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

Sunday Evening-Happy Fathers Day

Yet I sit at the computer on another Sunday evening typing away. Father’s Day is almost over and it has been a pretty good one. The kids all bought me T-Shirts, and Sam got me the Family Guy, Season 3. I probably have seen a lot of them, but I never get tired of them. It has been a pretty good day. We spent the morning eating breakfast and talking about our life. We even dreamed about winning the lottery until I shattered those thoughts by checking my tickets. We cleaned up from breakfast and trekked off to Canadian Tire where we bought a whole bunch of stuff to wash the car. The kids picked up some fishing tackle. It is kind of cute now as they all have their own tackle box. They are ready for summer, fishing, swimming and all the other good stuff the hot weather brings.
Speaking of hot, it’s been a scorcher today. Good day to wash the car. That’s exactly what we did in the afternoon. Both vehicles were washed, waxed and cleaned out inside and out. They both look like their in showroom condition. We had originally planned a big dinner for the day but ended up having left over spaghetti. It was absolutely delicious. Ate too much though, but overall I have been staying on my plan. Down about five pounds and falling
It’s the start of another week tomorrow. I have meetings about my favorite subject lately, Bill198. I have come to realize now that nobody knows what the hell a Bill198 audit is going to look like. No fault of my company though, they just want to make sure they are going to be compliant. It is going to be a long week however. I am hanging around on Friday night at work, as we are making a pretty significant change to our company. It seems like the guys in my group have everything under control.
Well it’s time to pack it in for another entry. My Edmonton Oilers are taking it to a seventh and deciding game. I can’t wait to catch the game tomorrow. It should be pretty exciting. I cannot imagine the shape Edmontonians are going to be in on Tuesday should their team win tomorrow night. “Toenails” to the weather as it looks like it is going to rain on our shiny cars.

TTC

Saturday Evening Post....On Sunday

Well it's Sunday night and it has been a fantastic weekend. I spent most of Saturday mowing the lawn and cleaning up the house. The house so desperately needed it. It was nice to get everything in order and clean up. We went to a barbecue on Saturday night. I could not believe the weather. It was awfully cool out. We started outside, but then we had too moved inside because of the temperature. I think it went down to about 5 degrees last night. It felt more like a fall day then a summer day. We all headed in to watch Edmonton beat up on Carolina. It was game three of the Stanley Cup playoffs and if Edmonton had lost last night I think they would have been toast. But with a score of 2-1 in Edmontons favour, their back in the series. Go Edmonton go.
First day of summer is coming up fast. We have had a few hot days, but for the most part it seems like it has been a pretty cool day out. Even today as nice as it was it could have been a whole lot warmer.
Today was all about clothes. We decided to clean up our room and boy what a mess. Three bags of clothes heading to Amity later, things are looking pretty good. Its funny how you come across clothes you havecompletelyy forgotten about. With the discovery of a few pairs of track pants and some summer clothes I had a new wardrobe. In the end, Sam and I have old new clothes and our room looks pretty decent. Dinner tonight was great, with a fantasticpotatoe salad we had made Friday for the Saturday barbecue and barbecued chicken. It was a great day and great food. Diet seems to be going pretty well. Considering last night was a pig fest, the weekend was not too bad. The weight does not seem to be dropping off as quickly as last time but I had more too lose then. Time will tell all.
I can't help but think about the past lately. As we wandered through my Wife's Grandmothers place noticing all the tools and the building contents, I couldn't help but imagine what a daily routine must have been like fifty years ago. Sometimes I think as a society we have become far to complex to fast. A simpler way of life, like the one 50 yrs ago might have been a whole lot healthier and rewarding. Anywaycan'tt go backward, but its nice to imagine a simpler and less complicated life sometimes.
Its getting later in the evening now and I should run. It's been a nice. I have been sitting here typing away to classical guitar music playing in the background and watching as Sam gives Paige a pedicure. Life is grand and I am a very lucky guy. I have a wonderful family, home and yes even chewing dog aka Zeus. He seems to be leaving the floor alone for now. New week tomorrow, let's see what life has in store.
TTC

The Real Friday Post

Ok. Now for the true Friday post. As you can see Wednesday's post did not make it on until today. I tried to post it on Wednesday but the wonderful world of computers is a strange beast and they would have no part of my post on that day.
Lets review whats going on in the world today. First off the natives are still hanging out in Caledonia-illegally. Time to leave, you made your point, no your just pissing everybody off and building on an already negative image of your native heritage. Go and suffer with government incompetency like we all have to. The second most wanted terrorist in Iraq has been captured. This guy was beaut...Killed for fun and not for the cause. Lovely guy deserved his fate. Too bad he took out so many before he got his own. Oil pricing are tumbling but gas prices are still high. Anyone but me noticed that when oil prices jump in a 24 hour period, so do gas prices and gas futures. Oil prices drop and the oil companies claim " oil prices affect the future price, not todays price at the pump" What a load of crap. I can't wait for the day when an alternative energy is discovered that eliminates oil once and for all. It will be a pleasure to watch all these companies tumble. Probably cause a world war, but thats a whole other discussion. Toenails to dead terrorists and gas companies and the government as well.
My wife's niece is out west and planting trees. Watch out for the bears. You do not want to end up like Timothy Treadwell. We watched a movie a couple of weeks ago called Grizzly Man. It is all about this Timothy guy who hangs with Grizzly for several years, tells them that he loves them, gets mad at the people protecting them and hitches up with a girl, who he convinces to hang out with him and the grizzlies. Eventually they both get eaten. I'm sorry but this movie/documentary was very slow and plodding and to be honest with you by the end I was cheering for the bears to eat the guy. He was self centred ego maniac who needed professional help, and unfortunately cost a women her life, two bears their life and put a whole lot of park rangers in danger. Movie to stay away from.
On the home front all things are tickety boo. Wish we had more money or less debt I guess. Making good money just paying way too much interest on old debt. Bank visit should take care of that soon. Summer is around the corner and I can't wait for holidays. Kids only have a couple weeks of school left and their off. I cannot wait for my vacation this year. Dog and cat are well. Long post to make up for lost time. See you soon.

TTC

Wednesday-A little late

Its already Wednesday again. This week is moving fast. It started out on kind of a low note but the last two days have been great. I have got an awful lot accomplished, especially at work. My Edmonton oilers are struggling. That was a heart break of game the other night. I can't believe their goalie ended up getting heart so badly. It looked like an innocent enough collision. The summer holidays are fast approaching and I can't wait. The weather is finally getting to be a little bit nicer and once again everyone is wearing their short sleeves. We had a great time last Sunday. We went fishing on my brothers boat. The kids had a blast and Austen caught an enormous fish. The tournament was well run by a local tackle shop owner named Rotton Ronnie. Great place with lots of atmosphere. There is an ice cream place down in Long Point that serves amazing ice cream, right beside Rotton Ronnies. Great way to end the day down there. Diet is going well. I lost about five pounds and it is dropping quickly. Must stay focused on eating the right stuff, at least until the holidays roll around.Gotta run. No plans yet for this weekend other then the usual cutting of the grass and other fun stuff.
TTC

Its Thursday!

Its Thursday already again. The kids decided to tell us late last night that they had early dismissal today. Great. So I am off half a day I guess. No worries though, I can go home and clean up the house. It needs it. Not much else happening otherwise. Still plugging along with the Bill 198 crap (Thanks Enron)at work. It was great to see those two bonehead executives get jail time. A better punishment would have been to have them visit every publicly traded company in Canada and the United States and apologize for the hundreds of millions of dollars now being spent to be compliant with a piece of legislation their shenanigans inspired. Both these guys are true toenail clippings. Enough ranting.
Puppy is good except for the floor chewing he has taken too. Sam and I had to replace a square four foot section of flooring he modified with his teeth. Of course the day could not have been hotter when we did it. Looked pretty cool though. Cat is suddenly out of heat. I think she finally got some. Suddenly snitty kitty is now affectionate and loving. Definitely got some. Big shopping trip last night. Clothes, Food, Walmart and Staples to boot. All in all it was about a $500 dollar evening. Thank god Sam is working. Sam and I worked on Travis project last evening. Of course he left it to the very last minute. He is the king of procrastination. I know where he gets it from. Both Sam and I are terrible procrastinators and probably are not setting a good example. Something I know I need to work on this year.
Not going north this weekend, but possibly south. My brother holds a fishing tourny down at long point during this time of year. We hope to get down there on the Saturday to check it out.

The Long Weekend that wasn't

Well the weekend is over and it felt like a long one. It all started off innocently enough on Friday night. From there however it was a weekend of of a lotta lows. To start off with the family feud on my wifes side continues. That came to a mini head on Saturday morning, luckily before the business of selling off the lake property started. That part of the weekend went without too many hitches and somehow we ended up with a trailer and some old reminders of Sams grandmothers property. We did not arrive home until very late last night, making it for a very long day today. This kids looked very tired and bug bitten. The mosquitos were pretty bad yesterday and the kids were playing outside most of the day. They even dared to go swimming. Warm enough outside, but it was awfully cold in the water. They swam for about half an hour anyway. Boaters going by were getting a chuckle from the kids antics in the water and a few of them even asked how the water was. As is the kids blue faces and uncontrollable shivering was a good enough indication. Despite some controversy we did get to spend the weekend with the friendly side of the family though, the ones we are getting along with . We ate far too much but did manage to get a lot done around the river. As I have said so many times, the diet starts today.

Dogs, Cats and Styx

It has been a strange kind of day. It all started very early this morning when my daughter got up early to use the washroom. The dog got up and we couldn't find the cat. My wife was up really early, had her shower. I walked the dog while she was showering. I put the dog back in the house and went looking for the cat. The cat was hanging out on our front lawn with another cat, white with some brown spots. I sense now there may be little kittens on the way. I hope I am wrong although time will tell and the kittens would be kind of cute. Lets hope not. The kids did their usual and sprang on me at the last minute that they had forms that needed to be signed. I spent a considerable amount of time filling those puppies in. Alas 8:00am rolled around and on the bus they went. I left for work and tuned in to the radio. Sports radio was kind of boring so I wandered the frequencies in search of something mildly entertaining. Oddly enough I tuned into CHUM FM and Denis DeYoung, formerly with Styx, was on the Radio. Its odd because last time I listened to Chum FM for any great length of time, he was on. No it was not a repeat, that I am sure. I didn't realize he was not touring with Styx anymore. Apparently they still hold the right to sing his songs, and they have added Richard Marx to their band. Strange world indeed.

When I get into work the place is near empty. Quickly that dream of me going to work on a Saturday came to mind, however there were too many cars in the parking lot for that to be true. People eventually started wandering in my area. Hopefully the trip home is a little more sane.

Started counting the calories today. I am already near the max so it looks like I am not going to have much dinner tonight. Thats OK actually as I need to cut the grass before the weekend. We are headed north once again. The fireworks were suppose to happen last weekend but I suspect there might be some this weekend. Stay tuned.

BlackBerry Blogging

Well for the first time ever I am blogging from my Blackberry. Don't know how much I can write with my thumbs or what the spelling will be like, so we will have to wing it as we go along. First off I can't believe it is Wednesday already. Well not quite but it ill be on the other side of my upcoming sleep. You gotta love long weekends as it makes the proceeding week that much shorter. I am awfully glad I don't have a whole lot of meetings tomorrow. On the home front I actually had to come home early today as Paige was not feeling very well. I think I actually got more work done at home then I probably would have at the office. I am looking forward to heading north this weekend. We are meeting once again with Sam's family about the disputed and for sale lake property. I will be glad when this whole thing is over with the property. It has gone on far to long. Anyway my thumbs are getting kind of sore here. Gotta run. Toenails to the sticky W key on my blackberry.

Longggggggggggggggggg Weekenddddddddddd

It's Friday and Payday. WooHoo. Well payday for my wife anyway. I can't tell you how much nicer it is to have two paychecks pouring into our account. We can breath a little easier now. Long weekend ahead. I would like to nail down a day to head north but that does not seem like it is going to happen. Our little girl is away at camp this weekend, meanwhile Travis returns from his camping trip. Kids coming and going everywhere. Cut the grass last night after many days of rain. Maybe I should re-state that and emphasis that I cut the weeds and the grass in between also got shaved. Man it was weed city. Looking forward to this long weekend for many reasons. First off it has been a little crazy at work lately, and today we found out we have another big project, other the my pet peeve Sox/198 compliance project. I don't know where we are going to get the time for all this. Busy busy and busy and I will be glad to get away from it for awhile. Pretty quiet at work today though. I think a lot of people got a jump on the long weekend and took off early. Secondly, it will be nice just to enjoy some time off . Last long weekend was Easter and it seemed to be over before it started. It will be nice to get some stuff done around the house. The playoffs will be on again this weekend. Love hockey and that fact that Edmonton is the next round is a huge bonus. Should be good hockey. Got to run. Time for lunch. I will find out if anybody blew up the skyway lift bridge. Apparenly there was a truck abondend in the middle of the bridge this morning and police were taking a very cautious approach about removing it. Can't blame them, as that bridge would be on a terrorist target list somewhere I am sure. I was an Aerostar though and the way those things are built it would take a pretty big bomb just to blow the van up.

Off to Camp-For the First Time

Well its Wednesday today. Over the hump day. Smiling today as we finally woke up and the sun was out. Its been raining forever lately and we just can't seem to catch a break from the weather. Travis, or the travel'in man as I sometimes call him is going to camp for the first time today, It is a grade five camping trip. I never got to go to camp until I was in grade eight. They are soooo lucky. He was extremely excited on the bus today. Off he went with his back pack, duffle bag and pillow. He is growing up so fast. I did my on line census thing today. Thank god the government has come to realize the benefits of online forms. It makes it so easy to submit stuff and not have to worry about filling them out, sending them in and getting them back only to find out you made a bunch of errors while you were filling them in. Last night was a paper work night in fact. I had to get a bunch of tax stuff done. I still have not done my taxes yet for 2005, but I am sure I will be able to get them in soon. I guess it depends on how much I owe. Sam is still working away at RIM. She is doing the drop tests for now but her manager has her busy doing other stuff as well. She seems happy. She is a wonderful girl and I am so lucky to have found her almost 15 years ago now. Anyway nothing bad to say. Weight loss is coming soon, I can feel it. Target is 50lbs. Starting now. :>
TTC

It was a pretty good weekend this weekend. A belated Happy Mothers Day to all you mothers out there. We spent our Sunday visiting Sam's mother and mine. The kids got a kick out of it, as Uncle Chris (my brother) was at my moms. We had chinese food. It was pretty good. We seem to go through the Chinese Food phases where we will have it for a few weeks and then not have it for months. It was tasty last night and as usual I consumed far to much. Diet will start today again, or at least thats what I tell myself.
Back to work today, however I have struggled to get any meaningful work done today. It has been a lot of answering emails, working out support contracts and of course crap around Bill 198. We started talking about holidays this week. I can't wait to head up North. We are planning a cleaning detail for the river property, I think starting this weekend. Its neat throwing somebody else junk out. I really need to run through this exercise at our house. We have junk piling up at an extreme rate. I actually managed to update this blog in a timely manner this week. Must be due to the crappy weather we had all weekend. Rain, Rain go away and come on back another day. I feel like that stereotypical little kid at the window staring out into the pouring rain hoping it will come to an end soon. I haven't looked yet but hopefully I can find some clip art to that effect. Looks like the rain is a bummer for the people in the New England area. They are definitely hoping for the rain to disappear. They had clips on the CNN web site showing the cars underwater and the bridges washed out.
Well thats it for today. Toenails to the headache I had all weekend that now seems to be finally disappearing. Seems to go hand in hand with the food I have been eating lately. Starting today I am going to begin watching and writing down what I eat. It seems to be the only way I can lose the weight. Until I write again. TA TA... TAC

Holy Cow-How Time flies

I don’t know if its age or the pace of life but it seems that time just flies by now. Could be the fact that my wife is working now and there seems to be no time to do anything anymore. I don’t know. As you can tell by the time between posts, I have not had much me time lately. Anyway life is too short to complain all the time. We had a great dinner with friends up north last week. The dinner was great and the amount of alcohol consumed was plentiful. I have not had that much beer in quite a while. It was good to see my friends. My buddy Carsten and his wife for that matter I have know since Grade 6 and 9 respectively. That means we have know each other for close to thirty years. We try to meet every three months for dinner. We dropped the ball big time and it was almost two years. Gets back to that pace of life thing I talked about earlier I guess. Update on the dog, getting really big. I look at him now and I can’t believe how fast he is growing. It seems like yesterday I could pick him up with one hand and hold him. Now he is just too big. He had a bed we brough him home in when we first picked him up. He fit in it OK but we knew it was temporary. He became a little attached to the bed and when he gets really tired he still tries to sleep in it. As you can see he really does not fit in it anymore but its his security blanket. He was really tired when he came home from the north last week. That's when the top picture was taken. He of course is sleeping right behind me now. He likes to be close always. This week at work was more of the same Bill 198 stuff. I am growing tired of this Bill 198 crap. I actually made Friday a Bill 198 free day. I had to do it for my sanity. My co-worker who lost her husband a couple of weeks back returned to work this week. It must have been hard for her. Apparently she is planning a trip to the good old Calgary Stampede with her kids. I am sure she will have a blast. Weight loss is not happening yet. This week I am sure I will start. I keep looking at that post from my last cartoon and I certainly do not want to look like that again. It is mother’s day this weekend. I have a wonderful wife who is a great mother to our kids. She grouches at them from time to time but overall she keeps them in line. I don’t know if she will survive Travis though. The two of them don’t begin to realize how much they are alike. Well I think that brings me up to date anyway. I miss when I don’t update this blog, even though I know few will ever read it. This is my time, my space and my take. Don’t get too many other opportunities in life to say that now do we. Toenail scale is gone. Ratings are for TV. Perhaps I will use the toenails descriptor when I identify evil and awful things. Still need to think about it. Life is good right now and that’s all that is important.
CU Later TAC

The Fish Tank is Clean!

It has been an interesting week. It is Thursday already and I have not been a very good blogger this week. Life is hectic and it has been a little crazy this week. Still plugging through the stuff at work around good ol’ bill 198. I have come to realize that the when it comes to the Canadian Government, and for that matter, the American government to accomplish any thing in an efficient manner it is next to impossible. This whole Bill 198/Sorbanes Oxely process is a joke. It is an acute overreaction to a bunch a crooked CEO’s. Anyway enough ranting. Wife, Kids, Dog, Cat and gold fish are all doing fine. I even cleaned out the gold fishes tank last week. It was getting pretty bad. We were having a hard time even seeing the goldfish. I even cleaned the cat litter last night. I love pets and isn't wonderful how kids love pets but we get to clean up after them. We are headed up north again this weekend to have dinner with a bunch of friends we have not seen in a long time. I am really looking forward to getting away. Fishing should be good but I am not looking forward to the black flies. Black Flies are a big nuisance where I live, especially the last few nights. Funny how they disappear at night though .

Wow the Week is going fast

So far so good this week . I can't believe it is Thursday already. The kids are at home this afternoon due to an early dismissal. I am working from home today. I am actually waiting for a file to download while I am typing this, so technically I am working. Needed to take a break from the Bill 198 Stuff. Thanks Enron.
We have our last hockey party this week coming up. It is for the little guys and girls that I coached this year. They were a great group of kids. We are going back up North next weekend with some friends for dinner. Thats pretty cool considering we have not seen these people in about two years. They have kids that are a little older then ours. One of my friends is a bit of a fishing buff so he will enjoy the fishing up there. There is a beautiful gazeebo on the water so it will be nice if the weather co-operates. We might be able to sit around a camp fire with marshmallow smores and baileys. Double yum.
On a sadder note one of my co-workers and friends at work lost her husband this week . He was forty nine and passed away from complications due to cancer. So young and I feel so bad for her and the kids. She is a strong person and I know she will hit the ground running, but still very sad days for her now and ahead.
I have been binge eating again. I have to stop. I lost near fifty pound last year, but unfortunately I have gained about twenty back. Time to get back on track. I accomplished the weight lost by tracking what I eat duing the day and trying to keep under 2000 Calories a day. Also watching the fat intake and trying to keep it under 65grams a day. Between April 1st and July 1st last year I lost most of my weight. Like I said it it time to get back on track.
My file is downloaded now so its back to work. Blab at the Blog later. By the way I give these days a ~ out of ten toenails, mostly due to my friends lost. Remember life is short, live and love each day. As Captain Picard once said, I fear more days have passed then are ahead of me. So true when you are over forty.
TTC

Weekend Away

Well the weekend started off great with our party for the Novice kids who I coached. It was pretty cool as the parents took care of all the arrangements. I just had to show up and present the trophies. Not a bad gig. Great bunch of kids. Anyway we headed up north on Friday night as planned. The weather was awfully crappy and the drive was messy but traffic was moving. We got up there just before midnight. It is a pretty cool place located just outside of Washago. The kids had a blast with our the neighbors next store.
On Saturday morning Sam's sisters and her mom started rolling in at about 10:00am. They wanted to have a pre meeting about the lake front property that Sam's fathers family is selling. Sam's mom unforutnately has Alzheimer's. Granted it is in the earlier stages but she can no longer make decisions for herself, hence the family has to help out. The pre-meeting went very well and the family drafted a note about the conditions of the sale. In the afternoon we met with the rest of the families and discussed the sale. Most of it went pretty well from what I here
They returned home on Saturday night. I cooked one of my personal favorites, pork chops and baked potatoes, with a touch of caesar salad and cord. Yum. I love food. Sam and I decided to spend another night up there and came home on Sunday.
Sam starts her new job today. She was really nervous last night and had a hard time getting to sleep. I tossed and turned a bit a well but feel asleep around midnight, only to be awoken by a cat who had obviously been alone too much this weekend. She was trying to get the dog to play but he was giving her the "go lick yourself" look as he was completely exhausted from the weekend.
Enough ramblings. Gotta run and work for a living. Weekend was a ~~~~~~~ out of ten. Good rest but crappy weather. TAC

Weekend Away

Well the weekend started off great with our party for the Novice kids who I coached. It was pretty cool as the parents took care of all the arrangements. I just had to show up and present the trophies. Not a bad gig. Great bunch of kids. Anyway we headed up north on Friday night as planned. The weather was awfully crappy and the drive was messy but traffic was moving. We got up there just before midnight. It is a pretty cool place located just outside of Washago. The kids had a blast with our the neighbors next store.
On Saturday morning Sam's sisters and her mom started rolling in at about 10:00am. They wanted to have a pre meeting about the lake front property that Sam's fathers family is selling. Sam's mom unforutnately has Alzheimer's. Granted it is in the earlier stages but she can no longer make decisions for herself, hence the family has to help out. The pre-meeting went very well and the family drafted a note about the conditions of the sale. In the afternoon we met with the rest of the families and discussed the sale. Most of it went pretty well from what I here
They returned home on Saturday night. I cooked one of my personal favorites, pork chops and baked potatoes, with a touch of caesar salad and cord. Yum. I love food. Sam and I decided to spend another night up there and came home on Sunday.
Sam starts her new job today. She was really nervous last night and had a hard time getting to sleep. I tossed and turned a bit a well but feel asleep around midnight, only to be awoken by a cat who had obviously been alone too much this weekend. She was trying to get the dog to play but he was giving her the "go lick yourself" look as he was completely exhausted from the weekend.
Enough ramblings. Gotta run and work for a living. Weekend was a ~~~~~~~ out of ten. Good rest but crappy weather. TAC

OK-So I Had a Bad Week

I guess my last post was a little strong and filled with a little vengence. It was a frustrating process having money stolen. Word to the wise; Protect your bank cards and pin numbers. Despite being somewhat protective my card was still hijacked. Maybe I will have to arm myself with a world domination ray gun or something.
On to new things. We went to the Beverly Golf and country club last evening for a banquet honouring our year in hockey with the Grand Valley Hockey league. The place was built just last year and it looks beautiful. It is a private club though and in less I win a lottery we likely won't be members there anytime soon. Beautiful place.
As I mentioned we are headed north this weekend. I am looking forward to getting away. It will be our puppy's first big car ride so we will see how he makes out. But first we have a novice hockey party to go to. It was team myself and a neighbor coached last year. We had a great time and the kids had a pretty good blast as well. It's funny how we ended up exactly at .500 for the year in both the playoffs and regular season.
Well my beloved maple leafs made some changes yesterday. Patt Quinn, their head coach, was fired or as his boss said "relieved of his duties". Sounds so much better then fired doesn't it. In this world of political correctness we view the word fired as some sort of "bad" word. Where I work is the same. We use the phrase "we no longer require your services". My interpitation is get the hell out we have chewed you up and got all the useful stuff out of you we need. Back to Pat Quinn though I am sure he will end up with Vancouver next year and probably win the cup. That is the fate of players and coaches that leave or get fired from the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Anyway I should run.
It's been a ~~~~~~~~ out of ten toenails type day.
Later
TAC

Scum Sucking Thieves who rob from the poor

Well it has been a couple of days now since I posted. Been an interesting couple of days. I spent a lot of time at the bank the last couple of days straigntening out our account. Turns out somebody hi-jacked my bank card and stole money out of our account. There is lovely people in this world and then there are the assholes that make a living off doing this. These people I have abolutely no respect for. I suspect it happened at a gas station as I generally restrict the use of my bank card to groceries and bank themselves. The rare time I actually used it for gas the attendant told me he had trouble swiping the card. It seems obvious to me that this is where it happened. Of course I have no proof.

Anyway, on to happier things. Its Wednesday of an already shortened week. It seems like this week is disappearing before my eyes. We are headed north this weekend for the first time in a long time. Should be an interesting weekend though as we are discussing the sale of family property. I think I'd rather jump off a cliff then talk about family owned land. If any one out there owns lands together with family and makes it work then I salute you. My wife's side of the family struggles with it and there is no chance it will ever work. Up for sale it goes.

Said my piece and its time to go. Zero out of ten toeneails for pieces of crap that hijacked my account. May your eventual death be an infected toenail that ends up spreading to your brain. The pain will be so intense that you will wish you could die and that will be truly the most honest thought you ever had. Scumbuckets the lot of you.

For all the lovely people out there keep treating others as you would have them treat you. The world will be a better place. PLH (peace, love, happiness)

TAC :>

Super Long Weekend

Yes I am off tomorrow, but its not because I have a government job or teach school. I actually took the day off to make a super long weekend. Next weekend we are heading to our shared accommodations near Gravenhurst, while actually closer to washes for those of you that know the area.

We are going up there for a meeting. They want to sell off another shared property. It's a beautiful piece of property located on Sparrow lake. Most families would want to keep a piece of property this gorgeous , however my wife's family on her fathers side couldn't agree on the color of the sky on any given day. Needless to say the management of this property is not within their grasp. If I had an extra 1/2 million it would be mine, but financially were not any where close to being in a position of purchasing such a property. It will be a steal for somebody.

We just had a wonderful Easter dinner. Just the family with no guests this year. We had my side of the family's dinner last night. Good weekend of food. Must lose weight again though. I had lost fifty pounds last year and I think I am well on my way to gaining 20 of it back. Will start again this week for sure watching what I eat and writing it down. My goal is to 200lbs by the summer. We shall see.

On a sad note my mighty Toronto Maple Leafs lost last night. They still had a very slim chance for post season until last night anyway. It is disappointing as I was hoping for a playoff run :<. They had a really good run to end the season though. A few more breaks going their way and they might have been there this year. Anyway I still have not decided which team I will back for the rest of this year. I hate Ottawa and never been a big Montreal Fan. Calgary might be cool. I always tend to cheer for the underdog.

Gotta run. This weekend rates a ~~~~~~~~~ out of ten toenails. Awesome and fun all at the same time.

TAC

Good Friday has come and gone. Pretty rainy and crappy here in Rockton, Ontario. Good day though. Didn't do too much today other then get our 2004 taxes done. Yes I am a year behind as I always am, but their done now. My mother-in-law was over for dinner tonight. We had killer spaghetti sauce that I made earlier today. I like to cook, especially in the kitchen.
We are headed off to my brother's place tomorrow for my family's Easter dinner. Should be a blast. My brother and his wife just lost their dog of 15 years. I know how bad that feels. We lost our sheltie two years ago and our golder retriever got done in by a truck on the highway this year. Hence why we now have a puppy. The kids were devastated.
Anyway I promised the cat, Mystery, who was feeling pretty left out after I posted the anonymous dog and the sheltie, that I would post a picture of her. This cat is pretty cool but not the most graceful cat you will ever run into. She has taken some pretty good spills over her lifetime. That is my little girl with her. Another princess. As a father I could not be more proud of her, as a matter of fact all my kids. Without getting all holy, I do have an awful lot to be thankful for this Easter. There are a lot of people who are going through some pretty bad stuff. A colleague of mine at work is watching her husband fight off some nasty cancer, while another one is going through a pretty intense separation from his wife. So as poor financially as we are, if that's our biggest problem and it appears to be, then were in pretty good shape.
OK I promise in my next entry not to babble on so much about the Pets. As far as my rating goes for today, I have to think it was a ~~~~~~~~~~ Toenail type of day. I will babble at you later, until then enjoy yourself.


Have a Happy Easter everyone, and don't eat too much!
Oh and if you dont celebrate Easter, just have a nice weekend

Oh Boy-Long Weekend ahead

Long Weekend Ahead-Happy Easter, Passover, Pesach or whatever else you want to call it.
By the way please refrain from any political or religous discussions on this blog. I will not read them but will remove them. Thanx


Well its Thursday afternoon and we are headed for a long weekend today. I got to thinking last night and I wondered how I could post a picture of an anonymous dog before I post one of The Sheltie. Yes this our dog named Zeus. He is about four months old now. He is house broken but still has his puppy teeth, which pretty much means everything is fair game for chewin. Other then that he is a really good puppy. This will be the second Sheltie we have owned. The first one named Bret lived to be the ripe old age of 15. Pretty old for a Sheltie. I had him even before I met my wife. Anyone back to this moment, Sheltie Zeus is doing fine, growing like a weed much to my wife's dismay. She was kinda hoping for a regular sized Sheltie. She should know better as everything we do turns "big". I should mention we have a cat as well however it is a mystery how we got one. We think someone tossed a bag of kittens while driving by on the highway. We managed to capture her and take care of her. Her brother, was taken by another neighbor but ran away. Anyway she is a black cat and the kids called her, big surprise, Mystery. She is about a year old and gives Zeus a good run for his money.

Thanks Enron

I spent another day at work in meetings about this Bill 198 crap. Thanks to companies like Enron we all have to pay. I guarentee this is not part of the job I will remember on my death bed. Pretty good day other wise. Easter nears and the weekend is looking pretty cool

Just got a call from my wife. She is running late. So more time to Blog. Hockey is over. Thank god. Love the game but I hate the bullshit politics that come with it. Problably should not have volunteered for two more years. The dog here looks thrilled that is owners decided to dress it up as a bunny.

Speaking of dogs our new puppy is hilarious. We got him a few weeks ago. He is a sheltie, normally a small dog, but this one is growing like a weed. He looks like he is going to be a big one. I had him chasing my hat last night. I would flick it around and he would chase it. I would through it back on my head and he would spend five minutes looking for it. I am sure he will get smarter as he gets older. I hope.

Gotta fly. In keeping with my blogs theme I am going to rate days according the the "Terry Corbett Toe Nail Scales. 10 toenails being the best, 1 the worst. Today rated as a six ~~~~~~ day. Talk @ U later. :)

Well it looks like my wife has got me hooked on the blogging scene. You may be wondering about the name of this blog. Some people consider blogs to be a waste of time as thousands of people entering their random thoughts and ramblings on.I like to think of it as therapy.
Toenails grow, they need to be cut. The clippings that are part of you, fall to waste. Day to day life expereinces are sometimes like that. If you don't write them down, they become useless pieces that were once part of you and will soon be forgotton. By capturing these day to day experiences, they live on, at least until you lop them off.
Terry Corbett