Tooks the family (and a bunch of kid friends) geocaching for the first time this year.  It was perfect; the ground was pretty dry and the bugs haven't come out yet.  It's a great sport if you're looking for an active family outing (but not too active).

 

 

It's almost Valentine's Day.  I wonder if this Valentine guy ever knew he'd  have a day named after him?  How about Winder's Day?  Now that has a nice ring to it.  But I'm not sure what it would be in celebration of.  Mediocrity?  Balding?  Allergies?  Self-depricating humour?  Maybe a day dedicated to using big words you can't spell and don't even understand?  So many possibilities.

 

I was talking to co-workers at lunch discussing what we were getting our wives for Valentine's day.  This year I bought my wife jewelry.  This is a step up from my usual gift of a CD or book that historically 50/50 odds she already has, but she's been extra good this year (and I could use the extra brownie points).  But I refuse to buy a card.  Waste of money and they just get thrown out.  I also bought her an oversized toy rose.  But not real roses.  Waste of money and they just get thrown out.  An oversized toy rose lasts forever when properly stored in a box in the basement.

 

Anyway, one co-worker is buying a card, real roses, and jewelry for his wife.  And not just any jewelry - custom desiged jewelry from a goldsmith friend.  He set a precendence very early on in his marriage and has had to keep it up for 20 years.

 

My second co-worker's wife forgot their first anniversary and has already lost her wedding ring.  Now that is the perfect start to a marriage.  He can do anything for tomorrow and get away with it.  (He went with alcohol.) 

To save time I set the same new year resolutions for 2007.

I have more New Years Resolutions than days in 2006 (my new strategy is to make so many resolutions that some will have to be successful).

 

One of them should be to catch up with old friends and aquaintances.  I have 364 lunch dates still free.  Book yours now.

Best wishes to all my friends and family (and anyone else who reads this) for 2006!

 

It feels like it's going to be a year of changes.  I wonder if that will be good or bad? 

 

Here's wishing for good...

Well, I'm done my Christmas shopping.  The malls in Calgary are absolutely crazy, so I'm very glad.  The bank account is also giving a sigh of relief.

 

I asked Lori what her favorite present she ever got was (and I don't recall getting a good answer, I'll have to ask her again).  How about you? 

 

I have a really really bad memory, but I've given it 10 minutes of thought.  I'd have to say it was my first computer, an Apple IIe clone.  It wasn't actually mine, it was Santa's gift to the whole family.  I really really wanted one, but I knew we couldn't afford it (I was about 15 or 16 at the time).  I suspect my parents made a lot of sacrifices to get it, and I'm not sure how thrilled my younger sisters were to get a computer that I was to monopolize.  But it was a great Christmas for me and I knew from that point on that I wanted a career in computers.

 

A close second is a craft book on how to make pet rocks I got for Christmas in Grade 4.  I loved those pet rocks.

 

 

I finally managed to get the Christmas lights up today.  Thank goodness too!  It's now blizzarding... 

 

Wish I'd got the winter tires on the van too .

frm nw on my blog iz goin 2 b SMS frNdlE.  Im hip & hapNn.  Im getin jiggy w it.  d mo I Et @ McDonalds, d jiggier I git.

 

My parents drove down and we all went to the Museum of the Regiments on Remembrance Day.  If you are in the Calgary area it is worth seeing anytime.

 

I am very grateful that I have not had to experience war first-hand (I'm excluding the war on terrorism, which we all certainly have experienced in small degrees).  But it also concerns me that worldwide the understanding of what it really to be at war is sometimes being relearned rather than remembered. 

 

Hollywood's war movies are realistic and sometimes even factual now.  They show us the tragedy of war.  They don't sugar-coat the death and destruction.  So we all know what happens in wars.  But is watching a stranger die horribly on  a TV screen a deterrant or entertainment?

 

Take my Great-Uncle Edwin.  He was killed by a mortar in Holland near the end of WW II.  To my grandmother, she lost her little brother, and she grieved him until the day she passed away.  My mother lost an uncle and remembers the impact his death has had on her family.  I lost a distant relative I never met. 

 

Take Lori's grandfather.  He was wounded by a bomb in Europe and spent weeks close to death.  He came back wounded and alcoholic.  He later went on to become President of the Chamber of Commerce, but the drinking caught up with him and he had a stroke.  He survived only to spend the next 20 years unable to care for himself.  Lori's grandmother lost her husband to war, but is was long and drawn out.  Her mother became the child of an alcoholic.  Lori grew up in an atmosphere that was overshadowed with ripple effects of her grandfather's illnesses.  The impact on our children is minute.

 

Lori started work at the Foothills last week.  After almost 10 years of being out of the work force to raise the kids she's returned in a big way.  She worked very hard getting recertiifed and making all the arragements for child care and the like.  I'm very proud of her!

 

And I'm very tired!  Although I hope I've never taken her for granted, I've certainly grown accustom to having the home front run so well and with little inconvenience to me.  I know she's making a huge effort to work and still be the homemaker.  But now it's only fair I take on more of the domestic duties.  All the changes, my blogging, and the usual workaholicism has taken its toll this week.  Just one demanding full-time job at a time now.  Which is good, I'll probably live longer and have more fun.  As long as finishing the contracts I've committed to doesn't kill me...

 

Back to it...

 

Yes, beavers are busy.  The family tells me there is a beaver in the pond not far from the house.  Most of the nearby trees are wrapped in chicken wire so he/she doesn't mow them down.

 

What's new...

 

I took a Train the Trainer course last week.  In it I was supposed to learn how to run an adult Training class.  It was very very interesting.  I've never been fond of public speaking, and we had several sessions where we had to present and we were filmed and critiqued.  I've always known I was neurotic and had a high voice, but fortunately I haven't had to watch myself go through life.  Thank God I'm me.  I have a lot more respect for Lori and my friends now.

 

I think I'm going to take low voice lessons.  If anyone knows where you can take lessons, drop me a comment, I don't even know if there is such a thing. 

 

I've been working a lot of extra hours.  Monday is going to be busy again, but after that I'm hoping things will calm down for a while.  So if I've been ignoring you and/or your blogs, don't take it personally.

 

The frosts are getting heavy, I turned the outside water off today and drained the taps.  I also rebuilt my firewall (kept crashing with disk errors) and wired a new light fixture in the basement.  The light wasn't working so I replaced the bulb and it still didn't work, so I checked all the wiring and replaced the fixture.  Guess what?  It still didn't work.  So I did it over.  And guess what.  It still didn't work.  So I tried a new light bulb.  It worked.  The "new" bulb I tried was defective.  The filmament was whole (I was smart enough to check that), but it still didn't work.  So I went through all the trouble for nothing.  Doh!

 

 

 

Another weekend comes to a close.  They go so fast, I can't even recall what I did.

 

Oh, I got my hair cut.  Anthony came with me and the barber shaved him as well.  It was $15 a cut.  Seems like a lot, but I remember my Grandmother talking wistfully about the days when milk was a quarter.  So I'm not going to complain.  But next time I'm going to use a bowl and my razor and save $30.

 

We went swimming today.  It was a lot of fun.  I don't know how I can get water up my nose when I pinch it, but somehow every time I came off the water slide it filled my nasal cavity.  Then the next time I opened my mouth it all drained into the back of my throat and I'd start coughing.  Kind of like delayed drowning.  Perhaps it is the size and shape of my nose.

 

I watched "Shawn of the Dead" and "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" this weekend.  "Shawn of the Dead" was quite entertaining, although there were more zombies in it than I expected.  There were moments of absolute brilliance in the screenplay, especially near the beginning.  I wish there were more.  "Hitchhikers Guide" was just OK.  It's been a while since I've read the books.  I can't say it made the leap to the big screen that well.  But I can say it was infinitely better than the BBC series. 

 

 

I've just been very busy.

 

My father retired last week so we had a big party for him on the weekend.  It was nice to see all the family again.  My mother was a "domestic engineer" and never got a specific day to retire, so we tried to include her in the festivities as well. 

 

They both got golf clubs and we all got Dad an electric train.  I expect that in a few years it will travel throughout the house.

How fast can you get out?

 

 

It took me about 25 minutes.

 

 

We had a really fun weekend.  On Friday night Lori and I went to the CPO.  It's been a long time since we've been out to see the arts, something we did a lot when we were pre-kids.  Not only was it fun to get out, the show was FANTASTIC!  It was extremely entertaining and modern.  Of course some of the music wasn't "modern", but it was presented so well and the whole night was a polished show.  Theresa Sokyrka of Canadian Idol fame was headlining, which I figured would be the fun bit surrounded by a lot of highbrow classical music.  Instead I found I enjoyed the conductor and orchestra far more.  Nothing against Theresa (my God she's thin), but the other parts of the show were just so well done.  Thanks to Yogi, my Nexen manager, for bringing us!

 

I bought a D-Link Medialounge DSM-320 so we could enjoy all the content from the Windows Media Center on our living room TV.  It worked great, and was priced well (under $200), but it didn't play the DVR-MS proprietary format the Media Center PC records in and I didn't want to go through the expense and hassle of converting every file to mpg.  So I took it back and and splurged for the Linksys Media Center Extender.  Twice the price, but it is almost like sitting at the Media Center PC.  You can remote control the Media Center PC to record as well as play all the various media formats.  So it's more expensive, but it actually works.

 

The only issue I've had so far is all my music is on the shared drive of another computer.  I can play it from a mapped drive when I'm sitting on the PC, but through the extender the drive isn't mapped and the music isn't available.  I'm sure I can fix it (or if it's taking too long I'll just copy the music to the PC hard drive).  It would be a lot easier on the bandwidth if I put the music on the PC anyway.

Nothing happened to me today. 

 

That's probably a good thing...

Man, is it hard to write an honest blog.  Maybe I'm a pathological liar.  I wish MSN Spaces had a spelling checker.

 

I had something really interesting to add to my blog tonight, but I've forgotten what I was going to say.  That happens to me a lot, I think I'm going senile.  Or maybe just stupid.  I had this aluminum pot in university that I cooked all my Kraft Dinner in.  By the end of school it was pitted and grooved for some odd reason.  All that missing aluminum is probably lodged in my brain right now.  I just can't imagine how I'm going to make it to old age.  But then again, I remember being about 12 thinking there was no way I would ever live to be 24.  And despite my best efforts I've waaaay surpassed that milestone.

 

I decided to quit my job and become a cartoonist.  Just kidding.  I would except I can't draw.  I mean I really suck.  I'll post examples over the next few months.  But it is disappointing to be denied your life's dream just because you have no talent.

 

 

It was the kids first day of school today.  I dropped Sarah off to grade 1.  It's hard to believe she is in school full time.  I cried as I left.  Actually, I'm just kidding.  I didn't cry.  But I could see how you could.

 

Lori took Anthony to his first day of school.  Her experience was a little more chaotic.  Anthony took the bus for the first time, so she dropped him off and drove to meet the bus at the school.  Only they miscalculated how long the bus route was and all the bus kids were 10 minutes late for school.  I guess it can take weeks to get the bus schedule adjusted, so poor Anthony will probably be late for school each day for a while.  But he's a trooper and, except for being annoyed at how long the bus ride was (and how much it cut into his playtime), he appeared to have a good first day as well.

I was just catching up on everyone's blogs and thought I'd update my happenings, but it's so freakin' late again.  I'm just too tired...

 

But I did finish Angels & Demons tonight.  I'd read The DaVinci Code soon after it was released and quite enjoyed it.  I thought both books were fast paced and very well written.  Better than a movie anyday.

 

I bought a Windows Media Center computer a few weeks ago.  It all started with our desire to have a TIVO or something similar on our living room TV.  I've had a computer (wireless keyboard and gyroscopic mouse) in the living room before (for a MAME machine), but it really didn't work out.  The computer was too loud to leave on and it didn't get used much.  Anyway, I could buy a PVR from Shaw for something like $700, but for a mere $900 I bought a reconditioned HP Media Center - 1 Gb RAM, 250 GB HD, P4 530.  Cheaper than I could build it for, which was my original plan.  It seemed to have more features than a PVR and I figured the kids could surf on it and install a couple games.  Anyway, there was a great package deal on it for an LCD/Printer  and I succumed and bought an extended warranty (which I immediately regretted).  Now I'm sitting around $1400 after taxes.  And the more we thought about it the more we didn't want the computer causing more clutter in the living room  (we have a bit of a clutter problem).  Staples had a very nice computer desk that closes up to look like a cabinet; another $250.  But we opted to put the computer in another room and get a Media Center Extender instead.  I did some research and it appeared I could get an extender (which is a silent Windows CE appliance that basically remote desktops into a networked Media Center computer) for the same price.  I found out later I was looking at US$ prices.  Oooops. 

 

So by the time I finally get this thing working with basic TIVO functionality I'll have spent close to three times what I could have bought a PVR for.  But admittedly it is very cool, and the kids don't fight over the computer now (well, not as much anyway :).  Did I mention it was very cool?

 

I'd better get some sleep...