Gears of War

My friend Ian came up from the city to hang out for couple of days, of course meaning we played xbox most of the time.
I rented Gears of War because I have heard nothing but awesome things about it and because you can play two-player co-op through the entire game. We beat it in 2 very long sittings (well, last night and today)
It was amazing. It was seriously like sitting through a very tense 8 hour action movie with amazing visuals. Ian actually just paused it a couple of times and was like "Woah, lets just slow down for second."

Man was that game fun.

The graphics in the above link are exacly how the game looks too, except at a higher resolution.
I am glad to have won the xbox because it does make the ability to play a game with a friend a much easier process than on the computer.

Camera

Maya recived a used Camera we got from a mission store for 1$ in her stocking. To replace the one I forgot in Virgina at a restarant we stoped at coming home for breakfast. There was a buffet and I asked them to cook me real eggs and they did...... thats what you get if you ask. Luke wants to get Maya this camera when he gets a job.
Take a special note of Mayas Hair. This is pre brsuhing in the am hair.

Wee Wonderfuls Doll

Here is a sick little Maya and the Doll I made for her from Wee wonderfuls pattern. We opened stockings and presents on the 27th as I was working Christmas and Boxing day. Problem with this was Maya was sick. She had been up for the good majority of the night- along with us- coughing and crying with a fever. She refused to take medication and she was miserable. Sooo we just went along with the presents anyway- mostly sleeping though the experience.

The doll was not too difficult- mostly finding time to do it. The most difficult part was sewing the legs on to the body and ripping out the stitches after I realized I had done it wrong. I did it four times!!!!! At that point the fabric was falling apart and I had to do some creative cutting. I will be making another doll so she can be a twin- Maya's idea, and 'the stuff' like sleeping bags, sweaters, and backpacks.
Actually the doll is more for me as Maya seems more excited by the Dora doll that somebody bought her- not realizing the only exposure to Dora she has had has been at a store.

The sweater and pants she is wearing are from H & M, which BTW is a great place to buy cheap made by children for children clothes. She had to put them over her PJs.

Maya openning up her Christmas eve present of Hungery hippos game. Notice the dress Courtney? It if long on her but Maya is larger arond the back and the buttons pop open.

Tree 2006

Our wonderful tree we chopped down when there was still snow at a cut your own place. Our lights are dead in the middle of the tree. LEDs will be purchased at a boxing week sale.

Re-Gift

Is it a bad thing to re gift a gift at the same occasion in which you receive it?

Merry Christmas

All is quiet on the ER front and i'm hoping it should stay that way. Our Christmas dinner is in a few minutes and i'm hiding so I do not have to feed patients their Christmas dinner- my least favorite duty. Merry Christmas!

Futsal in the paper.

Here is the picture of Anne that was in the walkerton paper. Taken just before that great championship game.

Why?

What is wrong with my child so that she wants to wear diapers and pretend she is a baby?? To the point she puts the diaper on herself???

Carrots

I think this is a cute picture of carrots. I think this was just after the surgery that took away his ability to procreate.

Nativity

Saw the Nativity story last night at the Hanover Multi-plex. Really enjoyed it. I'm not a biblical scholar nor am I any sort of theologian so I do not care if it depicts the story accurately. My child- like faith thought the story was presented simply and effectively. My favorite scene was Mary and Elizabeth experiencing joy unthinkable while their fetuses moved within their wombs.

Was a little desecrated by Joseph. Hmmm.

Digg

At 0200 digging the digg

Running Quote

Goal: becoming a back of the pack runner.
Current status: wondering which way the pack went.
Ultimate goal (because you gotta dream big): getting the dirt stains out of my white running socks.

Princess

No offence Luke, but I want to be the next princess and marry royalty.

Sugar Overload

So you know those Sun-Maid little read boxes of raisins? We have some of the 42.5 gram ones here and last night I happened to look at the Nutrition Guide on the side of the little box. In a 42.5g box, 30 grams is sugar!! Thats 71% of the box!
So much for those being Maya's healthy bed time snack.

Bestest Christmas Evar!!!

So on Monday my Xbox 360 came!
So far I am very pleased. I was hoping for the holiday bundle with GRAW and Live Arcade, but it "only" came with Project Gotham Racing 3. The PGR3 is a holdover until Forza 2 is released next year, which then will be sent to winners. Its okay for a racing game, but I don't think I will play it that much, except to race with friends when they are over.
The other game I have is Dead or Alive 4, which I picked up at Walmart a month and a half ago for 18$. Its my favorite fighting game series due to the over-the-top characters, extremely quick fighting system, and awesome graphics. This one doesn't disappoint. Keep in mind we have a high-end computer system, but I was till totally blown away by the graphics this game produces on the 360. Seriously, the characters are amazing the levels very close to "realistic" as I have seen in any games.

So I am very happy with this "Christmas present" although I won't have a lot to play on it. At least with Xbox Live I can download the latest demos and stuff to check out, which is an awesome thing to be able to do with a console.
Play time isn't too much of a concern as I have it hooked up to my computer monitor and all the same sound stuff as the computer, so I just play it instead on my computer when I sit here at night.

Family

You know that you are not very close to your blood relations if completely forget to send a christmas card to your brother...... opps

Bathroom

I'm surfing the internet on the toliet- now what could be more fun then that. We need to get a laptop.

ANnd why have y'al forsaken me? Where are the comments? Is anybody mad at me? I forgot to ask you that julie today. I even told some people about this blog today to boost readership- it has dropped off. Come on give me some comment lovin.

Sugar

This past summer while buying some floor bulk at the New life mills outlet store we also picked up a 10lb bag of sugar....and i'm embarrassed to say that it is all gone...
I can't believe we use that much sugar. We bake more then average, some preserves require a fair amount but I would say that the good majority is from our morning coffee and Luke's tea throughout the day. I can't say it was even company cause we all know how phobic I am about having people in.

Indoor Soccer Championship Match

So last night was the final game in the Session 1 of the indoor soccer league we play in. We had a pretty good season and a lot of fun. We did well enough that we were fourth before the playoffs last week. That meant that we played the 1st placed team and the winner would play the for championship this week. They were short players and so were we, so it was a fairly quiet game and we won!
So back to this week. All of our players showed up, the bleachers were full of friends and family of players from all lots of teams, and energy was in the air because the game before ours was decided by a shoot-out.
It's not supposed to be a competitive league, but this last game was very much so. All players were giving 110% and it was evident by the blistering shots, bruised ankles (delivered by Anne), yelling from the benches and cheers by the crowd. At the end of the first half we were down by 4-2 and had got a goal in the last minute, so spirits were high.
The second half started and we got 2 goals in the first few minutes to tie it. Then another a few minutes later. Now the intensity was amazing, players were doing all they could to get a shot off, and the goalies were keeping everything out. They squeaked a goal in with about 5 minutes left and we couldn't get another.
So at the end of 40 minutes it was a tie and whet to a shootout. After 4 shooters on each side it was still tied. It wasn't unil the 13th shot that the other team won. But seriously, after a game like that, who cares who won. I have played very few organized games that I have enjoyed so much.
Playing with Anne on the same team was extremely enjoyable too. Being able to discuss the game afterward and trade compliments/critisisms is about each others play is great. And she finally gets why I am so pumped after a good game.
We are both really looking forward the the start of the second session in january.

Laptops are for cats who play soccer at Christmas.

• After all my moaning and complaining about soccer last week, this week prior to our championship game I was awarded 'Most Sportsmanlike' on my team. If that means I play an aggressive game, have few ball skills, laugh when my team players get nailed in the testicles, I guess i'm it. I'm really there to have fun and do not care if we win or lose. We did lose the game but in sudden death overtime- I even had to take a shot on goal which was laughed at. It deserved it.
• I want to remind everybody- yes you three who read this - that it is christmas card time. Mine are half done to be in the mail by Wednesday. I have received four thus far and eagerly stalk the mailperson for yours.
• The acts came through with their surgery fine. They are now neutered and up to date on all their shots.... and we are about $500 poorer.
• Luke ordered a laptop for somebody and in his testing noticed it wasn't perfect so Dell is sending a new one....until then I'm blogging in bed.

Looks like fun to me.

If you took a very violent and angry man and squezed his testoserone onto a roll of movie film, I am pretty sure this is the movie you would get:

Warning: Rated "R"

Tall Pines On-Board

These guys were awesome to watch from the spectator area. But because they were obviously pushing hard and going wide on stuff, I wasn't really expecting them to make it to the night stages. Now I know what happened. This stage would be crazy with ice and snow like it is most other years.

Rally of the Tall Pines

So this year I once again attended Tall Pines. Its the final round of the Canadian National Rally Championship.
What was different this year was that I signed up to be a worker, and in this case I was assigned to be a marsall. It was a new experience for me and went well. I basically just told people to stay behind the tape at the spectator areas, did some traffic directing, and helped with some setup and clean-up afterwards. There wasn't a real great line up this year but there was some really good driving and some close calls anyway. I thoroughly enjoyed myself.
It was fun being able to see the podium at the end of the night and hang out with and congratulate some of the drivers.
Anne and I may do it next year, but it depends on work and stuff.

Media Junky

Here's some vids that have made me a media junky this week:


You may have seen it before, but I didn't until yesterday. Crazy editing to come up with that. Well done and a good tune.



I have posted Daft Punk before, but this one is a new quality and so intesnse that I have to post it. It short too, but you get the idea. Hopefully I can see them one day.

I wish I had known Sesame Street was this funny when I was a kid. Ernie and Cookie Monster have amazing chemstry in this clip. Maya really likes it, but I don't think she quite knows why.

Invader Zim is his cousin

This is mostly for Brocks benifit.
I hang out on Shacknews.com, and people who do are known as "shackers".
Anyway, a shacker's cousin is the guys who does Invader Zim's voice as well as a lot of other cartoons and video games (he's also Raz on Psyconaughts).
Anyway this lead to this! Awesome!

Winner!

I love Doritos. Its the one tempation I can not resist. Any flavor, any time.
Right now they have this contest and you enter pins to win prizes, you can enter 1 every hour. In combination with with the No purchase nessary link, its pretty easy to enter a lot.
So in doing this I won an Xbox 360 with Forza Motorsport 2. Yay. I win stuff once in a while, but I think this is the biggest prize I have one before..
What I really wanted though was the 40" Samsung Plasma TV, as it would be my new monitor. But beggers can't be choosers I guess.

Edit: Finally found my entry (OCt 13, 11PM) and it looks like i didn't win using the NPN codes, but the first entry I used from a bag of doritos I bought. Wierd.

Cat Cuteness Overload

Here are a bunch of cute cat pictures, must with amusing (in a nerdy way) captions.

And here's Maya, playing with the cats during the summer some time:

Fall/Winter sports season

So a new sports season is upon us. On Sunday I playing my first game of hockey for the year and on Monday Anne and I played our first game of futsal (indoor soccer) for the year. Both were fantastic and I crave more. Anne looks like she will enjoy futsal great deal and did very well despite not have indoor soccer shoes and a sore knee.
Plus the NHL season starts tonight, and I plan on watching the Leafs tomorrow night for sure.
I need to find another night of hockey still as I am not sure I am going to play in the church league this year. We will see...

The Sea and Seafood

1000th Post, wow, that's a lotta posts!

Its been a pretty good week so far at the Cutting resisdence here in North Carolina.
I have been doing some mountain biking here and here. Both were pretty good, legend park has had a lot more done to it though and it longer. Ian, you would have loved legend park though (except for the massive chiggers), it was smooth but with this random technical stuff, rough spots and various user made jumps.

Today we went to Wrightsville beach, and I spent so much time in the water that I am officially pickled. Why? Because the waves were so totally amazing that Anne and I were competing for wave time against surfers, no exaggeration. The waves were carrying us probably 100+ feet on the wave boards. Some were so big, that with Anne on my shoulders, they still were quite a bit taller and hit us hard enough to send tumbling uncontrollably in their surf. So we spent about 6 hours doing that. Maya loved the sand and had a ton of fun when we spashed her in some of the smaller waves too. So much fun.
Then we went to a restraunt called King Neptune's for supper, and it was suculent. Amazing food and great service.
A very good day it was and I had a really good time with Courtney and Kyle.
Tomorrow I think we are just staying around the area, and I think I will finally get the triffle I was promised for my birthday. We plan to leave early sunday morning to make it back to Anne's cousins to stay the night so Anne can to go to her class in Toronto on Monday.

Filling the gas tank 3 times in one day

So yesterday we drove from Toronto to Anne's sister's house. We left Toronto at about 2:30pm and walked in Kathie's door about 4:30am. If we figure about 1.5 hours worth of stops, we made pretty good time.
The trip was pretty uneventful and seemed pretty fast. Maya slept lots and when she was we listened to Stephen Kings "Cell" on CD. We had planned on dividing the driving up pretty equally, but I ended up doing about 11 hours of it which was fine as we tend to fight a lot more if Anne's driving for some reason.
So we are here until Satuday (i think), and will be back in time for Anne's class in Toronto on Monday. I plan on mountain biking and Anne is just planning on hanging out with her sister I think.

Birthday Boy

So today I turn 29. I actually don't really care that much about age, as its quite apparent that it has very little to do with ones mental and physical prowess as long as you are active in both areas. I definately am started to get more grey hair but I have had a lot of grey in my beard four about 4 years so I don't mind that either.
Not sure what I am doing today, as Anne is working and I dno't have a car. Maya and I will probably hang out and do our usually stuff we do while Anne is gone all day.
The proper birthday cake (or triffle in this case as its what I want this year) celebration will probably wait until we go down to North Carolina next week to visit Anne's sister.
I already got my present, which was a new real wheel/rim/cog for my mountain bike so not much going on there either.
So a rather ho-hum birthday for me on a cloudy and cool day, which is just fine with me.

The future is now

This is what living in the 21st Century is all about. Who needs flying cars when you have LED embedded t-shirts. I want to play Counter-Strike on my sleeve when watching Maya play *insert sport here* in a few years.

Adventures in Biking

So a couple of weekends ago my friend Ian came up from Toronto to visit. The itinerary was soccer, mountain biking and remote control airplane flying. Sadly the RC plane didn't work but the rest of it was awesome.
Then this past week I went down to his place for a couple of days, mostly to mountain bike at Albion Hills and just hang out which was awesome. Ian actually races at Albion Hills every tuesday, and it shows as he could pretty much destroy me on any trail. Unfortually my did a lot of damage to my back tire there and will probably have to get it replaced this fall or spring, but I guess I am pretty rough on it so its to be expected I guess.
We also saw Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, which was fun to see with a friend and laugh, but not worth a full theare price (we were glad we went on a Tuesday).

Fair Photos

Category: All Dressed Up
Place: First

Category: Waterscape
Place: Thanks for Exhibiting

Category: Sleeping
Place: Thanks for Exhibiting

Category: Father and Daughter
Place: Third

Good books in unexpected places

So lately I have been reading books from the teen and junior sections at the library. It started when I read the book Eragon and its sequel, which I enjoyed a great deal. I asked on the net and it seems I was not the only one picking books from that part of the library (the same area that houses the Harry Potter books I might add), and some people suggested Garth Nix was a good author to check out. So I just finish devouring The Seventh Tower series which was a lot of fun to read and a great story, although I do wish it had been longer.
I realized though that we had also been going though Lemony Snickets, A Series of Unfortunate Events, which are fun and silly reads as well, but also "junior level" books.
I am not sure why I am reading so many of these right now, but I think its the focus on a good pure story. So many of the books I read are so full of the authors preaching (Sword of Truth is a good example of this) and convoluted story lines (Malazan Book of the Fallen series) that its a nice break to ready a simple enjoyable story with fun characters and not a lot of unnecessary crap going on. I will not stide by the teen reading shelf with my nose in the air any longer. I will peruse its contents like the rest of the shelves from now on.
I have also decided not to read any more books that are part of a series that is not completed. So unless I can read all of the books of a series in one go, I do not want part of it. I seriously have probably 12 differnet sci-fi/fantasy series on the go right now and I don't like it. It takes so long to get into the newest book of a series when it comes out which I think detracts from the over all enjoyment. Especially when there are so many great completed series out there for one to read already. We will see if I am able to keep this promise, but so far so good.

Rattlesnake

Went to my parents property in Tobermory on Monday with the family. WE have always known there rattlesnakes up there but have never seen one.
Well on monday I was heading over to the "beach" from the lot, hopped up on a rocky part you have to go over to access teh shore and instantly heard a buzz, sort of a rattlely buzz. As As I am looking down I see sort of a rattle and a snakey shape inches from my foot. I yelled and leap back. The snake I just about stepped on was curling up into a defencive shape and rattling it tail at me.
So everyone came over too see and the snake slithered into the spot you see in the picture and stayed that way for the rest of the day, rattling away at anyone who came near. We just took a different way to the shore.
It wasn't very long, shorter than a big milk snake, but it was really thick, like 8 times thicker than a garter snake. Very interesting to finally see one in the wild.
We will be a little more wary in the future I guess, and apparently this is a pretty crazy year for rattlesnakes in the area and there have been a lot of bites. 

Daft Punk

I enjoy listening to Daft Punk. Althought their last album isn't their best, the rest of their stuff is amazing. Anyway after seeing this video, I am definately going to see them when there are playing in Toronto or close by.

Its just amazing the lighting and how they mix their different songs together.
This some more here that all show what an amazing live performance they do.

Duathlon

So tomorrow is Anne's Duathlon. She doesn't thing she is ready and claims to not be feeling well. I think its just nerves and I think she will do great. The race is only 3km run, then 12km bike and then 3k run. She runs and bikes more than that lots of days. Once she is out there she will do great!

I am not ready- Not enough trainning- specificlly the bike. Several injuries. I have some endurance but no speed. Also gastro x 1 week. Bloated, gasy, have not been eating correctly. It is going to be hot, hot- and I do not do well in the heat- hense no I do not think I will do well.

Trekkie in the house

I thought this video was funny, I would love ot have whole episodes of Star Trek done like this:



Click here for a few more.

Anniversary

So Tuesday was our 8th anniversary! No gifts or anything were exchanged yet, but I am working on a video and Anne said she was working on something.
My mom looked after Maya all evening, so we went to the movies and watch Pirates (the first is better), and then went out to dinner. Nothing fancy.
To me I guess it feels like we have been together for longer than that, especially since Maya was born, but I think 10 years will probably be something that I will feel like it worth having a big celebration.

Playtime for the two new addtions to our family!
we have been on the lookout for two orange kittens for a while now and Anne found someone just outside of town that was giving them away. The seems pretty nice so we brought them home. Maya was been very good with them and hasn't casued any permanent damage yet. She laughs a lot at their antics as well. 

 
This is Carrots. 

 

This is Mango. 

Uhhhhhgggg...so very sick

I seriouly have never felt so sick in my life.
Yesterday I felt kind of lousy, but good enough to go mountain biking at the Brant Tract while Anne was jogging. It felt great and I did about 12km or so, I though "that's all I needed" and we headed back to my parents for supper.
Then I got hit by a freight train, during the meal I started shivering and started to feel like a oozing lump of molasses. We left shortly after and by the time we got home I was shivering so badly I could hardly stand, but I collapsed into bed and didn't move. I have never not been able to control my own body before, and this episode certain knocked my ego down a notch or two. Obvously I had to watch the hockey game so my loving wife brought the TV upstairs and I watched the game in a stupor; it was a great game.
I had horrible dreams all night and was walking up every 20 minutes fighting my way back to reality. My temperature was 39.5C at one point and is still pretty high.
Today I am not quite as bad but for a splitting headache and a body that will only shuffle along at an old man's speed, but I should be better tomorrow I hope.
Anne and I have been arguing if I am more sick than she was last weekend.

Vacuuming your lawn

So the lady across the street (affectionately called crazy lady) is vacuuming her lawn. Does anyone else think this is crazy? ITs one of those rented dealies for the express purpose of lawn care. Its just goinging over the edge as far as lawn care is concerned IMO.
But maybe thats just us.

More Rally

The rally I am going to in a week and half is shaping up to be the best rally ever. Because this year the ESPN X-Games have added rally to their lineup and whoever wins this rally gets to go, most of North Americas top drivers found on this side of the continent are attending. The will get to race against 11 other drivers including Colin Mcrae (yes the one in the video game and WRC driver). So last year where there to maybe 4-5 top drivers this year there are 10+!!! This is going to be awesome. Here's a little clip I made from video we took the last 2 years.

Soccer

Soccer season is upon us. Over the winter I have been playing indoor soccer (Futsal) and the season is now over.
The people that organized that league have started an outdoor one for the summer, and both Anne and I have joined.
It took at bit of coercion to get Anne to agree to play, but I am sure she will enjoy it once we start. We are on different teams to make looking after Maya bit easier.
Playing will take place on a full field with two 40-minute halves and full Fifa rules except of slide tackling. We start this Sunday and I can't wait.
Last Saturday I played for the local 30+ team as they were short on players and had a great time. I got an inordinate amount of ball time and made a good accounting of myself. I am quite confident I will do well in with the Saugeen league once it starts. So much fun!

Job Interview in NC

Sorry for not posting in a while, we suck.
Anyway, we had a good time checking out the Wilson Medical Center, but have decided not to take the job. There were a lot of pros and cons to weigh, but in the end we decided that it wasn't worth an international move and a number of unknowns regarding Annes job. We are just too Canadian at heart I suppose.
I was probably a once in a lifetime experience though and we quite enjoyed it.

Pennsylvania Rally

So June 3rd is that rally in PA that i go to. Who wants to come this year? There is a really good entry list so far and competition will be heated.
It's about a 5 hour drive from Toronto and we leave Friday some time and come back Sunday. I have already reserved a camp site for the nights of the 2nd and 3rd.

Who wants to come? Anyone? Seeing cars go very fast in the pitch black woods with blinding lights is an amazing experience.

Fighting and packing

Does this happen to other couples?
When you pack or are getting ready to go on a trip, short or long, do you fight while getting ready for it? Becasue we seem to bicker the whole time we are packing and getting ready, well more than usual anyway.
But as soon as we get going, everything is fine again.
Its just kinda weird.

Anyway we leave tomorrow, and Maya is looking forward to a sleepover at Grammy's. I don't htink she relizes its for two nights though.
Everything is ready for us at Wilson, we will see how we like the hospital and what the area has to ofter. Although, I gotta say, I have been less than impressed with their handling of the travel arrangements. I have had to poke and prod for every bit of information so far. Seriously, if I hadn't phoned yesterday we would have no idea where we were staying or anything. But we going with an open mind and will see if its something the Lord wants us to do.
Keep us in your prayers.

The end of an (icq) era

I installed ICQ on the advice of my friend Brock about 8 or more years ago when it first came out and before it became REALLY popular. As a result I had a fairly low ICQ number (1893223). For some reason, hacking these "low" numbered accounts is a bit of a sport and one which I have become victim to.
I don't plan on creating a new ICQ account so any of you who have me on it can delete me because it isn't me anymore.
I do plan on using the Google Talk though I as I do have 2 gmail accounts and its more secure and google will rule the world anyway. I already use MSN as well.
Also, for those of you who already use instant messaging a lot, you can run all of these from the same program called Miranda, which is a very bare bones version of them with no ads, smiles or any other useless crap. I highly recommend it.

Happy Easter!!

Communication is key

Communication is important. For instance, when you say on Monday that "HR is very interested and will call you this morning" and you don't hear from anyone and its Tuesday night, you gotta wonder. And when you call the person who is your main contact to let them know that you haven't heard anything and they don't call either, you gotta wonder too.
So even though on Monday the Wilson Medical Center seemed very interested in interviewing us on Thursday and we still have heard about anything before Tuesday night, we are a little curious as to what is going on. Its probably something simple like someone is on holiday and the request my contact left on their desk is sitting there.
Anyway we don't expect to go this week now, and we will see if it happens at all...

I feel wanted

So on the the job interviews I had recently was a phone interview with a hospital in Wilson, North Carolina. The interview went well I though and I liked teh people and the job is right up my ally. But I didn't hear back from them for a week and a half so I assumed that I was passed over, but I didn't really exect much so no big deal.
However, yesterday I got a call and then want me to come down for a second interview and get a tour of the place. Today I call back to say I really can't come unless they pay for me to, which they agreed to. On top of that they want Anne to come to for a nursing interview. Wow.
But it is a big decision if they do offer the position, and we aren't deciding anything for sure yet. If we do go, we definately plan on coming back to the area after a couple of years.
Please pray that the Lord grants us wisdom and go in the direction He wants us to go.

Luke's Rally Site

Just FYI, my online alias is SirX, which is why if you have ever seen any of my rally videos that you will see "SirX Presents".
Anyway I have a web site now that has it all under one roof.

Check it out if you like, and please remember that it is still very much under construction and PLEASE CLICK ON THE AD BANNER . It just helps out a bit and is no make a bit back from the many hours doing those highlights.
Any and all suggestions and comments are welcome!

Enjoy!

A year?!

So as of April 1st I have been "unemployed" for a year. It really doesn't seem that long.
I have unemployed in quotes because I have been doing a fair bit of computer working here and there for people and businesses. All of its been under the table of course but it does keep my skills nice and sharp.

Things have picked up lately in the job hunt, I have had to interviews quite recently and a few jobs have appeared in the local papers that I have applied to. I am still trying all angles at getting in the Bruce Nuclear, but so far nothing has opened up.

Probably the most amazing thing over the past year has been the way in which the Lord has provided. Sure we don't have enough to buy any big ticket items, but our needs have been met in every way with some to spare. We certainly haven't fallen into any debt or anything (other than owing my parents for the furnace), and we have no trouble paying the bills every month can afford all the groceries we need. When it looks like we might be a bit short one month, Anne ends up getting called in a lot of getting more than the usually number of shifts. In fact the only real hardship in the past year has the been the stress of Anne's Dad's head injury. But it looks like he might be going home this month so that will alleviate soon as well.

We will see what the Lord has planned for the next year.

Lots of lights

I want one of these for my computer desk!

Furnace

Today the new furnace is going in. We are having a local guy put it in for about $800 cheaper than the original quote from the local "big" company. We are still going to have to borrow money but not that much and we should have it paid back quickly. It will be really nice to have real heat and see the gas bill change. Not that we would really be able to tell this time of year anyway.
The past couple of days with just the space heaters has been chilly, but not to bad. About mid-afternoon once the sun has warmed everything up its really not too bad, its not cool at all. Its the mornings that are freezing as we only leave one on downstairs. Making breakfast in a 12C kitchen is not fun.

So very cold and poor

So this morning after Maya and I got up, the thermostat which had a number that was a degree lower than is should be. So I set to the day time temperature as per usual and waited for the furnace to kick in... nothing happened. Oh oh. Last time this happned it was the fan motor, but a quick check of the cold vents, and total lack of regular furnace sounds assured me that it wasn't the same problem.
So finally the furnace guys comes at about 2pm, looks at the furnace for 2 minutes and says "this isn't good at all". I got a sinking feeling. He kindly pointed out what all was going on and what was wrong and why he was worried about our house blowing up.
Basically we need a new furnace, the very old one we have is in need of major repair and its not really worth it.
Anne hasn't woken up yet and knows none of this, I don't realy want her to wake up.

The best part of this is that is Friday and nothing is goign to happen until Monday at the earliest.

Added: I wondered what all the noise was about today while I was sleeping...... The furnace is over 30 years old and we knew this was coming, we had hoped just not now. We have some space heaters so our toes don't fall off. Apparently Maya denied being cold all day and was just wearing a long sleved shirt. If you want to donate to our poor fund feel free. We take cash, cheaque, and money order.

Watching the Olympics

I gotta say, one benifit of being home a lot is watching the olympics. I have caught some if not most of all of Canada's womens and mens hockey games this year.
Seeing the other sports in action has been really good as well. I feel very patriotic this winter :)

Job Update

I haven't updated on job stuff in a while so I thought I should.
I have had at least 1 interview that I haven't blogged about I think, but I didn't get the job anyway. There was a job in the paper last week that I just applied for, but other than that opportunities have been scarce.
I haven't just been looking in papers obviously, but I haven't had any leads anywhere and none of my contacts in various places have worked out either.
Recently I met with an employment agent (a service that the HRDC provides) and verified that I really was doing all I could to find employment in my field in the area, though she did give me a couple of idea that I am pursuing. One of which is self employment. The government gives you EI while you take a business development course and create a business plan. I am plan on doing this and seeing if a running a computer shop in the area is feasible. We will see if it will happen, but at the very least it will be very interesting to learn about.

Third in Fustal

So after languishing down in second-to-last place in the Saugeen Futsal League, my team managed to win our game on Monday and finish in third!
So this coming Monday the next season starts with new teams and more players. There are now 8 teams of 8, so the leugue is getting quite popular. For this next season, teams on based on countries and I am on the Netherlands team with an orange jersey (I thought maybe a green one would be more appropriate :) ). The team looks really strong too, we should have some very competitive games.
Its probably one of my favorite sports nights I have and I look forward to playing it more!

Lightening Storm?!

So its the middle of February, there is 2 feet of snow on the ground, and we get a huge lightening storm with driving rain?!? Its quite strange. There was thunder non-stop for like 3 minutes at one point.

Weird, but very cool. Sledding shoudl be awesome ones its gets cold again (says Luke's inner child) :)

Grandma

Monday morning at 3am my Grandma, my Dad's mother, passed away. It was very peaceful and expected and the family was there. Margaret Bellamy had been in a nursing home for years and been without sight for most of that time, she got pneumonia (I think) and wasn't able to recover, she was in her 90's. My Mother was sitting with her when she died and had been reading Psalms from the bible to her that evening. She seemed to be mentally alert right until the end, but had decided it was time to go.
It was been somewhat overshadowed in our house due to Anne's father's injury, but today is the visitation and tomorrow the funeral so we can concentrate on her. It will be my first experience as a pall bearer, so that will be interesting.
The last few days have been busy, that's for sure.

iPod excellence

Our iPod wasn't working properly the last little while, the scroll wheel was partially dead. Fortunatley the person I bought it from had an extended warranty at Futureshop.
So yesterday, since we were in Toronto dropping Anne's sister off at the airport we stopped by a Futureshop to see what could be done.
Well after they glanced briefly at our old iPod, we left the store with a brand new 30GB Video iPod. Its really nice, the colour is crisp and clear and videos actually look a decent size and easy to see.
The videos will be nice for long trips and for Anne when she does long transfers and stuff.

Rally videos

I made 14 WRC rally highlights this year.
You can see them all on Google Video now.
Enjoy.
Hopefully can continue to do it this year.

Job Interview

So I finally had another job interview yesterday. This time it was for a PC Technician job for the City of Owen Sound (City? heehee).
Anyway, I really have no idea how the interview went. It was the type where 3 people (only 2 of which have a vague idea of what the job entails) and they asked about 15 questions right off of a script and then gave me marks for the answers. Some of the questions were quite simialr too so I just ended up repeating what I said earlier. I could see the marks that the IT manager was giving me and they were very low, and I know I am very qualified for the posotion and was give relevant and excellent answers, so it was weird. But maybe the other candidates we getting low marks too, but it really was they type of situations where a smoothing talking but poor technician could get the job.
There was also a 15 question quiz afterwards with old A+ Certification test questions. I aced if, but some of the questions were very out of date.
Regardless it's in the Lords hands and we will see if I get it.

el oh el

SO I guess Saturday was the season premiere of Saturday Night Live. On it they had this new "rap" video. It's just 2 dudes rappin' about absolution nothing, but its totally hilarious and catchy!
Apparently the new guy in the videos is part of a trio of guys that did comedy stuff in LA that got hired by SNL. The other 2 are now writers for the show.
So here are 2 other videos they did before SNL. The Nintendo one being VERY funny for any of us who played the old NES as kids.
Just 2 Guyz
Nintendo (Oh and a bit of bad language in this one)

Indoor Soccer League - Futsal

This is the indoor soccer league that I play in on Monday nights. It's a lot of fun and very competitive. I actually find it a quite harder work out than hockey too, although I am definitely a better in hockey.
I am on the "Rangers" and as you can see we are in second last. But we did tie the team in first last week, so we can be good apparently.
It's awesome that someone put it together because I really thought there would only be hockey to play this winter which I was a little sad about.

Lord of the Manor

So Anne is gone for 3 days, including today, and so I am the king of the castle. I have lot to do however, as I am finally finishing the walls of Maya's cubby hole which will be a sort of play room for her. We plan on showing it to her on Christmas.
I also have numerous presents to put together and wrap and general tidying to do.
It just may be possible that I may fit in 1 or 2 gaming sessions as well... ;)

Death to Santa Claus

Anne and I are not going to do Santa Claus with Maya. We both think his entire purpose is commercial and in directed contrast to the true meaning of Christmas. We give presents at Christmas because that is what the wisemen brought baby Jesus, not because some fat guy dressed in ridiculous clothes brought us gifts because we were "good".

So thus, when I took Maya to the Early Years Centre yesterday and at circle time 80% of the songs were about Santa, and none has any religious anything in them, I grew a little irritable.
I just find the whole concept of Santa, and what he represents in this day and age, totally contrary to the Christian message and what we should be thinking about. And it causes all sorts of strife as well. Anne's sister, for instance, has renounced Christmas all together in her household, something clearly brought on by a Santa-centric society. They are not giving or receiving any presents, which is something I cannot blame them for considering how people and kids seem to act this time of year.
We even recently hear a parent admonishing her child, "You had better start behaving, Santa doesn't bring presents to bad little boys". Stuff like that really makes me mad.

So of course this brings up the whole problem of what an anti-Santa Maya will say to other kids.
For example:
Little boy: "Santa, brought me a new computer, I must have been really good!"
Maya: "Santa didn't bring you the computer, your parents did. Santa doesn't exist, stupid"
Little boy: "Does too, does too!" *cries* *runs away*

I hope to teach her a little diplomacy in this area so this doesn't happen. But it probably will, oh well. Obviously she knows about Santa now, but we will teach her what we think about it.
I think, overall, this will make Christmas easier for my family in the years to come.

Tall Pines Pictures

This will be the last Tall Pines post until I have the video footage.

Here are pictures Ian and ourselves took (mostly Ian though).

Ours our the first few, then you can tell that Ian's photography skills far surpass ours.

Johnston makes it around the "S" bend! His girlfriend screams shrillly, as if cheering, in the background. 

Rally of the Tall Pines

So on Saturday, Anne, Ian, Heather, Chester, Tim and I ventured up to Bancroft to watch the rally. Since it was a bigger group this time things moved a little slower and we missed the first couple of cars on the first pass, but no big deal. But say them all the next 2 times at that first spectator area and had a great time. Everyone listed to the advise to dress warm and cold toes were the only complaint. The night stages viewing also impressed everyone a great deal as well.
It was Anne's, Heather's, Chester's and Tim's first time at a rally and they seemed to have their expectations exceed. Anne had even said how we will do things differently next year thus inferring that she plans to go again?! Chester was quite pleased to have gone and had a great time, but I didn't talk to Tim enough to know how he felt.
Anne and I also met Ian's girlfriend Heather for the first time and were very pleased to have done so. We both enjoyed her company immensely. She and Anne got along great and we can't wait to get together again soon.
So it was an excellent day and Maya was apparently an angel for Andrea and John who graciously cared for her all day. I am sure Anne will recount her experience as well.

This Hyundai Tiburon won the rally. Definately the smoothest driver we saw all day. A well deserved win.
He was just coming off of a fairly sharp turn here. 

Across the bridge. This guy came in second.

Only one car really can into the sides of the bridge when we were at this spectator part. But they didn't damage anything or slow down at all. 

Another action shot from last years rally. Pat Richard, the driver here, did not finish due to technical difficulties but is the #1 north american driver. I hope he makes it this year.
There are tons of really good entries so far this year and its look like more top cars are entered than last year already. 

It's time to Raaallllllyyyyy

The Rally of the Tall Pines is on November 26th.
Who wants to come this year? Anne is coming and we are meeting with my friend Ian and his girlfriend Heather. I have some other "maybes" but I need some firm commitments so I know of I want to try and borrow my parents van. We leave early Satuday morning to make it to Bancroft at about 9-9:30am and won't be back until well after midnight. It should be an awesome day, with fast cars, good food and good friends. Dress warm though. 

big guy with a beard

Today Anne and I went to Home Depot. While we were in the line at the check out Anne went to grab one last thing. No one was behind us so I stepped sideways to grab a couple of 9V batteries. While I was trying to grab a 2 pack of them an older couple come up to the line and so I stepped sideways in front of them (and their load of lumber I might add) and said "oh sorry in am in the line I was just grabbing some batteries". Not a big deal.. or so I though.
The old guy says "Oh look at me, I am a big guy with a beard and I can do what I want!". I laugh in a my head until I realize he is serious. I turn around, mouth agape and say " No seriously we were here and just were looking at batteries for a second.". The man replies bitterly, "oh well then, if you are in such a hurry just go right in front of me then!".
I just shrugged and turned around. Then a new till opened and they got in first of that new line.
I guess I looked suitably menacing today :)

Maya the Flower Girl

Here is not one, not two, but 80 pictures of Maya the Flower Girl. Once we got her in the dress she loved it. For the second set we took in the park the other day, she was actually pretty photogenic.

A nice fall trail.
On the Bruce Trail near Kimberey. For fun we walked up one of Talismans most difficult run on our way back to our car.

Some nice fall scenery. The view from some spots was amazing. 

We stopped for lunch on the trail, Maya enjoyed sucking on the hydration pack. 

The trail was a bit rough and the leaves were hiding a lot of the roots and stones, but Maya walked for some of it. 

Here is a coool animated music video, its electronic music featuring asian instruments. I have no idea who the group is.
Be warned, the are mermaid boobies. Gasp!

Want to teach in Japan? Think twice.

Here is a great site, kind of like a blog, detailing an american's experiences while teaching english in japan. Its absolutely hilarious. Japanese are very strange people.
I am glad "Kancho" isn't something kids are into around here.

We lost our cell phone and...

A couple of months Anne lost our cell phone. We think she took it on a transfer and since then we haven't seen it. We don't use it for anything except to keep in the car for emergencies and other calls one occasionally has to make on the road. I don't think we have every used more than 15 minutes in a month.
So today I finally get around to going to the Bell Store (its exactly 2 blocks away) and do something about it.
It ends up that our plan had an upgrade option and I get a new phone for free. Then the phone I supposed to get was missing something and it was the last one so I get an even better one. So we ended up with this one, which is exactly what I was hoping for but doubted it would happen without a lot of money exchanging hands. We will probably start using it more, just so we can play with it :)
Not only that, but apparrently CAA members get deal when you get a $20/mo rate which will save us even more!
So everything working out very well. I think we better lose this phone in a couple of years so we can see what kind of deal we can wrangle then too.

Birthday Boy!

So today is my birthday, yay!(?) I am 28, which is just fine with me.
Anne made me that black forest cake, which was pretty good, especially when all mashed up with chocolate ice cream.
I ordered myself a new mouse pad and mouse feet which I am looking forward to.
I also was got a box of birthday cereal (Cinnamon Toast Crush) which is my most favortisting cereal evar.
That about sums up birthday activities for the day.
We have to leave for my parents shortly as they are moving today into these new house in town. The funny thing is that there new house isn't quite finished year so they will be living in squalor for a few weeks.

Rally Germany

Here is my Rally Germany Highlights (40MB).
This one is my favorite after my Finland Highlights.

Mountain Biking

My friend Ian came up for the weekend and we mountian biked here and here and here. The Bruce Peninsula Mountain Biking Adventure Park was one we had not tried before and we were both very impressed. As you can see in the picture there were some great obstacles and the trails were very well done. Its a lot rougher than the Brant tract and you have to slog through some of the rough sections. I am going to try and make it there a couple of times more this year for sure.

Virtual Death

Someone I knew and corresponded with on Shacknews pretty regularly died last week in a motorcycle accident. He was a pretty well know shacker and so after realizing he hadn’t posted in a few days people discovered after a bit of googling that he was dead. It seems his death was pretty much his fault as he was going way to fast on the motorcycle and couldn’t stop in a time and slid into a stopped car on the road. There is even a thread on the message boards where people told him he was going to be killed sooner or later if he kept doing going like that on his bike.
Anyway, I am surprisingly bummed about it. We were both big rally fans and were planning to play against each other in one of my rally games shorting. I was even about to message him to plan a time this week just before I found out. I never even spoke to the guy in real time, athough now I really wish I could have met him. It was always through the message boards or private messaging. The other sad thing is I don’t think he was a Christian either.
Anyway, R.I.P. “Harkov”.

Ultra fast post!

Last Wednesday I got a call from Bell offering a deal where for 5$ more a month I can have 5Mbs internet and a Modem/router/wireless hub. 5Mbs is pretty darn good for a small rural town if you ask me, so I snatched that deal up. Goodbye 3Mbs
"slowness"!
So Monday morning the new hub is delivered and last night the High Speed Ultra speeds kicked it. In general surfing we won't probably notice a difference, but since we average about 28GB of data downloaded a month, I figure I will notice somewhere.
For reference, it now takes me 45 minutes to download this 1.4GB Dungeon Siege II demo. Not too shabby.

Poor Rav4

On the little sticker in the corner of the windshield it says the car is due for its next service at 128000 km. Well since we are now at 133000km made an effort and finally got around to making an appointment for it, which ended up being scheduled at 3pm this afternoon.
Not 5 minutes after that, Anne gets a call for an emergency transfer to Owen Sound and rushes off to work and won't be back in time. Foiled again!
So now its set for 9:30am on friday which should be doable since Anne should be home from her night shift by then (but will probably be late now).

Ninjas are everywhere!

Just look at this dop secret footage.

Rally Finland Highlights

Here is my Rally Finland Video (59 MB - It will play in Windows Media Player)

If you want to download one video of mine, this one is it. Lots of jumps, high speeds and crashes. Great music too. Just remember you have to create a free account at fileshack.com to download it.

Camping with Americans...

So it looks like we are camping in Meaford with Anne's sister Kathie and her family for the rest of the week. They are up from North Carolina visiting. So tomorrow we head off to the Keady Market and Sauble beach first and the rest of the week is unknown.
I hope to get some much needed mountain biking in.

Credit card fraud

This week I had a call from the bank right after a purchased a computer for someone off of NCIX. Apparently there was a fraud alert for my card # so the immediately canceled it and are sending us new ones. But now the person I am building a computer for has to wait another week :(. Plus they said they would overnight courier it, that was last Wednesday and I still haven't seen them. And now it doesn't look like we will be her all week, so I don't know what's going to happen.
Oh well, at least I will have a new expiry date, the old card expired in November anyway.

Canoeing

Today Anne, Maya and I went canoeing. We borrowed my parents very old and heavy canoe, tied it precariously to the top of the RAV and drove to Paisley. We dropped our bikes off at the north end of town and then drove to Dr. Milne park (where we were married) at the south end of town. Anne just about killed herself (more than once) helping get the canoe off the roof (and on and off again later) and went down the Saugeen.
Maya really needed a nap and thus was quite upset at finding herself sitting in the middle of a canoe in the middle of a river, and so for a little bit screamed and pointed at the shore. However, she then dosed off for a while and was content until she bonked her head and got cranky again as we approached the town hall (which is along the river in the centre of town). Fortunately a dock is there and so we stopped and Anne tried to breastfeed her to sleep which took about half and hour.
When she did finally fall asleep, I hop in the canoe Anne puts her in the bottom, but with her head under one of the railing thingies going across the canoe. Maya then starts to wake up and freak out a bit and Anne is now in the canoe and just pushed off. Maya is crawling on her belly towards me and I am trying to push her backwards so she will sit up in the centre. I am not sure what happened but the next thing we know the canoe tips and throws Anne and I in the water but Maya manages to somehow stay in (she was wearing a lifejacket though). The water is only about chest deep so we pull the waterlogged canoe back to the dock we just left and put Maya back on the dock. After a bit of hassle we get the water out of the canoe.
Anne finally put Maya back to sleep again and she stayed asleep for the rest of the ride once we got going again. We enjoyed rest of the trip from the dock to the north bridge and the bike back to the car was nice too.
The one thing we have decided is that next time we go canoeing it will be with a much lighter canoe, that crazy old Fiberglas thing of my parents is way to heavy.

Super Glue

Whenever I get around to purchasing super glue, which is usually long after the last tube has dried out, I find about 20 things to use it for. Shoes, sandels, computer parts, plastic things, pots, and so much more. Then the tube sits for another year and goes dry.
This time we are attemping to foil the plot and have purchaed two tubes of super glue. Luke and Anne win!