First Swim

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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.