Little Brother married

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!!

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

Saying goodbye to man's bestfriend.

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

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

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

What is wrong with people

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

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

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

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

Very sad...

What a game: Ottawa vs Washington

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

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

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

Another Chapter Closing

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

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

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

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

Green Party of Ontario

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

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

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

Ban on Water Bottle

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

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

First day back at EDC.

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

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

Back to the grind

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

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

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

And Now....off the market

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

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

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

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

Ok, back on the Market

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

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

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

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

2 Weeks and Counting

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

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

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

Ottawa Senators Land Jason Smith

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

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

Go SENS Go.

A Silly Bear

A Silly Bear --- Story by Samantha Lussier


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



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



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

Exhibit of Environmental Disaters

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

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

Brian McGrattan Traded to Pheonix

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

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

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

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

St-Jean Baptiste

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

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

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

Ottawa Transit needs to be revamped

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

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

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

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

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

Price of Gas

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

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