Happy New Year!!

Hope everyone is having a good time tonight and that you are all being responsible. Happy New Year and we will see you soon.

Saying goodbye to man's bestfriend.

On Monday night, we had Bernie put down. Let me tell you it wasn't easy thing to do. I really didn't want to go through with this. I struggled with ways to prevent this. When it came down to it, we simply do not have the money at this point in time. About 6-8 weeks ago we noticed that he had a pink area on his underside. We didn't know what it was, so we took him to the vet. That visit was close to $400.00 with well over $200.00 in medication. Turns out that the pink that we saw was a rash of some sorts that was oozing pink fluids into his fur. We did everything that was required and the rash that he had in that area cleared and all was good. The treating process was difficult on us, since one of the medication that he had to take gave him "cotton mouth" which caused him to drink a lot of water, which in turn caused him to pee a lot too. Not being able to be let out fast enough at times, he ended up peeing in the house. That was frustrating, but once we understood what was happening, it was easier to cope with it.
Everything seemed to be fine after the treatment was done. Money well spent, so we thought. Until a few weeks ago we discover that it was back, In a week, the the 6x6 inch infected area had spread out to most of his underside. We had to make the hard decision. If money was no object, as it is for some, I would have spent the 3-4-5 hundred dollars a month to have him treated, but as it stands, that is not the case here. Over the years a few other symptoms of old age have found their way in. He has really bad teeth, which the vets say can contribute to Heart, liver and kidney failure. He has had bad joints. Generally in the winter when he needs to navigate in the deep snow he has a hard time walking afterwards. Every now and then he had a hard going up and down the stairs.

We had Bernie for just over 8.5 years, he was about 1.5 years old when we got him. He was a gem. The best dog I have ever come across. He was gentle with children, rarely barked, when he did it was usually a yip. Mind you he did have a scary bark if he wanted to bark. But in the time that I have had him, I have heard him use it less than 10 times. People that didn't like dogs liked Bernie.

Coming up with the decision wasn't easy. It certainly didn't get any easier as the time got closer. I really didn't expect to find myself balling my eyes out as we where at the vet's office. I balled for hours...literally. My eyes are wet just thinking about it now. I loved that dog, he was my dog. I was the one that he obeyed, followed and generally speaking stayed close to. I was his master. I really do miss him, but I know that he is no longer suffering.

What is wrong with people

I work with a guy (Doug) who has Cerebral Palsy. He has been in a wheelchair longer than he can remember. He is a great guy and twice a day we go for coffee. We navigate our way to the coffee shop. We cross streets, we need to get through doors in order to get in to the buildings.

Here is what gets me. If I am not careful and take a few steps too far in from of Doug, people will cut him off. They'll force him to turn out of their paths. I'll look back and see Doug facing either hard Left or Hard right trying to avoid people as he is crossing the street. I keep telling Doug that he should stay the course and let his feet guard take care of the people, but he is too much of a nice guy to do that. So what I end up doing now is to stay 2 steps in front of Doug and let people bounce off of me. When he is behind me, I will not move, cause if I move Doug needs to move and sometimes that means nearly falling off the sidewalk (He actually fell of the sidewalk last year and he broke a leg) and I am not going to let that happen. So....in the end I'm the one that looks like an A-Hole but that's OK.

Also, I will hold the door open so that Doug can get into the building and people will rush their way ahead of him. Now when I open the door to let Doug out of a building I will step directly into people's path to make them very aware that they should be allowing the guy in the wheelchair through.

My observation is that as a society we do not tolerate the infirm, the blind etc. There are a couple of blind guys that I see somewhat regularly downtown. I see people cutting them off, blocking their path or obstructing their seeing eye-dog. I can't say that these people are going out of their way to be malicious, but they are lacking the general consideration for these people. People don't understand the challenges that they people have in simply crossing the street and navigating their way around town. People are too focused on themselves that they could be bothered to think of how their actions are affecting anyone else, including those that are blind and in wheelchairs.

Very sad...

What a game: Ottawa vs Washington

I sat there watchin the Sens play host to the capitals last nigth. I was a low score game. 2-1 ending in a sudden death overtime goal by Mike Fisher. It was great hockey. Very entertaining, mind you the Sens had been blacked out for over a week. What the heck was up with that.

Alex Auld was incredible. He has been playing extremely well. I have not been as excited about a goalie in Ottawa since we signed Dominik Hasek a few years back. I though that Gerber was our man last year, but he always had a disappointing start to his season. Not sure what will become of him now. But for the time being Auld is the #1 Goalie in Ottawa.

Fisher ended his drought with a goal and an assist. The guy was incredible, he was all over the ice. Way to go Mike Fisher.
Now if we can get Spezza and Fisher to play like this every game, we are going to have an incredible team. Dreams...dreams..

Another Chapter Closing

In life, we go through phases. We spend time with friends, we enjoy certain activities and as time goes on, our passions change.

I am in the process of closing a chapter on a previous chapter. Years ago i used to play DDM (Dungeons & Dragons Miniatures) I also used to DM (Dungeon Master) a game out of my home. I enjoyed both of them very much. But as times has gone by I spent less and less time playing with these piles and piles of minis that I had in boxes, containers and bags all over my basement. Since I used to sell the miniatures, I had no difficulty building my collection. I had many in labelled boxes in the intention of possibly using them in the Campaign that I was running. I had enough creatures for any scenario. As time went on, I lost the passion for work involved in preparing the campaign. As a DM, I needed to spend quite a bit of time preparing the 'story' if you will, it is quite time consuming. Although, I enjoyed it for a season, at the end it was simply just time consuming. The DDM pretty much ended when I moved across the city. I hosted a few games and attended a couple after I moved, but the distance pretty much killed it for me.

The closure of the chapter is done by selling these miniatures on ebay.Click here to see. Tonight my Archfiends collection is ending. I already have the money that I will make from these sales spent. (New TV for my Sens Room) But watching this set has brought back many memories. I enjoyed this set. I was probably the set that I played the most. I sold my Harbinger and Dragoneye before the summer. They had many pieces that I liked as well, but they didn't hit home like this set is.

Playing D&D and DDM is something that I will miss, but I realized a year ago, that it wasn't something that I will be likely to do again. So now I am reclaiming some storage space, closing the D&D Chapter and will keep those memories.

Green Party of Ontario

I found out over the weekend that an old friend, from OYA is now involved with the Green Party of Ontario (GPO). I am not convinced that Shane would remember me, I was the sound guy that came in and helped out for a while. Not long after I got involved Shane resigned from OYA.
Today I went looking for him and found him.
His Blog is here.
His GPO page

I am thrilled to find an old colleague like this involved with the Green Party. I've been moving towards green for the last couple of years. It has been a change in philosophy in many areas in my life. My wife has been on the journey with me.

Now, to find Shane involved at the level that he is, talk about encouraging. I wish you the best of luck in what you are doing Shane, I hope to see you win your riding and serve in parliament for years to come.

Ban on Water Bottle

London Ontario has banned the sales of Bottled Water. Here is a link to an article. I'm sure that there are better articles out there, but this is the one I have ;-)

I think that this is really good news, it will diminish the amount of plastic being sent to the landfill and also reduce (by a large margin I'm sure) the recycling of plastics. I applaud London for this bold move and urge other cities to follow their lead.

First day back at EDC.

Today I started at EDC, after being gone for 3.5 years, it was nice to see some familiar faces. Everyone was happy to see me rejoin the group, that makes the first day a lot nicer.
The environment has changed a bit since I was there last, but for most part it is the same. People are just as fun to be around. Some people have come and some have gone, but that is normal. Some have been promoted and all have grown in the role that they are in.
I have been fortunate to return to a familiar stomping ground, I had a similar opportunity to reconnect with old colleagues a couple of years ago when I went to Innovapost. It is always nice to see old friends and see how they have developed.

Now at EDC, I plan to be here for a while, the original contract is until the end of the year, then it will be another 7 months to complete the 12 months that they wanted me to agree to. Who knows how long it will go from there. My original contract with them in 2001 was for 6-8 weeks which ended up being 3.5 years.

Back to the grind

It's been over a month since I have worked. This crazy whirl-wind of waiting for a contract to get signed is over. Tomorrow, I start at EDC, I'll be there for at least 12 months. I wasn't expecting this summer holiday. The last time I had 2 weeks off was for my honeymoon. So the last month as been really nice in the aspect of recharging my batteries. Had I know that things were going to work out this way, I would have postponed some of the swimming lessons and gone somewhere. As it was my whole time off was spent taking the kids to their swimming lessons or without kids (last week) while they were at my parents.

On the flip side, it was nice to get some yard work done. There was so much to do this year, and we were able to put a big dent in that pile. Now, if money was no object, so much more could get done. Having it been a weird summer, with all the rain that would often interrupt our plans, I guess it was a good thing that I was off for so long.

I am looking forward to EDC, Like I said in a previous post, I was there before, it will be nice to get reacquainted with old colleagues. They have moved into .NET and C# which is were I love doing now. So it will be interesting on that front. Since it is downtown, I will attempt to take the bus to work,we'll see how that goes, it is after all, the greener option.

And Now....off the market

I emailed a few of my consulting contacts. Right away the response was, we have opportunities for you. Many of them looked good. But I ended up closing it all down this afternoon by accepting a Contract at EDC with LeverageTek. I've worked at EDC for 3.5 years, I left EDC just over 3 years ago. I left them with a positive enough memory that they hired me almost as soon as they saw my resume. No interview, no meeting, just on my reputation. A good reputation is always a good thing to have, and making sure that you don't burn your bridges is another important thing.

LeverageTek is a company that I wanted to work with. When I met with them a few months ago I was impressed all around. The guys there are moving in the same direction that I have been moving in myself for the last few years. They are trying to get themselves established as a "Green" company. So we hit is off really well when that came out.

So after spending more time on my cell phone in the last 2 days then I have in the previous I don't know how many months... I have a great contract...downtown.

The sad thing too is that the Alcatel gig was pretty much finalized today as well. Now that both places are offering me the same rate, Alcatel, I probably would have started on Monday the 28th of July. With EDC we are looking at a start of August 5th. August 5th is perfect, it gives me a week off when the kids are away at my parents. Michelle is very happy about that. Also, EDC is giving me 12 months. Alcatel works on 3 months at a time. I'm pretty sure that I probably could have been there for a full year as well, but I wasn't sure how quickly the renewals would go through.

Ok, back on the Market

I decided to email a bunch of my contracting contacts today. I am officially tired of waiting for this Alcatel contract to come through. Now, it's first come first served.

The response that I got today was an indication that the market is still in good shape. So now, I know that if the Alcatel doesn't resolve itself in the next couple of weeks, then I will be going somewhere else.

To think that I turned down other offers at the beginning of the month since I was "already spoken for". If I would have known, I certainly would have done things differently.

Now, the waiting continues, with different hopes this time.

2 Weeks and Counting

It's been over 15 days since I worked my last day at Environment Canada. I was under the impression that would just walk onto my next contract. But I have been experiencing some delays. I have enjoyed spending a few weeks off in the summer. There was (and still is) plenty of yard work to do. Swimming with the kids and taking them to their swimming lessons everyday has also been a blast.

It's been 10 years since I have been able to take 2 solid weeks off of work during the summer. Last year I changed my schedule to 6AM to noon which was a great as well, but in the long run it left me tired, I am very grateful that Rick at Innovapost permitted me to do that, but I'm not sure if I would do it again. Next year, if all goes well, I'd like to take 2 months off. We'll have to see.

But right now, I am anxious to get back to work. I can't wait to get into some problem solving again. It is just around the corner now. I can feel it, but I just can't quite get a hold of it yet.

Ottawa Senators Land Jason Smith

The Ottawa Senators have finally made an excellent signing with Jason Smith. With all the top UFA defenseman already finding a home. The hopes of getting a respectable blueliner was getting pretty grim. I am excied to have a player like Jason Smith join the team in Ottawa. I gives me a bit of hope for this team.

Now, we need another good D. and a number #1 center to feed Heatly. There is still a few months left before the season starts so there is still hope that this will happen.

Go SENS Go.

A Silly Bear

A Silly Bear --- Story by Samantha Lussier


It was a flowery blooming spring day. Clifford and I were inside brushing our hair. We decided that it was a perfect day to pick flowers! So we grabbed our baskets and zoomed out the door.



As we crept along we saw cute baby chickadees and black rabbits. Soon we arrived at the forest. We started to pick the wild flowers that grew there.
All of a sudden, we saw a huge brown grizzly. The huge brown grizzly was standing up and growling!



Clifford was about to get scratched. What could I do? I could try calling but that wouldn't work. Then I realized who the bear was. It was my friend Charly in his growling bear costume. "Charly" I called, "Stop". Then Charly stopped.
What a tricky friend!

Exhibit of Environmental Disaters

The National Art gallery in Ottawa will be displaying a photography exhibit that will explore environmental disasters.
Art and photography has never been a passion of mine, but I might make an exception to see this exhibit.

If anyone has seen this exhibit, please let me know what you thought of it.

Brian McGrattan Traded to Pheonix

I am sad to see our big number 16 leave the team. I really liked this guy. He had an awesome character and kept his head up even though he was made a healthy scratch game after game in the last season. Every time he was called upon, he delivered. He was the muscles on the team. Not many in the NHL wanted to mess with him.

As I watched last season, I guess I saw things differently then the coaching staff behind the bench. I saw a young man trying to play a hard game of hockey. I saw him draw penalties in many of his shifts. Yes, I did see him getting into fights and finding himself in the penalty box, but many people love that part of hockey.

Like I said, I am sad to see him go, but I am hopeful that Gretsky will give him more ice-time and really develop him into the player that I know he can be.

Enjoy the sun McGratts; I know that you will soon fit in with your new teammates. You were one of my favourite players in Ottawa; I wish you all the best in sunny Phoenix.

St-Jean Baptiste

Today is St-Jean Baptiste day. A holiday that is celebrated in Quebec. The office is pretty much closed today. I could have requested special permission to go into work, requested building access for the day, get the agency that I work through to allow me to record time for the day etc,etc. I figured a nice day at home in June is not a bad idea. I took the opportunity to leave my car with my mechanic so that he can hopefully resolve the sluggishness issue. It has been a bit of a frustrating point for the last little while.

We took our daughter out of school early today and went to lunch with Michelle's aunt and uncle who are visiting from BC. We had a great time with them. They are really nice people, love to have fun. I have only met once before and that was shortly after we got married. We hope to take a trip out their way at some point in time and go and hang out with them for a week or two. Maybe next year. Then we would get to bring the kids to see the Ocean. Something I am sure the kids would find fascinating.

To everyone celebrating today. Happy St-Jean Baptiste!!!

Ottawa Transit needs to be revamped

I would like to see a transit system in Ottawa that is accommodating to going other places than downtown. Sure, most riders use the bus to go downtown, but that is basically the only place that the bus takes you. Many years ago, OC Transport spoiled their riders with the one bus system, by this I mean that it only takes 1 bus to get downtown, from pretty much anywhere in the city. Yes, this is great if you need to get downtown, but if you need to go anywhere else, the system isn't very accommodating. Also, ridership would be at risk if they tried to implement a different system.

I believe that a grid system would work best. Keep the existing transit way in place for rapid movement of passengers in an East-West and North-South directions. Once a rider arrives at a hub that is near their neighbourhood, then they could transfer to a local route. Having bus running a grid throughout the city would make it easier for riders to get to destination others than downtown.

This would also eliminate the rush hour bussing nightmare going through the core. Having to spot you bus in a row of 20 buses isn't always easy. Also, you need to determine whether you should run to your bus that is 8 buses back or wait till it shows up at the front of the line. I've waited a few times to see my bus just drive on by without stopping to pick people up.

Operating in my new fashion would mean that you can hop on any of the bus that shows up downtown. It may not reduce the number of buses that are running through the core per say, but it would certainly speed up each stop since you would either get on the East bound bus or the South Bound bus, in the other direction I guess it would only be west bound.

It would make the whole system a lot more efficient. Yes, we would have to listen to the people complaining about having to transfer now, but after a few months people would be use to it and I believe that ridership would increase since the system would be better.

Price of Gas

People have been complaining about the price of gas for years now. It was a long time ago that we paid $0.50/L. I was 18 years old when I saw a gas war bring the prices to below 30 cents. Now, anything under $1.20 is cheap.
I've seen people come up with schemes. Don't buy any gas on Tuesday that will force the gas companies to reduce their prices. NOT!!!

The only way to reduce the price of gas is to reduce your consumption. If everybody used less gas, then the price would drop. The old supply vs. demand still applies here. Unfortunately, the only thing that will twist people's arms to reduce their consumption is raising the price of gas.

Where is the handbook?

With legislation being pass preventing child disciple, we the government to come out with a handbook outlining what is permitted when it comes to disciplining our children. Thus far they seem to be very good at naming the don'ts, but what about the do's.

The saying as always been that there are no handbooks when it comes to raising your children. That is true, but there have been rules creeping in over time, that limit the types of disciplines that can be applied to raising children.

Last week the Canadian Senate has passed a Bill making it illegal to spank your children. I'm sure that they have all kinds of reasons and justification to back it up. But at the same time, I've heard people say that you shouldn't give you children time-outs because it causes psychological damage. So can anyone tell me what is left? How can I discipline my child if corporal punishment isn't permitted, time-outs will mess up their heads. I'm sure taking toys or movies or anything fun will mess up their heads just as much... what is there?

Green Laundry

Last week we bought a bio-degradable laundry soap. Although I am not the one that does the laundry in the house, I am excited about switching to a product that is a little more environment friendly. The next purchase that we are going to make is bio-degradable dish-soap and dishwasher soap.

These are just little things but in the long run they help. Every little bits count.

Rain Barrel set up with pictures.

Here is what my rain barrels look like. This setup collects 400L of nice clean rain water.


The olive barrels made it easy to deal with the screening. They have a top that can be unscrewed and each barrel came with a strainer of sorts. I placed the 2 strainers into the same container with a piece of nylon screen (what we use for our windows to keep the bugs outside) in between them to keep the grit and dirt (to some extend) out of the barrels.


Here we see how the 2 barrels are connected. I used ABS pipe connectors and a inch hose to join the 2 barrels. Now when it rains the 2 barrels fill up together. the joining peice has a threaded hole that I could screw in a spigot. I have my garden hose attached and I drain the barrels into my pool. This concept will allow me to add other barrels if the need should be there. All I need to do is cut one of the hose and attach a "T" and connect another barrel.

Can't wait for Summer

We had a really nice week at the beginning of June, for some it was bordering on too hot. It was nice to make use of the pool. Now for the last week and a half the kids have been asking me when we can go swimming. Unfortunately, the weather hasn't permitted us to make use of the pool. However, it has provided lot's of water to fill, even over fill, my pool. I am glad to see the rain barrels already start to pay for themselves.

In a few days, we should be able to resume our swimming. Can't wait ;-)

Proof of Global Warming

Alright, all you fence sitters that aren't convinced that there is Global Warming. Look at the facts here and try to tell me that there is no Global Warming.

PS: Do tell me what you think of the facts.

Downtown for Ribs

I took the family downtown for ribs last night. It started to rain just before we got to order. So instead of walking up and down Sparks Street to see all the different vendors, we went to the first one that had a short line. The thing that Michelle and I hadn't thought about was the spicy factor. We ordered 2 and half pounds for the 4 of us. Thinking that we might have a few leftovers.
But as we started eating them Michelle could only handle 3 ribs Sam about 2 and half, David had 1 and a few nibbles on another. Needless to say we cam home with more than a rack. Not that I mind I had some for lunch at work today.
The vendor that we went with was Billy Bones. I enjoyed them, but if you can't handle spicy food you mind want to go with a different vendor.

Hope you get to go out there and enjoy some ribs.

Apparently, we are not allowed to discipline

I read this
article and realized that we have created a society where parents have no say. I am surprised that a court would hear such a case and interfere with parental decisions. The point is not whether you agree or not with the punishment. It is more to understand that we are stripping rights away from parents. First corporal punishment is deemed a crime. Now, every type of punishment is being scrutinized.

This is a sad sad world we live in.

I am saddened that 12 year old girl would post inappropriate pictures of herself online. My kids are still young to be worried about their online behaviour. I hope that teaching them about proper online protocols and the dangers of over-exposure will prevent this type of scenario. But if something like this does occur, will I be able to punish my child? This is so messed up.

Discipline? Why Bother?

The Canadian Senate has just pass a bill.

"Bill S-209, which needs House approval to be made into law, proposes to eliminate Section 43 of Canada's Criminal Code, which allows parents, teachers and caregivers to use reasonable force to discipline a child and correct their behaviour"

I think that they have gone too far. I thought that what we had before was a good balance. What they are effectively doing is removing consequences. Without consequences children will not learn what acceptable behaviour is and what is not acceptable.

I do not support abuse; I do not endorse beating your kids. But I do think that a quick spank on the bum can quickly grab a child's attention and make them aware of what they are doing.

I have to say that my kids are extremely well behaved; the key to their formation was discipline and consistency. These 2 things are extremely important in the upbringing of a child. They have to know their boundaries. They also have to know that there are consequences to over-stepping their boundaries. I have seldom needed to spank my kids, but they have gotten countless time outs. When they were really young, I implemented the 1-2-3 method. It has worked like a charm. It was almost like they knew instinctively that 3 was the end game. I don't recall ever having to tell them.

To reiterate, I'm not suggesting that you spank your kids, I conveying that once again the government is legislating common sense. But the price to pay will be unruly kids, which will grow up to be unruly teenagers, who in time will become unruly adults. What a great place this will be to live.

Take a walk around the city and pay attention to the teenagers. How many of them "respect" their elders. How many of them speak kindly to strangers. I know that their are some out there, some.

Global Warming?

I've been reflecting on the concept of Global Warming. I have heard many opinions ranging from "Global Warming is a Myth" to "Humans are directly responsible for Global Warming"

I think that scientifically we can prove that there is Global Warming. The average temperature has been going up every year. Although, it may seem insignificant to some the overall product is detrimental to us all. To some people the connection is obvious. We are responsible we need to curb our green house effect. To otters the connection isn't so clear, claiming that if the earth went through an ice-age some 10s of thousands of years ago, if the temperature has not gone up, then were is the ice. I can understand their point of view.

When it comes to addressing the emissions on cars and the pollution released into the atmosphere, I think that we are grabbing on to the problem from the wrong end. An easy common ground that we can all see and accept is smog. We all know that we (humans) cause the smog and we can take responsibility for that. If the Environmentalist tackled the problem from the smog angle they may be able to gain much better support form the general public. Who knows, we may or may not be able to prevent global warming, but we can resolve smog and improve air quality.

Rain Barrels working like a charm.

I installed my rain barrels on the weekend. I'll post a picture when I have one. The joined barrels can hold 400L. I have collected this much at least 3 times since Sunday. We had 3 major down pour on Sunday and after the first downpour my barrels were full. I need to get more barrels or a water crate. In the meantime I have picked up 2 of these Collapsable Barrels from Costco. They should help with the extra water for the time being. They can hold 400L each so once Installed, I'll be harvesting 1200L every rain fall. Which should equate to about an inch of water in my pool.

New contract coming soon

My contract at Environment Canada (EC) is almost up. At the end of June it is over. Due to the contracting vehicule that they have in place they are unable to keep me. It has been great working here, the project was fun and the technology current. It was also a bonus to see the emails going through talking about the iniatives that the Canadian government was doing to better the environment.

My next gig will be at Alcatel. I have a friend who is already on contract there. I worked with him years ago at EDC so it will be nice to work with him again. He's a cool guy and we get along extremely well.
Hopefully the projects there will be as exciting as they have been here (EC). The drive will be farther, but the drive time about the same. I'll be going back to work 7:00-3:00 to avoid the downtown traffic.

2008 Ottawa Ribfest

Starting tomorrow, the Ribfest is on. This is an awesome event. I wait for it every year. Obviously, it is best when my contract is downtown or close to downtown. I will however, take my family downtown to enjoy these excellent Ribs.
For those who don't like Ribs, they have excellent roasted chicken and pulled pork sandwiches.
Enjoy!!

Heat Recovery (Hot Water)

A friend sent me a link to this product last week. It seems like an excellent idea. You can recover the heat from the main drain. Over 90% of the hot water that we use ends up in the drain. This device can recover some of it.
Here is a link to the manufacturer's website. They explain the process better than I ever could.

Green Bins Coming Soon to Ottawa

Looks like the city is going to force people to compost. Instead of getting people to compost their own organic material, they are going to start collecting it. I'm not sure that I would like to be the one working on that pickup run. Mind you I wouldn't appreciate picking up any trash, but decomposing foods can leave you with an unpleasant odor.

What will force people to use the green boxes is that the city will only pickup regular garbage every 2 weeks. So if you don't want your trash to smell, you better put everything that you can in the green bin.

I think the achilles heal in the 2 week garbage pickup is smelly diapers. My kids have been out of diapers so that aspect will not be a factor for my home. But I have heard of people complaining about this during the pilot program.

I, for one, would prefer to keep my organic material and compost it myself. Then the compost can be used to nourish the flower beds and lawn.

Thinking Ecologically

For the last couple of years I have been going green in my thinking. I've been spending a bit more time thinking through my purchases and evaluating my decision and their ecological impact.

This summer I have decided the brave the heat. By not turning on the A/C not only will it cut down our hydro bill, but it will help the environment in a minute way.

My house has been mostly converted to CFL (compact fluorescent lights)or regular fluorescent (there is only 2 chandeliers that still have the old bulbs...in due time they will be replaced as well). They use less energy and last a lot longer. We send anything that can be recycled to the blue or black bin. We will soon have our composter ready to start composting. (our backyard is going through an overhaul, so the composter still does have a home)
Hopefully, by Saturday, my rain barrels will start collecting our precipitation. That way I don't need to use refined water to fill my pool. The rain water can also be used to water the plants that we have around the yard.

I keep investigating different options on living a greener life. This is not something I expected myself to do. Years ago, I wouldn't have been bothered with the planet, landfills and so on.
Now when I see how things are deteriorating, I want to do my part so that my kids and grand-kids and great-grand-kids have fresh air to breath.

Tomorrow Starts Today.

Rain Barrels

Summer is here. With the heat wave that we just went through and another coming Friday, it's hard to deny that.
I own a home that has both and air conditioner and a pool. When I moved in 3 years ago, I did not realize the cost associated with operating a pool. Sure there are chemicals that need to be purchased to maintain the proper Ph and chlorine levels, but what I did not forsee was the water usage.

Last week, I went to Cohen and Cohen, purchased to olive barrels that I am going to fashion as rain barrels. When they say olive barrels they mean olive barrels. When I opened them I realized that they had a few olives left in them. So the first order of the day was to clean the barrels. It was a bit gross, but easily done. The next step is to drill holes in them so I can attach a spigot. The plan is to collect the rain at my downspout and use the rain water to fill the pool. that should cut my water bill by some measure. When it's all said and done, I'll be able to harvest 600L of water every rainfall, providing of course that we get that much rain.

For the first 2 summers that we were in the house we have been operating the A/C as well. If you have a central air, do the calculation, you will be floored at how much energy you use. My A/C seemed to run 24/7 and no matter how cold it was in the house, it never seemed to be cool enough. At over $200/month to operate, that is an expense that I have decided to cut this year. I tried last year, but with Michelle's parents moving in with us, I was unable to get away with it. This year, I holding my ground. Sure it's been hot at times, but that is what the pool is for. A quick dip will bring your core temperature down. Much better than the A/C.

Also, last year I found that once I was in the house for a while, I didn't feel like going for a dip. I was already chilled, nevermind jumping in the pool.

A website that I found, I don't have the link anymore, stated that a 3 tonne A/C unit used the same amount of electricity as 68.5 fans. So go ahead, turn on your fans, give the A/C a rest, spend some time outside in the shade.

Enjoy your summer, there are plenty more hot days ahead of us.

Major Decision

Last week, Michelle and I made a decision. A mafor decision, we decided to sell our home. We have a beautiful big house. We like it very much. It is great for hosting people, which we love to do. But big houses come with big prices. It is expensive to heat, hydro is expensive and because of the pool, the water bills are way up there too. Over the last few years we have simplified our lives. When we left our last home on Woodfield, we did so because we needed more space. This house has about twice the floor space. A few years back we were doing a lot of home business stuff. I had an eBay store selling gaming miniatures, those took up a lot of space, most of the basement at Woodfield. Here they used up a good portion of the functional basement. At that time, Michelle was getting into selling wedding invitations. Those too required space. The other house was just too cramped.

Michelle has since buried the hopes of making a living at selling wedding invitations and I have closed up my eBay store and I am in the process of getting rid of my inventory. The incredible thing that has happenned since closing up shop is that I have found spare time. Time to read, to play, to relax.

Also, over the years we have had many people live with us. Mostly to help them out. That is a chapter that we will close. The next home is going to be smaller, much smaller. I'm looking at a 3 bedroom apartment, atleast for the next few years. That will allow me to give myself to my kids and see their development. With an apartment, we would still have a pool but not the responsibility of maintaining it or the direct expenses associated with it.

We are giving ourselves a year to get the house ready. We'll finish up all the little projects that are on the go. Start some new ones. Clean up the yard and do some landscaping, mainly getting some grass to grow..

Oh what a year this will be.

What do we do with all this snow???

This winter has gotten way out of hand. Snow...Snow...and more Snow. Most people don't know what to do with it anymore. I think that since it all started in November we have gotten over 13 feet of Snow. Last week we were closing in on the record of 1970. Now, we must have surpassed it.

I'm one of the lucky ones. I have a snow-blower. I bought 8 years ago, after we got a couple of huge snow dumps that year. The following year it was very useful. But for the last 5 years or so. I barely used it. Maybe once or twice a year. But this year. Man it sure has earned its space that it uses up in the garage.

This week has been a tormenting week. Monday, the kid's stayed home due to freezing Rain. Wednesday they stayed home again. there was about 20cm of snow that morning. When I left work on Friday the snow had started. By Saturday morning there was another 15cm. This morning, well that was another thing. It was up to my in-laws car's bumper (Taurus Wagon), I'd say about 40-50cm.

Like I said the snow blower has been a blessing. But it does nothing for the roof, which is pile high with snow. I've heard reports of people's roof collapsing from the weight.

Now, there are 2 things to be worried about. The first being another storm. If we get another one like we got this weekend, we might as well declare a state of emergency. The second is warm weather. If we get warm weather that hits us quickly, people's basement will flood. There is alot of water in those 10 feet snow banks(up the street 1 guy has it pile atleast 20 feet..I don't know how he does it)

On a drive to a friend's house this afternoon. I realized another thing that concerned me. Along, the street, there are fire-hydrants, clearly marked by a yellow post that must stand at at least 8 feet tall. Driving up the street I could only spot 2 of them over the distance of 2 km. The piece that I did see was a mere 2 inches of yellow. If the hydrants were directly bellow them then they were atleast 4 feet into the snow bank. I'm sure the city will send crews out to dig them out. But if a house was to get set ablaze tonight, they would be in trouble.

I hope that where ever you are, you are not having to dig yourself out.

Back from the funeral weekend.

I just got back from my last grandparent's funeral. That's it. I have no more grandparents. It feels weird.
It had been a long time since I had seen my grandfather. The man in the casket I did not recognize. He was 93 when he passed and for the last year his health had been failing. The photo of him on the candle that was burning near his casket was a photo of the man that I remembered. It was taken a few years ago. So he was too different from what I remembered him.
I was asked to be a pallbearer along with a handful of my cousins that I met on the weekend. Some I remembered visiting when I was a kid, One I remembered when he stayed with us for a week or so...about 28 years ago. Others, I couldn't recall ever meeting but they were much younger than me. I felt honored to do this for my grandfather, for my mother, for my family.
I was unsure going to Timmins for this funeral. Like I said, I hadn't seen these people in a long, long time. So I didn't know what to expect. My reward was warm memories of every single one of them. I had been with them at some point. The family used to gather together every year when grandma was alive. but she passed a long time ago and it seemed like the ball got dropped and that the closeness was gone.
All of my mom's siblings were there this weekend. There are 4 sons still alive and 11 daugthers. 1 daughter had passed away at the age of two, talking about this pains my mother even 55 years after the fact. I remember when my 2 uncles passed away. The first about 15 years ago of cancer, and the other 10 years ago due to a work related accident. In all my grandfather had 18 children all from the same marriage. That alone is incredible.

Many years after my grandmother had passed, my grandfather remarried. Her name is Cecile she is considered his widow now. She had a daugther. The closeness that the family had, pretty much ceased after this. Cecile was never really accepted by my grandfather's children. I was much to young to know what was going on. Now, I can see where things had gone wrong and had things been done a little differently, a lot of pain may have been spare. But hindsight is always 20/20.

But I digress. I have no regrets what-so-ever about this weekend. I am very pleased that I got to see all of my aunts and uncles. I don't know when they'll all be together like this again. I found that my mom's family is a typical French Canadian family, that loves to laugh. They were all very warm people and they were certainly full of hugs and kisses. I the last 16 years or so I may not have spoken or seen my grandfather but I see his legacy in his children. With was there this weekend and what was spoken about him, I can only remember his laughter. He laughed a lot. Every time that I did see him, he laughed. I can help but get the feeling that he was a good guy.

On a side note, when I was 18 I worked a summer for my uncle (who passed away about 10 years ago) While I worked there, I stayed with my aunt and uncle and their 2 daughters, Melanie and Stephanie. Melanie would have been about 10 and Stephanie about 4 I guess. While I lived there I was like their big brother. I scared away the bully that used to pick on them all the time. This weekend I got to rekindle that relationship with Melanie. We exchanged MSNs and we will be keeping in touch. It should be easy to do since she is my 3rd little sister ;-).

We took a bit longer leaving Timmins this morning, since it was my nephew's confirmation. I would have gone up to Timmins just to be there for him on this special day.

I apologize to the readers, this is just a dump of my weekend. It was such an awesome time. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

My last grandparent...gone

I received a phone call yesterday from my mom, informing me that my grandfather had passed away. I had heard a few weeks ago that his health was failing. I think he was 97 years old, although I am not certain at this point. I will clarified on this point in the days to come.
I am saddened by his passing only in the way that I didn't really know him. I can't remember the last time I saw him. I know that I haven't seen him since I've been in Ottawa, so at least 16 years ago. For that matter, I would only recognize a few of my my aunts and uncles on my mom's side and fewer of my cousins. Needless to say that my mom's family wasn't close. Which is very different from my dad's family.
I am saddened that I didn't know my grandfather. I have vague memories of him from when I was my kid's age.
I will be driving 8 hours (more like 9 or 10 hours when you have kids) to pay my final respects. I know that my mom wasn't very close to her father herself, but she did go visit him a few times in the last year. My mom is remarkably strong and she would hide her pain very well. I am going, to be there for her.
There is going to be a big family meeting after the funeral. I will get to meet alot of my family. I'm not sure how that will go, but I feel like I should be there.

My grandmother (mom's mom) passed when I was 3 or 4. I have no memory of her outside of what my parent's have told me. She apparently was an amazing woman. She died at the age of 54 of an aneurysm

My grandfather (dad's dad) passed when I was 16. he was 76 and we believe it was cardiac arrest, although he did not want an autopsy perfomed so the actual cause was never know. His health had been failing and he did not want medical treatment. It was a sad time for the family. I have many memories of him. I used to help him with his yard work and his garden. He always had wonderful stories to tell us.

My grandmother ( dad's mom) passed a couple years ago. She was 96 I think, she had a stroke a few years before and I believe she had reoccuring strokes. I remember her condition deteriating quickly over the last year. She was a prayer warrior, she was a barrel of laughes. and she loved to entertain people and make them laugh. My grandfather use to call her "tête heurese" which is Happy Head.

And now my last grandfather. I hope to get some memories from the stories that people will tell this coming weekend.

Busy Since the New Year

Things have been pretty hectic from December until Now.
Decemeber is December, with all the family get togethers, friends getogethers and so on. It hardly leaves any time to breath.
We spent a week at my parents, which proved to be relaxing, but as soon as we got back we needed to rush. We had Michelle's grandmother's Christmas getogether for the whole family. Then we also needed to get ready for our New Year's eve bash.
There was a little bit of rest in between that and the new contract at Environment Canada. But january was spent getting ready for Caroline & Bob's wedding. Caroline had been living with us since June of '07. We had anticipated a summer wedding, but they decided to step things up and make their Jamaica trip at the end of January their Honeymoon. Michelle was helping our in all the ways that she could. She helped out with decorations which meant the basement was in total disarray.

Things are back to normal in the house now and life is settling into a nice groove. On my new contract I am unable to access my blog which makes making entries a little more difficult. I have the time to do it today since I am land locked with a sick child. David was up from 2:30 this morning throwing up anything we tried to give. It was sad to see him heaving up a mouthful of ginger ale. Now we are focussing on getting him the rest and hydration that the needs. the worst seems to be over and he's taken many sips of water and all appears to be ok.

The new contract is going well. .NET C# is all good. The product is a smart client and the code is extremely clean. It is a dynamic work environemnt and they are continuously improving their product. The next release they are looking at converting everyting to CAB. It should be a fun couple of months.