Well I've got good news and bad news.

First the good news. There was a chance that Chris had built up a resistance to the medication she's been taking for her MS. So she had to get a blood test done and thankfully the results were good. Her body is not fighting the medication which means she doesn't have to switch to the other kind which would have meant injections several times a day.

But even better than that she just got the results from her latest MRI and she doesn't have any active lesions. Meaning that the medication she's on has effectively stopped any progression! So we're both ecstatic about that.

We're off tomorrow for our trip to the West Coast to spend Christmas with George and Lori and the rest of the family. The plan was and still is for Chris and I to drive down to Victoria and spend a few days there before driving back up to Comox and catching the ferry over to Powell River where we'd spend the rest of the week at George & Lori's new house. Chris is worried about the weather over there as apparently they're in the midst of a blizzard. So we'll see what happens when we get there. If the roads are really bad we'll have to cancel our Victoria plans.

So that's it until the New Year.

Oh, the bad news? I'm just going to focus on having an enjoyable trip and then I'll fill everyone in when I get back.

Here's hoping everyone has a safe and Merry Christmas!

Looks like winter is finally here.

Yesterday wasn't the greatest. Chris and I went out to meet Alpha, Nancy, and Jayne for brunch (thankfully we took the old car). I quickly realized the roads were horrible, but we got there ok. It was during the ride home that the fun began. In the short span of a few blocks we saw a serious accident, broken down buses with people getting off, someone doing a 360 spin around, and another car jumping the median.

And yet there wasn't a sander in sight. While I was stopped at a red light contemplating how completely useless the City's snow removal division is (it's almost as if they wait until there's at least 300 accidents before venturing out to do their job) a mini-van (but of course) plowed into us from behind.

Seeing as this was now the fifth time that someone has smacked into that car I jumped out screaming and swearing and frankly ready to start landing some punches if buddy had even looked at me the wrong way. However when I saw it was a family I quickly calmed down and in hindsight that was probably wise as it turns out he runs a Tae Kwon Do school and easily would have kicked my ass. So we exchanged info and parted ways. Both Chris and I were stiff and sore afterwards but we feel ok today. We'll wait until the weather gets better and then take it in for an estimate. Unless there's some hidden damage I can't see it looks like we'll just have to get the bumper replaced.

As mentioned, it was the 'old' car that got hit. Which of course implies that we have a 'new' car. I picked it up from the dealership a couple of weeks ago. It wasn't the original colour I wanted, being instead my second choice. However having seen it in person I think I like it better. I've taken it out a couple times and I really, really, really like it :) That said, I haven't been able to really fire it up as I've been driving it like an old lady because you're supposed to take it easy during the engine break in period. And of course now with all the snow it's effectively parked until the snow tires I ordered come in. The config I wanted had the fancy 19" wheels which look great, however they're ultra performance summer only tires. So until I swap them out it's staying in the garage. Here's a pic of my (sorry our) baby:

On the various afflictions tormenting me topic, it looks like all the pain I was suffering from my root canal was due to an infection. After a few days of suffering I called the dentist and he prescribed me some antibiotics which seemed to do the trick. However I might be allergic to whatever it was that I was taking as a few days into it I developed itchy bumps all over. I still have some, but I think they're starting to go away. For awhile I couldn't sleep as all I wanted to do was scratch and scratch until I bled. Sigh.

Unlike me, Chris is doing rather well lately. She's starting to do more and more with her new job and has been beavering away at getting all the details worked out for the big 40th birthday cruise that everyone is going on in 2010. She also finished her art class and her last project was an amazing painting she did of the northern lights. There's no way in hell I'd ever be able to create a painting which looked even remotely as good as what she did. I'm very proud of her.

It started off with some family drama involving my little girl, who as I found out isn't so little anymore. I won't go into detail, let's just say that 'it's begun'. I only hope that she makes smarter decisions than I did when I was at that age.

Then on Friday I went back to the dentist for them to finish my root canal. Yes the same tooth that I had so many issues with when we were on our cruise. The actual procedure wasn't nearly as bad as before, but he warned me I might be sore for a couple days and to take Advil for the pain.

I was doing so up until last night when it got so bad that I had to start popping Codeine. Not being able to sleep I did some Googling and read dozens of horror stories about people having all kinds of messed up issues after they had a root canal. Truly scary reading. This morning was better (although I'm still medicated) so I'm hoping the pain goes away soon. In hindsight and based on what I read I think the next time I'll just get the tooth yanked and have a titanium implant put in and I'll go under for the procedure.

Yesterday was the day everyone celebrated Chris' birthday (she's really old now). The plan was for her and I to go to a movie first and then we'd meet up with everyone for dinner. Well I didn't think things through very well as I tried to take us to the theatre at Chinook Mall. That place is a zoo at the best of times, but coupled with the time of year and the fact that half their parking lot is now a huge hole in the ground (I'm guessing they're building a multi-stage parkade) it was truly insane.

My head was about to pop off so I apologized and decided we weren't going to see a movie. We had about 3 hours to kill before dinner so Chris suggested we pop into to a GM car dealership which was close by.

We've been talking lately about getting a second vehicle. While I've enjoyed not having a car payment in well over a year it's been somewhat inconvenient with just the one car and I also wanted the security of having something under warranty again. With all the doom and gloom in the news lately about GM people aren't buying and dealerships are hurting. I recently saw a bit on the news where dealers were selling cars for $10,000 less just to get a sale.

So I thought it might be time to roll the dice and take advantage of the situation and see if we could get a good deal. I've had my heart set on a certain vehicle for awhile and I managed to convince Chris that if we did buy, that would be the model we'd get.

So we took the car I wanted out for a test drive and I really liked it, but we didn't like the sales guy very much. He wasn't knowledgeable about the vehicle and essentially blew us off when we got back to the lot. We called up the place we bought our Grand Am at and where I take it for maintenance and they "really wanted to earn our business" so we went and visited them. Long story, short, we bought a fully tricked out 2009 Pontiac G8 GT and saved over $6000 in the process. They didn't have the exact configuration I wanted on the lot so they have to bring it in. They're going to call me tomorrow and give me an ETA.

So in the end it turned out to be a really expensive movie that I took Chris to :)

Dinner was a lot of fun. It was at Jack Astors which we've been to before and liked. But Alpha noticed the last time he was there that they had an Elvis 'room', which in reality was a booth surrounded by Elvis memorabilia. Knowing what a big fan Chris is he thought (and I agreed) that she'd probably love it. The food and company was great and she had a terrific time. Thanks to everyone for helping me with all the arrangements, much appreciated! After dinner Amber, Kimmie, and Jamie popped by for some drinks and some time after midnight we turned in.

Here's some pix of the fun:

Wow, so what's happened in the past month? I can't remember. Chris went to Vancouver to surprise Carlie for Halloween. Carlie was having a party who's theme was super heroes. So Chris did up a costume and went as Super Grover. Get it? She put a lot of time and effort into it and by all accounts was well received. While Chris was away I just handed out candy and watched horror flicks Halloween night. We ended up with just under two dozen kids. Each year it seems like we get less and less. Frankly I find that really depressing. Chalk up another belief or custom from my youth that's being systematically chipped away at.

I went to the doctor and had my physical and either doctors don't grab your balls and ask you to cough anymore, or because my doctor is female she was merely content to just watch me pull down my drawers and cough instead. Regardless, I was relieved as her hands were really cold. She listened to my heart and I had just finished telling her that since I've been exercising more that my 'heart issues' seem to have gone away when she told me my pulse was all messed up. Apparently I'd have two normal beats followed by four mini-beats.

So on one hand I was relieved that a professional had finally noticed what I've been saying for years now - that something was messed up - but on the other hand I was worried what that might actually mean. She sent me to the lab for a bunch of blood and urine tests and to get an EKG. That was two weeks ago and I haven't heard back from her. So either I'm totally fine or I'm on my last legs and she hasn't found the time to tell me. Don't you just love our health care system?

It seems like everything around here is breaking lately. One of my pinball machines broke, my computer chair broke, and as mentioned my PC broke all within a week or so of each other. My pinball game is still busted, but I've spent my way out of my dilemma with the other items and bought a new chair and practically a new computer. So take that whatever deity is delighting in my misfortune!

It looks like Obama won the election down south....yawn. Oh well I know Alpha was ecstatic and I'm happy something he believed in so strongly went the way he had hoped. But frankly I'm kind of looking forward to not having to hear about the US election every time I turn around.

Oh! I almost forgot. Chris reminded me to post the pictures from the Pig 'n Whistle. A few weeks ago a whole bunch of us went to one of our local watering holes to cut loose. A band which we really like was playing and the Oilers/Flames game was also on. It was a fun night and lots of spirits were consumed. The Oilers won and as I had my jersey on I was feeling quite smug. Tracy was the star of the show as she went off into that zone you go to when you've blown past your booze limit. She was quite entertaining and we apologized profusely to Chuck as we dropped her off at her house. As we left she was sprawled out on the doorstep laughing her head off. Ah, that's the Tracy we miss. Here's some pix:

Well I think that's it for now. Barring another computer crash I hope to update things more than once a month :)

Well it looks like this might have been the last nice day of the year. Although Autumn is my favorite season - still kinda warm but not stupid hot, the rustling of the leaves and beautiful colours, and no stinking bugs to deal with - it still kinda sucks because that means Winter isn't far behind.

Time to fire up the fireplace soon methinks. Actually I want to get it inspected and cleaned and get our ducts cleaned first. I've already installed a fancy new electrostatic furnace filter which is supposed to be better than a Hepa filter as well as had a damper installed on our furnace to keep the cold out. So I just need to get these last two things done and we'll be ready for Winter - bring it on!

One other thing that's going to suck is I won't be able to go for my walks anymore as it'll soon be too cold. Ya I know I have the elliptical, but somehow it's just not the same. I've been going walking almost every second day for about the past four months. I really enjoy it. There's a couple different routes I take, one a bit shorter the other a bit longer. Going the long way takes me roughly an hour to finish.

So it's somewhat ironic that despite me getting the most exercise in my adult life I still usually feel like crap. Whether it's my constantly being tired, almost passing out from dizziness when getting up suddenly, or having issues with 'my guts'. I haven't bothered going to the doctor cause really what's the point? If they cant foist some kind of pharmaceutical on you then they resort to the usual 'oh it's because you're overweight' line. But Chris has been getting more and more worried about me so finally I gave in and let her schedule a physical for me.

I'm not looking forward to the 'turn your head and cough' part as my doctor is a woman. I'm not sure what the etiquette is - do I offer to buy her dinner before she feels me up?

Other than that not much is new. Jay, Betty, and their kidlet Nathaniel came down a couple weekends ago for a visit. The last time I saw Nathaniel he was just tiny, now that he's older he's much more fun to hang with as he can interact now. It was fun having them here although I was expecting to hear about the joys of parenthood and instead mostly heard how he was keeping them up at night and would we mind keeping him for a few weeks? Ah children, they're cute as a button when they're someone else's.

I have this week off and it's my last bit of a break before the year end madness ensues. Oh well, only a few months and then it'll be Christmas time. For now I'll just enjoy sleeping in and soaking up the sun.

I'm getting increasingly worried about all the financial doom and gloom. Of course just this morning there was another major bank failure in the US. I've lost about 25% of my RRSP savings in the past month alone. I'm getting really resentful of people who do well in the stock market because I just cannot seem to make money. Even in the relatively safe investment market of Mutual Funds. Frankly had I just stuck my contributions from the past couple years in a shoe box and kept it under my bed I would have double the amount of money saved as what I currently have. Seriously. I am not exaggerating.

We got home from getting groceries and normally I'd pull into the garage but today I decided to park on the street. I'm glad I did because sitting just inside our garage was some weird looking reptile. Chris was the one who actually noticed it and called me over. I thought it was almost dead as I poked it a bit and it hardly moved. It was covered in crap and just didn't look very good.

So we put it in the Crabs' old crabitat and gave it some water until we figured out what to do with it. Chris asked me what we should name it and I said 'Sally' (as I figured it was a Salamander). She laughed because that was the same name she was thinking of. We took a picture and went to Petland to find out what the hell it was and how to take care of it.

Turns out Sally is indeed a Salamander and we came home with $50 worth of stuff to create a somewhat decent environment for her to live in. After soaking up some water she looks much better now. We have our fingers crossed she's going to be ok. I'm pretty sure she was on her last legs when we found her.

So we'd like to introduce everyone to Sally the Salamander, the latest addition to our family!

I'll try and add updates every couple days until everything is complete.

We took well over a thousand photos, and obviously I only chose a small subset to post on here. Chris will also add some more on Facebook.

We had an amazing trip of a lifetime. A big thanks to Alpha & Nancy for convincing us to go. The experience was definitely better having them there.

But enough yacking, details of our vacation can be found here.

As mentioned previously, I've updated how pictures are shown on here. You'll need to make sure you have Javascript enabled for it to work properly. Contact me if you have any problems.

I'm in a lot of pain right now and pretty pissed off. Here's the long sad story for those not in the know...

Not long before our trip I was eating dinner when I bit down and felt a bolt of pain shoot through my mouth. To me it felt like when I've had fillings come out in the past. I looked in the mirror and it looked like I was indeed missing a filling.

Fortunately after that night it didn't hurt but as we'd be going overseas in a few weeks I figured I'd better get it looked at. At my next scheduled cleaning I told my dentist what had happened and that I thought something was wrong with the one tooth.

He looked at it, poked around a bit, and said that my teeth were just sensitive and to try some Sensodyne toothpaste. I thought he was full of crap, but he was the expert and it had been weeks since the initial incident and the pain hadn't returned. So I took his word for it.

So sure as shit, only a few days into our trip I found myself in excruciating pain. The one side of my face always had a dull ache through most of the day, but the nights were the worst as the pain would regularly wake me up. It felt like when the dentist drills into you and the freezing isn't working and the pain just shoots through you (oh, bonus to anyone who can identify the movie this picture is from).

Thankfully I had my own personal drug store with me (Chris) and through a combination of Codeine, Anbesol, and plenty of booze I managed for the most part to keep the pain under control and not let it ruin my vacation.

Now that I'm home I was able to get an emergency visit with Chris' dentist which was this morning. He took one look and immediately saw the problem. Sadly however, it was the typical torture as for whatever reason freezing just doesn't work very well on my lower jaw. In the end he had to put over a dozen injections into me and still anytime he touched the one spot I almost went through the roof. Finally he had to stick the needle through the hole in my tooth and inject the freezing directly into the exposed nerve so that he could work on it. I'm pretty sure that next to childbirth that was the worst pain imaginable.

Half way through his poking and drilling I realized what he was doing - I was getting a root canal! Obviously my tooth was really messed up and beyond repair.

I'm now home and nursing a sore face. I'm so mad at my dentist. I simply can't believe that he said there wasn't a problem and yet in just a few weeks I had to end up getting a root canal. It was simply incompetence on his part. Thanks to his inattention the vacation of my life could have potentially been ruined. And this wasn't the first time. A few years ago he worked on a cavity and when he put the dam on he ended up cutting my gums which became infected a few days later. As a result I had to go see an emergency dentist on Christmas Day no less.

The end result of this is I'm going to start going to Chris' dentist instead and I'm going to send an angry letter? email? to my dentist and tell him that he's lost a client.

But enough of my problems, I'm sure everyone is eager to hear about our adventures in Europe and see the pictures. Well you're going to have to wait a few more days. In an effort to keep up with the Joneses I'll be updating the site so that in the future all pictures will 'overlay' instead of popping up in a new window, will show captions, have navigation buttons, and have a count of how many images are in a given set. This new functionality has taken me a few days to figure out how to incorporate.

That said, I hope to have some of our trip documented with accompanying pictures by Sunday night.

Anyone have any Demerol?

It's late at night but I figure I'd better post this now as it'll probably be the last chance I get before we're gone on vacation for almost three weeks.

Normally I don't tend to get excited about trips until just before we leave - unlike Chris who's all over things from day one. But now that the day is almost here I'm really excited and eager to hop across the pond to see what adventures await us 'over there'.

The past few days have flown by and yet dragged on at the same time. Odd but true. We've been busy doing last minute preparations (well mostly Chris has), buying new clothes and footwear, printing out maps of places we'll be going to in London and Paris and so on.

Oh, I suppose for those who might not know I should mention where we're going. We're flying to London and spending a few days there and in Paris before leaving from Dover on a cruise. We'll be making stops in Finland, Russia, Estonia, Germany, Denmark, and Holland. Alpha & Nancy are already in England and we're going to meet up with them when the ship departs.

Both Chris and I have been to Europe before. I went to England, Scotland, and Ireland when I was 18 and Chris has been to a bunch of places in Europe when she was quite young. But I'll obviously have a different perspective now that I'm older (and wiser?). For me I consider this one of those 'once in a lifetime' type trips. I've been itching to go to Europe for several years now.

I actually have Alpha to thank for twisting my arm into going with them (odd how easily he seems able to convince me to jet off with them to far and distant lands). For us the timing was just right, and honestly who knows when we'd get a chance (or have the money) to go there again.

While technically I could update this site while I'm there I've decided not to. For me it's just not worth the hassle and I'd much rather spend my time enjoying my vacation rather than updating everyone back home daily. So you'll just have to wait until we get back to hear about our travels and see our pictures. However, for those instant gratification types, Alpha is updating his website on a regular basis. I'm sure Chris & I will be mentioned on there occasionally :)

I also want to give a big thanks to Leanne & family, Jamie & Kim, as well as Michael for looking after the house and our pets while we're gone. We're very, very, appreciative.

Besides the trip the only other news is my continuing fight against the encroaching hordes of Mother Nature. Last year we were overrun by skunks and had to battle a wasp nest. This year I'm taking on an ant invasion that's killing our tree in the back as well as matching wits against a cheeky gopher who's taken up residence under our driveway.

When spring came I was dismayed that our tree appeared to be half dead. I wasn't sure what was going on (of course the neighbors tree looked wonderful). Well this past weekend I went out to cut off the dead branches and while I was cutting away I looked up and almost fell backwards with shock. There were what seemed thousands of ants 'clumped' together on various branches with others running up and down the main trunk.

So I cut off the infected branches and burned them hoping that would stop them, but the next day there were back again. So I went and bought some ant bait. It's basically a squirt bottle that shoots out this goopy liquid. The theory is the worker ants will be attracted to it and carry it back to the hive? nest? and unwittingly initiate an ant holocaust. It's too soon to tell, but I do know they definitely go crazy for the stuff.

My other nemesis is a pesky gopher who's dug a nice hole at the side of the driveway. Now normally I love the little guys - as long as they're not digging in my yard. So I found a big rock and wedged it in the hole thinking that would be the end of it. But no, the next day I looked and somehow the little guy had pushed the rock off (this rock weighs several pounds). I came home from work later that day and he was just chowing down on the grass without a care in the world. So I yelled at him and ran after him until he took off. I then REALLY wedged the rock in good and tight.

The day after that I looked and the little bastard had just dug around it. Today when I came home he was in his hole looking at me as I drove up. Almost mocking me in his little gopher voice. So I think when I get back I'm going to have to bring out the big guns and throw some Strychnine laced bait down the hole. Part of me will feel bad, but knowing how much damage they can do my house and yard comes first.

Anyways I need to get to bed. I hope everyone enjoys the next few weeks and we'll see everyone when we get back.

Cheers!

Work was completely frustrating as I essentially wasted an entire week trying to automate some piece of shit program that is being rolled out this weekend. So instead of working on what I was supposed to be doing I got dragged into this other thing. So ya, an entire week of my time wasted unsuccessfully trying to deploy this thing in an automated fashion when it would have take four people less than four hours to go around and manually install the damn thing.

Then yesterday Chris is out getting groceries and calls me to tell me that the car is dead. It won't turn over, it's just completely dead. Of course this happened late on a Saturday when the dealership is closed and true to the way things always seem to work the service department was also closed today. So we called a tow truck to get it towed to the dealership and I'll find out tomorrow what's wrong with it. I'm guessing it's the starter but who knows. The engine and drive train is still under warranty, but I'm sure again, being true to form, they'll just happen to find something else wrong that's not covered. In the meantime we're driving around in a rental. I should have got full coverage on the damn thing and just ran it into a wall. I'm pretty sure would have made me feel better. A big thanks to Jamie for driving us around this morning!

On happier thoughts, Alpha, Nancy, and Kim Nott came over last night. The plan was to revisit Alpha's famous Long Island Ice Tea recipe and make sure we know how to mix it so we can make a big batch to smuggle onto our cruise. Of course we had to taste test it along the way to make sure it was just right. It was actually a nice, relaxing, and enjoyable evening. People across from the green space were out having a fire and setting off fireworks which they've done occasionally in the past. Not willing to be outdone, Alpha got out his model rockets and fired off a bunch into the air. They went really fast and really high. A little bit too high as we lost site of them way up in the sky and couldn't see where they landed. So if anyone in the neighborhood happens to find a rocket in their back yard, it's Alpha's :)

Lindsay returned home last week. It was good having her around and I think she enjoyed herself. When I asked if she was ready to go back home or if she'd be ok staying another week she replied that she'd be fine staying. So that made me feel good. Despite my having to work, between Chris, Alpha and family I think she was kept fairly entertained. We also took her up to Edmonton for a couple days to visit my parents as they also hadn't seen her for a long time. She'll be turning 16 in September. That just blows my mind. It seems like it was only yesterday that I was changing her diaper, teaching her how to swim, taking her to school for the first time and so on.

We picked up our cruise tickets from our travel agent a couple days ago. So now all our thoughts are on getting everything ready before we go. I still need to find a couple more pairs of shorts and I know Chris also needs to pick up various things. Considering we'll be gone in only 12 days time we need to get organized pretty fast. This will easily be the most elaborate vacation I've ever been on. I can't wait. Especially after this week it will be sorely needed.

Happy Canada Day!

On this fine day I went for a walk, helped Chris clean the house a bit, and just generally lazed about wishing it would start raining already. Tonight we're meeting Tracy and Mo & Po for dinner at some new pub.

Yesterday we didn't do much. We thought about going over to Alpha & Nancy's and hanging with them on their deck and enjoying the sun but Chris was tired from running around all day and wasn't feeling great. So we just stayed home and finished watching Season 3 of Weeds on Blu-Ray. Of course now we have to wait an entire year for Season 4 to come out! Grrrr!

Not much exciting has happened since my last post. At least if it has I don't remember, therefore it couldn't have been that great right? In anticipation of our coming European trip I've started to do a bunch of walking. It's amazing how much more enjoyable exercising outside is compared to being stuck downstairs in the basement. When I first started my 'route' took over an hour and I'd get back home exhausted. Now I can do it easily in 45 mins and not really break a sweat.

My daughter Lindsay is coming down for a visit next week. She'll be here for 8 days. I haven't seen her since the wedding so I'm looking forward to her being here. Of course I'm also worried she'll be bored out of her mind. Because of our Europe trip I've essentially used up all my time off for the summer so I'll be working while she's here. Thankfully, Phoenix, Alpha's daughter will be here during the same time. They both seemed to hit it off really well when we all went house boating. So I'm hoping they'll keep each other entertained. So far the only thing we've really planned is to visit Stampede and go to the Grandstand show.

That's it for now. I hope everyone enjoys the rest of their holiday!

Last weekend was our camping trip. I now remember why it is I only go camping once every few years.

We went to this private spot in Kananaskis that we had been to previously a long time ago. The location itself is perfect and is easily my favorite place out of all the sites we've camped at in the past. But because it's such a great place you have to book it as soon as possible in any given year.

Unfortunately we waited to long and as a result the only weekend available was last weekend. Being that it was at the beginning of June we knew it'd be a bit dicey as June is the rainiest month of the year. But thinking positively we figured that would mean there wouldn't be any fire ban and decided to go ahead with the trip.

The first night wasn't to bad as it was only raining a little bit. Both Alpha and I hurriedly put up a bunch of tarps and got all our gear setup. Not long afterwards Kim & Hailey and Deb & Mistopher showed up, picked their spots and also got setup.

Of course Alpha being Alpha, he brought along almost every comfort known to man and had put up a separate tent to house his generator so we could all enjoy electricity while we were out there. This also allowed us to have such luxuries as heaters and blended squishy drinks.

We spent the first night hovered around our campfire and all turned in fairly early. In the morning we awoke to a torrential downpour and icy temperatures. And it continued to rain all day and night. At a few points it was snowing and we even had ice dams building up on the tarps where the water was collecting. Needless to say everyone was pretty miserable. Kim & Hailey toughed it out for most of the day but headed back home that night as it looked like Hailey was starting to get sick (wimps!).

That night I thought I was going to freeze to death it was so cold. I was lying in my sleeping bag, covered by two comforters, shivering in the fetal position and wondering if my nose was going to fall off. Chris had previously figured out that it was much more comfortable sleeping in the car and so that's where she was. The worst was having had several wobblies previously and having to pee but trying to hold it as long as possible because it was so friggin cold outside!

Oh well, despite the weather we still managed to have a good time reading mags, playing crib and scoop ball, drinking, playing with Deb & Mistopher's dog, eating yummy camping food, and taking in the beautiful scenery. We will probably go again next year but this time we'll pick something in July or August.

Here's some pictures of the happy campers:

Well it's back to the grind for me. This was my first week back to work after having had two weeks off. Ok, well, technically only one week was vacation time, as the other week I was on a course. Still, just not having to go into the office that week was nice.

Now that I'm back I'm wishing I could maybe change careers. Working with certain individuals is very trying. The thought of having to put up with them for another, oh, 30 some odd years is truly a sad, sad, thought.

Alpha seems to switch careers every few years or so. Why couldn't I? Maybe I could be a farmer. No, I'd have to get up to early. A policeman? Nah, I fight the power, not enforce it. A lion tamer? It'd have to be better than what I deal with now and I do like cats...do lion tamers have a dental plan?

Sigh.

I had hoped to accomplish a bunch of outstanding tasks while I was off, but as with all good intentions, things quickly got messed up. It seemed like last week was a weird vortex of technical bad mojo. I couldn't get my Dragon's Lair game working with the upgraded ROM chips I bought for it, I couldn't get any of my Amiga games to work as they all kept bitching about media errors, one of my keyboards died, and to top it off I had to run into work Sunday night to deal with a near disastrous server failure. Frankly I'm amazed the world didn't end while it was at it.

A couple weekends ago we ran up to Edmonton and tried to see all our friends and family in the two short days we were there. The first night we spent at Deb and Mistopher's, but unfortunately Mistopher was knee deep in the suck, dodging shells from Charlie and calling in the Air Cav to send the sons of bitches back to hell (or whatever it is that they do in military training). Still we had a great time with Deb and got to see her puppy again. Her puppy that is now rather large. It's hilarious as her one cat (which this dog could eat in a heartbeat) still rules the house and is boss.

The next morning we went and visited Jay & Betty and got to see their little dude for I think only the second time since he was born. As usual he took to Chris, even though he decided to puke copious amounts of baby vomit all over her. Jay & Betty were mortified but I thought it was hilarious.

We then went and spent the afternoon with my parents, where, in a change from the usual we ended up looking at the show homes in the newer areas of Sherwood Park. Whenever I'm up there I'm usually working, or as mentioned have only a few days to squeeze everyone in. Needless to say I don't get a chance to really explore my old stomping grounds and see what's new and changed. It was amusing watching my Mom tut-tutting imperfections in these million dollar homes. Actually most of them weren't anything special. I think we'll still stick with what we have.

That night we went to Jim & Karen's where they treated us to a fancy pancy dinner at a new downtown restaurant. It was a very cool place, and although my main meal wasn't the greatest, everything else was awesome. I think we ended up staying there for close to 3 hours. Needless to say we were all stuffed when we left.

It was a good, quick, trip up north. Chris and I both agree that we need to make an effort to go up there more often.

What else? Chris got herself a part time job working with some former colleagues who went on to start their own business. She's very happy. While not working is great in theory, she was starting to get depressed and tired of the same thing every day. This job is perfect as it gets her out of the house, she gets to socialize more, we get some extra money coming in, and because it's only a couple days a week hopefully it won't wear her out.

Last night we went out for dinner with Tracy and a few drinks almost turned into an all nighter. Alpha dropped by to help us fill out some paperwork for our trip to Russia and we all hung out on the deck around the firepit. It was a fun night, it just happened to suck that it was Wednesday and not Friday.

Tomorrow we're supposed to go camping in K Country for a couple days. It's still up in the air whether or not we're actually going as it's supposed to piss rain all weekend. Isn't freezing your ass off in the pouring rain what camping is all about though? If my next update contains pictures of me looking cold and miserable you'll know that we ended up going :)

This past weekend Chris & I celebrated our first year anniversary. I can't believe how fast time has gone by. I guess there is something to the saying 'Time flies when you're having fun'.

Of course I was under the gun to come up with something amazingly spectacular for us to do to celebrate our special day. I had been toying with they idea of 'vacationing within Calgary'. The general concept being getting a hotel downtown and exploring what the city has to offer as if we were tourists from out of town.

So I got us a fancy room at the Sheraton Eau Claire, and the plan was we'd go for a nice dinner, see a play, and have a few drinks when we got back to our room.

Well it's funny because the weekend could have been a complete disaster and almost was on multiple occasions, but both Chris & I thought it was a combination of somewhat fitting and somewhat comical - in the end we managed to overcome everything and have a terrific time.

The first potential disaster was when we got to the hotel and I found out that I had somehow booked our room at the Sheraton Hotel at the Airport instead. Luckily they were able to cancel my reservation there and book us an equivalent room - in fact we ended up getting it cheaper. The room itself was very nice. I had never been to that hotel before which is very high end. It was amusing to watch all the Ferrari's, Mercedes, Lamborghinis (seriously) pulling up to the valet - and us in our Grand Am :)

After checking in, the lady who booked us in came by with complimentary wine, a plate of chocolates and pastries, and put rose petals around our jacuzzi tub - the result of my requesting that they could do something special for us.

We then went to Caesar's steak house for dinner. It was again very fancy, and our meals were delicious. One of those times where as you eat the steak it almost melts in your mouth. We then got the bill and it was suitably expensive - easily the most we've ever spent at restaurant for just the two of us. But I was in my 'big spender' mode so it was all good.

Originally I had wanted for us to go see a live play with Calgary Theatre. But for some odd reason their last show ended a couple weekends ago and they are on some sort of hiatus until the summer. So that wasn't going to happen. Again, the whole idea was for us to do something downtown. After scouring Ticketmaster's website I found out that The Kids In the Hall were playing at the Jack Singer Hall. So I booked that instead.

I was a bit nervous that Chris wouldn't be happy with my choice, but I knew she liked Dave Foley from watching News Radio and Celebrity Poker. When I broke the news as to what show we were seeing I was very relieved when she said she was thrilled to be going to that show instead.

After dinner we caught a cab to the show only to find out about the second potential disaster. The group's tour bus was held up by a rock slide in BC and the show which was supposed to start at 7pm would instead be at 9:30pm. We were given the option of refunding our tickets or coming back roughly 3 hours later. Part of me wanted to say screw it, but I knew Chris wanted to see them. We ended up going to Milestones which was a couple blocks away to hang out on the their patio and have some drinks while we waited. In the end I'm very glad we made that choice.

As we're sitting there I see this guy strolling down the street and I think to myself, 'huh, that guy looks like Dave Foley.' Then I look closer and realized that it was him! No one else had noticed him so as he walked past us I yelled out 'Hey Dave, your going the wrong way!' and pointed back to where Jack Singer Hall was. He stopped and chatted with Chris & I briefly before continuing on. The people at the table next to us who were also going to the show were all star struck and asked us if we knew him etc. I was playing it cool on the outside like it was no big deal, but secretly inside I was giggling like a little girl.

As if that wasn't cool enough Chris noticed that he had stopped a bit further down and was signing autographs. She was debating weather or not she should go ask for her picture with him. I told her that she should go get in there and a few minutes later she came back with a big grin on her face and with a wicked picture of the two of them on her camera.

Relieved that we knew the group finally made it and still ecstatic at our brush with celebrity we finished our drinks and headed back to the show. We had been to the Jack Singer once before when we saw Jann Arden play with the Calgary Symphony - I think it's a very cool venue. Last time we were on the floor, but this time we ended up on one of the balconies overlooking the stage. Not long after we settled in the lights dimmed and the show began.

The show itself was very good. The comedy troupe did mostly new material with only a couple of classic skits thrown in. The place was packed and there was a diverse group of fans there. Everything from the old foggies, to the younger alternative crowd, to the hardcore fans like the guy who came wearing a cabbage on his head.

Afterwards we headed back to our room, discovering in the process that 3rd and 3rd is now where all the hookers hang out in Calgary (apparently the classier ones, cause damn, some of them were lookin pretty good). We cracked open the mini bar and crashed just after 2am.

At about 3:30am our third and thankfully final near disaster occurred. We were rudely awoken by the klaxon like fire alarm in the room going off 'Attention, please remain calm, and await further instructions!' Being that it was a Saturday night of course I'm thinking some asshole had pulled the alarm or something. So we lied in bed a bit longer still half asleep when suddenly the message on the alarm changed to 'Evacuate! Evacuate! Evacuate!' and I could start to hear the sirens outside. It was at that point we realized this was the real deal.

We got dressed and Chris was wondering what to bring with us. I told her to grab her rings, and I grabbed her camera (couldn't let her picture with Dave go up in flames), and we headed into the hallway - which was definately hazy. We stumbled around because all the fire doors were closed until we remembered where the stairs were and started to head down. Considering that we were basically at the top floor of the hotel there was a momentary twinge of panic when the stairwell was full of people and the line wasn't moving, and the smell of smoke was tangible.

Finally the line started to move and we made our way down all 14 floors. There was about 5 fire trucks outside and everyone was standing around half of them wearing just robes and the other half obviously still drunk (probably part of the wedding group that was staying there that night). Thankfully whatever happened wasn't as serious as it first appeared and one by one the trucks left and soon afterwards everyone went back in. We ended up getting back into bed around 4am.

A few hours later we woke up and headed to the club floor for breakfast. They had a yummy buffet set up and we ate outside on a patio overlooking downtown while we contemplated the night's craziness. After breakfast we packed up and checked out and headed back for home.

And thus ended our first Anniversary. Despite everything we both had an amazing time. Here's some pix of the fun:

I'm now 37 years old and it's becoming increasingly apparent that time is catching up to me. For awhile now I've just generally felt like crap, not to mention the various pains that seem to come from nowhere. Soon I'll be predicting weather changes by my aching bones and shaking my fist and yelling at the young punks to get off my lawn...sigh.

A bunch of my friends came over last night to help me celebrate. We started the day by going to see Ironman (see my review) which was wicked. Then everyone else showed up and we ate yummy chili that Chris made, had some wobblies, and hung out past 2am on the deck soaking in the warmth from the fire pit and talking the night away.

It was a fun time and a big thanks to Chris for making such a great cake and to everyone else for helping me celebrate!

Other than that both Chris and I are getting more and more excited about our European trip, now less than 100 days away. I can't wait to get away for a few weeks. I'm definitely in need of a vacation. For the most part we've figured out what we're doing in most of the countries that we'll be visiting. There's still some debate as to what the weather will be like in Finland and Russia. Alpha is of the mind that it'll be chilly as we'll be so far up north. From what I can tell St. Petersburg is roughly the same latitude as Fort McMurray is - and having lived there I know it can get hot during the summer. Oh well, I guess we'll find out who's right in a couple months.

The big news in the immediate family is that Michael and his girlfriend Kristian have bought a house and are moving in together. As if that's not cool enough, even better is that their new place is only a few blocks from ours. Chris couldn't be happier that her little brother is now in our neck of the woods (and even better within staggering distance). While they're coming to our neighborhood the people next door are apparently leaving. A few days ago we noticed that they had the 'Just Listed' sign on their front lawn. Frankly I'm not happy with this turn of events. As Chris said, it's a case of better the devil you know. I have my fingers crossed that whoever ends up next to us isn't putting in a grow-op, won't have a dozen kids, or won't have a dog constantly barking outside.

Thanks to Chuck, Jamie, and Alpha's help I finally got my Tron video game downstairs. The spinner wasn't working properly so I ordered a replacement circuit board off of eBay and installed it and now everything works great. There's still some other stuff to do before I consider my burgeoning arcade complete:

• Replace the Dragon's Lair Laserdisc with the Special Edition version and upgrade the ROM's to support it
• Order and install a replacement circuit board for my Galaga/Ms. Pacman game which will give me a bunch of new games such as Dig Dug and 1942
• Repair 'Rudy' on my Funhouse pin and install some hole protectors and possibly replace the LED display board

Of course there's still the bigger task of one day getting the basement finished. But in the meantime I'm happy with how things are. Here's a picture of my video games...

This past week has been extremely hard.

For those who weren't aware, my Uncle Warren passed away on the weekend due to complications from Cancer. I was in Regina this week to be with family and to attend the funeral.

Losing a family member is never easy, but this was especially difficult as he was really the last immediate family my Dad had left. I was and still am deeply concerned with how it's affecting him.

When I think of Warren the first thing that comes to mind was his gentle and easy going demeanor. He always had a calming effect on everyone around him. He was an amazing Uncle, Brother, Father, and Husband.

I'm not going to rationalize his death. That's just not my nature. I'm still hurting and angry at the world. My thoughts as always are with Naomi and the girls, and Dad, you know that I'll always be there for you.

Finally, whenever I am hurting I tend to drown my sorrows and push those around me away. I want to thank Chris for being there for me and for providing some much needed support. I don't know what I'd do without her.

This past weekend was crazy. With everyone else buying houses or developing their basements I was starting to feel left out. I was also tired of only having one electrical (ok two) outlets in my entire basement, located right next to the electrical panel. As much fun as stringing extension cords all over the place was, it was starting to get a bit old. So I bit the bullet and hired the guy who did the electrical work in Jamie's basement to improve the situation. He showed up Sat morning at 8am.

Of course that meant I had to move all our crap, er treasured nick nacks, out of the way, pull down the vapour barrier and insulation (which isn't fun breathing in), mark where I wanted the outlets and switches to be etc. So I did all this on Friday. Couple that with my new arcade game arriving the same day and me having to help the girl who delivered get it into the house and needless to say I was pretty exhausted this weekend.

But hey electrically speaking we now have a somewhat normal basement. In the end I had 8 outlets and two switches installed. The switches were needed so that I could power on my pinball and arcade games one at a time (powering them all on at once would blow the circuits). I also had him put in the wiring for future bulkheads which will have ambient lights. I was starting to get a bit depressed at the lack of home improvement progress, but this should do me for awhile at least. Once I get my new game downstairs and setup I'll take a bunch of pictures.

Now all that's left is to get rid of all the crap in the basement and hire someone to come in and finish it. No, it won't happen this year. I was hoping my employer was done offering me shares in the company, but nope, I got another offer a couple weeks ago. Chris read the fine print and found out that I'll likely have them offered for two more years after this one. Sigh. Once they're paid off I'll be laughing, but in the interim it sucks piling on more and more debt to finance their purchase.

What else? Oh, Chris finished her photography course that I signed her up for. I think she liked it and she learned lots of stuff. I hope so anyway seeing as she just ordered a new, fancy, SLR camera!

This past weekend was exciting as Chris & I narrowly escaped certain death! She happened to look out the back window and noticed the field behind us was on fire. She called me to come look and I saw that there was no one out there so I called 911. Not long after the fire department showed up and rolled into action. It was bizarre as it had just snowed that morning and although the snow had melted I assumed the ground would have still been wet. Apparently not. I found it fascinating to watch the fire move, it was like it was jumping from spot to spot. Normally I wouldn't have been too concerned, but the fact that the wind was pushing it towards us had me a bit on edge. In the end it was put out and we now have a nice big black scar out back.

Here's some pix of excitement:

 Remember! Only you can prevent Wildfires!

Chris is spending the week house sitting for Kim, who's off to Toronto on a business trip. At first I was looking forward to having the place to myself, but I swear she hasn't even been gone two hours and I miss her already. How sad is that?

Last night was pretty fun as Alpha, Nancy, and Jamie were over. We had a few drinks and played poker into the wee hours of the night/morning. Alpha definitely had horseshoes up his ass as he amassed quite the chip lead. But it was ridiculous as he'd seem to always have a slightly better hand than me - I'd have a straight and he would have a flush, I'd have Ace, Jack, he'd have Ace, Queen and so on. We all made sure to rib him as to why he couldn't play like that when he was in tournaments.

This morning the girls and I got to go see the spot where Chuck & Tracy's new house will end up being built. We also went for a yummy (but expensive) brunch. Ok, so maybe Chestermere isn't THAT far away. But it's definitely out in hicksville. On the way we saw horses and cows oh my! We even had a big 'ol tractor full of hay pass us. I'm sure that if we had wandered around town someone would have said in a southern drawl, 'you folks aren't from around these parts are ya?'.

What else? Oh yes, it's pretty apparent that our car's warranty is almost over. Almost like clockwork, things are starting to fall apart. I had it in the shop no less than three times in one week trying to get it fixed. Of course the first day they had it over 9 hours and didn't even get around to looking at it. But they assured me if I booked another appointment they'd give me top priority. Ridiculous! Why not give me top priority the first frickin time! Unless I'm mistaken that is the point of making an appointment! So after getting it in a second time, whatever they 'fixed' broke something else and I had to take it in yet again. Thankfully most everything was still covered by our extended warranty. That almost made up for my frustration.

However things still aren't right, so we'll have to make yet another trip in the near future. Oh well, I can't really complain. In the six years we've had it, we've only really had one minor issue that was quickly fixed. And this despite the car having been plowed into what, three? four? times since we bought it.

So as nice as it is not having any car payments, Chris and I are toying with the idea of getting a second vehicle. We have very simple criteria: it has to be cheap, come with all wheel drive, come in Orange, and not look stupid. I'm leaning towards the Suzuki SX4 as it's the cheapest AWD vehicle you can get in North America and I think it looks kinda funky. Chris however is leaning towards the new Toyota Matrix. I think the new models look stupid. I don't mind the 2008 models, but those don't come with AWD. Sigh. Maybe we'll just say screw it and get a Hummer instead.

Since Chris & I have been together there has been nothing but a constant stream of friends and family moving away from us. At some point you have to ask yourself why we bother staying here as well, maybe we should just move to the coast like I've always wanted. Oh well, it's not going to happen this year...

Chris & I went up to Edmonton for the long weekend. We spent Saturday night with Jay & Betty and Chris got to see their little boy, Nathaniel. She definitely has a way with babies because he was perfectly content spending most of the night in her arms. Yesterday during the day we hung out with Chris' mom on Whyte ave. and did some shopping. It's been years, and years, since I've wandered around that neighborhood. A lot has changed, but some shops which I used to frequent in my youth are still there. After that we went for dinner with my parents and finished up the night playing Yahtzee. Yes, Yahtzee. It was actually pretty fun, especially because I was the big winner. Mistopher & Deb, oddly enough, were in Calgary while we were up there, but we did manage to time our trips home and meet up in Red Deer for lunch. It was neat to see Deb's pregnancy starting to show and it was also fun hearing about Mistopher's life lesson. Apparently women who are self conscious about their pregnancy related weight gain do not appreciate being told that they are a 'chunky monkey'.

It was a fun, quick, and much needed get away.

When we got back today I walked out onto the deck and was instantly enraptured with the warmth of the sun beaming down upon me. So we hung out on the deck, faint memories of summer time fun coursing through our bones. We also took the cats out so they could join us in our sun worshipping. It was fun watching Mindy being a snow cat as she walked gingerly across the melting snow. Eventually I just had to go for a walk and take advantage of the spring like day. Kids were out riding their bikes, birds were chirping, adults were sitting on their porches reading books and drinking coffee, and I was loving every minute of it.

I'm sure things will soon turn to shit again, but for at least one brief shining moment I didn't have a care in the world.

Tis the season to be sick. It seems like I get ill at this time every year. I'm so sick (pun) of it! Basically I've either had a bad cold or the flu twice since just before Christmas. Not only that but practically everyone else I know was sick as well. I realize this is flu season, but you'd think the media would have picked up on the fact that this has got to be the worst I've seen since who knows when.

Chris was a sweetheart, taking care of me (I tend to be a big baby when I'm not feeling well) even though she felt like crap herself.

Other than being under the weather, the past few weeks have been pretty uneventful. I just got back from Edmonton where I was up there for a few days doing work related stuff. While there I got to see Jay & Betty's little guy. He's adorable! They are doing well, but as is typical with new parents (so I'm told) it seems like they're a bit overwhelmed. Jamie, Kim and Tracy, Chuck - feel free to Facebook him and dispense any parental words of wisdom, I'm sure Jay would appreciate it.

Chris is at the Roundup Centre right now at the Wedding Fair. She's there as part of her new business venture - she's partnered with Kim to host 'Passion Parties'. For those who don't know, that's when a bunch of friends get together to peruse the latest in adult entertainment and to hopefully buy various products. Chris is really excited about it and I'm hoping it turns out to be a success for her. So the next time you're over at our house, if you happen to see boxes full of vibrators, creams, and novelties, no, our sex lives haven't gone into overdrive, it's inventory for her business.

With the new year one's mind turns to resolutions. I've never been one to come up with a resolutions list in a given year, but there are definitely a couple of goals I've set for myself this time. The first one is I want to try and lose 20 pounds by the time we go on our summer cruise. Considering I lost 10 pounds while I was sick that shouldn't be to hard right? The second is I want to get moving on upgrades to the house. While I'm a bit worried about all the doom & gloom stories in the media, interest rates are low and set to drop even further, so now is an ideal time. First up is to get new windows and then I want to look at getting blueprints done up for the basement and depending on the costs involved get moving on those renovations.

Happy New Year!

It seemed like this years celebration just wasn't meant to be. First the place we all wanted to go to wasn't open yet, and then both Tracy and Kim were sick and couldn't come. In the end we ended up going to the local watering hole. And ya, I frankly thought it was gonna suck. While I wouldn't put it up there with say the New Years hottub experience, I did have a lot of fun.

Even better was that I wasn't hung over the next day - unlike a certain Christine Lee!

So do I have any resolutions this year? Not really, just the same 'ol stuff that I try to do every year. Try and work out more, get the basement done, love Chris even more (as if that's even humanly possible) etc.

I thought last year was pretty decent. Lots of stuff got done that was both beneficial and revitalizing. I finally put my financial future in the hands of an expert, got the car paid off, did a bunch of travelling, and what else was there? Oh ya, I also got married :)

Some pictures of everyone bringing in the New Year...