Slurpee Conditions

Mississauga Derry Road location. Coke and mountain dew were worth the danger as I fought off a wasp and some fruit flies to get to the precious slurpee goodness. They kep trying to upsell me to more cookies or a hotdog aswell...

Courtesy

So, I tend to frequent many fast food joints, and have noticed a weird trend. At Wendy's and McDonalds if you ask for an extra sauce such as mac sauce or ketchup and vinegar, they act put out and give a handful of said sauce packets to you in a huff.

Tonight I wanted some big mac sauce for my burger so I went back and asked. I receive 4 pacets of the stuff... I love mac sauce, but what am I gonna do with 4 packets. Same with vinegar, Wendy's recently stopped putting it out with the other condiments. I asked for some vinegar, they gave me 5 packets. Maybe if I was cleaning a coffee maker, I'd need that much, but for fries, I usually don't use a full packet.

I find it strange that by wanting plastic bags, we are killing the environment and are now penalized for that at local grocery stores. But at fast food joints, they are practically throwing away good condiments. They should be penalized. Or something.

Well that's a drag...

I checked into the Leafs presale on preseason games and the ticket
prices are the same as regular season games. For an unobstructed view,
I'd have to pay $42 per seat to watch a mixed lineup of prospects and
regulars play against a similar mix of another team... brutal.

BASEBALL!

Yesterday Matt and I went to a good ol' fashioned Ball Game at the
Rogers SkyDome... Toronto vs NYY. I haven't been a fan of baseball for
a number of years now... mostly since the strike with a short fling
about 10 years ago.

At any rate, we had the second best nosebleed seats available, good
view. The Jay's pitcher was great to watch, with 12 strikeouts in his 5
innings of work. It was great to be part of the crowd clapping when he
had 2 strikes on a guy and he delivered K's. Add a bench clearing
social gathering in the infield, 2 ejections, a fan on the field tackled
by security and police and a couple dingers and you've got a pretty fun
evening.

BASEBALL!

Observation

I'm sitting here in acton eating lunch at subway when a black pickup truck pulls up and parks in the no parking zone. 15 feet away are about 6 empty parking spots. He rushes in, leaving an 8 year old by in the truck and proceeds to buy a sub, pay and leave... It really irritates me when people park in no parking zones to go into a store. I think that they must be so important that the simple parking rules don't apply and their time is so much more valuable than mine. Probably irrelevant was the fact that the truck had michigan plates, but that reflects poorly on some of my good friends from michigan... Then he pulled into one of those empty spots to turn around and leave... Who knows, this could be some royalty I've never heard of and I should be grateful to have experienced their presence... Who knows... Turd, park in a spot like everyone else.

Slurpee report

Last night I thoroughly enjoyed a gforce blue mix with pepsi from the bridge st location in waterloo. Nice way to soothe my body after a 6-2 ball hockey loss...

Half hearted post like brouwer

Hey, I haven't forgot my blog, it's just that I haven't been in striking range of a slurpee in a while. I had a few in Guelph (spit) but didn't want my report to actually entice anyone to venture into the preview of hell to my east... Guelph sucks...

This Just In

Toy Story 3d is quite fun to take a 3 1/2 year old to see. Not so much for a 2 year old. Just sayin

Today's Frosty Conditions

I'm enjoying a stellar Frosty at wendy's in Milton right now. Smoothe and tasty.

-dan

Slurpee Conditions

Last report for june, king st, kitchener
Gforce blue was quite good last night, pepsi looked runny as the only cola offering. Many non-palatable choices such as bubble gum and banana were there and still irrelevant.

Enjoy your slurpees responsible folks.
-dan

Water way to go!

So, Silas and I went canoeing last week with a group of youth from church. I had silas and the youth pastor in my canoe, good times on the might grand. Water was high and cooking along quite quickly. There were lots of little islands to go around.

We were told of a small waterfall was down one, so we tried for it and bombed over it just fine. As the little side stream connected up with the main part of the river, we came across and right into a fallen tree. A big branch was headed right towards me and we tipped over.

This was Silas' second time in a canoe, he sure wasn't happy with going in the water. I managed to grab ahold of him right away and held him above water. The top of his hat never got wet. He cried a bit, I lost my sunglasses to the mighty Grand, but all in all we were ok.

Moral of the story, everybody's ok and lifejackets save lives. So do former lifeguards.
-dan

Thanks a lot Brock!

I just switched up to a pretty new theme and lo and behold, mr 'not'
l33t grabbed the same one... bugger. I'll have to change to something
not wet windowish.

Iced Cap Report

It is clear to me that Tim Horton's in Welland is very capable of making a good Ice Cap

In case you ever wondered.
-dan

Slurpee conditions.

St catherines not only has many choices, but top quality coke and gforce.
-dan

Slurpee Report

Conditions as of 2pm on Friday may 21, king St in kitchener.

Gforce blue and Cream soda combined for a timely and tasty treat, though neither were thick enough to maintain their slurpee for until completiion.

I have been twice tempted now to try the pink grapefruit, but a genuine fear of consequences has kept me away.
Sent from my BlackBerry

Jooje the predator

I awoke about 20 min after falling asleep last night to a lot of
comotion in the bathroom. I thought to myself, self, what is the
meaning of this? I investigated to find Jooje tormenting a mouse she
had caught. It was quite the sight. What a good cat, I figured that
being the fat lazy one, the other cat would do the mousing, but she
proved herself useful.... finally.

Slurpee Report

Location: peterborough Brealy ave
Report: coke and cream soda in fine form. Almost enticed by rare options of mug rootbeer and brisk iced tea.
Sent from my BlackBerry

Today's Slurpee Conditions

Location: King St Kitchener
Report: Mountain Dew on top of GForce Berry Blue was a winning combo today. Good texture and consistency.

Sent from my BlackBerry

Slurpee conditions - Easter Edition

Location: sarnia mitton st.
Gatorade Gforce fruit punch was in fine form. Coke was good consistency, but the texture was too soft, not up to snuff.
So there.
Sent from my BlackBerry

Blogging is cool

I think blogging is cool... so there.

Getting Sac'd Part II

So I was in Toronto for work and had lunch at Subway. When I walked in, this one lady was giving it to the lady behind the counter about the new charge for the crappy little plastic bag for your sub. Apparently it's part of the green initiative for the city of Toronto to charge 5cents for bags, so subway is charging now... I didn't pay for one as I planned on eating in, but that made the decision for me... sure, it's only 5 cents, but I think I'd rather pay 5 cents at Zehrs to get a bag that will be useful for something. I'd probably be angry and yelling at the sandwich artist if I was forced to pay for a bag while ordering multiple sandwiches.... that's extortion.

Thanks for asking

I'm not planning on getting the pig flu vaccine as it becomes
available. I waited for an hour or so until Faith got there to get the
kids theirs, but then I left and went back to work. I'm not buying all
the hype and hysteria, plus I'm pretty sure I had it in Feb. If it's
anything like the one I had in Feb, I'll take my week off sick and watch
movies in bed thankyou very much...

Words words words

I've noticed lately(on a few awkward occasions)that, even though I enjoy a lot of music from my youth and it gives me a good nostalgic feeling when I hear or sing it, I really had no clue what the words were to the songs. This isn't any sort of preachy bit on how music can corrupt you, rather a realization that I listened to a lot of music that I liked back in the day that had some pretty messed up lyrics. Even more, I didn't notice for the most part until recently... I've been out to Karaoke every Monday all summer and it's been a lot of fun. I usually put in a song from high school so I can re-live the glory days, but sometimes realize just how messed up the words of the song are while reading and regurgitating... I've heard a lot said about how music kids listen to
changes their behaviour, but I was a pretty good kid and made it another 13+ years before I clued in to what the songs I liked meant... I was just interested in the music, no the words... makes me wonder how much kids pick up. I didn't really pay attention til recently I suppose...

Awkward moment 1 - Song: Lighning Crash by Live... weird lyrical use of placenta...

Awkward moment 2 - Song: Possum Kingdom by The Toadies... give it up to me, do you wanna be my angel, do you wanna die?

Karaoke is fun, though. You should come.

J-balls and the NHL

Watching all the hub-bub surrounding the Hamilton Coyotes aka the
Phoenix Coyotes only brings one question to my mind.

Do I care?

IF (big IF) this were ever to become a reality, would it make a difference to my fanship? I'm not sure that it would. There's a lot to be said about the ability to get a ticket and the storied history of mediocrity in TO, but I'm a leaf fan, good times or now... The idea of driving into Hamilton (spit) to see a game makes me angry. I hate getting around Hamilton (spit) and I'm sure it would be a lot worse with 18,000 people trying to get to the arena at the same time. I'd much rather drive to TO and spend some time in the city before a game than drive to Hamilton and contract some rare lung condition. Personally, it's not an attractive option for me to change allegiance. The Mapleleafs already have my money from merchandise, so why would I want to up and change all that to a new team if it's not ideal.

If I were to cheer for only successful teams, I would change teams every year. There's something special about following a team and hoping to see them succeed. That will bring you through some rough patches and 42 years without a championship (considering the straight odds of winning in a 30 team league, your not too far off pace). So be it, I like to follow the team, learn about the players and watch them grow together.

I think J-Balls should jump ship on the hamilton idea and build something in Waterloo area near the 401. I'd seriously consider changing my cheering habits for something that was more convenient.

What do you think? Do you have one foot already off the bandwagon?

Windows 7

I've been trying out the new version of windows for a number of weeks now at work as my prime os. It has been an enjoyable experience on the whole but some times I'm left pining for the good ol' days of xp. There have been only a couple minor compatability issues (not nearly as many as with vista) and the virtual xp machine in w7 has made those issues into non issues.

Has anyone else been tinkering? it's still just an os.

Tell me that's not a dude...

There's been a lot of talk about this around the 'water cooler' today... you make the call.

Getting sac'd

I'm getting pretty miffed about this 'green' trend to charge for plastic
bags. Seems nothing more than eliminating a few plastic bags while
lining the grocery stores pockets with nickels and opening up new
revenue streams for their "reusable bags"... We've gotten to a point,
because we use a lot of plastice bags for garbage (diapers etc), where
we have had to either pay for bags on purpose or go to a store that
doesn't charge so we could have some in stock.... either that or pay for
a box of bags.

It's annoying that it's turned from a courtesy provided for us into
another way to make money. Why not just not offer plastic bags if
they're really serious about eliminating them. Now it's just like a tax
for forgetful people.

Slurpee Conditions, Civic Style.

As is my civic duty, I will report tonight's slurpee conditions.
Location - Sarnia (London Rd)
Time - Shortly before Eva threw up in the car...
Report: Well, Dr Pepper Cherry and Pepsi did everything they possibly could to smooth over the fact that my daugter puked in the car (again) and the smell was putrid... Nonetheless, the slurpee was good, although enjoyed begrudgingly in spurts between cleaning up and packing up at Grandma's house. The slurpee did, however, compliment the Captain Kidd fireworks quite nicely, despite the screaming child behind me smelling of vomit.

I call it like I see/smell it.

Today's Slurpee Conditions (Wednesday Edition)

Location: Chatham, Ontario
Time: 9:00pm
Gatrorade g-force and coke were in good shape tonight, quite thick and potent. The only thing that subtracted from this particular experience was the baby vomit in the back of the van and the subsequent cleanup effort on hwy 40... At least it had stopped raining at that time....

Official Slurpee/Froster Conditions

Date: Friday, June 26, 2009 - 2:30pm
Location: 7-eleven in Woodstock
Report: Coke was at it's finest today, best enjoyed on the 401 with the sunroof open... booyah

Date: Saturday, June 27, 2009 - 7pm
Location: MACs at Strasburgh and Block Line - Kitchener
Report: Runny sprite and ok coke mixed up to make something much too syrupy and upset my stomach. The leftovers were preserved through cryogenics and enjoyed on sunday afternoon with a spoon.

Thanks.

Official Froster Report

Location: Mac's at Block Line and Strasburg, Kitchener
Date: May 24, 3:00pm

Coke was at it's absolute best, which is good due to the fact that all
others were runny... Very good mix of syrup to frostery goodness today,
straight to the last drop. 1.18 L never tasted so good...

Motel Sicks

so, on the way up to Cochrane, we've decided to stay overnight about half way the last number of times. We decided to try to cut costs and stay at Motel 6 in Huntsville. Right off the bat, I should have walked out, because they didn't have a crib, but I was being cheap and optimistic. We got settled into the room and I get ready for bed. It was small, but modern enough. After about 10 mins of laying down, trying to convince Silas to fall asleep, I noticed my breathing getting very constricted. More than normal. Since the kids weren't enjoying the sleeping arrangements, and I couldn't breathe, we packed everything back in the car and checked out to try another hotel in North Bay with a crib and less poison rooms.

I went to the front desk to explain the situation and get my money back when they person working informed me that she could only give me half the money back for a 1 hour stay. I argued a bit, and asked to speak to a manager. At this point it was 11:30pm and neither manager answered their phones or cell phones, but one did call back... I overheard some parts of their conversation which included "they were in a pet room" and "he refuses to switch rooms". Luckilly, I needed no more argument and she refunded the whole price for me. I didn't even have to bring out he argument that people really shouldn't try to poison guests by not informing them that they were staying in a designated pet room.

Travelodge in North Bay was quite nice with a decent continental breakfast, a crib and we all had a good sleep.

THE END

Slurpee conditions

Time: 8pm
Location: king st, kitchener

pepsi and gatorade fruit punch are a formidable duo with great consistency and texture this evening... Worth the trip.

Slurpee conditions

As of 4pm on apr 23, conditions are favourable. gatorade fruit punch has potential, reminiscent of Tahiti Treat.

Official Slurpee Report: TO Edition

No, it's not the Terell Owens edition, I stopped in at the ol Sev Elev on tha way home from working in Toronto on Wednesday.  Conditions at the 7 eleven on Rutherford Rd in TO are as follows:

Pepsi: Excellent condition, thick enough to last until Guelph.

Gatorade G-Force: Tasted more like a powerade I've had before, was pink instead of orange... methinks it wasn't the Gatorade afer all. 

Washroom: I'm glad I only had to pee, cause that toilet gets an F

Thanks for tuning in... 

Official Slurpee Conditions Report

As of 9:30pm, March 29th, 2009 at Derry Rd Location, Mississauga, ON

Looked like dire straits at this particular 7-eleven until fully rounding the corner to find the second slurpee machine!  Coke was in it's element tonight, thick enough to pile to a nice cone at the top.  I give it 5/5, though none of the other flavours were operational or appetizing. 

Stopped by after visiting the meeting house oakville for The Attic... decent evening, though I still don't quite understand what 'emotionally disabled' means... reminds me of the chapel at EBC where the guy said we were committing 'spiritual incest'...  weird.

March of the Penguin

so, I've been running a little file/print server in my basement on Ubuntu Linux for about a year or so now.  It's been quite stable and virus free, though recently it started becoming flaky and non functional for some of the basic purposes I wanted from it.  Part of it was hardware getting old and failing...  Anyways, I decided to upgrade my storage and rebuild the thing last week and I installed the latest release of Ubuntu, 100% pain free.  It found all the drivers, and didn't bother me, like a windows install does, periodically to click next.  

Then I try to get the file shares going, no problem... next, print sharing.  Trouble.  It wasn't as easy as I remember and I start mucking around with settings and editing config files... typical old school linux crap.  Not only could I not print, but my file shares stopped too...  Running out of usable time, I did what I thought I would never do...  I went back to good ol' windows.  

More painul install, trying to find current drivers, doing 4 or 5 batches of updates etc... I can now print and access my files with reasonable ease.  I think the main difference was that I switched from win 2000 server which was quite clunky and beligerent sometimes.  Now I've gone to XP pro, not exactly server class, but a little smoother.  Maybe Bill Gates likes mullets.

Just for me mom...

At the request of my mom, here's a pic with the mullet and a wifebeater.  Faith pulled out the flat iron and straightened my hair lat night... People at church thought it was quite something. 

I'm glad my hair isn't naturally straight.  This is pretty intense though.  

Obey the Mullet!

Here's some pics of the complete package... Mullet and handlebar...  I decided, after forgetting to decide on anything for lent, to give up my dignity and get a mullet.  Not the first run at this particular 'Euro' hairstyle.  The challenge to keep it til easter may be difficult... 

Last week at Swiss Chalet, while waiting for a table, I caught a girl staring, then telling a friend and pointing. All while I was looking right at her, so I gave her a kissy face and raised my eyebrow and she hid in fear and embarrassment.  People seem to stare wherever I go, but shockingly I've found more people who don't notice or say it suits me.  One woman at work said it's 'sexy'.  Thanks Anne.   Another woman at work said that when she sees me, she 'hears Randy Bachman songs in her head'.  It's been fun to see people's reactions, now to see if I can last til easter.

Zap!

We're back

Had some troubles connecting to internet over the last couple days abroad, so I update from home.  Thursday, we sent a few poeple to Chotebor to go Bowling with the gypsies.  That was good times had by all.  We did some ESL classes in the evening and wound up our hockey week by beating the Skulls 7-5. 

 

Friday featured a trip to Pardubice for some souvenir shopping, and then to the baby orphanage for the afternoon.  Lots of time to play with babies and pray for them.  We headed back to Dlouhy for the hockey dinner in the evening.  There were about 25 players and their wives at the dinner, which was great!  We had soft tacos and spent the evening hanging out and getting to know people better.  The evening also featured a draw for door prizes, where we had enough prizes for everyone to take one home!  Amanda broke out her wig collection for some great photo op's and a great time was had by all.

 

Saturday took us to Prague to enjoy our last day in style and Fly home Sunday.  What a beautiful city with so much history. 

 

The trip wound up quite well, with a lot of good things coming out of it.  Many relationships were furthered and a lot of people heard testimonies of God's work in our lives.  We've appreciated your prayers through this trip and will have some pics up soon.

Ciao

Dan

Wednesday

Aho, from CZ.  Things are rolling along here.  Today the English camp wound up with a worship service, some baking and ultimate frisbee and a floorball game.  Chris shared his testimony and it was great. Things were pretty emotional at the end. 

 

We played the Panthers tonight and lost 12-5.  I had another 2 goals, but the secondary scoring was lacking. 

 

After the game on one of the shuttle rides back to Dlouhy, the van hit a patch of ice and wound up in the ditch on it's side.  Thankfully, no one was hurt at all!  It looked like quite a gentle landing, considering.  There goes the security deposit.  Ah well.  We will have to go on without a van for the rest of the week... a bit of a bummer. 

 

Please pray for continued safety on the roads as it hasn't really stopped snowing since we got here.  About 1.5 ft of snow has fallen since Sunday.  Pray also for the team as we get run down a bit and people get sick.  Thanks again for your prayers.

Dan

Tuesday Update

Tuesday was a great day here in Dlouhy, CZ.  We had Ryan give a talk on drugs and alcohol addiction with the kids.  he shared about his experience as a worker at a treatment facility and a personal testimony on how God can fulfill better than drugs or alcohol.

 

We went skating with a group of kids and had a ball playing hockey with the orphan boys and just clowning around. 

 

In the afternoon, we headed to Pardubice, about 45min away and watched a Czech Professional Hockey Game.  It was fun to see a different style of hockey (far less aggressive, but fast) and hang out with the kids.  We also experienced a czech mall food court for supper after the game.  New foods.  I had a Tex Burger which was a pita with a deep fried piece of cheese( syr) and coleslaw... very yummy, probably not healthy. 

 

Thanks for your prayers.  I'm battling a bit of a cold, so any more prayers you can float my way would be appreciated.

Ciao

Dan

Update

Hey all, did church this morning.  Were all blown away by the Hlinsko Church youth group band... they really get it!  We put together a band an played a few songs.  Jerrauld from SOS US preached as he was here setting up his intern in town.  We had a great time at Church and everyone was blessed in a different way.

 

After church, all of us got to experience the Czech grocery store...  fun with conversion of money and trying new strange things. 

 

We went by bus to Skutec to play hockey.  By we, I mean the Hockey team, Chris and the van keys in my pocket.  Unfortunately the rest of the group was forced to stay back and get to know each other better. We lost the game 8-6, featuring a goal by myself.  Schmidtke shared his testimony and we gave the hockey players an invitation to dinner on friday and a Christian sports DVD. 

 

Things are going well, despite the little brain fart with the keys. Thankyou for your prayers

ciao

Dan

We made it...

Here we are in CZ. It's quite snowy here. Our flights went smoothe as butter and all our bags made it through. We are settling in tonight, Church Tomorrow and a hockey game tomorrow night.

Keep us in your prayers this week as people will be stretched and challenged in their faith. Thanks for all your prayers thus far.

That's all for now. Czech Big Mac was a success, though the Swiss King is no longer on the menu... sigh.

The beard stays, you go...

I had some fun growing my Christmas beard this year and I kept it a bit longer than usual due to it being so cold out for most of january.  I remembered watching this Kids in the Hall sketch years ago and I can identify with the part where he says "my beard is too tight"... There is definately a stretch of a few days where it's unbelievably itchy, and that's where I usually draw the line and shave it off.  Though I've enjoyed and even got used to the combination chin scruff and handlebar moustache as per my mii, I think I'll be paring down to just the handlebar for Church League hockey and then all the way down for Sunday morning...  Funny, though... hardly anyone says anything in reaction.  I usually expect a few comments or laughs, but people seemed to be oddly polite this time around, or maybe they are just not enabling me by ignoring the undesired behaviour... 

The clip below is about 5 min, but it's got a few laughs. 8 days...

Mii myself and I

I <3 Shih-tzus

LOST is back.  

de Motivation

Here's a few twisted motivational posters... I've got the skydiving one at work modified to say "IDIOCY: Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups"

You ever wonder what to do with an old trampoline cover? I did... til this.

I went to college with this guy... he's hillarious.

Slurpee Conditions

For Jan 10, 2009:

Location: University and Bridge

Pepsi was in a great state this evening, quite thick, but kept up to the pace of consumption without drying out.  Dr. Pepper was a joke, pure liquid.  Watch out for the Crush Cactus one, as I got a brain freeze whilst sampling it... dangerous stuff.

Polar Express

We made it safely back from the North country today.  After a gruelling 12 hour journey, we came home to a furnace turned off due to dead batteries in the thermostat... Once I got the batteries installed, I noticed the current temperature sitting at a brisk 8.5 degrees celsius.  I don't know how long it had been since the furnace had kicked in, but all the plates and furniture were quite cold to the touch.  We are up to 17.1 now, so it's a bit more bearable. 

We spent the past week in Cochrane in sub zero farenheit temperatures, so it was a bit surprising to come home to a cold house.  Usually a trip like this takes 10 hours, but we needed a few unscheduled stops to calm irate children.  We're getting to be quite familiar with Walmart's stock and prices now.  We've been to the ones in Milton, Huntsville, New Liskeard, Cambridge and Kitchener in the last week.  They're good with kids because of the golden arches inside and lots of room to stretch legs.

anyways, I survived the cold, only got the jeep stuck once, and drove a tractor for the second time in my life.. 

not a bad week.  I won't mention how much weight I gained, because It'll likely be traumatic to look at a scale right now... 

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