Next weekend Kim and I plan to take the boys on their camping trip. We are going for three nights to Charleston Lake Provincial Park where I expect we will have some fun. Either that or be cold and miserable. Time will tell.
My biggest concern is sleeping as it can get cold at night this time of year and the boys will not be used to sleeping in a tent without their cribs! I suggested to kim we bring some Striaght jackets and sleeping pills but she threatened to call social services on me again. Ah well, don't say I didn't try!
Monday, August 31, 2009
Friday, August 28, 2009
Camping
The temperature has dropped significantly over the past week to the point where both Kim and I agree that fall is in the air.
Yesterday morning when the boys got up their feet were cold to touch so Kim put socks on them for the first time in months. Both the boys were like "What the hell?" and immediately worked to remove them. Last night when we went for a walk the boys needed their zipper hoodies and we didn't put water in the water table because it was too chilly in the backyard.
Summer is gone almost as soon as it arrived it seems.
All of this leads to the camping we are going to do on Labour Day weekend. The tents have little insulation from dropping temperatures so we will have to work to keep warm at night. It will either be very fun or very miserable. Time will tell.
Yesterday morning when the boys got up their feet were cold to touch so Kim put socks on them for the first time in months. Both the boys were like "What the hell?" and immediately worked to remove them. Last night when we went for a walk the boys needed their zipper hoodies and we didn't put water in the water table because it was too chilly in the backyard.
Summer is gone almost as soon as it arrived it seems.
All of this leads to the camping we are going to do on Labour Day weekend. The tents have little insulation from dropping temperatures so we will have to work to keep warm at night. It will either be very fun or very miserable. Time will tell.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Furniture Fun
We bought our blue couch and chair when living in Barrie over 8 years ago. The chair is in great shape but the couch had seen a lot of abuse and looked old. We also have a futon downstairs in the rec room that we got second hand, but the basement is getting crowded and we need more space.
So we bought a new sectional couch for the living room and have decided to get rid of "old creaky" the futon from the basement. The old couch is gone and the old chair and sectional are moving on to a new home.
Its weird seeing the house in flux as all of this happens over the past week and coming weeks. We've been setup with the old furniture for so long its hard to imagine it any other way.
Ah well, out with the old and in with the new.
So we bought a new sectional couch for the living room and have decided to get rid of "old creaky" the futon from the basement. The old couch is gone and the old chair and sectional are moving on to a new home.
Its weird seeing the house in flux as all of this happens over the past week and coming weeks. We've been setup with the old furniture for so long its hard to imagine it any other way.
Ah well, out with the old and in with the new.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Getting Too Old
Had a gaming weekend with the buddies. Spent all day Saturday playing a massive board game. Slept like a rock that night and was still wiped most of Sunday.
Getting too old for this crap. :)
Getting too old for this crap. :)
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Dear Sun Media
Dear Sun Media,
This is what passed for a newspaper columnist? Monte Solberg 'writing' a rambling self-congratulatory screed against various 'monsters' without any facts, discussions, or opinions? Dear god I hope you didn't pay him for that piece of shit.
I know we consumers get what we pay for, but that is beyond the pale. I should charge you for the pain of having to have read that on your site.
Regards, Bill
P.S. How much do you pay? I'm sure I could churn out crap better than that at the very least.
This is what passed for a newspaper columnist? Monte Solberg 'writing' a rambling self-congratulatory screed against various 'monsters' without any facts, discussions, or opinions? Dear god I hope you didn't pay him for that piece of shit.
I know we consumers get what we pay for, but that is beyond the pale. I should charge you for the pain of having to have read that on your site.
Regards, Bill
P.S. How much do you pay? I'm sure I could churn out crap better than that at the very least.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Training
So I've have continued my Jiu Jitsu training and I'm approaching my Brown Belt test next month.
Part of the training for this test and the following period where I work on my black belt is to really get my stamina up once more. This past summer I admit I enjoyed the good life through food a bit too much and it was really starting to tell in my endurance. This didn't affect tennis as much as JJ since my reflexes have remained ok and I was alright for short bursts of running, but any long term stuff drained me quickly.
So the past weeks since the end of vacation I really put my foot down and worked on it. It seems to be working as I feel better and the jeans are not as uncomfortably tight as they were getting. Last JJ class was vigorous but I managed to stay on my feet, and last night at tennis I had a lot of problems but my body was not one of them and seemed ready to go on had I had more time.
Speaking of Tennis, my record against Andrew has not been stellar last couple of weeks. After a fairly equal June and July, my record against Andrew in August has been bad, losing 6-3, 6-4, 3-0, 6-3 before finally tying him 4-4 in the second set last night. Like I said, I don't feel slower but it seems to be a combination of Andrew really hitting the back of the court well with his strikes while I lost a bit of swing on my forehand the past month and ended up giving him a lot of bouncy crap up the middle that he just pastes. I tried working on that last night and the second set started to bear fruit before we called it due to time. The truth is I have to hit it low and hard to keep pace with him; he'll kill me if I let up to much.
Part of the training for this test and the following period where I work on my black belt is to really get my stamina up once more. This past summer I admit I enjoyed the good life through food a bit too much and it was really starting to tell in my endurance. This didn't affect tennis as much as JJ since my reflexes have remained ok and I was alright for short bursts of running, but any long term stuff drained me quickly.
So the past weeks since the end of vacation I really put my foot down and worked on it. It seems to be working as I feel better and the jeans are not as uncomfortably tight as they were getting. Last JJ class was vigorous but I managed to stay on my feet, and last night at tennis I had a lot of problems but my body was not one of them and seemed ready to go on had I had more time.
Speaking of Tennis, my record against Andrew has not been stellar last couple of weeks. After a fairly equal June and July, my record against Andrew in August has been bad, losing 6-3, 6-4, 3-0, 6-3 before finally tying him 4-4 in the second set last night. Like I said, I don't feel slower but it seems to be a combination of Andrew really hitting the back of the court well with his strikes while I lost a bit of swing on my forehand the past month and ended up giving him a lot of bouncy crap up the middle that he just pastes. I tried working on that last night and the second set started to bear fruit before we called it due to time. The truth is I have to hit it low and hard to keep pace with him; he'll kill me if I let up to much.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Harry Potter and the half Blood Prince
Kim and I got to the movies on Saturday and saw Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. It was good but as Kim said, it seemed not as satisfying as the previous five movies. I explained to Kim why I think that is and I'm going to repeat it here.
*SPOILERS*
Harry Potter is a seven book series and at the start each book is a standalone adventure in an overall story arc.
Book 1 introduces the characters and concepts of the world of magic.
Book 2 lays more groundwork in the mythos and ramps up the danger a bit.
Book 3 marks the triumph of good over evil as Harry is reunited with his godfather, learns of the betrayal of his parents by Wormtail, and grows closer to the memories of his parents through others.
The first three books create a first part to the whole series.
Book 4 is where things really get to take off. The world is expanded even more with World Cup Quidditch and the other schools of magic, the cast of characters on both sides of the divide expands, and we see in the end that good is soundly trounced with Harry escaping by the skin of his teeth and Voldemort resurgent.
Book 5 represents the opening salvos in the war between the good and evil sides as we see more of the inner workings of the Order of the Phoenix and the government in the form of the Ministry of Magic. It also continues the ascendancy of evil with a victory in the form of the death of Sirius, giving more angst to young Harry Potter. It also represents the public opening of the war.
Which brings us to book 6. Its become obvious that evil has more assets to command than good at this point, and has the initiative. Plus they are contrained by a moral compass that evil can disregard. In order to defeat the Deatheaters, its apparent that Voldemort must be defeated and destroyed as they fall apart without him to keep them in line.
However we have a literary conumdrum. Dumbledore is obviously more powerful than old moldy Voldy, but having him show up to save the day in Book 5 is not going to work in the end of the series. Too Deus Ex Machina. Plus this prophecy that was the object of Book 5 states that only Harry can defeat Voldemort, but Harry is at best a decent student wizard, not a match for the Dark Lord. J K Rowling can't have Harry simply overpower or outsmart his foe, she has to lay a complex quest to be the downfall of the antagonist.
This is where book 6 comes in. It sets up the events of the pinnacle of the series in book 7 by laying the groundwork of the origins of Voldemort and his dividing of his soul into the horcruxes. It gives a suggestion of the method to defeat him, and combined with the Deathly Hallows artifacts revealed in book 7 it gives the means.
So one can think of Book 6 and Book 7 as a combined work of art, a trilogy in of itself. Its worth noting that Book 7 reads like a two part novel and that it will be divided into two movies just to properly tell the story.
So yes Book 6 as a novel and movie feels a little slow and ends a little anticlimatic. That's because its not a climax, merely a (large) chapter on the way to the end of the story.
*SPOILERS*
Harry Potter is a seven book series and at the start each book is a standalone adventure in an overall story arc.
Book 1 introduces the characters and concepts of the world of magic.
Book 2 lays more groundwork in the mythos and ramps up the danger a bit.
Book 3 marks the triumph of good over evil as Harry is reunited with his godfather, learns of the betrayal of his parents by Wormtail, and grows closer to the memories of his parents through others.
The first three books create a first part to the whole series.
Book 4 is where things really get to take off. The world is expanded even more with World Cup Quidditch and the other schools of magic, the cast of characters on both sides of the divide expands, and we see in the end that good is soundly trounced with Harry escaping by the skin of his teeth and Voldemort resurgent.
Book 5 represents the opening salvos in the war between the good and evil sides as we see more of the inner workings of the Order of the Phoenix and the government in the form of the Ministry of Magic. It also continues the ascendancy of evil with a victory in the form of the death of Sirius, giving more angst to young Harry Potter. It also represents the public opening of the war.
Which brings us to book 6. Its become obvious that evil has more assets to command than good at this point, and has the initiative. Plus they are contrained by a moral compass that evil can disregard. In order to defeat the Deatheaters, its apparent that Voldemort must be defeated and destroyed as they fall apart without him to keep them in line.
However we have a literary conumdrum. Dumbledore is obviously more powerful than old moldy Voldy, but having him show up to save the day in Book 5 is not going to work in the end of the series. Too Deus Ex Machina. Plus this prophecy that was the object of Book 5 states that only Harry can defeat Voldemort, but Harry is at best a decent student wizard, not a match for the Dark Lord. J K Rowling can't have Harry simply overpower or outsmart his foe, she has to lay a complex quest to be the downfall of the antagonist.
This is where book 6 comes in. It sets up the events of the pinnacle of the series in book 7 by laying the groundwork of the origins of Voldemort and his dividing of his soul into the horcruxes. It gives a suggestion of the method to defeat him, and combined with the Deathly Hallows artifacts revealed in book 7 it gives the means.
So one can think of Book 6 and Book 7 as a combined work of art, a trilogy in of itself. Its worth noting that Book 7 reads like a two part novel and that it will be divided into two movies just to properly tell the story.
So yes Book 6 as a novel and movie feels a little slow and ends a little anticlimatic. That's because its not a climax, merely a (large) chapter on the way to the end of the story.
Friday, August 14, 2009
Fighting Poverty
From the bottom up. Read this longish article in Der Spiegel newspaper on how giving a basic income to everyone helped a destitute village in Africa find hope.
A New Approach To Aid
A New Approach To Aid
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