Steve's Blog

2011, 5 Down 7 to Go.

2011-06-01T08:54:00.001-04:00

Wow, 5 months have gone by. What have we done?
Well, we reinsulated the house. Which included putting insulation on the headers in the basement, sealing the all the holes with expanding foam. But the biggest, hardest,dirtiest job was adding blown insulation to the attic. This was a huge job, which involved crawling around and insert vents in between the trusses. I am very happy to have had a friend helping me with that and feedi.g the machine as I was blowing the insulation into the attic. I added about 13-14 inches to the previous 4-5 inches. My goal was to get to R-50, which was done
We also got our furnace relaxed and relocated. We also got a new water heater which is high recovery and more efficient. No more running out of hot water when the house is full.
May was a busy month with the opening of the trailer. We moved to a new site last year. We are in a new section where no one had ever setup camp before. So our first visit was a bit surprising. Our trailer had gotten out of level. So we spent a bit of time releveling it. Our deck had done the same thing. Now we are ready to enjoy a summer of.fun at the trailer.

40th Milestone.

2011-04-04T09:55:00.002-04:00

Having just turned 40 I have been reflecting on my life.

When I turned 20, it was about asserting my independance while trying to heed my parent's teachng> I was learning to really take care of myself, becoming who I am, starting to mature but yet still being young. I was fit and strong and getting stronger.

Turning 30, I had been married for almost 3 years, my daugther was crawling around my feet. I was starting my family and developing my career path. I was learning a lot of hard lesson concerning life, taxes, money and so on.

Now that I am 40, I can say that a lot is behind me. Many lessons have been learned, many lessons hard to be learned over and over. The career is on a stable comfortable path. The thing that sticks out the most throughout my life is where I have placed and continue to place my values. Everything I do is for my family. I work to afford things for my family. My work hours have always revolved around spending time with my family. My leasure time is spent doing things with my family. I teach my kids and I learn from my kids. I love my wife and kids and I am loved by my wife and kids.

At 40 I do not feel like I am over the hill. There is a steady climb. There is still things that I can learn and I certainly feel like I am going to contribute to this world for years to come. I am going to continue to put my family first and spend as much time as I can with them.
I realize that the challenges that I am going to face are going to be different than those I have so far. But as life progresses, we have to have to follow and adapt.

On a different note.. the Turning 40 bday cards are really good.

Not as easy as I thought.

2011-01-19T12:56:00.002-05:00

Keeping this blog up is certainly a challenge. I wanted to stay on top of it but life keeps getting in the way.
I guess occasional updates will have to do until I can get into the grove.

what is a friend?

2010-11-29T16:33:00.001-05:00

I hear the word friend used in many different ways. What is your definition of the word FRIEND?

Sens 5-2 over the Thrashers

2010-11-10T10:59:00.001-05:00

Well that makes 4 wins in row. not bad. With that win the Sens are 5th overall in the east. This team has been playing very differently in the last couple of weeks. They seem to have more confidence.and thing.are.working for.them. I certainly hope that things continue this.way. The dormant talent seems to have awaken. Spezza is in a groove. Kovalev is a huge factor.
All of this.plus good but the schedule is not letting up. Tomorrow the Canucks are in town and Saturday they go to Boston. We'll how they look after the weekend.
Go Sens Go

Sore back.

2010-11-09T17:12:00.001-05:00

I've been coping with a sore back.for.years. Mainly middle low back. When it becomes unbearable I would pop a couple of.Robax and all would be good. I had gone a while without any back issues until last week when my upper back started bothering me. It is generally fine until I move a certain way then I get a shot of pain all the way up my neck and shoulder. Really annoying. Gotta find a stretch or something to remedy this.

Hockey still my passion

2010-11-08T19:37:00.002-05:00

I have been enjoying watching hockey. With friends, with my son and daughter or by myself. I love watching the Senators play. This year they had a slow start to the season, but lately they have been doing good. Do I hope that they do even better yes.
But I'm a realist, I don't expect them to win the Stanley Cup. So far it looks like they will be a contender to make the playoffs. Still early though.
I see other teams in the east that are stronger, Boston, Pittsburgh, Washington (if they get a solid goalie....watch out)
I see one of them coming out on top. But if the Sens play any of them I will certainly root for the home team.

Still a long season ahead...so GO SENS GO.

Long time since I've been here.

2010-11-08T19:30:00.002-05:00

It's been over a year and half since I've been here. Nothing like stumbling upon your own blog. Life has changed since I was here last. Maybe I'll find the time to elablorate on that in the next little while.

Little Brother married

2009-02-16T12:47:00.002-05:00

We just got back from an awesome weekend where my little bro (Patrick) got married to a beautiful girl (Emmanuelle aka Manue) They are now in Cuba enjoying a honeymoon. The weekend was filled with joy and good wishes. My kids were the flower girl and ring bearer and they looked really good this weekend. They did a great job. They had a great time at the reception dancing with everyone. Pat looked handsome and Manue was gorgeous. Their wedding was anything but traditional. The priest interviewed Pat and Manue in front of everyone. He also got everyone in the pews involved and gave everyone a chance to add some words of wisdom. The ceremony suited Pat and Manue to a Tee. Everyone was having a great time and there was a natural flow to the evening.
Congratulations little brother. You are loved and your new wife is loved just as much. You two enjoy your lives together.

Happy New Year!!

2008-12-31T20:37:00.001-05:00

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.

2008-12-24T07:34:00.006-05:00

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

2008-11-11T08:37:00.002-05:00

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

2008-11-05T09:27:00.002-05:00

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

2008-10-29T10:19:00.002-04:00

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

2008-09-08T16:32:00.004-04:00

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

2008-08-20T15:23:00.002-04:00

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.

2008-08-05T19:26:00.002-04:00

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

2008-08-04T09:37:00.002-04:00

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

2008-07-23T19:32:00.003-04:00

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

2008-07-22T21:54:00.003-04:00

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

2008-07-15T20:28:00.002-04:00

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

2008-07-08T18:00:00.002-04:00

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

2008-07-01T22:51:00.005-04:00

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

2008-06-30T14:25:00.003-04:00

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

2008-06-26T07:32:00.013-04:00

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

2008-06-24T14:57:00.004-04:00

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

2008-06-23T12:42:00.008-04:00

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

2008-06-23T12:31:00.012-04:00

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?

2008-06-23T09:28:00.003-04:00

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

2008-06-22T19:56:00.002-04:00

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.

2008-06-21T11:32:00.012-04:00

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

2008-06-20T10:14:00.007-04:00

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

2008-06-19T22:25:00.003-04:00

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

2008-06-19T21:41:00.002-04:00

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

2008-06-19T11:54:00.014-04:00

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?

2008-06-19T08:26:00.000-04:00

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?

2008-06-18T23:06:00.003-04:00

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.

2008-06-18T22:04:00.002-04:00

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

2008-06-18T10:36:00.010-04:00

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

2008-06-17T09:05:00.012-04:00

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)

2008-06-17T08:59:00.015-04:00

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

2008-06-12T08:57:00.013-04:00

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

2008-06-11T22:42:00.002-04:00

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

2008-06-11T11:18:00.020-04:00

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

2008-03-14T17:20:00.002-04:00

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???

2008-03-09T22:35:00.002-04:00

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.

2008-03-02T23:00:00.002-05:00

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

2008-02-25T06:09:00.002-05:00

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

2008-02-17T15:24:00.002-05:00

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.

Weekend of Cakes

2007-11-27T07:27:00.000-05:00

We had a full weekend. My sister came down to celebrate my kids birthdays. Sam was on the 18th and David is today (27). We had a dinner with a bunch of the family on Saturday. Got a cake for David since Sam already had a cake for herself the weekend before. David was quite happy to open his gifts. He loved the Crane set, the Jeep, trailer and quad set. He has a Scramble game (2 player perfection)that was a joint gift for him and Sam. Both Kids loved the gifts that Michelle and I got for them. They each got a watch and they were quite happy about that. Then they opened their second gifts. Ottawa Senators Jerseys. David has an "Alfredson" Jersey and Sam has a "Meszaros" Jersey, their favorite players. It warmed my heart to see the joy on their face when they opened it. The shrieks of joy was beautiful music. David threw his arms around Michelle's neck after she read "Alfredson" for him. He was quite happy.

Well that was on Saturday. Sunday we had a little breakfast with Nat, Dan and Jon. They left early wanting to be in Timmins for the evening. Michelle spent a good part of the day putting plastic window covering on all the windows upstairs. We are hoping that it will help with the heating this winter.

Sunday afternoon was dedicated to round 2 and 3 of the cakes that we had to celebrate. Michelle's mom, Janice, made 2 cakes. The first was a family recipe carrot cake (The best I've ever had) and the second was a chocolate with chocolate chips with no icing as per the instruction. These cakes were for Bobby(30th) and Christine (24th). Now we are caked out. I didn't actually have a piece of the chocolate cake opting for the best in the world Carrot cake. But I did have a few crums of it. I was afraid that it would have been dry but it was very mosit and quite good.

Yesterday, my Christmas present arrived. I got 2 Car seats and Floor mats and a steering wheel cover, all with the new Senators Logo. I put them in my car and it looks really sharp.

Today, I will leave work early to take David to a movie this afternoon. Then we are bringing him to the restaurant of his choice, Lone Star. It hope he has a special birthday.

Winter Tires

2007-11-23T08:27:00.000-05:00

I got my winter tires onto my car last night. When I bought the car it came with 2 sets of tires. So I didn't have to go out and buy winter tires. However, I hadn't gotten the winter tires on. I drove for 2 days with my "all season" tires. They got me around fine. I'd spin when I started moving and stopping, well.. that required a little more skill. With the "all season" tires, breaking quickly would send the car in a tailspin. I was amazed at the difference in traction that the winter tires made.

I read a few articles about tires. Basically, the concept of an "all season" tire is bogus. All season tires were created to appease the car manufacturers in order to appeal to consumers. But in the end, they ended up being summer tires with a little more thread, that really don't work well in the winter.

If you don't have winter tires, I recommend that you get some. They do not exagerate when they say that you get 30% more traction. If you find buying winter tires a little price, you can always get some used ones. My father-in-law got 4 winter tires on steele rims for only $300.00 and they were practically brand new. The previous owner said that he only put about 8-900 Km on them.

Don't skimp out on this one, it is for your safety and your family's safety.

First Snow.

2007-11-21T09:06:00.000-05:00

Today was the first (real) snow fall of the year. The drive in this morning was interesting. I was lucky enough to not be delayed by any accidents. Mind you a plow had broken down in the middle lane of Innes Rd just in front of Rona. That cause a slight delay but nothing to be too concerned about. I found that the Queensway moved along fairly well.
I've been in Ottawa for 15 years now. I know what to expect. Keeping yourself relaxed and not rushing is key on this dreaded first snow day. Actually, this applies for any day that snow is accumulating. There is a lot of wisdom in taking it easy.

I am still riding on my summer tires. I meant to change to my winter tires, but life has been getting in the way. This morning, the drive was ok, where the raod was salted I had plenty of traction, but the last mile into work was on an unplowed road,
I drove slowly, knowing that the traction wasn't that great. All was well, until I got to my turn off, I slowed down a little too quickly and I went for a tailspin. It was quite fun actually. I knew that there was no danger of hitting anything, the person following me was quite far and no one was coming in the opposite direction. It would have been more of a risk to try to stop it. I wasn't going fast so I wasn't worried.

On the weekend, while I was busy helping out for my daughter's b-day party, my father-in-law changed the tires on his car. When he was done he put his summer tires in the back shed. I guess to make more room in the garage, he thought that he would put my tires back there too. I just bought my commuter car and it came with a set of winter tires. I had just left them in the garage so that they would be convenient for when I wanted to take them to my mechanic to sawp them out. Well, now I guess, I'll have to dig them out of the shed.

A Date

2007-11-14T10:05:00.000-05:00

Last night Michelle and I went out, just the 2 of us. It had been a long time. It was nice to have a quiet dinner in a fancy restaurant without having to get up to bring one of the kids to the bathroom halfway through the meal. We don't get much of a chance to go out like this. Even if we have live-in babysitters, we don't like to abuse that priviledge. We already tap into taht twice a week to go to the gym, after the kids go to bed mind you, but we still appreciate them being there for us to be able to do that.
After dinner, we went to a movie. Must be the worst movie I have seen in years. The Heartbreak Kid had the usual crude scenes that you would see in a movie of it's gendre, the usual occasional swear words, I was however surprised by the brief nudity. In the end none of those things would have mattered had the plot been different. The story goes, single guy who just turn 40, finds a girl, who he convinces himself that she is a great girl. after 6 weeks they get married. On their honeymoon, he realizes that she is "OFF". So off course that gives him the right to pursue another woman. As far as I was concerned, it was a bad decision followed by another bad decision all through the movie. Kinda reminds me of some projects that I have worked on ;-)

We were going to walk out of the movie at some point, but I opted in staying hoping that they would end the movie on a positive note. With maybe a lesson about all the things that were done wrong and a way find peace with all the people involved. But instead the film ends on the same low moral note that it played all along. Silly me!!

My recommendation is to stay away from it.

Reading Level

2007-11-13T07:26:00.000-05:00

All I can say is that I am proud to "outsmart" Frank on my blog. :-)

Movement

2007-11-07T12:39:00.000-05:00

There is a lot happenning in my professional life.
There may be big changes coming and the status quo may remain.
All is good, many people are contacting me, so that is good.
The right one will come eventually.

What a weekend

2007-11-05T12:12:00.000-05:00

Friday after work, I picked up my commuter car. A 1996 Mazda MX-3 Precidia. It was fun to zip aound in it all weekend. I dropped it back off on Sunday cause I'm getting the bottom repainted to address a bit of the rust and som minor dings here and there. I feel like I got a good deal on that and since my father in law is away this week. there is no better time to get it done.
I took it a little earlier than my mechanic wanted me to since he hadn't had a chance to clean it. I didn't mind driving it for a couple of days while it was still dirty. He going to make sure that it is good and clean when I pick it up after the paint job.

I had planned to do some outside work this weekend. Well, mostly on Saturday. But, alas, I laid in bed all day with no energy. I got hit with a chest cold that sapped the energy right out of me. I slept through most of Saturday. Getting up briefly to find myself drawn back to my bed. It has been a long time since I had a day like that. I was discouraged by this, since it was a beautiful Saturday, not sure how many more we are going to get, plus I have a pile of things to do outside before the snow comes.

Sunday I was expelled from the house with the kids while Michelle hosted a Signature HomeStyles party. I was more than happy to oblige. I wouldn't have wanted to be there at any cost. So, off to Mike's I went and the kids played with his kids while we hung out. After the party was over, we headed back to my place to have supper. The kids got to play some more in a home and home series. It was the first time that the 4 kids both got to play at their friends house and at their own house.

Trick or Treat

2007-11-01T13:57:00.000-04:00

What a blast we had last night.
We met up with our friends, Mike and Louise.
We had supper with them before going out, trick or treating with our 4 kids both family combined. The children got their fill of candy and they were happy to spend time with each other.
I was cute to see the little ones running from door to door. They all amassed a good bag full and were happy to head back before the parents were ready (weird switch).

We hung out with Mike and Louise for a little bit afterwards, had a bit of dessert. Mmmm those were good Rasberry cheesecake/cookies thingies that Louis made. I could have eaten them all.

I think we found a new tradition that we will be able to share for a few years to come.

Sore Back

2007-10-30T09:08:00.000-04:00

I find very little to be more frustrating than a sore back. On Sunday, I moved dirt, from a big pile into a flat area that we are going to call our garden next year. Everything went well. I had Michelle's help for the most of it and when I was done, I was tired but not to worst off for wear.
For supper that night we went out to Local Heroes on Bank to celebrate my brother-in-law's(Chris) birthday. With a large group you are usually there for a long time. With the low back wooden chair I found myself unable to get comfortable. After we had eaten, it had been 2 hours I go no longer stay there. So we went home. Popped back a couple of Advil, Michelle put A535 on my back and a hour or so later I felt loose enough to walk around again. Yesterday morning I was a bit stiff, but was alright to move around. After a day of work, by the time I got home, I could barely stand straight. I find it extremely frustrating to be in this place. I find myself unable to pick up my kids and play with them. They love to jump on me and rough around. When I am in this place I am unable to do that. I was very grateful that they understood and were compassionate, sometimes I needed to remind them, but they know that it is a time of being gentle with daddy.
Today is a new day, my back is getting looser, I am hopeful that I'll be able to play with the kids when I get home. I miss it.

Fun Week

2007-10-29T08:59:00.000-04:00

This week looks like it will be a fun one.
I am going to make some progress at work with the stuff that I am working on. So that is exciting. I know that there is a lot to do here so I don't expect to be anywhere done in the next couple of weeks. But being able to carve out a chunk is exciting on it's own.

Halloween, is on Wednesday. Our kids are excited about partnering up with some friends kids to go trick or treating together. It should be a good time to hang out with friends and see the bunch of kids enjoying themselves together.

Thursday evening, I have a wine tasting event with a consulting company that I really want to work with. It will be an excellent time to network and connect with some old friends that I don't get to see very often. I look forward to connecting with people and possibly expanding my contracting network a little bit. Who knows, from this event my next contract may be launched.

All in all it is looking very good for this week.

Heading into the weekend

2007-10-26T12:28:00.000-04:00

It seems like it has been a long week. Then again, it may just be because I've been particularly tired this week. We joined a gym last Thursday night. This week we started going. Our routine will be every Monday and Thursdays after the kids go to bed, we are going to go. It is an hour and a half twice a week that will hopefully help return to a more fit shape. Fridays we take the kids to the wavepool, all a part of our membership.
So Monday, after we got home and got showered, I was wired until 1:30 and I didn't get to sleep until about 2:00 AM. 6:00 came very quickly and mercilessly. Last night it wasn't as bad, I actually felt tired at 12:00. But now, I'm dragging myself.

This weekend is full to the rim. We have a lot a bunch of things that we need to finish around the yard. We have a messy garage, that I would like to clean up. We have to finish a bunch of miscellanous itmes in the pool area. Set ourselves up for winter.
We also have 2 birthday parties to go to. Combine that with the lousy forcast and it deson't fare too well to getting everything done. We will do what we can. Afterall, that is our mission, to do what we can ;-)

Crazy Times

2007-10-25T09:12:00.000-04:00

It's been a while since I have blogged.
At the end of August I returned to normal work days. It has help with the home budget but I do miss spending the afternoon with the kids. It was easier for my father-in-law who car pools with me. That is until a few weeks ago when his hours got changed from 8-4 to 9-5. Generally, I like to work 7-3, but I accomodated my hours so that we could save gas and did more of a 7:45-3:45. I'd drop my father-in-law half an hour early and it was good all around. Picking him up at 4:00 meant we didn't get home until 5:00 (or slightly before) with the heavy traffic and having to drive through the core.
Now, I leave at 3:00 and I'm home at 3:30. Avoid the whole traffic thing, that is very nice.

Life has been busy...as usual. We found 1 free weekend in our schedule in the last 3 months and we used it to go visit my parents in New Liskeard and my sister in Timmins. So a free weekend became a busy weekend.
Last weekend we had a Fall Comedy Classic ( the first annual) at Mike and Louise. Given the time of year, they made it into a Halloween party at the same time. It was a great time.
On Sunday the only thing that Michelle and I did was work on our budget. It wasn't as painful as we thought it would be. It felt good to get that done. Then we spent the rest of the day vegging. Something that we hadn't done in a while. I watched a few movies with the kids. Michelle did a lot of reading. Truly a day of rest.
This coming weekend we have 2 b-day parties. Leigh-anne and Chris. One on Saturday and one on Sunday. That fills out the schedule quickly. Plus we want to do alot of work around the yard, the garage, finish in the pool area and look at the car. I'm going to petition to be given a third day on the weekend.

A nice treat

2007-07-12T07:47:00.000-04:00

I've been getting up really early this week. My goal is to be at work at 6:00 AM. Work a short day and spend the afternoon with my kids. When it's nice we spend time in and around the pool, when it's not so nice we play games inside. So far I'm loving it.
Often when I wake up and get ready for work Samantha wakes up as well and she sees me off before I leave. She is an awesome presence in the morning and it is nice to see her in the morning. David is usually sound asleep and sometimes he'll sleep till 9:00 or later.
This morning as I was getting ready, he came down to see me off. It was a very nice change since I usually don't see him until I get home. He is very affectionate and likes to snuggle with me. This morning he sat on my lap giving me a big hug. It was a very nice treat, one that I know I will not get very often at 5:30 in the morning. He went back to bed after I left, hopefully he got enough sleep to be well rested.

Canada Day Weekend

2007-07-03T11:39:00.000-04:00

We had a great time as a family this weekend. We started Saturday with some friends, Mike, Louise, Jolene and William. We drove down together to Morrisburg to visit Prehistoric World. The kids had a great time looking at all the life size dinosaur. They had their pictures taken with each of them. It was amazing to see the amount of work that has gone into the creation of these over the last many years. Mike was there over 20 years ago and he remembers many of the dinosaurs that were there then but he also noticed that there were many more. It was a great outing that really targetted the age group of our combined families (2-6 years old)
We drove back to Ottawa, stopping to pick up some cheese, honey butter and fresh pick strawberries. It was nice to be invited back to Mike and Louise's to let the kids play together. We very much enjoy Mike and Louise's company. They seem to be a good fit for us, we are at a similar place in our lives, so everything gels when we are together.

Sunday, Canada Day Pool Party!!! It was a good time. We had about 30 friends come and go. A little less than anticipated, but then again, the temperature wasn't what we were hoping for. A few degrees warmer would have been nice. A few people bravely went into the water. I found it a little chilly outside for my taste. We had a great time as a household. We got to hang out with friends and family.

Off on Monday, what a day it was to have very little to do. Spend the day entertaining the kids, again too bad the weather wasn't warm enough to jump in the pool, but we had fun nonetheless. I spent a good part of the afternoon playing Lego Star Wars on the Game Cube with Sam and David. Samantha is actually pretty good.
I had my sister and family come over for supper. They came down to camp in Cumberland to spend some time with us. It will be nice to visit with them for the next little while.

This morning reality came crashing, I had to get back to work...drag.

The move is done.

2007-06-26T12:35:00.000-04:00

It's been over a week since we moved my in-laws in with us. It was a bit of a dsiaster area for a while. But room by room we are starting to win the battle of getting the house back to normal. Last weekend we had a yard sale to get rid of the surplus. It was amazing to see the stuff go. There was alot of nice stuff and it was nice to make a few dollars in the process. It atleast paid for the pizza Saturday evening and breakfast on Sunday morning. I figured that we deserved the break. It had been a hectic couple of months.

On the horizon,
Next weekend is our Canada Day Party on Sunday. That should be a blast. On Saturday we are going to a Dinosaur park with some friends of our. The kids are looking forward to that.
When things settle down a little, it will be time to start building my wall in the basement. When that is done, my office will be closed in and I will have a TV area. Now if I could only get rid of all my inventory that I have sitting around in the basement it would be all the better.

I look forward to spending lots of time with the kids this summer. I have a 4 day weekend every weekend starting in July ending at the end of August. It will be nice to spend extra time in the pool.

Finally, the move

2007-06-15T08:05:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow is the day that we have been waiting for. For the last couple of months, we have been getting ready; finding a place for everything, painting, moving furniture. Tomorrow, is when it all happens. Michelle's parents are moving in, Caroline too. There will bealot of people in the house, but that's ok, there is still alot of space. It will be an intersting change to all of our lives, we will need to adjust and adapt to the new situation. We are all going to have our own little havens. My in-laws will have a sitting area in their room with a TV, so when they need to get away they'll be able to close their door and be left alone. Caroline will have her room, with her computer, she'll be able to retreat there when she needs to. She spends alot of time out. So she should be good. The main family room will be the kids tv area and where Michelle can record and watch her shows. We are also making a TV room in the basement where we can watch TV later at night and not disturb people that are trying to sleep. It has been an exciting and tiring time getting ready for this. Tomorrow, we get it done.

First Swim

2007-06-05T13:13:00.000-04:00

I spent the better part of Saturday cleaning the pool. It was a hot day. Along with cleaning the pool I helped Michelle with a bit of yard work. I cleaned a bunch of things from the pool area.
All of this while I kept my eyes on the seemingly refreshing water so close to me. When we were done, we were hot, the kids had been bugging us about going swimming. We couldn't resist. Unfortunately, by this time the temperature had started dropping and it looked like rain was on the horizon.

That didn't matter, the kids and I were undeterred. We were going in that pool no matter what. I was the first to go in, then Samantha, then Michelle and finally David. The water felt cold, we had been working out side for a long time, it was about 75 degrees Fahrenheit. David got out pretty much right away. Michelle stayed in for a few minutes but when her feet started getting cold she got out. I stayed with Sam, she was having a blast. splashing in there. Every time the water hit me, it was cold, but I knew she was having fun. After a while, seeing how much fun his sister was having, David came back in. He played for a while and then the time came for all of us to get out.
So Saturday June 2nd was the first day of swimming at our house. Hopefully, we will have a nice summer and we will be able to get some good use out of the pool.

To Vince, A big THANK YOU.

2007-05-22T09:37:00.000-04:00

After a weekend of getting stuff done around the house. It was a treat to have Vince help us out. He was a bigger help than he could have imagined. With out him this weekend, not nearly as much would have gotten done. I just wanted to take this time and blog space to give him a sincere thank you. He's the best.

Senators are doing incredibly well

2007-05-14T14:02:00.000-04:00

Now that they are playing in the third round, conference finals, stanley cup semi-finals. It is great to see them playing as well as they are. The Ottawa Senators looked amazing in Game 1 against the Buffalo Sabres. They were able to stop every advances that the Sabres were trying to make and they got away with a few short hand chances (BTW:Nice shot Mike Fisher)
In Game 1 it was hard to tell if it was Ottawa that looked so good or if it was Buffalo that look so bad.
Now to Game 2, Buffalo came out strong, it seemed like they had found a way to keep Ottawa against the rope as they proceed to deliver blow after blow and take the lead of 2-0 in the first period. I expected Buffalo to come out strong. Heck, I even expected them to WIN. but by the end of the second period, Buffalo didn't look so good anymore. They were being stopped by Ottawa and it got to the point where from that point on most of the game was played in the Buffalo end (Not a good thing when you want to win, but it was great for Ottawa Fans) With 5.8 seconds left in the third, Miller (goalie) on the bench, the sixth attacker out there, Buffalo tied the Game. All of us watching the game's heart stopped, we couldn't believe it.
An entire overtime period goes by, no score, but fantastic hockey. Less than 5 minutes into the next overtime period. It came to a quick end with a beautiful point shot by Joe Corvo.

Ottawa is up 2-0 in a series. That the first time in this franchise history. First time they win in overtime in a playoff. It is an exciting time to be a Sens fan
GO SENS GO

Busy Season

2007-05-10T12:59:00.000-04:00

With my in-laws set to move in at the end of June. We have been pretty busy setting things up around our house. We have reorganized the garage, Build a platform for a shed and moved my father-in-laws shed into our backyard. Poor Wallace threw out his back in the process. We have many other projects that need to be accomplished in the near future. We need to move the Workshop out of my father-in-laws basement and into our garage, merge the one that we have in the basement (although it's a jungle in there) into the garage as well. Move the Freezers into the area that the Shop is occupying. Move Michelle's Craft and business supplies where the Freezers are now. Organize the low basement. Build wall in the high basement. Reorganize the office. Clear out Samantha's bedroom, move our room into Samantha's room. Paint our room. Clear our the guest room. All of that in the next 7 weeks.
The weekend that they "move" we want to have a pool party. Our second annual Canada Day Pool Party. I hope that things can move along faster than they have been lately.

We have all these things that have been added to our plate on top of the usual stuff that we need to do. Like keeping the house tidy, doing the yard work, maintaining the pool. It's going to be a crazy couple of months. On top of that, the Senators are having a very successful play off run. So my time gets interrupted by the games.

Now & Then

2007-05-09T13:38:00.000-04:00

I find myself living in a tension. I love the advances in technology. The wonderful vehicles that are available out there. The great PCs, the TVs, and the myriads of toys that we can add to our collection.
At the same time I look at the state that our planet is in. We are setting ourselves on a self destruct path. Everything is manufactured for the landfill. Everything has such a short life. Nothing is built to last. That is only the only the beginning of the problem. We are so dependant on electricity, fossil fuel and other things that are ruining our planet.
We mine everywhere and everything, leaving the area desolate and useless. We as consumers have bought in to the idea that buying a cheap item to throw away when we are done with it is a good thing. We no longer value our possessions, since they are disposable.
200 years ago, we lived off the land. We needed the land, we took care of the land. The little farm that you had was all you needed to make a go at life. It's true that the treats of life were few, but what you had you appreciated, you took care of and you fixed.
In our day and age, even those living on limited budgets, have the luxuries of life. TV, computers, video games, radios. It's true that we have some people in our midst that do not benefit of these things, but as a society, we do not understand them, we blame them for their own misery.
The point being that when one of our toys break, we stick it at the curb and buy a new one. Who has ever gotten a microwave fixed? If it break, you throw it out. Why fix it when it is going to be cheaper to buy a new one.

You hear about global warming, water table being contaminated, huge mining areas that can no longer be used for anything, the ozone layer, nutritional value of food not being exactly what they used to be. Makes you wonder where everything is going.

This is where I find myself, between enjoying the toys, I know that it sounds shallow, and wanting to get back to our roots where we honored the planet and gave thanks to God for our bountiful crops, that we got by the sweat of our brow. It would take the entire infrastructure to collapse to save this planet. Nothing like facing certain doom.

Easter Sunday Brunch

2007-04-04T13:21:00.000-04:00

My wife and I are hosting a Easter Sunday Brunch (potluck) this year. We thought it would be an interesting time to get together with friends and share our food as we remember what Christ has done for us. Since we meet on Wednesday night for our Kinship with Freedom Vineyard. We are always free on Sunday. Easter being a special Sunday, we decided to have a brunch.
Saturday, we'll be doing a bit of egg painting with the kids. Another great Easter tradition (not too sure where it started, but it is fun for the kids)
If you are going to be at home with nothing to do on Easter morning. Let me know, we'd love to have you. Just inform me off what you can bring and we'll go from there.

He is risen.

B-Day Weekend

2007-04-02T13:19:00.000-04:00

It was nice to be surrounded by friends on Saturday in the celebrating of my birthday. We went to LoneStar which is always a good place to eat. After the meal and I was asked to stand on my chair and a special song was sung to me by the LoneStar crew. We went back to my place. It was great to see the kids enjoying themselves, 7 of them in total. It was a joyous sound. people hung around we all at a great time. We got to have some cake, man..Loblaws make good cakes. There were berries and whipcream. It was a great day. I really enjoy having people over and hanging out. That is truly me.
Sunday, we went over to Michelle's parents for dinner and an awesome Carot Cake for dessert. Talk about being spoiled.

My birthday isn't until tomorrow (3rd). I will be going to watch PPV hockey game at the Theatre. Senators vs Devils. Should be interesting to see it on the big screen.

Facebook

2007-03-27T22:20:00.000-04:00

Michelle and I (and a bunch of other friends) discovered Facebook this week. We are really enjoying it. It puts us in touch with old friends and really promotes the development of communities. It is a very dynamic site. If you haven't been there, I encourage you to check it out. Visit me at http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=527751170.

Wow. A little bit is alot

2007-03-27T09:06:00.000-04:00

Since Michelle broke her arm it has been really busy. My personal time has been minimal. The little extra things have been building up. I have been tired, very tired since Thursday. An 8.5 hour wait at the hospital did not help get this thing to a good start. I'm still doing all the stuff that I am suppose to do, plus I have to help Michelle with all the things that she can't do with one hand.
It is very frustrating for her, plus there is the pain that she has to deal with. The pain is a lot more tolerable than it was a few days ago, she is now able to sleep through the night without having to take more painkillers.
Our lives have been turned around since Thursday. I go to work, although these days I really don't feel like looking at a computer screen and designing Crystal Report solutions. If I could be at home fulltime for the next week or so, it would go a long way in allowing me to rest proberly.

For this week this is my life. So if you see me and I look like a zombie. Don't be alarm, once I'm rested up, it will be all be good.

Michelle broke her arm.

2007-03-23T10:44:00.000-04:00

Yesterday morning, while I was at work. I got a phone call from my wife. There was obviously something wrong, I could tell by the way she told me that I had to come home right away. She told me that she had slipped on ice and broke her arm, at least she thought it was broken. I rushed home, as much of a rush that you can do in 9:00 AM traffic going through downtown. Her mother got a ride from home and was able to get there quick and tend to her as well as she could. She managed to get David packed up and ready to go. I helped Michelle get ready for the trek to the hospital. David skipped school, instead he had a field trip to grandma's work. I dropped them off at grandma's work and brought Michelle to the Emergency at the General Hospital.
At the hospital we proceed to waiting..waiting. From room to room we waited. We were sent to the X-ray lab. We waited there. We return to the emergency, we waited there. We were given a room in the Emergency area. That is where we waited the longest. We saw a med student, then a doctor, then a nurse. The nurse brough pain killers for Michelle. After being in the room for 3 hours, I enquired about some progress. The girl told me that I have to wait in the room. I told her that we had been doing that for 3 hours. She then told me that she would send the nurse.
An hour and half went by an no nurse came by.
Then all of a sudden the plaster doctor came by and told us that no one told him that we were waiting. He was very apologetic. He quickly set the bone in it's place, put the cast on, then set us to have another X-ray. After the x-ray we were walking back to the Emergency room, we saw him in the hallway. He took the slip and told us he would meet us in out room. A few minutes later, he shows up with prescription for pain killers, a slip to book an appoinment a week from now and he told us that all was good and we could go home. We waited 8.5 hours for something that took half an hour.
never the less we were just glad to be leaving. We were quite hungry so we stopped at Local Heroes, had a quick bite and went to pick up the kids at Michelle's parents. The kids were glad to see that mommy was doing fine, they can't wait to write on her cast now.
A few weeks and Michelle should be back to normal. I am just glad that she is ok and that it was a "good break" as the doctors put it.

March Break Trip

2007-03-21T12:30:00.000-04:00

Since the kids were off for March Break. I took a Thursday and Friday off, to give a long weekend, and we went up north to visit the family. We spent a few days at my parent's. Hung out with my baby sister and her guy. It was great to see Samantha using her French to communicate with my parents. David still has difficulties in that department. His most common responses are "What does that mean" or "I don't understand French". In due time he too will be fluent. It was a great time to relax with the family. I really like being up there. Every visit leaves me pondering ways to make a living in the quiet community.
Saturday, we had lunch back up the Jeep and drove to Timmins. The first time we'd been there as a family. It was interesting to trek into Shania Land. Everywhere you go there is a Shrine to the Country singer. They are very proud of her there. My sister, the oldest of the 2, moved her family there last September. I had been there with her to look at the house when they bought. But the rest of the family had not. It was a long drive. 2.5 hours north of New Liskeard. The furtest we had ever been with the family. I had worked in Timmins for a summer when I was 18. Being there brought back alot of memories.
My niece (14) is really not happy about being there. She just entered high school and feels that she is being plucked away from her friends. Time will play out and she will realize that it was a good move. My brother-in-law had been working there for over a year before the family moved as well. For a while he was travelling back every weekend, renting a little bachelor apartment. I was hard on everybody to be away so much of the time.
I think that my sister did the right thing by moving there. I just wish that it would have been somewhere closer to Ottawa. But you got go where the work is I guess. My sister sacrificed a satisfying job, a job she loved, to be with her husband and keep the family together.
The drive back on Sunday was long. We left Timmins at 11:00 am. Stopped for a quick lunch. They drove with the minimal potty breaks and got home at 8:00pm.
The family was good at that point. But I unload the Jeep, got back in and went to pick up Bernie (dog). That took up the better part of an hour.
Long and Tiring trip, but in the end worth it. It's good to see family.

Jeep Maintenance

2007-03-05T08:52:00.000-05:00

I took my Jeep in for some maintenance last week. The usual oil change, tire rotation, plus I needed my serpentine belt replaced, get the passenger front window looked at (it doesn't work anymore) and get the new seat installed. I left the jeep with the mechanic for the day and went on to work.
I picked up the truck in the evening. Turns out I need a new window motor for the passenger front. That should be done soon. I was excited on getting a new seat installed. You know, one that doesn't rock back and forth.
The new seat is in. It doesn't rock. It looked like it was going to be more comfortable. But I'll let you know that it is not. I drove around a little with it and it kills my back. I was mad. Go through all this trouble to get a new seat, have it installed and now I wish I had my old broken rocking seat.
I'll see if I can get the back of my old seat onto the new seat. that should resolve any issues there. The status quo doesn't work. I guess I'm getting old and I have a bad back now. What can you do?

Pain in the Back

2007-02-14T13:38:00.000-05:00

I've been on site here at Innovapost for just over 6 weeks. The overall atmosphere here is great. The people are friendly. My teammates are a great bunch of people. We are all being relocated to being a little closer together. Until this week, we were literally spread out across the building. So having everyone in the same area should prove to a good thing. Everything is going well here, except for my chair. I've tried 3 or 4 different chairs. All of them are not doing any good for my back. I actually bought some Robax Platinum today to cope with the pain. I sent an email to my manager asking is there was anything that could be done early this morning. I haven't heard a thing. Most of the chairs here don't seem to be for me. There is a model chairs in the building here that might come close to addressing the problem. Everywhere else that I worked I had a high-back chair. Here they seem to be sold on the low-back chair. When I first started here I noticed that my lower back was getting sore. In the process of protecting my lower back, I've neglected my upper back. Not a comfortable place to be in.
I know that the solution is simple. I just need a little bit of time addressed to this from my manager. If he comes back and tells me that there is nothing that can be done. I'll bring in my own chair. I have to protect my back. I just need to exhaust my options before I get to that. I also need to know that I'm allowed to do that. I know some places cause a bit of a fuss over something as trivial as that.

Not always as planned

2007-02-12T09:43:00.000-05:00

Weekends don't always go as planned. As I had mentioned in a previous post, I was going to be spending time with my niece. Turns out Michelle got food poisoning on Friday night. Well we think it was food poisoning. Being unsure of that on Saturday, we opted on not having the baby in the house. Michelle had a really rough night, throwing up throughout the night. I'm glad we have a spare bed.
I took David to a b-day party for one of his school friends on Saturday over lunch time. The Sam and I went out to run a few errands. That gave Michelle a bit of time to rest. When I got back, I was informed that they were taking my niece to Cosmic Adventure and wanted to know if I wanted to take my kids. So I loaded Sam into the car, picked David up from his party and trotted of to Cosmic Adventure. What could be easier than taking the kids to an indoor playground. The kids had a blast. I played with my niece, everybody was happy.
We got home in time for supper. I think all in all it was a great day for everyone. The kids had fun, I had fun and Michelle had the entire day to rest.

Time with my niece

2007-02-09T13:23:00.000-05:00

I got a call from my wife earlier informing me that we were having a special guest tomorrow. Her sister and husband are doing their Valentine's on Saturday and we are looking after their daughter. She is so precious, she's a year and a half, she is full of joy. I love having children around. She is one of my last babies. So whenever she come over, she is mine. I play with her and entertain her. So I am really looking forward to that. My kids love to play with her too and they love to play with me while I play with her. So we are going to have a few hours of fun the 4 of us. I'm sure Michelle will have fun too, but the kids are for me ;-)

The seat is good

2007-02-09T13:20:00.000-05:00

I had a look at the seat yesterday. It seems like it is in good condition. Half an hour after I said that I would take it, they called me to let me know that it was ready. I was all the way across the city at this point. So this afternoon, right after work, I'm picking up my new used seat. I guess I have something to do this weekend.
Looking forward to a driver's seat that doesn't rock back and forth.

New Seat.

2007-02-08T08:09:00.000-05:00

I've been trying to find a replacement driver's seat for my 2000 Jeep Cherokee. It's broken and it rocks back and forth. Everynow and then I hear a new crunch which results in making to rocking motion a little more pronounced. It's a common thing for the Jeep Cherokee, so I am told.
When I had the Jeep in the shop in the fall, the shop manager told me that he couldn't locate one. I tried calling a dealer and he said that they couldn't get something like that.
I've been looking online for quite some time for aftermarket seats that might work and got nowhere. Yesterday, I came across Dave's Truck and Auto Parts. It's a scrapyard in Carp. They have a 2000 Jeep Cherokee with a smashed up front ent. Had I known this in the fall I could have saved a few dollars on my tailight. Nonetheless, it is good to know that someone has parts for my Jeep, as long as I don't need anything from the front-end.
So I am going to have a look at this seat. Hopefully, this one will not be broken. If it can last another 7 years then that will be great.
Here is hoping.

Larry the Cable Guy

2007-02-07T09:29:00.000-05:00

Michelle and I went to see Larry the Cable Guy last night. We had an awesome time. Larry is part of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour. We got introduced to them a few years ago by L-A & Jay. In my opinion it is one of the best stand up comedy package out there.
I gave Michelle the options: Josh Groban, Rod Stewart, Barenaked Ladies and Larry the Cable Guy. Her choice was clear, not even a debate. Larry was the show that she prefered to see.
The people sitting around us were all laughing like we were. But none laughed as much as the people behind us. That made the experience all the better. Usually when you go to concerts or games, the people being behind you being too loud can be a distraction or a nuissance. But in the case of stand up comedy, it provides an atmosphere that is condusive to laughter for yourself.
Larry is on tonight again, if you get a chance, go. It's good for a few laughs.

Get'er done!!

Waiting, waiting, waiting

2007-02-06T15:15:00.000-05:00

I'm pretty much done extracting Business Rules here at work. For the next little while I am to stay here to support the Business Analyst in case they have questions. They are supposed to be done by Friday, we were suppose to be done ahead of them, so everything is cool. Now I just sit and wait for emails, nudges when they have questions. So far today there as been 2. But I see the number being pretty much nothing for the rest of the week.
I am suppose to be transfered over the development manager. I am just waiting now. Days are long.

Weekend at the Cottage

2007-02-05T11:37:00.000-05:00

There is nothing like taking a break from winter to enjoy winter. I spent the weekend at the cottage with my brother, father-in-law and 2 brothers-in-law. To tell you the truth, we didn't do much while we were there. We did a little bit of walking outside, enjoying the winter scenery. Much of our time was spent indoors watching movies and having a few drinks. It's a tradition that started years ago.
My father-in-law loves to show off is culinary skills, using nothing but the wood oven all weekend. We had the best breakfast, that any restaurant could offer, every morning. A delicious roast beef marinaded in a peppercorn/ranch and red wine gravy. We always eat well when we are at the cottage.
I've always found it to be a great time to bound with the guys in the family. Of course, with my little brother there, there is always a bit of wrestling that takes place. Ahh, now that's male bonding at it's best.

Lately, I've been finding it more difficult to get away like that. I find that I end up missing my kids and my wife. No matter how much fun I have with the boys, my family is my center. It is difficult to be away from them. It is all the more rewarding when I come back. I get to see the smiles on their faces and the joy at seeing me again and as a father and husband, there is no greater reward.

My desire is that I can one day bring my children to weekend winter getaways to the cottage. Hopefully, Gerry (Michelle's uncle) will keep the cottage and continue to offer it to us even as time goes by. Gerry is extremely charitable with his cottage and for that I am extremely greatful.

Ottawa Senators take on Ovechkin

2007-01-17T14:22:00.000-05:00

I took my brother to a Sens game last night, his birthday is on Friday, so I got him an early present. The Sens were playing Ovechkin and the other people that he brought with him that are a part of the Washington Capitals. Ovechkin is an awesome player and when he has the puck something is going to happen. That is probably why all the Caps players keep feeding him the puck. The Kid has skill there is no doubt about it, but the Caps are not a well formed team. Too much depends on Ovechkin. They may have other talent in the line up but the way they played last night I couldn't it.

The Sens did well at stopping Ovechkin. They were formidable on the offence as well. They came out with a 5-2 victory. They seem to have found their rhythm and I am quite content about that.

We enjoyed ourselves at the game, even though we were in the nose bleed section. The players look little from up where we were. Nonetheless, there is nothing like being able to see the whole ice and all the plays. I do enjoy watching the game at home, and that will continue to be my most common method, but it was nice not being limited to the camera and the short piece of the ice where the puck actually is.

With 18500 people in attendance it was great to be a part of the City spirit. We saw and were part of the wave going around the bowl 5 consecutive times until there was a break in the play and it died off.

I love my city and I love the team my city has. I am just glad that they are faring well these days. But in the end it doesn't matter, because this is my team, because this is where I live.

I hope to be able to go to a few more games.

On Site at Innovapost

2007-01-09T07:34:00.000-05:00

It's been a week now since I started at Innovapost. I've reacquainted with old friends that have either stayed here for the last 10 years or have found their way back like myself. The application is at it's 11th version with multiple releases having gone out for each version. It is exciting to see something that I have worked on be in usage 10 years after the making. But in application development 10 years is a good long run and the time to rewrite is at hand.

My duties for the next month or so, is to validate that the business process requirements (BPR, document) matches what the code is actually doing. It is a fairly extensive application, it has to be, since it is the front end to the Canada Post business.

This application has been the benchmark to which I compare all other applications. It is completely object oriented. Well has much has it could be in vb4, it certainly pushed the envelope back then. Now with .NET it could go even further if we are permitted to do so. Most applications that I have worked on since, have been poor implementations with no or very little architectures. So on that front it's good to be back on the application.

I look forward to the next few months, it will be interesting to see where this application is going to go and who else from my past will join the team for the rewrite.

A New Start

2006-12-18T22:14:00.000-05:00

Being a consultant in the software development world. I move around on a semi regular basis. With that said, I have had contracts that have lasted into 3 years and others that only last a few months. Every now and then it is good to get a new start. I am putting on the finishing touches on a contract that I am leaving. This contract could have taken me into 2009, but I found that it was time to move on. I spent far to many moments utterly frustrated. I am very aware of the cause and I am also very aware that there is nothing that I can do to rectify the problem. I am not the type of person who will stick around and complain about something. I will first try to fix it or if it doesn't want to be fixed, I will move on. No need to dwell on something that will only cause you grief.

In my past I have encountered people that would be utterly frustrated by the same situation for years, but when asked what they were going to do about it to change it, they were stumped... Fresh out of ideas. I came along and worked with them and for a few months experienced their grief. The difference between me and them was that while I was grieving, I was also planning.

Now with my current situation, I have found resolution within me, I am leaving, so the catalysts to my departure no longer have any weight on me. I have resolved any lingering conflict that was there. To the point that if I need to, I could stay. But alas, I am expected somewhere else in the New Year. Nothing like starting the year with a new contract. I will be the first time I have ever done this. With a new contract comes a clean slate. It reminds me of the work of the cross. When I am forgiven, all is new between me and God. Likewise with a new contract. I get to establish new connections, to be the salt in a new environment. It is truly exciting.
A new year is coming and with that a new me to start a new contract. All very new.

Roof Rust?

2006-11-07T13:16:00.000-05:00

My 2000 Jeep Cherokee is in the shop. The roof started rusting during the summer. Well I guess it started showing through the paint over the summer. I came out of the winter with no visible marks on it. I just got a call from the shop manager, he told me that he has never seen a roof in this bad of shape. They just got it striped and the entire thing is brown. They are going to sad blast it, which will warp it, but if they don't then it will only last 3 months. Talk about discouraging. My plan is to keep it for a few years more. Everything runs great on it. If the bottom was rusting then I wouldn't be too concerned, that's how cars are suppose to rust. From the bottom up not from the top down.

Hopefully, a few more days and it will be back to normal life without a Yaris as a rental. Great times.

The Land of Kör is here.

2006-02-23T07:47:00.000-05:00

I spent a bit of time over the last couple of days creating the Land of Kör blog. I have invited all 4 players to join so that they can start adding their part to the story. Two of them have accepted, sweet. Things will get exciting as the story unfolds.

I've added the link to my side bar.

I guess I am a Post-Charismatic

2006-02-21T12:54:00.000-05:00

I have been reading a website by Robby Mac about Post-Charismatic. I found the link to it while reading Frank's Blog.

It is an incredible read. I find myself identifying with alot of the author's writting. I can appreciate the amount of effort that has gone into creating this website. It truly is an enourmous undertaking to address all of the topics that are being addressed in this work.

If you are like me, a person who has been involved in hyped controling church and have walked away from it feeling hurt and wounded. You will really identify with what is put forward on this site.

From reading this site I have gained understanding to where the paradigms were coming from. Also, from reading the Assemblies of God responses to what they had been faced with in the topics covered, I have gained a new respect for them.

I would like to thank you Robby McAlpine for the time and research that you have devoted to this publication. I appreciate the 'matter of fact' way you present your arguments and do not slam any sides. I has changed my perspective and has given me new wind for my sails.

A whole day with the kids.

2006-02-06T13:07:00.000-05:00

I spent the whole day hanging out with the Kids on Saturday. Michelle (Mom) and her sister(Chantal) got to hang out and go shopping for the day. That left me at home with my precious kids. We watched movies, played games, played music together; David is pretty good with his homemade shaker.

I think the highlight for the kids was going out to KFC for lunch. We shared a combo and they sure seemed to enjoy it.

When Mom got home later in the afternoon she was quite tired from her day and wanted to take a nap. That was fine for the kids and I since we were having a great time. We watched our last movie had supper when mom woke up. Needless to say that they didn't need to be convinced to go to bed that night.

I surely did enjoy that day.

Starting my Blog

2006-02-04T22:24:00.000-05:00

A little about me.

I am a husband (7 1/2 years) and father (daugther 5, son 3) who operates an eBay Store(Galen Games) , DM's a D&D RPG (The Land of Kor), is currently involved with a Vineyard Church plant (Freedom Vienyard). With all this I still manage to find time to have a full-time career in software development(All over the place; contracting). In time I will expand on all of the things that keep me busy.

Welcome to my Blog.
Steve