We had a great evening out on Wednesday. Brian called around 5:30 and asked if we wanted to meet at Romanos for dinner. Darrell and I met up with Brian & Helen, and Chad & Nancy and had a lot of laughs and some really good food. Then we decided to go for a drink, Darrell didn't feel like drinking and took the pooches home and I went with Brian. We all hit Happinez and raninto Lisa& Anthony, and Chris & Suzy. It was a really good time.
Thursday was a pretty good day at work. Lots and lots to do. I'm hoping to get a little time to look over the Crucible stuff today. I've had it since Sunday and haven't had a chance to do anythig with it yet. Early last week Darrell found a guy who would deliver some fill and spread it around with the dozer for us for $75 a load, and he brought 6 loads thursday and is bringing five more today. We are trying to even out and extand our back yard into some of the wilder areas of our property. So far it looks great... we'll have a lot of raking to do this weekend to take out the dozer treads and even out the yard, but it's really nice dark earth with very few large rocks in it, so I think we may even be able to just throw some lawn seed on it and not bother with a load of top soil. We still need aload of top soil, but that's for gardening containers not the yard.
Friday, April 28, 2006
Friday Feast April 28,2006
Appetizer
On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being highest, how polite are you?
Way up the scale... close to ten. I try very hard not to be rude... crude on the other hand... well, that wasn't the question.
Soup
What was the last thing that made you laugh out loud?
Wednesday evening when we went out to dinner with Chad & Nancy, and Brian & Helen... Helen was talking about the people in the pubs in England having different silly competitions, like how long you can keep a ferret in your pants and who can grow the largest Leek. She was saying that the leek thing is so serious that people even sleep outside to watch over their crops. I of course said the obvious.... So no one can take a leek... and the hilarity ensued. We went to Happinez after that for a drink and ran into Lisa & Anthony, and Chris & Suzy... so needless to say the entire night was filled with laughter.
Salad
Who is your favorite cartoon character?
I'm not sure I have a favourite... I love all the old Bugs Bunny Characters... Elmer Fudd, Pepe la Pew, Road Runner... and lots of the old Hanna Barbera characters... Yogi Bear, Snagglepuss, The Flintstones... and of course theres all those classic Mickey Mouse Characters. Way too many great cartoon characters to pick a favourite.
Main Course
Tell about the funniest teacher you ever had.
Funny Ha Ha, or funny weird? My highschool band teacher Geoff Dolman, wasn't overly funny as in sense of humour, but he was funny to watch. When he conducted he bounced around and did a sort of little dance.... we called him Jumpin Geoff behind his back. Don't get me wrong... he was an awsome music teacher and probably my favourite teacher of all time, but he was funny to watch
Dessert
Complete this sentence: I strongly believe that ______________________.
I strongly believe that everything happens for a reason and there is nothing "unnatural" in the universe.
On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being highest, how polite are you?
Way up the scale... close to ten. I try very hard not to be rude... crude on the other hand... well, that wasn't the question.
Soup
What was the last thing that made you laugh out loud?
Wednesday evening when we went out to dinner with Chad & Nancy, and Brian & Helen... Helen was talking about the people in the pubs in England having different silly competitions, like how long you can keep a ferret in your pants and who can grow the largest Leek. She was saying that the leek thing is so serious that people even sleep outside to watch over their crops. I of course said the obvious.... So no one can take a leek... and the hilarity ensued. We went to Happinez after that for a drink and ran into Lisa & Anthony, and Chris & Suzy... so needless to say the entire night was filled with laughter.
Salad
Who is your favorite cartoon character?
I'm not sure I have a favourite... I love all the old Bugs Bunny Characters... Elmer Fudd, Pepe la Pew, Road Runner... and lots of the old Hanna Barbera characters... Yogi Bear, Snagglepuss, The Flintstones... and of course theres all those classic Mickey Mouse Characters. Way too many great cartoon characters to pick a favourite.
Main Course
Tell about the funniest teacher you ever had.
Funny Ha Ha, or funny weird? My highschool band teacher Geoff Dolman, wasn't overly funny as in sense of humour, but he was funny to watch. When he conducted he bounced around and did a sort of little dance.... we called him Jumpin Geoff behind his back. Don't get me wrong... he was an awsome music teacher and probably my favourite teacher of all time, but he was funny to watch
Dessert
Complete this sentence: I strongly believe that ______________________.
I strongly believe that everything happens for a reason and there is nothing "unnatural" in the universe.
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Busy Busy Busy
We are back to full steam ahead. February is usually a really slow time and it takes a little while before everything fires back up and we are going on full throttle again, but we are just about rightback up there. I have one very big animation project to take me through May as well as one smaller one that is due very soon. Add to that several new Rogers Tv Listings ads, and I'm back to being busier than a one armed paper hanger.
The weekend was beautiful.. finally. It was nice and sunny and we were able to wander around without coats on. On Saturday we popped into the grand opening of Brunswick Nurseries.... for a grand opening there weren't a lot of deals to be had. We went with the intention of getting a truck load of topsoil for the front flower bed Darrell built last year, but even though we called ahead, they didn't have any when we arrived. So that really spoiled the mood of the grand opening for us and we wandered around a little then left. I descided to go Garden center cruising so I headed into the McCallister area and started off at Kent. Unfortunately I was silly and brought my car instead of the truck.... and wouldn't you know it... there were things I wanted. So I headed back out to the house, where Darrell was busy working in the back yard clearing out all the old dead rotting trees that had been cut and left laying around. I got the truck and headed back to Kent and bought three new fruit trees (like we needed more fruit trees... we already had 7). I got a Nectarine (which was already in bloom), and apricott, and a peach tree that has to be at least 10 feet tall... all for $30 each. When I got home Darrell was getting ready to cut down a couple dead birch trees in the back.. so while he was cutting trees down in the back I was planting new ones in the front. I'm sure that every bee from Rothesay to Baxters Corner will be zeroing in on that Nectarine tree since it's about the only thing in bloom for miles.
Sunday I went to the production meeting for Crucible... somehow I ended up being the sound guy for this show as well. Someone else was lined up to do it, so I thought I was off the hook, but it turns out she couldn't do it, and there was no one else available. I was really hoping to have the spring and summer off so we could do yard work and maybe even just take off if the mood struck for the May long weekend, but between theatre and work that doesn't look it will be in the cards. I just hope I have enough time outside of work to be able to do a good enough job on Crucible, I would hate like hell to let the cast and crew down.
* Sidebar.... I hope people don't start seeing me as the "Sound guy" because it's very close to what I do for a living, and I don't want to start potentially not be considered for Parts because the director already has me cast as "Sound Guy".
Monday the weather sucked, so did Tuesday. Nothing really exciting happened Monday, it was back to work as usual. We are still doing the smoothie breakfasts and it has been going great. They really do give you a nice big boost in the morning. We've been experimenting with all kinds of different recipes. A really good one, was half a mini Watermelon, half a pint of Frozen Strawberries, 1 banana and a handful of green grapes....If you use frozen strawberries you don't have to use ice. As always we also add a tablespoon of flax seeds to all the recipes. Flax seeds are high in Omega 3 fatty acids as well having lots of antioxidents. They help lower blood pressure and cholesterol, and lots of other super good for you stuff. It does mean you have to use a big straw and occasionally get little seed to chew on, but worth it in the end. We figuredou tthe cost of doing fruit smoothies for breakfast everyday and it works out to about $2.50.... that's a pretty cheap breakfast.
Tuesday night Darrell had to go to the movie theatre with the camera for Film Pix, so we stayed and watched the movie. It was a documentary called "Why do we fight", about America's culture of war. I found it really interesting, but didn't learn many things I didn't already know from other similar documentaries... the new information I got from the show only served to make me feel frustrated and angry (which is the whole idea). The really frustrating part is to watch something like that and then turn on the news and see that our current government is desperately trying to go in many of the same directions. here's hoping the other parties get it together and kick that gonad Harper out of the governing seat before he does too much damage. Personal note to mister Harper: Lower the damn flag and show some bloody respect you bastard! When someone dies in service of this country it is the very least you can do and it doesn't cost anybody anything to do it.
That said, today is a gorgeous day, and hopefully we will get away from work early enough to enjoy some of it.
The weekend was beautiful.. finally. It was nice and sunny and we were able to wander around without coats on. On Saturday we popped into the grand opening of Brunswick Nurseries.... for a grand opening there weren't a lot of deals to be had. We went with the intention of getting a truck load of topsoil for the front flower bed Darrell built last year, but even though we called ahead, they didn't have any when we arrived. So that really spoiled the mood of the grand opening for us and we wandered around a little then left. I descided to go Garden center cruising so I headed into the McCallister area and started off at Kent. Unfortunately I was silly and brought my car instead of the truck.... and wouldn't you know it... there were things I wanted. So I headed back out to the house, where Darrell was busy working in the back yard clearing out all the old dead rotting trees that had been cut and left laying around. I got the truck and headed back to Kent and bought three new fruit trees (like we needed more fruit trees... we already had 7). I got a Nectarine (which was already in bloom), and apricott, and a peach tree that has to be at least 10 feet tall... all for $30 each. When I got home Darrell was getting ready to cut down a couple dead birch trees in the back.. so while he was cutting trees down in the back I was planting new ones in the front. I'm sure that every bee from Rothesay to Baxters Corner will be zeroing in on that Nectarine tree since it's about the only thing in bloom for miles.
Sunday I went to the production meeting for Crucible... somehow I ended up being the sound guy for this show as well. Someone else was lined up to do it, so I thought I was off the hook, but it turns out she couldn't do it, and there was no one else available. I was really hoping to have the spring and summer off so we could do yard work and maybe even just take off if the mood struck for the May long weekend, but between theatre and work that doesn't look it will be in the cards. I just hope I have enough time outside of work to be able to do a good enough job on Crucible, I would hate like hell to let the cast and crew down.
* Sidebar.... I hope people don't start seeing me as the "Sound guy" because it's very close to what I do for a living, and I don't want to start potentially not be considered for Parts because the director already has me cast as "Sound Guy".
Monday the weather sucked, so did Tuesday. Nothing really exciting happened Monday, it was back to work as usual. We are still doing the smoothie breakfasts and it has been going great. They really do give you a nice big boost in the morning. We've been experimenting with all kinds of different recipes. A really good one, was half a mini Watermelon, half a pint of Frozen Strawberries, 1 banana and a handful of green grapes....If you use frozen strawberries you don't have to use ice. As always we also add a tablespoon of flax seeds to all the recipes. Flax seeds are high in Omega 3 fatty acids as well having lots of antioxidents. They help lower blood pressure and cholesterol, and lots of other super good for you stuff. It does mean you have to use a big straw and occasionally get little seed to chew on, but worth it in the end. We figuredou tthe cost of doing fruit smoothies for breakfast everyday and it works out to about $2.50.... that's a pretty cheap breakfast.
Tuesday night Darrell had to go to the movie theatre with the camera for Film Pix, so we stayed and watched the movie. It was a documentary called "Why do we fight", about America's culture of war. I found it really interesting, but didn't learn many things I didn't already know from other similar documentaries... the new information I got from the show only served to make me feel frustrated and angry (which is the whole idea). The really frustrating part is to watch something like that and then turn on the news and see that our current government is desperately trying to go in many of the same directions. here's hoping the other parties get it together and kick that gonad Harper out of the governing seat before he does too much damage. Personal note to mister Harper: Lower the damn flag and show some bloody respect you bastard! When someone dies in service of this country it is the very least you can do and it doesn't cost anybody anything to do it.
That said, today is a gorgeous day, and hopefully we will get away from work early enough to enjoy some of it.
Friday, April 21, 2006
Friday Feast April 21, 2006
Appetizer
List 3 things you keep putting off.
The Dishes, Sending my manuscript out to publishers, Writing the sequel to my novel
Soup
What do you feel is your greatest responsibility?
I don't have alot of "Great" responsibilities in my present life. My biggest one is to take care of my health and help speed my recovery
Salad
If you could have starred in any movie, which one would you have wanted to be in and why?
Star Wars... any one of the first trilogy. They were ground breaking movies that changed the way people go to the movies, and the people in them are filthy rich.
Main Course
What is an expectation you had as a child about being an adult and, now that you are grown up, you realize you were wrong?
I thought I would be able to do whatever I wanted whenever I wanted.
Dessert
When was the last time you had your car serviced?
Last Month
List 3 things you keep putting off.
The Dishes, Sending my manuscript out to publishers, Writing the sequel to my novel
Soup
What do you feel is your greatest responsibility?
I don't have alot of "Great" responsibilities in my present life. My biggest one is to take care of my health and help speed my recovery
Salad
If you could have starred in any movie, which one would you have wanted to be in and why?
Star Wars... any one of the first trilogy. They were ground breaking movies that changed the way people go to the movies, and the people in them are filthy rich.
Main Course
What is an expectation you had as a child about being an adult and, now that you are grown up, you realize you were wrong?
I thought I would be able to do whatever I wanted whenever I wanted.
Dessert
When was the last time you had your car serviced?
Last Month
Thursday, April 20, 2006
Smoothies
I don't think I'll be adopting the entire "You are what you eat" Menu and plan now that I've had a chance to look at more of it. There are lots of things in it we will use though. We've been doing the fruit smoothies for breakfast for three days now and they seem to working out really well. Yesterday we dumped the mango as it added a strange taste to the mix and we added crushed ice, and today we added Cantalope instead of the Mango. The winning recipe is now half a pineapple, half a cantalope, two bananas, and some crushed ice. We bought some sports cups that allow for large straws so we could take them to go. It was hard to stand at the kitchen counter and try to down them before we left. This morning we had a relaxing drive in and our breakfast to go... it was pretty sweet.
Congratulations to Chris and Suzy on their engagement. I'm so excited for you. To think a year ago we were having a party at Brian and Helen's place and you had your linked pinkies hiding behind the chip bowl... and now your engaged.....woooohoooo.
Congratulations to Chris and Suzy on their engagement. I'm so excited for you. To think a year ago we were having a party at Brian and Helen's place and you had your linked pinkies hiding behind the chip bowl... and now your engaged.....woooohoooo.
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
Long Weekend
I haven't posted in a little while. We've been busy busy busy. Work is starting to look very hectic again, which is mostly how I like it - Makes the day go faster.
Aside from the awful weather, the long weekend was actually pretty fun. We took Friday and Monday so it really would have been nice if the sun had peeked out a few times. Unfortunately no such luck. Friday night we went to Bertis' for a late dinner of Beef stroganoff... Bertis has a really good recipe. Brian and Helen were there also and we watched Fatal Attraction. I haven't seen it in a really long time but it was just as good as I remember it to be. The weird thing about watching the movie now is to think about how many times it has been ripped off. You watch it thinking "well that happens in all the movies", then you have to remind yourself that it only happens in all the movies because of the movie you are watching, since it was pretty unique in it's time... and spawned a tonne of rip offs. We also watched the "original ending" that is included on in the extras section on the DVD... it was creepy and all, but I'm glad they changed it.
Saturday was a pretty quiet day at home. Slept in, cleaned a little... tried a new chicken rice caserole recipe from my recipe club.
Sunday we had dinner at the Bond's house. We had samosa's and Chicken and veggie wrapps ... it was a really good. Bertis was there also (you probably guessed that right?)Helen lent us here "You are What you eat" book, by Dr Jillian Makieth. We've been watching the show on the W network and really learning a lot of things about food and what it can do to you or for you. I am going to go through the books and the recipes and then work out a plan and see if we can stick to it for 8 weeks.
We started off our morning with one of the smoothy recipes in the book. It was pretty simple.... half a pineapple, a mango, and two Bananas.... blend together and drink. (serves two) We added Flax seed to the drink as it is one of her recommended super foods. Next time I might put some crushed ice in it just to make it cold, but all in all it was pretty good. It felt like a large portion, especially since we aren't really used to eating much first thing in the morning, but I'm definitely noticing a boost of energy this morning compared to usual. In her book she recomend that fruit be taken by itself at least 30 minutes before eating anything else... and says that fruit is best first thing in the morning when your body has been fasting all night. It'll take me a few days to work out a good meal plan and then it'll be interesting to try to get Darrell to actually eat it, (He's fussy as hell about food), but when you watch her show, the people she puts on her plans are dropping huge amounts of weight and looking and feeling alot better. They usually lose about 2 stone in eight weeks... that'a about 28 pounds. I figure with all the toxins I put in my body every day from my medications a good detox diet would be a really good idea, so we'll see how it goes.
Aside from the awful weather, the long weekend was actually pretty fun. We took Friday and Monday so it really would have been nice if the sun had peeked out a few times. Unfortunately no such luck. Friday night we went to Bertis' for a late dinner of Beef stroganoff... Bertis has a really good recipe. Brian and Helen were there also and we watched Fatal Attraction. I haven't seen it in a really long time but it was just as good as I remember it to be. The weird thing about watching the movie now is to think about how many times it has been ripped off. You watch it thinking "well that happens in all the movies", then you have to remind yourself that it only happens in all the movies because of the movie you are watching, since it was pretty unique in it's time... and spawned a tonne of rip offs. We also watched the "original ending" that is included on in the extras section on the DVD... it was creepy and all, but I'm glad they changed it.
Saturday was a pretty quiet day at home. Slept in, cleaned a little... tried a new chicken rice caserole recipe from my recipe club.
Sunday we had dinner at the Bond's house. We had samosa's and Chicken and veggie wrapps ... it was a really good. Bertis was there also (you probably guessed that right?)Helen lent us here "You are What you eat" book, by Dr Jillian Makieth. We've been watching the show on the W network and really learning a lot of things about food and what it can do to you or for you. I am going to go through the books and the recipes and then work out a plan and see if we can stick to it for 8 weeks.
We started off our morning with one of the smoothy recipes in the book. It was pretty simple.... half a pineapple, a mango, and two Bananas.... blend together and drink. (serves two) We added Flax seed to the drink as it is one of her recommended super foods. Next time I might put some crushed ice in it just to make it cold, but all in all it was pretty good. It felt like a large portion, especially since we aren't really used to eating much first thing in the morning, but I'm definitely noticing a boost of energy this morning compared to usual. In her book she recomend that fruit be taken by itself at least 30 minutes before eating anything else... and says that fruit is best first thing in the morning when your body has been fasting all night. It'll take me a few days to work out a good meal plan and then it'll be interesting to try to get Darrell to actually eat it, (He's fussy as hell about food), but when you watch her show, the people she puts on her plans are dropping huge amounts of weight and looking and feeling alot better. They usually lose about 2 stone in eight weeks... that'a about 28 pounds. I figure with all the toxins I put in my body every day from my medications a good detox diet would be a really good idea, so we'll see how it goes.
Friday, April 07, 2006
Friday Feast April 7, 2006
Appetizer
Name a trait you share with your parents or your children.
I'm always up for an adventure. I get that from my Mom.
I love to work with my hands. I get that from my Dad.
Soup
List 3 qualities of a good leader, in your opinion.
Confidence, Empathy, good listener
Salad
Who is your favorite television chef?
Don't have one. I do my cooking in the kitchen not vicariously through the TV
Main Course
Share a story about a gift you received from someone you love.
When I lived in Nanaimo and was singing with my Band, my Uncle got the family together and bought me a Guitar for my birthday, then they surprised me with it at a Block Party my band was playing at in Victoria.
Dessert
How do you react under pressure?
I am pretty cool under pressure, and thrive in stressfull conditions
Name a trait you share with your parents or your children.
I'm always up for an adventure. I get that from my Mom.
I love to work with my hands. I get that from my Dad.
Soup
List 3 qualities of a good leader, in your opinion.
Confidence, Empathy, good listener
Salad
Who is your favorite television chef?
Don't have one. I do my cooking in the kitchen not vicariously through the TV
Main Course
Share a story about a gift you received from someone you love.
When I lived in Nanaimo and was singing with my Band, my Uncle got the family together and bought me a Guitar for my birthday, then they surprised me with it at a Block Party my band was playing at in Victoria.
Dessert
How do you react under pressure?
I am pretty cool under pressure, and thrive in stressfull conditions
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
New Recipes
This was very quiet weekend at home. We didn't do much of anything and it was quite nice. I signed up for a recipe club that sends out bundles of recipe cards every three weeks or so. I fell for the hook when the samples came in the mail and I tried one of the recipes, then thought 'What the hell, it comes with a free set of knives and doesn't cost that much money.'
I tried a few more of the recipes this weekend and have been pretty impressed so far. On Saturday I made Chicken Stroganof and some Banana Bread, and tomorrow I'm going to try a Chicken and Biscuits recipe. I try to follow the recipe to the letter the first time through so I can see what exactly is involved and how it comes out. Once we've had it "the way it is supposed to be" then all bets are off and I start experiementing with it until it's the way we think it should be. This usually takes two or three times through. The Stroganof recipe really surprised me though and will require very little in the way of modification. If anything I'd use less Chicken broth and Add the noodles right to the sauce a little before they are done cooking to thicken the sauce a little more, but that's just a minor change. The banana bread recipe was pretty good as well and next time through I'll probably substitute the White sugar for honey and add more Walnuts. If you want to try the recipes out let me know and I'll either put them on here or e-mail them to you.
It looks like I have a hectic work schedule luming on the horizon. There is a very large animation project coming my way and I will have to through myself into it 100% once I get all the materials I need. I will be animating the actual Oil Refining process from Crude in the ship, to Canaport, to and through the refinery, to trucks trains and ships filled with the finished product. I see some late nights on the horizon.
I tried a few more of the recipes this weekend and have been pretty impressed so far. On Saturday I made Chicken Stroganof and some Banana Bread, and tomorrow I'm going to try a Chicken and Biscuits recipe. I try to follow the recipe to the letter the first time through so I can see what exactly is involved and how it comes out. Once we've had it "the way it is supposed to be" then all bets are off and I start experiementing with it until it's the way we think it should be. This usually takes two or three times through. The Stroganof recipe really surprised me though and will require very little in the way of modification. If anything I'd use less Chicken broth and Add the noodles right to the sauce a little before they are done cooking to thicken the sauce a little more, but that's just a minor change. The banana bread recipe was pretty good as well and next time through I'll probably substitute the White sugar for honey and add more Walnuts. If you want to try the recipes out let me know and I'll either put them on here or e-mail them to you.
It looks like I have a hectic work schedule luming on the horizon. There is a very large animation project coming my way and I will have to through myself into it 100% once I get all the materials I need. I will be animating the actual Oil Refining process from Crude in the ship, to Canaport, to and through the refinery, to trucks trains and ships filled with the finished product. I see some late nights on the horizon.
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