Jim left for Algonquin today

Well, Jim started his solo trip today. I was talkin' with Marie about it last night... she asked if I would like to do a solo trip. I told her I'd love to do solo trip. She said she doesn't get it so I tried to explain that I thought it would be awesome to go off on your own, face the challenge of paddlin' a solo canoe, findin' all the portages, not havin' someone to chime in on the decision making ("do ya think the portage is in that inlet or around the next point?")... spending the nights alone in the sounds of nature out in the fresh air. She said she still didn't get it so I compared it to people going on silent retreats and that kinda helped her see what I was gettin' at.

We're goin' trailer campin' with the kids this weekend. I'm really stoked about it. I've talked about how I love both the "car camping" as well as the back country camping. I like havin' the kids around, being excited about every little thing, approaching it like it's an adventure. We'll inevitably end up fishin', swimmin', havin' a campfire, roasting marshmallows and hot dogs... it's gonna be a blast!

Marie's Dad bought a boat and he's puttin' it in the marina near us. P* is really excited 'cause he's soooo into fishin' right now. I'm gonna have to get my boat and fishing licenses real fast. In fact, I should prolly get my fishing license this weekend 'cause we will end up fishin' and it's not worth the hassle if we get caught and we will be in a provincial park so the likelihood if gettin' caught is prolly higher in the prov. park than just at the lakeside spots.

The drive in today was just plain stoooopid... two and a half hours almost to the minute... a high speed crash early this morning closed the eastbound lanes of the 401 and of course, westbound drivers had to stop and look... as if there's anything they can do to help at this point... move along people! The emergency services have everything under control!

Idiot drivers.

Or well, lots to do and like GeWilli, if I keep postin' I'm sure it'll sit for hours with very little added after this so I'll hit publish and move on the next "To Do" on my list today.

Oh, and send you positive thoughts and prayers to Suki... she's hurtin'.

Have a great day everyone!

g.

Fast paced world...

"The world is moving so fast these days that the man who says it can't be done is generally interrupted by someone doing it."
- Harry Emerson Fosdick

I liked the quote... I'll have to read up on Harry Emerson Fosdick to learn who he was.

CC2007 mystery gift problem... solved!

So Jim had come up with the idea of each of us getting a little surprise "gift" for Capsized Canoe 2007. Jim got these lexan wine glasses that collapse for travel so we can enjoy the wine we're bringing rather than drinking the wine from our coffee mugs. I was really wracking my brain to come up with a good gift and wasn't havin' much luck so I decided to wander down to MEC and browse through the stuff there. That's where I found the GSI H2JO! Coffee Filter that fits on most wide mouth nalgene water bottles... what a GREAT idea! We both love to have our coffee in the morning with our porridge so this is gonna be perfect. You can also put loose tea leaves in it and have some nice tea. There are two ways to use it - put the tea leaves or coffee grounds in the basket and turn the bottle upside down and let it brew or... you can put the leaves or grounds into the bottle with the hot water and then use the filter to strain the leaves/grounds as you pour the drink. Cool eh? The only caution is that the bottle will be hot to handle but it's not like you'd be traveling on a portage with the stuff... it's most likely that you'd be doin' this when you're stopped (morning or evening meals).

Well, it's a great day outside today... my boss and I sat over at "Fourbucks" (as GeWilli calls it) and had a coffee out on the patio. Great day for it... perfect temps, low humidity, sun shining, great... um... scenery... good stuff.

Since I had an extended break this morning, I'm gonna make this one short and get a few things done so I can leave at a decent hour this afternoon.

Have a great day weekend everyone!

g.

The "Yes Campaign"

For those of you reading this that live in Ontario, please take some time to investigate the Fair Vote Ontario website. I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm tired of feeling like my vote doesn't make a difference and that my voice is not being heard. Under the current voting system (first-past-the-post) that may very well be true. Under our current (and I believe outdated) system of election, a party can win just 40% of the votes, get 60% of the seats, and 100% of the power.

The only voters sending MPs to Ottawa are those
who support the most popular party in their riding.
In other words, your political beliefs and place of
residence determine whether your vote counts. If
you hold the "wrong" political views or live in the
"wrong" place, your vote means nothing

- source "This is democracy?"

In Ontario we are proposing that we move to mixed member proportional (MMP) voting system, similar to those used in New Zealand, Germany, Scotland and Wales. Below is a description from the Fair Vote Ontario web page:

MMP SYSTEM: ONE BALLOT, TWO VOTES

The MMP voting system allows each voter to cast two votes: one for a preferred local candidate and one for a preferred party.

Ontario would have 90 ridings. The riding seats would be filled as they are today, with voters casting votes for a single local candidate. But the legislature would also have an additional 39 at-large seats. To fill those seats, parties would nominate lists of candidates, some of whom would win seats depending on the portion of votes their party received. Each party would have the number, or portion, of seats its popular vote warrants, not more, not less.

MORE CHOICE, EQUAL VOTES, FAIR RESULTS

Not only does MMP make all voters equal, it also tends to produce legislatures with more women and visible minorities. Parties will find they win more party votes when their at-large candidate lists balance the number of women and men, and include minority candidates.

I've decided to join the campaign and I hope that you give it due consideration. This is our province, it should be our government. Let's take responsibility and make this historical and very important change happen!

g.

DOH!

So I wasn't thinkin' when I scheduled a system test at work... I scheduled it on a long weekend! WTF was I thinkin'?! Oh well, it was a short one and lasted all of a half hour and I was able to do it from home. I was up for an hour before that prepping to make sure it went smoothly.

I'm going to stay up and start my day... I read that it was good to get up at the same time every day. I was surfin' after the test was done and I decided to see if there was a plug-in for Firefox so the player for Sirius radio (internet stream) would work properly. I came across this and it's awesome. It's just like my car radio and shows what playin' and gives a good "dashboard" view. You can put up a favorites list and everything. Anyway, small things make me happy I guess.

Jim's trip is comin' up real fast... he's a bit nervous but I think it's a good nervous... ya know the kind when you're excited and know that something is gonna be a challenge, but it's a challenge you want to take on. I do envy him, I wish I had more vacation days so I could have the family vacation activities, my trip to Algonquin with Jim and do a solo trip to Algonquin too. One year I'll do it I'm sure.

Speaking of family vacations, we're borrowing my aunt and uncle's tent trailer and takin' the kids to Charleston Lake for a weekend camping trip. I know this is totally contradictory to the camping that Jim and I do in the Algonquin back country but I enjoy it... just in a different way. Jim and I talked about this the other day and he's not into the trailer camping in any way... he went camping with his family a couple of weeks ago and they tented it. I just prefer the trailer when we have a baby. I know that lots of people enjoy tenting with babies but for me it easier with the trailer and Marie enjoys it more so that makes me enjoy it 'cause I know she's not strugglin' with it. It's also handy to have the fridge for milk etc. I guess I'm sayin' that I have a place in my heart for both types of camping.

I've never been to Charleston Lake but from the pictures, it looks very pretty. I'm really lookin' forward to it.

Saving Jane - One Girl Revolution is playing on the radio... I really like the riff... cool, hard driving, catchy melody... I should take the time to listen to all the words but I've always been more of a music person so sometimes I totally miss the message in the lyrics.

Now it's a really "poppy" tune that I found myself kinda enjoyin' in the car the other day... Jupiter Rising - Electropop... I KNOW, WTF?! right? well, what can I say, it's a another one that gets into yer head.


Well, I hear little feet walkin' 'round upstairs (I'm in my home office in the basement) so I think I go up and scare the poop outta the boys... they'll never expect me to be in the basement at this hour and they didn't see me come down here at 05:00! mwahhahahaha! (eeeevil laugh)

Have a great long weekend all you fellow Canucks! To my good friends to the south, have a great weekend and enjoy yer July 4th celebrations this week!

g.

Travelling at the speed of light is not possible... darn.

http://www.thekeyboard.org.uk/Faster%20than%20light%20speed.htm

interesting read (I think). I always had dreams of traveling in space when I was a kid.

Marie is a happy girl!

Today Marie got news that she is now allowed to drive and effective immediately her license is valid again! I got home and... nobody was home! The van was gone and I thought, "I guess this is what it's gonna be like for the next month or so... Marie has a lot of 'lost' driving time that she wants to attempt to make up." Good for her. :)


Well, I'm in at work early today... I'm trying to avoid the damn traffic that I've been stuck in for the last few months. I used to be able to leave the house at 06:30 and still miss the traffic but now it's starting as early as 06:00 so I've decided to start leaving the house at 05:30 again. The upside to this is I can leave work at 15:00. I left at 15:30 yesterday (I had some stuff to do that delayed me leaving at 15:00) and was home at 16:50.

Okay, so it's another post that I can't seem to get finished so, I publish and come back if the day allows.

g.

Hennessy Hammock

So Jim and I went out to the forest near our houses to do a test setup of our Hennessy Hammocks. Jim had set his up inside his house and in his backyard but neither of us had set it up in realistic conditions so we decided it was time we did.

Jim posted a video to his blog... take a look to see our little adventure. For the record I didn't really scream like a girl with excitement. I just couldn't believe how comfortable it is. I'm really lookin' forward to our trip this year 'cause it won't matter how bad the ground is, I'll still get a great sleep.

There's only 42 days left until our Algonquin trip and I'm in need of getting regular physical activity back into my schedule. Marie has told me that I'm under estimating the impact of what I'm tryin' to pack in my days (and nights) and that I should be more realistic on what I can get done in the time I have. I wish I could cut my commute down 'cause there's 3-4 hours a day that I can't do stuff... even if I could get it down to 1.5-2 hours a day then I'd be able to fit stuff in first thing in the morning. I find that once the kids are up, they want to participate in whatever I'm doin' and that means that I don't get to go at my pace and there are frequent stops where there wouldn't be if I was solo. It's tough 'cause I want them to have time with me but it can sometimes feel exhausting when it gets lop-sided and there's no time for me (Marie has the same problem). We keep reminding each other that the kids came into our lives and we should take time for ourselves but that's easier said than done. Anyway, we'll get it figured out (I hope)

Suki put up some of her "compromising position" pictures but I'm somehow a little disappointed and I'm not sure why... perhaps not compromising enough? and I can't remember, did she ever get the dollar bill from the ground?

I was interested to learn that Jill doesn't ride her bike to work... I just assumed she did since she lives so close to work. I'm judgin' here, just sayin' I was surprised since she luvs her bike and seems very hard-core to me from her posts.

Geoff... well I'm, not sure, is he on vacation or not? He had a neat picture of a coffee ( actually prolly a latte) and he made reference to it prolly being from Four Bucks which I assume he's referring to Starbucks which is really funny since I always have trouble buying from there 'cause everything is so damn expensive. (how's that for a run on sentence?)

I'm helping my cousin move this weekend... not exactly what I was lookin' to do with my weekend but she needs the help.

Work is suckingk right now... nuttin' in particular, just crappy, uninspiring sh!t. I'd love to figure out a way to "un-pimp" my job. (if ya didn't click on the link you won't get it... or maybe you won't get it even after ya click on it since I'm ramblin' total nonsense right now...)

Ah, well... I'm gonna grab a bite to eat and then get back to work.

Have a good day everyone.

g.

I know it's been said before but I'll say it again...

cyclists need to be *very* careful out there.

A friend of mine was tellin' me that her co-workers husband was biking in to work like he has many times before, only this time (last week) he was knocked off his bike by a city truck and killed. I don't know the details (iPod or not, aggressive rider or not, etc) but it doesn't really matter.

You need to assume that people behind the wheel of the vehicles are not paying attention.

I know that's a sad commentary on our licensing system and the tolerance we have for people being irresponsible while operating a vehicle but it is an unfortunate reality. Just last week I saw a woman eating breakfast cereal while diving in to work! That is unacceptable and she should have her license suspended for that kind of irresponsible behaviour!

Please, please, please people... be careful out there on your bikes, always be aware of your surroundings and have an escape plan. This poor woman is suddenly left without her husband to raise her four children all because someone operating a large vehicle wasn't observant enough to see the cyclist around his vehicle and ran him over.

I promise I won't always be posting these serious/somber posts but I had to remind all of you how dangerous it can be on the roads out there.

Have a good day everyone and keep your eyes and ears on the activity around you when you're riding home today and everyday.

g.

Recurring theme...

I've been reading a lot of blogs over the last year and there's a noticeable theme in blogs of people who are into some sort of fitness activity - most hate fat people. Here's the ironic thing about what I've read... they also seem to have a strong dislike for fat people doing any sort of physical activity.

Fat people just can't win, it seems.

I'm in agreement that being overweight is not a good thing in any way however, not recognizing what it takes for someone to obviously change some very bad, ingrained habits is... well, just plain rude.


Have a good day everyone (including the chubby people!) :)

g.

It makes me sad...

when I see emergency services lining the highway on my way home 'cause it means another soldier has died and the funeral procession is on it's way.

Last night that was the case.

I feel proud that we show this tribute to our fallen soldiers but I also feel sad and, to be honest, angry that we have a fallen soldier.

I know that's a distinct possibility for all soldiers when they sign up but it's the way this war was brought about that makes me angry. It was deception that was used to make this war happen. Don't get me wrong, I understand that the attacks on the U.S. could not go unanswered but to the use deception to expand the war to another country and put all those soldier and civilians at risk... the people involved should be ashamed of themselves. I mean, it's almost like Osama Bin Gone now. There's almost no mention of the mastermind behind the heinous attack on the U.S. and it's like he's of no consequence now. It's all about Iraq and getting contracts to rebuild for the American companies that are connected to the people who deceived us and conned us into the war in the first place.

My oldest son's friend had to say goodbye to his Dad when he shipped off for Afghanistan last week and that's what I think of when I read about all these soldiers dying... those children who will loose part of their childhood innocence because their mother or father get killed somewhere in the world that the child has never heard of. It's crazy and it upsets me. Perhaps it's other things happening in our life right now that are making me feel extra sensitive.

I was debating on whether I would write about this 'cause on one level I feel like it's not my story to tell but on the other, it does affect me and this type of thing is why I decided to do this blog so I will write it here.

On Sunday night my niece (who has taken a turn for the worse) had to be resuscitated after experiencing several major seizures. (I haven't been updating you all on the situation because of the fact that I wasn't sure I should be writing about it but as I said, I feel this is appropriate) As you can imagine this has been difficult for Marie. She is a very caring person and she really takes it hard when anyone is suffering, let alone her brother's child. I imagine the whole seizure thing is hittin' close to home for Marie too.

Aaarrrgg.

I don't want to write anymore right now.

Sorry for the downer post but thanks for giving me your time and for listening.

I'll write more later if I get chance.

g.

Hotels are expensive

For the first time ever the internet connection at the hotel was pay as you go! $9.95 for 24 hours! Needless to say, I didn't pay that since I had access to "work" stuff at the Boston office and I'm certain that the expense would be approved. At $199/night I expect that internet access is included but apparently the Westin chain of hotels doesn't share the same opinion. They also charge $25 for the first minute of a long distance call and $15 per minute after that... yeah, those are fair rates (rolleyes). The other issue I ran into while at our Boston office was that blogger is blocked by websense so I wasn't able to post from the office... what a sucky thing to have internet access restricted. I can't remember the last time I experienced that.

Boston was nice... I enjoyed morning walks along the harbour front with the sun coming up and the architecture is neat too... the really old buildings along side the newer office towers... I wish I could have spent more time touring around.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-
My work computer did a reboot after installing some patches yesterday so this never got published. I'll see what I can do about putting up some more later but in the event that the day gets hectic I wish everyone a great weekend now.

g.

Headin' off to B-town tomorrow...

I'll try to get some internet time at the hotel but I'm not sure how much free time I'll have.

Have a great week everyone!

g.

11 years ago today...

I was watching Marie walk down the aisle towards me to begin our life together.

Who would've thought that she'd put up with me for this long?

We're gonna have a romantical night after the kids are in bed... a nice BBQ dinner, some candle light... I'm lookin' forward to it.

g.

It's always interesting to see what brings people here...

with the sitemeter software you get to see what the referring URL is that brought someone here. I've had hits from all over the globe... India, Germany, England, all over the U.S. and now I've had a visitor from Turkey. Now, I couldn't help but wonder why someone would be visiting my blog all the way from Turkey so I took a look at the URL that brought them here. It turns out it was a search and there were keywords that obvious appeared in my blog that popped me into the list. What was the search you might be asking? Well, the person searched for "neighbour wife"

Well, I'm not going to rush to judgments but um, what kind of things would they be expecting to find with a search like that? Hmmm.

Moving on.

Suki had quite a scare the other day. I can't imagine how she must have felt waiting to hear back from her friend. Keep her and her friend in your thoughts and prayers please.

WARNING: Camping content ahead

I thought I'd give you a warning since I haven't talked about camping in sooo long... Jim set up his Hennessy hammock the other day and I tried it out... two words:

FREAKIN' AWESOME!

I'll never have an uncomfortable sleep again. It looks fairly easy to set up and man, it's a really neat design. I contacted Hennessy to see if they had any "seconds" or blemished product that would sell at a discount 'cause as much as I liked the product, I didn't think I could swing $200 (Cdn) for one. I wanted to get the model that would handle 300lbs so that I wasn't too close to the weight limit and there was potential for having my pack in with me to keep it dry. I'm not sure if I'll keep the pack in the hammock but the extra weight rating gives me some options. The unit they sold me has been used a couple of nights by a customer who wanted to get a lighter, smaller model. It has a little tree sap on it but I can live with that for the savings of $60.

This past weekend I took the boys out for a bike ride. I actually ended up going out three times; the first with all three (one in the trailer on my bike), the second with the two younger boys (no trailer) and the third trip with my middle son only. The third trip was by far the fastest paced one. I thoroughly enjoyed the day and it was great to spend time with the kids doing something fun. On the first trip we biked down the marina and grabbed a table on the patio out back and watched the boats coming and going. We talked about which ones we would want to have. I'm quite intrigued with the idea of sailing. I've never done it but I'd like to try someday.

GeWilli wants us all to smile. He has me worried that he's losing it... not because of the smile thing, but because he started to write about himself in the third person. Perhaps he's still high on the fact that the World Cup Cyclocross is opening in R.I. :)

Jim and I are going to look for iridium flares on our trip to Algonquin this year. I've never hear of them before but it makes sense that it'd be visible from earth if you were in an area with little to no light pollution.

We're also thinking of doing a video review of the hennessy hammock to put up on our website. We're going to site down and redesign the website too. It's not anything like we wanted to have but it's just a matter of setting the time aside to do it. Neither of us are web developers but there's lots out there to help us out.

I still don't have a replacement window buddy. It turns out the boxes I saw were my previous buddy's and she was still moving stuff out. I did see some guys in the condo painting so I may have a new buddy soon. I hope they're as um, interesting as my previous buddy was... specifically, I hope the buddy is a "her". :)

Well, I gotta get going. Lots to do here at work and the afternoon is quickly vapourising.

Have a great day everyone and help GeWilli out and smile at a stranger on the way home tonight!

g.

My ass is too small

I went for a ride this morning and I came to the conclusion that my ass is too small to support the weight of my body on the bike seat. Since I can't change the size of my ass (and I don't really want to make it bigger), I had better loose some of the extra weight I've allowed to creep back on.

Okay, that sounded real chick-like... "Hey honey, does this bike make my ass look bigger?"

My day started out good and bad... good that I hauled my lazy ass outta bed and went for a fairly intense 12km ride... bad in so far as I put my bike back in the garage, shut the garage door, walked around to the front door of the house and realized that I had exited the house directly into the garage (which was now locked) so the front door was still locked from the night before.

Damn.

I rang the door bell a few times and knocked on the door but no one was stirring in the house so I just sat on the front porch and listened to the neighbourhood waking up. I knew it wouldn't be long before someone in the house woke up. One of my boys finally woke up and came down and very cautiously unlocked the door for me.

The drive in was... well... the drive in. Nothin' exciting to report on there other than that a car had broken down in the middle lane of the highway and they had abandoned it right where it stopped. I assume they'd gone for help but you'd think that they would have tried to get the right lane to let them push the car to the side or something.

Oh, I forgot to tell you about my neighbour's plumbing adventure. I won't name names but one of my neighbours was trying to replace his broken kitchen faucet but he didn't know anything about what he was doin'. Now I'm one to encourage expanding one's knowledge but I also believe that if you find yourself in unknown territory, you should do a little research or ask some questions.

Now before I deliver the punchline to the story you would know that they just finished their basement (and it looks great). Here's what went down:

neighbour (wife) comes running across to our house: "do you know anything about plumbing?"
me: "umm, a little... why?"
neighbour (wife): "well, tried to fix the kitchen tap and now there's water running everywhere!"
me: "oh my gosh!" and I ran across to their house (okay, maybe I said something else but I don't remember exactly what it was but it was prolly more like "HOLY SHIT!")

I ran into the house, back into the kitchen and I see kneeling in front of the kitchen sink with a fountain torrent of water blasting him in the face and he's yelling "IT'S HOT! IT'S HOT!" So I yell back "Did you turn the water main off?" To which he revealed his lack of plumbing 101 by responding "WHAT WATER MAIN? WHERE'S THAT?"

Nice.

So I turned to his wife, and asked "Where's you water metre?"

She replied "I don't know... maybe it's down here" and she took me down to the hot water heater. I said "No, that's not it... where's the thing that you take your water metre readings from for your water bill?" to which she replied "Oh that thing... it's over in the other closet"

I got the water main turned off, ran up and check with him to make sure the water flow had stopped and then went down to survey the damage. It was bad. Water was streaming out of the pot lights in the basement and I was concerned that it might make over to the *very large* plasma screen at the other end of the basement.

I stayed around for a bit helping clean up and then installed a new faucet for them (the wife went to the hardware store while we cleaned up as best we could). I figure they're gonna have to spend $2000-$3000 dollars fixing the damage but that would have jumped by another $3000 if it had made it over to the plasma.

Hey, how do ya measure for proper bike fit? I'll go google it later today but I thought I'd ask since I know a few of you out there are bikers and know this schtuff.

Well, back to work. Have a great day everyone!

g.

The world of blog is a neat one...

I often find myself readin' the blog of some stranger because I've followed link after link starting from the blog of someone I know. That's what happened to me this morning when I stumbled across this: Rocking the suburbs...

Take a read, I'm positive you'll chuckle like I did. Suki has some real funny shit that she writes... like this recounting of her internal conversation she had while out for a bike ride:

all told I spend ONE WHOLE hour (yeah. I still rock the hardest) with this internal dialogue:
self 1: dood. stop being a pussy. go for the hill.
self 2: um...es'cuse me! don't be a dumbass. sore quads make for shitty climbing. you DO remember kaymoor mines, don't you?
self 1: seriously. you're being a pussy.

Read it now... because I said, that's why.


g.

How Exciting!

I can see a moving box in the condo next door! Stay tuned...

Surprise! I'm headin'to Boston...

Well, I got approval for my trip to Boston. I also managed to get my passport ordered and it'll be ready for pick up in time for the trip. I was going to drive down 'cause I didn't have a passport but since I'm able to get it in time, I'm flyin' down.

Travel update

So it seems it's more a cost issue and a difference in the prespective. The Corporate group that "owns" the application that I would go to Boston for thinks that we should find our way down to where the sessions are being held... my boss thinks they should pay for the vendor to do several sessions around the globe. I can see that perspective and it looks like if I do go I may end up with a mark against me if I try to get education dollars for a course later in the year. I don't think that's fair since this is a mandatory tool that I have to use in my job versus education that will broaden my knowledge. Oh well, what can ya do eh?

Maybe the problem is something else... now this is me gettin' all GeWilli introspective-like... perhaps my boss is not happy with my performance/contribution to the team. (he's never indicated that I'm a problem) I gotta think that if I were in his shoes and my employee came to me with this scenario I wouldn't have any issues with sending them unless they weren't contributing enough to the team. I dunno, maybe I'm just bein' too paranoid. Hmm, I should be more confident that this... damn, I need to get a grip. Arrrggg! I'm goin' back to work.

Play by play on the travel request...

Not lookin' good so far... boss is resistant to the idea of travelling so far for 2 days. I don't get it, people do the same trip for one day sessions. I guess it's all riding on how well I made my case at this point... more to come later.

The search for a new window buddy continues...

Well, no one moved in over the weekend so I'm still without a window buddy. I find myself glancing over every-so-often out of habit, lookin' to see if anything interesting is goin' on in the other building. Nothin' yet. Having lost one window buddy I find myself more and more intrigued about the next condo down. It has shutters and sometimes I see a some movement in that unit but I can't see enough to see who it is or what they're doin' 'cause the shutters are tilted enough that I can get the detail I need to make my assessment. Anyway, I think I may go down to the other end my office floor to get a different angle... perhaps I can find out who's behind the shutters.

I've gotta go now... I need to talk to my boss about gettin' approval for a business trip down to Boston at the end of the month. I'll share more details if he approves it.

Have a great day everyone!

g.

It's a sad day today...

I just realized that I've lost my window buddy here at work. Apparently she has decided to move on to the next stage in her life and it doesn't include me. :(

Perhaps a moment of silence to think about all the fun we had... her with her downwards facing dog... me with my nose pressed up against the window of my cubicle...

Seriously though, she's moved out by the looks of things. I guess I can look on the bright side, someone has to move into that condo soon so maybe I'll end up with a new window buddy.

Perhaps today is not so much the end of a (one-sided) relationship as it is more of a era of new hope!

I'm just brewing a cup of coffee, the sun is shining, it's Friday... it's turning into a really nice day. I decided the other week that I was spending too much money buying coffee at Tim Horton's or, even worse, Starbucks. I went out and bought a machine that brews a cup at a time. It only cost $15 so I think the ROI was just over 1 week of 2 coffees a day. Not bad eh? I didn't think I could jump right into the big leagues like GeWilli and have an entire pot to drink over the course of the day. I'll hafta work up to that!

Well, coffee's ready and I'm in need of my fix so I leave it here and say: Have a great weekend everyone!

g.

Fascinating... well, at least I think it is...

Have a read of this:

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht frist and lsat ltteer is at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by it slef but the wrod as a wlohe.

If you have never come across this before, it is an excellent illustration of how the human brain understands the written language. While the first and last letter certainly play a critical part in discerning the word, they can not be the only way we decipher a word. Here is an excellent article that looks a bit more in depth at the phenomenon: http://www.mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk/~mattd/Cmabrigde/

If you are interested in creating some of your own jumbled text, Jamie Zawinski has written a perl script here that will convert regular text to scrambled yet still readable text.

I got the stuff above from a cool blog I stumbled across here.

Cool how the brain can work like this eh? The http link above goes into far more detail and debates a little more that it's not just the first and last letters but also the shape of the words and such that allows one to be able to read the jumbled sentence. Still, it's interesting however, like most things I write here, totally not related to my work or my list of tasks for the workday so....

Have a great day everyone!

g.

Good Point

"It wasn't raining when Noah built the Ark."
- Howard Ruff

More Adventures in BBQ

The other night I had a go at smoking the ribs I bought at the same time as I bought the sirloin steak roasts. This time I did a dry rub with homemade chili powder, a little extra cayenne and salt. I started by pulling the membrane off the back of the ribs to make it a better experience to eat. Then I did the rub and, because of the late hour that I got home, I put 'em straight on the BBQ. This time though, instead of mesquite wood I used apple wood for smoke. I figured apple and pork go so well together so apple wood was called for this time. I had temperature issues part way through the smoking process 'cause it started raining and I didn't realize so the BBQ cooled off a little but overall I had it smoking at about 300*F for almost 4 hours. I wanted to get it closer to 250*F but I'll try that next time. I also had too much salt in the rub... in fact I may leave the salt out next time. I would have to say that they were the best ribs I've ever made... no boiling them or anything. I'm quite excited about my new found BBQ techiques since you can't get any good BBQ around my town. I've heard that there's one place in Toronto and another west of Toronto but why drive those distances when I can get fresh, quality meat locally and smoke it myself in my backyard?

Well, back to work now so I'll wish everyone a great day and get back to it.

g.

BBQ success!

So I had great success with my BBQ adventure on the weekend... I smoked a sirloin steak roast (about 8.5 lbs) on my BBQ. I used mesquite wood for smoke, ran the temp at 300*F steady for about 4 hours. It proved to be more popular than the one I did in the oven which was great news in my quest to re-create great southern BBQ. I used a dry rub on both roasts... BBQ one was salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, mustard powder and homemade chili powder... oven one was garlic powder, rosemary, salt and pepper. This was the first time I cooked to temperature rather than time. It was less stressful than doing it by guessing the time needed to cook the roast all the way through. Both roasts were taken to 130*F and allowed to carryover cook to 140*F. They rested for 1 hour (actually the oven one rested for almost 1.5 hours). Both carved up nicely. One of the things I learned when I was reading about BBQ techniques was to have a pan of water in with the meat to keep the environment moist and help stop the meat from drying out.

I served the meat with roast potatoes and carrots as well as mashed potatoes, corn niblets, cesar salad and fresh bread. I decided to do the two styles of potatoes 'cause we had some vegetarians in the group and the mashed didn't cook with the meat like the roasted ones. Oh, and I also did a frozen veggie lasagna for them. Next time I might try and do something a little nicer than a frozen entree but I was tight on time and cookin' appliances 'cause I stuffed meat into all of them! LOL!

I've got some ribs that I'm going to do tonight or tomorrow night, depending on how soon I get home tonight. I picked up some apple wood to BBQ the ribs with, it should be tasty!

That's all for now... have a great day everyone!

g.

Woo Hoo!

Today is my last day of work this week!

Marie has a music teacher seminar to go to tomorrow so I decided to take the day off and take the kids up to my parents. My nieces are also on a day off school (as my kids are too) so the boys are gonna have fun playin' up at the farm. I'm gonna take a complete change of clothes for them 'cause there's no doubt in my mind that they will get muddy.

Ya know, lately the biggest issue I've been havin' is that I hate havin' such a long commute to work. I don't feel like I have enough time at home with my family and I certainly don't have enough vacation time... 15 days plus 3 personal obligation days. I've already used the 3 PODs and 2 vacation days for Marie's specialist appointments and I used 6 days for our trip down south, one day of vacation for this past Monday with the doctor visit for the kids and tomorrow for Marie's seminar. That leaves me 5 days for the rest of the year. My trip to Algonquin will use two days and the remaining three days will be used at Christmas. Oh well, what choice do I have eh? I get what I get.

I was chattin' with Jim about people and their "addiction" to exercise. He talked about how the endorphins that are secreeted are similar to what some drugs cause. We talked about Jill in Alaska and how she's having trouble stopping to allow her knee to heal and I said I didn't quite get it... if she would just stop, she would heal and then she could get back to what she loves. Jim helped me understand how she could be "hooked" on the physical activity. I guess that's why I'm a fat-ass... I'm not addicted! LOL!

I'm typing this while I'm on a conference call and boy, the topic is no where near exciting. I should be excited but I just can't get motivated... it's the usual large corporation of lots of talkin' and very little action.

Next random thought... I made some chicken the other night and seasoned it with cumin, cayenne pepper, salt pepper and paprika. It had a curry type of flavour and it was very enjoyable. I think I might do that again.

On the topic of food, I was lookin' at a smoker at Bass Pro as well as doin' a lot of readin' on the topic of smoke cookin' meats. I really don't think it necessary to get a smoker since I have a pretty big BBQ. I'm just going change the way I do the smoking... I'm going get a larger metal pan to but the wood in and I'm going to try bigger pieces of wood rather than the chips. I'm also going to put in a pan of water to keep the meat moist. I think my first attempt will be with ribs although I'd love to try brisket... but brisket requires long cook times, somewhere in the neighbourhood of 1-1.5 hours per pound so I could be looking at a 15 hour cook day. It's supposed to be great food though so we'll see. Marie will prolly think I'm crazy but that's nothing new.

Well, back to work now... Have a great day everyone! In fact, have a great weekend!

g.

Okay, this is AWESOME!

Check out this guy Andy Mckee... absolutely awesome guitar player!



I also watched (actually, I listened while I was at work) him and a Native American musician, Bill Miller, when they were on a woodsongs broadcast. The file is 4GB so I can't really put it up here but let me see if I can link to it somehow...

okay, here's the link to the mp3 page: http://webcast.msc.uky.edu/woodsongs-audio/427hi.mp3

and the page with all the archived shows:
http://www.woodsongs.com/showlist.asp

There lots of great music there.

Gotta run, so have a great day everyone!

g.

Strep throat, Bronchitis, a Bad Cold and a Face-plant...

So we have three sick kids now but the bright side is we should get all the sickness over with all at once.

Yesterday P* was doing one of his dare-devil/stunt guy things... he put a toboggan on his skate board and ran, jumped onto it belly first and rode it down the driveway like a luge. This seemed like a really cool thing to him at first but when he got things ready to ride it back up the driveway the toboggan shifted forward on the skateboard and he slid off and did a face-plant... ouch. He got away with only scrapes... it could have been so much worse with broken teeth or something. Thank God he only has minor injuries. Life in my home is *never* boring.

As usual, I started this post and haven't been able to come back. I've got a deadline for particular work item that I'm trying to meet so I should be responsible and get back to work.

Have a great day everyone... and keep any luging to a minimum eh!

g.

Could it be any better than this?

Take a look at the weather for the weekend for Newcastle...
Woo hoo! I know it's not anything like 30 degrees but since I'm so tired of the cold weather, I'll take 19 degrees.

Not a lot happening right now... P* is trying out for the basketball team at school which I'm so proud of. He's in the youngest grade for trying out (grade 4) so the deck is somewhat stacked against him but he's pretty good and really enjoys it so he'll try hard. It really interesting to see the kids develop and see how there are three different personalities for all three boys. M* (middle son) is more shy at first but once he gets comfortable he's more outgoing. D* is still a little young to see exactly how he is but he almost seems like he falls between the other two.



Okay, I started this post this morning and haven't been able to get back to it, so I'll call it quits for today.

Have a great weekend everyone!

g.

Three out of Four...

Well, in any other situation I'd be happy with 3 out of 4 but in this case it's 3 out of 4 kids are sick. I know, I know, I signed up for this when I let Marie get me drunk and take advantage of me...LOL! (kiddin' of course... I don't need to be drunk)

Anyway, the youngest boy seems to be doin' okay, just has the barking cough, the middle boy has the barking cough and was running a slight fever last night. At about 01:00 I was up feeding the baby (who is sicky #3) when he came down and said he was dizzy and felt like he had a fever. I couldn't find the thermometer but he was definitely warm to the touch. I woke Marie to see if she knew where the thermometer was but she thought it was in the place I had already looked so she came down and dispensed some tylenol and then she and the boy went back to bed while I finished feeding the baby. I couldn't get back to sleep right away and it must have been about 04:00 by the time I nodded off... just in time for the alarm to go off at 05:15. Needless to say, I hit the snooze a few times.

The drive in to work was uneventful and surprisingly quick for this hour. I was a little over an hour and it normally takes an hour and a half if I leave as late as I did today. Thank goodness 'cause I don't think I could stand staying here until 6:00 tonight.

Not too much else going on right now... we're trying to find a deal on carpet for the basement... I've reconnected with a few more people from my past through (you guessed it) facebook. Well, I've got a fairly usual Tuesday lined up with meetings and such. I'll have to get hold of Jim to see how things are going... according to his last post, the training is going well. He's going to connect with a friend of my sister's (from grade school) to talk training talk since she completed her first Ironman last year. I imagine she has a lot she can share with Jim when it comes to training.

Oh yeah, my car has been running great since the I changed the fuel filter so I have to surmise that it was the culprit.

Well, that's all for now. Have a great day everyone!

g.

Well... I made it in to work

The car made it in to work okay... in fact, it was running real well now that I replaced the leaking intercooler pipe. Now I hafta clean up all the sooty oil residue that was spewed into the engine bay. Man, after driving the van in yesterday it was an awesome feeling driving the car in today. I have a RocketChip performance chip in my car (thanks GeWilli) and I'm tellin' ya, it makes it real fun to drive. The power on tap is fantastic and you can really use it to move through traffic.

So this facebook thing is getting to be a bit of a problem... I can't stop looking for people from my past! I don't know what the obsession is but I'm really curious about where people are now. It's also neat to see a little about where people come from that I know now. I like all the pics that Jim put up from his younger years. I should dig up some old photos and scan them in... if nothing, it'll at least be a good chuckle for some people. :)

Well, back to work now, it's a busy one today so that's all for now.

Have a good one everyone! (I gotta get a better sign off line like GeWilli)

g.

Car start...

okay, I replaced the fuel filter with a new one and after bleeding the air out of the fuel lines I got the car started. I let it run for a while to make sure it wasn't gonna putter out like it did this morning. Good news is that is stayed running. I had to hook the van up to the car to keep the battery from going down while I cranked the engine to purge the fuel lines but the car cranked really fast after I got everything buttoned back up. Here's to hoping it'll start up for me in the morning... the gas for the van is a killer ($85 and it wasn't even completely full! OUCH!)

Good night everyone!

g.

Car no start...

Well, I think I may have experienced my first fuel gelling in 6 years of TDI ownership. I went out today and it seems like the engine is being starved of fuel and won't run. I got it started for about a minute and then it just stopped. The temperature dipped a little last night and given the time of year, perhaps the supply was switched over to summer fuel. Oh well, I'm not gonna stress over it until I get the root cause of the issue tonight. I guess I've got my evening planned out now... I think I'll buy a new fuel filter on my way home. I just have to find out the hours of the truck shop near my house since I need a CAT filter. I switched the car over to an aftermarket filter that utilizes a CAT 2 micron filter. Better for the lengevity of the engine. I always meant to install an oil by=pass filter too but never made the plunge. I wonder if it's too late with over 350,000km on the odo? Hmmm... something to think about for sure.

The party after the baptism was great this weekend but I was fighting off a bug... a thoat and ear infection. It seems to be better today. Having the basement finished to allow all the kids to play downstairs was a good thing. They played air hockey and ran around down there with little to no disturbance to the activities upstairs. The carpet is still not installed but I got some carpet from a neighbour who put hardwood down in his living room so I just cut it to fit the area around the air hockey table so it worked out fine.

Not too much else to talk about right now so have a great day everyone!

g.

Naturopath update and other thoughts...

Naturopath
So my appointment with the Naturopath went well. She seems knowledgable and we "clicked". She had done some research into my thyroid condition (although she seemed to know a bunch already when I talked to her on the phone to set up the appointment). She liked the minerals that I had started taking but adjusted the dosage and the times that I take some of them. She also added B6 and Cortex to the regimen. Once I've finished the products that I had bought she will simplify the program so I'm not taking a bunch of capsules everyday. Her approach is to get the adrenals in check and then focus specifically on the thyroid. It was a very good appointment and I say that because I'm the type of person who wants to understand things which is what makes my whole thyroid issues a bit of an anomaly in that I blindly accepted what the doctor told me 17 years ago. Anyway, I'm on track now and firmly believe I've got a sound and reasonable action plan with my naturopath.

Facebook
I've connected with a small group of people I went to highschool with through facebook. It's really neat to see where people are at now. I mean, the last time I talked with some of these people, we were literally in highschool saying goodbye and now we've got these separate lives with spouses and kids and all... wow, it really is a mind shift. I'm not looking to connect back with everyone (some people do change as I have learned all too personally recently) but there are a handful of people that I'm really glad to be able to talk with again.

Algonquin... The Common Link
It's amazing how many people here on Ontario have a realy love for Algonquin. I mean, I've always known how great it is but I didn't realize that I shared that love with so many people. Jim has been very active posting on "Algonquin" sites and he's discovered this fact for himself but for me it was really driven home with the comments I received from people who've viewed my algonquin photos in the ablum I posted up on facebook. One day I'd love to do a big trek through Algonquin with a larger group... the dymanics would be different than what I've done over the years but I think it could be really cool. Hmmm... I think I may have to organize something.

The Basement
We've got almost all the work finished in the basement and it looks awesome. I have yet to place an order for the shower stall and the carpet but that will happen over the next few weeks... it's a matter of getting Marie and the kids packed up to go to the store and pick a product. I'm thinking of building a custom shower in the bathroom instead of getting a shower stall unit. It all depends on how hard it would be to build the shower pan (and get it right) as well as the cost for any glass for the enclosure. I'm thinkin' it out for now but in the meantime it's not like we need the bathroom functional.

Easter
This weekend is Easter and we're have the baptism for G* with all the family (both sides) come back to the house for lunch. That should be interesting... in the past we've always tried to keep the two families separate by holding functions on different days but this time we're obviously only doing this on one day. It will prolly unfold as usual, each family will "stake out" their spot in the house and the two will limit the mixing... I guess I can't expect too much, afterall, it was Marie and I that chose each other not the families choosing each other. C'est la vie I guess. At least they don't fight... hee hee.

Well, I'm off tomorrow and I'm toying with the idea of leavin' early today so I prolly won't post again so... Happy Easter everyone and have a great weekend!

g.

I'm going to see a Naturopathic Doctor

I've decided that I should dig a little deeper to see what options are out there to help with the thyroid condition I have. This week I started taking the selenium, chromium and magnesium to see if there's any improvement in my energy levels and mood. (no comments from the peanut gallery!) I'm quite curious to hear what the doc has to say.

While I'm doing a little catch up on the blog... no GeWilli, I didn't get back out on my bike but I will be going out again. I did buy a new seat since I couldn't adjust the big ass-saddle I had on there. I may need to get a different seat post 'cause it looked like the one I have has some sort of mount on the top that fastens onto the rails on the seat. I'll hafta take another look to see what my options are. I'm also gonna get the bike tuned up so the derailleurs work smoothly and accurately. In talkin' with a friend at work, there's a place in Toronto that I can get cheap bikes and bike parts. The guy goes to all the police auctions and you can get high-end bikes for a song. We'll see what pans out there but for now, it's road rides on the mountain bike for me.

Well, I gotta get ready for some afternoon meetings.

Have a great day everyone (and I mean everyone, even the haters out there... they need all the good vibes they can get.)

g.

Another weekend come and gone...

Well, it was a fairly busy weekend but all in all it was a good one. My parents came down and my Dad helped me paint the basement. That's been a long job but it's almost finished. I hired a guy to hang all the doors and trim 'cause I just don't have enough hours to finish by this weekend. He came on Sunday and managed to get all the doors hung and the windows trimmed out. It's really startin' to look like nice. I've got some electrical to finish up so I'll get that done in the evenings this week. My deadline to get everything in place (minus the carpet) for this weekend, in time for G*'s baptism. We wanted to have the space ready for all the nieces and nephews so they have a place to play. I'll move the air hockey table down there and I'll prolly put a TV down there too.

Arrrg... I started this and work is getting too busy. I'll have to stop for now.

Have a good day everyone.

g.

YAY!

Well we went to get Marie's MRI results today and the good new is... it's nothing that is high risk. She has what is called a Developmental Venous Anomaly (DVA), not the Arteriovenous Malformation (AVM) that they originally thought. Phew, that's a big thing to get behind us.

It's late, I just wanted to get that up for today and now I'm going to bed (very, very late).

So much for getting to bed early during the week.

g.

I didn't get out this morning...

but before GeWilli jumps on this and says that I'm moving on to clothing optional aerobics or something like that, I had to come in early to work so I didn't have time to go for a ride. I'm gonna try to get out tonight and perhaps go a little further than yesterday. I also could't find my old seat to put back on and the seat that's on there doesn't have any way for me to adjust it (it's a big-ass saddle and when I say big-ass saddle, I'm not only describing the size of it, I'm also describing the function for which it was built --- to handle a BIG ass!). If I can't find it I'm just gonna buy another and move on.

I've been reading some interesting stuff on my thyroid condition. It's funny, I tend to dive into things and research them, expecially when it comes to my health but for some reason I always just left this one alone and trusted that I was getting the right treatment. It seems that perhaps there are some ways that may be more effective to treat hypothyroidism, or should I say, things that can be done in conjunction with the medication I take. In addition to my multivitamin, it's being suggested that I take 200 mcg of selenium, 200 mcg of chromium and 400 mcg of magnesium. I'm still in the process of validating this advice but it seems reasonable to me. Perhaps more on this later.
For now, the day is moving and so should I since this has been sitting untouched for about 2 hours now.

Have a great day everyone!

g.

So I finally got off my ass...

and did some physical exercise. I went for an early morning bike ride. As GeWilli pointed out, the caloric burn is lower than a run but to tell you the truth, I didn't really feel like starting the whole running thing yet.

So how did it go?

Well, it was a little harder than I thought it would be but it was good exercise. I did the 10 km route that I have used for running in the past. It has some good elevation changes that gave me a challenge and got me sweatin'. I started out at 05:10 and let me tell ya, it was dark. I hit CTC on my way home last night so I had the necessary lights on the bike which was a good thing 'cause there was some vehicle traffic (okay, only two cars) that passed me on the darkest stretches of the road.

Observations... well, I need to adjust the angle of my seat 'cause I found myself slipping forward and that 'caused more stress than needed. I also need to adjust the gear change mechanisms as they are a little off. The gearing was kinda off for me too and what I mean by that is when there was a slight downhill section, I quickly ran out of gear and either resorted to gliding or was peddlin' like a madman. It would have been nice to have one more gear. I'm also still uncomfortable due to the leaning forward on the handlebars and I get a little pain and numbness as a result of the pressure points. I have those handlebar dew-hickies that look like a bull's horns so that helped to give me a few different positions to alternate through. Finally, I can't wait for the season to progress a little more to give me some daylight in the 05:00 hour 'cause some of those stretches were really dark and it made it hard to see some of the bumps and potholes.

I'm actually glad I did the bike thing and I'm gonna continue with it for a while before I start the running back up and even then, I think I'll alternate the two.

Well, back to work again and in case I don't post again today, have a great day!

g.

Clothing...

how should I dress for my morning ride tomorrow? I don't think bare legs would be a good thing since it's still a little too cold for that and I'm sure that I'm gonna get hot so I won't want too much up top... layers are prolly best. Hmmm... suggestions from the experienced riders out there (or even all-weather runners)?

Reunited

Jim and I got together on Saturday for the first time in I don't know how long. We hashed through a lot of stuff that had been brewing on both sides for a while and I hafta tell ya, I feel a lot better have had some honest, clear communication with a dear friend... my brutha from another mutha!

We talked briefly about CapsizedCanoe 2007 and his solo trip, we talked about our families, I met his new puppy, Jack and we watched the last half of the Leafs game. It was nice to just hang out with a good friend.

I left for work a little late this morning (on purpose) so I got to spend some time with the kids. I just can't seem to get enough time at home these days. I wish I could work from home on a regular basis but that's not in the cards for a while. I made a decision to stick with the company that I'm with for the long haul and "develop" my career there. I figure I should be in a position to replace my director when he's ready to retire in the next 3-5 years. I work for a good company and it provides a means to provide for my family and that's important. Anything I've seen that's closer to home doesn't provide the potential that this job does and certainly doesn't pay the same as I get now so I have to shift my mental perspective to recognize that I'm here for a while and I should strive to leave my mark on the organization.

Oh, yeah, it turns out that my previous employer has made a decision to outsource the IT operations - something they had been trying to do for a number of years but they just couldn't make it work. I'm glad I'm outta there 'cause I would have ended up being an IBM employee and I don't particularly like the sound of that.

Jim has set a goal of doing a "sprint triatholon" and that has got me thinkin', with GeWilli being the biker dude he is and Jim now givin' it a try, perhaps I should give it a go again after many, many years of not riding. I used to do it and enjoy it and we have a route that I really enjoyed back when I was running on a regular basis that take me along the lakeshore. I think I may buy some new tires for my bike to make it a little better on the road. I have a mountain bike with a fairly agressive tire and I think it may be better to have a road tire on instead. Or maybe I should jsut take it out as-is for a few rides and then decide if I want to change the tires or perhaps even the whole bike. GeWilli chime in with your opinion here anytime. I think I'm gonna give an early morning ride a try later this week after I go out and buy some lights for the bike. I used to have all the stuff I needed but like I said, it's been many years and several kids since I rode and some equipment has been lost in moves and such.

Okay, decision made, I just consulted my WeatherEye desktop applet from The Weather Network and it looks like tomorrow would be a good morning for a ride so I'm gonna do it. I'll stop by Canadian Tire and pick up lights for my bike. I took a quick look and I think I'll get these since they are LEDs and should provide longer battery life:


Raleigh LED Headlight


Raleigh LED rear light

Well, with that decision made, I should get back to work so I can leave at a decent hour and stop off to buy my latest gadgets. Marie will LOVE me... perhaps I should pick her up a little something too.

g.

facebook.com

So a group of people were talking about a website that they were looking at and telling each other to join. They were laughing and saying how neat it was.

I asked, "what site is that?"

They told me, "Go check it out and sign up. It's www.facebook.com"

So I went over to take a look. I decided to set up an account since it was free and started to do a few searches. I eventually started looking for people with hometowns listed that were near where I grew up... Tottenham, Alliston, Beeton, Loretto... and to my amazement I started to see names I recognized. I decided to be daring and send a few messages to the people I remembered to see if they remembered me. Every one of them responded saying how long it had been and that they did remember me! I started to learn that there are groups on the site and so I joined a few "networks" and "groups"... one for my elemtary school and highschool, one for Toronto, ON, one for TDIs, and they even have one for Algonquin Park!

Cool.

Anyway, check it out. What I like is that it's free. Classmates charges for the same thing so obviously I like this one better! This interweb thing should be free anyhow.

Well, as usual, I gotta get back to work.

Have a great day everyone!

g.

oh yeah, it's good to be back... thanks for puttin' up with me! ;)

Post-meltdown...

First off, thanks to everyone that sent me an e-mail after I posted my leave of absence post.

I don't really want to talk about it other than to tell you that there were a lot of things happening at the same time and I was emotionally drained dealing with too much drama. It was all serious stuff and I was just on overload.

I've had a mini vacation and I'm trying to get back to normal (well, as normal as I can get) but it still feels a little weird. Anyway, I'm trying to catch up at work from being off for a week so I'll have to post more another time.

Have a good day everyone.

g.

This may be sudden... and wierd...

but I'm gonna withdraw for a few days. I'm not exactly sure why, I just want to be alone in my thoughts and focus on Marie and the kids. I don't know how long I'm gonna feel like this but I'm tired of interacting with people. I feel drained emotionally.

Bye.

g.

Static electricity

So I have these dress pants that I wear to work... several pairs in different colours. I like the way they look and fit but there is one problem. Static electricity. I've tried to use fabric softener, dryer sheets, hang dry the pants, anti-static spray... nothing works.

So here's where it get funny.

I was telling a friend at work about my static problem as we went down in the elevator. He was polite and listened to me describe the problem. I wasn't embarrased by other people in the elevator hearing about my static problem... perhaps one of them could even offer a solution. Then it took a turn... my friend waited just a moment after I had finished my "story" and said (in that certain indignant tone):

I supposed you're gonna try and blame it on the lightning rod in your pants or something

um, yeah.

gneiss schist?

You can always count on Kerry Litka for some good stories but in this case, it's more the potential good story about how her students will use the names of two prominent metamorphic rocks in New Hampshire: schist (shist) and gneiss (nice). I think I find it so amusing 'cause it's the juvenile humour that I can identify with... that and it always takes me back to my highschool days and the circle of friends I hung out with.

Kerry can also offer good advise and in her last post she offered some that I think Jim will find very useful for his marathon... Jim be sure to take note of her learnings so you don't make the same mistake buddy. To save you a click over there I'll put a quote here for ya bud:

...take my advice: do not ever attempt to carry an iPod in your sports bra on a 13 mile run...

so Jim, for the sake of your sternum, keep the MP3 player out of your bra!

Reading GeWilli's post, he wrote a lot of stuff in his last post but it's funny how things stick out in yer mind... he talked about eating lamb and he said:

"...I'm not going to make excuses for eating the baby sheep..."

and it got me thinkin'... I'm frustrated with people tellin' us that we can't offend other people with our opinions and tellin' us all the things they think we're doin' wrong! I mean, hey, you can have your opinion and do what you think is right but don't impose your point of view on me. Tell me about it but don't condemn me for differing from you. Now, I'm not talkin' about, ya know, being a sick-o murderer or racist bigot, I'm talkin' about things like the fact that I like a certain diet that includes meat and some people will tell me that I'm wrong for eatin' that way. I grew up in the middle on Ontario farm country and I know what 99.999% of the farms are run like... they care for the animals properly and they respect the land. I worked on these farms and know first hand the conditions... I'm not some city dweller who assumes that all farmers abuse their animals by puttin' the calves feet in cement to keep the meat tender... farck off, that's PETA bullsh!t propaganda. Yes, there is some really bad stuff happening out there but it's not the norm people. (hee hee, I'm tryin' to make a serious point and now all I can picture is Norm from Cheers makin' his entrance... geez, maybe I have A.D.D.) Anyway, my point? stop forcin' your ways on everyone else... make a good argument but in the end, respect other's right to make a choice for themselves.

Wow, that was another one of those moments where I kinda just went off on a thought there.

Hmmm, what else did I have to say... can't remember. Oh well, I'll post again if I feel compelled to share it.

Have a great day everyone!

g.

Going to Florida is looking less and less likely...

so I figure I'd better accept that fact and if we do manage to pull something off, it'll be that much more of a surprise. Oh well... no sense in getting worked up about something I have no control over (people being sick, etc).

Speaking of being sick, I was working Saturday and as the day went on, I started to feel worse. By the time I was wrapping it up at 3:00 I wasn't sure I'd be fit to make the drive home from where I was. At least it was a little closer than my office. I did make it home but then I told Marie that I had to go lie down and that was the last she saw of me until later that night after the kids were in bed. I got up, had some water and then went right back up to bed. The next day was a lot of the same... get up for water then right back to bed. There were a couple of exceptions and I did manage to catch a little of the Daytona 500. I got the last three laps so I got to see that amazing sprint to the end by Mark Martin and Kevin Harvick. Great ending, I just would've like to see Mark Martin win after so many attempts in his long distinguished career driving NASCAR. Anyway, back to me (LOL!), I'm still not 100% but due to some of the issues that came up on the weekend, I had to be in yesterday and then today I have a session that I have to attend so again, no staying home trying to kick the last lingering bit of crappy sickness... oh well, the people around me can thank me later for bringing the virus to them. I've never understood the pressure that employers put on people to show up when they're sick... it only ends up costing them more in productivity (the sick people not working at 100% and them making other sick and then not working 100% either). Stoopid eh?

I also think that we should re-visit the work week and shorten it to 4 days... it would help create jobs and reduce the stress, increase the happiness of staff, and be really awesome for me! I'll sign up for being off Saturday, Sunday and Monday thanks.

Speaking of work... yes, I'm doing this at work again but what else am I supposed to do? Alison didn't sign in to chat and Jim's on his day off so I had to do something to distract myself from the crap that's on my desk! LOL!

Have a great day everyone!

g.

P.S. go over and have a read of Jill's recount of her Sustina 100... it's a good read.

So I was uploading pictures from my camera this morning...

and I discovered some interesting photos the kids have taken. Ya see, I like to let the boys (the two older ones) use the camera... see what they come up with and let them be creative. Well, it turns out that it can also be a great source for photographic evidence of what they get up to when their parents aren't around... take a look at what they were apparently doing the other day.










I laughed outloud when I saw it! Awesome stuff... boys being boys!

What a nice drive in...

we got our first real snowfall here in the GTA (Greater Toronto Area) and I have to say, it was kind of a nice drive in. It was very tough but I left extra early because of the weather and it was a fairly traffic-free drive in. Don't get me wrong, there were some really stooopid people out there... like the woman walking on the road because the snow was too deep on the sidewalk (I guess she'd rather challenge a 3000+ pound car or even better - a city bus), or the snowclearing service at that apartment building that decided it was best to blow the snow off the driveway and sidewalk onto the road create a really fun 2 foot deep ramp for us to try and launch our cars off, or the guy who was sittin in the curb lane after pulling his car forward out of the curb parking spot and sitting with his door open into the second lane while he... well I'm not sure what he was doing but obviously he thought we should all swerve around him and his car while he performed whatever important task he was doing... oh, I could go on but you get the picture.

I'm not sure why I feel good about the drive in... perhaps because I triumphed over the elements and made it into the office (first one on my floor here at the office) or maybe because of the whole "black Monday" event... I'm curious to see who else on my team makes it in. :)


Speaking of the office... no, I haven't been priviledged to see my window buddy doing yoga again... I hadmy camera here so I took a delayed exposure shot of Jarvis Street out my office window. Take a look and let me know what you think.

Well, I've got a work project that I'm running on Saturday and I have a lot of little things that I need to get taken care of so that it goes off without a hitch so I'm gonna leave off here and hope that everyone has a great day. By the way, no comment from me about yesterday's post... I was having a moment, or should I say a bunch of moments that weren't so pleasant...


g.

Aaaaarrrrrggggg!

that is all.

Is this Karma coming to bite me in the...

as$? I got a call from Marie yesterday afternoon saying that her mom had been taken to hospital with congestive heart failure. Yep, you heard it right, congestive heart failure. WTF?! Eeeeh. I can't believe it... they took her into the I.C. unit last night when Marie and her brother went to visit her so that took it up a notch last night. Yesterday turned from an pretty good day into a real stressful, crappy one.

Let me give some background details about work... my boss is someone who is also a friend and we worked together at a different company than we're at now. He called me when he needed someone with my skillset and I both appreciated the call and answered it since I was also looking for a change. Now, we know each other very well and so I know when there are "issues" before he says anything and we've always had a relationship where everything was black and white. No hidden meanings, no covertly made statements. It's an arrangement that I find works *very* well. Okay, so where it turned no-nice yesterday... In January there are 5 Mondays - the first was a stat holiday, the second I called in sick, the next I took as a vacation day, then a personal obligation day to take Marie to a specialist appointment (we get 3 PODs a year) and the last was another vacation day. Okay, nothing wrong with this in so far as they were all approved by my management. Well, my boss come by my desk and mentioned that I hadn't worked a Monday in January. I went over the days and he said, "it's not an issue, I'm just makin' an observation and I thought that if you continue doing this, you're gonna run out of vacation by the end of March. Ha! Ha! Ha!" I asked him if it's an issue or if there was an "optics" issue with somebody saying something (my boss' boss or people who work around). He said no, it was just an observation and there was no issue. At this point, based on our relationship and history, I assumed it wasn't an issue and didn't take any measures to change my actions. Well... this past Monday traffic was crazy with snow covered roads and it was shaping up to be a 3 hour drive into work so I made a decision... turn around and work from home. For a brief second I thought about his comment (since it was another Monday) but dismissed it because he was very clear that the Monday thing was *not* an issue. I sent an e-mail from my blackberry to tell my team where I was, went home and worked the entire day. This was good for me in that I wouldn't have to stay at work until 7:00pm to make up for the slow drive in and I didn't have to face the potential of a slow drive home where I would walk in the door at 8:30pm and not see the kids.

As it turns out, when I told him about Marie's mom and said that I may be in a little late he threw the Monday thing in my face. I was kinda broadsided with that. He said that if he was me, he would have come in not matter how long the drive was since we'd had a conversation about it the week before. I wish I hadn't been in shock that he was saying this because I should have pointed out that I confirmed with him twice that it was *not* an issue and he even tried to make light of the "observation" that he made. I don't get it. Well, I do get it, things have changed and this is how I found out about it. Oh well, no real damage done except that Marie is booked in for her MRI on Monday and I had booked a second POD to take her. So I got on the phone to my parents last night to see if my dad could go out and get Marie and the kids and bring them down the the appointment. I figured that I would work through my breaks and add them to my lunch so I have enough time to go over and take care of the kids while Marie is having her MRI. He (my Dad) said he can be the chauffeur on Monday so it's looking like things are under control on the family front. I've sent an e-mail to my boss asking to cancel the POD so I think everything should be okay on the work front now. It just sucks. All of a sudden, work is absolutely no fun anymore... I hope that feelin' passes soon.

Well, given the situation here at work, I'd better sign off here.

Have a good weekend everyone!

g.

How can I complain about this?

okay, so it's not so much a complaint as it is a statement of suckiness about a situation I find myself in. We've been blessed with an opportunity to have a family vacation for the last 3 years down in Florida. The last 3 years have been with my in-laws. Now no matter how much I tell you about issues I have with my MIL, really they are well intentioned people and I have learned to cope with the difference of opinions that I have with the MIL. (by the way, in Volkswagen speak, MIL stands for message indicator light which is usually equated to problems with a system in the car... lol kinda fittin' isn't it?) Anyway... back to my issue... this year we were supposed to vacation with my parents since we hadn't done that in a number of years. My parents are now retired and they just got back from Barbados, so I assumed that they would not be vacationing again this year. As it turns out, they are interested in going south with us.

Crap.

Now I feel like I have to choose between my in-laws and my parents 'cause we'd already been talking to the in-laws about vacation plans with the assumption that my parents wouldn't be available. I should also mention that in the past my mother has poo-pooed the idea of vacationing in Florida as they like Myrtle Beach. Again, this lead me to assume that they wouldn't be interested in coming to Florida and since Marie really wants to go there and, given the year she had, she gets priority. (Well, that and the fact that I have to live with her and I kinda like sleeping in the house... lol!) As it turns out, my parents are interested in going to Florida so I say it again...

crap.

The only glimmer of hope I have to make this decision easy is that my in-laws are not sure if they are going... they are waiting to hear how my niece is doing and if her transplant is taking. They don't want to get stuck down there if something happens up here and they want to get back. It's a little different for us since we're still young enough to make it back rather quickly but for a 70 year old, the trip back would take the better part of a week. If they don't go now, they said they would go later in the year, prolly after hurricane season. Let's hope they decide to do that so our decision is made for us.

Wow, this really sounds sh1tty... most people would love to get the opportunity to vacation every year and here I am talkin' like this. I should make it clear that I'm not complaining, just "talkin' it out" to help figure out the plan of action.

I'm gonna move on to more important topics now...

I went down to Sick Kids Hospital to drop off a book of riddles as requested by my niece. I also picked up a girl's magazine that was geared at her age group (12 yrs old). It was weird, I could only call into the room and her mom had to come out to get the stuff since she's in what they call reverse isolation. Basically, the kids in that ward have no immune system (it was shut down by the chemo in preparation for the bone marrow transplant) so they can't allow the general public in. The rooms are under positive pressure so that no unfiltered air can enter the room... such that when you open the door, air always pushes out of the room. Anyway, I have to say I was quite disappointed 'cause I thought that there would be some sort of window that we could at least see her... kinda like the old concept of the baby nursery only not a window into where they sleep, just a room where they can see people on the outside. Oh well, at least she liked the book and mag that I delivered. I think I'm gonna do that again next week since she's gonna be in there for about another month.

Well, I'm gonna go for now... I hope you don't think any less of me for having written what I wrote today. :) I'm of the mindset that if I write it, as long as it's not offensive, I'm gonna leave it up 'cause this is my place to put my thoughts and I don't feel compelled to censor them.


Have a good day everyone.

g.

Take that Mother Nature...

Jim has a condition that has given me cause to worry now that we're doin' some serious interior camping (no not that nasty rash Jim, the cream the doctor gave you should clear it up...)... Jim is allergic to bee stings. We had gone over our response plan last year to ensure that we understood ahead of time how we'd react. The plan was for Jim to immediately self-administer his epinephrine while I dropped everything, grabbed the canoe and hightail it out to Brent to make a call on Jake's satellite phone for MNR to go in and rescue Jim. We hoped that he would be able to keep administering his meds until someone got there for him. We also hoped that I could manage to get out in time to give him a chance of rescue. I have to admit, the more I thought about it, the more I was concerned about how realistic this plan really was. I mean, let's say he was stung late in the afternoon - that means that I would most likely be trying to find my way in the darkness of night, struggling to find portages, possibly missing ports and ending up shootin' rapids. Let's just say that I think that there would be a serious possibility that you would read about us in some newspaper as the latest casualties in Algonquin. Not the end I want to have. I'm more inclined to want to die the way my Granddad Doyle did... went for a nap after lunch and never woke up.

Anyway, I've got a ton of work to do so I'll end my post today with a little picture for Jim:

Have a great day everyone!

g.

Neat map of Algonquin Park

Here's a neat survey map from 1893 -->


It's neat to compare the original map to a more modern one to see the changes (location of features, lake names, etc.)
Here's the newer map from 1997 in pdf format with lots of details.

I've been reading a blog by Jill from Alaska. Yes, she's another cyclist that I've found through GeWilli. You should take a look at her blog... she writes very well (she is a journalist after all) and I found her post from yesterday to be very inspiring. She also has some fantastic photos that she takes when she's out riding. I like that a lot of her pics feature her bike standing alone like this... cool.

Well, it's Friday and I have to say I'm really glad about that... it's been a crappy week at work and I really want to get the basement finished off and move onto the next "thing". There were some issues this week that caused us to have to move the drywall guy to Monday but that's it, I'm not delaying it any longer. With the latest delay taken into account, the basement should be ready for flooring by about the 14th. We're trying to decide what kind of floor we'll put down. I originally wanted carpet but the idea of a nice, high quality laminate in a cherry wood style would look really nice I think. Hmmm, decisions, decisions.

Okay, I gotta get back to work so I can jet outta here at 3:00 today and beat the traffic home.

Have a great day and a fantastic weekend everyone!

g.

At the risk of airing my dirty laundry...

I wanted to vent a little about my mother-in-law.

I'll start by saying that I believe that she always as a good intention in her heart when she says and does things. I'll follow that up with an observation that I believe she falls flat on her face with her execution of her ideas.

She provides updates about my niece's progress with the bone marrow transplant and it seems that she ALWAYS paints the worst possible picture, often exaggerating and mis-representing facts so that the we get an inaccurate understanding of the situation.

Case in point:
She said that my brother-in-law(J*) didn't want anybody coming down to visit them at the hospital. My other brother-in-law(D*) decided to go down anyway and have a little visit with his brother. It turns out that J* was so happy to have someone come down and "have a cup of coffee" to give him a bit of a break and, I assume, remind him that we're here for him if he needs us. With this revelation, Marie was chattin' with J* and mentioned that I wanted to drop by and have a coffee with him since I'm workin' a few blocks away from the hospital. J*'s response was very positive and he said he would love to have the visit. Now I feel like a heel 'cause I've been so close to where they are and yet I haven't gone over to see them because M-I-L said it wasn't a good thing.

This is where M-I-L and I have very different approaches to things... she thinks that you should keep away from people in sensitive situations whereas I believe that when someone is suffering, you should demonstrate that you are there, be supportive and not be afraid to "make contact" to see if the person in need is receptive to you support. In some cases they want the space but at least they know that you're there if they need you and you've demonstrated it through actions as opposed to words, which people are always quick to offer but they remain just that - words. Don't get me wrong, it's important to be sensitive to what the person wants and not force yourself on them, just let them know in a gentle way that you are really there and ready to support them.

It makes me want to respond the way that stewardess in the NicoDerm commercial acts. Take a look:


Imagine me responding to my M-I-L the way she handles that guy "THE SEATBELT SIGN IS ON! GAWD!" except I'd be saying, "STOP BEIN' A MEDDLING OLD LADY! GAWD!"

(in sheepish tone) Did I mention that my in-laws are helping us finish off our basement? What? Can't I still feel that way about her even though she's helpin' us? '(sheepish tone off)

Speaking of the basement, we've put off the drywall guys until Monday so I can finish off the last few things (framing the doors, putting up the vapour barrier, finishing the insulation around where the plumber worked yesterday, etc) I should have no problem gettin all the little things done by the end of the weekend even though on Saturday we're going over the Cobourg to get help from the local Member of Parliament to get our passports processed quickly in the event that we go down to Florida on March break. Okay, a few details on that one.

We're waiting to see how our niece is doing before we go on any family trips, just in in case. With the whole flight thing for Marie, last year she had bought a ticket to fly to a music teachers conference but ended up having her seizure so we got an extension to her ticket that expires April 1st. We figured that rather than driving for 24 hours with the baby, she would use the ticket, the baby would fly for free and she would be only travelling for a few hours versus days. The theory is that it will be easier than the road trip although I have to say I'll miss havin' her as my co-pilot and relief driver. We always have a blast on these long road trips... they're such an adventure with the kids.

Anyway, I have a 10:00 conference call so I'd better stop here and get ready for the meeting... it has the possibility of bein' a little lively (in a work kinda way) because of the topic.

Have a great day everyone!

g.