Mixed Moss from a Rolling Stone

5 Provinces over 3 Days, or, How I Spent My Weekend.

2008-10-05T17:07:00.007-04:00

Wow.

Courtesy of Google Earth, you see the route taken by yours truly and his father-in-law in the latest episode of the Stone/Shagwell in-law Support Operation. Penny and I flew out to Newfie on Sept 30, and she and her mother flew back on the 3rd. Her father and I dropped them at the airport in Gander (a pale shadow of itself from its heyday as the key Transatlantic stopover point) and we headed for their place in Pickering.

Note to future Newfoundland Travelers: I actively encourage you to visit this Province. It really is a rich experience, particularly for those who like a more grounded and wholesome populace with no pretentions. However, don't underestimate the size of The Rock. I know people who think they can "Do Newfoundland" in a day (yes, I am talking about YOU...you know who you are). It took Dad and I the better part of 8 hours just to drive from Gander to Port-aux-Basques to pick up the Ferry. (Oh yes, the Ferry. IF you go, book ahead. Reservations are needed if you want to avoid sitting on your ass in the ferry terminal queue line on a stand-by ticket...that didn't happen to us, but I figured I should give you the heads-up, dear reader.)

Anywhoodle, Dad and I slept, more or less, during the overnight the Ferry crossing, then went from Sydney to Montmagny, QC. We had enough energy to push past the planned stop in Riviere-du-Loup (translated into English as 'Wolf River') and got closer to Quebec City. I managed to get a half-decent sleep in the motel that night, and we roared in from Montmagny to Pickering.

Penny was very happy to see us both and we endured a mind-numbing trip to get groceries for a fridge we hadn't seen in 6 days.

We are home, safe, and sound, although somewhat travel weary.

Penny will blog the details surrounding the need to head eastward. Just as soon as her brains stop pouring our her ears...

When Mossy met Outburst

2008-09-19T16:09:00.002-04:00

Through a series of strange little coincidences (no, I won't call it a Series of Unfortunate Events), I discovered that Outburst and I work for different parts of the same organziation. It's not really surprising that we didn't figure this out sooner given the size of the org., but it was still nice to make the connection. He was mulling over new work opportunities, and I offered to help. While that piece of things didn't come to pass, we decided to celebrate the breaking of the fourth (blog) wall when he was down in my neck of the woods.

It's always nice to confirm that bloggers are as affable and articulate in person as they are in their various entries, and he's certainly no exception. We enjoyed a rare afternoon (post-work) on a local patio and I got to introduce him to the joys of Keith's Red Amber ale.

Consider it a standing invitation, Outburst. :)

207.4 (or, an Answer for Bat-Rider)

2008-09-16T13:33:00.001-04:00

Was happy to see the scale down a little bit more this morning.

After a long, four month absence, I returned to the rink last night. I admit, I was a little nervous about playing again. I was worried about the amount of rust on my already shaky game as well as being worried about how the knee would hold up.

In spite of a loss, I managed to make it through the game intact and uninjured. Now that I'm only playing one night a week (thanks to some nicely immature communications on the part of my former Thursday team) it will take me a while to get back into the groove. (or is that "rut?)

P and I are back with the midwife tomorrow and because the appointment is a little later in the morning I will be able to have my morning workout at a semi-reasonable hour.

Can I get a "yay"?

208.8

2008-09-09T20:26:00.002-04:00

So far so good. I bounced back up a few pounds but I expect that as part of the process.

I hit the gym pretty hard after work today, and I managed to work off some lingering bullshit. I won't get into the details, but suffice it to say some people have no balls at all.

Anyway, I'm feeling better and Penny says she's noticing a difference. I'm probably losing fat and regaining some muscle, so I don't have a true picture of what's been lost versus anything gained....I just know the bottom line.

Hockey starts on Monday. Will be interesting to see how much rust I have to shake off after 4 months of not playing. ~yikes~

209.4

2008-09-02T11:46:00.001-04:00

The weight has been coming off at a reasonable rate and I've been pretty good about the gym. It's not quite as effective as getting pushed by Wesley Crusher, but I think I'm doing okay. I've started incorporating the bosu ball with a few of my exercises, and it really is a challenge. On Monday, I decided to do my cardio work by walking to/from the gym. It's 6.4 km as a round trip, so that's not a bad way to do it.

Still aiming to be below 200 by the end of this month and I'd REALLY like to be under 190 when convocation rolls around. I'd settle for being back down a pant size, though....

Thoughts on the Labour Day Classics

2008-09-02T11:25:00.001-04:00

There's nothing quite like spending Labour Day enjoying the real turning point of the CFL season. I got to enjoy the two big rivalries on Monday, Edmonton/Calgary, and Toronto/Hamilton. (I also enjoyed Michael Bishop's debut for Saskatchewan on Sunday, where they got a convincing win over Winnipeg in the so-called "Banjo Bowl")

Anyway, there's not too much to say about the western game except I wasn't sure why the Esks were sporting green helmets, and that the Calgary offence seemed to disappear after half-time....to say nothing of the defensive secondary.

The Argos/Cats tilt lived up to its usual level of intensity. While I'm happy with the result, I'm not thrilled about a few things.

1) Poor capitalization on turnovers. The Argos left a lot of points un-taken and we wound up setting for FG instead of TD.
2) Dropped passes. It looked once again like Nigel Williams tribute night out there. I love Bethel Johnson's speed, but even he knew he blew some really catchable balls
3) Stupid Penalties. Can someone please explain how Adriano Belli managed to cost the D 25 yards of field position and NOT get benched for his efforts?? There's intensity of play, and then there's stupid. You do the math.
4) Blown Field Goal. Pretty sure the Special Teams coach will be drilling the boys after that botched attempt in the 2nd quarter.

On the positive side, there were some nice things to be seen, like Bryan Crawford getting that late TD, Mike O'Shea picking up the blocked kick and turning himself into a running back, Kerry Joseph's running, and a team back at .500.

I do feel bad for Winnipeg and Hamilton, now stuck at 2-7 records because the East should be more competitive. I wonder when the plug will be pulled on Doug Berry and Charlie Taaffe? Those two 3rd and short decisions Taaffe made will likeluy come back to haunt him. The Argo "D" couldn't have come up with a stop at a better time for the second one.

Let the run to the playoffs begin!!!

Oh man....Only in Texas....

2008-08-26T15:13:00.002-04:00

You have GOT to be kidding me...

On the plus side, I bet it helps with disobedient children.

Just to quiet the masses...

2008-08-18T11:06:00.001-04:00

I'm a Ford Mustang!

You're an American classic -- fast, strong, and bold. You're not snobby or pretentious, but you have what it takes to give anyone a run for their money.

"Take the Which Sports Car Are You? quiz.

212.2

2008-08-18T09:27:00.001-04:00

With the kidlet on the way (and hockey season fast approaching) I finally got off my can and got back to the gym this weekend. I was reasonably smart and I didn't push myself too hard but still managed to get a half-decent workout. As much as I'd like to be able to afford to go back to train with Wesley Crusher again, that's not in the cards. So, I went back in my workout book and repeated most of a workout from about 18 months ago. I figured that would keep me on track.

I felt better for doing it and I ate pretty well this weekend.

Let the re-shaping begin (again)!

For Larry

2008-08-15T14:39:00.003-04:00

Hey brother,

I dunno if I would brag too loudly about being a Mazda Miata. Any "more broke-down mule cart" comments and I might have to give this poster the "Where's Steph" treatment...

Remember the pic of you and Elton John? You've been warned ;-)

Well, whaddya know...

2008-08-13T11:18:00.005-04:00

(Two posts in one day? WOW!)

Way back when, I drafted a suitably objective piece about one fine, upstanding citizen and his particular stance in the so-called 'War on Terror'. (okay, you can stop snickering, it wasn't even close to objective and impartial.)

I was pleased to see that the Supreme Court of Canada had a blissful moment of lucidity and refused to hear an appeal of the deportation order against Jeremy Hinzman. Kudos to the Immigration and Refugee Board for making the right call. Their only faux pas, IMNSHO, is giving him until the 23rd of Sept to leave the country.

Granted, this country doesn't always treat refugees and immigrants well (e.g. foreign trained doctors and other professionals driving taxis or washing dishes), but a line has to be drawn somewhere.

You take the oath, you stand up and be counted when it matters. Or at least have the ~~balls~~ strength of character to face the music when you take a stand.

Running away isn't 'taking a stand'. It is the coward's way out, and you're allowing your wife and child to suffer for your actions. Shame on you.

Buses vs. Busybodies (a.k.a. Today's Idiot)

2008-08-13T10:11:00.004-04:00

The (Toronto) Star does tend to lean a little more to the Left than I'd prefer, but sometimes their leanings are worthwhile reads. For example, their "Fixer" series is an excellent piece that holds municipal and regional entitles accountable for things that are broken or missing (e.g. missing street signs, potholes, other repairs of a Public Works nature.)

Today's little tidbit is a llittle closer to home, metaphorically and actually. In an age where we should be actively embracing public transit, this shockingly myopic and misguided individual deems it an intrusion on her fluffy, suburban lifestyle.

Kudos to the folks at DRT who are (wisely) dismissing her concerns and supporting their passengers.

"Route change request sparks bus war"

(Edit: I wonder if the next dictionary that includes the term "Asshat" will use this 'person' as an example?)

Fuckity

2008-07-30T11:38:00.002-04:00

I did it to myself again

Tried to use the iGoogle blog interface to generate a post and mistakenly tried to refresh my email. Methinks I need to move this thingy to another tab in my iGoogle page.

(Outburst, I was actually writing something that you might appreciate. Specifically, the madness of the local sports media vis-a-vis the non-decisions of one Mats Sundin. But I wonder...does complaining about their silliness make me party to it???)

Is it possible to have an Urban Soaker?

2008-07-24T11:58:00.001-04:00

According to the weather-guessers, we have set some sort of moisture record for this season.

In layman's parlance, the Toronto area has been summarily pissed upon. Over, and over, and over. Frankly, I didn't expect this kind of rain this side of Monsoon season in Indonesia. But I was quick to remind myself that I could have just as easily been spending my weekends in an open jeep on some kind of FTX (Field Training Exercise). As a sidebar, I knew a Reg Force Captain who loved to utter the phrase "it ain't trainin' if it ain't rainin'!". Of course HE got to spend the bulk of the weekend in the CP (command post) while we got to practice personal "pruning" and experiencing the early stages of trench foot.

...not that I'm bitter.

Anyway, I just wanted to rant about the weather, because getting into some long-winded beef about stuff like Mats Sundin's hockey future or the sad state of the Who Jays, or the shockingly large number of unsold ducats to the Buffalo Invasion would just be too easy.

Now THAT was a game...

2008-07-19T23:19:00.001-04:00

I just watched one of the better games of the CFL season tonight. Montreal visitng Saskatchewan. The score was extremely tight for most of the game and the lead changed hands at least 8 times. However, near the end is when things got exciting. Fumbles, interceptions, and a real hard-fought game that sent the Regina faithful home with a smile. Pretty intimidating when the defending grey cup champs can beat you even with their third-string QB.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

2008-07-18T21:17:00.001-04:00

Viva la Weekend!

I spent a day snipe hunting (with outcomes that Scott Adams could appreciate) and I am now home, relaxing and unwinding. Okay, so the relaxing came in the form of two large Rum & Cokes, but that's not really the point, is it?

Sadly, I have work stuff to tackle over the weekend so it won't all be relaxation and/or home reno activities. However, the work stuff is all part of my greater career advancement plan so I will make the necessary sacrifices.

Foiled by Heinous Geekery

2008-07-16T11:02:00.002-04:00

...geekery most foul.

There are times when iGoogle is a neat way to centralize stuff, but maybe not for blogging. I had a nice little post on some post-grad school ponderings and managed to lose it.

Just sayin'

(Of course, Penny says I should just do it "the old fashioned way")

And the list gets shorter...

2008-07-14T08:37:00.001-04:00

This weekend saw some more tweaks and fixes completed at the Stone-Shagwell manor. I brushed in this nifty sand/polymer mix in the stones on the front walkway. When this stuff gets wet, it hardens and cures, not only locking the paves in place, but also preventing ants and weeds. Score one for the bipeds there. The other labour completed was the building of a shelf in the garage. Not just any shelf, mind you, but a hanging shelf that takes advantage of the high ceilings. I'll have to get a picture of this puppy to do it justice. It's actually the first of three ceiling-based shelves we will be putting up there. We don't make good use of the space in there, so lesser-used items and seasonal items can get off the floor, and that will help a lot. Sadly, I haven't figured out how to deal with the 2 big snow shovels, but a few ideas come to mind.

I didn't get a lot of sleep lat night despite some serious fatigue. Not quite how I wanted to kick off Monday, but what can ya do?

Happy Birthday NNLCC!

2008-07-08T06:26:00.001-04:00

Much love from your NNLMM, I love you. :)

My name is Vila. Bob Vila.

2008-07-05T19:33:00.005-04:00

Today began the work in the long-overdue leveling of the front walk. It looked okay before the deck went on last summer, but not so much now.

So after shopping today we got started on the first part, removing the stones and clearing out the weeds and soil accumulating between the pavers. Ironically, while we have many patchy spots on our lawn, we manage to grow a bumper crop of weeds between the stones in the walk.

It was a rather mindless, dirty job, but we managed to get all the stones out, all the weeds out, and most of the aggregate re-leveled. However, a little research showed that the bozo who put in the stones didn't really do it right. So when we go to pick up the big tamper tomorrow, we will also pick up the appropriate edge barriers (to prevent the stones from slipping and spreading), the cloth barrier (to prevent weeds from growing), and the sand to lay over the aggregate and to brush over and inbetween the stones to bind them all together. If done correctly, the online sources tell me the walk should last a good 20 years.

I figure by the time the task rolls around again, I'll have recovered from this one.

We won't talk about those big-ass 2'x2' pavers in the back that still have to come up and get sorted out. I'm not naive enough to think they were laid down properly in the first place. But, yeah, I know it will have to be done too.

Maybe next weekend....

(Edit: The task was largely done Sunday night and everything hurt afterward. All that's left to do is re-positioning the edging, adding more sand to the gaps in the stones, and re-installing the stairs on the porch. If the "fuck you" signals I was receiving from my muscles are any indication, I will definitely neeed to make the back patio refresh a 2-person job.)

Ow...

~ugh~

2008-07-03T11:40:00.001-04:00

There's really nothing worse than the end of your vacation and trying to get back into the groove after you drag your hide back to the salt mines.

Don't get me wrong, I can be productive, and I am contributing (one of my colleagues even said "were you away???") but I always find it the equivalent of jogging through knee-deep water. Slow, messy, and awkward.

Just sayin'...

On other notes, I am excited at the start of the CFL season, and the hometown Boatmen might be able to go 2-0 if they smack the Pussy-Cats in the home opener at the Dome tonight.

I am baffled, however, at some of the NHL free agency moves. However, I am not surprised at the local media going bananas over Mats Sundin's non-decision with respect to his career. Every little indecision spawns 2-3 articles agonizing over it and performing some kind of navel-gazing analysis.

Gawd. You'd think this burg only had one team that mattered. Guys, he's likely not coming back. Get over it. Move on.

(I've missed my writing outlet. Glad school's over. For now. *8*)

Is this thing still on??

2008-06-30T19:40:00.006-04:00

Well, whaddya know. You leave a blog alone for a while and, well, nothing really happens with it. Apparently they are not self-perpetuating.

At the risk of raising the hopes of the one remaining reader (Duff) I am posting a very consolidated update.

Grad school is DONE (Sorry, Kal.) A long, long 23 months of work, study and sacrifice, but allegedly worth it in the end. Convocation is in November and I'm looking forward to seeing my classmates again.

Work is, well, work. No real changes there, in spite of my passive efforts to re-locate myself.

I am off hockey for the summer, having managed a small tear in my MCL in the first period of the first game of the summer season. I am hoping to be back watching pucks fly through the five hole in September. Penny wasn't all that disappointed to have me home all summer.

And in other news...

[[imagine, if you will, a lovely ultrasound of my bride's insides, showing the latest addition to the Stone/Shagwell manor, "Chip" at the ripe old age of 11w3d of gestation. But, Blogger being Blogger, it is having some kind of imagery-uploadery-fuckery-malfunctionery-thingy, therefore the image will be posted later.]]

Edit: Said scan of DW's indsides showing 'Chip'

10 Good Things That Can Come From a Miscarriage* By Penny

2007-11-30T14:36:00.000-05:00

1. I can now drink my way through Christmas, New Year's and, most
likely, our vacation at the end of January.

2. My pants are fitting again.

3. Meat no longer seems like the only food group, and chocolate is
actually tasty again.

4. I am not consistently, horribly and ridiculously exhausted.

5. I was allowed to take large doses of codeine for about six days.
Groovy...

6. We get to "try again".

7. Two weeks off of work that don't count as my vacation.

8. I can take Advil when I have a headache.

9. Hot, hot, HOT baths are no longer verboten.

And finally....

10. My hormones are back in order, which means sex on a very regular
basis. Can I get a "Hell, yeah?"

*Because I have to find humour in it... that's just they way I am

And just like that...

2007-11-20T13:43:00.001-05:00

Maybe I should re-visit that lesson about the counting of the chickens.

The ultrasound on Thursday revealed that the pregnancy didn't take the way
it was supposed to. There's lots of medical jargon involved and no blame
to be assigned to people or situations but it doesn't ease the pain by any
means.

My heart hurts...

Life is Good

2007-11-03T18:25:00.000-04:00

Yes indeed, I am alive, so life is good.

Life is good for a few reasons. They are (not necessarily in any order of importance):

- Work is good. I have been transferred to the Human Resources department at work. One of my friends, Big Guy, said "well, that makes you one of the few people actually qualified to work in that department!" I'm not quite as sure of that as he is, but there is a new Veep in there and there's a definite new direction in the place. I have a major new project to follow on the much-delayed launch of the learning management system. So, that's good.

- Sports are (mostly) good. With the exception of the game I played on Thursday, hockey has been pretty good. The Leafs, bah, well, the less said about that the better. The Argonauts, on the other hand, just clinched first place in the East and they host the East final. Toronto also hosts the Grey Cup this year, so that's gonna be great, cuz Penny and I are going. Hopefully the Argos will be there too. (BTW, Jones...yon erstwhile Michael Bishop is 10-1 in his last 11 games as the starter. Passed for 328 yards today and really, really looked good. He's finally matured as a QB. Penny hasn't felt the need this season to do her "Bull Durham" call, screaming as he dances in the pocket, "Don't think, Meat! Just THROW!!!") So, that's good.

- School is good. I am sporting a 4.04 GPA and I'm on my second-last course of my MA. The last course finishes in Feb and I have only my major project to do, which is due in the middle of June. I can't believe the program is almost done, but I gotta say I'm looking forward to having it all finished and reclaiming some much-neglected parts of my life. So, that's good.

- Life elsewhere is good. I retained some of my Army-honed skills in time management and I have listened to my Darling Wife's reminders about remembering to take time for me in the midst of school deadlines and work madness. I would also say that my sense of timing is damn near impeccable.

Why, I hear Jones asking?

My MA project is due June 13.

Ten days after that, so is Penny.

Life, as they say, is good.

From Penny: This is not a hostile takeover...

2007-07-28T20:40:00.000-04:00

I assure you that Mossy not only knows I'm in here, but has also given
me permission to be here...

(man, it's dusty... *koff, koff*)

Just though I'd drop in and let you know that we are both well and
things are fine.

I deleted the blog simply because I had nothing to say. I'd feel the
obligation to write, but my mind was a tabula rasa. I had bupkis.

Mossy has been very busy with school and, I'm proud to say, has been
kicking ass! He has, in draft, a post about a friend's 40th birthday
party which we attended, wherein ...well, I'll let him tell it when he
gets around to it.

We seem to both hang out on Facebook now more than anywhere else (well,
Toronto DOES have the world's largest Facebook community...we couldn't
NOT be part of it, huh?), so you can always try to find us there.

Hope all is well. Keep in touch!

Penny

PS Does *anyone* know where Kal is?

Things & Stuff

2007-05-12T11:09:00.000-04:00

Just sitting here on a quiet and somewhat chilly Saturday. Penny's nephew, D, is getting married this afternoon, so she's out getting her hair done, and then she will come home to get The Girl's hair done. The Boy and I will go out to get the appropriate pre-wedding trim.

I'm back from a quick trip to Victoria where I was on a short e-learning course, and I got to see some of my school classmates, which was a nice treat.

Other than that, no major news on my end. Hope the remaining readers are well wherever they are....

May Day Musings

2007-05-01T20:18:00.000-04:00

Hello, remaining readers and RSS feed junkies.

A whole month and no Mossy tidbits? Frankly, I dunno what came over me.

Actually, I do. A couple of things, really. First, I didn't really have much to say...so I decided not to say anything until I had something to say. Second, grad school really consumed a lot of my writing energies, and therefore, the blog got short shrift. Finally, I came down with a new internet addiction. I won't tell you specifically what it is, but it rhymes with "Ace Cook".

Anyway, there are a few updates from Mossy-land.

First, school continues to go well. I'm hoping for my latest marks soon from course 5 (of 10). I *might* just keep my "A" average if all goes well.

Second, the gym has been a real plus. Wesley Crusher has me just humming along. I notice a real difference in my chest and my arms now. (I'm not buff, but I'm getting there)

Third, I recently celebrated a birthday. My amazing wife, Penny, threw me a BBQ bash this weekend. I am another year older on the calendar, but I don't feel it and I'm pretty sure I don't look it. Penny says my grey hair makes me sexier.

I won't argue with that. :P

So, that's the news thus far. Hope all my linked friends are well...

Laid out, and not in the Good Way

2007-04-01T13:28:00.000-04:00

Well, I think Wesley Crusher (pls see Penny's blog for details) finally managed to get me to my "enough" point. At least we know when this kind of thing happens, he doesn't mess around.

DW and I were at the gym yesterday working with Mr. Crusher and he moved us from the weights into the fitness studio to do some core work. We did some speed squats and some ab exercises, and then he got us into "Chops". What happens is this: you position yourself like you're chopping wood. Full range of motions, altering the direction of chop...left, right, left, right...down, then straight up....down the other side...straight up...down the other side. I got through one set no problem.

Second set....not so much. I felt something particularly nasty in my lower back on the left side. Not like my usual back discomfort (which I know so well) but something different.

Needless to say, my workout was over.

I spent the rest of the night laid out with what I figure is a pulled muscle. Thanks to a well-stocked medicine cabinet, I am suitably drugged with high doses of Naproxen and Tylenol 3. However, I am not exactly loving my invalid status. So I'm hoping I'll be mobile for work but at this point its not looking good. Penny, Biff love her, has been looking after me and worrying about me. She is, at this very moment, snoozing on the other side of the bed. She didn't get a lot of sleep lat night because I was stuck on my back (read: snoring away) and from spousal worry.

Yep...this is why I married her. She worries about me.

So, courtesy of the joys of wireless routers, I am here upstairs with my laptop and staying connected to the outside world.

That's not a Calf, that's a Cow!

2007-03-21T13:42:00.001-04:00

As my remaining readers know, Penny and I have been active at the gym with our trainer, young Wesley Crusher. Because we had just finished another 12 sessions with him, it was measurement day yesterday.

Now, I had made a significant drop in my body fat percentage and achieved some "inches" loss last time, so I was interested to see where we were this time around. As Wes warned us, we might actually lose inches, but we'd appear to be bigger because of better muscle definition, etc. So I was okay with that. I have no interest in achieving a bodybuilder-type look, but some better overall tone is certainly what I'm hoping for.

While the upper body still needs some work (although my biceps, shoulders and lats are coming along nicely) my legs are no problem. They get lots of work in hockey and they developed nicely in the Army, and when I was lifting weights regularly years ago.

Wes did all the measurements and then go to the calf. When I got started with all this, my calf muscles were at 16¾". After dropping the fat, they went down to 16¼". This is good!. Yesterday? After 12 more sessions?

Seventeen. Freakin. Inches.

Holy crap! That's bigger than my neck!(16½")

It brought to mind an observation from an old Army buddy of mine. We were out for morning PT one day in the late spring. It was nice & warm and shorts were definitely the order of the day. Wally was running behind me on this trek and when we were abck at the Armoury doing stretches and ab work afterwards he remarked, "Geezus, [Stone], those aren't calves...those
are COWS...they're f**king huge!"

So, there I am. Walking around with heifers below my knees.

Do with that what you will.

Open Letter Day

2007-03-12T11:16:00.000-04:00

(To the previous owner of my House)

Dear Dipshit:

I'm honestly not sure whether I should be filled with pity for you, or filled with a desire to see you tied to a stake and stoned for general nincompoopery...probably the most critical mental coin toss in human history. But late yesterday afternoon, I was definitely looking for a suitable post hole digger.

To wit: I was removing and replacing a couple of the dreadful light fixtures you yourself had replaced (leaving lovely paint gaps, too) and I saw where you had some trouble with one of the mounting screws. You know...the ones which screw upwards into the utility box to, you know, HOLD the light in place? Yeah. That one. Wanna know how I know you had trouble?

Picture it. There I was. No shit. Standing on my mini scaffold bench. All set to install the new hanging fixture my bride liked so much. Could I hang it correctly? Nope. No chance. Your trouble spot? Staring me in the eyes, laddy-buck. That screw hole? Stripped. Not a thread remaining. Imagine how I looked as I managed to effortlessly push that #10 machine screw through the hole with noooooooooo effort whatsoever.

Kinda defeats the whole purpose, don't it? I mean, I can't hang a light fixure with one screw, can I? (although, judging from the previous light, you managed to....how it stayed up is a puzzle for household physicists everywhere.)

Anyway, Mr. Braintrust, in whatever home you own now, if you fuck up and strip the screwhole in a junction box, suck it up and replace it! Don't leave the next poor bastard to figure out how to do so on his own. Although, in your defence, I'm not sure how we could have removed that puppy without removing six square feet of drywall. (I will forward you a copy of my letter to subdivision homebuilders; subject: Consideration of replacability of basic outlets and junction boxes as installed by fuckwitted builders to save the asses of competent DIY-ers who discover your fuckups. Like, seriously, dudes...why did you screw it in from the TOP as well as from the sides?)

I recognize that you're the same mental pigmy who couldn't install drywall if your very life depended on it, not that *that* little hurdle seemed to slow you down, if the basement is any indication.

Anyway dude, seriously, don't try any renovations in the new place, ok? You're more a danger to yourself than others.

Cheers,

Mossy.

----------------------

(To Hampton Bay lighting, the designers of my new kitchen hanging light fixture)

Dear Cocksuckers:

I recently had the indescribable pleasure of installing your Model ****** 5-light hanging fixture in my kitchen. After coming up with an innovative solution to a stripped screw fitting I struggled to hang your light properly. You see, you provided this wonderful diagram of the components of the fixture, but you were a little skosh on the best way to install that bad boy. I mean, it's all well and good to tell us how the componends go together, but if one follows the instructions to the letter, one winds up with a brutally twisted mass of cables as the fixture threads onto the centre screw. This little glitch triggered much consternation in my bride, and no short of questioning of your collective parentage and brain power on my part.

I was going to give you some detailed instructions on how to sort out your diagram, but I'm pretty sure you wouldn't understand them. After all, its MAKES SENSE to do it my way. Besides, I'm not sure I can adequately detail the physical contortions required, nor can I articulate the marital care and handling instructions needed, because this little gem can put marriages in jeopardy (not ours, of course....we're well-hardened to these little frustrations, havign survived the installation of new laminate flooring, tile flooring, bedroom painting, storm doors, drywall installation, and wallpaper borders...all with nary a bad word.)

Anyway, folks. Get some REAL DIY-ers in there to try installing it from scratch and see what you can do about those instructions, k? Otherwise, you're gonna have some real goat-fucked lamps out there with YOUR name on them.

Lotsa love,

Mossy

RIP Brad Delp

2007-03-09T21:05:00.000-05:00

Wow. As much as some people were stunned by the death of Steve Irwin, I'm floored by this one.

Brad, for those of you who might not know, was the lead singer of Boston. He had a clear, resilient tenor voice and had a lasting effect on 70's and 80's music.

No real details yet, but he was apparently home alone at the time. He was only 55.

Now I'm sad...

I don't care about indecision
I don't care if I get behind
People living in competition
All I want is to have my peace of mind....

Incumbent Idiocy - a Language Rant

2007-03-08T20:41:00.000-05:00

I freely admit that I'm not a master of the English language, but I do know errors when I see them. I got a big kick, for instance, from the book "Eats, Shoots and Leaves" which pointed out some egregious uses of language and punctuation, particularly by people who should really know better.

Penny and I have had all sorts of "WTF are they thinking?" exchanges when we see commas being used in the wrong places, and so on. Do NOT get me started on the shameful way in which the apostrophe is used as a mistaken pluralizer. However, there's one particular attempt at erudition which totally drives me bananas.

As some of you may know, I'm doing a relatively subtle job search at the moment. I'm not screamingly anxious to leave my current employer but I've got enough uncertainty about corporate direction that it seems prudent to hedge my bets. Needless to say I've been looking at a lot of job ads.

Now, let's have a nice big show of hands. How many of you have seen job ads where they say something like, "the incumbent will possess the following skills..."?

Let's see those hands?! Right? Most of you? Okay. That's what I thought.

One little problem with that little phrase:

It's WRONG.

Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong.

"You! Jones! You're the political whiz...so what does 'incumbent' mean? Stand up, boy!"

[Jones puts down his barely-disguised collection of nudie pics with Penny's face pasted over them, blushes, adjusts himself, and responds - squirming]

J: "Um, sir, I'd really rather not"

[nauseated] "Fine, Jones. I think it's probably better that you sit."

J: "Thank you, sir."

"Now, Jones. What does 'incumbent' mean?"

[Puppy-like excitement] "Oh, yes sir! Incumbent! Eye, Enn, See..."

"JONES!!!"

J: "Sir?"

"What does it mean?"

J: "Oh, yes sir. Sorry, sir. Incumbent. Yes. That's when someone is already in political office. For example, our incumbent governor of Massholeachussets is..."

"Yes, yes, yes, Jones. Enough with the showing off. You're correct. 'Incumbent', when referring to an individual, means the current holder of an office. Now go back to what you were doing and let me finish my story."

J: "Yes, Sir. Thank you, Mr. Stone, sir."

"Oh, and, Jones?"

J: "Sir?"

"Wash your hands before lunch"

J: [Blushing] "Yes, sir."

So, class, we know what incumbent is, but why, why, why, for the love of Biff, why do employers insist on using the word as a replacement for "the successful candidate" or "the incoming *position name*"? Do they not realize how stupid they look to someone who actually knows? Do they really, really, really think that we are so stupid that... [pause]

"Jones! Put your hand down. That was a rhetorical question!"

Anyway, I don't understand. I truly don't. I sometimes wonder why I would even bother applying to a place which uses such poor language, but you really wouldn't believe who uses it. Companies who whould know better, to be honest. Of course, I guess I can't really be picky, can I? My bigger dilemma is this: do I say anything to the companies? I mean, I don't want to get an immediate reputation as a smartass know-it-all in the interview phase. I'd prefer it to develop naturally after I'm hired!

Since it was really incumbent upon me (another acceptable use of the word, referring to a sense of duty) to point this misuse and abuse out to you, I urge you all to watch for such language crimes wherever you go.

"Jones!"

J: "Sir?!"

"You may come up and clean off the brushes while the rest of the class is at recess. You won't have to worry about being beaten up by the girls this time."

J: [relieved] "Thank you, sir!"

Persistence of Dubious Celebrity

2007-03-08T14:53:00.001-05:00

I've never been someone enamoured by celebrity culture. Sure, every once
in a while its interesting to open an eyelid and see what folly takes
place, but its usually just a yawn at best.

Of course, there are a few little things that catch your eye...sorta like
a really ugly person wearing something far too revealing or a car crash.

I admire the Associated Press' decision to stop reporting anything about a
certain wayward hotel heiress. For once, I think the media clued in that
there was little value in following her every move and that the world did,
indeed continue without the endless check-in on her antics.

Then there's the circus around a certain late pneumatic blonde Bahama
Mama. In and of itself it was defintely an interesting study in humanity
and I'm sure there's years worth of fodder for the tabloids. Then there's
the madness surrounding the paternity of her toddler.

...which brings me to the latest outrageous media whoring comment from a
certain former football star and Bronco racer. He, too, waded into the
fray with a suggestion about his own likelihood for paternity of said
child...."if he did it", of course. Now, if anyone has seen pictures of
the mite, they know that the likelihood of this particular glove-wearing,
Cato-loving dingbat are exceedingly remote....right up there with the
chances of me being named Pope.

I wonder what an alien species would make of all this? Sometimes
journalism really aims for the lowest common denominator in smut and
attempts to titilate us with the latest escapades. With a few notable
exceptions, most of these so-called celebs have contributed sweet jack to
the betterment of society and have likely helped to contributre to the
wholesale raping of our better judgement in picking up some rag and
reading it. Fortunately, they are demonstrating some ecological
consideration by ensuring their antics get thrust at us via the Internet
which, of course, is made from 100% recycled post-consumer electrons.

However, my favourite celebrity will remain "Global Despot-in-training"
Kal Jones. Although, I think he's in grave danger of believing his own
propaganda. Don't believe me? Go check his latest campaign
bumpersticker.

[rant off...for now] ;-)

Book Meme

2007-03-05T13:41:00.000-05:00

In the list of books below, bold the ones you’ve read, italicize the ones you want to read, ~~cross out~~ the ones you won’t touch with a ten-foot pole, put a cross (+) in front of the ones on your book shelf, and asterisk (*) the ones you’ve never heard of.

1. +The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee) Gr. 10 English. We read the book and watched the movie.
4. ~~Gone With The Wind~~ (Margaret Mitchell)
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)
8. ~~Anne of Green Gables~~ (L. M. Montgomery) It's been done to death up here.
9. ~~Outlander~~ (Diana Gabaldon)
10. *A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. +Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
12. +Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. +Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden) Saw the movie...close enough
16. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Rowling)
17. Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban(Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. +The Hobbit (Tolkien) More Gr. 10 English. And I've seen a stage play.
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J. D. Salinger) Gr. 13 English. A singularly depressing book.
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. *The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25. Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams) All 5 parts of the Trilogy, too.
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis) Read other parts of the series, but not this one.
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert) Too verbose for me. Neat movie, though.
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (Orwell) I read this in Gr. 11 in 1984!
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett) Loved this book. Absolutely loved it.
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)
39. *The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. *The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. *The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. Bible - not ALL of it, but a lot of it (yeah, yeah, I know...but it's true).
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver) Got partway through it and gave up. I was hoping for more sex. ;-)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
53. ~~Ender’s Game~~ (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald) Gr. 13 English.
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence) - Grade 11 English. A singularly depressing book.
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough) I prefer her "Masters of Rome" series.
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. *The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrew Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy)
64. Interview with the Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. +Fifth Business (Robertson Davis) Read it repeatedly but never bothered with the others in the "Deptford Trilogy"
66. *One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller) One serioulsy fucked up book
69. Les Miserables (Hugo)
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery) - and I read it in french, even! Pure hell.
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
72. *Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. +Shogun (James Clavell) ...and Tai-Pan, and Gai-Jin, and Whirlwind...
74. ~~The English Patient~~ (Michael Ondaatje) Too pretentious for me. I never even saw the movie.
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
76. *The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According To Garp (John Irving)
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)
81. Not Wanted On the Voyage (Timothy Findley) I preferred "Famous Last Words"
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. +Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind) I've read most of this series (Sword of Truth) but it just became way too long and drawn out for me, so I gave up.
85. Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down (Richard Adams)
87. +Brave New World (Aldous Huxley) - Right after reading 1984
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. *Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. ~~In The Skin Of A Lion~~ (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding)
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S. E. Hinton) - Grade 8 or 9 English...I think 8
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. +The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)

This meme is free for anyone who wants it.

Shameless Academic Geekery

2007-03-04T11:53:00.001-05:00

Greetings from the second floor of the Stone-Shagwell Manor, where I
currently sit, slaving away at the first assignment for my latest course.
(Okay, so if I'm blogging I'm not, like, totally slaving at it, but you
get the idea, right?)

Anyway, through the kind asupices of my favourite Trini, I am the
temporary keeper of a wireless router. The Manor House has been of the
wired variety of late simply because neither Her Ladyship nor myself
required the freedom of a wireless connection and I admitted to some grave
concerns about security, et al. Our existing router/firewall worked
nicely, so why change?

However, with school work on the go I want the freedom to be almost
anywhere in the house. Of course, I have that freedom with my laptop, but
if I'm sitting comfy somewhere with a paper in progress, I want to be able
to pull up a journal article and keep going. Under the old setup that
meant going to Penny's computer, digging up the article, transferring it
to my USB key and then taking it to wherever the laptop was. Not exactly
how I'd prefer to be spending my writing time.

However, the router is working quite nicely and I am sitting here on the
bed, away from most distractions and hacking away at this silly-ass paper.
Apparently I am not alone among my classmates in a lack of motivation or
interest in getting this one cranked out. Fortunately, its only 2000
words and requiring little research. Thank Biff for reflective
assignments.

I'm sure there's more I could babble about but I've been distracted enough
for the time being and this damn thing ain't gonna write itself. Enjoy
your day wherever you are and whatever/whomever you are doing.

BTW, has Larry fallen off the face of the planet? Did he meet a horrible
fate atthe hands of the Rocky Mountain Yeti while skiing??

Since everyone else is doing it...

2007-03-02T15:28:00.000-05:00

A little Meme-ery for all of you who still read this blog.

Career Inventory Test Results

Extroversion		56%
Emotional Stability		60%
Orderliness		53%
Altruism		66%
Inquisitiveness		56%

You are a Persuader, possible professions include - entertainer, recruiter, artist, newscaster, writer/journalist, recreation director, librarian, facilitator, politician, psychologist, housing director, career counselor, sales trainer, travel agent, program designer, corporate/team trainer, child welfare worker, social worker (elderly services), interpreter/translator, occupational therapist, executive

Take Free Career Test
personality tests by similarminds.com

Kal? You? Clergy? *snicker, snort, skoff*

Z is for Zonked

2007-02-28T10:11:00.001-05:00

I am definitely zonked. So is Penny, I suspect, but I know I am for sure.
Apparently the price we paid for winding up in 6th place on Mondays
nights is a schedule which both sucks and blows. Our game times are 9:00,
10:00 or 10:30. Of course, last night was 10:30. This means I don't get
back until well after midnight and I'm too wired to get to sleep right
away. Monday night, Morpheus was somewhat elusive and I wasn't asleep and
settled until well after 4.

Of course, that was when Penny had to get up. 4AM, you say? Yes indeed.
Oh Four Hundred. She was going in to work for 5, instead of 9:00. She
wrote about the whole fiasco on her blgo so I won't repeat myself.

And, of course, I had my own session booked with Wesley Crusher last
night, but I was sufficiently wiped that I left work early to try and get
at least a little sleep...because being punchy and unfocused is NOT a good
thing when working with free weights. The fatigue fallout spilled over to
this morning when I was at a complete loss as to the location of my keys.
Penny and I tried to get that sorted out while figuring out car logistics
for our back-to-back slots at the gym...and then I promptly left the house
without feeding or pilling the cat.

Its gonna be one of those weeks.

And there you have it. 26 spellbinding and gripping posts...all for your
reading and soporific pleasure!

(Psst...if you hate the whole thing, blame Steph...it was her idea.)

Y is for Yowza! (and some other stuff)

2007-02-15T14:07:00.000-05:00

Y is for Yowza! I know you're probably sick to death of me babbling on about how amazing my DW is, but this time, She really is!

I was a bad husband and I cheerfully ignored her advice about not buying her anything for our anniversary, and I got her a lovely pendant of amber, all done in silver. So she threatened told me NOT to get her anything for Valentine's day but that she was going to get me something. (I believe her exact words were "when you see this, you're gonna shit!)

Fully prepared for a spontaneous bowel evacuation, I received her gleeful news that the gift had arrived on time in spite of the bad weather. So, after picking me up at the gym, she brought me home to show off the gift.

Here's what she got me. (Cricket, now I don't have to covet yours....)

This thing totally rocks! And, of course, I have the best wife ever. I can also say that this entire post was generated using the gizmo. (I am such a geek.)

(Not without some errors, of course. The last bit in parentheses translated as (Yamauchi a geek)

"Yowza" also describes the wholly undeserved 20/20 I received on the final assignment for my most recent course. Guess I'll have to deal with the A+

"Y" is also for "yuck", which describes my play tonight. *sigh*

"Y" is for "Y am I so hungry?" Oh yeah, I didn't eat dinner yet. Guess the dinner bell tolls for me.

X is for X-traordinary

2007-02-08T21:02:00.000-05:00

Hello to my remaining readers. Yes I know I've been gone a little while, but I had assignments due for school and a lovely vacation with my wife of now just over two years. No, I can't promise to post more frequently, but I do promise to keep posting. (Yes, Kal, that does mean you'll just have to keep ~~begging, whining, grovelling & pleading~~ fighting for Penny's attentions.)

So we continue with the Alphabet Series.

X is for X-traordinary. (Hey, it works phonetically, so deal with it!)

X-traordinary Tidbit #1 - The Steph blogged! I must say, she doesn't post often anymore but she's always a good read. Especially when she tries a little BUI (Blogging Under the Influence.) She is the step-sib of our friend (and other hopeful Penny-~~suck-up~~-suitor) Larry. Penny told me that Steph finally did a 100 Things list. I can't wait to sit down and enjoy it. Bring a snack, folks, because you might be a while.

X-traordinary Tidbit #2 - (TMI Warning!) Nature's cycles being what they are, Penny and I nearly wound up being bereft of travel sex on two consecutive trips. We didn't really plan it that way, but fate's a cruel diva when she wants to be. We accept these little potholes on the road of life and deal with them. Fortunately, Penny does maintain an even keel about it but every once in a while, the mask slips and her frustrations show. At one point, we were in the kitchen, getting some things for an afternoon meal and I gave her a hug and a little nuzzle of the neck. She grabbed me and whispered harshly in my ear, "Damnit, don't DO that to me or Mother Nature be damned, I will throw you on the floor and take you.right.here." Yep, this is why I married her, folks. For those of you who aren't completely turned off and still wondering, the stars did align and we managed to 'reconnect' in time for Anniversary #2.)

X-traordinary Tidbit #3 - My Awesome Wife. 'nuff said.

X-traordinary Tidbit #4 - Penny and I have been working very hard of late to, as we say, "cast smaller shadows." This involves some radical changes to our diet and eating habits (such as they were) and making trips to the gym. We've actually done quite well, but vacations tend to be a little hard on us, especially when her mother's cooking/hospitality is involved. My MiL is a wonderful woman and always makes sure her guests want for nothing. In true East Coast fashion, that includes copious amounts of food. Amazingly enough, we stayed very true to our plans and intake and probably managed to lose a little while we were down there and even walked about 7km almost every day. So, yay, us!

X-traordinary Tidbit #5 - Pan's Labyrinth is a freakin weird movie. Visually impressive and an amazing tale, but weird. Experience it for yourself.

X-traordinary Tidbit #6 - I've missed regular blogging. I really have, honest. School has me writing a lot (assignments, notes and discussion forum contributions) so some of my writing energies are drained, but I miss the simple, life-based pleasures of the blog. Unbelievably, this particular blog has been running for two years and its been a great trip so far. Blogs as a whole are becoming pretty mainstream and I'm curious to see the evolution.

X-traordinary Tidbit #7 - That would be all of you who still read this stuff every so often. I'm glad you're all still around. You regulars and lurkers rock.

W is for...

2007-01-18T14:39:00.000-05:00

Winter. It finally decided to arrive in our part of the world. A little late and with some mixed signals about its intentions, but its definitely here. Despite growing up in north-eastern Ontario I loathe winter. Especially in the city. All the prettiness of a northern winter with its snow-covered trees and unspoiled white vistas is pretty much shot to hell with the slushy, dirty mass that an urban winter becomes. Add bonehead drivers to the mix and the aesthetic appeal is rapidly lost. I'm one of these Canadian weirdos who actually likes playing hockey in the summertime. I like going to the rink in shorts & sandals.

W is also for WOW. There was a news article recently out of that little quagmire known as Afghanistan. In any conflict there are tales of bravery and heroism which stagger the imagination (e.g. Robert Lawrence MC, late of the Scots Guards and his actions at Tumbledown Mountain in the Falkland Islands in 1982). I'm not under any illusions about the brutality of warfare, but the stories that emerge are aften uplifting. I cannot do justice to this tale, suffice it to say my admiration for these 4 Royal Marines knows no bounds. Wow, indeed.

Finally, and most importantly,

W is for Wife. My amazing one, to be specific. (Yeah I know...I talk about her lots in this alphabet series, but she deserves it.) I love her to bits and I can't imagine life without her. 'juff said. We've known each other for almost 5 yrs now and been married for nearly 2. Most amazing time of my life. :)

V is for Various

2007-01-10T10:44:00.001-05:00

Yes, this is a belated and somewhat eclectic post, but it will have to
suffice.

V is for Victory...something my hockey teams and the Maple Leafs have been
lacking of late. No, I still don't want to talk about Monday night's
game. ;-)

V is for Vengeance, referring to the recent execution of the favourite son
of Tikrit. Although...I have to say I'm a little surprised they didn't
keep him around for his subsequent trials. Yes, I know he was guilty as
all hell, but due process is due process.

V is for Voluntary...Penny and I have finally bitten the bullet and
decided to do the gym thing. Neither one of us can really say, "oh, its
just happy fat" anymore and with the big 4-oh looming for me in '08, I
know that hockey just won't do the trick for me. So we started a little
while ago with a realistic plan for increased activity and a little
culinary/dietary balance.

V is for Victim...a while back, Toronto Police took the unprecedented step
of publishing a highly sanitized photo of a child sex abuse victim in
order to identify the location and eventual identity of her abuser.
Amazingly enough, they accomplished both ends (with the cooperation of
thise FBI folks down south). The victim, now 14, has since willingly
abandoned her anonymity and has made victim impact statements available to
courts where the accused possess pictures or movies of her. While her
abuse took place in the US, this kind of sickness truly knows no
borders...and a former Air Canada flight attendant here in The Big Smoke
is at the end of her trial. Victim she may be, but she's one brave little
girl.

Finally, I know it has been a while. School and work have chewed up a lot
of my time, so my posting frequency is likely to be somewhat diminished.
Sadly it looks as though a number of my favourite reads are slowly falling
away.

So, for all of my delays....V is for apology. Did you know that?

Vi vapologise. ;-)

U is for Unexpected

2006-12-25T16:12:00.000-05:00

Unexpected is right. Penny and I were unexpected...by her parents, that is. We pulled off the complete and total surprise of her parents when we showed up last night. They were really touched that we came down to spend Christmas with them. Nothing like a little positive karma for future use. ;-)

Unexpected also refers to the amount of rain we're receiving. At this time of year we can expect brief showers on & off during the day. However, we've had a rather steady downpour for the balance of the afternoon. Before the rains really hit Penny and I managed to hit the nearby pool and hot tub for some totally unseasonal Christmas Day swimming. Sure beats the Polar Bear Swim hands-down.

I hope this Christmas Day finds you well and enjoying the day wherever you are.

T is for Technical Difficulties

2006-12-22T20:45:00.000-05:00

I'm really wanting to make some changes to this blog. I wouldn't mind looking at a different template or something really cool. However, with all the changes that the good folks at Blogger have made, they really missed the boat on adding some new, funky templates.

I was all set to try a modified version of one of the standard ones (including my banner and all that stuff) but I got so lost in the code, I gave up and reverted to this one. I think I've managed to sort out an issue with the background and how it loads at higher resolutions, so that should help a bit.

Guess I'll have to, like, bribe Kal and tap into his blogger code expertise. Wonder what he'll want for that?

S is for Surprises, Sun, Sand, Swimming, and Sex

2006-12-21T13:09:00.000-05:00

( Edit at end of Post)

All four of those things will be had in various combinations and permutations because DW and I will be in sunny Florida for part of the Holidays. Here's how I mentioned it at work:

Me: "I got my wife a plane ticket as her Christmas present."

Smart-ass Co-worker: "Wow, that's nice of you. To where?"

Me: "Florida, to go see her folks and surprise them."

SaCw: "Really? So what will you be doing while she's gone?"

Me: "Um, I'm going with her."

SaCw: "Oh. Not much of a present then, huh?"

But seriously, ladies and germs....My poor DW has been somewhat worn to a frazzled remnant of her former self from the madness which is her workplace. This year has been a bit of a challenge for Christmas gifts between us because neither of us has any specific wants or needs. But she sent me a text message from work a little while back, telling me that if she could have it, she would love 3 consecutive days off, preferably somewhere warm. This little plan is brought to you by the fact that the Wondertwins are with their father for Christmas this year.

So off to the Scare Canada website I went, and - a few "Page Cannot be loaded" messages later, we had flights to visit her folks down at their winter place on the Gulf Coast. They are expecting to be all on their lonesome this year because the MiL's younger brother is ill and won't be able to travel down as originally planned. DW has confirmed that they will actually be at home when we arrive (although that might make for a really funny post later. Once we've actually started laughing about it, that is.)

In all honesty, I can use a little break myself. If nothing else, I can take 4 whole days off from school and work and basically put my brain on auto-pilot.

So there we have it....surprising her parents, sunny skies, sandy beaches, swimming in the nearby pool and much, much, much travel sex. Happy Holidays indeed!

******************************************************
S is also for Sacrifice. I can't say enough about the sacrifices DW makes for me and for our family. More often than not she deserves better than what she gets back, but its never unnoticed at this end. I couldn't imagine being without her. Not for a minute. I love you, baby...

R is for Remorse, Recriminations and Recontacting Rosie

2006-12-08T15:56:00.000-05:00

Before I get into the heavier stuff, give a shout out to my old High School classmate Rose. A transplanted Canadian, she's married to a US Army guy and lives in upstate NY. Rose was a year behind me in school but was taking my French class (the keener) and her brother, James, was also a classmate.

Of course, none of this would be interesting without that Six Degrees of Separation tale, right?

I had been in touch with Rose via email years ago and managed to lose her contact details. But I came across her (and her blog) while reading the comments about another classmate and bandmate and friend of long standing who was facing, well, a life-altering moment.

You see, D - a well known and well-respected middle school teacher back home - was about to plead guilty to a luring charge involving one of his own students. It almost seems like the classic case. Popular teacher, high standing in the community, award winning, active in his church, dedicated to wife and family and passionate about his job....busted for rather inappropriate online activities.

39 years old, and life -as he knows it - is over.

Unfortunately, in our hermetically sealed little burg up North, this is major news, and, of course, everyone and his dog has an opinion. The opinions range from disbelief, to denial to righteous condemnation and absurd speculations. My sister being one of the many contented by their righteousness - "oh, I'm not surprised at all", she says. (I hear she's screening Martha to come in and re-do the ivory tower she currently calls home.)

Anyway, I'm not among those who will be calling for D's head. I just can't. While I find his actions deplorable both personally and professionally, I won't define the man by this bad act. Fortunately, there are some other bandmates who are taking the same stance. I took the time to write him a letter that said I'd stand by him no matter what. I also said that if he was wrongly accused, he should fight hard. But I also told him that if he was the man I knew him to be and if he was indeed guilty that he should face the music and spare everyone the grief of a trial.

Now some people might wonder why I'd be willing to stand by someone who will likely be known (not necessarily accurately) as a sex offender for the rest of his life...a man whose teaching career is over...a man facing a long road of personal reflection and emotional challenge.

...because he was there for me at a time when I faced guilt by association in that same small burg, and because I still believe he's a good man...although one who was clearly struggling with his identity (not to excuse his actions at all.)

Yes, he stood by me when I needed my friends, and that kind of dedication is something you never ever forget.

Q is for Quintessential Queries

2006-12-05T10:21:00.000-05:00

As my DW has already done, it is my turn to share with you...

SIX WEIRD THINGS ABOUT MY WIFE

1. Some of you know that Penny has some rather chilly body parts. Feet. Flanks. Glutes. Its a running joke with us because I am, as someone once tagged me, The Human Hot Water Bottle. So you would think that she would appreciate being warm? Apparently not. She loathes hot feet and hot hands. Hates it. She feels all clammy, especially with her feet. We're not sure where the happy medium is. She has a pair of what she calls "Magic Socks" which alleviate the worst of the cold feet in bed, but eventually they come off.

2. Some women go nuts about shoes. Fortunately, my wife isn't one of them. Granted, she has way more in terms of footwear than I do, but she's nowhere near obsessed. However, she does have one clothing fetish: scarves. Not just any scarves. Ones she can knit. I'm very impressed with anyone who can knit, and my wife is one of the better ones at it. But she goes all giddy when she sees a scarf pattern, particularly if its some new, funky, multi-strand chunky design. Me? I don't get it. But it makes her happy.

3. There's nothing wrong with liking chocolate, but apparently if a chocolate treat involves layers, this triggers something in my wife. For example, with chocolate covered jujubes, she will eat all the chocolate off, suck the jujube clean of any remaining chocolate and then eat the jujube itself. She has to do this one at a time. Unless, of course, its a black one, and then I get it.

4. As some of you have seen, my wife is, well...um...uh...let's just say that 'June is bust-ing out all over.' As a result, if you have a body part that is likely to receive a lot of visual interest, I suppose it stands to reason that you want to make sure its presentable. This often means nipple alignments. Before she goes out anywhere, she'll often get me to make sure her "nipples are straight". If I look at this rationally, I suppose I wouldn't want one nipple pointing one way while the other is cock-eyed (so to speak) but as a guy, I just get to have free boobie looks. :)

5. Penny and I are equally bad for this one, but we often start crafts and leave them untouched for long periods of time. With Penny its needlepoint. With me, its models. We both have half-started or even untouched projects of various shades tucked away. In Penny's defence, she does complete some of them. In fact, she just completed and framed one that became a commemorative for our wedding. (Feb 5, for those of you planning to send Anniversary gifts) I'll let her tell you how that came about.

6. "There's no such thing as 'too hot'", she says. While this does not apply to feet or hands it does apply to that most exclusive of condiments: horseradish. Now, being of strong English stock I appreciate a good roast beef and horseradish, but Penny takes it up a notch. When we visit her "Aunt" for some of the Jewish holidays, she often has this wild purple horseradish which could curl nosehairs at fifty paces. That stuff became Penny's benchmark for "hot". Since then she's been on a quest for the ultimate hot horseradish. Borrowing a page from Kal, she's referred to some of the alleged "Extra Hot" offerings from the local grocery store as "Ussy-Pay". "Extra Hot, my ass", she says after biting into a roast beef sandwich in anticipation. Personally, I don't know what the right recipe is. We're still looking for the purple stuff.

There you go. She might be weird, but she's all mine and I love her to bits.

P is for Patriotism and a few other things

2006-11-29T21:41:00.000-05:00

I admit it. I'm the closest thing to a flag-wavin' nut you're likely to see in this country. I get goosebumps listening to the Anthem, and I get a real swell of pride on Canada Day, watching the Snowbirds, and even on Remembrance Day. I dunno what it is, but I've got it. I love the flag, I love all the things this nation has accomplished and I appreciate the fact that its largely done without a lot of horn-tooting.

Of course, I can appreciate some good satire when I see it. These guys really top the list:

and

Gotta love it.

I suppose I'll even grand some grudging admiration to Weird Al and "Canadian Idiot"

But of course, "P" is really for Penny. My favourite Canadian Pervert (thanks, Kal. Btw, how's that ilicit sex video traffic doing?) I know I've raved on
ad infinitum about the awesomeness of my wife. And I'll continue to do so. So there. She rocks. and she's MINE. (Sorry Lowk, Kal, Larry, Dani, Callie, et al....)

And just for her, I'll leave you with this video from one of her favourite Canadians:

P.S. Ed, I haven't forgotten about the Meme tag. I promise I'll get to it.

O is for Ouch

2006-11-23T08:36:00.000-05:00

Ouch. So there I was. No shit. Game was scoreless through 2 periods. 2:30 into the period they score. And again. And again. We lose 3-zip.

A disappointing state of affairs.

O is also for Oops.

When the venerable Grey Cup is presented to the winning team after the game, the boys get their hands on the actual 94 year old trophy. Unlike the Stanley Cup, which has 3 replicas on the go and the original safely on display at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. As with anything else which is 94 years old, the Cup tends to be a little fragile....as a BC Lion discovered to his chagrin on live TV when he....

Broke. The. Grey. Cup.

Yep. He broke it. Snapped if off its base.

This thing has had its share of bumps and bruises over the years but its never been busted like that before. And certainly not on live television.

It has since been repaired by a very talented Winnipeg welder.

Oh is also for Oh My God. As in what was Michael Richards thinking??

Oh, I seem to have reached the end of this post. Oh dear.

N is for "Now??"

2006-11-20T08:39:00.000-05:00

...something I often ask Penny.

N is also for "Never say Die", which is exactly what the BC Lions did all season long and they kicked the asses of the Montreal Alouettes all over the field in the 94th edition of the Grey Cup, held yesterday in Winnipeg.

N is for Nit-picky. That's how I was working on a recent photo editing assignment. I was stuck in pixel land and I wasn't sure I was coming back.

That is all...

M is for Magna Carta

2006-11-19T11:21:00.000-05:00

Okay, okay, so its a little historical geekery in the title. This rather belated entry is actually not about the 1215AD document as the foundation for representational governance. Honest, its not!

Its really more of a tribute to she who is My Wife. She who is Magnificent. Mollifying. More Meticulous than the gives herself credit for. And, most importantly, MINE.

MINE MINE MINE MINE MINE!

(heh...sorry. Got a little carried away there.)

Have you ever had one of those "reality" moments? A moment where you think , rather objectively, about a situation that you're in and you just say, "How. Holy shit." Or words to that effect. "Is that really what happened?" I had one of those, recently. Not in a bad way, or anything. Just one of those, "wow, I really married this woman?" moments. More of a recognition of good fortune. She really is awesome, MY wife. I just love her to bits.

k, fine. So this wasn't really a "M" post. Except for the fact that Penny is Mine. My Wife. My Love. Mea Vita. Meum Mel. My pearl beyond price.

And, Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
(so what if it's TMI? Ed and Sue will understand) ;-)

L is for Loss

2006-11-13T12:47:00.000-05:00

The idea of "loss" has been much on my mind for the past several days.

So here we go.

Loss - what my Thursday team managed to do despite some unexpectedly
strong efforts on my part.

Loss - what my Argos managed to do on Sunday afternoon after fluking their
way to the East Final. A disappointing game from them on all fronts.
"Loss" will no doubt be felt by those who will not be returning to the
team next year.

Loss - what the Leafs managed NOT to do, despite losing Sundin and
Raycroft over the past couple of games. A 5-1 rout of Montreal was
clearly what the Team Therapist ordered.

Loss - Keenly felt on November 11th as Canada paused to remember those
killed, wounded or forever scarred by war. I can't help but notice that
my Legion's contingent in the town's parade was a little smaller this
year.

Loss - What my colleague 'L' is no doubt feeling after the loss of her
baby, just 11 days shy of her due date. She and her hubby had been trying
for 6 years to get pregnant and we were over the moon for her. We got the
sad news on Friday. Such cruel irony that many unworthies breed like
rabbits, yet this wonderful woman and her husband face yet another
staggering setback. Sometimes words are just not enough.

K is for Kick-Ass

2006-11-06T14:56:00.000-05:00

(Don't get on me about hyphenations. This is my blog, so I'll do what I wanna!)

Yes...kick-ass would be the way to describe this last week. Or Kicking ass. Whatever works.

I kicked ass in my most recent assignment for school. Got another "A". (Kick-ass!)
I saw two totally kick-ass football games this weekend. The Argos and Bombers played a thriller, albeit in front of a disappointing playoff crowd. Then the Roughriders and the Stamps put on a great show.
Michael Bishop - kicked ass coming off the bench cold to throw 2 TDs to clinch the Argo win.
Saskatchewan's Defence - kicked Calgary's ass for the bulk of the game, setting up a major West division update
My current model building efforts on a 1970 Plymouth 440 GTX - kicks ass.
My Monday team - kicked ass last week to keep us in the top half of the league
My Thursday team - kicked ass last week in a nice upset win.
My wife - just generally kicks ass for her awesomeness

So there's your kick-ass post for a kick-ass Monday.

J is for Jones

2006-11-03T09:08:00.000-05:00

Technical Designator: Jones, Kalezac Prometheus (ussy-Pay, Mk 1, Mod 0), one each, for the purpose of.

Scientific Nomenclature: Gluteus Irritatus Maximus

Ah, Jones. Wifey-pooh's vassal. Motherdear's firstborn. BG's endless competition. Handler of Recondo, keeper of The Garage, and major-domo for Rasta Cat. Jones, the Shameless luster-afterer of Penny and self-proclaimed successor to The Stony One in the event of his untimely (yet likely suspicious) demise. He, closet photo documentarian; tireless denouncer of irritating Mass-holes and ardent political op-ed blogger.

Truly, my friend, what can I say that has not already been said?

I think the burning question in everyone's mind is, "Dude, seriously. Like, what's up with the creepy rotting food pictures?"

Yes, friends, J is for Jones. World wthout end, Amen.
(pass the potatoes)

I is for Idiot

2006-11-02T15:27:00.000-05:00

Well, what the hell else would I use? My loyal readership knows that I don't suffer fools well, and as Nov 11 draws closer, they seem to come out of the woodwork more and more.

Here's the latest example and aftermath.

People's lack of respect and consideration never cease to amaze me. And if ever there was a group of Canadians who deserve it unconditionally, its our veterans.

And then, just for kicks, you get idiots like this one. I don't envy the officers who have to learn to cope with what they see. Humanity saddens me sometimes.

I is for Idiot, indeed.

H is for Happy Birthday!

2006-11-01T12:45:00.000-05:00

...and a Happy Birthday to The Panama Jackass, that Missouri Masher, that Nature Boy, that Deuce Bigolow Wanna-be...

LARRY!

G is for Goalie

2006-10-31T18:34:00.000-05:00

Well, duh. What did you think I would choose?

G is also for Google. Without which I'd never be able to amaze Penny with my repository of useless information. Bless you, Google.

G is for "Go Figure", one of my signature phrases. Very handy in a number of anecdotal situations. It can say "that's an interesting story", or "fuck me, I'm bored of hearing this story AGAIN" with equal affinity.

G is for G spot. (Maybe one of these days Jones will figure out what happens when he finds it). When people tell me to go to my happy place, I know what I'm thinking about. Everyone else thinks I'm pondering a pleasant meadow. Silly rabbits.

G is for Grumpy. Which I am sometimes. I admit it. So, deal.

And finally,

G is for Guitar. An instrument I love to play but don't get to play much anymore. *sigh*

F is for, um...

2006-10-31T11:34:00.000-05:00

How about "flailing", does that work? Cuz we all know what "F" is really for (I know Ed and Sue know for sure!)

F is definitely for Football. Unfortunately, Penny and I seem to be bad luck for the Argos because they lost every game we attended this year. So we're not going to attend the East Division semi-final this weekend. Instead, I'll just watch on the Tube.

F is for Five...as in a 5-2 win last night in my Ajax league. And I was doing a lot of flailing around at the puck for sure.

F is for FUBAR. Heh. 'nuff said there.

But F is really for Friends. And I count you all among them. :)

E is for Eerie

2006-10-28T21:02:00.000-04:00

Sometimes it takes my wife to point things out.

I had come home from hockey late Monday night (I'll just slip past the ol' procrastination issues here) and I had showered and DW was staring at my left side as I changed.

"Oh my god" she said. "What happened to you?"

I gave her an odd look.

She said, "Your chest protector has branded you. You've got a pentacle! No, seriously!"

Of course, I didn't believe her but I went to the bathroom to check it out in the mirror. She wasn't kidding. I had the faint outline of a pentacle on my rib cage.

You knew we had to take pictures to prove it, right?

Here ya go...here's proof that I bear the mark.

First the cross thing, now this? What's next?

D is for D'OH!

2006-10-23T17:37:00.000-04:00

Probably the singular catchphrase announcing failure, recognition of retroactive error or realization that you just uttered something you shouldn't have uttered.

Way better than "oops" by a long shot.

Of all the contributions to Western society provided by Matt Groening, I'd say that one was the biggest.

(Pretty sure that's what Larry said after The Steph posted that picture....)

C is for Cornucopia

2006-10-22T07:42:00.000-04:00

Well, its for a lot of things...isn't it?

C is for Choke, which is what my Argonauts did when they had a chance to clinch first place and a bye to the East final. Penny and I went to the game and were throroughly disgusted with the on-field product.

C is for Crunch, which is what fellow North Bay native Mike O'Shea does to people on the football field. In fact, he's done it 1,000 times. Yep, Mikey recorded his 1,000th tackle on Friday night. Well done, Mike.

C is also for Cuddle, and Penny and I did much of that this weekend.

C is also for Cool...and I give that big shout out to all my readers, commenters and lurkers. You folks rock.

Edit:

C is also for Clarke. As in Bob. He who fell on his sword as the seemingly untouchable GM of the Philadelphia Flyers. He wasn't universally liked as a GM in the NHL, but he definitely took some good stands when he needed to. I give you Eric Lindros as an example. Take a break Bob. I'm thinking you need it.

B is for Baseball

2006-10-20T15:59:00.000-04:00

I really lost most of my interest in baseball after the strike, but I was thinking of Larry when I heard that the Cardinals made it to the World Series. I was a little sad that Carlos Delgado won't get a shot at a World Series title but I hear it was quite the series.

As much as Larry is a hockey fan, I know he likes his hometown Redbirds too. So, here's to you Larry...may your boys bring home the hardware this year.

A is for Argentina

2006-10-19T11:02:00.000-04:00

Argentina - a lovely little country with some interesting and somewhat dubious socio-political history. They recently unearthed Juan Peron to move him to a new mausoleum. Needless to say the event was fraught with all sorts of emotion.

However, on a more positive note, Argentina is the home of my friend Daniela, her husband Seb, and their daughter Sophie. Sophie has her own photo blog and she's an absolute cutie. Dani and Seb are, I think, still hoping to move to Canada some day...although why they wanted Winnipeg still escapes me. Seb is also likely the only Maple Leafs fan in the Greater Buenos Aires area.

Night of the living brain dead

2006-10-18T09:08:00.000-04:00

Somewhere in a parallel universe, my doppelganger has had an awesome day. I, on the other hand, had a pretty tiring day at the salt mines. By my calendar, I had all of about 45 minutes of unscheduled time yesterday. Yikes.

All things being equal, I'm hoping his day goes to shit and mine is nothing but success and accomplishments.

Here's hoping, anyway.

Btw, I must give a big shout out to the BatRider. I've resisted the urge to really needle him about the Eskimos being knocked out of playoff contention this past weekend. Fortunately he's a good sport about most of my ribbing on all things "Eskimo" so the banter will, I'm sure, continue.

I'm toying with the idea of my own A-Z list like Steph but I dunno if it could be done consecutively. Must consult her for the rules.

Have a happy!

Rampant Despotism IV

2006-10-16T09:21:00.000-04:00

Well, we finally did it. We really did. We finally took the next steps on our path to rule the world.

After much drooling and longing, we picked up Civilization IV this weekend.

Anyone who has read this blog (if there is anyone left reading this blog) knows that I was a big CivIII fan and I was really excited to see that an update would be forthcoming. The game came out a while ago but it has finally taken up residence in the Stone-Shagwell manor - the perfect plaything for two equally aspiring despots.

Granted, Penny and I take different approaches to world conquest. She's all about steamrolling the competition, and I'm more into the economic and cultural stranglehold prior to military action, but the end result is the same. What I really like about this version is that apparently you can run multiplayer scenarios on the same machine where you take turns.

Once I crank some more RAM into the computer (because we're at the bare minimum for the system requirements) we'll have to try it out.

The graphics rock, the soundtracks are amazing and I could happily spend a few days building and ruling a few worlds. *sigh*

Screen shots follow...

So here I sit...

2006-10-13T22:21:00.000-04:00

...Wires crossed yet again with DW's ex. My schedule says to drop them off after 7, and when I arrive at 7:20 he ain't here. So I call. He's apparently half an hour out.

Since I have no interest in burning up gas for 30 minutes, here we sit. Good thing The Boy was in slow mode getting out otherwise we'd sit here longer.

This isn't helping the headache I've been nursing since noon. This one is a doozie and nothing seems to help. Maybe sex will. :P

K. Is he here yet? *looks* nope. Not here yet. Fuck.

I have to do a major shout out to Steph, the Dirty Gypsy for her awesome alphabet posting series. She came up with 26 great posts that really are a great read. You'll even find a really awesomely embarassing picture of Larry the Nature Boy from a recent party chez Steph. Nothing like a pic of a drunken blogger on a bathroom floor in a really stupid hat to bring out those wanting to use the picture for evil purposes. (Like that picture would have any other purpose???)

*looking at clock*

Shit.

I really should have just gone back home and told him to pick the kids up there. But I'm a nice guy so I didn't do that. But I should have. Oh well.

Fuck its cold outside. Could be worse. I could be in Buffalo. That does apply at almost any time but in this case it's doubly applicable because they got pounded in a rare fall snow storm. Buffalo and the parts of Ontario right across the border got 12"-15" of the white stuff closing roads and schools and wreaking all sorts of havoc. Better them than us.

Speaking of which , I played 2 good periods of hockey last night and I'm not quite ready to talk about the 3rd period so we'll just not, okay? K. Good

7:42PM. Not here. ~sheesh~

My head still hurts. Did I mention that? Good. Didn't want you to forget.

Hmmmm. What else....Penny has been back at work part days this week I'll leave her to relate the gory details, suffice it to say that she really is the glue holding her department together. Based on what she told me I envisioned her department looking something like Klinger's Office when he got sick and the doctors took over. Chaos chaos everywhere.

7:50. I'm really glad I have my blackberry. Otherwise I'd be seriously bored. Kids are keeping themselves entertained with some kind of in-car wrestling. As long as they are still laughing and there's no blood I'll leave them to it.

7:56. He arrived. Kids gone. Am off.

Hey, wait a minute!?

2006-10-07T11:06:00.000-04:00

This week I got a real sign that I had been lying low for too long. I was working on my paper (submitted last night, thank you very much) and went to the fridge for a drink. When I opened the door I saw a milk carton with my picture on it.

So, yes, I've been located. Alive and well.

The Stone/Shagwell clan is off to the wedding of Penny' niece at beautiful CFB Borden, where she is marrying a meathead. No, not Mike Stivic. She's marrying a Military Policeman - known as meatheads particularly for their red berets. Although by all accounts he's a great guy so I'm happy for them both.

It will be a trip down memory lane for me because I spent no small amount of time at Base Boredom over my time in the big green machine and I haven't been there in quite some time.

Last evening was spent with Penny's favourite nephew and his wife, who are also in town for the wedding. Nothing like a couple of pints of Alexander Keith's finest to lubricate the ol' brain pan.

Must get my mop trimmed now. :)

I bear the mark!

2006-09-26T08:44:00.000-04:00

Every once in a while life makes things interesting. In school we get the lesson and then take the test. But life prefers to give you a test and then teach you the lesson.

Case in point...

Last night was game 2 for my Ajax league. We were fresh off an 8-4 win last week but facing the league's comic relief team, The Pylons. They're a good bunch of guys with a great team spirit and in spite of the fact that they usually own the league basement we seem to have trouble with them.

The game actually went well and was pretty balanced and both of us goalies were keeping things interesting by frustrating the shooters. In the second period we were up 2-1 and I took a shot fairly high on my chest. Normally this isn't a problem but this time it really hurt. Sometimes that happens but the upper part of my sternum was really sore. I didn't think much of it and figured I'd have a pretty good mark where the puck had obviously hit me between two blocks of padding.

After the game I pulled off my chest protector and felt down inside my shirt. My hands made contact with my Celtic cross and it was BENT! I walked over to a nearby mirror to look at my chest and I had a lovely imprint of the Celtic cross outlined in red just slightly right of centre on my chest. Ouch...

Penny says its like I've been branded and I really should take a picture to show the mark, cuz its a good one.

So, kids, when you're playing a contact sport...take off the bling. Avoid the brand and the devil's mark.

(And for my next trick, ladies and germs, I'll be figuring out how to unbend my cross...coming up next!)

Muggy Monday

2006-09-18T18:49:00.000-04:00

I swear the fall is supposed to be cooler, but with how I was sweating from the humidity today you would think it was the height of summer.

Even at home we're in this great personal comfort conundrum. Its too hot to be enjoyable in the house, yet the thermostat says it shouldn't be hot enough to require the A/C. Applying some logic to the situation, we know its not exactly a wise use of energy to be firing up the cooler air. So we try fans inside. They work. Unfortunately, that lovely air circulation doesn't extend itself to the GO train. I was regretting my choice of a dress shirt both on the way to work and on the way home.

Back in a moment....must tidy the kitty box

* * *

I'm back. Miss me? (I swear that cat is suffering from some internal necrosis...that was nasty!)

Sorry...TMI, I know.

I know for a fact that my evening is guaranteed some air conditioning, because hockey starts tonight. Hockey also starts on Thursday night. (I love playing 2 nights a week...) Unfortunately, both starts are late ones (1o:30) so I'll be a mite sluggish for my 9:30 meeting tomorrow, but I'm told this is what caffeine is really for.

I hope your evening finds you cooler than this one...

Tidbits

2006-09-12T13:57:00.000-04:00

Straight out of the "WTF?" file, hockey fans will be aghast to see that the New York Islanders have engaged in their latest round of silliness. Not content with signing Alexei Yashin to his 10yr-$70M contract, or with replacing easy come, easy go GM Neil Smith with their backup Goalie (Hello, Garth Snow), but the Isles finally went off the deep end. They had drafted Rick DiPietro as their goalie of the future a few years back and, well, its tough for a guy to play well behind a bad team. Just ask Marc-Andre Fleury. Anyway, Charles Wang (owner) decided that he really wanted to hang on to DiPietro. So he offered him a new contract.

A 15 year contract.

Worth $67.5M.

Guaranteed if he suffers a career-ending injury.

Holy crap.

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In other news...NASCAR officially created a new racing series in Canada - the Canadian Tire Series - by purchasing CASCAR (the small-time Canadian Stock Car circuit.)

Because Canada needs this. Really, we do. Because there wasn't enough reason to put a "3" sticker, complete with halo and wings, on your Monte Carlo or other GM product. News flash, folks. It was a race. He's Dead. Get over it. You don't see people doing that for Greg Moore or Gilles Villeneuve, do you? ~sheesh~

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A shout out to the folks over at Boatmen Blog (see links). I tripped over them today (first useful link I've found from the ~~Red Star of Toronto~~, I mean ~~Pravda~~, I mean, The Toronto Star. All those crazy-ass Argo fans can get their Frank D'Angelo bashing joys there.

=========

Condi Rice was apparently in Halifax yesterday to offer her thanks to the many Haligonians who took travellers in when flights were diverted because of 9-11. Wonder if she had to look for it on a map.

=========

The Steph actually Audioblogged. Colour me floored.

=========

I'm generally in a Fuck You kind of mood today. Could you tell? Oh, and, Larry? Lemme know how that new relationship is working out for ya. ;-)

Remote Friday

2006-09-08T10:02:00.000-04:00

Hello from a not-too-distant place. Penny and I are out for a quick getaway and while she's tied up I thought I'd blog.

Got some nice news back from school with an update on marks for the big presentation my team did while I was in Victoria and the paper I had to submit after I returned. The marks were good and I got lots of constructive feedback on how to keep improving things, so I can't really complain. (We even had a blog assignment and I managed an A-. Do with that what you will.

Hockey is starting soon and the playoff runs for football are starting. My Argos are only 2 points behind Montreal for first place in the East and if they keep playing as well as they have recently, first place is not out of reach. dtrini, his DW and Penny and I will be attending the final Argos home game...fittingly against Montreal. Can't wait for that one.

Anyway, not a whole lot else to say. My next school course is going on and a lot of my writing energies are going there. Blogging for school? Who knew!

Hope all is well with everyone out there. I'm still lurking around and reading when I can and commenting when the mood strikes.

Best Time of the Year

2006-09-01T12:06:00.000-04:00

(yes, my paper is done so now I can concentrate on more important things....at least until my next one is due)

My favourite sports weekend is this weekend. The Labour Day classics mark the run up to the playoffs for the CFL. I plan on spending Monday absolutely engrossed in the Calgary-Edmonton game, and then the Toronto-Hamilton game. Tonight is BC at Montreal (and although some experts are billing this as a potential Grey Cup preview, I don't think Montreal will get there. BC will definitely have its hands full with Calgary, if Henry Burris keeps playing well), although Saskatchewan looks like a dark horse.

Unfortunately, Monday also marks the start of my next course at Royal Roads. Apparently we don't worry about holidays when we do distance courses. ;-)

However, very little will get between me and football this Monday.

"It's the most wonderful time...of the year..."

On another note, I do plan to spend some time in the workshop this weekend, finally getting my workbench done. All that remains is the fitting and installation of the drawers and the final fitting of the top.

Then I get to dismantle the old one.

"Queequeg? Fetch me my pry bar!"

Hello, blog

2006-08-30T08:56:00.000-04:00

Remember me?

Yeah, I know. It hardly seems like we have any "quality time" together anymore. Ever since I started that new thing. You know, school?

She's pretty demanding, I tell ya. Heck, I didn't do much with her last week and I'm really paying the price, now. I mean, its not like I ignored her or anything....I just laid a foundation. Something to build on. You see, we have this big date on Thursday and I really needed to make sure I had things right. I had to gather my thoughts, and all that. But Thursday's coming fast and I had a lot to do. She was really nagging at me and I knew I had to do something to make it up to her.

I think she's a little happier. She's feeling like I'm meeting her stringent demands for something "origina", instead of hearing only what others have said...or even worse, stuff people have quoted from individuals who were smarter.

Thursday should be interesting when it all comes together.

Until then cherished blog....I'm not going anywhere...I just need to take care of a few things, ya know?

On braces and beans and blogging

2006-08-24T12:08:00.000-04:00

I was reminded by Kal that I've been a little quiet on the blog front recently and I suppose that's true. In my defence, I offer the fact that I was away for 2 weeks getting all edjimacated and that I've spent the bulk of this first week home reconnecting with my wife.

Colour me guilty. *g*

One of the ongoing assignments for school has been a reflective blog. I suppose that's what I do here - reflect - but the reflections are of a more personal nature. The school blog is also reflective, but more specifically reflecting on our learning experiences in the program and about learning in general. The blog assignment was somewhat experimental for the faculty and it wasn't without its problems, but it is worth 20% of my total grade. So, I blog.

A guy does need a place to have non-school thoughts published and vented, and this is the place.

There are a few random updates...

Penny is at the dentist this morning with The Boy, having his braces fitted. Most kids I grew up with dreaded the thought of becoming "metal mouth" for a long period of time, but he seems to be looking foward to it. I'm not sure why, though...

Penny was also cooking up a storm yesterday afternoon. She was prepping two massive pots of beans to be turned into Baked Beans (using her mother's recipe), she also did a huge batch of beef stew and she had prepped corn, chicken strips and chicken burgers for dinner. In response to my somewhat astonished gaze, She said, "I know, I know...I was nesting a little bit yesterday."

No complaints here, babe.

Other than that, work is work...school is school (final paper assignment due August 31) and life has returned to abnormal chez nous.

We pause for station identification

2006-08-19T22:10:00.000-04:00

Dtrini and Bonnie will get this one...

Wow....they really do come home...

Almost done....

2006-08-18T13:50:00.000-04:00

My group presentation is done and its the last day of my residency. I'm brain-weary but really pumped about what I've learned so far. Choosing the program here was definitely the right call. There are some really, really smart people in my cohort and, as one of my collegagues mentioned, it feels like I have a faculty body well beyond the 3-4 profs.

I'm excited to be going home to my DW and to the simple pleasures of sleeping in my own bed, snuggling with Penny and pulling the cat out of whatever it is she's getting into.

A long 2 weeks but a good two weeks. Just have to get through the long flight home...

For my "Babe"

2006-08-14T14:20:00.000-04:00

Except that in a few days, my plane will be leaving, I'll be on my way back to you so I won't be missing you anymore.

This isn't me, this is my stand-in

2006-08-14T13:14:00.000-04:00

I give you this Meme in my absence.

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet and a street name)

Max Bayview, Max Lighthouse, Max St. Germain, Max Fencerow, Max Glenrose, Max Commanche, Max Heron, Max Pine (Actually, I think these are my DJ names...just like Johnny Fever.)

2. YOUR MOVIE STAR NAME: (grandfather/grandmother on your mom's side, your favorite candy)

Richardson Skor

3. YOUR "FLY GIRL/GUY" NAME: (first initial of first name, first two or three letters of your middle name)

Rock M

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal)

Blugh Katz

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born)

Weylynn North (my agent made me modify it...and besides, Thaao Phenglis was already taken.)

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name, first 2 letters of mom's maiden name and first 3 letters of the town you grew up in.)

Sto-Mo Bi-Nor (Renegade Pilot, Trader, Mercenary, and Intergalactic Slut-puppy)

7. SUPERHERO NAME: (your favorite color, favorite drink)

The Blue Screwdriver

Is it still Posh if its just Victoria?

2006-08-06T01:26:00.000-04:00

Hello readers:

My body tells me that its well after 1AM even though the clocks say its about 20 past ten.

I have arrived safe and sound in Victoria and I'm on my way via cab to the Royal Roads campus. Right now I can't tell you much because its too dark to see anything, but I'm sure its lovely.

Penny is off to take the Wondertwins to their camp soon....and I'm missing her lots right now.

I'll blog again once I've found my campus, my dorm, and my bed....in that order.

Night-night...

~yawn~

Another week, come and gone

2006-08-04T14:00:00.000-04:00

Friday already? Wow...a speedy week indeed.

I've spent a lot of this week getting school work done and getting work work wrapped up before I go.

Penny and I spent the bulk of yesterday together doing errands and other last-minute things. We upgraded her PC at home (sound and graphics), but not without an amusing yet poignant lesson in the importance of reading package instructions prior to leaving the store to save yourself a return trip.

Hockey was on last night, and the Steve's Painting crew managed a 2-1 win in the first of 3 round-robin playoff games. With the other two teams in our division playing to a 1-1 tie, this means we have a slight hold on first place for the moment. I'll be missing the next 2 games because of school, so I told the boys I was fully expecting to be playing in the final on the 24th. But, no pressure, eh?!

I'll blog as frequently as I can while I'm away but don't be surprised if I'm too busy to say much.

I'm gonna miss my DW like mad when we're apart. Fortunately for us, we don't have the kids the night I come back.

Heh, heh, heh.

Enjoy the weekend, all....

(NOTE: I'm sufficiently disgusted with the stinker the Argos played last night against Montreal that I am refusing to comment as a protest. Power to the People, and all that.)

How can we miss you when you don't go away?

2006-07-31T18:20:00.000-04:00

Dear Dominik:

Yeah, sure. You might be a really great goalie to some people, but despite your repeated Vezina Trophy wins, you never did a lot for me.

Must be that stupid-ass bucket you wear on your head.

And, yeah, it was all touching and shit when you finally got the Stanley Cup with Detroit, but a real champion knows when its time to call it a day.

That, my friend, ain't you. Because you still haven't figured it out.

I did some checking. Yes, you left after the '02 Cup win. But for some insane reason you came back. You played a whopping 14 games. 14. Why? Because your groin went out on you. Of course, you got to enjoy the 3-ring Circus, featureing: You, Curtis Joseph, and Manny Legace. Then you hung them up again over the 04-05 lockout. But nobody really expected you to come back. (to your credit, you did willingly give back a lot of the salary you signed for because you felt you really hadn't earned it.)

And yet, inexplicably, you did come back. To Ottawa, of all fucking places.

43 games played but only 28 wins. Oh, yeah...and you had all those wins in the first half of the season when, yep, your groin/adductor/whatever went out again. So the Sens put their playoff hopes on their rookie goalie. Might work in Carolina, but not in Ottawa, pal.

And here you are, inexplicably, back in the NHL with Detroit.

Dude, I don't get it. You don't really have anything left to prove and you're a trainer's nightmare because one mis-placed lunge with a pad and you're toast for the season.

Dom, you're done. The sooner you recognize this, the sooner you can get on with your life and we can get on with hockey.

Love,

NHL fans everywhere.

Technorati Tag: hockey

The Champ...

2006-07-30T19:45:00.000-04:00

Its amazing what you can find when you look for it. Anyone wondering what this whole "Champ" thing was that I posted in Penny's latest blog can go here for a listen.

Oh, the shame of it all

2006-07-29T21:38:00.000-04:00

After watching the Argonauts get their asses handed to them by the BC Lions, I am completely ashamed to be a fan. I haven't seen this much bad play since the Chevy Chase show, or when Ralph Benmurgi thought that a TV show would be a good idea.

Bad penalties, weak play, and no coordination whatsoever.

Shame, shame, shame

..and on this day in history...

2006-07-28T11:32:00.000-04:00

(Courtesy of Wikipedia...)

1794 - Reign of Terror leader Maximilien Robespierre was guillotined.

1914 - Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, starting World War I.

1976 - The Tangshan earthquake measuring between 7.8 and 8.2 magnitude flattened Tangshan, China, killing 242,769 and injuring 164,851.

1990 - Alberto Fujimori became President of Peru.

1996 - The remains of the prehistoric Kennewick Man were discovered.

Slight correction...

2006-07-28T11:17:00.000-04:00

I should have checked my facts better. Don Rogers, who died recently, was the last surviving test pilot from Avro Canada. He was Avro's Chief Test Pilot at the time of the Arrow program. He did not, however, pilot the Arrow. His aviation claims to fame were the landmark test flights of the Avro C-102 Jetliner.

The 4 Arrow test pilots were, in fact:

Jan Zurakowski (d. 02/2004)
Peter Cope (d. 04/2005)
Jack Woodman (d. 05/1967)
Wladyslaw "Spud" Potocki (d. 1996)

Shame on me. ;-)

Friday in the Rain

2006-07-28T10:11:00.000-04:00

I suppose it could have been worse...it could be pissing down rain tomorrow. Oh, wait. It might.

(Hmm....must ask dtrini about backup plans for our double date Drive-in Night...)

Yes, I am here. I haven't died. Nor have I given up blogging. There hasn't been a great deal to say, although I've lurked around where possible. (I think Ed and I were suffering the same malady)

Pre-residency for school started this week, so I've been getting used to the online learning environment, reading papers and reading books and then reading more papers and reading and highlighting and note-taking and reading and holfuckamIstillreadingmorestuffohmyGODIcan'tbelievehowmuchfuckingreading
I'mdoing....and then reading some more and workin on my first assignment: a reflective paper.

I know you've all be clamouring for a hockey update, so here it is. We had our last regular season game last night. Until last week we had a nice win streak going and then we turned in a real turkey last Thursday. I didn't feel I played badly, but we just could not make a pass to save our lives, let alone put the puck in the net. Strangely enough we had managed to hold onto first place in the division. This week we were determined to play better but still came out rather flat against a team we've done very well against in previous games. Paul, our captain, had a new stick and he kept firing the puck over the net. Wes, our top scorer, had a new blade on his and had much the same problem. I was doing my very best "Doc Oc" impression between the pipes at our end and Trappy the Wonder Glove was snagging just about everything in sight.

But we were still down 2 goals with about 1:45 remaining in the 3rd.

Fortune smiled on us. They took a bad penalty by dumping one of our guys in their end and we took advantage. We scored with 34 seconds left.

4-3.

So I went to the bench and they put on the extra skater. Now, this ploy rarely works for us but somehow we popped one in.

Tied 4-4 with 10 seconds on the clock.

Not bad, all things considered. We finished one point out of first. 6-4-1 over 11 games. What really stinks is that because I'm off to Victoria as of the 5th, I'll miss the 2nd and 3rd playoff games in the round-robin. Ah well....no sacrifice too great for education...

That's all for the moment, readers.

Keep smilin'!

Wow....big news out there today

2006-07-26T15:19:00.000-04:00

I dunno where to start...

Israel wipes out a well-known UN observation post, killing 4 peacekeepers - including one Canadian. Kofi Annan says, "deliberate", and Ehud Olmert says, "oops".

Lance Bass (ex-N'Sync) shocks the world by coming out of the closet. Hmm. Lance is gay. There's a fucking news flash. Who didn't see that one coming? C'mon..let's see some hands! Anyone? Anyone?

The last surviving test pilot of the Avro Arrow died today. Truly the end of an era.

There's the highlights, folks....pick 'em!

"Tranquility Base, here...the Eagle has landed."

2006-07-20T13:32:00.000-04:00

37 Years ago today...humanity took its biggest step toward the stars.

Technorati Tag: Spaceflight

Muggy Monday

2006-07-17T10:47:00.000-04:00

Folks, its hot. Damn hot. REAL hot.

I could, conceivably, fry the proverbial egg on a downtown sidewalk. Damn hot all weekend, too. But that didn't matter. I spent the weekend with my nose in my textbooks...plugging away at my first assignment. *ugh*

To kick the weekend off, we had a little commuter chaos. Around 2:30 Friday afternoon, 6 cars from a freight train jumped the tracks near one of the GO stations in the west end of the city, effectively paralyzing commuter trains.

Now it wasn't all bad for the Stoney One. I had planned an slightly early beverage departure with a couple of colleagues, figuring that if we had to wait out a train stoppage, we might as well do so with something frosty in our hands. After a while we headed down to Union Station where the madness was in full swing. The display boards showed trains cancelled, trains delayed, crowded buses, and cell phone traffic so thick you could almost see it. I wasn't particularly worried...the kids were already at their Father's place...DW was working, and the Cat was probably sleeping. So I fired up the laptop, put on my headphones and listened to tunes while I waited.

I eventually caught the first Eastbound train which was announced (7:30, or so) and headed for home. Penny got lucky (well, that too) and was off work early and picked me up at the station when I got off (well, that too). Could have been far worse, I suppose.

While I really wanted to, I didn't generate a speck of sawdust this weekend. Too hot to work in the garage anyway.

(Yes, I know this is a totally lame-ass post. Deal with it.) ;-)

Technorati Tag: Life

A Quickie

2006-07-13T11:03:00.000-04:00

I'm getting some momentum on a big work project, so I don't want to get lost in blogland at the moment.

I'm alive. I'm well. I'm still checking my daily canon, briefly.

Keep smiling!

Some people should just shut up

2006-07-11T12:37:00.000-04:00

I mourned the recent loss of another Canadian soldier in Afghanistan this weekend (a reservist, no less), but I fumed at some of the remarks which sprung, unbidden from people who really should have just kept their traps shut.

I won't speak ill of the dead since there's no documented evidence of what he is alleged to have said. However, anyone who has seen documentaries like 'Letters Home' will know that soldiers serving far away will have some pretty far ranging thoughts and emotions running through their hearts...some of which might be misconstrued upon reading.

'nuff said there.

However, I will point out a few things - as I did with that so-called "Draft Dodger" guy who ran to Canada from his US Army unit.

Service in the military is volunteer.
Its "military." What the heck do you think you might actually be doing??
The days of recruiters lying to people are long since past.
Reserve augmentation on Operational deployments (in the CF) voluntary
Having said that, you get integrated right in....there's no distinction made just because you are a reservist...no 'lesser jobs' because you usually do the gig part-time.
You should know this particularly if it is your second tour on Operations

So...to the father of the late soldier's girlfriend: please shut up. Your allegations do more to sully the boy's memory than they do anything else. Sure, you're hurt and you're looking for someone to blame. Tell you what: why not blame the guys on the other side of the firefight? Why not blame the international community for failing a nation so badly it fell into anarchy and fundamentalism? Don't blame the military here unless they really missed the ball on his ability to get the job done.

If nothing else, at least he had the balls to stand up and be counted when it really mattered. All you're doing is spewing a lot of shit.

Edit: an article posted to the Toronto Star's website this evening had some words from his father. While he didn't have to directly refute the claims made by the girlfriend's father, his words were enough to put the claims into serious doubt. Nice to see some sanity for a change.

Soccer Hating Rationale #659

2006-07-10T12:16:00.000-04:00

I nearly snarfed my coffee when I read this little tidbit from the French coach after their loss to Italy.

"I don't know what Materazzi said to Zidane," France coach Raymond Domenech said. "But it's a shame. It's sad. He (Materazzi) did a lot of acting and for such a big man, a gust of wind made him fall over. It's regrettable."

Apparently "Zidane" means "Wind", in French.

...must be a synonym, or something.

Draw your own conclusions here.

I think the French Encyclopaedia will have to update the entry of "Zidane, Zinedane" to reflect a few cross-references, including: Bertuzzi, Todd; Myers, Brett; Ismail, Raghib...

Football Daze

2006-07-08T17:04:00.000-04:00

Greetings from the second quarter of the Argos-Blue Bombers game!

Penny, the Wondertwins and I are here in the sun in Sect 109B enjoying a good East Division tilt.

As birthdays go (well, non-me birthdays, that is) its been pretty good so far. The kids and I ran out to the nearby mall to grab birthday gifts for their mother while she was working this morning. She managed to get off early enough that we wouldn't be completely scrambling for the train to get into town.

So the sun is shining. The family is here. The Argos are still winning

Life, I think, is pretty good.

(Edit: Argos managed to lose this one, unfortunately. 4 turnovers will do that to you...as will failure to cover Milt Stegall effectively)

Happy Birthday, baby...

2006-07-08T00:01:00.000-04:00

For my bride...beautiful as ever.

You truly are getting better and better.

I love you like mad and I could not imagine my life being as amazing and incredible as it is with anyone else but you.

- Your NNLMM

For my American Friends

2006-07-04T12:42:00.000-04:00

Happy 4th of July!

The Lord of the Moss: The Return of the (Sawdust) King

2006-07-04T12:13:00.000-04:00

Yes indeed, folks. I am back.

I decided to include a small blog vacation along with my work vacation to
help with the recharge of the brain.

What did I do? Well. I did, like...stuff. Mostly to do with the
generation of sawdust in the garage, but a few other domestic chores were
tackled as well. I did, much to my surprise, no plastering. I'm not sure
if this is a good thing or a bad thing.

However, here are some of the highlights. Casa Stone/Shagwell now has:

- A new Garage Door Opener (to replace the one which only opened when it
really felt like it)
- A new BBQ. Its huge. Totally Kick-ass. Has a side burner. Has a
store-away cover. (Insert Tim Allen-like bark/howl of manliness here)
- New Citronella lanterns. Bought months ago but finally installed.
- A new pegboard storage unit. Great overall design but I do have some
thoughts on how to make it better. Suffice it to say I need a little more
practice in making strong lap joints. (as evidenced when the front panel
came crashing down onto the garage floor.)
-A new (not-quite-finished) rolling work cart. Of course, I have to
dismantle the old, somewhat rickety one before it goes into place. I just
have to finish installing the top and building the drawers on the new
beastie.

Penny and I managed to slip away to the summer home of a long-time friend
of her family. We made a great day trip up to some of the
not-so-congested cottage country North-East of us. It really was a great
trip and the people were very welcoming. (thanks baby *g*)

And with that, I hit the "send" button and go off in search of lunch.
give me a few days to get caught up on everyone's blogs. I'm WAY behind
in my reading.

Tagged By Kal

2006-06-22T10:21:00.000-04:00

1. Which curse word do you use the most?
I definitely find the F-word to be very handy in a variety of forms and uses. (particularly when wrestling with a nasty carpentry issue, or as a precursor to some percussive maintenance)

2. Do you own an iPod?
Nope. I have a MiniDisc player which does quite nicely.

3. What time is your alarm clock set for?
Depends on what time I need to be out the door. The earliest is 6:15, if I'm biking...otherwise, it's set for around 6:45 so Penny and I can get up and get the kidlets moving.

4. How many suitcases do you own?
2 of my own. Collectively we have lots. Unlike Kal, my DW has no fears of spousal flight.

5. Do you wear flip flops even when it's cold?
Nope. Warm weather only. (Socks, Kal? *DORK ALERT! DORK ALERT*)

6. Would you rather take the picture or be in the picture?
Taking it, but only because I have a pet peeve about having feet cut off. Panoramas not required.

7. What was the last movie you watched?
das Boot and The Longest Day

8. Do you or any of your friends have children?
Unlike Kal, I remember my online friends too. Yes, I have 2 step-children and a number of my friends (even the online ones) have children.

9. Has anyone ever called you lazy?
Yeah, and sometimes its deserved. Other times people just mistake my laid-back "just in time" approach as laziness. Fools. ;-)

10. Do you ever take medication to help you sleep?
Only when I am absolutely desperate to get to sleep.

11. Which CD is currently in your CD player?
Can't remember the last time I stuck a music CD in a player.

12. Do you prefer regular or chocolate milk?
Chocolate, for sure. I'll drink regular (2%) but it has to be ice cold.

13. Has anyone told you a secret this week?
Kal did, and I'm gonna burn him with it. Just gotta find that address for Wifeypooh...

14. When was the last time someone hit on you?
Does the regular flirtation with my Wife count? Strangely enough I've become pretty oblivious to that kind of thing since DW and I got together. So it could have happened more recently with someone else but I'm not likely to notice.

15. Can you whistle?
Yep

16. Who was the last person you talked to on the phone?
DW. She called to tell me that work has glitched the kids bennies yet again.

17. Do you think people talk about you behind your back?
I'd say it's guaranteed. I used to care. Now...not so much. I know Kal does. :P

18. Did you watch cartoons as a child?
I sure did. Although with only 2 channels in rural Ontario where I grew up, we didn't have a lot of options.

19. Do you add your own questions to Memes when Kal is too lazy to do so?
Yes...yes I do!

20. Are you shy around the opposite sex?
Good question. Sometimes I can be; other times, no. Depends on the situation, I suppose.

21. Which movie(s) do you know every line to?
Full Metal Jacket.

22. Do you own any band t-shirts?
Yes. I have a well-loved RUSH tee from their Toronto concert years ago.

23. What is your favorite salad dressing?
Depends on the salad. However, I'd have to be at gunpoint before I willingly put Blue Cheese on anything.

24. Who was the last person to make you mad?
Probably someone at work.

25. Do you do your own dishes?
I load the dishwasher. Does that count?

26. Ever cry in public?
Only during my street corner Onion Slicing/3 Card Monte act.

27. Are you on a desktop computer or a laptop?
I'm currently ON a chair, typing at a laptop.

28. Are you currently wanting any piercings or tattoos?
I'd toy with the idea of another tattoo. Not so keen piercings, despite Penny's insistence.

29. Would you ever date someone covered in tattoos?
I'd say that 3 ink jobs is my limit for good taste. 3 small ones. No 3 large "hey this one covers my entire back" ones.

30. What did you do before this?
Flamed Kal

31. When is the last time you slept on the floor?
Probably 4+ years ago, crashed in a hotel room after a singles get together.

32. How many hours of sleep do you need to function?
More than I seem to be getting lately. But the hallucinations are getting interesting.

33. Do you eat breakfast daily?
I don't care what anyone says, Bagels ARE breakfast.

34. Are your days full and fast-paced?
Way faster than Kal's.

35. Do you pay attention to the calories on the label?
Only when I forget to ignore them.

36. Do you use sarcasm?
Duh...

37. How old will you be on your next birthday?
Older. And Older than Kal. But I still have Penny and he doesn't [taunt, taunt]

38. Are you picky about spelling and grammar?
Yes I am. I'm a great speller, but I'm a lousy typist.

39. Have you ever been to Six Flags?
Nope

40. Do you get along better with the same sex or the opposite sex?
Opposite sex. Just ask any of them.

41. Do you like mustard?
Kal wrote this lame-ass question, didn't he?

42. Do you sleep on your side, stomach, or back?
Yes

43. Do you watch the news?
I try not to, but I read the online newspapers all the time.

44. One of your scars--how did you get it?
The one behind my right ear, from the removal of a mole as a late teenager and it opened up after the stitches were removed. Got a little messy and the scar is rather evident.

So there you go. 44 useless items of information about me for your dining and dancing pleasure.

15% gratuity added. :)

Happy Birthday Kal!

2006-06-21T10:51:00.000-04:00

...and many more, brother. :)

Farg

2006-06-20T16:27:00.000-04:00

You would think that after sleepless Sunday, I would get to experience the joys of Monday with Morpheus.

'Twas not to be.

It was well after 3AM when I was finally able to crash.

That runny stuff leaking from my ears would be my brains.

*sgh*

Ya know

2006-06-19T08:38:00.000-04:00

The fact that you can still find yourself waiting for sleep at 12:45 AM after a long and full Fathers' Day taking the Wondertwins to the science centre really and truly sucks ass

Having to start your day in slow gear and in the rain makes it so much better.

Just sayin'...