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.