical, starring an incredible cast that included our cousin Michael. The play was excellent; they had a real bunch of talent there.

After the play the group of us headed to the Limeridge Mall, then headed back to Toronto to the Westin Harbour Castle. We had a regular little party going on there, with 7 of us staying across 3 rooms. We all headed to dinner for 12 at Baton Rouge, walking there and back in the beautiful outdoors. Walking by the CN Tower I got the idea of bringing Will back for the CN Tower climb in October.

Back at the hotel some of us went for a swim, and Nana came down to check out the pool and patio. Afterwards we had a romp of a time up in the hotel room, fitting 10 of us together for some beverages and potato chips. After all of that driving and family time I had no problems falling asleep.

Early in the morning I woke up and mom and I went to meet Erin and Stephanie for an 8:30 am run. We did a nice 6 km run around and through the Mount Pleasant cemetery. After the run we headed back to the hotel to prepare for the day (including a stop at Starbucks, plus Starbucks brewed in the hotel room), then checked-out and walked to Fran’s for brunch. Uncle Paul and picked Michael up from his apartment in Oakville and Mr. Keeves also joined us for brunch. I had Fran’s Big Breakfast.

On our way home we all stopped at Steve and Cynthia’s again for a little pool party. Andrea and Wylie joined, with Braydon and Alyson, not to mention Erin, Stephanie, and Mark. It was a nice little visit. It felt weird to leave as early as we did, but we all had to return to Kingston. After dropping Nana and Shelley off, we picked up Will and he joined mom and I for dinner. We made shrimp pasta again, because Will missed out on dinner Thursday night. After this a sleep and then back to Ottawa in the morning for me.

A fun, family-filled weekend. (And I’m in Kingston tonight for a belated Father’s Day dinner, which was excellent spaghetti.)

Starbucks, PlayBook, Flickr, YouTube, White Mocha

Ryan J. Allen — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 01:21:48 +0000

This morning after church Adam, Kyla, and I went to Starbucks to enjoy a beverage and company. It was a nice day so we sat on the patio. I was showing Adam and Kyla some photos from Will and I’s east coast trip on a PlayBook when, simultaneously, two things happened: 1. Adam saw a photo of Will playing at an open mic night and asked about this; and, 2. a nearby patron noticed that we were sharing memories around a PlayBook. In response to (1), I multi-tasked over to the YouTube app to search for the short clip of Will performing in Charlottetown. This also served to showcase the PlayBook for the crowd of people that had grown in response to (2).

It was weird and hilarious.

It’s also worth mentioning that I had an Iced Grande two-pump white mocha light-ice latte. It was amazing.

General Updates

Ryan J. Allen — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 02:33:55 +0000

Hello, world. Here are some general updates.

Last night I woke my motorcycle from hibernation. Immediately it felt familiar and comfortable. I took it around the block a few times, as did Adam J., and it was generally a great experience. I rode to work this morning and the weather was beautiful. It was warm, the roads were dry, and the sun was shining. A little cooler on the ride home, but still awesome.

I received my new chain tool in the mail. I have started a post about why I have this and will not repeat it here. It is exciting, though.

The previously mentioned road trip with Will has decidedly become an east coast trip. It removes some of the randomness, but is still awesomely exciting. I am more excited about the idea of going out east than going to the US.

I had a group assignment for my class titled Social Context of Business. The group was 8 people and we had to produce a 20-page (double-spaced) answer set to a series of questions about BP. It was a challenge to coordinate but the project was completed and handed in on-time.

Oh, and I forgot to mention: I ran a half-marathon tonight. This is in preparation for the full I am meant to run in 10 weeks. I haven’t been taking the training very seriously, though I should change that. In 2 weeks I will be running the Harry Spring Run Off 8 km run in Toronto. I should be ready for that.

Road Trip!

Ryan J. Allen — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 15:42:10 +0000

Next month my brother-from-a-different-mother, Will, and I are going on a road trip. I’m actually really excited about the trip and I’ll tell you the reason that you might find most interesting: we have next to nothing planned. It will be a classic road trip with a menial goal and a lot of time.

On Friday night I will leave work and drive to Kingston. Early Saturday morning I’ll get Will and we’ll be off. We’ll have up to 9 days for the trip, and I think we’ll be heading East–I’d like to touch the Atlantic Ocean. That’s the limit of what we have planned. We might spend our first night in Philadelphia, Quebec City, New York, or Fredericton. It might be in a hotel, at a campsite, or at the house of someone we know. We might eat dinner in a grocery store, at a chip truck, or in a Michelin Star restaurant.

Personally I am also excited to be joined by Will on this trip. I don’t usually get to spend a lot of time with him–at least, not since we’ve grown up–and am always excited by any such opportunity. But it’s even more exciting to do something so cool with him. I hope it’s something he’ll enjoy.

News Article for All Patrons of Boustan

Ryan J. Allen — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 13:19:59 +0000

Some sad news bestowed upon me earlier this week is now official in print. Bye Bye Boustan?