I finally got to see Casino Royale on the weekend and I must say that I was very impressed.
As a kid I loved everything about the James Bond series ... the gadgets, the toys ..... the sexy women!?! They were always so fantastic, so unreal, that you couldnt really imagine James Bond as a real person, he was more of a superhero.
Until now...
I love the new direction they're taken with James Bond. He's a little closer to reality. Exchanging toys and gadgets with quick thinking and incredible athleticism was a smart move. Looking through my 'adult' eyes, he's still far above my meager abilities , yet he still makes mistakes and then is able to overcome them. He looks the part and is not afraid to win by any means necessary, be it quick thinking or simple brute strength. I liked Pearce Brosnan but could never realistically picture him winning a fight in the UFC octagon. I wouldnt bet against Daniel Craig though and I think 'James Bond' would do fairly decent in the ring being a 00 agent and all.
Bottom Line: A must see and worth the price of admission.
Anyways, the movie was the cap of a pretty decent weekend. I did a little work on the house, got some baseboards done, ran a few errands, spent some time with the family. All in all not a bad stint.
Monday, January 22, 2007
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Yea though I walk....
Devoid of emotion, I walk the walk of the damned. A curious shuffling gait interspersed with incoherent mumblings.
No longer do colors (the reds, the blues, the yellows.... the fuscias) fill my world. The vibrant hues that decorated my past have been washed out, changing the world from a rich summer into a cold dim mid-winter twilight.
The hollow echoes serve to amplify what would otherwise be silence. Once music played here.... happy music which filled the soul with hope and love. Now there is only the muffled sound of footsteps, pausing every so often, then continuing.... ever continuing.
The smells... oh the smells.... once my world was filled with the smell of freshly baked cookies. Now... I... smell........ oatmeal? As the tantalizing olfactory memories fade... were they real? Have I fabricated them?
My mouth salivates as I visualize how a nanaimo bar tastes..... tasted.... I did eat them once. Unless I've gone insane as well....
The dark chocolate topping melts and dances across my taste buds, the sugary yellow icing ignites a reaction that quickens my pulse and causes my nerves to shiver. The coconut fudge base provides a firm foundation which ties and binds the components into a perfectly formed union of all that is right and good in the universe.
The memory causes my eyes to moisten in remembrance....
Gone ..... gone are the joyous days of spring ....
.
.
.
Im on a diet.
.
.
.
No longer do colors (the reds, the blues, the yellows.... the fuscias) fill my world. The vibrant hues that decorated my past have been washed out, changing the world from a rich summer into a cold dim mid-winter twilight.
The hollow echoes serve to amplify what would otherwise be silence. Once music played here.... happy music which filled the soul with hope and love. Now there is only the muffled sound of footsteps, pausing every so often, then continuing.... ever continuing.
The smells... oh the smells.... once my world was filled with the smell of freshly baked cookies. Now... I... smell........ oatmeal? As the tantalizing olfactory memories fade... were they real? Have I fabricated them?
My mouth salivates as I visualize how a nanaimo bar tastes..... tasted.... I did eat them once. Unless I've gone insane as well....
The dark chocolate topping melts and dances across my taste buds, the sugary yellow icing ignites a reaction that quickens my pulse and causes my nerves to shiver. The coconut fudge base provides a firm foundation which ties and binds the components into a perfectly formed union of all that is right and good in the universe.
The memory causes my eyes to moisten in remembrance....
Gone ..... gone are the joyous days of spring ....
.
.
.
Im on a diet.
.
.
.
Monday, January 15, 2007
Let the good times roll...
OK, so the last post was a little out of character. Plus, I didnt mention that the song was the theme from The Littlest Hobo, one of the favorite shows from my childhood days. Some people got it, others thought I wrote a song about a dog (Hee Hee).
The weekend didnt turn out like I planned. I had a self-created long weekend. I worked 10 hour days last week and took the friday off. Thursday night we rolled into Cowtown and just as we got there the little guy threw up the fries we had slipped him. We chalked that up to bad fast food and went about our thing on Friday. Friday night he didnt seem so hot and early in the morning I was awakened by my wife who said Jacob was having trouble breathing. I rocked the little guy to sleep but he would wake up frequently with really bad coughing. I awoke Cath and we decided to head to the Childrens hospital because after talking with family and friends we figured out he had croup. It was confirmed at the hospital and we were admitted into the ER there.
There were several heartbreaking times during this ordeal. The first being as we were preparing to go to the hospital, I was finally getting him to cheer up by playing with some balls with him. He loves balls.... its one of the few words in his repetoire. I had to drag him away from the balls to take him to the car and as we are leaving he is crying in a choked little voice and saying 'ball'! 'ball'! Then we get him to the Childrens Hospital and we cheer him up in the waiting room where there are a myriad of toys and activity stations (probably the best thing about the new hospital), only then we take him to a little room where there is nothing to do and people constantly come in and cause him nothing but pain and distress. Poor little guy.....
They have an oral steroid there but it takes 4 hours to kick in and in the meantime there is a kind of vaporizing treatment (cant remember what is in it). They have to hold a mask over the child's face for 7 minutes. Jacob cannot stand things near his face. He REALLY cant stand being held down or restrained in any way and he is extremely strong for his size. You can imagine how it went. I could see the terror in his eyes. He fought and screamed the entire time with all his strength. He didnt let up... not once. I really had to work hard to hold him. Not to mention it was one of the most emotionally painful things I've ever done.
In most cases, they only have to do the mask treatment once but either his croup was bad enough or he just didnt get enough, but we wound up having to do it again an hour later.... and again he fought. I am amazed at how strong and determined he is.... and stubborn. Thankfully the second round took hold and after a very long time of being in an uncomfortable little examination room (they really need to rethink their setup) we were able to take him home.
During that monitoring time, they were not able to take his vitals as the first site of anyone besides Cath and I getting close to him would upset him greatly. The nurse just gave up and came back after we got him to sleep.
A funny little side effect of the steroid? It makes the kid hyper! Saturday night we are wasted from no sleep and Jacob's running laps. It was good to see him active though.
He is doing better now and the rest of the weekend (such as it were) was just spent trying to recover. He still coughs and is more clingy than usual, but doesnt sound like a seal, which is good.
Nothing really adequately prepares you for this parenting gig....
The weekend didnt turn out like I planned. I had a self-created long weekend. I worked 10 hour days last week and took the friday off. Thursday night we rolled into Cowtown and just as we got there the little guy threw up the fries we had slipped him. We chalked that up to bad fast food and went about our thing on Friday. Friday night he didnt seem so hot and early in the morning I was awakened by my wife who said Jacob was having trouble breathing. I rocked the little guy to sleep but he would wake up frequently with really bad coughing. I awoke Cath and we decided to head to the Childrens hospital because after talking with family and friends we figured out he had croup. It was confirmed at the hospital and we were admitted into the ER there.
There were several heartbreaking times during this ordeal. The first being as we were preparing to go to the hospital, I was finally getting him to cheer up by playing with some balls with him. He loves balls.... its one of the few words in his repetoire. I had to drag him away from the balls to take him to the car and as we are leaving he is crying in a choked little voice and saying 'ball'! 'ball'! Then we get him to the Childrens Hospital and we cheer him up in the waiting room where there are a myriad of toys and activity stations (probably the best thing about the new hospital), only then we take him to a little room where there is nothing to do and people constantly come in and cause him nothing but pain and distress. Poor little guy.....
They have an oral steroid there but it takes 4 hours to kick in and in the meantime there is a kind of vaporizing treatment (cant remember what is in it). They have to hold a mask over the child's face for 7 minutes. Jacob cannot stand things near his face. He REALLY cant stand being held down or restrained in any way and he is extremely strong for his size. You can imagine how it went. I could see the terror in his eyes. He fought and screamed the entire time with all his strength. He didnt let up... not once. I really had to work hard to hold him. Not to mention it was one of the most emotionally painful things I've ever done.
In most cases, they only have to do the mask treatment once but either his croup was bad enough or he just didnt get enough, but we wound up having to do it again an hour later.... and again he fought. I am amazed at how strong and determined he is.... and stubborn. Thankfully the second round took hold and after a very long time of being in an uncomfortable little examination room (they really need to rethink their setup) we were able to take him home.
During that monitoring time, they were not able to take his vitals as the first site of anyone besides Cath and I getting close to him would upset him greatly. The nurse just gave up and came back after we got him to sleep.
A funny little side effect of the steroid? It makes the kid hyper! Saturday night we are wasted from no sleep and Jacob's running laps. It was good to see him active though.
He is doing better now and the rest of the weekend (such as it were) was just spent trying to recover. He still coughs and is more clingy than usual, but doesnt sound like a seal, which is good.
Nothing really adequately prepares you for this parenting gig....
Thursday, January 11, 2007
In my head the hills are alive....
Try to make it through this post without singing... I highly doubt the possibility of it... and yes if you sing in your head it still counts. I cant even go through it without seeing dogs and thinking of fonder days where dogs saved people instead of having to be put down because they bit someone who most likely deserved it. Dogs get a bad rap these days.... we've let our best friends down.
Ready?
1 .. 2 .. 3 ..
THERE'S A VOICE,THAT KEEPS ON CALLING ME.
DOWN THE ROAD,IS WHERE I'LL ALWAYS BE.
EVERY STOP I MAKE,
I'LL MAKE A NEW FRIEND.
CAN'T STAY FOR LONG, JUST TURN AROUND AND I'M GONE AGAIN.
MAYBE TOMORROW, I'LL WANNA SETTLE DOWN,
UNTIL TOMORROW, I'LL JUST KEEP MOVING ON
DOWN THIS ROAD, THAT NEVER SEEMS TO END,
WHERE NEW ADVENTURE, LIES JUST AROUND THE BEND
SO IF YOU WANNA JOIN ME FOR A WHILE,
JUST GRAB YOUR HAT, COME TRAVEL LIGHT,THAT'S HOBO STYLE.
MAYBE TOMORROW, I'LL WANT TO SETTLE DOWN,
UNTIL TOMORROW, THE WHOLE WORLD IS MY HOME
SO IF YOU WANNA JOIN ME FOR A WHILE,
JUST GRAB YOUR HAT, COME TRAVEL LIGHT,THAT'S HOBO STYLE.
MAYBE TOMORROW, I'LL WANT TO SETTLE DOWN,
UNTIL TOMORROW, I'LL JUST KEEP MOVING ON.
Instrumental Bridge
MAYBE TOMORROW, I'LL WANT TO SETTLE DOWN,
UNTIL TOMORROW, I'LL JUST KEEP MOVING ON.
THERE'S A WORLD, THAT'S WAITING TO UNFOLD,
A BRAND NEW TALE, NO ONE HAS EVER TOLD,
WE'VE JOURNEY'D FAR BUT, YOU KNOW IT WON'T BE LONG,
WE'RE ALMOST THERE AND WE'VE PAID OUR FARE, WITH THE HOBO SONG.
MAYBE TOMORROW, I'LL WANT TO SETTLE DOWN,
UNTIL TOMORROW, I'LL JUST KEEP MOVING ON.
SO IF YOU WANNA JOIN ME FOR A WHILE,
JUST GRAB YOUR HAT, COME TRAVEL LIGHT,THAT'S HOBO STYLE.
MAYBE TOMORROW I'LL FIND WHAT I CALL HOME,
UNTIL TOMORROW, YOU KNOW I'M FREE TO ROAM.
Oh Yeah, thats the stuff....
Ready?
1 .. 2 .. 3 ..
THERE'S A VOICE,THAT KEEPS ON CALLING ME.
DOWN THE ROAD,IS WHERE I'LL ALWAYS BE.
EVERY STOP I MAKE,
I'LL MAKE A NEW FRIEND.
CAN'T STAY FOR LONG, JUST TURN AROUND AND I'M GONE AGAIN.
MAYBE TOMORROW, I'LL WANNA SETTLE DOWN,
UNTIL TOMORROW, I'LL JUST KEEP MOVING ON
DOWN THIS ROAD, THAT NEVER SEEMS TO END,
WHERE NEW ADVENTURE, LIES JUST AROUND THE BEND
SO IF YOU WANNA JOIN ME FOR A WHILE,
JUST GRAB YOUR HAT, COME TRAVEL LIGHT,THAT'S HOBO STYLE.
MAYBE TOMORROW, I'LL WANT TO SETTLE DOWN,
UNTIL TOMORROW, THE WHOLE WORLD IS MY HOME
SO IF YOU WANNA JOIN ME FOR A WHILE,
JUST GRAB YOUR HAT, COME TRAVEL LIGHT,THAT'S HOBO STYLE.
MAYBE TOMORROW, I'LL WANT TO SETTLE DOWN,
UNTIL TOMORROW, I'LL JUST KEEP MOVING ON.
Instrumental Bridge
MAYBE TOMORROW, I'LL WANT TO SETTLE DOWN,
UNTIL TOMORROW, I'LL JUST KEEP MOVING ON.
THERE'S A WORLD, THAT'S WAITING TO UNFOLD,
A BRAND NEW TALE, NO ONE HAS EVER TOLD,
WE'VE JOURNEY'D FAR BUT, YOU KNOW IT WON'T BE LONG,
WE'RE ALMOST THERE AND WE'VE PAID OUR FARE, WITH THE HOBO SONG.
MAYBE TOMORROW, I'LL WANT TO SETTLE DOWN,
UNTIL TOMORROW, I'LL JUST KEEP MOVING ON.
SO IF YOU WANNA JOIN ME FOR A WHILE,
JUST GRAB YOUR HAT, COME TRAVEL LIGHT,THAT'S HOBO STYLE.
MAYBE TOMORROW I'LL FIND WHAT I CALL HOME,
UNTIL TOMORROW, YOU KNOW I'M FREE TO ROAM.
Oh Yeah, thats the stuff....
Monday, January 08, 2007
A Snails Pace
I didnt go down to Calgary on the weekend like I planned.
Instead I nursed a cold and moped around the house in SP. I did however play a lot of Guitar Hero and rocked out when I could, so the weekend wasnt an entire loss.
New Years Eve was kind of a bust this year so I never really got around to the whole resolution thing. I've thought about, but really the goals are the same whether it's New Years or not.
As always there is the health issue. I need to get back into shape. (hopefully a good shape) There are many shapes out there, the one I would prefer is about 60 pounds lighter than the shape I currently possess.
Mentally, I would like to procrastinate less. Even though I feel like I have to climb Mt Everest this year (it's really only more like K2) the only way to get there is one step at a time. There's a huge list of items with my name on it and every week I have to accomplish something. Of course thats not including having to deal with all the day to day and new issues that seem to appear out of nowhere.
My wifey sprang a pop quiz on energy on me and it turns out that 56% of my physical energy is being sucked out of me by various mentally stressful aspects of my environment, relationships, etc. That assumes of course that the source of the quiz knew what the hell they were talking about. That more than the New Year has prompted a surge of motivational feelings regarding my life the universe and everthing.
So with my remaining 44% I will slowly regain more of the other 56%.... hopefully.
Some of the areas of energy drain are hard though because they're out of my control. Annoying people that I come into regular contact with for example... sometimes they're just unavoidable. The energy drain comes from having to deal with them, even if dealing with them is making the choice to internalize their idiocy and not let it affect your mental/emotional state. Everything requires energy. Some people give, others take...
The point is: I will be happy with myself this year if I can show a continual progression. As slow as it may be.
Instead I nursed a cold and moped around the house in SP. I did however play a lot of Guitar Hero and rocked out when I could, so the weekend wasnt an entire loss.
New Years Eve was kind of a bust this year so I never really got around to the whole resolution thing. I've thought about, but really the goals are the same whether it's New Years or not.
As always there is the health issue. I need to get back into shape. (hopefully a good shape) There are many shapes out there, the one I would prefer is about 60 pounds lighter than the shape I currently possess.
Mentally, I would like to procrastinate less. Even though I feel like I have to climb Mt Everest this year (it's really only more like K2) the only way to get there is one step at a time. There's a huge list of items with my name on it and every week I have to accomplish something. Of course thats not including having to deal with all the day to day and new issues that seem to appear out of nowhere.
My wifey sprang a pop quiz on energy on me and it turns out that 56% of my physical energy is being sucked out of me by various mentally stressful aspects of my environment, relationships, etc. That assumes of course that the source of the quiz knew what the hell they were talking about. That more than the New Year has prompted a surge of motivational feelings regarding my life the universe and everthing.
So with my remaining 44% I will slowly regain more of the other 56%.... hopefully.
Some of the areas of energy drain are hard though because they're out of my control. Annoying people that I come into regular contact with for example... sometimes they're just unavoidable. The energy drain comes from having to deal with them, even if dealing with them is making the choice to internalize their idiocy and not let it affect your mental/emotional state. Everything requires energy. Some people give, others take...
The point is: I will be happy with myself this year if I can show a continual progression. As slow as it may be.
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
My lucky number
I took a break this Christmas. You cant really take a break from everything, but I took a break from some things.
Breaks:
I really only touched the computer if I had to. Therefore, no blog.
I only went to Calgary (for one day) once to work on the house.
Work of course.
The list of things I didnt get a break from is not important.
The holiday started off well enough, not working is generally a good thing. At least when you know that money is still coming in.
brief recap....
The inlaws came a little early and commandeered our room, but thats OK, cause they're old and not in the best of health. We couldnt really expect them to sleep on the double bed (or the couch). Unfortunately, my mother in law got sick the day they came and continued to be bedridden till the day they left. It really cast a pallor over the whole christmas thing. There was the gift opening and the dinner and it really was pretty good. I certainly have no complaints over either. I got some video games and ate a lot of junk food. The latter prompting the perennial 'I gotta get in shape this year... and I mean it this time!' resolution.
The boxing day sales did not dissapoint. I made the mad trip to the Tommy outlet and stocked up on some clothes.
Probably the coolest thing of the time period was the fact that I have a guy working on my house while im away. The feeling that things are being done in my absence is indescribable. Joy Oh Joy..... excuse me, Im a little verklempt.
Will the house be done in my absence? No, unfortunately, my sherpa is only there for another week and then he's off to his real job in the middle east. It dulls my festering rage though to know that the goal of shrugging this behemoth off my back will be that much closer. Other things may come my way this year (they always do) but this thing has 'stole my jam' for far too long. (enough sayings there?)
I'm actually looking forward to this weekend. I have to travel down to Calgary and see what has been done and settle up.
Now....
It's back to work and new year has dawned and there will be many many things we can gripe about this year. Lets hope we can find the humour in them.
Breaks:
I really only touched the computer if I had to. Therefore, no blog.
I only went to Calgary (for one day) once to work on the house.
Work of course.
The list of things I didnt get a break from is not important.
The holiday started off well enough, not working is generally a good thing. At least when you know that money is still coming in.
brief recap....
The inlaws came a little early and commandeered our room, but thats OK, cause they're old and not in the best of health. We couldnt really expect them to sleep on the double bed (or the couch). Unfortunately, my mother in law got sick the day they came and continued to be bedridden till the day they left. It really cast a pallor over the whole christmas thing. There was the gift opening and the dinner and it really was pretty good. I certainly have no complaints over either. I got some video games and ate a lot of junk food. The latter prompting the perennial 'I gotta get in shape this year... and I mean it this time!' resolution.
The boxing day sales did not dissapoint. I made the mad trip to the Tommy outlet and stocked up on some clothes.
Probably the coolest thing of the time period was the fact that I have a guy working on my house while im away. The feeling that things are being done in my absence is indescribable. Joy Oh Joy..... excuse me, Im a little verklempt.
Will the house be done in my absence? No, unfortunately, my sherpa is only there for another week and then he's off to his real job in the middle east. It dulls my festering rage though to know that the goal of shrugging this behemoth off my back will be that much closer. Other things may come my way this year (they always do) but this thing has 'stole my jam' for far too long. (enough sayings there?)
I'm actually looking forward to this weekend. I have to travel down to Calgary and see what has been done and settle up.
Now....
It's back to work and new year has dawned and there will be many many things we can gripe about this year. Lets hope we can find the humour in them.
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