Survivor: A Bird in the Hand...

I don't do Survivor posts but this drives me crazy.

Seven players at Tribal Council to vote one person off. One player has the Immunity Idol so he can't be voted for. Another player, James, has two "Hidden" Immunity Idols that he can play after the secret vote but before they are counted to save himself (they are supposed to be secret but everyone left knows he has them). There are probably four more Tribal Councils.

He had a feeling things weren't right but he chose not to play one of his Hidden Idols and he got blindsided by his alliance who thought he was too likable and good at the game not to win it all if he made it to the end vote.

Dude! Come on! Use them or lose them, and he lost.

If I were in his position, I would have used them last night and hoped I won the next Immunity Challenge or two to get to the final three.

And yes, Andrew, you are dumber for reading this post.

Snow Troubles

So I'm going into surgery on Dec 13th to have my gall bladder removed. Its only minor invasiveness so I'll be in for day surgery and back home that night. I took a few days off work to recover so all is fine.

Except the nurse at the pre-op appointment told me I'm not allowed to lift more than 20lbs for two weeks after the surgery. That includes shoveling snow.

Think about that for a second. From Dec 13th to Dec 27th I can't shovel snow. Look outside. See that white stuff? Yeah, its snow. Chances are more of it is coming our way over the next month. And for two weeks I can't get it out of the driveway.

Great.

You think Kim is going to shovel it? HAH! Right now she is in no position to be out in snow and ice. Maybe it is a light centimeter on the walkway, but not a few inches of packy snow that breaks shovel handles.

I'll have to rely on the kindness of nieghbours. Fortunately Steve got a brand new electric starter snowblower with 30" maw. He boasts he can do my driveway in three passes. I guess I'll be testing that theory in a few weeks.

I Want To Go Back to College..

... if only because they now have Quidditch teams. :)

Heartbeats

Yesterday was our monthly doctor appointment and all is going well. Kim is doing great (up another 6 lbs!) and all the blood work and ultrasounds look perfect.

The doctor got out the Doppler machine and I got to hear the heartbeats which was a bigger thing for Kim than me but still really cool.

We also got our next ultrasound appointment on Dec 21st at 11:30 and, fingers crossed, we should be able to find out the genders of the babies if they cooperate.

*Flush*

After a long wait, we finally have a toilet in the basement again.

On Wednesday Kim's dad and his handy-man friend came up and finished the major work in the basement bathroom, installing the toilet and the brand new sink. Its very nice to see the work done. I'll see if I can remember to take some pictures to show you.

Next major project: painting the babies' room!

Blue Belt Test Done

Last night I went for my blue belt test and I did really well. I don't get my belt until next class which for me is next Wednesday, but I have no doubts I passed.

I actually found this test far easier than my last two. Normally there is a belt test night once a month, but due to scheduling conflicts I never made it to one and did my tests one on one with a Sensi. The difference is that when there are multiple people testing, like last night there were 6 of us, you have plenty of mini-breaks while others are doing their techniques and there is less attention on you as the instructors need to watch everyone. So I never felt overly winded and felt like I could go another hour at least.

The most worrisome part for me was the jiu-jitsu circle where you stand in the middle and people come at you one after another putting surprise holds on you and you have to remember how to deal with it. Last time I was quite winded by the end of the two parts (one with eyes open, one with blindfold on) but I've been working on my breathing and combined with the rest of the test being less strenuous I had no problems.

Which is good because I'm only just over halfway through the material for Black Belt.

TOO COOL!!!

Check out the video on this post over at Living the Scientific Life.

Hack a Playstation 3 blu-ray laser and turn the Star Trek Phaser into a Blu-Ray Laser Phaser! First time in the world this has ever been done! Less than$100

OMG! I want one!

Christmas Shopping

Some people I have no trouble buying for. In fact, I find it hard to limit myself on how much I spend for them. Other people I find it very hard to buy for. Sometimes I don't know what they are into, other times it seems they have everything they want or need. I admit I dread Christmas shopping in general. I have a great fear of giving a gift that has the recipient thinking to themselves "What am I going to need this for?"

A couple years ago I bought our digital Personal Video Recorder (PVR) for us (mostly Kim). She recorded a lot of shows on VHS tapes back then and I figured the easy to use and convenient to use PVR would be a great improvement over the crappy quality tapes and constant rewinding and forwarding to find shows.

I set it up and was showing her how to use it and Kim did what she often does when faced with the strange and unknown: she didn't like it.

"What do we need that for? This is very complicated. I think its a waste of money."

At one point I just about slammed the thing back into its box to take it back to Rogers. But I took a deep breath and said "just try it" through gritted teeth. (Being a person with Words of Affrimation as my love language I transfered her criticisms of the PVR to me)

A few days later the VCR was quickly regulated to the dustbin of history in our household as the PVR demonstrated its powers and the recording-happy wife of William was enthralled.

If only all gifts were so easy.

Ultrasound Day

Today is 14 weeks into Kim's pregnancy and we had our second ultrasound. Both babies are doing great with strong heartbeats and about 8.8 cm long. You could make out the arms and legs, the spine was particularly visible in detail, and you could see them moving about (one looking like it was doing push-ups ... obviously not MY genes at work there).

My greatest fear at this point was that one of the fetuses self-aborted weeks ago unknowingly to us (it happens) and there was only one in there. It was a huge relief to see both doing great. I've become so attached to the idea of twin children that I couldn't imagine only having one now.

Next ultrasound in about 4 weeks.

I've Been Robbed!! Of My Senses...

This morning was garbage and recycling day. I'm out in the garage getting the garbage and I go to grab the garbage tags so the men would take my bag when they came around and it was gone.

I look on the ground, nope didn't fall. Behind something? Nope. A quick scan of the garage and I can't find them. Have I been robbed?

I look around and notice my chainsaw and weed whacker aren't in the garage either. I'VE BEEN ROBBED!

Between anger and frustration there was some confusion ("How pathetic do you have to be to steal garbage tags, an old beat up weed whacker, and a small electric chainsaw?") and I decided to see if the back shed had been burgled as well. I get the flashlight, trudge out in the back yard, open the shed doors, and see my weed whacker and chain saw. I don't remember moving them out here yet there they all.

So.... someone broke into my garage and stole my garbage tags? That was beyond improbable so I went back into the garage and did a more careful sweep. And sure enough, at the back of the garage near the garbage can there was the tags, face down right where I left them last week.

Crisis averted.

Uninvited Houseguest

Lying in bed, Kim turns to me and asks, "Can you hear that?"

Yep I can. Something is rustling, scratching, and moving around in our attic. And in the dead of night it sounds big, like a 200 lb hitman. Its hard to fall asleep with that racket in the roof.

We've never had to deal with this issue before and its not something that happened a lot growing up in Greenbush. Once we had a muskrat find his way in but Terry put a stick in the hole the rodent was using and a couple traps in the basement. I'm not sure I'm looking forward to dealing with a potentially psychotic Squeakers the squirrel in the tight confines of our attic or hall cupboard.

Hey, I Can Do This

Well, I'm all set for my Blue Belt test next week, Wednesday evening. This is a big step for me.

A decade ago when I started Jiu Jitsu the first time, I achieved my green belt and had to quit as work forced me to move to Barrie. When I restarted last year in March getting back to green belt was something I knew I could do because I had done it before.

But now as I get ready for the blue belt test I'm entering uncharted territory and for the first time, getting a black belt is something I can actually picture myself doing. After all, blue belt is over half way there in terms of ranks and as the material goes by in class it because apparent that the requirements is a matter of memorization, practice, and dedication. There is nothing in brown belt material, for example, that is based on something you haven't before.

Its an exciting feeling, but first I have to get my blue belt. And then survive Kim's pregnancy. And the arrival of the twins. And raising them.

Oh boy.

"Social Darwinism"

A lot of hay has been made from the tragic school shootings in Finland this week where a deranged student went on a rampage and killed 9 people. The killer, who killed himself at the end of the shootings, called himself a "social Darwinist" who would "eliminate all who I see unfit".

I tried to read up on what a social Darwinism really is starting here at Wikipedia. Basically it is summed up as this:

Social Darwinism is the idea that Charles Darwin's theory can be extended and applied to the social realm, i.e. that just as competition between individual organisms drives biological evolutionary change (speciation) through "survival of the fittest" (not a scientific term itself), competition between individuals, groups, nations or ideas drives social evolution in human societies.

In other words, human society itself is undergoing evolution under pressure from various sources just like a population of a species would change to adapt to its environmental pressures, or ultimately die out.

Its an interesting idea, but like any idea there are people who could use it as justification for selfish actions.

The killer in Finland looked around and saw people and a society he didn't like for whatever reason. He seemed to think he could be an agent of societal change or evolution by starting some sort of pogrom revolution, killing all those he felt were unworthy.

In evolution of a species, the process works on the population and not the individuals and the same thing would apply, I would think, to social evolution if such a thing exists. But he was looking for justification for his desired actions in my opinion and logic was not an overriding factor here.

What's my point? The kid was sick and needed mental help. Its unfortunate that he didn't get that help before he lost it and killed people, but let's not blame evolution for his decisions. Its an explanation for how part of the world works, not a philosophy to guide your actions.

Interesting Video On Climate Change

Check out this video over on Bow, James Bow's website.

How lucky do you feel?

Sens Cream Leafs

Last night Kim and I went to a Sens game and watched the home team steamroller the Leafs into the ice. We had a good time although the pace of the game for most of the second half lagged a bit.

Could be our last game for a long time. Maybe we'll try and sneak one more in the winter with Andrew and Jennie if we can find a cheap night and seats.

Out! Out!

I met with the general surgeon yesterday and confirmed that yes, my gall bladder is coming out. A fairly routine surgery in which he makes four small incisions and removes the organ, then later I go home that same day. The worst problem that can typically happen is cutting the bile duct and he said he does about 128 of these operations a year and has never had that happen to him.

I'll probably be getting it done in December or January, and I'll be taking a week off of work to recover. Not looking forward to that let me tell you. I'll be laid back in pain and Kim will be huffing and puffing from carrying around the extra weight of the pregnancy. What a pair we will make that week.

Which Harry Potter Character Are You?

Witch Harry Potter character are you? created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Albus Dumbledore "it is time for me to tell you what i should have told you 5 years ago Harry. Please sit down, I am going to tell you everything." Albus Dumbledore 100% Hermione Granger 83% Molly Weasley 67% Minerva McGonagall 67% Ginny Weasley 67% Sirius Black 50% Rubeus Hagrid 50% Ron Weasley 50% Dobby 33% The Dursleys 33% Severus Snape 33% Harry Potter 33% Fred and George Weasley 33% Lord Voldemort 17% Draco Malfoy 17%

Kim's Cooking Rocks!

In our house most of the meals are pretty simple affairs of throw something in the oven or frying pan and cook it up. Sometimes however we have a decent meal cooked up (home made mac and cheese is my specialty) and this week I lucked out TWICE.

On Wednesday Kim made one of my favourites, Broccoli casserole. Rice, cream of chicken soup, steamed broccoli, shredded cheese, cooked for an hour in the oven. Delicious!

Then last night Kim made up a rare treat, meatloaf! I love, Kim hates it, but the twins demanded it. Yay for my spawn!