A Friend in the Forces

So I got some news last week that is kinda bad for me… of course that same news is good for someone else. A good friend of mine is starting Basic Training for the Military right away. This of course is a bad thing for me because he was our GM for D&D. I guess that means we won’t be playing for a while.

I must say that he was probably one of the last people I would have expected to join the forces. But then again, he was also one of the last people I would have expected to be a practicing Mormon. He is an odd individual. I guess that is why we get along so well.

I remember the first day we met, it was at convergys. He started there the same day as I did and was in my training class. I will probably always remember sitting there while our very american trainer kept saying that our reactions to things were very Canadian. After the third or fourth mention, he pipes up with “yup, that’s us Canadians, a bunch of tree hugging, flower sniffing, squirrel molesting people.” We have called him Squirrel Boy ever since.

Now that I am thinking about this post, it occurs to me that I make it sound like the guy is dead.

Half a week in review, AKA rain and stuff

We are getting the perfect kind of rain today. The kind of slow relentless rain that is perfect for watering the grass. It has been raining almost all day, and I can’t help but think, thank god. Of course that does not mean “thank the higher power believed in by several monotheistic religions.” It is more of an exclamation of gratitude to mother nature for finally giving us some useful precipitation as opposed to the 20 minute torrential downpours that we have been getting as of late.

I of course was not quite so thankful for the wind that was just strong enough to turn my umbrella inside out in cartoon fashion as I approached the bus stop this afternoon. In fact the afore mentioned gust almost ripped the umbrella from my hand. As I sit here now on the warm dry bus, in my Teflon coated raincoat, I realize that the umbrella was more to make sure that my beloved laptop did not get hit with the rain.

I haven’t written at all this week as I have been watching a movie to and from work, with a half hour to 45 minutes each way, it takes a couple of days to watch a movie. of course, most movies were not designed with the commuter in mind and I usually have to pause the movie mid scene. I know, suck it up and deal.

I would be remiss to write in here and not talk about how my week thus far has unfolded. It has been a rather busy week, our Team Leader is on holidays so I get to be the one to take on a lot of his duties to make sure the metaphoric ship does not sink. If that was all I had to do this week, that would be fine, however that is all on top of my regular duties. This is making for much more stress in my day. at least when 4:30 rolls around I can still walk away and not really think about it until the next morning. Even though there is still a nagging in the back of my head that we may not make our numbers this month if all goes to hell before Friday.

I suppose I will just have to revel in the fact that this coming weekend is a long weekend. Three glorious days to relax and not think about the office. Of course there is no doubt that there are a number of tasks requiring my attention at home this weekend, like putting holes in the canvas of our gazebo so that the rain will stop pooling in it and stretching it all to hell. I also want to get out and kill some weeds on the lawn, and put some grass seed down in a couple of spots that are somewhat bare.

With any luck, Saturday will be a rainy, miserable day so that I can just take the day to myself to do mundane things. Watch movies, play games, sleep, eat popcorn (not in any particular order). After this week, I think I will need a day to just veg. Next week is week 2 of no Team Lead. Thank the, in no way referring to the afore mentioned, higher power worshiped to by various monotheistic religions that it is not month end that week. It should be a lot less hectic.

As this post again borders on the level of Epic, I have to wonder why I fell out of the habit of writing so easily last year. I guess not having a laptop that I could just type on until either I have exhausted my ideas for the day, or the bus reaches the bus stop, makes all the difference in the world. Maybe I should mix it up a little bit and use like 1 day a week to try and write some compelling piece of fiction. Who knows, I could have a bestseller locked inside my head just waiting to get out. I am sure the other possibility is that it is a story that would make email spam read like a Pulitzer Prize winning novel.

Well, we are approaching the bus stop, so I believe the score now for Bus Stop vs Ideas running out is
Bus Stop – 10
Ideas – 1

The Puppy Got a Haircut

So yesterday, the wife brought our puppy over to PetSMART to get his hair cut. Sometimes we do it ourselves, but like to take him in once in a while to get him really cleaned up. This way he can get his teeth cleaned and nails clipped and whatnot. I of course had no idea what he would look like when I got home.

This is of course how Charlie normally looks. Through no fault of his own he usually looks a little scruffy, but we love him anyway. Before I see him yesterday, the wife informs me that she told the people at pet smart to cut him short. which then makes you wonder what he will look like. After apparently 3 hours of waiting, which seems to be about normal for the full doggy grooming package, the result was rather shocking.

It really changes the way he looks, don’t you think? Of course while we are taking pictures of him, he gives us the “you’re crazy” look.

The reason we wanted him short of course is that he was getting really really warm when we were out for our walks, and figured this should help (after all it did last summer) there were also a couple of fairly matted parts that we couldn’t get out before.

One final note, I love the Polaroid picture plug-in for Windows Live Writer (which I am using to write my posts). I think it gives the pictures a more natural feel. And on that note, I will leave you with my absolute favourite picture of Charlie that we have right now. I like it so much it is currently the wallpaper on my laptop. (minus the Polaroid frame)

Friends and TV

So, it occurs to me, every post I have written since I got the new laptop and actually started writing in here has been from the bus. Obviously my 45 minute commute each direction is a good time to write. I mean think about it, 45 straight minutes with absolutely no distractions to just let my mind wander and hope that my fingers can keep up.

This weekend, the wife and I are going to be bottling our second batch of wine. Strawberry White Zinfandel. I am not sure if I have written anything about our wine making hobby as of yet, I will have to check. If not of course  I will have a good post for tomorrow.

So on top of the wine bottling that we have to do, we also have a couple of friends coming over on saturday night. They constantly remind me how similar people just sorta gravitate towards each other. Cosmic fate, coincidence, call it what you will. He (as you noticed I don’t like using actual names as much as possible in here) is a teacher, my wife met him when they were taking a bunch of french kids from their schools to Winnipeg for the winter festival there. They really hit it off while there, and a while later I met him and his wife. She is a computer person, specializing in online ed. Needless to say, a teacher/computer person combo fits in quite well.

I tend to get a little bored when around most of the wife’s friends, as they are all teachers, they talk about teaching stuff. The wife tends to get bored around my friends as they are all geeks. This makes these two the perfect combination of people for us. we always have things to discuss.

On Sunday, we have the guys from Shaw coming out to install the Digital Phone. I did some number crunching, and by adding more channels and switching to them for phone (and dropping telus) we actually are saving like $3 every month. We now have the maximum TV package (only things missing are the adult/multicultural channels and some movie channels that they aren’t allowed bundling yet). The package also comes with 1 free pay per view movie. All in all a good deal if I do say so myself, after all we do watch a lot of tv.

and on that note, my time is up.

Capital Ex, House Stuff, and The Mole

So this weekend the wife and I went to Capital Ex with her folks and sister, and I must say that I was somewhat underwhelmed with the whole experience this year. (Note: apparently underwhelmed is not actually a word according to my spell checker, I know overwhelmed is, so it appears that you can only be more than whelmed. Not less than it.) I think part of the problem is that the whole experience felt a little cramped. Part of the Northlands grounds were under construction, so it seemed like they tried to cram the same amount of stuff into a smaller space. This only served to make it a little harder than normal to navigate through people.

The Cirque style show was rather lackluster (it is a bad sign when the most memorable part was a juggler) and the hypnotist seemed like he just phoned in that days performance. Also an issue of course is the price of anything…. I mean really… $3 for a bottle of pop?

We have also booked in to get our roof reshingled. As we have discovered, it is in much worse shape than we had thought after the strange weather we have been having lately (lots of rain, and snow at odd times during the spring). So that is another $7000 we have to put out this year that we weren’t planning on.

We decided to go with a similar color to what we currently have, but they are slightly higher quality than the base model. If we decide to sell the house in the next year or two though, it will be a great selling feature.

And now for something completely different……

I think Paul is “The Mole”.

For those who don’t watch the show, this next part will make no sense at all.  For those that do, it will make slightly more sense.

The reason I think Paul is the mole is purely because he is soooo agrivating. Think about it, the mole is paid to sabotage missions and take money away. The winner is the one that identifies who the mole is at the end. what better way of throwing the scent off of you than by being the most annoying person there. The mole should be flying under everyone’s radar not purposely trying to piss them off.

The main reason I had thought it was him at one point was because his name was highlighted during the results of the quiz in one eopisode even though they never showed his results. of course now that I think about it… I think he may have had an exemption that week. I will have to double check that one I think.

So tonight is a good TV night for me… of course with the power of the PVR, almost any night is a good tv night. But with I Survived a Japanese Game Show and Wipeout being on tonight, I at least know I will get some good laughs in. If that fails, I think America’s Got Talent is on tonight.

I must remember however to call my brother tomorrow as it is his birthday. I would be a bad brother if I failed to call him.

On that note, my stop approaches. I should pack up and get ready to go.

Look the part…

My wife thinks I should have a T-Shirt that reads “Captain Obvious” on it. I think that is hilarious. but I have to say it is not the best shirt for me. I think the ultimate would be the one I saw that reads as follows:

Top Ten Reasons to Procrastinate:
1:

It would be incorrect for me to say that I am a terrible procrastinator. I am, in point of fact, an expert procrastinator. Except at work. While I am at work, I get things done as soon as I possibly can. I am not quite sure why that is, but it is. I have always been a procrastinator, something I once told myself I would change about myself. I guess I haven’t gotten around to that yet.

Back to the topic of Shirts. I think you can usually tell a lot about a person by their choice in shirts. Sometimes it is the colour choices, sometimes it is the style, and occasionally it is a slogan or design on the shirt.

For example, right now I am wearing a blue button up collared shirt. just by that it can be inferred that I am either coming from or going to a semi-professional atmosphere however, the wrinkles in the shirt would indicate that I do not necessarily take enough notice in the little details that make everything come together. This assumption would of course be correct.

It is a constant peeve of mine when I see people that do not follow the accepted dress code for a particular event or location. You know the types, people who wear lounge pants to work or jeans to a wedding. While I am not on the cutting edge of fashion by any stretch of the imagination, I am usually dressed in such a way to suit the tone of the occasion. Is it wrong to expect that from others?

Now I know that personal style is something that one cultivates over a number of years, and we all go through phases where we aren’t exactly fitting the norm. I fit that mold for a while myself. But there is a point in one’s life that you kinda have to conform to what the general populace is doing. I don’t think it is appropriate for 45 year old women to dress like they are 16.

I know I just singled out women, but lets face it, when it comes to inappropriate outfits they are usually the worst offenders. Regularly at work I see women who are dressed like they are at a night club. More disturbing than that I see teens in the malls dressed like hookers.

I also find it interesting that the more provocatively dressed individuals of the “fairer sex” are often offended when they are ogled. Let’s face it, if you didn’t want to be looked at like that, you wouldn’t dress like that. And while I may agree that dressing provocatively is not an invitation for some deviant to have their way with them in an alley, it is kinda like putting a fresh baked pie on the window sill. If you aren’t careful, someone may just grab it. We aren’t exactly all morally superior creatures.

I think people need to be aware. Aware of themselves, and how they are seen. Aware of their surroundings and the potential dangers they may face. Aware that even though they are merely following fashion trends, the trend wouldn’t be that way if people didn’t follow them.

I think I have ranted enough for now…

July 17th … I know… creative title isn’t it

So, across the street from my office there is a bar, and they are doing something right now that I seriously have to wonder about.  They have a huge beer tent set up for some tommy lee thing. this of course would not have been a big deal if they had been just setting it up to use for a day or 2 total… no, it has been in the process of setup for the whole week. this of course cuts out a HUGE section of parking in the lot there.

Parking downtown is already at a premium, so I can’t see possibly how closing off around 50 stalls is in any way shape or form a good idea. especially a lot that is always full during the week. It is a good thing I take the bus. I would never be able to park near work right now.

The second problem is the fact that they decided to do the sound check at like 1pm today. the bass from the speakers was so loud it was shaking my chair. My desk of course is on the fifth floor and the totally opposite corner from the beer tent.

I can only imagine how bad it was in the offices across the street that are practically right on top of the beer tent. it must have been terrible.

I have a feeling it will be up all week too, as they have banners for the edmonton indy on it. that is next weekend.

I must be getting old.

It really wasn’t long ago that I would have seen something like that and thought about attending. Now I quietly complain on my blog.

That seems to be what this blog is becoming, a place for me to vent and complain about things. I guess throwing it out into the ether is easier than pissing people off in person. Does that make me a coward?

if it does, then so be it. I guess I will just have to deal with it.

A nice visit

It is a shame I had to work today, I genuinely had fun hanging out with my brother yesterday.  First interesting part was that they kinda surprised us by getting to the baggage claim area before the board even said they were in. I was a little surprised at how grizzly he was looking, what with the longish beard and untamed hair. the olive green clothes didn’t help the “just got back from the bush” look. Let me tell ya, If there was ever anyone I wanted to nominate for What Not To Wear it was him at that moment. It really isn’t flattering.

The drive from the airport to Montana’s was absolutely hilarious, the wife just kept shaking her head in disbelief (as did his girlfriend at times) from some of the comments that were made. Holy randomness batman. While at the restaurant things proceeded to stay in the range of bizarre, with much fun had commenting on the fact that we had tag team waitresses…. actually waitress and minion is more appropriate. every time she came to the table she had another girl as a shadow. Probably a trainee or something of that sort, but it was interesting.

We of course had to wonder if the shadow had never been to a restaurant before as she looked totally clueless as to what was going on the whole time.

After our rather large and pricey meal of all you can eat ribs, we went home and watched some tv before I finally had to head to bed at around 11:30 because let’s face it 6am comes very very early.

Mom theoretically came to get them this morning, and they were going to play it by ear whether they were hanging out for a while or heading back home right away… I may have company when I get home.

that is what I will be thinking about now… what do I get when I get home….. company or stir-fry.

I know … normally the 2 aren’t mutually exclusive, but we had only taken out enough pork for a 2 person stir fry. I suppose the wife could have thawed more… but going out for dinner again tonight would be more likely

guess we will have to find out soon…

one more thing… to the lady sitting next to me on the bus

QUIT READING MY SCREEN AND KEEP YOUR ELBOWS TO YOURSELF DAMNIT!!!!!!

A Proper update on life and stuff

So, I have been somewhat bad about the whole blogging thing and hopefully this will constitute a new start in writing more consistent and frequent updates about the things that are going on in my life these days. Of course, anyone that knows me will attest to the fact that I tend to do things in rather intermittent bursts.

Life these days has been pretty calm. I spend most of my time working and relaxing at home. That is how I like it. But here are the last few things I have done.

My wife and I recently have taken up a new hobby, wine making. I must say the first batch we made was (and for the moment still is) an incredible success. We decided to go with a Piesporter for the first batch as that is what we normally drink when we buy wine. Neither of us are particularly fond of the drier wines as we hate getting thirsty when drinking things. It kinda goes against the whole reason for drinking things. So we went to the local wine making store and bought like $400 worth of equipment and a $80 kit for the wine itself. The result, 30 bottles of really tasty wine.

The second batch we have in process may be a little stronger than we intended as we had to let it ferment a few extra days since we were out of town (more on that in a moment) but it should turn into an easily drinkable Strawberry Zinfandel. If my calculations are correct it should be ready to drink in early august.

My grand plan is to get the hang of wine making with the kits, and then slowly move into making hard cider from the apples that grow on the tree in our yard. an endeavor that should be interesting if nothing else.

As for the reason we had to leave the wine longer, a couple of weeks ago I found out that the cancer that my grandmother was diagnosed with was a lot worse than we had thought. Stage 4 bone and lung cancer. So after discussing with the wife, we decided that it was important that we go visit her and my grandfather as soon as possible (this of course meant a rather sudden trip to Quebec).

I am definitely glad we were able to go when we did. I can already see the effect that the illness is having on my poor grandma. It certainly doesn’t help that my grandpa is fighting with the fact that his body just can’t keep up with all of the things his brain wants to do. He is the type that likes to do things himself. no help from anyone. which of course is evident by the plans he has to completely redo a part of the roof on his house… by himself.

so while we were in Quebec, I learned something interesting. apparently it takes almost the same amount of time to drive from my grandparents house to Montreal as it does to go to Ottawa. this knowledge resulted in us going for a few days in the nation’s capital.

highlight: watching a presentation about the cultural history of Canada projected against the side of the parliament building

lowlight: grandma and her sister making a production out of the most simple tasks and making us wait on them all the time.

Once we got back, I saw an add for a laptop on sale at future shop. the very computer I am writing this on. $1099 on sale for $799. It is an HP Pavilion with a 2GHz core 2 duo processor, 4 gigs of ram, a 250 gig hard drive, and tons of other extras. All I have to say about that is DAMN.

So now, as I ride the bus home, I can write nice long entries into this thing whenever the writing bug gets me. of course that would be a lot easier if I had a little more room to move. but hey, it is still cheaper than parking downtown

Once I get home, we are going to pick my brother and his girlfriend up from the airport as they are staying the night with us before heading to the folks place (and then off to Newfoundland to live for an undetermined amount of time). I am really looking forward to seeing him and how much he has changed since being out on his own for a while. I have a feeling I may be in for a bit of a shock.

Now that I think about it though, he may actually be at my house already by the time I get a chance to actually post this blog entry, but who knows.

On that note, I think I should call this update a wrap. Have to switch busses.

test from the lappy

alrighty.. so I found an offline blogging tool (blogdesk) that will allow me to set up posts then upload them when I am onine… this of course is just a test to see if it works. I will post more if it does….. maybe

sweet… it worked perfectly….. I think this will make things a lot better now….. more posts to come

of course, there is also windows live writer… which I am using for the edit (right here) trying a photo plugin as well to see what it does…