My Poem

Too Much Shite

I put up with alot of shite in my life
and it's all good.
But there is absolutely too much shit
in my basement.

Science Center visit and comment

Last weekend we made another trip to the Science Center, we have a yearly pass. Marissa was selling her Christmas wares at a craft sale so Aidan and I needed to keep ourselves out of trouble. After getting him a haircut at the trendy local haunt, Tiny Tots, we headed for the Science Center.

We both had had a great time as always but I wish they would hurry up finish the Space exhibit, it's been under renovation as long as I can remember! We'll try the Museum over the holidays.

My one big comment of the OSC is that the Ontario gov. really needs to put some money in to this place if it's going to attract tourists and local schools. This past spring we visited the Museum of Natural History in Queens, New York. My brother-law didn't recommend it although never having been there himself, maybe just the mention of Queens makes people nervous. It was actually right beside where they host the US Open (Flushing Meadows). Anyways, it was a fantastic place for toddlers, school children and adults. The exhibits are up to date, well cared for and very interactive. The Ontario Science center just shuffles around the same exhibits from 30 years ago from one floor to another. Where does all the money go?

Me and the Robot

A couple of years ago became fascinated by product called Roomba by iRobot. It's a robotic vacuum cleaner that promised to clean your floors while you were out. iRobot
Corp. got it's start building mine sweeping robots for the military and
today leverages it's navigational technology to its consumer products.

Someone else to vacuum for me? It sounded great but I dismissed it as a
gimmick. Since then I've occasionally gone back to online forums and
websites to see what owners think. From what I can tell more than 80%
of owners are happy. An the latest models have me wondering if I should
get one. They also have floor scrubbers, shop vacuums, pool and gutter cleaners! After cleaning it finds it way back to it's charging base, how cool is that?

I have a cat so little tumbleweed balls of hair accumulate along baseboards and corners. I have a thing for clean floors and carpets (under couches and carpets are a bonus), so if I can come home to a relatively clean place after a hard day at work it might be worth the money.

Some folks might say I'm lazy but my free time is at a premium these days. I know I still have to haul out the hoover once an a while to get into the corners and stairs but I can live with that.

Will keep you posted.

More on downtown

Downtown is turning out to be great.

It feels lively.
Strangers seem excited about something.
People look good (I used to go by for weeks without seeing attractive people).
Everyone seems happy.
The evenings are darker yet the downtown lights make up for it.
I'm more productive yet feel less tired at the end of the day.

Reality TV

I've personally declared my basement in a state of emergency. I say this because it will take the National Guard to clear the mess before I can start work on the renovations. I don't know how it became this way, perhaps in hindsight should have been more vocal or proactive about maintaining it's tidiness but maybe at the time I felt compelled to be a 'nice' person. Oh well, maybe in another life.

Back downtown

Friday Nov 1st marks my return downtown. In 1996 I started work with Scotiabank at the Eglinton complex for approximately 4 years. Then I switched jobs and moved downtown for another 4 years. In 2005 I moved back to Eglinton because my new management at the time thought it'd be better to work closer with nerds. Now I'm back at King on the same floor I used to be on. Walking down the corridors it's like nothing has changed except I have a nicer office now.

I do like it better than Scarberia though. There are much more things to do and I can always take a break from work by disappearing into the underground. The commute time is about the same and I'm lucky to get free parking downtown in a coworkers condo.

Absolutely shocking

Youtube.com is a great vehicle for making available long lost commerical video footage of favorite bands, for example Chicago which is one of my favorties.

One of the great features of Youtube is that it provides subject related links. For example Chicago videos links to Peter Cetera and Journey stuff as well. Last night while browsing some old Chicago stuff I found out by that David Foster (Producer) and Bill Champlin (Chicago keyboar and vocalist) wrote the famous Earth Wind and Fire song "Afer the love has gone". Holly Cow, the first think I thought was "Two white guys wrote this?"

The next bomb was that there was footage of them actually performing it! And not bad either!!! Maybe almost as good as EW&F.

This is from a recent concert with Bill Champlin and EW&F


This is the original footage from 1983, show Thicke of the Night. Man, I remember watching that show. Featuring David Foster and newly minted Chicago vocalist Champlin.


Anyways, Champlin and Foster are considered some of the best songwriters of this generation. So maybe it really should be that much of a surprise. But two white guys, sh*t!

Water department makes good

This morning the trucks came and excavated the street to replace the service lines into the house. As we got ready for work, Adian watched intently from our bedroom windows while the crews banged and dug. Truck! Truck! Man! he says.

When I arrived home from work I wasn't too happy to see a patch of lawn missing, but all the rest of the repairs makes up for that. The 24 hour river of water flowing from our lawn has dried and the water pressure into the house has significantly improved. I'm also sure they replaced the old city's lead service pipes as well. Originally I had planned to also have the main house line replaced to increase the water pressure but I don't think that necessary anymore because I can hit the lawn across the street with the garden nozzle.

Good job.

More on motivation

I read somewhere that if you imagine the last few parting hours of your life, it may get your ass into high gear and make the most of the time you have. I'm paraphasing the 'ass' part but I believe that to be the gist of what they meant. If that does not get you thinking hard, then you have truly given up.

The last part is mine.

Aidan's Alphabet

This week Aidan learned the letters A, I, O, R, N, and C. Grandma has been very patient in teaching him a few letters a week. I'm so proud of the little guy.

Water problems - update

This morning water began gushing out from under ground, where my lawn meets the sidewalk. Small water spigots also formed between sidewalk cracks. So much water is coming out now that it's running down the street. I call it Queensdale Creek. I reported it to the city again and went to work. They said they'll be by in about 3 weeks to fix it. Meanwhile, we'll have to continue to impose on our neighbour's water as well as put up with a soggy ass lawn.

I'm told that there are about 60 other occurances in the City waiting to be repaired so we're in the queue and have to be patient. It's no secret that the city's infrastructure is old and crumbling. But what is the Mayor going to do about it? Miller is out, that's for certain.

Water problems

For the past month there's been a small water leak in front of our house at the main water shutoff, also known as a Curb Stop. Each house has one and is usually located on the sidewalk just past the front lawn. I decided to report it to the city because I felt with the winter coming it would create a slipping hazzard.

A worker from the city came and unfortunately I did not see what he did but I suspect he turned off the water to my neighbours house to stem the leak. Later that evening, my next door neighbour came to me complaining they had no water. They called the city but this time someone came by and turned off my water and left theirs on. I had no appreciation how inconvenient it is without running water, especially with a toddler. In my opinion the city was not taking the matter seriously despite several calls to supervisors.

This morning , we filled a garden watering can in the bath hub with what water trickled out from the tap and used it to shower. It was bad timing too because both Marissa and I have had early morning meetings to get to.

So this afternoon I played hookey from work and came back to the house to see if any progress had been made (if the city bothered to answer their phone it could have saved me a trip). Someone had come to mark the gas main locations on my lawn so I guess some excavation is planned but when? And we are still without water.

In desparation, I asked another neighbour to allow me to link our houses togther with our outdoor garden taps, also known as a high-line. So at least we have water now to shower, wash clothes and dishes and cook.

At work we have things called ScotiaApplauses to recognize extrodinary work. I went through alot of crap (phone calls to the city, buying hose attachments, getting permission from the neighbour, hooking it up etc) in order to get back this basic necessity. I give myself WongApplause for my Committment and Innovation eventhough it goes unrecognized.

Audubaun Society of Wallace

I was working at home today and heard a bird smash into the living room window. Actually two separate times but I'm not sure if it's the same bird. The second time I went out to find a stunned bird laying on the porch. I brought him in to protect him from the neighbourhood's notorious cat killer, Minx; so I've been told by a couple of people so far.

After about 30 minutes he was back to normal and I released him. His lucky day.

Motivation

I've been asked by a some people recently why I like to run. There are alot of reasons and many are really only shared between other runners, and are often unspoken. I still like to mountain bike but it requires to much prep time and unfortunately I can't just take off for an entire afternoon like I used to. So running works best these days.

I have a personal goal to run a full marathon next year and perhaps someday the Boston marathon. General Patton who also happened to be an Olympian (1912) says you have to make the mind run the body and never let the body tell the mind what to do. In order for that to work I believe you need motivation and that means realizing what is the driving force behind why I want to run that marathon.

Personal goals and accomplishment are factors. But my son is the biggest part of that motivation these days. I'd love him to be at the finish to greet me even if he is only 3 years old. And maybe one day he could say my Dad ran the Boston marathon.

It's cute how he says "run, run" when I pull out the pram. We have a great time on our runs together, it's really priceless.

Clutter

I have been losing an uphill battle with clutter. Magazines, books, toys, nick-nacks and etc. I have nothing against material things but there comes a time when it's time to let someone else enjoy them by giving them away, especially because we live only semi-detached thats 900sq/ft. The irony, is that we have have lying around several books that describe how to get rid of clutter. If someone could explain to me the physics behind how a garage sale intended to reduce clutter results in the same or more clutter afterwards it would be helpful. Actually, isn't there the 9th law of thermodymamics that says cluttler can neither be created or destroyed but only converted from one form to another? Maybe that explains it.

Of late I've become very astute to people trying to pass me their clutter disgusing themselves as do-gooders. "Hey, need any used snow tires", "I have a baby high chair you might like", "Does your son have a sand box", "I just took off some sway bars on my car (front and rear), I'll save them for you". WTF in the neck! I'm not kidding, these are a just a few things asked of me this past week.

Unfortunately, the only place I do have 100% clutter control is at work. Needless to say the blue bin under my desk sees alot of action. I suspect I hit delete more often than reply in my email too.

My next renovation project the basement. The objective is to create a space for my family to play and relax. The main floor is nice but not really enough space for a child to run and play. Wish me luck.

United Way 9K+ Run

I signed up for a run to benefit the United Way. The run took place over the lunch hour and was organized by a fellow in Customer Information Systems department. A bunch of us know each other from the annual Scotiabank YMCA runs. It started at 2201 Eglinton and down through Warden Woods park. I used to ride my bike through there as a kid so I haven't been down then in over 20 years! Not much has changed but it don't think it's safe to go there alone anymore. Unfortunately I did this run myself because I was delayed in a meeting.

There were some nice surprises along the course, like coming across some new parks and ravines I didn't realize existed in Scarborough. There are totally wide open and manicured parks but you wouldn't know it as most of us speed by the houses that obsure them along the way to work.


View Larger Map

Although it was a 9K run, I'm convinced I did 10K because I got lost a couple of times and had to run around some cul-de-sacs. I also wasn't thinking that I usually don't do 10K runs on weekdays especially when I have to return to work afterwards. The weather was nice and it was a good distraction from work.

One footnote: Some people are really clueless about some really basic things. Before I left for the run a coworker said to me, "10K run, it's cool out so you shouldn't sweat". I didn't say anything but I thought to myself that they obviously don't have any clue how far 10K is, and also they probably never did anything athletic in their life because even an Olympian would sweat after running 10K. I shouldn't have been all that surprised because in the morning I was getting some breakfast in the cafeteria (fruit and egg omelette) and they asked me why I needed to eat breakfast before a run.

Happy Thanksgiving!

This weekend I'll be giving thanks for all the good things bestowed upon me, my familiy and friends.

2007 Terry Fox Run

Here are some photos from this year's Terry Fox Run.

Ominous skies

I photographed this view of the downtown Toronto skyline on my way home today. Although it was 5pm and there was the usual mass Exodus of commuters, the air was eerily silent. At first I thought it was a funnel cloud then I realized it was actually the CN tower that had been obstructed by a rolling blanket of fog. You will notice the sun peering out from behind the column, it almost looks like a solar eclipse.

If you were to look back towards the tall Bank buildings all you'd see was white fog. And if you were a tourist you would think Toronto was devoid of any buildings. I'm glad I stumbled across this.

2007 Scotiabank Waterfront Marathon

Hooray, I completed my second Half Marthon. Here are my results:
Chip Time: 2:05:59:0
Gun Time: 2:11:51.7
Pace:6:15
Gender placement: 1741/2419
Category (Men 35-39): 322/408
Split @10 km: 1:03:55
Split @12.2 km 1:17:07

That race had the earliest start time I'd ever run in, it started at 7am. I left the house at 6am to get to Metro Hall and traffic was an an absolute nightmare due to the many road closures required for the race. There was also another event going on later in the morning there weren't too many viable detours.

The start was a bit surreal because it was still pitch dark out. But it quickly became a beautiful morning as the sun rose up over the eastern horizon. By the time the route headed back east along the lakeshore the sight and warmth of sun was the most beautiful thing I'd experienced in a long time.

It was absolutely unreal how fast the leaders were. By the time I reached Ontario place they had looped around Windemere driver were passing me in the opposite direction.

My ankles and knees started to complain at the 12k mark. I didn't have any hydration problems but listening to a converstation bewteen two runners about "hitting the wall" didn't help. Because I don't usually run these events I can't gauge where my body will give up, but at 18K I fugured I was good for the rest and could push a little harder.

As I headed into the last 2k up Bay street the leaders Rono and Kelai (Kenya) were quickly approaching from behind. The car horns, cow bells and cheers added to the excitement. I kept thinking to myself that these guys had already been out to the end of the Leslie Split and back and are now about to pass me. They passed me, but I sprinted the last 200m to the finish.

A truly exceptional event!

Summer Scavenger Hunt

This past Wednesday we skipped off work to attend the first annual? Scotiabank Online Banking Technology scavenger hunt held at Sunnybrook park. Each team had to find and photograph a number of items within the park. In addition there were a number of things to bring back as well as trivia questions to complete.

Our team won with the fastest time and most points. We kind of cheated by piling into someone's SUV and driving around the park. I literally hung out the back of the vehicle with the gate open spotting items as we drove through the park. It felt like riding through Iraq in a Humvie. Unfortunately for me I had a sore neck that day and George (the driver) I found out has no respect for speed bumps.

Some items were close by while others were located in a sports field at the top of Sunnybrook. I felt a little bad for the people that actually walked up there in the 30 degree heat. There weren't any rules saying we couldn't drive so all's fair I suppose.

Afterwards, we chowed down on pizza and wings, and to end a perfect afternoon away from work, an ice cream truck pulled up with free stuff.

Photo: 7 Neat Guys (George, Italo, Terrance (hiding), Mohan, Me, Daryl, John).

2007 Deck Project

This year's ambitous project is the construction of a 8x14 cedar deck in the backyard. I've always hated the way I have to exit the back of the house down a set of flimsy steps to get to my BBQ. The deck will be in a way an extension to the inside of the house. There will be a pergola supported by 2 6x6 cedar posts , this will be the focal point.

The tricky part of this structure is to make the basement walkout still accessible if required. The plan is to cover the walkout with a removal deck floor. Later on, I may hinge the removable floors and use a counter weight to assist accessibility.

This is the project so far:

BTW thanks to Warner for helping secure the ledger board to the house.

Summer Fun

Summer is underway, and the pools are open.

A co-worker of mine had a pool party last friday at his home, so we all took the afternoon off. I brought Aidan with me, he was a little clinggy at first but eventually he warmed up to all the strangers. Aidan gestured to take his shirt off so he could jump in the pool. Kids are great, they make me do things I would otherwise never do. The water was about 28 celcius and had water slide. We had a blast.

On Sunday we visited one of Marissa's friends in Maple. They have a nice large house with an above ground inflatable pool. Good thing we brought Aidan's swim gear again because he wanted in. Only downside is that it C-C-COLD.

What's new

Finally some decent weather has arrived. More daylight means less work and more outdoor time.

The little guy's latest favorite pastimes are the soccer ball and the recently donated sand/water play thing. I can remember back in kindergarten my favorite play station was sand and water too! In fact, Aidan likes these things so much he's turned down milk to stay outside, and if you know Aidan that is really something.

Last week he took a pretty bad fall in the backyard. He's okay and all the bruises scrapes on his face have healed. I'm sure there will be more to come but the first one is always the hardest, at least for the parents.

His latest word is 'No'. In the past he showed his disapproval by shaking his head. Suddenly he's taken to saying 'No No No'.

Trip to the Zoo

A couple of weekends ago we visited the Toronto Zoo. A lot has changed since I last visited over 10 years ago, for example the Monorail is replaced by a trolly, there are more indoor pavilions and nicer outdoor exhibits. Don't look for a McDonalds because there aren't any anymore. The monkeys have a large outdoor pen. I think Zoo tried to give them some new grass but the mokeys kept rolling up the sod.

Aidan enjoyed seeing the elephants and fishes. We bought a pass so we'll be going back at least a few more times this year. Did I mention there's a water park there now?

Rides

Remember when you were a kid and being attracted to those rides at the mall and never had a quarter. I recall my favorite helicopter ride at the Loblaws store near Danforth and Greenwood. By the way, that was a also time when you could leave your kids in public and go shopping for an hour and find them where you left them.

We did some shopping this past weekend at Fairview mall. Aidan got a little worried riding in the moving car but as you can see, he likes the stationary boat. The car is actually pretty scary because it moves like a horse.

Arrrrgh!!

I discovered a rather large dent on my Camaro this weekend while clearing of it snow from the backyard where it had been parked for the Winter. It appears that a large branch had fallen onto hood during one of those crazy wind storms. A few years ago this would have really pissed me off, but I've learned that such incidents are only bothersome.

I was planning to take it to a bodyshop but I learned that there is a technique out there called Paintless Dent Repair (PDR). Essentially it involves "massaging" the dent out from behind using specialized tools. Sounded too good to be true but after lots of research it does appear to be legitimate. It was actually pioneered by Mercedes Benz and was used to fix small dent and dings on the assembly line. I'll check out a few references in Toronto and give it a go in the spring. In fact I'm actually interested in taking a ceritifcation course in PDR. I think it could be a potential business for myself in the future. God knows where IT is going.

Filling dad's shoes

Enough said. (BTW, I didn't stage this photo)

Giant Timbits

Don't get me wrong, I don't feed my kid Donuts all the time.

Anyways, Aidan is seen here eating and sharing a Timbit with 'Be Be'.

Every Sunday morning after swimming we go to the Timmys drive thru to get a coffee and bagel. He's quickly learned the routine and today I found out he know's what "Timbit's" are. I was in the kitchen and mentined something about the left over Timbit's on the counter, he dropped eveything and came running from the living room into the kitchen to grab one. I guess he's truly a young Canadian.

Another interesting thing is the relative size of Timbits. I recall as a child that Bic Macs were huge, but in fact my hands were probably just small. I can appreciate now how that can be. In relative terms a typical Timbit to Aidan is equivalent to a grapefruit sized Timbit to me.

Sunday Afternoon

Marissa was teaching a class on Sunday so I figured another trip to the Ontario Science Center was a good place to spend a Sunday afternoon. It's really a great place for Aidan to run around, explore and see other children; especially since it's too cold outside to do anything else.

The most interesting thing I saw today was how kids interact when resources are limited. Let me describe it ... There's an exhibit where you connect together tracks to build a "roller coaster". Then you take these rubber balls and run them down the track. The interesting thing is that, there were 20 kids and 6 rubber balls. It doesn't matter how old you are, once the primal instincts kick in it's all for yourself and Aidan was no exception. He'd see a ball, go after it, some kid would grab it and he'd take off to find another, every kid was doing the same thing. Some kids were grabbing balls from each other too. You can imagine how the parents were handling it. At one time Aidan managed to come into possession of 3 balls and protect them for at least 1 minute. I was pretty proud of the little guy :-)

I ended up buying an annual pass because I'm sure we'll be back many more times this year.

Haircut

This is me with my new haircut.

What's new

It's been a while since the last post. I've been busy and didn't have much of a creative mindset. Maybe it was due to the deep freeze but I'm determined to try to increase my blogging.

Last weekend we went on a shopping trip to the Eaton Center. Seems like a blah thing to do but I've not been out for a while so for me it's a big deal. Too bad for me I couldn't find any new clothes but at least Aidan got some new stuff from Gap and Old Navy.

Today Aidan got a very cute haircut which I'll post another time. Later on, we went to the Dr. for his 18 month checkup. He's on track with his weight, height, speech development so that's all good news. The Dr. and intern described him as the perfect patient since he allowed them to use him as a guniea pig. He even gave them a wave when they left the room. I took all the credit for his good behaviour (don't tell Marissa, hehe).

So that's all for now.

Mega Walmart Shopping

A lot has been said about the new Walmat superstore and it's negative effects on Canadian grocers like Dominion, Sobey's and especially Loblaws. We as a family bunded ourselves in warm clothing to brave to -30C temperatures to do our weekend groceries there. I've already been there twice already but it being the size of a football field, it wont be a familiar experience for me until at least the 5th visit. I have not even been to the auto or seasonal section yet.

It's obvious that Walmart did some research on who it's local clientele are, there are some pretty indigenous fruits and vegtables that would surely please the palette of the predominately immigrant population of Scarborough. Bulk okra, choyote and some unrecognizable stuff for example. Some of the meat packaging looks suspect but that may be because I'm used to seeing it packaged in white stryofoam instead of pink.

The clear advantage is that this place is a one stop shopping complex, you can even build a bear and get a hearing aid. The food prices are better (but not by much). There are a different variety of products (sometimes by different suppliers).

However this place won't have everything that are in the isles that Dominon and Loblaws has. It doesn't carry PC products and it doesn't feel like a grocery store.

My conclusion is that it's convenient and I'll be back sometimes. But I recently discovered that shopping at the Chinese grocers are are a better deal. The produce is fresher too. I can cut the grocery bill by 40% by doing so and there alot more interesting stuff there too. BTW there is a TNT opening up where the old Knob Farms used to be on Commisioners Rd. Loblaws used to get $130 a week from us, so I would be worried if I were them.

Big City - No variety

I'm working on replacing some baseboards in my home. I really can't stand the look of the run-of-the mill 3 inch high moulding found in all homes, it's thin and lacks character. I challenge you to find a newly built home, regardless of the price, where the builder hasn't used the same .49 cent/foot cheap mdf baseboard. The same boring stuff is used around windows too. I decided to go with a 5-1/4 high squared pine stock but top it off with a simple base cap. This style of baseboard and cap (or mopboard) was used in older traditional homes and you'd be surprised how such a minor detail can make a difference.

I was dismayed to discover that you can't find base-cap moulding anywhere. I went to the usual big box stores as well as some specialized lumber retailers specializing that in trim. It appears that the two piece baseboard has gone the way of the dodo because it's too time consuming to install and ultimately eats into the bottom line of the builder. Funny enough, you can readily find it in the US but I'm convinced Americans are more architecturally savvy. I mean most of the styles such Misson, Shaker and Federal all originated in the US, I can't think of anything in this regard that's pervasive and Canadian in nature; except for perhaps a beaver cap.

So I've been reduced to having to buy a moulding bit from Lee Valley so I can create my own stock. I don't mind doing that but it's really a pathetic state for the consumer where we're surrounded by ten thousand square feet building supply stores but they all carry the same old crap catering to the lowest common denominator.

New Walkman

When I was about 15 my brother Warren and I headed to the Eaton's downtown to buy me my own Sonly Walkman. I belive it was a WM-9 and cost about $75. I had it through most of highschool or at least until it's size became an embarassement. It only played tapes so it didn't have an AM/FM tuner nor did it have auto-reverse. It used 4AA batteries and had a strap to lug it around like a 'tricorder'. I kept a collection of Maxell and Teac tapes full of 80's music. It was a great little machine.

22 years later I bought myself another Sony Walkman, only this time it doesn't play tapes. What are tapes again? I wonder if all those little Indian owned stores on Yonge street are still selling cases of tapes, but I digress. It's about the size of two AA batteries and weighs next to nothing. I could have made it easy on myself and bought an iPod but I went old shool. Main considerations were FM tuner, durability and fidelity. The Sony NW-S205F is a sports Walkman so it's weather-proof and comes with the arm band etc. Cool extras are that it comes with a pedometer, calorie counter, and stopwatch. It also detects the workout rate so it can change the playlist accordingly. For example change from Air Supply to Kenny Loggins-Top Gun when you're heading downhill at 80mph.

Coupe of issues, it does not allow you to drag and drop Mp3 files to it like most players that's because Sony natively suports ATRAC and not Mp3 so you need to use it's SonicStage software transfer mp3 files. The screen is only 1 line so it's not as pretty or intuitive to use as the iPod. ATRAC tracks however have a much higher sound quality and requires less storage, as a positive side effect the unit can play for 3 hours with only a 3 minute charge.

So 25 years later Sony is no longer the leader in portable music players. The Mini Disc was a commecial flop and heads rolled this year at Sony due to loss of Mp3 player market share to Apple Inc. Still I bought another Walkman and it's still a great little machine.

On Vacation

This week I'm on Vacation! The last time I was on vacation was June 2005 when we went to Nova Scotia. We're not going out of town but we plan to spend some quality time at home and about. I'm actually looking forward to going to the Ontario Science Center for some exploration.

As you may have heard, my brother Warren gave me a R/C airplane for Christmas. This weekend was my second attempt to fly it somewhere else besides into a pole. I was pleasantly surprised to get it to loop and pull up just before nose diving into the earth. I also managed to attract an audience (acually a 7 year old kid with his dad). I'll continue my flying lessons as long as the plane remains air-worthy.

Aidan will be 17 months old tomorrow. I've become the people I used to ask, "Why do you quote your kids age in months?". I do it because I don't want him to grow up.

Most parenting books will tell you by "this age your child should be able to...". They never said that he'll be able to take a DVD out of it's case, insert it into the player (right side up) and cycle through the tv's video modes to get it to play. It's a wonderful thing to watch a child grow.

New Years 2007

Happy New Year!

Despite still recovering from the flu, conjuntivitis and a hacking cough I'm starting the new year with optimism. I'm still working on my resolutions but here they are so far in no particular order:
1. Use up as much change as possible
2. Work smarter = less
3. End clutter
4. Be more creative
5. Get more sleep


It was 10 degrees Celsius this afternoon at the Beaches. We spent time in the playground followed by my sad and embarrassing attempt to fly my radio controlled Air Hog. My first flight was a disaster and thank god no one was aboard because I slammed it into a concrete pole. What are the chances of flying a plane into the only pole in an open field? The controls take some getting used to because usually pulling down on a joystick means climb, but in this case it means dive.

The funniest thing is that there's no snow, anywhere. So everyone is huddled around a small mound beside the skating rink created by a Zamboni. I actually I saw new grass coming out of the ground.

I confirmed to myself today that sharing is learned behaviour. Aidan found a small soccer ball on the ground and started playing with it, another kid came by and tried to grab it from him. Not being sure if it was his, I asked "Aidan" to share and give him the ball. Reluctantly he did, but seconds after Aidan ran after him and tried to pull it away from behind. This same scene always replays itself at any Thomas the Train display, ask any parent.

A perfect New Years Day.