Obsidian Tempest

Previously on Obsidian Tempest!

2011-10-06T12:44:00.000-04:00

When I stopped posting in the end of November 2009, Kim and I had one and a half year old twins named Sean and Lukas and she was pregnant with another boy due in March.

Fast forward almost two years.

We have crazy three and a half old twins named Sean "The Defiant" and "Motormouth" Lukas, as well as their "little" brother Kaelan who is one and a half and seems like a personality cross between his old brothers so far.

In the process of going from point A to point B, we have gone from:
- wondering when the twins were going to talk more to wondering when Lukas would ever stop talking

- worrying about Lukas being too rough to worrying about Sean being too mean

- playing with fisher price pianos and plush toys to building space ships and bases with Lego

- going through hell with Kaelan's open brain surgery to going through hell with Kaelan's egg allergy (hint: EGG IS IN EVERYTHING)

- dealing with an endless stream of diapers to dealing with an endless stream of trips to the bathroom and pee aiming issues

- wondering how we were going to survive with three kids under three to wondering how we are going to survive three kids going to school / activities / parties / etc.

Don't get me wrong, it has not been a rough ride for the most part. In fact we've often had a lot of fun and we have a good handle on home life thanks to help from family and each other.

Testing Testing, 1,2,3...

2011-10-03T15:11:00.002-04:00

Thinking about blogging here again. Its been almost two years since it went dark but I've been inspired by blogs of other parents of twins to record how life has been with the boys.

So, keep your eyes open!

New Posts Coming Soon!

Dear God, Its Full Of Work

2009-11-27T16:06:00.000-05:00

I started a new job.

No, I didn't quit my old one or get hired at a new company. My new job sort of just happened.

It went like this: my old manager got sick and tired of being abused by both levels above and below him and retired to teach hockey to students. So last summer I got a new manager.

As far as I know, my new manager likes to do software development using "Agile" methodology which means that teams are organized as multi-functional developers able to work on a large swath of the project instead of being organized into silos of specific domain knowledge. The result is that I got put on a new team.

Finally, this new team is working on new products and the amount of database work is not significant to keep a database developer busy for a lot of time, so I'm encouraged to dive in and learn new programming languages and development environments to get up to speed in the work that is available.

To summarize, I have a new boss, I'm working with new people, and I'm working in new technology to help build new software. Except for my desk, everything has changed.

The upshot of this is that all the "cool points" I accumulated for the past seven years of good work is effectively null and void. So I'm working doubly hard to not only do good work but to impress the new bosses and teammates. I don't mind because it is interesting work and there is lots of it to do, but it is a little nerve wracking.

Heave Ho

2009-11-10T13:41:00.000-05:00

On Sunday my father and I tried to move the wood stove out of the basement.

You see, with the boys we haven't been running any fires due to burning danger and Lukas' asthma. With Peanut on the way we are running out of room and need the space for other things. Which resulted in a point on Sunday where I thought "if I slip my father is a dead man."

I rented an appliance dolly from Home Depot and we had the stove strapped to it. We got it to the bottom of the steps and then began, one step at a time, to heave it up the stairs. This thing must have weighed about 300 pounds.

The last step was the worst as I could not get enough leverage to lift it up and he was stretched out pushing up from the bottom. That was when I had my fear of it slipping and dropping down the steps like a 300 pound anvil. There would not be time nor room to jump out of the way... anyone underneath would end up underneath (emphasis on the "end").

Fortunately, after one failed attempt to lift it up we got the idea to lay the dolly down and slide it over the last lip of the last step. From there on out it was easy... well ok, not easy but at least not life threatening.

Trick Or Treat!

2009-11-02T11:14:00.000-05:00

We took the boys to the 'Bush on Saturday and the rain finally petered out to allow us to go trick or treating around the village, albeit with toques and gloves for the boys.

The boys were not sure what to think of the whole exercise, seeing strange people at their houses and taking their candy, but about half way through they seemed to enjoy the exploring and visiting a bit. No tears anyways.

At least not until the middle of the night when Lukas woke up from a bad dream and got everyone up with his crying. Let's just say there was a lot of tired eyes the next day.

Just Eat It!

2009-10-21T13:58:00.000-04:00

Lukas is a bit of a pain when it comes to eating.

Not only is he a lot pickier on what he eats compared to Sean, he has this tendency to change his mind about what he will eat on a daily basis.

For example, one of our staples has been spaghetti, Kim and I eating regular spaghetti noodles and the boys getting alphabet noodles. For many times they both love the meal and it was one of our "sure things" to make sure they eat a good amount.

The other night Lukas took one look at his bowl and shook his head.

"Uh oh," I thought. "This is not a good sign." Despite gentle cajoling and reasoned arguments, he was not to be convinced. It was not appetizing.

So I ate my spaghetti in the hopes he would come around himself like he sometimes does. But I noticed him staring intently at my plate and my fork as it lifted noodles to my mouth. I took one and offered it to him. He smiled and tried to grab it, fumbling to get the slimy noodle in his hand and then to get it to his mouth.

"Mo, mo, mo," came the request.

Kim prepared a small bowl of spaghetti and damn if the boy did not eat it all up regardless how hard it was for him to manage.

"Its the same thing!" I uttered in disbelief but my protest fell on deaf ears.

Nap Time!

2009-10-08T09:07:00.000-04:00

The boys are in the process of transistioning from two naps (one in morning, one in late afternoon) to a single nap (one right after lunch) and its the biggest milestone since they started walking.

We weren't sure if they could handle it as they sleep really well in the morning nap prior to the change over, but the afternoon nap was getting precarious with some of them ending up with the boys playing in their cribs for an hour and getting very little (if any) sleep, making the evenings a little rough.

But they seemed to handle the lack of the morning nap ok after a couple days and the afternoon nap has resumed its two or more hour peacefulness. Since Kim started last week only once have the boys been too tired to skip the morning nap.

The advantage of the one-nap-per-day is that we have a larger block of time in the mornings to do things with the boys, and they seem to sleep better in the afternoon nap.

Curses, Foiled Again

2009-09-29T13:45:00.000-04:00

I did my brown belt test on Friday night and it went well, if not as I expected. There was only me and two others testing and the other two were going for yellow and orange belts. So in essence I did the majority of my test alone.

I was expecting a 2 hour marathon and instead got a 1 hour sprint. It was a lot of material to cover and I had to do it bang-bang-bang without much pause. I managed the hold escapes very well, and the come-alongs and takedowns with relative ease, but sort of whiffed on the ground defense as I forgot half of them (4/8) on the first try.

I was supposed to get get my brown belt yesterday at class but I had to no go as work got very busy. There was some team shuffles and I had meetings in the afternoon that forced me to stay and get ready for. Curses, foiled again. I should have no problem going to class tomorrow though.

Dear Canoe.ca

2009-09-24T10:17:00.000-04:00

Dear Canoe.ca,

I checked out one of your little photo features titled "Famous Buildings Never Completed" and was shocked to see this:

That photo does not depict Boldt Castle, you colossal losers. That's the power generator outbuilding on the end of the island.

THIS is Boldt Castle:

As a side note, an AWESOME place to visit.

Construction

2009-09-21T08:58:00.000-04:00

This weekend we shipped the boys out to Grandma's place as we needed to start getting the office ready to be turned into a Nursery. Kim's pregnant again, did I mention that? Well, yeah, its true.

The problem is our house was starting to feel a little cramped with us and the boys, the addition of another family member has us in an absolute tizzy. The office was where all our computer and scrapbooking stuff went, as well as misc storage. Where would it all go now?

Well, we bought some cheap shelving units from Ikea on Saturday and started working on purging the office of stuff that has degraded to crap and in the basement replacing the small TV entertainment centre with a wall unit capable of storing lots of stuff. The idea is that the computer and scrapbook desk will be moving downstairs as the office is converted.

Tight is not the right word. Cramped is more like it. But we'll survive.

Tennis Report

2009-09-16T10:34:00.000-04:00

Ah, the Tennis season is soon coming to a close. Perhaps one or two more weeks left depending on weather.

This year has been better than last year for me:

- Last year I won 3 full sets and 2 mini-sets out of 28 (20 full, 8 mini) and in total games Andrew won 136 to my 90, meaning he won 1.51 games for every 1 that I did.

- This year I only won 3 full sets (out of 19) again and only 3 mini-sets (out of 9) but the difference has been in how close those sets have been. I total games Andrew stands at 133 to my 99, a ratio improvement to 1.34 games for every 1 that I win.

- In 2008 we had 3 sets go to seven games to win, in 2009 we had 6.

- In 2008 the running ratio low point was 1.38 in mid July, in 2009 it got down to 1.25 my late July.

August was not kind to me this year and was responsible for the rise in my game ratio. It seems my two week vacation really took my stride off and I failed to really get it back until recently.

Hopefully next year I can improve some more and get closer to parity with Andrew.

Camping Is Not For The Weak

2009-09-09T14:53:00.000-04:00

Our first ever camping trip with the boys completed on the weekend and I can truthfully say it was the most horrible and awesome time ever in the woods.

Horrible:
- Setting up and tearing down alone, loading and unloading the van alone.. we need lighter stuff. (Not anyone's fault, the others were busy with the boys.)

- The cold wet Saturday morning where everyone was tired and grumpy.

- The bees were insanely nasty. I've never seen so many come out during the day to bother us while eating before.

- The tent was cramped with the two playpens in there.

- Trying to be quiet in the night while going in and out was hard.

- The boys WAILED every time going into the tent... or coming out if they decided they were having fun.

- Boys waking up at 6 am.

- Being cold but too afraid of making too much noise to get up and get warmer clothes at night.

- All the dishes that had to be cleaned!

Awesome:
- The boys loved being outside and exploring.

- Lukas especially liked the dogs being walked by and going to say hi to them.

- The fresh air.

- The time at the beach and Lukas jumping in the water while Sean discovered burying his toes.

- Running down the road to catch one boy while the other went the opposite direction.

- Reading during naptimes.

- Watching the boys play with the hung to dry towels.

- The army of Raccoons that infiltrated our campsite and that I had to scare off with a flashlight and a stick. I swear the biggest one was about 45 pounds and thought about taking me down.

- Fire roasted hot dogs.

Overall it was a good start to a great family tradition.

Brain Freeze

2009-09-02T09:22:00.000-04:00

There are a lot of techniques you have to remember in Jiu Jitsu. Usually its stuff from last belt you have the hardest time remembering but sometimes its stuff you didn't expect that you've been doing for years that trips you up.

Last night I was in a review session for my belt test later this month when I was asked to do an inside bent wrist comealong. This is a technique from white or yellow belt and one I've worked on over the years a lot. However, I haven't looked at it or thought about it in 6 months since it has not come up in classes.

I screwed it up. Then I got confused with the Outside bent wrist comealong which is taught at the same time in the cirriculum and totally brain froze. Just blank.

After a quick reminder demonstration from the instructor it started to come back to me but it was so embarrasing. Fortunately I had little trouble with the rest of the comealongs (except as usual, completely forgetting what technique the reverse wrist long comealong is... I can do it, just never associate name with technique).

This is why we do review: to find out what we've forgotten and to fine tune everything. Belt test is on the 24th.

A-Camping We Will GO!

2009-08-31T11:57:00.000-04:00

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!

Camping

2009-08-28T13:45:00.003-04:00

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.

Furniture Fun

2009-08-27T11:19:00.002-04:00

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.

Getting Too Old

2009-08-24T16:20:00.001-04:00

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. :)

Dear Sun Media

2009-08-20T10:23:00.003-04:00

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.

Training

2009-08-19T09:35:00.003-04:00

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.

Harry Potter and the half Blood Prince

2009-08-17T09:55:00.003-04:00

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.

Fighting Poverty

2009-08-14T15:06:00.003-04:00

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

I Missed You Too

2009-07-14T09:48:00.003-04:00

Gah, my last promise to keep updating this thing fell by the wayside quick, eh?

Well, here's one last try.

The boys are almost 15 months old and finally giving walking a try. Sean is steadier but more cautious, Lukas more willing to take risks and move faster. Judging by this past weekend I expect both of them to be fully ambulatory by the end of the month. If not, Kim's paycheque will be docked.

Next week I'm on vacation for two weeks and we are going to the Toronto Metro Zoo for two days at the beginning, and just hanging out for the rest of the time. Might have Erin's kids up for a few days.

Work is going well as can be expected. Jiu Jitsu progressing well and I should be getting my third stripe after my vacation. In tennis, things are much better this year with me able to mostly keep up with Andrew by being far more aggressive on my swings so he has fewer chances to smash the ball like he is capable of.

Ok, back to your regularly scheduled blogging.

Busy Weekend

2009-06-15T10:51:00.002-04:00

Kim and I have wanted a gazebo in the back yard for a while. You know, one of those metal ones with the canvas roof. But they are expensive and we seemed to be always spending our money on something else.

Well, the inlaws didn't need theirs anymore so on Saturday I spent a couple hours and with some assistance from Kim and neighbour Steve I put it up for some seriously bitching shade in the backyard. It has mosquito nets too for evening cavorting.

I also fixed the toilet which is far less exciting to talk about and which no one should notice since it now works properly. That's why I led with the gazebo.

Gah, Where Does the Time GO?!

2009-06-05T15:10:00.004-04:00

Its already well into June and I've not posted since the 25th. Sad. I always have lots of ideas for posting but seem to forget about them when I'm in front of a computer.

The boys are the best source of ideas as they are constantly changing, getting more independent and capable every day. Seems like Sean is trying a new word every day and walking a bit more while Lukas is exploring his voice and experiencing control over us as he cries when he is not near mommy. Phases, some good some bad.

Of course Lukas has popped to more teeth recently so that could contribute to his moods lately. I'm pretty sure he now has more teeth already through than teeth waiting to get through.

I'm looking forward to a relaxing weekend with some friends visiting and maybe a trip to Valleyview farms.

Review: Star Trek, Heros, Lost,

2009-05-25T13:09:00.004-04:00

This is a rambling post that has been brewing for a while. But first the most recent.

Review of Star Trek movie: I loved it. Although there was some simple science things they got horribly wrong I was able to overlook them as not too detrimental to the whole story. The acting was better than I expected with the actor playing Kirk being the least believable and Karl Urban as Dr McCoy being spot on perfect.

I loved almost everything about the new Enterprise (only the nacelles looked a little too funky for my tastes) and the interiors had a sense of realism totally lacking in previous incarnations.

But...

But I do have one complaint. There was one big battle where 7 Federation ships go into a trap and get totally smoked. We as the viewers however completely miss that scene because we focus on the Enterprise which arrives later. I really looked forward to the fleet combat and am disappointed that it happened off screen as the rest of the movie lacked a lot of ship to ship combat which is what really gets me going.

At least the person to person combat was shown in its glory unlike the TV show Heros which has lately completely forskaen action for more boring plot dialogue and byzantine twists. In the season finale they had a chance to (finally!) show a big fight between Sylar and the Petrelli boys. Instead we are shown the hallway while the battle rages and come in after the fight is done. WHAT A RIP OFF!

For a show that started with such promise, it has increasingly gone down the "I don't know what we're doing" path and it feels like the writers have not a clue where they want to go. Its quickly fallen from my must-see of a couple years ago to should-I-bother for next year.

However, they have a chance to bring it back on track. A show that did that for me was Lost. Two years ago the show was going along, following the survivors and curious to see if they would get off the island safely. Then things started to get wierd with some new characters, bizarre fallbacks (actually forwards), time travel, and angst, plenty of angst.

I lost interest a lot. It really felt like the writers were going down the garden path and the story was collapsing in on itself and had become unable to move forward. I was almost ready to pull the plug. Fortunately, this season has turned it around, brought the focus back to the island, brought the people back together, and pushed the story into interesting paths again. With the confusing arc hopefully finished we can go into next season with the eye on the ball and a final resolution to the overall arc.

Let's hope Heros can pull out of the nosedive as well.

Sleep Is A Wonderful Thing

2009-05-21T09:44:00.004-04:00

The boys have officially been declared "sleep trained". The last two nights when we put them down for bed at around 8 pm Lukas didn't even cry. He stood up to watch us leave the room but was silent and, we assume, soon snoozing peacefully.

The upshot of this new bedtime routine is that mommy and daddy are no longer part of the falling asleep routine, i.e. they don't need our warm body presence to slip into slumber. They now have a new routine which involves merely their crib and a blanket in Lukas' case and stuffed animal Blue in Sean's case. That means when they wake up in the middle of the night, they know how to fall back asleep without us. Unbroken nights of sleep are so underrated in society at large let me tell you.

There are also other advantages to this new routine. Naptime is a lot easier for Kim as she can put the boys down and they stay asleep for an hour or more usually and she is not tied to a chair rocking a baby. She can move around, check email, do housework, or simply slack off. Everyone needs a break.

The only downside is that there is not as much cuddling time with the boys anymore. When they are awake they want to be moving and exploring, not snuggling to us. Sometimes in the morning you might get a chance to cuddle with a just-awake baby but its not long before they are ready to rock and roll and pull all the books off the shelf again. They are getting more independent; they're growing up.

Next step, teaching them how to mow the lawn.

Happy (Belated) Mother's Day

2009-05-11T08:23:00.003-04:00

With Kim on the mend from her "pinched nerves" that was causing her extreme lower back pain last week, the weekend was spent with me doing most of the hefting of the Boys on Friday and on Saturday night. On Sunday Kim started to lift again as she is alone Monday and wanted to make sure she could handle it, and on Saturday day we visited the family in Seely's Bay.

The boys continue to express no interest in learning to walk. For Lukas it seems to be an attention span thing; he can try and stand up but he becomes too excited when we encourage him to walk over to us and goes down to a crawl to get us faster. For Sean it seems more like an apprehension of falling. Regardless, they are getting more steady on their feet all the time and I'm sure it will be a sudden event one day soon.

We started sleep training the boys this weekend. We decided that they were old enough to learn to comfort themselves to sleep as it was really starting to eat up a lot of time in the evenings getting them to bed, but more distressingly they were getting more agitated when waking up in their cribs and finding us not there.

The first night was with Lukas, putting him in his crib while still awake. I was ready for an hour or more of wailing but after 20 minutes silence. We did the same with Sean in the playpen in our room and he had 5 minutes or so of crying before settling down.

The next night we put them both down, together in their own cribs in the same room, while awake. Surprisingly the crying stopped after only ten minutes. On Sunday we did it for the morning and afternoon naps as well as bed time and found that the crying from Lukas ended very quickly all three times, and Sean was a little more upset for a couple minutes. To be fair, at one naptime they stopped crying fast but played in their cribs for about 5 minutes, chattering to themselves.

We are both surprised how well Lukas is taking to this project so far. Our working theory is that the presence of his brother has a comforting affect on him when getting ready to go to sleep; he knows he is not alone thus feels safer and not abandoned. We'll see if the trend continues but after three nights I think we are in a good position.

Long Time, No Post

2009-05-04T14:07:00.003-04:00

I've neglected this blog mainly because it seemed it was becoming a blog all about the Boys and I'm wasn't sure I was happy with that.

After a few weeks of considering I've decided to carry on with my one or two posts a week, usually detailing the trials and tribulations of raising the twins.

So, where were we? Last post was just after Easter, eh? Well, since then the boys had their first birthday including party and cake, they are progressing well in standing and crawling and are inching closer to toddling, and then last week came down with a new head cold that wasn't quite as severe as the one at the end of April but was still the cause of a couple restless nights.

Then, just as the weekend was arriving and the colds seemed to have run their course, Kim's lower back went wonky and she is in pain and has trouble lifting the boys. She is seeing the chiropractor today and my mom is up to help out with the twins, and Kim's mom will be up tomorrow if Kim does not stage a massive recovery. Since she was out of commission on the weekend, we never made that trip to town to get new shoes that we wanted to. I desperately need new shoes.

In other news, I got my second stripe for the purple belt so only 18 more classes until I get my third, then review all the material from white to purple for my brown belt test. I figure sometime in the fall that should happen. Then, a year of training for my Black Belt. Woot.

Suriviving

2009-04-13T09:30:00.002-04:00

Last week I got hit with a nasty cold that is running its course, probably the same cold that knocked the boys out for a week and then hit Kim the week after. I made the mistake of stealing a sip from Kim's Coke on the tail end of her illness and I paid the price. It started with a tickle in the throat, bloomed into full blown fever and achy throat on Wednesday, mild exhaustion on the weekend, and yesterday and today we're out of the woods except for a hoarse throat.

The boys have been doing really well and celebrated their first birthday early with my extended family at Easter dinner on Saturday. Their real birthday is still a couple weeks away. They were quite take aback by all the people for the afternoon but warmed up after dinner and were a couple laughing playing hams by the end of the evening.

They are both crawling on hands and knees now and get all over the place, and even play together in a sort of manner. I can see that mom-mom and da-dad are going to be less needed as they get the hang of not hurting each other ("Lukas, stop pulling your brother's hair, that hurts!").

Builds Character, Rub Some Dirt On It, You'll Live

2009-03-31T09:35:00.004-04:00

Last night we were in the kitchen giving Lukas some anti-biotics for his ear infection. When we were all done I was carrying him around the counter to head back to the living room when I bumped into Sean who had snuck into the room and was standing by the counter, checking out somethings he could reach.

When I say bump, I mean drove my knee into his face as I was walking, rolling him around 90 degrees before he plumped on his bum and flew backwards to smack his head on the floor. One fat lip and sore noggin later, I was still apologizing.

Poor kid.

Rough Week

2009-03-24T14:14:00.003-04:00

Late last week Sean started to come down with a chest cold. Where he got it from is unknown; maybe a virus brought home by me that my stronger and more practised immune system could handle. Regardless, starting Thursday night onwards he was the picture of mildly miserable, especially at night.

With the exception of Friday night, he has been up in the middle of the night and in the process depriving both Kim and I of valuable sleep. One night wasn't so bad; two nights was getting rough; three nights and Kim looked dead and I was fried. Can't get sleep in the middle of the day, the boys just don't nap long enough.

Meanwhile, Lukas has been sleeping like a baby (with the exception of Friday night and even then it was a minor wake up) and he's been looking at us waking zombies and wondering what's going on.

Yesterday Kim was reaching the meltdown point so I offered to stay up with Sean and let her get as much solid sleep as possible. Last night around midnight poor clogged up Seany-boy woke up with his miserable "why is this happening to me?!?!" wail and I went and got him. We headed down to the couch and slept four hours down there. I was getting a stiff back and shoulders at that point so I decided to appeal to Kim's generousity and gave her a sleeping baby while I went back downstairs to sleep on the non-stiff side.

Of course Sean woke up after about 10 minutes or so. I felt bad, after all I promised Kim a restful night, so I went back up and retrieved my charge, back down to the couch where we cuddled again. Then at 5:30 I took him back up as I needed to get up for work soon and I wanted to see if I could catch an hour of peaceful shut eye.

Sigh, of course Lukas woke up at 6:00. Figuring that was the end of the night for me, I went and got him, changed him and took him into Kim. She took Sean over the crib to see if he would rest in there for a while, and I left to the shower with the latest round of baby musical beds almost over for the evening.

And that was a slow night!

Gnawing

2009-03-17T13:38:00.003-04:00

I stayed home from work yesterday as Kim had a dentist appointment in the middle of the day and we didn't want to saddle my mother with a 3-4 babysitting job. I had some sick time to burn so it wasn't a big deal.

Lukas has been really teething lately, molars it looks like, and it has made him grumpy and clingy. "WHY DOES MY MOUTH HURT?" he seems to be screaming. Poor kid. Fortunately the Tylenol seems to take the edge off.

Part of this new phase means he likes to chew on stuff, including me and Kim. He gave me a couple inadvertent nips yesterday which caught me by surprise.

I'll be glad when this is over. Of course, as soon as Lukas is done, Sean's gums will be next. Sigh.

Book Review: World War Z

2009-03-10T10:50:00.002-04:00

I asked for the book World War Z for my birthday and my wonderful wife got it for me. I started reading it and had trouble putting it down, it was that good.

Written in the style of a written documentary composed by the author visiting and interviewing survivors of the zombie near-apocalypse a decade or two after the events, it is engrossing in its authentic feel and vivid stories. I was sad when it ended; I wanted more from this fictional world where everything has changed.

Overall, I give it a rare 5 out of 5 stars.

Found One!

2009-03-06T08:59:00.001-05:00

Thanks to a tip from a co-worker, I went to the Real Canadian Superstore this morning for 7am when they open and there was about 8 people there and an employee handing out tickets for the Wii Fit. I got one and ten minutes later I was the proud owner of one.

Damn You Nintendo!

2009-03-05T13:29:00.002-05:00

Last January I talked about how I was frustrated trying to find a Nintendo Wii for my wife and I. Well, this week I am looking for an accessory for the Wii called a Wii Fit which is basically a standing pad for balance games and such. Kim really wants one and I've been to several stores looking for one.

It basically my original Wii search all over again. Not Best Buy, not Future Shop, not Walmart... Its driving me crazy!

Curse you Nintendo, curse you!

Mobility Increases

2009-02-24T08:56:00.002-05:00

Damn, last posted on Feb 12th? Where did the time go!?

Well, two weekends ago we had Kim's sister, mother, and sister's roommate up for a visit and we played some Wii Mariokart and visited. Kim and I got out to a movie for my birthday as her mom watched the boys and we saw Push (mini review: 3/5 stars, felt like the second movie of a trilogy, or at least like there is a lot more to the story we don't know. Still, decent action and story).

Last week was a short week with lots of meetings and appointments, hence no blogging.

And last weekend Kim and I stayed close to home, having friends Andrew and Jennie out for a visit to see the boys and play some Wii as well, including a rousing game of Mario Party 8 in which everyone ganged up on me to prevent my domination from continuing. Curses!

As for the blog title, the past two weeks have seen a large increase in the capabilities of the boys in terms of getting around. Lukas has become an excellent army crawler getting around the whole main floor with speed and accuracy prompting this past Sunday to become gate-putting-up-day, while Sean is still not going forward but has improved his stability on two legs and has started pulling himself up on furniture. And then yesterday Lukas started the same thing.

So we figure the boys will definitely be walking by their birthday in April. In fact, exactly two months away today. Wow, time flies.

Happy Birthday To Me

2009-02-12T09:32:00.003-05:00

Yesterday was my birthday and my parents and sister and aunt came for dinner... but really they were interested in the boys. ;)

"Yeah yeah, here's a card Bill.... OH HI Sean and Lukas! Kisses, hugs!"

Oh well, at least Kim still appreciates me. :)

We ordered from The Eating Place, had cake that Kim made for me, and visited until the boys bedtime.

Kim got me a guitar for Guitar Hero on the Wii, Iron Man Blu-Ray DVD, and two books: World War Z and Death From the Skies.

All in all a good day.

Colds and Gears

2009-02-06T09:10:00.002-05:00

Colds:
On Tuesday Lukas and Sean had come down with a head cold and Lukas spent Tuesday night and Wednesday early morning complaining vigorously about not being able to breathe through his nose. Neither Kim nor I got more than an hour of steady shuteye so we were quite exhausted Wednesday.

Fortunately, we were prepared with pillows under mattresses and vapourizer running to help the last two nights were we got full night's sleeps. The boys seem to be recovering alright and we look forward to a fun filled weekend.

Gears:
Lukas found first gear last night.

I was downstairs in the rec room with the boys on the floor and Lukas was playing with the monkey ball that rolls and makes noises on his stomach while Sean and I rolled balls back and forth (kind of).

Suddenly I realized that Lukas had started inching forward to reach the monkey ball when it rolled away fro him. Kim and I spent the next little while watching while he masters the hand-elbow pull and move himself ever so slowly in a forward direction consistently for the first time.

We were very excited. And nervous. Now, no where is safe! :)

Febuary Already?

2009-02-02T16:27:00.003-05:00

I know last Monday I said posting would resume regular schedule and then completely went dark for the rest of the week. Well, work was busy once again so here is a wrap up of the highlights.

1) I got my first stripe for purple belt in Jiu Jitsu, one third of the way to going for my Brown belt.

2) Lukas had another appointment at CHEO with the Asthma specialist. Everything seems to be progressing well and our next appointment is in late July.

3) When we went to go to the appointment the van would not start, the battery was dead. We boosted it later on with Frankensugar the repaired Corolla but the battery could no longer hold a charge for very long. I got a brand new battery on the weekend and installed it. Now starting the van is like a jet taking off!

4) Only 9 days until my 35th birthday. You know you are getting old when you have to subtract your birth year from the current year to see if you're turning 35 or 36.

5) There is no number 5.

6) I sent this link to my mom and Kim today where a gamer talks about playing W0W with his 6 year old daughter and his mother. I can imagine me playing on the computers with the boys in 5 years in a similar fashion and I wonder if other family members will join in the fun.

Apologies

2009-01-26T09:02:00.001-05:00

Sorry for no posts last week. It was a busy time and forgot until this weekend that I was going to post something. Back to normal this week.

There's Cold....

2009-01-14T10:26:00.004-05:00

And then there is Canadian Cold. Like today.

I stopped to get gas this morning and the thermometer across the street on a billboard said -25.

It was so cold my seat in the van was hard. And cold. My butt is still recovering.

Its so cold I saw a polar bear look outside of his cave and say "f*** this!" before retiring back inside.

Yeah, its cold.

Under The Weather

2009-01-12T15:45:00.003-05:00

I wasn't feeling 100% this past weekend. Tired and bloated, I was worried I was coming down with something like a virus. It didn't help I stayed up to 11:30 playing Guitar Hero Friday night, nor that the boys were both up early Saturday morning to make us pay for our freewheeling ways.

Saturday I felt well enough to go to Greenbush and visit with the folks, view the progress on broken-nosed Sugar, and eat some good food. Sunday we stayed at home as Kim's mom and grandparents dropped in for a visit. Despite going to bed early Saturday night I still felt tired and cranky on Sunday, and we hit the sack around 9:30.

Today I felt much better. Rested, I got some serious exercise at Jiu Jitsu class and feel back to my old self for the most part. Good start to the week.

Guitar Hero Surprisingly Fun

2009-01-08T10:46:00.003-05:00

For Christmas I got Kim Guitar Hero III for the Wii.

I admit when the whole Guitar Hero / Rock Band thing was taking off a while back I was skeptical of its enjoyment level. I mean, you're not really playing a guitar, you're not making the music. How can that be fun?

But it turns out it is fun, its a lot of fun. Once you get the hang of the finger movements and the beat, it actually feels like you are playing the song on an instrument. The classic rock songs we all know and love help get you into the space as well.

Right now Kim is better than I am, but with practice I think I can catch up.

Golden Boys

2009-01-06T10:05:00.003-05:00

Congrats to the World Juniors for winning the gold medal in an awesome game last night. Well played!

Welcome 2009!

2009-01-05T19:57:00.001-05:00

Man, what a holiday season.

Our Christmas seasons are usually busy with shopping, wrapping, food preparation, travelling, visiting, cleaning, etc. But the boys still have to be taken care of and that takes up a lot of time during each day. So all the normal holiday work and events seemed to be even more compressed than usual! It led to an exhausting year end that ended on a sad note.

The weekdays before Christmas were a hectic rush of shopping, wrapping, and packing for our two day trip to Brockville and Greenbush. Plus when I got home on the Tuesday Kim informed me that Lukas was for sale and then she promptly left to Walmart for an hour or so. I guess Luke decided that sleep was optional but grumpies were mandatory.

On Christmas Eve we had Kim's mom come up to stay over and we had a relaxing evening as we finally felt ready for Christmas. Too eager to wait, I snuck into the tree and opened my gift from Andrew and was pleased to find a Nintendo DS game called Populous that immediately began playing. Ah, the memories of my youth! Its a remake of a game from the late 80s I played then.

Christmas morning was a rush to open stockings, presents, have breakfast (frech toast), and pack up for the afternoon trip to Greenbush. The boys weren't into opening gifts yet; the noise of the paper didn't seem to interest them like we hoped and they were more stunned into silence than anything else.

In the afternoon we went to my parent's place and spent a rousing evening with them and my sister and our extended family. Boxing day we spent with Kim's immediate family and Kim got to try out the Guitar Hero game I purchased for her for the Nintendo Wii we don't own yet. Its surprisingly fun and Kim has already challenged Andrew to a guitar playing duel.

On the 27th we went to Athens to visit my grandmother and aunt, and then in the afternoon we left the boys with Kim's mom and we snuck into town to watch a movie, Jim Carrey's Yes Man which was amusing (3 out of 4 stars). After that we went back home.

I thought the 28th (which is incidently my father's 51st birthday) was going to be a quiet day but in actuality we had to spend it cleaning up the basement to make it livable again for Erin's Kids that were coming to visit for a few days. I could feel Holiday Fatigue starting to set in.

Monday rolled around and early on I drove to pick up the kids and bring them to Carleton Place. We stayed close to home for the next few days, watching a couple movies, playing some board games, and generally having fun. Then on Wednesday afternoon, New Year's Eve, I drove them home.

It wasn't all fun and games; on Tuesday we got the call that my grandfather passed away. He had been sick for a while and its was not a surprise but it still hit everyone hard. So after taking the Kids home on Wednesday Kim and I had a quiet day at home on New Year's day in which we took down the tree and put away the Christmas decorations as we knew we would be busy most of the weekend. The next day we attended the afternoon wake in Elgin, and Saturday headed back for the funeral mass. That's the second grandfather I lost in 2008 and it makes me glad both got to meet my sons before their passing and I only wish Grandpa and Granny of my mother's side had the same chance. They would have loved Sean and Lukas.

We came home from the after funeral reception fairly early; we were both beat from the holiday season and my grandparent's house was packed like sardines from all the well-wishers and family. Saturday night we relaxed with a movie (Rendition it was called... too slow although interesting topic... it boggles my mind that more American citizens (and Canadians for that matter) are not outraged this crap is actually happening... say 2.5 out of 4 stars for entertainment value, 3.5 out of 4 for topic) and Sunday was relaxing with some grocery shopping and getting ready for back to work.

So that's the holiday. As for gifts:

I received enough gift certificates to purchase my desired 24 inch widescreen monitor for my home PC, and my wonderful sister bought me a G15 gaming keyboard which I absolutely am loving at the moment. Kim got me an IPod shuffle for my commute into work, and I got Blokus board game that is easy to learn but lots of fun.

Now, back to the grind!

Sigh

2008-12-16T08:54:00.005-05:00

On Friday afternoon, driving back to work from lunch, I rear-ended a van that stopped unexpectedly in front of me.

I wasn't speeding. I wasn't talking to a passenger or on the phone. I didn't have the radio on. I wasn't checking out the scenery. We took started from a stop light and just past the intersection she slammed on her brakes and I did the same. Even though the weather had not been raining or snowing at all that day the roads were damp and the tires refused to grip the road. As I slid I had time to think "damn, I'm going to hit that van". Then bamn.

The damage looked devastating on Friday but yesterday we had the car towed to the house and the intervening time has eased some of the anguish I felt and the damage looks repairable. Whether or not its fiscally affordable to do so remains to be seen.

The worst part of all of this is not the cost of the accident or the inconvenience of having only one vehicle again (although those are considerable weights on my mind), no the worst part is the reputation of being the bad driver, knickname "Crash", for my incidents in the past and this one to only re-open the wounds.

I really thought I had gotten past that. Over 5 years with no accidents despite over 2000 km of driving every month (that time I slid into the ditch doesn't count, the car had no damage and the stretch of road was unexpectedly treacherous!) and I was feeling confident that I was a better driver now. How many times did I drive through snow storms, ice rain, deer herds, and crazy city traffic without incident on my way too and from work?

All down the drain. Back to the sincere "drive carefully" admonishments and reminders from my parents as they shake their head in disappointment and it makes me want to bang my head against a wall. Its not like I drive dangerously without your reminder people! Sigh.

In the end, this too will pass. If I must wear the "bad driver of the family" medallion, so be it. I certainly have earned it.

That Time Of Year Again

2008-12-11T15:29:00.003-05:00

Christmas season officially starts in the Dullemond household when we go to Belleville for Kim's family dinner like we did this past weekend. The trip was uneventful despite some flurries, the boys either sleeping or entranced by the passing scenery.

We stayed over at a hotel in Trenton and in the morning enjoyed the indoor pool with the boys. They seemed to enjoy it enough although I'm sure they were confused: "why is the bathtub so big and water so cold? And why am I wearing this weird diaper?"

On the way home we stopped in my Grandparent's place in Seeley's Bay for dinner and a visit, and got home in time to be exhausted and drained.

This coming weekend is decorate time, with our tree to go up and house decorated. Our living room is already quite crowded so it will be interesting to see how we manage for the month the tree is there. I'm sure the boys will enjoy the lights.

Christmas Season Is Upon Us

2008-12-05T08:15:00.002-05:00

Ah December, the month of madness.

This coming weekend we have Kim's Extended Family Christmas Dinner. In order to let everyone get together, they typically have it the first weekend in December and it kicks off the season for me.

Then we have two more weekends until Christmas itself is upon us. Egads. One of those weekends will be the decoration weekend where we put up our tree and stuff. Good thing the boys are not crawling yet, the tree should be safe this year.

And I still have to do gift shopping for Kim. Its going to be a wild month!

Reality Check

2008-12-02T10:16:00.003-05:00

The headline of the Ottawa Sun caught my attention as I filled up my car this morning (woo hoo, less than $20 bucks!). It screamed "NO! NO! NO!" and the sub headline was about how the three opposition parties were going to overturn the will of the people of Canada by forming a coalition government and tossing the Tories out.

Um, what?

The will of the people was that the Conservatives do not form the government of Canada, they just couldn't agree who to replace them with. After all, the Cons got ~35% of the popular vote, about one in every three voters. And with a 66% (I'm going on memory here) turnout that means that only one in four picked them.

The three opposition parties got MORE votes combined than the Conservatives. Their members were elected to represent the people. If the members of those parties decide to work together to govern than in essence the will of the people has been enacted. The system works and the Tories lost this round; get over it.

Inaccurate and inflamatory claims that the will of the people is being subverted and the opposition leaders are staging a coup are irresponsible and deserving of ridicule.

Asshats.

Recovering

2008-11-25T09:51:00.003-05:00

The day after I got back from Vegas I had a nasty sore throat, I was lethargic, and even had an afternoon nap which is rare for me when I am healthy. I was definitely sick with some sort of cold virus and I blame it on that crappy Terminal 2 in Chicago's O'Hare airport.

Anyway, the sore throat slowly healed and the snuffles in the sinuses dispersed such that by the end of the week I was feeling well again. Unfortunately I think the cold got passed on to the boys and Lukas took to it particularly badly.

For three nights, Friday to Sunday, Lukas had trouble sleeping. We are 90% sure it was from the mucous clogging his nose making it hard for him to breath since he doesn't know how to hork and spit or blow his nose. And he had a fever and on Sunday was looking a little pale and tired himself. Sunday night was really bad and involved a few sleepless hours for Kim and I trying to help him out so he could breath.

Sean seemed to have a bit of the snuffles too but not as bad as poor Luke.

Well they seemed to brighten up on Monday and last night had a solid 7-8 hours of sleep (or at least Kim and I did) and hopefully the cold will finish the run of its course and the boy can both get back to be bouncing bundles of joy.

Gah, Friday already?

2008-11-21T15:07:00.002-05:00

Work has been crazy with trying to catch up on stuff that built up from the Vegas trip and also having to take on more workload since a team member moved on to another job. Hence the lack of posts.

This weekend is our main chance to do Christmas shopping. Everyone we don't buy for this weekend is getting giant Toblorone bar from the grocery store. Don't be disappointed.

Back From Vegas

2008-11-17T16:16:00.004-05:00

The work conference in Las Vegas last week was a busy one. Every day from Monday to Thursday we were either in sessions or walking to sessions in the conference centre from 8am to 5-6pm. Our hotel was about a 35 minute walk away so supper was often not until 7 or later at night.

My co-worker and I checked out the free sights as much as possible (except on Tuesday night when I just crashed for the evening in my hotel room) and paid for tickets to see the Cirque du Soleil show Ka which was quite amazing.

The flight back was very stressful. We were supposed to fly out of Vegas at 9:43 but were over an hour late due to runway construction, meaning our connection in Chicago's O'Hare airport was tenuous at best. Like contestants on the Amazing Race we ran through the terminal from B concourse to C concourse only to arrive minutes too late to catch the plane. It was still docked through the window but they refused to open up. I hate airports.

We were able to get on a later Ottawa flight that would leave in a couple hours, but had to catch it at the E concourse in terminal 2 which was overcrowded, hot, small, and I'm sure the source of the sore throat I ended up getting on Saturday and that I'm still recovering from today.

When we got back to Ottawa late Friday night, of course our bags did not make it. The airline only had two hours to redirect them after all *sarcasm*. So I went home with my carry on bag and no clothes or toiletries. Sigh. Fortunately the airline was able to locate the luggage and send it on via delivery to my door Saturday evening.

As I mentioned, I felt under the weather Saturday with a terribly sore throat and complete lack of energy resulting in a long nap in the afternoon which I rarely do. On the upside, being sick seemed to help me overcome the three hour jet lag faster and I felt mostly back on schedule Sunday.

The boys remembered me despite being gone for the whole week. Lukas had the most interesting reaction, staring at me in wonder for about 30 seconds as if he was trying to figure out where he knew me from. Soon they both had the "daddy" neurons going and it was back to normal.

Time Crunch

2008-11-06T14:03:00.003-05:00

Work has been crazy this week due to several factors.

1) I'm going to Las Vegas next week for a work conference, hence a lot has to be done this week.

2) I missed most of Wednesday due to the twins 6 month checkup and vaccinations and having to go downtown to pickup my passport.

3) I missed all of yesterday as Kim was ill and couldn't look after the boys. Most likely suffering from her flu shot we got when at the doctor's on Wednesday.

So don't expect normal posting to resume until Nov 17th.

Oh, and congrats to Senator Obama for winning the election. And good luck (you're going to need it!)

Breathing

2008-10-30T08:30:00.002-04:00

We had a doctor's appointment at CHEO with a specialist to see about Lukas' wheezing. The diagnosis is Asthma, specifically "Happy Wheezer".

Needless to say we were not surprised based on our family history and Luke's symptoms. The doctor prescribed an inhaler to take twice a day, keep him away from pet dander, smoking, and wood stoves, and clean up our house more as dust and dust mites can be problematic as well.

There is a good chance he will grow out of it and it does not seem to be bothering him too much yet. Poor guy.

Busy Busy Busy

2008-10-28T08:35:00.002-04:00

Sorry for the lack of posts. Work has been busy. Here is a rundown of the major points of the past few days.

Friday:
I went for and got my Purple belt in Jiu Jitsu. Now I'm half a year away from brown belt, and then another year to Black Belt first degree. I'm very excited. The test went well and I felt very good at the end, like I could go for another hour. Which is good because the tests only get harder and longer.

Saturday:
Kim left for a Mother-Daughter weekend with her mom and aunts and I had my first 24 hour period alone with the boys. They were perfect for me, happy, napping, and eating just fine. There was a couple of times when it got a little boring in the afternoon and a walk would have spiced things up, but it was raining and we stayed in. They went to bed fairly easily (Sean seems to be learning the new routine very nicely) and I had a quiet evening on the computer.

Sunday:
Nothing exciting happened. Did some pumpkin pictures with the boys... they didn't like it.

Movie Review: Forgetting Sarah Marshall

2008-10-22T15:48:00.003-04:00

Last weekend Kim and I rented the comedy the Forgetting Sarah Marshall which is a story about a guy who has troubled getting over the breakup with his long time celebrity girlfriend.

I expected the typical gross out & idiot gaffes of most comedies these days, so I was pleasantly surprised when the movie turned out to be much more entertaining. Most of the funniest moments are courtesy of supporting actor Russell Brand as the new boyfriend Aldous Snow, but all the characters were amusing.

What was most unexpected was that the titular character, Sarah Marshall played by Kristen Bell, turned out to be a reasonably sympathetic and multi-dimensional character, and not a typical comedy "evil bitch".

Overall I really enjoyed the movie despite feeling like the pace was a little slow at times. This reviewer gives it a solid 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Dear Americans:

2008-10-20T15:48:00.002-04:00

Your basic electoral process is f**ked up:

SUSAN FILAN: Yeah, it’s a real problem, Tamron, though, because your constitutional right to vote in this country is one of your most sacred and fundamental rights. We’re a democracy, that means that the people who govern, who lead us, are elected by us. If our ability to vote and to choose is interfered with, our democracy is at stake.

And what’s happened here in this California charge is that this person supposedly, allegedly, because he’s innocent until proven guilty, told people they were signing a petition but that they had to become a Republican to do it, and switch their parties in some cases. In other cases, he didn’t even tell them that he was in fact switching their party. They thought they were signing a petition, and their party got switched. What’s going to happen to them on voting day when they go to register as their Democratic vote that they thought they were registering, they’re not going to be on the right poll. They’re not going to get to vote.

{Emphasis mine}

Here's an idea you dumb American politicians: how about you scrap the stupid party registration involvement in the voting process. Every programmer knows that hard-coded values come back to bite you in the ass sooner or later, and this is a perfect example.

If voters were registered simply as voters, this fraud would not be a problem at the voting booth. You idiots.

It boggles the mind that after the numerous reports of voter fraud and confusion in the past two presidential elections that someone hasn't come out and said "ENOUGH! We're standardizing everything into a clear and concise manner so our election doesn't resemble some third world banana republic!"

Look to the Canadian model. It works like a charm.

Idiots. There is no excuse for it.

Going for Purple

2008-10-20T13:54:00.003-04:00

I completed my "red tip review" in Jiu Jitsu class today, and I am scheduled for my purple belt test this Friday evening at 7pm. I'm confident I'll pass the test with no problems, and I'm looking forward to the next phase of training for my brown belt.

Physically my ten pounds of weight loss coupled with improved conditioning leave me confident I will get through the test without collapsing, but my main concern continues to be my breathing. I just get out of breath so quickly. Give me a minute and I get it back but sometime you don't have that option. My muscles are OK and I can go for hours with quick breaks to catch my breath, its just the burst activities that slow me down.

In tennis its not a problem because I get chances to catch my breath between rallies with the serves and fetching the balls. In normal classes its only a problem during sparring or grappling, and in grappling I can usually do fine anyways with using technique over strength. But reviews and tests with all those punches, kicks, techniques, getting up, going down... sometimes there is not a good chance to rest for 30 seconds.

I don't anticipate a huge problem this test because my green belt test was easy, but going for brown and black is going to be a different story and I'll need to get this breathing thing under control or its going to be a very long test.

Weekend Wrapup

2008-10-14T09:44:00.003-04:00

Some point items to get y'all up to date.

- Got the new water tank installed. The workers left it on the "SCALDING" Temperature setting. We figured that was unnecessary and picked a more moderate temperature. So far its running nicely and the warm water is no longer rust coloured. That has to be a good thing.

- Thanksgiving dinner Saturday at my parent's place went well. The boys were a big hit as expected now that they are so expressive and cute. Then we had Thanksgiving dinner Sunday at Kim's mom's place. Needless to say I was feeling gargantuan by Monday.

- We relaxed Monday. Did some housework, installed new smoke alarms, straightened the basement up. Nothing too strenuous.

- I got the Corolla back on the road for commuting back and forth to work. Its so much easier on gas compared to the van and we will spare the van all the wear and tear of constant travel. Its weird being in the small car again, feels like riding in a go-cart compared to the van.

Pumpkin Pictures!

2008-10-10T22:37:00.001-04:00

Go to this Flickr set to see pictures from our pumpkin hunting last weekend.

And Happy Turkey Day!

Whoops!

2008-10-07T13:09:00.003-04:00

I locked my keys in my van today. I have not done that in 18 years of driving.

I had to call CAA to come pop the lock after I was finished banging my head on the van window.

Sigh.

Pumpkin Season!

2008-10-06T16:10:00.003-04:00

On Saturday Kim and I took the kids out car seat shopping since they are approaching 20 lbs which is the limit for the current infant carriers we have. We found a nice model with adjusting straps that we don't have to resize whenever they have thicker clothes.

Then it was off to the pumpkin patch where we searched for a pumpkin big enough to hollow out and sit the boys in for pictures. We succeeded and pictures should be forthcoming.

The weekend wasn't all fun and games though. Sean has been having trouble staying asleep last couple nights as we put him to bed and then waking up at 1am-2am in the morning crying. We think its teething pain but its hard to be sure since he can't talk or point to where it hurts. We're tempted to give him Childern's Tylenol at bed time (since he's mostly ok during the day) but we don't want to over-medicate the poor kid for our convenience.

Hopefully he'll pop a couple pearly whites soon like his brother and this current phase will pass into memory... until the next teeth get close to the surface. Sigh.

Go To Sleep!

2008-10-02T13:40:00.003-04:00

Around 8pm we give the boys their last bottles and then put them to sleep. Its not hard; they're usually quite tired and go down easily in our arms.

The idea is that we then walk upstairs and put them in their crib for the night. Well last night Lukas decided he wasn't ready to go down because as soon as he laid in the crib he would wake up and thrash. Now I left him to see if he would settle down but he was just getting more agitated so I went back, picked him up, and went to the rocking chair.

Shhhhhhhh.... soon he was back in slumberland. I waited another 5-10 minutes to let him get into a deep sleep, then I got up. No stirring. I stood in front of the crib. No stirring. Then I put him down. Stirring, stirring! Belly rubs.... no go! He's in wake up mode! AH CRAP!

We went back downstairs where the noise and lights lulled him into a deep sleep in my arms on the couch.

Review: Eagle Eye

2008-09-29T14:14:00.005-04:00

On Saturday afternoon Kim and I skipped out for a quick date and watched the movie Eagle Eye. Overall I enjoyed it. It was well paced, decently acted, and interesting. However I did have some issues with it.

WARNING: Spoilers Below

It became obvious early on what the plot was. Heck, as soon as you heard what the main character's brother was into in University courses I started to get a glimmer of the path of the story. About 20-30 minutes in, I had 90% locked up: super computer AI built to assist the government has gone power mad and decided with cold, callous logic that the government must be eliminated for the people's own good. All that was left for me to see was the details.

This is, of course, science fantasy. Its so far beyond belief that a computer built and designed to watch all information feeds across the globe to analyze for threats against America would come to the realization that the Executive branch is making poor decisions that end up hurting Americans in the long run, and thus having realized that and read and analyzed the Declaration of Independence it decides to overthrow this tyrannical government. It of course has super-ninja-access to every computer system and cell phone everywhere, not to mention every database, and uses this information and its cold logic to coerce ordinary citizens into doing its bidding that it cannot do remotely with available electronics and automated systems.

This all-knowing all-accessing all-analyzing and all-sociopathic computer, however, cannot give itself the command to actually execute its plan to execute the executive branch. A plan with all pieces except the final completely-made-up-super-powerful crystal explosive in place. Even though in the process of putting this plan in place we have witnessed the execution of at least two innocent people and threats to hurt hundreds more in the process. Not to mention the vast amount of property damage.

It strains credulity.

Anyhow, if you can turn your brain off, its a good action movie. Three out of five stars.

LOL

2008-09-26T07:45:00.003-04:00

I was reading this post about the idiocy of Sarah Palin and in the comments one made me laugh out laugh out loud:

comment by Sean S. on Thursday, September 25, 2008 at 6:52 pm:

Dan Quayle,

From the bottom of my heart, I apologize for everything I ever said and thought about you. Compared to this hunk of meat, you are a friggin’ philosopher king.

Sorry again, dude.

Its so funny because its so true.

Purple Belt Incoming

2008-09-24T14:34:00.003-04:00

Today Jiu Jitsu class was me and the dojo owner and a black belt who sometimes instructs. They suggested I do my third stripe review since its scheduled for Monday night and there were no other students and I said "Sure!"

It was over in short order and I'm set at third stripe blue belt. Now I have to do my red tip review and then test for the purple belt, probably in October.

Bah Humbug

2008-09-23T15:40:00.003-04:00

The crazy election season is upon us and I find myself more interested in the US Presidental Election than the Canadian Federal election. Part of the problem is I find a lot of faults with all the parties at the moment and I feel generally disenfranchised.

Where is the fiscal conservative yet socially liberal party I yearn for? Before the election I was considering the Liberals for the first time ever but their Green Shift non-platform-plank has left me confused at first glance and despondent at second glance. The Green party went from fiscal conservative to socialistic nightmare for me, and the NDP... well... I'm still scarred by Bob Rae's days in Ontario thank you very much.

My goal over the next couple weeks is to analyze more closely all the platforms and try to come to a decision, but I'm not confident I'll be able to vote for anyone with holding my nose.

Frosty

2008-09-19T10:02:00.002-04:00

This morning as I slipped out of the sleeping house I noticed a horrible thing. The van was frosted up. Yep. Frost. Requiring a snowbrush and windshield defrost to remove.

Winter is coming; fall is here.

The Whole Tooth and Nothing But the Tooth

2008-09-16T09:06:00.003-04:00

Last week Lukas had his first tooth on the bottom gum erupt to our surprise and joy. A couple days later a second tooth appeared adjacent to the first. While early at four and a half month, its not unheard of. He and his brother are growing so quickly its hard to believe.

This past weekend they had their first overnight stay without both Kim and I. It was hard as hell leaving them even with someone we trusted, but we managed. We then spent Saturday doing a lot of housework that had been avoided or not as thoroughly done as since the boys arrived.

We missed them like crazy and the house seemed extra empty. We were very glad to get them back on Sunday.

Dear Ottawa Senators:

2008-09-10T15:09:00.002-04:00

If you get Mats Sudin on your team I will have a hard time cheering for you.

Yours truly, Bill

Going....Going....

2008-09-08T14:05:00.003-04:00

The Weight Watchers Redux continues with me hitting the 220 lbs mark this week putting me down 8 lbs after six weeks. This is better than my goal of a pound a week so I'm pleased. With 15 weeks to go to Christmas and 12 more pounds to lose for my first goal, I'm in good shape.

Its amazing how much better I feel after just a few pounds lost. More energy, better breathing, better speed and reaction time in tennis and more stamina in both tennis and Jiu-Jitsu. In fact I credit the current weight loss with my stellar 7-6 victory in tennis over Andrew on Friday. ;)

Once I get to 208, after Christmas my second goal is to get to 188 before the new tennis season starts in the spring. Its ambitious for me but this time I intend to see it through.

Review: Doomsday

2008-09-05T08:10:00.003-04:00

Last night we looked to relax with a video from the local store and I wanted some mindless action. Pickings were slim but I choose Doomsday. My expectations were low but all I wanted was action, some scenery chewing bad guys, and to turn my mind off.

Amazingly, it failed to meet even my low standards.

First off, some good things. There was lots of action, the main bad guy was definitely chewing scenery like a mad man, and.... well that's it really.

Now the things I didn't like.

First off, a lot of movies nowadays using the "jumping camera" during action sequences to make the fighting seem more intense and fast paced than traditional steady cameras with long shots do. I get that; don't like it but I accept it. But in this movie the director felt that every scene needed five or six camera angles and that the scene should flip from each one every second, even when the characters were doing nothing but sitting and talking. It drove me insane, almost to the point where I shut it off. There is no reason for that crap.

Secondly, the back story was beyond unlikely into ludicrous a lot of the time. The political side story was pathetically moronic and could have been left out entirely IMHO. The walling off of Scotland with no one ever going in was obviously unrelated to anything resembling reality. And the whole medieval society that shows up in the middle of the movie was completely off the wall. I mean, yeah, I can see people reverting to older styles of government (in this case feudal) and tehcnologies (bows and arrows, horses, etc) but actually dressing and living like they were in the 1300s? I mean, come on! Get real.

Furthermore, the nuclear fallout shelter that everyone appeared to know about but no one bothered to plunder? Sheesh, can you say plot device? And one last thing: even a devolved, barbaric, cannibalistic society knows that you don't cook people while they are still wearing their clothes. All the plastic will just poison the meat. Sigh.

Anyways, all these little things disrupted my enjoyment of the movie to the point where I wish I hadn't rented it. I wanted a simple post-apocalyptic romp and instead got a convoluted and wandering story and poorly directed camera work. Better off left on the shelves, or in the garbage bin.

This And That

2008-09-03T10:52:00.003-04:00

Long weekend was halfway between busy and relaxing. Travelled to Kingston to see my grandfather in the hospital on Saturday (hey, I had my father's new Jeep Patriot while he borrowed the van back, figured I'd use it!) and then spent Sunday in Brockville. Monday was relaxing day at home.

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On Monday I installed some new hardware in the house. A new fancy thermostat to replace the ancient one we had for the furnace. Now I have some confidence in the temperatures being reported. And a new door bell button as the old one simply began to disintegrate.

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Listeria reported in mushrooms now. WILL IT NEVER END?!?!?!

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Next Saturday Kim and her mother are going out to the movies and the mall leaving the boys with me for the day. I told Kim as long as I don't have to bathe them I'll be fine. I'm terrified of bathing them while they are still in the floppy body stage; I figure I need two hands to hold them in place and one hand to do the washing. Last time I checked I was one short. Kim can do it with two hands but I'd prefer not to risk a concussion on my progeny this early in life.

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We're talking about putting the Corolla (aka Sugar) back on the road with a new engine. The van is great and everything except the gas bill is so expensive. We figure the Corolla would use $160 less gas per month and as long as the insurance is less than that for the two vehicles, it would be worth it. Plus Kim would have the van for her own travels in town during the week. And the van would last longer as we'd put far fewer commuting miles on it.

The other option is to steal Terry's Patriot but he might notice.

Idiots

2008-08-28T15:18:00.003-04:00

Think America has a health insurance problem? McCain's Health Advisor would like you to think differently:

But the numbers are misleading, said John Goodman, president of the National Center for Policy Analysis, a right-leaning Dallas-based think tank. Mr. Goodman, who helped craft Sen. John McCain's health care policy, said anyone with access to an emergency room effectively has insurance, albeit the government acts as the payer of last resort. (Hospital emergency rooms by law cannot turn away a patient in need of immediate care.)
"So I have a solution. And it will cost not one thin dime," Mr. Goodman said. "The next president of the United States should sign an executive order requiring the Census Bureau to cease and desist from describing any American – even illegal aliens – as uninsured. Instead, the bureau should categorize people according to the likely source of payment should they need care.
"So, there you have it. Voila! Problem solved."

Only an asshole whose never been uninsured would think that provides adequate health care.

Jerk.

On the Road Again

2008-08-25T15:36:00.005-04:00

On Friday Kim and I went to Barrie with the boys to visit our old friends there for the weekend. Its a long drive, about 5 hours, and we were very nervous taking the boys so far as its a long time for them to be cooped up in the back of the van.

The first leg of the trip we stopped in Marmora and had lunch in the park there. The boys slept from home til then and we were pleased so far. Then on the road again they slept for another hour or so to Peterborough and then were awake from there to Orillia but yet happy, or at least not upset. Then from Orillia to Barrie Lukas got hungry and let us know about it.

While in Barrie the boys were pretty good. A little grumpy Friday evening and much happier on Saturday since we didn't go anywhere. They took turns swimming with me and playing in the water, and later on I spent some time with our hosts trying out some multiplayer Warcraft II and III. I was also introduced to Blokus (pronouced BLOCK-US no BLOH-KUS!) which I have to say was a lot of fun and definitely added to my wish list.

On Sunday we headed home, stopping for lunch in Peterborough and getting back to Carleton Place around 5. This time the boys slept the entire way which was surprising. And then they didn't even stay up very late.

No more long trips for us for the foreseeable future. Now we are ready for the fall.

Jiu Jitsu Update

2008-08-20T14:07:00.005-04:00

I think its been a while since my last martial arts update so I figure its time for one.

The weight gain of the past year coupled with stretches of time off due to the pregnancy and then the boys has been telling especially in class. Warm ups that were mildly tiring became huffing and puffing extravaganzas and they were what prompted me to get really concerned with the weight. I knew I was getting out of shape and I knew I needed to be in far better shape to continue progression.

I got up to my second stripe in Blue but it took a long time. Now that work, life, and everything else is settling down I'm getting more classes in. Coupled with lowering weight (currently 223.5, down 4.5 so far) and more effort at conditioning and already the past week of classes have been easier and less stressful.

Regardless of the weight and shape, I am finding that my skills have been improving and are getting to the point where I don't feel totally uncoordinated all the time any more. My kicks are improving in height and speed, punches are easier, and throws and breakfalls are more natural. I'm actually starting to feel like an advanced belt.

Its a good thing too. I should be going for my purple belt in September or October, and getting my brown belt next spring. Then it will be more intensive training for my black belt which I should have in later 2009 or early 2010. Black belt. Me. Wow, its starting to feel real.

Just gotta lose this weight first!

The Chef

2008-08-18T09:56:00.004-04:00

Somewhere along the line, I became the BBQ Chef at family dinners in the summer.

It all started a few years ago when I was at home cooking for Kim's parents on the BBQ. Kim's mom loved the chicken I did up and next time at her place she had me cook on their BBQ. My confidence grew and last year we were at the farm during haying season and it was time to cook the burgers and chicken and such. Since the rest of the men were finishing haying I stepped up and cooked the dinner. It worked out well and since then I've decided that would be my thing.

At Seely's Bay at a family dinner I helped my cousin on the BBQ cooking the steak. I don't have a lot of experience with steak so it was more him than me, but I'm learning. At the dedication I cooked the burgers and wieners for everyone despite nearly searing off my eyebrows. And on this past weekend I was called upon again even though everyone else was there and no haying was going on.

I credit my cooking skill on the grill to Kim's insistent paranoia about pink meat in chicken and beef while I complain bitterly when the meat is overcooked to a dry mass. Somewhere in the middle is perfection.

Ah, its good to be the chef.

Weight Loss Update

2008-08-15T16:12:00.003-04:00

Well, I mentioned ten days ago how I was trying to lose weight again and I'm happy to report that progress has been made. The pound-a-week goal is being met and I'm down about 4-5 pounds since the start. Shirts and pants are noticeably looser, but there is still a long way to go.

My current strategy is using the Weight Watchers point system I learned from last time I lost weight but with the strategy of saving up all my extra weekly points for the weekend where I typically have the hardest time maintaining good eating habits. It seems to be working although some weekdays are tough going.

Last night an aunt of Kim's was by who had visited three weeks ago and she asked if I had lost weight in the interim. "Why yes, I have indeed." She says it was noticeable in the face which boggles my mind because I think my face looks as chubby as ever. Ah well.

Medals

2008-08-13T09:17:00.003-04:00

The national obsession over Olympic Medals is in full swing these days. I imagine there is quite a bit of hand wringing over the fact that a few days in and we still have zero.

My disdain for the Olympics has not diminished over the years and I find the hand-wringing over which athletes to sponsor and which to cut loose very distasteful. The news media and public don't care about the people trying their hardest to win (for the most part), they care about when the next medal is coming so we can collectively stroke our national pride and pretend that we matter on the national stage, and that winning at the Olympics means something tangible.

And once this two week event is over 99% of those Canadian athletes that bled and sweat and strained for our patriotism orgasm will go back to being nameless and faceless in whatever town they came from, used and forgotten by the national psyche.

Disgusting really.

Whoops!

2008-08-12T09:35:00.003-04:00

I meant to post last Friday about Lukas' trip to the hospital to check out his wheezing (family doctor was away) and how he is on a puffer now, but forgot in the excitement of the upcoming weekend.

On the weekend we went to Kim's cousin's wedding in Trenton, and on Sunday to see the Kids and celebrate Holden's 9th birthday. Busy weekend and we got home Sunday evening exhausted; fortunately both of the boys were tired out and went to bed early and Kim and I followed suit.

There, now you are up to date. Regular posting to resume tomorrow.

The Dark Knight Review

2008-08-06T11:02:00.004-04:00

I admit more than a little excitement about going to see the new Batman move called The Dark Knight on Monday. Batman is, after all, my absolute favourite super hero. The last movie Batman Begins was very good so I was hopeful that this one would continue the trend of more realistic and reality based super hero fare.

I went into the movie trying to ignore all the hype surrounding it about Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker and the high ratings people were giving it. I wanted to experience the movie as if I knew nothing which is impossible, but I tried. So, on to the review.

Almost perfect.

Yep, I loved it. I loved the length which made the movie feel like a story rather than a quick collection of action scenes intersped with plot exposition. Christian Bale was letter perfect as Bruce Wayne in a way that previous actors completely failed to encompass. Gary Oldman as Jim Gordon captured the good cop in a bad place vibe., and Aaron Eckhart portrayed Harvey Dent's descent into the madness of Two-Face with scenery chewing enthusiam that still did not feel out of place.

And yes, Heath Ledger as the Joker was amazingly believable. He emanated malevolence like nothing I have seen in a long time. It was believable that 1) this guy was crazy, 2) people would follow him willingly or not, and 3) he could run rings around the police and Batman with his schemes, not with his physical prowress (side note: the latest Batman series protrays the Joker as a brawler and not as much as a schemer; needless to say I don't approve).

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD

Things I really liked:
- Rachel Dawes dies! AWESOME. It not only lends a motivional credence to Harvey Dent's fall from grace, it breaks the super-hero-gets-the-girl mold that is som cliche in modern movies. Loved it.
- The prisioners and civilians on the booby trapped ferries don't blow each other up despite the urge to in order to save their own lives.
- Batman's fighting abilities were realistic and conventional (for a movie).
- Joker was captured, not killed.

Things I didn't like so much:
- The super-cell-phone-sonar device? Totally over the top, and was used to find the Joker at the end where I felt Batman's Detective skills should have come into play. Didn't like it.
- Harvey Dent appears to have died. So sad.
- The Bat Bike erupts from the damaged Batmobile? Pu-leeze!
- They never showed Barbara Gordon's face (the daughter, not the mother). Obviously they wanted to leave it open to a future entry in the franchise about Batgirl without casting the part in such a bit role so soon. While not bad per say, it was distracting for me.

Overall I loved this movie and will be buying it on DVD (Bluray?) when it comes out. 5 out of 5 Bill Thumbs Up.

Getting Serious About Weight Loss... Again

2008-08-05T09:14:00.003-04:00

Well, its time to fess up: the summer plan to lose weight failed. In fact this entire year as been a failure in terms of getting my weight back under control.

The problem has not been lack of exercise with tennis and Jiu Jitsu two or three times a week. The issue is with my eating habits, I've just not been dedicated enough to eating properly 7 days a week. Too many snacks, too many unaccountable weekends, and in the end too much weight.

So the week before last as I realized I didn't fit into my suit jacket properly anymore at my grandfather's funeral and then sweating profusely and embarassingly at Andrew's wedding, the growing realization had come to a head: I either got serious about losing weight again or I faced another slow climb into the grossly obese and unhealthy zone.

The latter was not an option and my growing weight was already making tennis and Jiu Jitsu harder than it should be, so as I drove home from Toronto last week I made my decision.

The first few days of last week were the hardest. The cravings were fierce and frequent which only highlighted how much I spoiled myself with bad snacking habits for the past year. A couple nights I got home famished and raided the fridge for dill pickles (low calorie and filling snacks). I finally faced my demons and weighed myself for the first time since November on Tuesday night and I was relieved to see it was "only" 228 pounds. Then I made the resolution to lose at least a pound a week to Christmas which should put me back in the lower 200s.

Once I'm back in that area, then we'll see about finally busting the 200 lb mark and heading towards the lofty goal of 180 before next tennis season starts.

As of yesterday morning, the scale read 225. Of course, morning weights are always lower than evening weights so don't read too much into that. Next Monday's weight will be the real deal.

Let's Not Be Stupid

2008-08-01T14:53:00.004-04:00

Most of you have heard about the poor guy who was attacked and killed on a Greyhound bus in Manitoba yesterda y. Tragic. Yes the killing was senseless as far as we can tell. And yes its terrifying to consider it happening to ourselves or someone we love.

But I hear rumblings about "what can we do to improve bus security" and "should buses have check ins like airports", etc.

Whoa. Stop right there. Let's not be stupid. Metal detectors? Security guards? Whatever the hell for?!

Violence on buses, especially long distance buses, is extremely rare. Its almost unheard of up until yesterday. All these added security measures would increase the safety of the passengers and drivers by an imperceptible amount yet cost the bus companies, already struggling with rising diesel costs, bogs of money.

Think about it and don't let one anomalous event dictate all policy, regardless of the horridness.

On The Move

2008-07-30T08:27:00.003-04:00

Lukas likes to be on the move. The swing, the (moving) car, being held while you walk around, he just wants to be moving. He wants to move so much he's taken to moving himself.

Not a lot mind you, and not too fast. But he can squirm and wriggle his way around in his crib and on the floor such that his feet and head will change positions over a night. Kim said she watched him wriggle around 270 degrees one afternoon.

He's not rolling over all the way yet, although he's getting very close. He can get his feet and hips around, but his arm and shoulder are still getting in the way and he flops back. Its only a matter of time.

And Sean? Well, he's much more of a watcher. He'll just lie there and take it all in, no interest at this time of moving anywhere it seems.

A Funeral and A Wedding

2008-07-28T09:48:00.004-04:00

Last week I attended my Grandfather's wake and funeral and while it was a sad occasion it was nice to see the family and celebrate his life with memories and stories. He was a much loved man and will be sorely missed.

On the weekend I drove to Toronto to attend the wedding of my best friend and his longtime love. Not only attend, but I was the Best Man (a title I lorded over the groomsman to no end) and had some responsibilities which mostly revolved around being a facilitator and an extra pair of hands. I had a great time and was thoroughly exhausted by the time my head hit the pillow for the evening.

Part of the evening involved some short speeches from the parents, Matron of Honour, and myself. I wrote a toast between the ceremony and reception when I had a 30 minute break (but I had been working on it in my head for a week or more) and was pretty confident going in since I didn't know very many people and I wanted to be relaxed so I wouldn't race through it like I did for my parent's 25th anniversary last summer. I was ok until I go the microphone and spoke into it. Holy crap, my voice booming out in the hall freaked me right out. I was so thrown off by the sound of my annoyingly high pitched voice (I really do hate it) being broadcast so loud that I just about broke down and raced through my toast. Fortunately, I had practised the cadence and tempo a few times in the room and I think I managed to get through it ok, at least that is what people tell me.

For the record, I was tempted to do the funny toast but I know my humour doesn't alway transfer well in that type of medium and environment so I went sentimental instead. People at weddings always love the sentiment; its like a drug that way.

One other thing: I was sweating horribly on my forehead during the ceremony. There was a lot of moving around when we switched the ceremony to inside the ballroom because it started to rain just before, and the tuxedo had a vest that proceed to keep all the heat generated in. So even though we were in air conditioning I couldn't cool off fast enough. I was so embarrassed, I wanted to die. Fortunately everyone was looking at the bride and groom and not me. Sigh.

Remembrance

2008-07-22T13:11:00.004-04:00

My paternal grandfather passed away yesterday after a few days battling a lung infection. He was in his eighties and had not been doing well for a while so it was not a surprise. He was surrounded by his loved ones for his last moments.

Good bye Grandpa, I love you and will always remember you. I'm glad my sons got to meet you.

Router Drama

2008-07-21T08:34:00.003-04:00

I've talked about my router issues before. Well, inbetween Jan 2007 and today (specifically last summer) the antenna on our wireless network card on the computer broke off (long story) and I had to run a cable from the upstairs office to the downstairs red room where the internet modem resided.

Well, Kim hated the junkie look of the long black ethernet cable running through the house and demanded I fix it. I finally got a new antenna from my sister and this past Friday I decided to get the wireless connection back up and running. The new antenna worked fine and the computer could talk to the router with nary a trouble but the router and the internet refused to play nice together. Sometimes it would connect and be fine and then WHAM no connection. Or rather, no web browsing even though the connection said it was up and running. I was worried that all my messing with the router in previous attempts to solve my issues had screwed it up beyond my ability to recover.

I've never been very happy with the D-Link router so I went to Walmart Sunday morning and looked to see what else was available. Just my luck, a Linksys wireless router was on sale and I picked it up and brought it home. Surely this would be easier and more dependable I thought.

Everything seemed to be going fine with the installation until it came time to connect to the internet and I hit an error. Damn! Several attempts yet nothing would work. I reconnected my cable and decided to check if the password to connect to Bell; yep, got that wrong the first time. Ok back to the router... what? I can't connect!? What the hell!?

Reboot, reset, try again. Nope. DAMN! Why can't my computer even talk to the router now? Half and hour later I realize that I set the router to not use DHCP when I was messing around and hence my computer could not get an IP address from the router. I hard coded its IP address so I could connect to the router (worked), enabled DHCP, set my computer back to using DHCP, and then entered the correct internet conneciton information. POOF! Everything worked.

So... anyone want to but a D-Link wireless router?

Lenscrafters = Idiots

2008-07-18T13:39:00.003-04:00

I got a call last night from Lenscrafters that my glasses were ready.

All excited I spent my lunch break driving into Bayshore mall to pick them up. I get there and what do I find out? Only my glasses were ready, my prescription sunglasses were still on order.

*fuming*

Could they not have told me that when they called? I wouldn't have bothered going in until they were both ready in that case! Now I'll have to spend another lunch break driving into the mall when they are ready.

Grrrr.... I hate inefficiency.

P.S. Yes, perhaps they didn't know because each set of glasses was a separate order. In that case I say its time for them to update their archaic methods to the 21st century. Luddites.

You Picked The Sun?!

2008-07-16T09:16:00.004-04:00

Here is a video clip of a guy on the French version of "who wants to be a millionaire?" trying to decide from a multiple choice question what revolves around the Earth: the moon, the sun, Mars, or Venus.

Its a little sad he didn't know the correct answer. But whatever, sometimes people just don't know the very basics of our local neighbourhood and I can forgive one person for being a little ignorant.

But he is so unsure he polls the audience. Over half (56%) picked the Sun as the object that revolves around the Earth. Oh. My. God. I've said it before and I'll say it again: people are stupid.

This is not some piece of trivia, this is the very basics of how the Earth operates, our day and night cycle, the phases of the moon and the tides of the oceans. The only small consolation is that the rest of the audience had the basic education to pick the right answer.

*pause*

You know the correct answer is the moon, right? Sigh.

Afterthought: Maybe its just people moronic enough to want to be in an audience for the borefest that is this show are skewering the results. We can only hope.

Tennis: Turned the Corner?

2008-07-15T15:07:00.003-04:00

Since the once-a-week Tennis season started against Andrew, I have been losing.

We typically play one full set (i.e. first to win 6 games) and then followed by a half set (first to win 3 games). For the first 7 weeks Andrew won every full set and 2 out of 4 of the half sets. I sucked.

For the first couple weeks, physical conditioning combined with being out of practice was slowing me down. Then my speed improved but Andrew was still schooling me as his rust was shaken off.

My difficulties seemed to be three things:
1) My first serve was being easily handled by Andrew so he continually broke my service and took early leads.

2) My aim on hitting the end of the court was off and a lot of balls were landing out as a result.

3) My backhand sucked.

Last week I felt the aim was improving and my backhand was coming back finally, but I was still losing. I got angry and I started hammering my serves in a way to burn some frustration off.

And what do you know? They landed in. A lot. And suddenly things began to fall into place for me.

We got rained out last week while I was losing 5-3 but I took the lesson to heart and this week I came out blasting my serves. I had traded power for accuracy earlier in this season (and perhaps late last season) but now I brought the effort up the accuracy remained. The upshot is that Andrew had a harder time returning my serves and those he did get back were not the power returns I had to dig for. Suddenly things felt different, better.

Not only did I get more aggressive on the serves, I also added a bit more aggressiveness to my forehands and backhands; now that the rust was shaken off I was able to hit them accurately and low to the net and ground, forcing Andrew to dig more often and give me more opportunity to get a point. The end result was and early lead, maintaining my service, and winning the set 6 to 4.

My new style of play cost me a bit though as I felt noticeably sore in my shoulder in the second half set from all the hard serves in the first full set, and my energy levels were lower than usual. Andrew whipped me quite soundly 3-1 in the half set but we both know all the glory to be had is in the first set.

Next week I'll have to see if I can maintain the pressure and score another victory.

Optical Illusions!

2008-07-14T14:54:00.002-04:00

Optical Illusions Galore!

Weekend Wrapup

2008-07-14T13:30:00.004-04:00

We had beautiful weather on the weekend for the Boys Dedication and lots of family members came out to celebrate and in some cases meet them. Afterwards we had a barbecue outside where I was once again the Grill Chef and only once did I have to call for water to put out a grease fire. I didn't need those eyebrows anyways. I was told the meat tasted good so I'm going to assume they were telling the truth. Ah, my legend as the master BBQ chef continues to grow!

Meanwhile, the boys were passed around and the Dullemond family members pronounced Lukas as the definite Dullemond baby with his old-man eyes and high-and-prone-to-wrinkles forehead. I guess that makes Sean the Graves/Crouse baby. Hopefully Lukas didn't also inherit my lack of cushion on the bottom.

By the way, I've officially had my parent's declared as rich. Not only were they so generous to trade our broken down car for their van, they went and bought a brand new vehicle for Terry (a Jeep Patriot which is, if I'm not mistaken, the first ever brand-new (i.e. not-used) vehicle they have ever purchased) AND this past weekend they were having central air installed! Sure, it was a used unit and installed by Uncle Jerry, but nonetheless its a huge step up from "open windows at night and keep closed during the day" air conditioning they are used to in Greenbush for the past 25 years.

Of course, they are rich now when they have the boys to spoil. I can hear it now: "Why don't we have a Playstation 5 like Grandma does?"

Sigh.

"Race" is SOOOO 19th Century!

2008-07-10T09:20:00.004-04:00

One of the most bothersome things to come out of the U.S. presidential election campaigns this year is the constant talking about Barack Obama's "race":

"He's black."

"He's half white."

"He's a secret Muslim."

"He's a Christian."

"He's too black. "

"He's not an authentic black."

"He's the first black president."

"He's talking white to black voters."

OH MY FREAKING GOD! ENOUGH ALREADY!

In my opinion, the concept of human "races" has long since been discredited as bogus and divisive. Its time to move past skin colour, eye shapes, and other physical characteristics and realize that its all about where you grow up and how you are raised that matters. The blood in all of our veins is still red (barring some medical conditions) and people should be more concerned Obama's qualifications and positions rather than the supposed colour of his skin.

If only we were all colourblind. (But then we'd have those claiming who the real "greys" are and who are only half-grey. Sigh.)

More Religion Madness

2008-07-09T08:14:00.002-04:00

Give it a read. From the news article:

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35, Orlando) --A UCF student claims he’s getting death threats for messing with something sacred.

Webster Cook says he smuggled a Eucharist, a small bread wafer that to Catholics symbolic of the Body of Christ after a priest blesses it, out of mass, didn’t eat it as he was supposed to do, but instead walked with it.

Catholics worldwide became furious.

Webster’s friend, who didn’t want to show his face, said he took the Eucharist, to show him what it meant to Catholics.

Webster gave the wafer back, but the Catholic League, a national watchdog organization for Catholic rights claims that is not enough.

“We don’t know 100% what Mr. Cooks motivation was,” said Susan Fani a spokesperson with the local Catholic diocese. “However, if anything were to qualify as a hate crime, to us this seems like this might be it.”

Now before you say "that's not normal religion" I've got news for you; it is.

This Is Why I'm Not Swayed

2008-07-08T11:22:00.003-04:00

Courtesy of Sandwalk I read the "rational" arguments for the existence of God from the Christianity Today magazine written by Christian philosopher William Lane Craig.

I fully admit my education in philosophy is not very deep, but I am familiar with formal logic which is the basis of these arguments.

The cosmological argument
Everything that exists has an explanation of its existence, either in the necessity of its own nature or in an external cause.
If the universe has an explanation of its existence, that explanation is God.
The universe exists.
Therefore, the explanation of the universe's existence is God.
The kalam cosmological argument
Everything that begins to exist has a cause.
The universe began to exist.
Therefore, the universe has a cause.
The teleological argument
The fine-tuning of the universe is due either to physical necessity, chance, or design.
It is not due to physical necessity or chance.
Therefore, it is due to design.
The moral argument
If God does not exist, objective moral values and duties do not exist.
Objective moral values and duties do exist.
Therefore, God exists.
The ontological argument
It is possible that a maximally great being (God) exists.
If it is possible that a maximally great being exists, then a maximally great being exists in some possible world.
If a maximally great being exists in some possible world, then it exists in every possible world.
If a maximally great being exists in every possible world, then it exists in the actual world.
Therefore, a maximally great being exists in the actual world.
Therefore, a maximally great being exists.
Therefore, God exists.

Really? Those are the best they have? The number of assumptions and leaps of faiths in those arguments is astounding and I'll have to read that article just to see his defences to the objections, but at first glance none of them are new and all have been discussed and discredited in my opinion.

I am not swayed.

He's Got Personality

2008-07-07T13:47:00.003-04:00

The boys are growing quickly and some clothes have already be regulated to the "outgrown" pile. As they grow their unique personalities develop and change and it amuses me to no end.

For a few weeks Sean was known as "Grunter" because he would spend many minutes grunting loudly and excessively. "Is he pooping?" "Nope." "Is he upset?" "Nope." It seems he just liked the sound of his own voice in a manner of speaking. He has mostly stopped doing it lately but it was quiet weird for a while there.

Lukas has his own quirks. Every once in a while you can be holding him and he will suddenly thrash his face and head back and forth like he's scratching his nose on your shirt. He usually seems quiet agitated and grumpy when he does this but the violent head shaking is like nothing I've seen. If you're not careful his noggin might pop your lip in the process. Lukas also likes to be on the move, holding him is not enough like it is for Sean. Either walking around, or moving in the stroller, or riding in the swing, he has to be moving sometimes. I think he gets frustrated he can't move himself around yet. Poor guy. We think he will be the physically active one while Sean seems to be more content to watch the world go by.

You never know, things may change.

"What's That?"

2008-07-03T11:13:00.003-04:00

So Erin and the Kids moseyed on up to Carleton Place for Canada Day (Or Canada Evening by the time Erin got there) and we had a BBQ and visit before Kim and Erin took the Kids to see the fireworks while I babysat the Boys.

I got them to bed and went to bed myself with the baby monitor on and fell asleep before Kim got home. Of course, I had the baby monitor on my side of the bed so I could here better, but never thought to move the power cord that comes with it from Kim's side. Around 5 in the morning Kim wakes up and is surprised no sound from the boys room was heard and she gets up and realizes the battery died in the middle of the night. Poor Sean probably woke up hungry at 3am as normal and cried (well, grunted) himself back to sleep when we didn't show up. I'm a horrible father.

Fortunately, he woke up again soon after and was fed. He seems to have suffered no visible long term effects beyond an accusing glare whenever I'm near.

Erin and the Kids stayed over so last night after dinner I took them to the riverfront to play in the splashpad (which they did a little) and swim in the river (which they did a lot of). Afterwards while trying off I hear one ask "What's that?"

It is, of course, a bloodsucking leech attached to her foot. The other girl realizes she has one too, attached directly to the panic button on her foot. I quickly dispatched the little fiends and calmed the girls down with "its no worse than a mosquito, they are not poisonous or anything like that, just icky." It worked and we were soon on our way.

Side note: first time I've ever encountered a leech up close and personal.

Kim Tears Herself Away

2008-06-30T13:34:00.004-04:00

On Saturday Kim and I left the Boys in the care of my mother and aunt and went to a movie for Kim's birthday and some shopping at the mall.

Kim wanted to see Wanted (mainly for her girl crush Angelina Jolie) and it turned out to be not too bad, lots of action, pretty decent. I expected more elaborate gunplay but it was good overall (3 out of 4 stars).

After the movie I called to see how the babysitting was going ("fine") and Kim gave me trouble because I didn't explicitly ask how the boys themselves were doing. Yeesh. ;)

While shopping I picked out some new glasses and a pair of subscription sunglasses as a splurge item (covered by work insurance, natch). Kim got some new clothes for herself and the boys upcoming dedication in a couple weeks.

The Boys!

2008-06-26T14:57:00.003-04:00

Kim got some pictures today where they are both smiling. Check it out!

(Click to see bigger images)

A Difference of Opinion

2008-06-23T14:14:00.003-04:00

On Sunday I was entertaining the boys and flicking through channels for some background distraction (after all, babies are only so exciting for so long). I tuned in to the early going of the movie Thirteen Days about the Cuban Missile Crisis back in the sixties.

I had seen it before but it was worth watching again because its such a good movie. I don't know how accurate it is but from what I've heard a lot of the White House dialogue was taken from official government transcripts and is mostly historically accurate in major events.

As I was watching the movie (5 out of 5 stars on my review scale by the way, a "must see") I was struck by several thoughts:

1) Damn there was so many roads leading to escalation of hostilities and it feels like only one road that didn't and someone they found that road through luck, perseverance, and sheer will.

2) The American military command was chomping at the bit for a shooting confrontation. I mean even if the movie exaggerated their enthusiasm for conflict 100%, they were still practically begging for the chance to blow stuff up. And the events suggests that they tried to paint the President into a corner to force him to order a shooting war.

3) While the parallels to recent years and the Iraq war against Saddam Hussein's government are weak at best, I couldn't help but think that if Dubba & co (or reasonable facsimiles) were in charge in the sixties I wouldn't be typing this right now. Instead civilization as we know it would be the remnant survivors from World War III.