Back to the Grind

It has been a little while since I blogged, but not as bad as last time . Life seems to be calming down in one aspect, but busier then ever in another. Hockey has begun. Three kids, three teams. Look out its going to be one messy schedule.

Sam was involved in a pretty good car crash a couple of weeks ago. She's OK, but the car was completely written off. Believe it or not we bought an army green jeep to replace the white intrepid. I can't even really begin to explain how we got there, it just sort of happened. A good insurance check didn't hurt either. It's bizarre where good fortune can be found sometimes. All in all, the accident turned out OK.

The kids, dog and now two cats are doing fine. We have decided I think to keep one of the kittens. There were two, a little black one and a little grey one. I think the grey one has found a home with us. The little black one is with a friend of mine from work. Sad to see her go but three cats would have been a little crazy.

Now that winter is rolling around it might be a little easier to update my blog. Weight loss is going no where. Trying to walk these days but not having much success. Hopefully between walking and skating, I shed the 40 more pounds I want to loose. Cause you know I'll gain 20 over Christmas.

This summer taught me you can sometimes be bad to be good. So in other words, at times its good to be bad. That's todays paradox.
TTC

Good for me.....

Wow, it been a month. Holiday Taboo over but life has certainly not been any less exciting. The adventure continues. Its been one hell of a roller coaster ride and I can't even begin to explain whats happened. Life has been fun and the experiences have been mind-blowing. New friends, new adventures. Enough said. The reality of life sometimes jumps up and bites you in the ass though. Sam was in a wicked car wreck this week. The infamous white car that we picked up for a song was destroyed. Fortunately, Sam was not hurt. Thank god she was driving a big car. School and hockey began this week. Travis is off to grade school (6-8). He seems to be adjusting pretty well, but it sounds like he has a pretty whacked out teacher. She insists on the parents signing agendas with their full name in a specific spot. We have heard some horror stories about this teacher so we are taking a what and see approach. Other kids are doing fine as they returned to elementary school. Yes, and hockey began once again. Same old shit at the forefront of all the converstations. I wish parents would just put their kid on the ice and forget about the crap. The kids will have fun, as they always do. It's been extremely stressful as an executive. Definitely my last year in this role. Kids, Dog and two kittens are doing fine. Just before we went on holidays our snitty kitty had kittens on Travis' bed. Right by his head. The two kittens are doing fine. There was a third but he didn't make it. Just before I left this morning, snitty kitty brought me a half-alive mole. Wonderful. Although we have not had a mouse or squirrel problem this year. Tonight I think we're off car shopping. I really like the Dodge Calibre. It's affordable and pretty cool looking. We will shop around though and see what's out there. Bye for now, TC

Holiday Taboo

Holidays Over-WOW

Nine is the magical number this year. Away for nine nights. Many words begin with "N" including nine. Other "N" words on our holidays. Nice, nudation, novendial, nasty, nocivirous, naughty, night, nonectal, naturism, neighbors, naked, nyctanthous, necklace, nautical, nipples, nosey, nature, noisy, nocternal and nighty.

In astrology 9 represents Sagittarius or "Fire"

More about the number nine

Nine (? pinyin jiu() is considered a good number in Chinese culture because it sounds the same as the word "longlasting" (? pinyin jiu(). The Japanese consider 9 to be unlucky, however, because it sounds similar to the Japanese word for "pain".

Nine is strongly associated with the Chinese dragon, a symbol of magic and power. There are nine forms of the dragon, it is described in terms of nine attributes, and it has nine children.

In Thai, the word for nine, 'gao', is the same as the verb for 'to develop or progress'.

Other Stuff (thanks Wikipedia)
# Nine is the highest single-digit number in the decimal system.
# In the NATO phonetic alphabet, the digit 9 is called "niner".
# Nine is the number of musicians in a nonet.
# A novena lasts for nine days.
# Nine judges sit on the United States Supreme Court.
# There are nine members of The Fellowship of the Ring in The Lord of the Rings saga, to balance and combat the nine Nazgûl, or Ringwraiths.
# The ordinal adjective is nonary.
# There are nine basic personality types represented on the enneagram.
# In astrology, Sagittarius is the 9th astrological sign of the Zodiac.
# Joel Garreau identified nine different "nations" of North America.
# Nine months is approximately the gestation period for human fetuses.
# A standard work day of 9 to 5 begins at 9 a.m.
# Stanines are measured on a scale of 1 to 9.
# Nine is a special message board on GameFAQs.
# The name of the area called Kowloon in Hong Kong literally means: nine dragons.
# Someone dressed "to the nines" is dressed up as much as they can be.
# Number of Provinces in South Africa.
# There are 9 planets in the Solar System.
# Nine Lives Cat Food got its name from the legend that a cat has nine lives.
# 6 paired with 9 represents something very naughty

Imagine what fun we had.....

TTC

Everythings Coming up Roses-I think

It has been awhile. There is certainly no shortage of things to talk about. Work is work and I am not going to talk about Bill 198 again. Oh Shit, I guess I just did. Things at home are exciting. Finances are getting in order, finally and the love of my life is peaking in so many ways. No details there.

Holidays are approaching fast. Can't wait for that. I am going to sit back and relax while the kids swim and frolic in the water. Sounds like a hard day I know but some one has to do it. On a sadder note the land my wife's father owned on Sparrow lake is about to be sold off this weekend. It's a beautiful piece of property that will surely be sold off. I don't want to harp on the family issues that made this thing fall apart but if there's a lesson here, it is communication and trust. I not sure where we stand as a society when even family members don't even trust each other. Maybe that's why the world is destined to be warring with each other for the ages.

Weather is extremely hot, and almost uncomfortable. Can't say I enjoy it when it is this hot for this long. Hopefully it hangs around for the holidays next week. We shall see.

I am working evenings tonight and actually it is pretty hot in here. Heading home soon as I am done here as I have to be back in here tomorrow morning. It's audit walk through day and I can't wait. Extreme sarcasms oozing out. Sorry.

Time to run. Funny line I heard in the old version of "War of the Worlds" "Thats impossible" the general stated. "Its possible if they 're doing it" states the doctor. Nothing like the obvious, unless its not in front of your face. :>

TTC

Back from Vacation-For a while anyway

Its been a long time since I blogged, but I was on vacation after all. Vacation was excellent. We up at the cottage near Gravenhurst. It was beautiful up there. The kids had a blast swimming and fishing. We took their bikes but the kids didn't seem to interested in riding. They were having far too much fun swimming. I think it was on the Thursday they were in the water for over three hours. They have made friends next store and they have a lot of fun when they get together. Sam joined me on the weekends. It was not much of a holiday for her but at least we had really nice weather over the weekend. We didn't get home until very late on Sunday night. It was just too nice out and we did not want too leave. Somehow I managed to break my toe while I was away. On Thursday I was helping Paige clean up on the dock when I jammed my foot on one of the dock rings. Their "T" shaped and I managed to wedge the ring in between my big toe and index toe. It bent back and snapped like a twig. It went red almost instantly and the swelling took place shortly there after. Not much they can do for a busted up toe so it is one of those grin and bear it.

While we were up at the cottage we finished off moving and installing the deck from Sam's sisters place. Its nice as it finishes off the side of the cottage quite nicely. We had tried to convince my wife's father when he was alive to put one in there but if it wasn't his idea it wasn't likely ever going to be done.

The politics are alive and strong about the family properties however. No one seems to agree on anything. The frustration on my part is no one seems to appreciate what they have. It seems like it is all about control for this family. If they don't have control they vie for it and dam everything and anything that gets in the way. They value personal satisfaction and victory over enjoyment. The selfishness is incredible. If it continues and there seems to be no reason why it won't, it will be ALL gone and there will be nothing to vie for control of. In Stewies words (Family Guy) "Victory will be mine". Enjoy it because it will be a lonely victory.

Enough ranting as I intend to enjoy it as long as I can. Our next set of holidays are coming up. This time both Sam and I get to enjoy it together. I can't wait. Its only 8 days away and it can't come soon enough. Its a strange summer this year as I will be away three individual weeks with two weeks in between each of them. Actually Sam and I had a neat idea. If you have say two weeks vacation, you could actually break that up into chunks of three days with and extra day to add to one. With two chunks of three days and one with four you could leverage the weekends and holidays and spread your holidays across five weeks. It would seem like you had a large part of the summer off. I may try that next year. With three weeks holiday you could spread it across five weekend and have most of the summer off. I may try that next year.

I will try to update sooner then later as always. Life seems to be in a hurry these days and everyone seems be having a hard time keeping up. But everyday spent on the green side of the grass is a good one.

Chow
TTC

July 4th-Lots of Fireworks of all Kinds

Long weekend over. And yes it has been a while since I blabbered on about things. Just came back from a weekend at the river. What a headache once again. Sam's mom wasn't well this weekend. She hung around the couch most of the day sleeping on and off. Occasional she wandered down to the waterfront and got up for meals but for the most part kept to herself. She is reaching the point where it is hard for her to follow conversations. I find it hard to communicate with her at all as she has a hard time finding not just the right words, but any words. Then she gets frustrated at us for not understanding her. Alzheimer's is a brutal disease and were just getting started.
Anyway the kids had a blast this weekend. The weather was outstanding. I managed to land one beauty of a cold somehow which kind of laid me up for the weekend. I managed to find my energy by Sunday, but Saturday was pretty much a right off. We lit off Fireworks on Saturday night. What a blast. Had a nice peaceful kayak and canoe ride during the weekend. Took Zeus out for his innaugural canoe and kayak ride. He wasn't too bad but it was a little harry coming back in the kayak as he found a dog to bark at. Not bad for a beginner though Once he calms down a bit it will be a lot easier. It was a weekend of highs and lows. We needed the break yet somehow we left there feeling like we didn't get one. I am almost ready to bail on this whole joint cottage thing. Sam's immediate family can't seem to get their act together and its troublesome to think that we would all manage this one day. When you have incapacity, incompetence, ineffectiveness,inadequacy, inefficiency, ineptitude, ineptness, insufficiency, inutility, weakness and selfishness when dealing with issues you have a disaster waiting to happen. Saw all of that this weekend and its scary. If and when I win the lottery, my Sam and I will buy our own piece of heaven and earth, somewhere very far away from family rest assured.

Oops. It has been a week.

And what a week it has been. After enjoying a leisurely Father’s day and a relatively calm Monday, the power went out at one of our buildings at work. Late night #1. The power eventually came back on and we were back in business by 7:30. Tuesday night we had a meeting run very late, until about 5:15. Late night #2. Wednesday I actually bailed a little early because of the late nights. Thursday and Friday were spent mostly planning for a big network change, which we implemented on Friday evening at work. Didn’t leave work on Friday until 1:20 am, actually Saturday by then. Late night #3. At least the traffic was OK coming home
We sat down and figured out our holiday schedule this year. It looks like we will be only home about two or three weekends during the summer. Cool. Can’t wait for the holidays to begin. We have worked out a deal with a girl across the street to cover off day care. Good schedule for her as she works a week and is off a week, pretty much the entire summer. Easy money too as our kids are pretty easy to take care of.
Well it’s been a week about work pretty much. Kids finish school this week. By the look of our hectic schedule, the summer will be gone before they know it, and for us too for that matter. I wish we could have a summer off as adults. I have always contended that if was ever given the chance to take a year off, I would take it in a heartbeat. That would include a large cash donation by someone to cover off my salary. I know it probably won’t happen but one can dream. It would be awesome to spend the summer with the kids at this age.
Weight loss is slow and steady. I had a bad night on Friday as it seemed like we were constantly eating. Pizza, Burger and subs, we had it all. Back on track these last two days although I have had more Goodies then I probably should have. I just can’t resist those little licorice treats. Beautiful day today. I will try and update more through this upcoming week.

TTC