Lets Paws to Remember our Veteran(arians).

What's the Deal?

Tonight is the second Saturday Night this month which doesn't feature a Toronto Maple Leafs game... since when do the schedule makers think of themselves as gods and try this kind of crap?!? I can harldy remember a saturday night without a leaf game for years, and they decide this month to do it twice! What am I supposed to do with my time? Pay attention to my family... ? spose so.

Slurpee Conditions: Christmas Day Edition

As of 10:01pm on Dec 25th, 2008, The Slurpee conditions are:

Wonderful, but only because it's Christmas... I'll overlook the fact that the cola based offerings were dead watery...  Orange cream was a good choice despite the less than favourable selection.  As always, Slurpucinno is untouched and in perfect shape for whatever unsuspecting victim that may stumble upon it.  

Have a Merry Christmas and remember to check back often for your Official Slurpee Condition Reports, spanning the province since 1994!  Jooje is a Cat.

Season's Greetings...

Yesterday morning on the way to work, they were playing Christmas music on Faith FM... no big deal, until I hear the old standard - The Christmas Song.  "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire..."A rendition by some chick from Stratford was the one they chose.  It was ok, nothing special -- piano and vocal.  Then I hear something a little different from usual, changing one word.... that just irritated me.  They found it to be to offensive or whatever to say "so I'm offering this simple prayer"... it was changed to "simple wish".  Not only did it not rhyme, or really mean anything in particular... Since when is it ok to alter an old standard song, one word at a time... I suppose we change some hymns to more modern language to be relevant... Is wishing the modern version of prayer?  It didn't even rhyme!  What irks me most is that this is not a 'religious' song... that was the only word remotely religious in there.  Apparently it's not politically correct anymore.  And for the Christian radio station to play it on their morning show and miss that is sad...  Not that I expect a very high level of quality from their morning show, but honestly... 

I wish that you all have a happy holiday dinner and open festive presents and enjoy your holiday eve services the night before you see all the yule gifts under the celebration tree on Dec 25th.

bah humbug.

Happy Holidays

We did Christmas morning for Silas today.  He'll get enough stuff tomorrow morning at grandma's anyway.  It was fun, sitting around listening to Christmas music and opeing gifts. 

Last night,we experienced the first installment of the annual "Fumble to put together presents the night before Christmas" party.  I was up and down the stairs getting different screwdrivers and my drill, trying to get the stupid ride on tractor together... 

When Faith opens her christmas gift from me...

She'll be so happy... this might just happen.  Men be warned, this may hit too close to home.

Trick question... it was a trap!

Ever get a chill and need to stay fashionable?

Lucky for you, there's the SNUGGIE. Now you can stay warm and look like the member of a religious cult... at the same time!

Honestly, i've seen this ad a couple times on TV tonight. Who in their right mind would dress themselves and their loved ones in this thing and go out to watch a baseball game? Who am I to judge.. they look so happy. Maybe that's what I'm missing...Doesn't she look happy?

Being Direct or something...

So somehow I've found myself in the position of Director of a missions organization. I've been involved with Sons of Salvation doing the hockey mission trips to Czech republic for a number of years now. The former director, Jody is moving to CZ to be youth pastor there. That left the opportunity to take the reins and long story short, Faith and I are running the ship now. Weird.

It's been moving pretty fast, but I think we'll manage to keep it afloat. So, if anyone's interested in being involved, i'm your man now.

Tee Hee

Good ol' fun at ManBabies....

GET MORE AT ManBabies.com!

Quiet Week at work...

Over the past year or so, I have been concocting an idea in my head for a trebuchet using old broken computer parts.  This week, with most people away at a conference, it was pretty quiet, so I put it together in the time I had between work. 

Here's some pics... the projectiles I used were some spacers from old 4gig hard drives, one with a paper clip to attach to the arm, the other with a more plyable strand of cat 5e wire.  

Side view of trebuchet, loaded and ready for action.  The counterweight is a collection of magnets from those 4gig hard drives, nice and easy to add/remove weight, stuck to a screw in the end of the pencil.  The base is a hard drive caddy with an old 40gig hard drive, with 2 56k modems as the uprights.  
As can be seen here, I have used a wooden stem cotton swab as the axle, replacing the screw driver I initially used.  I needed the screw driver elsewhere.  I rigged a firing pin using a paper clip and a strand of cat5e ethernet wire attached to the modems. 

Video clip of trebuchet in action... not very clear.  The distance between the 2 benches is about 8 ft, and I consistently hit the same target area in the corner in my test firing.

Serious Business

I would love to have the patience to build one of these contraptions... imagine taking one to work and having a ruber band fight... step it up to the next level... Found this site which prompted me to work on some weaponry of my own. I've been concocting an office trebuchet made of old computer parts for a while now, and got a model working last week... a little lack-luster compared to this.

It's a Windows world, baby!

So, I was at the gas station (Esso - stanley park) the other day to fill up. THE GAS WAS JUST SO CHEAP!!!! I still find it tough to think that 93.5 per litre is CHEAP. Anyways, I wonder to myself: "self, why does it seem so quiet here"... usually I'm being blasted in the ear by the ESSO news screen above the pump. Then I look up to find this wonderful screen!
Apparently, like many things, the screens are computer controlled and this particular one had contracted the lovely BSOD! The imfamous Windows Blue Screen of Death! Gotta Love Windows. Oddly enough, this was Thursday, the same day that Ubuntu Linux released it's newest version. Not that linux is without bugs, but there is no blue screen...
The sad thing is that this is not the first crashed esso pump I have seen... I noticed one in milton back in the summer...

It's coming again.

Brigden Fair

Gotta love the Shootout

I caught up to the score of the leaf game tonight and saw another shootout decision. Gone are the days of the elusive 0-0 tie game seing both goalies earn a shutout after a hard-fought game. Now they make them shoot until someone scores... Why do they keep sending Jason Blake in on the shootout? I hear he hit the post, but normally he just fires it into the goalies stomach... I'd rather see Cujo go in for the shootout...

High Hopes

So, based on last nights performance, the Leafs will be 82-0 this season with Nikolai Kulemin winning the rocket richard and calder trophies with 82 goals... Here comes the cup.

Tiny bubbles...

so, I'm blogging right now from an asus eeepc. this computer is one in the line of ultra mobile pc's, hardly larger than a dvd case. this model runs a custom version of linux called xandros, derived from the growing ubuntu os.

I have to say it's kinda cool, but no where beefy enough to act as my sole computer. it's keys are pretty small and the screen resolution makes most web pages tough to navigate with need for side to side scrolling. it's got a 2 gig ssd for the os, with sd card slot for expansion. the processor is an intel lnow voltage celeron I think, running at somewhere between 575mhz-800mhz. it's got 512 of ram.
Not anything special for specs, but its size is its strength. pretty cool toy for less than $300 retail. Royal bank happens to be giving them away, so I've bartered co worker to try it out.

I'd like something like this to take to Czech Republic this february 13-22. Anyone want to come?

Rost in Trains Lation

I found this translation tool on the web to translate a birthday message for my czech friend. I decided to translate the result back to english to see what I said in Czech. Crazy Results.

Here is an example, a nursery rhyme to test the translation tool.
Old Mother Hubbard
Went to the cupboard
To fetch her poor dog a bone;
But when she came there
The cupboard was bare,
And so the poor dog had none.

When translated to Czech and back, it yields this.

Old Mother Hubbard
Went to the sideboard
To go and fetch her unsubstantial dog a bone ;
Lest when she came about
The sideboard was unclouded ,
PLUS thereabouts the poor dog had none.

I then translated that to Dutch and back... crazy dutch.

Tardy Senior ranking Uproar
Went until the sideboard
Until goes and yield one's unsubstantial share within shank
Lest whenever they came around
The sideboard was unclouded ,
Plus with regard the poor share had nothing.

Now, when the Dutch came back, I put it to French and back.

Belated 4th year static about cabs Commotion
Went until the pad
Until goes and surrender one's unsubstantial quota - parson inside conduit about pipe
Lest whenever they came about
The pad was unclouded
Signe anymore at abidance the flimsy quota - parson had nil.

I guess the only thing that is unclouded is the literal translation of the word unclouded, wherever it came from. Poor unsubstantial dog.

Who wins contests anyways?

So, about a couple weeks ago, I get an email asking me to do a survey regarding leafs tv.  I took the opportunity to let them know I wasn't impressed and wouldn't be subscribing this year. 

 

I got a call today from David from MLSE... the ol Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment.  Apparently I was entered in a draw to win an autographed Tomas Kaberle Jersey and I was selected... How cool is that?  I never win anything.  Looks like things are shaping up for ol' Gil.  We'll see if it ever arrives.  Booyah!

Party's over...

well, after 4 weeks of parental leave, I return to work tomorrow... It's been a good time. Eva is doing great. I'm glad to get back to work, I think they can't wait to have me back.. Ah well, it was good while it lasted.

SPAM

I got about 130 spams delivered to my in box the other day,  which is crazy... usually one or two make it through the filter per week... then I get my quarantine report today... 9527 messages quarantined this week... I had a Zoolander moment... that seems a little more than usual.

 

Today's Froster Report (TM)

As of 7:45pm at Homer Watson and Bleams Rd, the Froster conditions are:

Excellent. 

 

Strong showing from Barqs Cream Soda with a wonderfully thick Coke on top.  Good job.

 

Maybe it's the eyes?

Silas has been back for a few days now... he likes his baby sister, likes to kiss her repeatedly and likes to shake whatever structure she happens to be in...

You can tell from this picture that he's thinking of doing something bad...

It's a girl!

Evangeline Irena Grace - Born at 12:08am on the 15th weighing in at 7 lbs 2 oz.

Delivery was fast and without complication. We all had some good moments of sleep in the night. Will send pictures when we get home.
Dan and Faith

Thundercats are go!

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Last Call

Not that anything is imminent, but unless there are any better suggestions, we will go with our gut instincts and name the new baby

 

Chevy Chase Grace

 

 

Goal Post

I've read a lot of articles on the internet etc regarding my beloved Leafs and their rebuilding phase. Most of them were calling for them to tear it all down and start from scratch, then the next week, slam them for not signing enough free agents for the upcoming season.
3 things.

(1) Regarding Mats sundin...
I would love to see Mats back in the blue and white. However, I think it's best for him to go elsewhere or retire. Best for the team. They need to tank it in a bad way, and it will be a lot more natural for them to do that with #80 centering the top line rather than Mr Sundin. I really appreciate Mats' contributions to the team and admire his loyalty. I just think at this point, we should start seeing other people.

(2) Regarding Mr McCabe...
I don't feel Bryan was given a fair shake in all this... ever since he scored in his own net in Buffalo last fall, he has been thrown under the bus. I think he's still got a lot left in him, but seems it's too late for him here. At any rate, someone will get him cheap due to the smear campaign thrown at him a la Ray Emery. You should always get rid of a player when they are riding high, not after you convince everyone else that he's not good enough for a rebuilding team. Good luck in wherever Bryan... People can go back to heckeling Antropov.

(3) Regarding additions...
As easy as it would be to wag the accusing Finger at Trader Cliff for overpaying for a FA defenceman, I think Jeff will do just fine here. Apparently he doesn't mind hitting people, which is cool. Niklas Hagman seems like a good pickup, while Jamal Mayers, and the few other weird pickups appear to me to be nothing more than hoarding players to trade later. At least the bulk of the players brought in aren't on the back nine of their careers. Cujo is just a wonderul reminder of days gone by.

Anyways, should be interesting. I am hopeful that they are going to play just well enough to land on the bottom of the pile next spring and get the John Tavares pick. At least they haven't brought in the likes of Phil Housley and Dougie Gilmour to gun for the post season.

Today's Slurpee Conditions (tm)

As of this afternoon at King St S in Kitchener:

 

Very runny.  Again a no show from the cola based slurpees.  Cream soda was quite runny and barely survived the trip home. 

Yesterday's Slurpee Conditions (TM)

As of 1900 hours on August 11, 2008, the conditions at the King St near
victoria 7-eleven are:

Disappointing... decent showing from mountain dew blue and cream soda
(although both runny), but a no show for coke and no effort from the
Pepsi. The shocking lack of cola based slurpees at beckon call shakes
my belief in the slurpee world. Maybe I've given them too much
responsibility.

This is a test

This is a test of the emergency broadcast system. Do not be alarmed, this is only a test.
Thankyou.

Today's Slurpee Conditions

As of 1600 hours at St Clair and Grand in Chatham, Ontario, the slurpee conditions are:

Thick and tasty. Mountain Dew Blue and Pepsi are quite thick considering the hot exterior conditions. Dr Pepper was looking quite under the weather.

Jooje the cat is a registered Slurpee Technician, bringing southern Ontario official slurpee reports when they need them most.

You can go elsewhere for your conditions, but I wouldn't if I were you...

Gardener Arden Grace?

So, whilst thinking up some baby names for the one to come, I stumbled upon a random baby name generator... It comes up with first and middle names and lets you know if they hit the top 100 or 1000 in the US... Some of the ones that came up were:
-Taliessen Remy
-Rylee Sadie
-Rickie Lanna
-Abiela Tzigane


Here opens the door to the Grace Family Baby Name Contest... This is your last chance to offer your spin on the whole "baby name" deal. It is a GIRL, as you can clearly tell from the above suggested names, so think pink.

If your baby name is featured in our Baby's name card at the hospital, you'll win a coffee mug of your choice from our cupboard to go along with a glass of eternal bragging rights, knowing that you made your mark in the baby world without doing any real work.

Today's Slurpee Conditions

As of 2100 hours, from King St near Victoria. the slurpee conditions are:
Cold, wet...

It has been reported that the mountain dew blue has a bit of a funky aftertaste..

Gettin Old...

I spent about an hour and a half installing laminate floor upstairs tonight and now I have a really sore elbow and hand... This stuff seemed to be goin in easier than the last stuff I installed... Ah well... I have 2 rows left to do, the only complications being the register and the closet... hooray for Saturday.

Today's Slurpee Conditions

As of 2100 hours, the conditions in Cambridge are cold and thick with runny cream soda. Refreshing, though...

How's that for original?

Today's Froster Conditions

Macs in Cambridge at around 1200 hours:
A little runny, but delicious nevertheless.


That is all... and yes this is an original idea.

If the women don't find you handsome...

So, Faith bought a dishwasher for her birthday a month ago and it's been in our dining room in the box since. That left me with figuring out how to get it installed. So, I called a plumber and booked a couple days off work to get this done.. We had a dishwasher in our last place and had some cupboard space that was prettymuch useless here.
So, thursday I swung by the mall to pick up a day-labourer (AKA Adam Collins) and underwent the task of removing the cupboards and preparing them for a dishwasher. Between the two of us, we did a pretty sweet job of dismantling the existing cupboard and putting it partially back together as shown to leave a space for the dishwasher and a small space for pans/dishrack etc. We also figured that since the plumber wanted the electrical stuff done before they came, that we could play electrician for a bit and consulted my Home Depot DIY book to figure out how to install a breaker and run electrical line.
The electrical stuff was surprisingly easy and quick, the longest part being the trips to home depot and Crappy-Tire for parts, and parts we forgot the first time... Anyways, Mike the plumber came and hooked it up (WOW am I in the wrong career... gouge $$$) and we have a functioning dishwasher... yippee
Now I'm a bit confident with electrical crap... still don't want to touch plumbing. The margin for error with plumbing is very small.

Seven-11

Faith pointed out the other day that friday was to be the glorious day of 7-11-2008, none other than the birth of 7-eleven. On this day they celebrate by giving anyone and everyone a small slurpee for FREE... just turns out that I either completely miss it or, like yesterday, completely forget it... bugger.

Let me know if you made it ( for those of you who still wander to this blog.)

Happy pride Week

Click HERE

This is a post

I am posting on my blog... I used to do this. Then I forgot how to have the time... Take that CANADA.

I know what you did last weekend.

Here's the video that we made for Amanda and Colin Nafziger's wedding reception.

Apparently this was all a mistake...

Hi Dan,

This problem should now be resolved. If you're still having trouble accessing your account, please let us know. I apologize for the delay and any inconvenience.
Thanks for contacting Facebook,

Audrina
Customer Support Representative
Facebook

----------------------
Ah well. I was looking forward to figuring out how to NARC out other people and get them disabled. It was kinda nice to be off for a bit... aside from almost losing my Scrabulous record.

Facebook Schmacebook!

Apparently I have offended the Facebook 'gods' and they have disabled my account... what am i to do now? It's quite funny. As far as all my friends are concerned, I never existed... I am no longer listed as married to Faith. Worst of all, my 12-3 scrabble record is on the rocks... blast.

Ah well. screw facebook!

4 8 15 16 23 42

just so you know, I noticed that LOST season 3 didn't come out near my birthday. I believe they're playing it like 24 and starting back up in January... just thought I'd let you in on it.

Bats in the belfree?

So,about a month ago, we woke up around 3am to the cats going freaky, running all over, chasing something... turns out it was a bat! Long story short, Faith called the health unit worried about the cats and bats in our house and we end up needing to get rabies shots, all of us. Apparently, one wouldn't know if one had been bitten in one's sleep, so we were all treated as if we'd been bitten by a rabid bat...

LESSON 1. Keep the bat if you catch one.
- they want to test it... preferrably dead.

anyways, we stopped the DR. from leaving early on a friday afternoon so we could get our shots... Silas got one in the thigh and one in the bum, Faith had one in the arm and 3 in the backside, and lucky me got one in the arm and 6 in the ol' rear unit.

LESSON 2. Dr's seem to be better at needles than Nurses.

that was one thing, but we've been back 4 times for a shot in the arm plus one more time this friday. The Dr. gave the first ones, given the tender media he shot into, it went very well. The nurse has given every one since, and they have all hurt... I think he's quicker with the needle than the nurse, but frig, she's got a lot more practice and it sucks every time.

LESSON 3. Rabies Vaccinations cost alot, just not me.

The DR. showed us the bill that came with the vaccines. Apparently to vaccinate 2 1/2 people costs somewhere in the ballpark of $2884.00... thank God I live in Canada...

anyways, take what I've taught you and apply it to your lives in the appropriate manner...
cheers.

Brokeback Sheltie

A co-worker fo mine made this video... very dramatic.

Happy little trees

Anyone else remember this guy on PBS?

Simpsons

love the inuendo...

They've since changed the commercial, but wow... I bet someone got fired because of this.

How to get rid of a pool in 3 hours

The people came today to claim their free pool. Now we just have to figure out what to do with a yard... booyah

Last chance for lub

It's official, the pool has been listed on Facebook and in the Record, so if you want it for free, call me now and get rid of it by the end of the weekend. Those are our terms. Not sure quite how we'll use our extra space in the yard, but there will likely be some hockey played in the winter... booyah

When days are hot....

So, this year, we approached summer with the thought of getting rid of the money pit we call "the pool". After much consideration, we decide to open the pool and see if we can run it without major repair. I just about had it cleaned, the chemicals were balanced... then we went away for a week and return to a non-functioning pump... on the eve of the hottest day yet this year... So, if you know anyone who wants to buy an above ground oval pool with a broken pump, let me know.

What did I tell ya?

Congrats to the Ducks on defeating the stupid Senators. Congrats Kent on your shiny new 2 year contract... Here's a pic of Kent with the cup at Newport beach.

This Just In... Ducks Win the Cup!

Either I just wound up in a crappy tv show and found the 'early edition' or I'm making my predictions for the Stanley Cup Finals. I was 1 for 2 in the semi finals, so that brings me to a sketchy 7 for 14 in the entire playoffs... This is the pivotal prediction, the one that will let me graduate or send me to summer school.

The Ducks are going to flap their way to victory and make it short and sweet. How do I know this? 2 reasons.
1. I know Kent Huskins' brother...
2. There have been a pair of ducks hanging out in my pool.

With those two things in mind, I cannot even imagine a world in which the Senators would win. I've never met a senator's brother and to the best of my knowledge, I have never seen a senator near my pool. So there you have it.

Fishin' with Grandad

Well, I'm in Cochrane for May Run Weekend... that's what they call it here, not May 2-4. Who knew? I took the bus up on Friday night, that'll become relevant in later posts. I left Kitchener by bus at 8:45pm and left toronto at 11:30pm. Faith picked me up at 10am in Matheson (1 hr drive from cochrane, although it was another 1 1/2 hours on bus) and we went to Timmins to get our extra bang for our optimum point buck. When we left Timmins, we were thoroughly exhausted and hoped to have a smoothe trek to Cochrane about 1 hr drive normally... alas, the Highway between cochrane and Timmins was closed due to ICE. It was freezing raining... ugh. We had to backtrack quite a bit... Poor suckers camping this weekend... We saw a moose on the highway on our journey back... stupid stupid animals. They just wander onto the highway then wander off into the wilderness...

Anyways, the weather was a bit nicer Monday and I went fishing with Grandad... We got in the canoe and landed about 6 or 7 pike, ranging about 3lbs - 5 lbs in weight, in about an hour and a half. I got pictures of one, this one turned out particularly cool with the focus etc. Anyways, later. Hope your may run was as runny as mine.

Silas Says

m jb fg xc r ba ftc cn h 56 v s ok o c ijj



___________________________
This is silas`first go at typing... not bad as far as I`m concerned.

Cat snot + eye =

A trip to the ER and a sick day... Two Sunday's ago, Faith was in bed and I was about to give Silas his bottle before bed. Yes, he's on the formula and he loves it! Anyways, Amerylis was getting off the couch and she sneezed and shook her head violently, launching a nasty goober through the air at my eye. Unfortunately, I had removed and misplaced my anti-cat snot glasses so I was defenseless. I flushed my eye out, cursing the disgusting old cat the whole while.

I called the after hours nurse and explained my situation, she said if it got worse to go to the ER. So I did. Thanks Pat for stumbling over here to mind the baby. It's 1:00am and I seem to have found my way after a quick stop at 7-eleven to the WR, not the ER I was expecting. We ended up leaving at around 2:45 because the swelling was going down on it's own. I went to my doctor Monday and got some drops. Voila, i'm better... at least I made employee of the month...

1 for 4... I suck

and apparently so do the teams I pick.

anyways

Detroit vs Anaheim
Go Kent! Anaheim in 4.

Ottawa vs. Buffalo
Neither... both teams stink. I guess I'll pick Buffalo in 7 games. They need to be worn out so Anaheim can sweep them for the cup.

5 for 8 aint bad

Round 2 Predictions. 5 of 8 in the first round... pretty impressive...

Buffalo vs NY Rangers - NYR in 6
I'm gonna go with the Rangers in this one... I like Jagr.

Ottawa vs Jersey - NJD in 7
I'm with Jersey here. Brodeur is hitting his stride. I hope is goes long for Scott's sake...

Detroit vs San Jose - SJS in 6
Go joe thornton... also, faith was in grade 1 with Jonathan Cheechoo...

Vancouver Vs Anaheim - ANA - in 5
Anaheim looks really good. Again, watch for Kent Huskins (#40) on the Ducks blueline...

Breaking News...

Let me be one of the first in the online community to congratulate Julie and Brock on their second child. Kara Wager came into the world today, around 3:45pm weighing 7 lbs 13 oz. Here's to a healthy baby girl. cheers
Jooje the cat.

Playoffs... Round 1

Thanks to terry for reminding me that I usually did this... I've been in Peterborough all week with work upgrading and transfering crap to a bunch of new computers... Anyways, here's my playoff picks for ROUND 1.

Buffalo Sabres vs. New York Islanders:
I'm an anti buffalo fan, but the islanders suck... stupid Jersey playing their backup goalie on Sunday... Buffalo in 5.

New Jersey Devils vs. Tampa Bay Lightning:
No real reason to pick the lightning, as I really don't like them or think they'll win, but stupid Jersey played their backup goalie and knocked the leafs out by sucking... Tampa in 7

Atlanta Thrashers vs. New York Rangers:
I like watching Jagr in the playoffs, so here's to a healthy run... Rangers in 6

Ottawa Senators vs. Pittsburgh Penguins:
Note that the Sens have already won the first game, but I have to go with the Penguins in this series. the SENS suck. Pens in 7

Detroit Red Wings vs. Calgary Flames:
I just can't cheer for Detroit... it's engrained in my inner being... Flamers in 6

Anaheim Ducks vs. Minnesota Wild:
My coworker in the IT department's brother plays for the Ducks... watch for Kent Huskins on the Duck's blueline and for the ducks to win in 6.

Vancouver Canucks vs. Dallas Stars:
I'd love to cheer against the canucks just to spite Terry, but I like Luongo... the team would be great if they got rid of the coneheads (Sedins), but Luongo neutralizes their idiocy. Vancouver in 7.

Nashville Predators vs. San Jose Sharks:
I want Joe Thornton to do really well, just to spite any bruins fans out there... but who really cares. No one really cheers for either team, so lets flip the coin... Sharks in 7

Ya, I'm still upset about the leafs being eliminated... I'm also upset about the Senators having home ice advantage cause I'll be in Ottawa when they're playing in Pittsburgh. Stupid senators.

Who Likes Baby Food?

Rice cereal is kinda cool. Silas doesn't mind it.

Last Day... memories

Well, it has come. Today is my last day at the Christian Horizons Day Program. It's been a little over 4 years at this program, so I have a few memories stored up. I've been really excited about my new job and can hardly wait to start, but part of me is reluctant because I really loved working at DP. This week has been the week of lasts. Last time bowling, grocery shopping, music therapying, singalonging, going to Sunbeaming... It's amazing how many people I regularly come into contact with through work.

I'm gonna miss the interaction with the individuals we work with, well at least some of them. I'm not gonna miss the "You still play hockey?" every ten seconds, but I will miss the "hairdryer!" and "I'm Mad" and "sorry, I forgot"...

Ah well, I'm really pumped about the new position. I'm pretty sure they're getting me a brand new computer with a 19" monitor and a headset for the phone... nothing too glamorous for the IT guys.

Anyways, all the best to the DP team. We worked really well together and complimented oneanother quite well. oh, and Pat... don't believe for a second that I didn't throw the game on Wednesday. I've still got your number at ping-pong, and Josh still has both of ours.

Welcome to the cult Dan

No, I'm not talking about the football committee... I've joined facebook, the online popularity contest, I mean online connection thingy. It's been a minor obsession for me the past 2o hours. It's kinda fun looking through people's friend lists and playing the 6 degrees of separation game. It's also pretty neat stumbling upon people you haven't heard of for 10 plus years.

Get in the game and be my friend.

On another note... is that really Locke's dad, or is it the Holodeck salvaged from the USS enterprise after it crashed on the island and made it spooky with space dust. It's this time of year that I appreciate the Steady final schedule for LOST. All my other shows have had intermittent breaks recently.

someone's got a new job...

In two weeks I'll be a big whig at CH corporate office. Technical Support Analyst is what they'll call me. I'm smarter than at least 2 other people. and lucky.

booyah!

Farewell old friend...

We'll remember you fondly for your reliability in your old brittle state, not for the leaky gas tank and black smoke coming from your tail pipe. You lasted longer than expected, and ultimately turned into more money that you were worth. For that, we thank you. We will miss you and may remember you in years to come. God speed to that scrap-yard in the sky.In the end, it was the Volkswagen who caused the damage, but the insurance adjuster declared you dead. Too soon, we all thought, until I saw the numbers on the cheque from the insurance company... I guess it was your time. Way to go, old girl. You win.

stop gorging yourselves, lent is HERE.

Farewell, I say... I'll see you in the spring. I'll miss you, but all is not lost, I won't starve in your absence.

I've given up Pop and greasy Fast Food for lent. I probably drink about 4-5 cans of pop/day on average, so here comes the caffeine withdrawal... actually, learning from previous years pop bans, I drink a lot less caffeinated pop now. I need to make the distinction between greasy and non greasy fast food so I don't starve. Sometimes I need to eat something convenient, so things like Subway, pitas, and salads are acceptable. Sadly I will be adding wings and pizza into the fast food categories as they are marginal, considering it takes 40 min to get pizza delivered and wings are in a sit down restaurant.

that's about it. come play poker friday night.

Gorge yourselves, Lent is coming.

No, not sissy lent like Brock's gamer lent, the real deal... is anyone giving anything up? I've been doing this for about 4 years now, mostly giving up pop and fast food. This year I'm thinking about giving up sugary pop and fast food, maybe chips... not sure. It needs to be significant, but doable. Chips might not work, as they make up most of our weekend diet.

Anyways, starts wednesday. you in?

She's not dead!

She can't be... Merideth Grey is Grey's anatomy, so suck your thumbs until next Thursday and you find out what sort of miracle cure they figure out.

so I'm pretty much a superhero...

Faith, Silas and I went to Toronto on Thursday to visit Faith's Grandparents while they were in town. We parked at Yorkdale as usual, then took the subway downtown. On the way through the mall, a pregnant woman dropped some money in front of us, so we picked it up and Paid it forward. She was pretty surprised. Then we were just about to get to the subway when I saw an old woman fall as she got on the escalator. She couldn't get up and was riding up the stairs with her head 2 steps below her feet. It was obvious that she could not get up on her own. Now, we're in Toronto, so nobody even batted an eyelash. The TTC workers stopped talking to one another to watch the woman ride up upside-down.

Here's where I come in, we had just paid our fares, so I ran up and got to her before she got to the top and certain peril. Well, maybe not certain, but it wasn't gonna be good. I asked her if she was ok and she replied the standard "I've fallen and I can't get up". I helped her to her feet just before we reached the top and made sure she was alright. She said she was dizzy, but she'd be ok.

It was clear that we were the nicest people in Toronto on Thursday. It's too cold to wear tights so I think I'll pass on the career change to being the superhero that rides the subway.

that's about it.

LOST is back...

Hey folks, just a shout out that LOST is back for the rest of the season starting tonight with the LOST survival guide with the show's producers at 7pm followed by the new episode at 8pm on CTV.

16 straight weeks of new episodes, with no breaks. So, tune in... 7/8pm on CTV or 9/10pm on ABC.

Know what's uncool?

getting rear-ended while stopped, waiting to turn into the work parking lot and having your bumper smash into tiny bits and your back door be unable to be closed completely anymore... yep... I don't much care for cambridge right now. at least it was the shadow and the beetle that hit it is uglier than before. stupid new beetle...

Some people call me slim...

tonight I cam eback to work around 6pm to get ready for movie night and had to get out of the car to undo the chain to get in. There's a chain fence at our entrance because the Mandarin's patrons were using our parking lot. Anyways, force of habit and I lock my keys in the car while running... It's a good thing I have experience picking car locks, just ask Mike Washburn. The Beav used to keep a coat hanger in the front bumper of his car for just this reason. Anyways, I was fortunate enough that the Mandarin had a metal coat hanger. And it only took me about 5 minutes to get it open.

on another note, I've lost about 16lbs in the past few months by some minor miracle and people keep telling me I look like I've lost weight. It must have been all that fast food I ate.... cause there's no real nourishment in that stuff.

on yet another note, I feel naked going out without Silas. Faith and Silas went with Karen up to Cochrane for the weekend. Tonight I was in a store and heard a baby scream a bit like him when he's hungry and I missed him. They had only been gone about 12 hours. Everybody told me my life would completely change. no crap. Ah well, a few sleepful nights await me. I'll take good advantage of those. That's about all.

This new blogger sure seems familiar.

Lets see how the new blogger affects my blogging. Maybe it'll make me funny, or more vulgar. Who knows. Anyways, there ya go fournie. Quit whining. And if you can guess what's on Terry's head, I'll tell you where he got it .

Not another baby post...

It's been a while I guess. I'll blame it on being completely frazzled with the new addition, although, he's been really good to us thus far and I'm just lazy. Either way, my parental leave has come and gone... 4 weeks felt like 1, probably due to the whirlwind Christmas season. Anyways, here's some pictures.

Matt thinks Silas is one okay dude. Look at that tan. It can't be natural. Not bad for a freaky-deaky dutchman.
Silas has developed a very good eminem impression. This is eminem in 8-mile. Pretty good.
I coaxed a smile out of him the other day. I told him it snows in wintertime. He thought that was funny. Joke's on you. Winter appears to be here.
Monday night, Silas met his Mother from a different brother. Mother Alward that is. We went to the Duke of Wellington and he got in without his fake id.

It all started with a nap...

The father and son nap, no better way to start the Leafs turnaround and set them up on the winning path once again. I love the chair in the babies room. I wish I had a few. It's real kushy. Thanks mom and dad.
Once done our nap, Silas and I got all gussied up in our leafs junk and pondered where it all went wrong. Silas had the idea to gather up a posse from the "east side", consisting of me, Silas and Matt. Turns out it worked as the Leafs pulled somewhat of a victory our of their collective rearends, complete with an extrememly foul mouthed tongue lashing from coach Paul Maurice in the second period. It was bad enough that the Sports shows showed the lecture and blurred out his mouth for most of it.
Long story short, the leafs won because their newest fan stepped up his game. Booyah.

I'm getting old...

Now I'm a dad and apparently, sleep deprevation gives me flu like symptoms. who knew. We made it through the night though. sleep... how I'll miss your warm embrace.

maybe this will fix my blog.

Carrying on the Family Name...

Hey, we had a baby boy. Silas John Francis Grace.
Born: December 6th, 2006 @ 11:00pm
Weight: 9 lbs, 4 oz
Length: 21 inches.
He's already got his sights on the pope's job and wardrobe and has really good taste in sports teams.

Maybe Baby

Not yet, but contractions are here and we have an appointment at 1:00.
Booyah

No baby yet...

but thanks for calling. You're all nosey, but we love you.

What would you say if I told you I heard the ocean?

A colleague of ours recently came over to shoot some photos of Faith's prego belly for her portfolio. I must say I'm for sure cut out to be a model. look at that face.

Weird how a lot of women like telling their "war stories" of when they had babies and what went horribly awry. Nobody wants to hear those stories, especially people who are about to go through the 'experience'.

Tim beat me at poker on Sunday. I had him on the ropes and he came back real good. Ah well, I moved into 1st in the career money list of the TPTP. Dave passed Matt in the career standings aswell. Booyah

Good Fortune

Here's a picture of the fortune that Julie got today at the Mandarin. It was our work breakaway day today. We went to the Waterloo Hospice and helped them get ready to move their office. After we finished there, we had a date with the Mandarin. Good eats. We spent almost 2 hours there. I really like their waffles. Anyways, the fortune was pretty goofy. I threw mine out, it said something about good fortune awaits you or some crap like that.

It's like dejavu

So I find myself being drawn to a song that I swore was a cool remake of some older song. I was in the mall I think and I heard "Easy" by the barenaked ladies. I picked it up on iTunes and can't get enough of it, which is weird for me. I don't usually enjoy the BNL. Anyways, I look into it tonight to see if it was infact a remake and found that it was a highly touted original.

Strange. The only logical explanation is that I dreamed this song long before BNL released it and they found some cyber-method of tapping my brain for my dream lyrics and tasty guitar licks. I tried playing it tonight on the guitar from memory and it cam very easy. Eerily easy, as if I had in fact been the first one to write the song. Maybe I'm the one who deserves a hidden character in the EA NHL games. That'd be cool.

By the way, NHL 07 for Ps2 is fairly enjoyable, the controls are strange to get used to, but I find it pretty fun. A big shift from the old direction pad and 2 button system. Anyways, that's my story.

D'ya know what I really don't like to do?

paint.

Stupid Baseball

Well, due to the stupid baseball playoffs - aka the "World Series" (of america), I was forced to watch the Leaf game on the Ottawa channel. Man, I hate ottawa. I hate their sports teams, theirnews reporters and especially their commentators. It's a tough call between the Ottawa play by play guys and the ones on any given American Network.

I thought the officiating in the New NHL was tough on players, but these losers wasting my ear cells whined and complained every time a Leaf player crossed pathes with a sen. Every play was dirty in their eyes and they would have called 500 penalties had they had the whistles. Pierre McGuire and Jim Hugson have just moved up a few notches in my books. Stupid Ottawa.

Note: Sportsnet HD chose to air the Baseball game rather than the Leaf game, however I still would be complaining if I did want to pay for sportsnet as it would have only been in regular definition... *spit*

The Trees are Beautiful Up North

Well, we went to Cochrane for the Thanksgiving weekend, indulged in turkey for 6 straight meals and even spotted a UFO just outside North Bay


Below is a picture of a Tamarack tree (aka a Larch tree) in amongst the evergreens. They are the only Evergreen , in the pine family, which is not evergreen. Every fall, the needles turn golden and fall off. They are really quite nice to look at, especially considering that the rest of the trees had lost their leaves by the time we got there.

Bob Cole and Cassie Campbell?

So I turned on HNIC tonight to find Bob talking an awful lot and a female voice butting in a lot. Harry Neale isn't on tonight and it's tough to follow. Bob is scrambling a lot with the extra talking and Cassie is trying too hard. At least the video is in HD.. yummy HD.

Leafs are looking good, despite all the injuries to the D. Peca seems to not be playing tonight. That's not good.

Wednesday is gonna be big!

LOST and the Leafs season Opener against Ottawa. What more could you ask for in a night? I could do without attending the Prenatal course that night, but what do you do... breathe, he - he - he - hoo!

Predictions... LOST... I know the 6 episodes starting this week are going to catch us up with Jack, Sawyer and Kate with the Others. I believe Eko, Locke and Desmond are all ok, but I don't reckon we'll find out until February... Oh, and the others are just imaginary friends of the dog.

Predictions... Leafs... I'm picking the Leafs to win in OT. Because they stink in shootouts and I can't pick a team other than the Leafs. and the Sens Suck.

i-Tunes = i-Gay

So I upgrade to the new itunes this week and not only do I have to get used to a newer look, but I bought some songs and they played back choppy... itunes screwed up my audio drivers and I had to re-install them. Gay.

It was my first venture into online music purchasing. I've been burned buying whole cds that were mostly crap besides the 2 songs tha t I liked. We'll see if I sick with it.

H is for Hockey.

My Newfie boss has me messed up. Whenever I read the letter "H" on it's own, I hear her say it like this... "Haich"... incredibly silly newfies. Anyways, church hockey started up again tonight. Fortunately and unfortunately we moved down a division due to our last place finish. Although we did win the "B-Cup" last season. On the upside, I consider it an upgrade to shoot for loftier goals and the "C-cup" this season. And, if we do really lousy, we can try for the "D-cup", although I find that unmanageable.

We started off with a bang and a shutout. This division seems a bit more near my pace, so I can keep up. I'm excited about maybe scoring more this time around.

I ordered leafs tv, and in true fashion, I can catch all the leafs pre-season games looped over and over due to lack of any other worthwhile content. I don't mind. I didn't manage to get tickets to any of the pre-season games and it's pretty impossible to get regular season tickets, so this is as close as I get. I believe they will make the playoffs this season. Mark my words.

Busy weeks. Lazy Me.

Well, it's been a few weeks, busy times. We finished the baby's room a couple weekends ago. It features laminate flooring, bought for about $25 total at RONA. That was a steal. The walls feature a light blue paint with weird looking tree-type thingy's all around. The closet doors are the same pattern but with inverted colours. We got the crib, aka the "Baby Cage" at Ikea on the 24th, aka "Our 4th Anniversary".

We spent most of our anniversary at the Christian Horizons Breakaway day, getting paid for 4 hours to enjoy the waterslides and free BBQ lunch at Wild Water Kingdom in TO. Even better, we helped provide the music for the event and landed a Babies R Us gift card for our efforts. Score!

The next pic is of the 3 guys from Czech Republic that came over for hockey training. Left to right, Daniel, Zdenek (our translator from our trip in Feb) and Jan (pronounced Honsa). Zdenek is staying with us right now. He's a lot of fun. Daniel is here to train for the upcoming hockey season. Honsa is here to try to make a team, and it looks like he's gonna stick with the Kitchener Dutchmen Junior B team. I got to watch some of his tryout scrimmages. Good fun. I've spent the past week and a half learning as many goofy Czech phrases as I can, adding to my repetoire such phrases as "Help, Help, call an ambulance!", "My bum is on fire", and "give me your money or I'll punch you in the mouth". I'll be fluent in no time. This picture was taken at The Meeting House in Oakville, a church for people who don't like church. They had a good band there, and I ran into some old EBC folks. (Jamie Sanfilipo and fam, and April) Despite this picture, none of those guys are gay ("teple" in Czech (teh-play)). I learned that one from my Lonely Planet Czech phrasebook. Seem Teple (sem teh-play) means "I'm gay". I can also say "I have a methadone addiction" and ask if there are any gay clubs around. Useful book.

Rounding things out, on Monday Faith and I went to Toronto in search of a djembe stand for my birthday (September 3rd, Sunday). We drove to Yorkdale and took the TTC to Queen st to visit Steve's Music store. We walked past the Condom Shack and City TV/Much Music, where the Olson Twins were drawing a crowd. Faith wanted to wait for a picture, but realized that they probably wouldn't show up on film, the anorexic zombies they are. We found a djembe stand for the right price and hauled it back on the TTC. We spent some time in Yorkdale shopping, I spent time waiting on the benches outside stores and managed to make a friend with an old guy. I was outside old navy, we started talking about watches, when he got distracted by a woman, and tried to draw my attention to a "nice ass". "Just look at it and take it in" he says as I laugh at his remarks and Faith walks out of the store. "Your not dead, you can look" he says as Faith arrives and we move on. Next stop, H&M where my old friend catches up with me and alerts me to a "foxy black chick" just as Faith walks out of the store. That was good for a few laughs. Good day.

Well, that's about enough, only 2 weeks til NHL preseason, booyah! I start teaching music on Tuesday. meh. 33 days til the puck drops.

Must have been something I drank.

We go on wacation long time

Well, it's been almost a month since our vacation, and I tried to post, but it froze whilst uploading pics and I gave up. We drove up to Rawdon, QC to the cottage for a week. We went into Montreal for an overnight at a hotel the day after we got there. The Just for Laughs comedy festival was going on, so we took in some of their attractions. Since we are cheap, we just went to the Street Arts Festival in the heart of Old Montreal. There were a few streets blocked off and they had a bunch of different street performers from around the world. One performer we particularly enjoyed was Alakazam from Australia. The start of his show included him squeezing his body through a tennis racquet.This guy was pretty funny too. He made a lot of fun of anyone who walked in late or walked through the show... This old couple, a man and a woman, walked in behind him during the show. He explained that they were his bikini girls and pointed them towards their dressing room. They were oblivious. Anyways, he was good. We also saw a guy playing buckets like a drumset and a bunch of artsy entertainment.

We took a couple walks through old Montreal, hitting all the shops and being amazed at the bi-lingual skills of the beggars, and the incredibly weak stories they all seemed to have. We ate dinner at the original Montreal Keg Steakhouse, mmmmmm... and we shopped in the biggest underground mall I've ever heard of.

On Tuesday, we went to the flea market in LaChute(or Marche au Puces en francais). We found some crap, but it was mostly a waste of energy. LaChute's market is pretty big, but we didn't find much of any use.

Dave and Kyla Cassidy came to visit us at the cottage later in the week. The were fresh off the tail end of their honeymoon. We went to Dorwin Falls in Rawdon and basked in nature... anyways, that was our vacation. Maybe next time I'll post earlier so I don't forget wha happen'd...

We returned home to find our pool full of algae and the ball hockey team forfeited for playoffs... gay... pure gay. Now I'm gonna get fat(ter) again. That's about it.