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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

Friday Feast Mar. 31,2006

I didn't manage to get away from work early on Tuesday, and I was feeling terrible by the time I finally got home. I think I had a fever because I was very cold even though the house was very warm. I bundled up in bed with my book and stayed there. I didn't go to work Wednesday and remained in bed with my book, although the fever was gone. I felt a lot better and actually found myself sitting on the deck in the afternoon enjoying the fresh air. I was back to work Thursday and now I'm feeling back to my regular self. I'm still stuffed up and my throats a little tender, but the cold sore is mostly gone and I can swallow again. (keep it clean you know what I'm talking about you dirty little minds) In case you were wondering I finished the book... it was very good. Maybe not as good as some of it predicessors in the series, but the story was good and well thought out. I didn't feel the kind of love or hate for the characters that I have in Jack Whyte's other novels and that is where I felt it was disapointing, but overall as an end to the series I felt it wrapped thing up nicely.
Now the Feast

Friday Feast Mar. 31, 2006

Appetizer
Name 3 things that you think are strange.
People, People, People. I could build a list that would go on and on and on.

Soup
What was the last ceremony you attended?
Jim & Carl's wedding last year.

Salad
What is one lesson you have learned in the past year?
I learned a lot of really great pointers for protecting your Identity and Credit rating. Thankfully I didn't learn them the hard way.

Main Course
Tell us about one of your childhood memories.
I remember when I was Eight years old, just before Christmas not long after my brother, Lorne, was born, and someone had a video camera and was taping a christmas message to send to my Great-Grandma on Vancouver Island. What I remember most about the moment was how excited I was about my new baby Brother. He was, after all, my very first sibling. I now have three. Aside from Lorne, there is my sister Amanda and my youngest brother Garrett. My Brothers are my Dad's sons, and my Sister is my Mom's Daughter.

Dessert
If you could extend any of the four seasons to be twice as long as normal, which season would you want to lengthen?
Duh... Summer. If we could make the New Brunswick Summer twice as long, then it would finally be same as the rest of the Country.

AAARRRRGH!

My head is stufffy, my throat is sore, and top it all off...I've got a cold Sore on my lip. I feel icky.
We were suposed to meet Bertis and the Bonds this evening for "Bowling The Sequel" but I'm going to have to take a pass, since I don't know whether or not I will actually make it all the way through the work day. I wouldn't even have come in at all had I not already arranged to go to a client's business and take pictures for his television ad. He had to round up people to pose etc etc etc so I couldn't just cancell on him last minute. I will do my best to breathe on no one and touch nothing while I'm there. I could barely swallow yesterday, my throat was so sore, and I just got an e-mail from Helen that she is also having difficulty swallowing... so I guess we're all out for the time being.
Yesterday I had my car in for it's annual maintenance. I had a problem with the switch for the heating fan that had to be fixed and aside from that it was just change the oil, plugs, filters etc.... still it took a chunk out of my bank account (but worth it in the end to spot potential problems down the road and fix them before they become major repairs). I went to pick the car up around 3 and didn't bother returning to work, just headed straight home. I was starting to feel the raw throat coming on around then. I hopped in bed and snuggled up with my book, which is probably how I will spend the last part of today as well.

Nice Weekend.

We had a fairly busy weekend. Friday we left work early for a drink at O'Learys, then went home for dinner. (no chicken as I had intended but there was broccoli and carrots)
Saturday was spent cleaning out the Spare room that we use as an office. That is the place where things go until a suitable home can be found for them, and it has become quite a mess since we've been renovating. We finally got around to unpacking and sorting through all the boxes in there and throwing out all the crap. We actually discovered a carpet under all the crap. Now there is a big pile of stuff to go to the curb downstairs. We also put the rest of our bedroom back together although we haven't done the mouldings yet. All the clothes from the closet got sorted before they went back in and several things didn't get booked for return engagements. After that was accomplished, we made an optomistic move, and put the patio furniture back on the deck... here's hoping. Saturday Evening Bertis and the Bonds came over for pizza and a "Little Britain" marathon. We got through Four episodes and then put the second disk in and watched all the Vikky Pollard Sketches and Davith sketches.
Sunday was catch up on the laundry day. I can't wait for the weather to be nice enough to start putting the clothes out on the line again. Not only is it energy efficient it's better for the fabric and it just makes everything smell fresh. I usually dry everything on the line except towels.. they get too stiff and scratchy on the line so they go in the dryer. Other than laundry I spent the majority of Saunday with my nose my book. It was nice to just kick back and get lost in the story.

Friday Feast Mar. 24, 2006

Appetizer
How would you describe your personal comfort zone?
I'm very comfortable with myself and my environment both working and home. I sometimes get down over the effects of Graft vs Host disease on my appearance, but for the most part am pretty confident and happy.

Soup
What is your favorite tree?
I don't have a favorite tree... I love all kinds of trees, as anyone whose ever been to my house will atest. My favorite of the many trees I have inside my home is my Cocoa Tree (mostly because of the Challenge it presented in aclimating it to a dryer climate and having it flourish), but I really don't have a "Favorite tree"

Salad
List 3 foods you'd like to include in your dinner plans for tonight.
Brocolli, Chicken, Carrots

Main Course
What is the best advice you've ever been given, but didn't heed?
I can't really think of anything. I've always trusted my instinct and am usually very good at recognising good advice.

Dessert
On a scale of 1-10 (10 being highest), how much attention do you feel comfortable receiving from others?
That's tricky.... on a one on one personal kind of scale I'm about a 6. If it's an impersonal setting where I'm on stage 13.. pour it on baby!!!!

HMS Pinafore

Went to HMS Pinafore with Bertis Last night.... Loved it. I wasn't familiar with the show before hand, so it was refreshing and new to me. The singing was excellent. The young Tenor was absolutely incredible. He had a very high, very hard part and made it sound effortless. The set was fairly simple and no big deal really, but when you have a bunch of men wandering around in little white sailor suits, whose looking at the set? I did notice that the mark from "Sight Unseen's" revolving set could still be seen quite clearly in places on the stage though.

Now that life has settled down to it's normal frantic pace I have been able to start into "The Eagle" by Jack Whyte, the final novel in his Historical fiction version of the Arthurian legend. I've had it for a couple weeks, but haven't had time to sit down and enjoy it. If you're not familiar with his novels but are a fan of Historic novels, or a fan of King Arthur you should read them. They are a look at Britain at the fall of the Roman Empire and try to explain the circumstances and possibility of King Arthur and Camolot without all the magic and fantasy. You almost feel like it could really have happened.

Not Quite Recovered

It was a very busy weekend and I'm not all the way recovered yet. Friday was Saint Patrick's Day, but I was busy with sound for Sight Unseen. The show finished and I was out of the theatre by about 10:30, but was pretty wiped and didn't want to deal with lines, cover charges, and people who had been drinking since noon... so I just went home. The Uptown was a zoo of people when I headed out, so I was kind of glad to avoid it.
Saturday was the matinee show, followed by the final evening performance. Both went very well. There wasn't a large Matinee crowd, but the evening crowd was the largest of the run. I very nearly had a flawless run, right up until near the end of the final show when I miscued a Sound Effect and accidentally started the Kettle whistle when it should have been the tape rewind sound. I caught it right away and jumped to the right sound but it was too late by then. Oh well, if you don't screw up at least once what are people going to razz you about at the cast party? We broke down the set in what seemed record time for such an intricate thing, and the party started somewhere between 11:30 and Midnight. It was a fairly quiet party as far as SJTC cast parties go, but it was a really good time. Dre Loaded some really nice music onto her ipod and it played in the boackground all evening... it was there but not overpowering so we all had an oportunity to talk without having to raise our voices which was refreshing. It wrapped up a little after 3am. Darrell spent Saturday morning finishing his install of the dog door and met me at the party around twelve thirty. Elton and Tiff now have their own access to the back deck. He put it right through the wall and out to the deck. This spring/summer we are hoping to get in some fill and level out the back more, then fence off an area and build stairs down off the deck into it, so the dogs will have their own yard and they can come and go as they please.
Sunday we had so much catching up to do around the house I couldn't get out to help with the load in... sorry guys. We moved more stuff back into the bedroom, even though we haven't put up the moulding yet. We priced Maple and it runs about 3 dollars a foot, so we are thinking maybe we'll just buy some nice pine and stain it instead. Three dollars a foot for moulding isn't really in the budget. We eventually want all the moulding to be nice wood as well as all the interior doors and trim. We got a new Barbeque since our old one has pretty much had the biscuit, and found a really great sale on a Router table that included a plunge router. We already have a router (on semi-permanent loan from Connell) but it's nice to have two, that way you can use one freehand and leave the other as part of the table.
Monday was back to the grind. I believe I'm finished with Universal's project though I haven't heard for sure yet, there's always a chance they could require a sudden change to it. I was in super store after work and checked my blood pressure on their machine. I know those machine aren't super accurate but they're usually pretty close. Everything was good, so it looks like giving up the coffee is working out. It's the cyclosporin that is articifially raising my blood pressure so until I am finally off it, I can live without coffee. I don't really miss it and I've been discovering all kinds of exotic flavours of herbal tea. I haven't picked a favourite yet, but so far peppermint and Honey Lemon are fairly high on the list.
Today looks like it's going to be a fairly easy going day, so we may even slip out early. Tomorrow night I have plans to go to the theatre with Bertis and see HMS Pinafore... that should be a really fun show. I hope there's a musical coming to the SJTC line up soon..... wink, wink, nudge, nudge, hint hint hint. Something with more than three characters, and some nice big production numbers.

Friday March 17, 2006

Opening Night for Sight unseen was last night and the crowd really seemed to enjoy themselves. The show went really well, with one tiny delay at the beginning over a pieve of paper that somehow ended up on the top step of stage right. Other than that it was pretty smooth. The cast brought really strong performances to the stage and really sold the show. There was only about half a house downstairs and I don't know how many people were in the balcony, since I was at the sound board all night and can't see the balcony from there. There was a post show reception at D'Amico's which was propapble the best post show reception I've been to yet. Complimentary drinks and lots of food. There was deep fried battered fish, brushetta, pita pizzas, and the piece de resistance... Deep fried Macaroni and Cheese. Yes that's right deep Fried Mac and Cheese.... it was like bite sized grilled cheese sandwiches, tasty very tasty.
Tonight we will be competing with Saint Patrick's day (which isn't the big deal on the west coast that it is here), so here's keeping our fingers crossed that we have a good crowd.

Now to the Feast.....

FRIDAY FEAST MARCH 17
Appetizer
What job would you definitely not want to have?
Dishwasher... there's not enough money in the world to make me wash dishes for a living.

Soup
Oprah calls and wants you to appear on her show. What would that day's show be about?
It could be any number of things, but would probably be about cancer survivors or something sappy like that... it's what works for Oprah..... I'd rather do Ellen.

Salad
Name 3 vegetables that you eat on a regular basis.
Baby Carrots (I bring them to work everyday and eat them like chips), Brocolli, Turnip... in the late summer early fall we feast alot on corn.

Main Course
If you were commissioned to rename your hometown, what would you call it?
I like the name it already has. Williams Lake, BC... why fix something that ain't broke?

Dessert
If you had a personal assistant, what kind of tasks would you have them to do?
I'm too much of a control freak to trust my personal errands to another person, so a personal assistant would be completely useless to me, in fact it would probably stress me out in stead of making life easier. What I really need is a maid. We are both slobs, niether one of us likes doing dishes so they pile up beside the sink until there aren't any dishes left before they get done.

Opening Night

Last night was Student dress rehearsal for Sight Unseen and it went very well. There wasn't a large crowd, I think my last count was 47, but they all seemed to really enjoy the show. It is a really good script with lots of things going on both in and out of the dialog. There's a lot of really good subtext and it takes some time to really digest everything that happens. On the outside it seems like a very simple play, but you find all kinds of layers as it progresses. I hope there is a good crowd for opening night, people will not be disapointed.
I'm in the final stages of my project for Universal Truck and Trailer. It looks like there is light at the end of the tunnel. This is the first time I've really been worried about whether or not I could finish something on time. I didn't realize it was as tight a turn around as it was when I said yes to doing sound for Sight Unseen, otherwise I never would have agreed. Usually when it's something this big I like to be able to stay late if I get on a roll, but that's impossible if you have to be somewhere else in the evening. Thankfully I didn't have alot of Rogers work this week so I was able to devote my time completely to building the 3d model of Universal.

Cue 2 Q last night

Three very busy days and very late nights makes Blaine a cranky cranky boy. I slept in this morning even though I really couldn't afford the time, but I couldn't afford not to either. I was way to tired after the past few days. Cue to Cue went all the way until midnight. I'm sure my mind didn't settle and let me get to sleep until at least one. What made it most tiring was there wasn't a lot for me to do during the course of the evening so it was a lot of sitting around waiting. That is more tiring to me than working on three things at once for twice the amount of time.
I am up against a time crunch for a 3d rendering of a redesigned building, and am no where near my comfy place with it yet, and I still have to mix some "soft Jazz" house music for the show.
Hopefully everything at tonights rehearsal goes well, and we get out of there at a decent hour. That said... back to work.

PS ...Put down your bloody cell phone and drive your fucking car... yes I'm talking to you! You are barely competent behind the wheel with both hands on it.

It's Done

Well not completely done, but done enough for the moment. I got the ceiling painted on Thursday. Friday Darrell got the floors evened up. We decided we should even them up instead making a divided so we would know what was involved, since chances are that seam runs the entire length of the house, and we don't want any surprised when we do the living room, dining room, and hallway. Saturday I got the walls painted fairly early in the day, and they were dry enough by 6:30 PM so we started laying down the new floor. Once you get the hang of it, laminate floor is really pretty easy to install. Keep in mind Easy is a relative term. Getting down on your hands and knees hunched over installing floor isn't easy on your knees or your back. The next day I hurt in places I forgot I had, because I don't normally move my muscles that way, but we got the floor all done and the room basically put back together and by 2 am we were sleeping in our own bed again. It was hell trying to sleep in the spare room all week, going from a king sized simmons bowling ball matress with cushion top back to our old Queen sized matress we got on sale at Leons was not fun, there was, understandabley, a lot of motivation to stay up as long as it took to finish the room.
Sunday I was up fairly early and into town for Sight Unseen rehearsals. I think it's going to be a very good show from what I've seen so far. There isn't a lot for me to do soundwise thankfully because it's going to be really hellish week for me at work with a huge project due by Friday. After the rearsal I popped into the theatre to help Chad with the set painting. There wasn't much we could do as they were still setting it up, so we helped unload the reheasal space and then came back to paint. We got quite a bit done, but Chad still has lots to do so any eager beavers who can work a paint brush or a sponge really should get in there and help him out tonight. Unfortunatly I can't since tonight is Cue to cue and I will be on the sound board all night.

Carpet is gone

There is no paint on the ceiling yet, but the room is cleared, the carpet is gone, the walls are washed & Crackfilled. Today we will disconnect the ceiling fan and paint the ceiling. We discovered a bit of anasty surprise when we got the carpet up. Our place is a Prestige Home so it is built in two halves and then trucked onto the site, and right in the closet doorway is where the floors are joined together and they are not even. Luckily we have a simple solution. We will lay the laminate flooring in the bedroom as well as laying it in the closet, but in the doorway we will buy a nice piece of maple and build a spanner. Simple fix for the bedroom, but when it finally comes time to do the living room etc it is going to be a problem. Luckily we started with this small job and are leaving the bigger one until sometime later. When we get to it we will be prepared.

I have to have my rear brakes done on my car. The disk on the drivers side is soudning pretty warped. Hopefully we will be able to get to that this weekend as well because I will need my car all next week. As it turns out I will be filling in as the sound guy for Sight Unseen. Peter Jones was originally going to do it, but some last minute scheduling conflicts at work have conspired to make him unavailable. Thankfuilly he has already done all the prep work and all I have to do is push buttons. I'm sure it will go smoothly.

The Bedroom

We didn't get nearly as far on our bedroom reno last night as we had hoped. By the time we got home, had dinner and cleaned up the kitchen, it was already 8 O'clock, but we managed to clear out the closet, the plants and most of the furniture. We are hoping to get away early today so we can get everything else out, rip up the carpet & mud the various nail holes in the walls. If all goes according to plan today, I should be able to get the ceiling painted while Darrell takes the staples out of the floor and cleans it up. I may play hooky from work tomorrow to finish the painting, so we can get teh underlay down on Friday and dedicate the entire weekend to putting down the flooring and putting everything back. We won't be putting the trim back on, it's that cheap ugly white pressboard crap. We are actually going to go buy some nice maple and make our own. The flooring is Maple, and the walls will be Sage.. so it should look really nice and bright when it's all done.

Big Job Ahead

We had a great weekend. Saturday we started out at the Home Depot for a Laminate Flooring seminar, then headed down to Harbour Station and Met up with Bertis at the Home Show. This years Home Show wasn't really all that great to tell the truth. There were lots and lots of Doors and Windows displayed, but very little else, and with the Absense of Sears there was almost nothing in the way of home decor items. We got sucked into the Super Shamoise display and ended up buying some, but othere than that just wandered around and looked. Then we headed back to the office to collect the dogs and head up to Bertis' place for dinner. Brian and Helen were alreadythere when we arrived.
Bertis made Spagetti with a realy awsome meat sauce. We forgot to bring our Ramoli game so we improvised a board on an old pizza box and played for a few hours, then had some icecream sundays. It was a really good night. I had a lot of fun. Darrell ened up being the big winner in Ramoli although we only played for fun, not actual money.
Sunday we went into town and bought ten boxes of laminate flooring from Home Hardware as well as five gallons of paint. We will be spending every spare moment this week, ripping apart our bedroom, painting, and laying the new floor. I can't wait to get going on it. I love doing home renos. I really love painting a room, it's one of my favorite home decorating chores. It makes it look fresh and clean and new.. and it's not bad excercise.

Time for a new post

I guess I have been neglecting my poor little blog this week. Mostly because the February slow down has started to turn around and I am busy again.
Quick Update:

Didn't get a part in Moon Children or Crucible... To tell the truth I'm not surprised or disapointed, I didn't really think I was suited to any of the parts to begin with.
Saturday we went out to the 3Mile for Sarah's 20th birthday. How to make yourself feel old......Actually it wasn't so bad. Fairly early in the night the music on both sides was actually quite good, then it began to degrade to a throb, and eventually we opted to head over to where the pool tables are on the quiet side.
Sunday... quiet, slightly hung over.
Monday & Tuesday... work etc.
Last night went out for dinner at Romanos on the west side with Bertis, Brian & Helen (saying Bertis and the Bonds sounds a lot like a 50's group). The food was really good and the portions were really big. After dinner we hit Bowlarama for a couple hours of bowling. That was a lot of fun, and hopefully we do it again very soon.
Today is shaping up to be moderately busy.

Friday Feast Feb. 24, 2006

Appetizer
Choose one: moving to another state, having triplets, or never being able to eat chocolate again.
Never being able to eat chocolate again. (I'm asuming we're trying to define things we'd never want to do.)
Soup
Name a news story that truly shocked you.
September 11. I couldn't believe what I was seeing, and still feel an awful ache in the pit of my stomach when it's replayed. Another story I can't believe is all the chaos spawned by a stupid little cartoon. I have never bought into the US hysteria about Muslims, and have always thought of Islam as a peaceful religion (as it is suposed to be). All the violence and carnage in response to a cartoon makes me think otherwise. It's hard not to label people fanatics when they act like fanatics.
Salad
What was your very first job?
I waited tables at my Great Aunt Marg's cafe in Queen Charolotte City when I was 10, and painted the outside steps. I didn't so much wait tables as bring people drinks and small things and just generally be cute and 10.
Main Course
If you had the chance to read the diary of someone you're really close to, would you? Why or why not?
No. If it's someone I'm really close to I probably already know most of what would be contained in it anyway, and anything I don't know is either not my business or that someone isn't comfortable talking about it.
Dessert
What's something you're looking forward to?
I look forward to the day we've recovered from buying the house and have our debt paid down some. I look forward to the birth of my next niece (or nephew but I'm pretty sure it's niece). I look forward to traveling back home to see my family. I look forward to alot of things.... you have to look forward to move forward and if you're not moving forward you're either going sideways, standing still, or moving backwards.

Vampire Personality

You scored as Lestat. You are so unashamed of who you are you frighten people. Your hot and you know it. Sometimes you can be a brat but hey gotta love ya! Your Flashy sexy style makes people sit up and notice you.

Lestat		100%
Marius		92%
Dracula		83%
Armand		58%
Louis		58%
Angel		58%
Blade		58%
Spike		42%
Deacon Frost		33%
Akasha		33%

Whose your Vampire personality?
created with QuizFarm.com

Weekend Sugar Rush

I had a really great time this weekend. I started it early by taking Friday off so I could prepare for the Sweets party on Saturday. With two lazy guys and two large dogs, our house can become quite the pig stye, so I took the day off to clean and make some Cheesecakes for the party. I tried some new recipes, and made a chocolate cherry cheesecake and a stawberry cheesecake.
Saturday afternoon I stopped in for auditions for Crucible and Moonchildren. I'm never sure how my auditions go because I don't know if I'm actually any good at auditioning to tell the truth. Luckily I've worked with both Bob and Steven so they should have a pretty good idea of my ability audition notwithstanding. I got home around five, had a shower, a light dinner and started baking some oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, so they would still be all hot and melty when people showed up. It wasn't a huge crowd but a lot of fun people and we had a good time. Bertis was first to arrive with a chocolate layer cake with lots and lots of whipped cream. Kelly Myers popped by on her way home from work for a quick drink and to say hi sadly she couldn't stay long. Brian and Helen came with marshmallow mouse (by Brian) and milk & White chocolate Cheribs that Helen made, Scott and Alison arrived with a very decadent chocolate Tort, And Suzy and Chris showed up with a fabulous pastry that was as nice to look at as it was to eat. There was lots to eat and drink and some very funny conversation... I think I will have to make this an annual party.
Sunday we were invited out to the old Neighbourhood to play a little Ramoli. We brought along the left over Chocolate Cherry Cheesecake and as many rolls of nickles as we could beg borrow or steal from the three gas stations between our place and George and Loretta's. By the end of the game I was up three dollars and ten cents and Darrell was down about ten or eleven bucks.
After all that sugar, I am detoxing today with a lunch of carrots & apples, and have a couple steaks out for dinner that I will cut into strips for Beef and Broccoli.

Valentines Day

Another holiday dedicated to some Catholic/Christian Saint of some sort, and over commercialized to the point of being nausiating. But what the hell, it's a great excuse to pig out on chocolate, like I need an excuse.
The weekend was alot of fun. We watched the opening Cerimonies in Turino on Friday Night. I really loved the airial acrobatics. Was I the only one who found it disconcerting that the South African Team doesn't have a single Black memeber?
I went out to Script Happens on Saturday with Bertis and the Bonds. The four shows were really well done and the acting was very good. I saw a couple performances that really surprised, and impressed me. Afterwards we stopped at Churchills for a quick bite and headed home.
Sunday was a quiet day, watching the Olympic coverage & doing household chores.
Monday back to work....The pace at work has picked up again, and I am finally over that draggy feeling from Caffine withdrawl. I'm actually surprised how little I miss coffee.
I am still debating about whether or not I will be going to auditions for Crucible or Moonchildren or both, I guess I'll make that decision when I make it.

Friday Feast Feb. 10, 2006

Appetizer
What was a class or course you took while in school that you realize now was a total waste of time?
Algebra
Soup
Who is the tallest person you know?
Colin, I can't remember his last name.... He's the doorman at a bar in Victoria I used to go to called BJs... He's a giant.
Salad
What's your favorite midnight snack?
At night in front of the TV we usually have chips or Popcorn. At midnight I'm asleep and I don't snack through the night.
Main Course
Have you ever found money somewhere? If so, where did you find it, and how much was it?
I found $20 on the floor of O'Learys one time. I've found money other places to, but can't remeber the specifics.
Dessert
Where would you like to retire?
Nanaimo, BC. It's close to all my family, I have lots of really good friends there, by comparison to other cities on Vancouver Island it's large and affordable, you can be in Vancouver in Three hours or Victoria in an Hour and a Half, and the winters are mild. I plan to spend my retirement traveling.

Brokeback

We got together with Bertis and the Bonds again last night and went to see Brokeback mountain. I think this one has a lot of Oscar potential. It was very well done, the performances were excellent, the story was good. The ending was surprising and I certainly didn't anticipate it.
We met up before the movie at the A&W... I haven't been there in a really long time, in fact I'd never been to the new one on the East side before last night.
After the movie Brian and Helen stopped by the house for a beer..... all and all a really good time.
I actually have enough work to keep me very busy today so the day should go by pretty quick. Good thing too, I gave up coffee last week and have felt a little draggy ever since. One of my medications has been making my blood pressure high, so instead of adding yet another pill to my portfolio to bring it back down, I opted for giving up coffee and switching to Herbal tea.

Yawn

Nothing makes a work day go slower than having almost nothing to do. I am working on one ad today, but have spent the majority of my time waiting to hear back from people. I spent most of the day updating my flickr photo page with pictures. I didn't have a lot posted there before, but I sure do now.
It's too bad my little office isn't big enough for a couch... I think I could nap about now.

Monday already

This weekend was good. We went out with Bertis and the Bonds on Friday. We met at Pizza Delight, had some dinner, and then headed for the show. We saw Syriana at the Rothesay theatre. It was a long movie, or at least it seemed to be. We did have a great idea come from dinner though. Bertis was commenting on how all the deserts at the "chain" restaurants always seemed to be the same choices. Which led to an idea about having a valentines desert party where everyone brought their favorite sweet.
There are way too many things going on around valentines though, so I'm thinking maybe we could have it on the 18th.... sound interesting to anyone?
Saturday I watched the Aviator on DVD... another long movie. Howard Hughes was quite an interesting character, sadly Leonardo Dicaprio as Howard hughes was not.
Sunday I did laundry.
Today... I have almost nothing to do for work. I am waiting to hear back about a script for a commercial before I start building the rest of it.

Friday Feast Feb 3, 2006

Appetizer
On a scale of 1 to 10 (10=highest), how sociable are you?
I'm about a 9.. I love to go out and be sociable, or stay in and be sociable. Darrell on the other hand is a more stay in and be sociable kind of guy, and very fussy about going out so I'd give him about a 5... and we fall somewhere in the middle

Soup
Name 3 DVDs you currently own.
I own too many Movie DVDs to name only three... but there are a few notables including SJTC Guys and Dolls (the first DVD I actually made), & Grandma's Brag book (the DVD I made for my mom with pictures of my nephew)

Salad
If you were to win a superlative award now (such as most talented, class clown, most likely to succeed), what would it be?
That's something someone else has to pick, I don't see myself in those terms.

Main Course
What is your favorite radio station?
I don't have a favorite, my car has a CD player

Dessert
Complete this sentence: I believe __________ because __________.
I believe everything happens for a reason because I've witnessed too many examples not to.

Halifax

My appointment with the doctor in Halifax was pretty much the same as always..... Skin looks like it's improving a bit, blood work is good, stay on this dose, here's some new prescriptions, see you in three months. Then down to the Hospital Pharmacy for a shopping back full of anti-rejection drugs that would cost about $3000 if I actually had to buy them.
I actually don't mind any of it at this point... it's been nearly 7 years of this so I'm pretty used to it, but I absolutely hate the Drive there and back.
I hate it because I have to drive in the dark either on the way there, on the return trip, or, depending on the test, both.
I never used to hate driving at night, in fact my buddies and I used to hop in the car in Courtenay , drive three hours to Victoria, Party until the clubs closed and head home, without even batting an eye. In BC However the roads are actually marked so that you can see them at night. There are little reflector cats eyes down the center line... Yellow ones for yellow lines and white ones for white lines, and they use reflective paint to paint the lines. You can light up half a block of highway with a flashlight... It's kind of like driving in a video game. So who the hell is in charge on this side of the Country? BC doesn't hold the patent on reflectors or reflective paint.
Honestly I'm not surprised there are so many accidents here, at night the road just disapears in places... and god help you if it's wet, or foggy. You drive by bloody feel half the time. If you're banging, and bumping, and thumping, and generally being thrown around and hitting huge holes... you know you're on the road. If it smoothes out.. panic.

Soo Cool

Ever since visiting Rick Mercer's blog, I have been doing the Photo Challenge on the Mercer Report website. Admittedly I've only done two, but it was so cool last night to turn on the Mercer Report and see... you guessed it the Photo I edited in Photoshop on the Show. The original photo was one of Gilles Duceppe playing basketball, and I downloaded it and then turned it into Gille Duceppe figure skating and holding Stephen Harper in a lift... I called it Balance of power... since the Bloc holds the Balance of Power in the house. Anyway, it actually made it onto the show last night and I was pretty happy about it. I supose if I had stayed at work a little later yesterday I would have known it would be on since they sent me a release form to sign and send back, but I went home early.

I was up in Moncton today picking Darrell up at the airport. His flight was delayed by about four hours thanks to the snow storm. I hadn't realized how bad it was until I got nearer to Moncton... glad it was them and not us.

I'm off to Halifax tomorrow and Cindy Day says it will be lovely weather... she better be right.

Weekend

It was a very fun weekend, and fairly busy. I didn't manage to make it out for Jay's Birthday party on Friday. Darrell's Grandma passed away and he had to fly to Ontario out of Moncton that day. So he is gone until Wednesday and then we are off to Halifax Thursday for my regular trip to the Doctor.
Happy Birthday jay, sorry I missed it.
I did manage to make it out to the Blue Olive on Saturday for Helen's birthday though. that was alot of fun, lot a huge crowd but a good crowd of fun people. Chad and Nancey, Bertis, a few of Helen's friends from work, and of course Brian and Helen. I stuck to beer and gat home by 2:30, no hang over the next day (always a plus). The band was a little loud for the size of the room so it was hard to talk ( I must be getting really old), but I still had a good time.
Sunday I cleaned the house, did the laundry, and made a sleeper for my nephew.
Today is a pretty easy day, with nothing on my plate but a tape dub. I think I will probably take the oportunity to back up all my old projects and make some space on my drives.

Friday Feast Jan. 27, 2006

Appetizer
Choose one: Popcorn, Pizza, Pretzels, Peanuts, or Pasta.
Pasta

Soup
Describe your personality in terms of a particular vehicle.
Deep red, Mustang GT Convertible

Salad
If you won a shopping spree, from which store would you want it to be?
Home Depot or Home Hardware (they price match)

Main Course
Which television show re-runs do you enjoy watching?
Roseanne, Everybody Loves Raymond, That 70's Show

Dessert
If you could look into the future, how far down the road would you like to see? 10 years? 100 years? A million?
All of the above! But I'd really love to be able to see about 2000 years into the past to see what really happened.

Wednesday

So far the only advice I have found for my trees is "Not really anything you can do, but keep your fingers crossed and hope for the best." I think the danger part is probably past anyway. There is a layer of snow on the ground to insulate the roots if there is a sudden freeze or ice storm. We're supposed to get more snow to ad to it today, so I'll just have to see what happens in the spring.

I thought I couldn't possibly live with a Stephen Hitler Government, but now that the results are in I think I can live with it as a minority. It looks like a win win situation for voters. We have a change, there will be reforms, the Librals will be shopping for a new leader (probably Frank McKenna if any of them have two brain cells to rub together), The NDP will be able to effect policy, and Stevie has the Power he craves but not enough to inflict his ultraconservative right wing bible banging views on the rest of us. With our parliamentary system set up the way it is, a minority government situation is actually the closest thing we can get to a real democracy in Canada. Hopfully no one does anything stupid and sends us back to the polls for awhile, because I couldn't stomach another elect in the near future.

Darrell and I (mostly Darrell) spent the weekend searching out a break in some wires. When we had the installer from the alarm company out last year he drilled through the floor and nicked a couple, causing our fridge outlet and our dining room heater to go out. We didn't know about the heater until recently. We did manage to find the breaks though and yesterday Darrell bought a connector box and some new wire and fixed them up. We also got a $100 credit from the alarm company.

Voting

Today is the day we excercise our most sacred right as citizens of a free and democractic country, our right to vote. I don't consider voting to be a right, so much as I consider it a requirement. It is our responsibility and duty as members of a free and democratic nation to vote. It is our reposibility to enforce democracy by going out and excercising it. You may think that voting is a waste of time and that nothing ever changes, but in not voting you invite others to dictate your government to you. That is the first cause of the democratic deficit in this country. Maybe if more people realized their need to vote they would translate their frustration with the current process into positive democratic change. Throwing your hands in the air and saying why bother doesn't do any good, it only gives your power away to someone else. It is everyone's job as members of a free society to excercise the fundamental right that keeps that society free. Voting is not a right, it is a sacred trust and it is the duty of every citizen of Canada to perform. Today!

Unseasonable

I've really been enjoying the unseasonably warm winter, but I noticed this morning, what looked like little green buds, beginning on my Magnolia tree. This has made me start to worry about all the trees Darrell and I planted last spring. I'm afraid that if it continues to be so mild and then suddenly gets cold and turns to a typical winter they might die. Granted they all came from the Nursery and are guaranteed for two years, but I would hate to have to dig them back up and replace them all. I will definitely be spending today doing some research on how to protect them from false spring.

Friday Feast Jan. 20, 2006

Appetizer
About how many times per day do you check your email?
I leave my e-mail browser at work open all day long and it checks every ten minutes.
At home, since we're on dial up we hardly ever check, maybe once every couple days.

Soup
If you had the money to collect something really valuable, what would it be?
Gold coins. Gold never loses it's value stacked against the dollar. Once upon a time an ounce of gold or ten dollars would get you a fully tailored 3 piece suit.. today an ounce of gold will get you a fully tailored three piece suit, but ten Bucks won't get you squat.

Salad
Write a sentence using the letters of your favorite beverage. (Example: The egret admires.)
Barry eats eggs regularly.

Main Course
If you could be on a game show, which one would you want it to be?
The Amazing Race. That would be soooooooo fun.

Dessert
Name 3 computer programs or web sites you would hate to be without.
Photoshop, 3d Studio, After Effects

Rick Mercer Blog

I'm not the biggest Rick Mercer fan by any means.. but sometimes I get a kick out of his rants. His blog is actually quite good.

Rick Mercer Blog

Poking fun at Canadian Politics really never gets old does it?

Friday Feast Jan. 13, 2006

Appetizer
Name one chore you don't really mind doing.
Laundry

Soup
How many times have you moved homes in your life?
17

Salad
How old were you when you had your very first kiss?
10

Main Course
What time of day do you usually feel your best?
Mid-morning to early afternoon... Depends on the day and what's going on

Dessert
Using three words or less, describe your current local weather.
warm, spring-ish, awsome

Munich

We went to see Munich with Bertis and the Bonds last night. What an excellent movie. I can honestly say without a doubt it is the best movie I've seen in quite some time. In Fact it will likely stay on my list of top twenty movies for quite sometime. Right up there with Shindler's List... also a Spielberg drama.
The Movie stars Eric Bana, Daniel Craig, Ciaran Hinds, Mathieu Kassovitz, and Hanns Zischler as the group assigned to bring retribution to the orchistrators of Black Sunday and the killings of Jewish Atheletes at the Munich Olympics. It is nearly three hours long, but well worth every moment.

Friday Feast Jan. 6, 2006

Appetizer
Have you ever seen a ghost or an angel?
I think I've seen several.

Soup
What is your favorite board game?
At the moment Ramoli

Salad
What was the last movie you saw that made you cry?
Pay it Forward

Main Course
What would you do if you had 3 months off from your job?
Write another novel

Dessert
What kind of shoes are you wearing today?
White leather running shoes "pony"

Political RANT!!!!

I am sick to bloody death of Canadian Politics. As if it's not bad enough we have to suffer through an election over the "holidays", but we don't even have anyone worth voting for. It the same old song and dance over and over... the Librals are plagued with scandal "Time for a change!".... But the alternative isled by an ultra- conservative extremist who will end up pushing human rights in this country back 20 years and spend us back into the huge deficit the Librals have only just managed to drag us out of after the last conservative government. So who the Hell do you vote for? You take one smelly old turd and replace it with a smelly new turd and you're still left with a smelly turd.

Paul Martin... I would like to give the guy the benifit of the doubt, but everytime I turn on the news something else pops up. I would like to think that the sponsorship thing was Cretien's scandal and Paul Martin (even though he was Finance minster) really was in the dark. I know how budgets and committees work, I can easily tell myself that he was in charge of making the budget, but all that entailed was allocating funds to departments to be administered by the heads of those departments... and that would work for me.. knowing that he and Cretian weren't exactly best of friends and that he was out of the loop should also help... but sadly a person can only delude themselves so far and I just can't bring myself to completely believe it.

Stephen Harper.... This guy should change his name to Stephen Hitler. He claims to stand up for the charter of rights when he is waving around his Health care proposals... saying the Canadian Supreme Court has judged that long wait times for care are against a person's charter rights. Yet at the same time he wants to revisit and resind gay marriage... even though the Highest Courts in every Province and Territory save two have said it is against the Charter of rights to deny same sex couples the right to marry.... even though every Province and territory save two had already allowed legal same sex marriages before the government voted to change the definition of marriage. He says he won't invoke the not withstanding clause and will put it to an open vote in the House of Commons.....even though the issue has already been put to an open vote in the House and passed (with a MINORITY government in power no less). Hell I don't even believe in marriage let alone gay marriage but I want my decision to not marry to be my choice, not a matter of not being allowed to by law. It's not the only issue his party has threatened to revisit. During the last election there was talk of revisiting the abortion issue and appointing a 3rd party to assess and decide who qualified for abortion.. taking the choice away from the women in question (don't think he's let that little idea drop just because we haven't heard anything of this time around). And he'd drop the Gst by two percent... well no actually he'd drop it by 2% over the next 11 years and we'd actually only see it go down by 1% in the beginning.... it was the conservative Government of Brian Mulrony that gave us the f'n GST to start with. $100 a month for day care for each child in your family... works out to $25 a week enough to hire a babysitter for about half a day (and then you are left to find the person you trust alone with your children on your own).

Basic fact the Federal Government has no business setting up Daycare and no jurisdition to do it no matter what they promise... it's a provincial matter.

Jack Layton.... this guy reminds me of a sleezy used car salesman. Like Larry from Three's Company. Not to mention the NDP has no chance of making up the next government, so a vote for the NDP is really saying you'll let other people choose who runs the country... since this guy is never going to be Prime Minister. In fact if your riding elects an NDP candidate you'll find your "Voice in the House" sitting somewhere way in the back row and you'll have a better chance of seeing Him/Her in the supermarket out shopping than you ever will of seeing him/her in footage or debate in the House of Commons.

I'm not even going to mention Gilles Ducepppe.. since no one outside of Quebec can vote for his party. It makes no sence that he is even included in the Leadership debates... He couldn't be Prime Minister if he wanted to.

So those are the "Choices" and there is no "None of the Above" selection on the ballot (I'm sure that would really change the outcome if there were). It's the devil your know or the evil little nazi you don't want to, and more and more it looks like that evil little bugger is gaining ground. The Librals got caught with thier hands in the cookie jar and there's no dancing around it, but why do we have to punish ourselves in order to punish them.... that's what's so unfair about the election. We were actually better off with the minority government we already had. They actually had to shop their policies around the house and make amendments that suited the needs of the majority of the MP's in order to pass them. Isn't that how democracy is suposed to work in the first place?????????????

The more I think of it the the more I'm convinced that the parties aren't really the problem. We've seen that no matter which one is in power they end their time in scandal. We got our first female Prime Minister by default because she was Deputy Prime minister when Brian Mulroney "was forced to" resign in scandal. That scandal was so intense it split the Conservative Party in half and we saw the Birth of the Reform party that devolved into the Ultraconservative Extremists Part...er.. Alliance Party. We then saw Peter McKay run for the leader of the Conservative party and sell out the half of them that wanted a merger... saying if they gave him the job he wouldn't merge with the Alliance party, only to turn right around and place his giant nose right up Stephen Harper's backpassage and sell out the other half who didn't want one by merging (liar liar pants on fire)....... This is the guy who would be deputy Prime Minister if the conservatives get in. So when Stephen Harper is throw out...er... resigns (Probably in Scandal) Peter McKay gets to be Prime Minister for a month or two. And what's the deal with the hieresses? Why so desperate to marry a millionaire Petey? So the fact remains that they all end up in scandal in the end no matter which party you vote for. So it's not the Parties that are the Problem.... it's the Party system of government that's the problem.

Give it some thought... it makes perfect sense... you have one side that makes up the government and the other side that makes up the oposition. The oposition's job is exactly what it sounds like... oppose the government. No wonder they never accomplish anything. When you go to the polls and vote for the person to represent your riding.. it doesn't really matter whose running, because you aren't voting for a person.. you are voting for a party, and the person who is elected doesn't actually represent you and your area in the House... they represent their party. then one party holds the power and pushes through whatever policy they like based on pure numbers. That is not a democracy.

What we need to do in Canada is flush the Party System and start over. No more groups or teams going to Ottawa, but individuals who represent the people in the area that elected them first and formost. Just like a Student's council or Municipal Government. There would be no "Government" or "Oposition".. there would just be Members of Parliament committed to looking out for the best interests of the people in their riding and the best interests of Canadian's in general. Of course this system is not without it's flaws either but there are plenty of measures that could be put into place to insure it against corruption. There could be a system in place so that people in a riding could recall their candidate and elect someone else if the person they elected wasn't doing their job properly or hadn't taken the proper steps to fullfill their Promises. No one even bothers listening to the Government Election Promises any more because the majority of them are just happy fantasies that will never never never happen. Something as simple as making sure the seating in the House was shuffled at random for every sitting so no one consistently sat together and formed little coalitions could be put in place. How about putting people in charge of ministry porfolios who actually have a background in the area they are put in charge of? Wouldn't it be nice to see the ministry of health actually run by people with a health care background? For that matter there shouldn't be just one MP running the Ministries either there shoulds be a committee of MPs, 3 or 4 from different areas so no one person controls the purse strings. What I see would be a system where someone was elected from a New Brunswick Riding.. went to Ottawa with a list of concerns etc for their riding and presented it... then an MP from somewhere else in the country (say Alberta) was sent out to investigate them and report back. Then policies would be laid out for debate, and just like a debate team the pro side and the con side would be assigned to half a dozen people per side at random. Six MPs would go off and put together their arguements for and six would go and put together their arguements against.. then a proper debate would be had in the House of Commons and everyone would vote. No Party lines... No coalition voting... just a free vote majority rules. I think if something like that were to come about in Canadian Politics you'd see the separatist movement in Quebec disappear. Why separate when you can actually have your needs addressed properly?

Unfortunately we don't live in a true democracy and are forced to have to Choose between Paul Martin, whose Canadian steamships are regisitered in another country so they don't pay Canadian taxes, or Stephen Harper, who writes open letters to the New York times Apologising on behalf of all Canadians to the US for not supporting them in their illegal war in Iraq among other things.

Make no mistake one of these two guys is going to be Prime Minister of Canada. And as much as I hate to do it I really have no choice but to vote Libral.

We really need to start a new party that is made of middle class people who actually know what it means to live in Canada. A party whose sole purpose is to eliminate the party system of Government and restructure the House into a useful and Democratic machine. We need to limit the wages of MPs so that they are making just slightly higher (for travel costs) than the average Canadian Salary...Then we'd see them work on bringing the National average up pretty damn quick. We need a party that really will put Canada first.. ie. Stop shipping out our raw resources and buying them back finished because labour is cheaper elsewhere.... stop depending on our Neighbour's to the south for trade when we are a resource rich country that should be fairly self sufficient. It makes no sense that one cow gets sick and a whole industry is brought to it's knees because there aren't enough packing plants in Canada to handle the load. That is a meat and potatoes industry and the meat and potatoes of Canadian industries should be contained within Canada... trade with other nations should be the gravy. Stop allowing huge Corporations that make record profits to lay off staff because their shareholders want a bigger piece of the pie. Stop allowing foreign held business to come into this country and put locally owned businesses out of business.... Watch the Age of Walmart Documentary it may open your eyes a little to the actual business practices of Walmart... and may make you decide that the extra dollar at Zellars is worth it to support a Canadian Corporation that pays it workers union wages. We need a new Party that has the interests of average Canadian's at it's core.

Sadly until that party is formed we are stuck with the same smelly turds.

2005 What a great year

I can hardly believe all the changes for us in 2005.
* Started the year buying a new car. So I would be able to do Evita.
* Evita.... what a great time, and what a great cast. I had a blast and met some really great new friends. I almost didn't do the show, so I'm really glad I changed my mind.
* Bought a new house. Wait... correct that... bought our FIRST house. Hard to believe that 7 years ago Darrell and I moved out here, with a station wagon full of stuff, a six month old puppy and no prospects... and now have a successful business, two cars, two dogs and a new house. And we haven't killed each other through all the stress of building it up.
* Did sound for Sunshine Boys... My first shot "Backstage" as it were. That was really great.. being on headset I got to get a real feel for all the things that go on that I didn't have a clue about. Writing and recording the soap opera with everyone was a scream.
* The summer was awsome... great sun, lots of friends around... taking the dogs to the lake (just down the street), planting trees in our yard, Gardening, and just sitting on our asses in the sun on the deck.......
* Got called to do Tosca... what an experience. To work with all professional crew and direction was a very unique experience. Not saying the other stuff I've done hasn't been Professional... but there's still a big difference.
* Christmas Carol, was one of the high points of the year. First time in a strickly "Acting" role (very nervous about it), as well as Sound and Visual effects designer. That was a lot of fun and really challenging.
*Darrell's parents came out for visit through the course of Tosca and Christmas Carol. They came separately and had really good visits.
*We did some house renos
*Mom came flew from Calgary for Christmas. I'm really happy she did. It was a really good time.

I have to say looking back it's going to a hard year to top, but I'm going to do everything in my power to do it in 2006

Holidays

We are back to work after the "Holidays"... frankly I think I need a Holiday from both Work and Holidays because Holidays are big work.
My Mom arrived on Friday the 23rd and we spent a quiet evening at the house. Saturday we headed down to Calais for a little cross border shopping at Mardens. We didn't really find much, but we also didn't have a lot of time to look around. Mom picked up a couple little outfits for my nephew Cole (2 years old). I got all my sewing done in time for Sunday... Mom loved her nightgown and it actually fit.
It was a fairly laid back Christmas day all in all. Darrell and I decided to just buy ourselves something big instead of doing all the gift exchange stuff... so we bought a nice table saw. His parents also gave us money for a gift and we put it towards the saw. We did get a few little stocking stuffer type things for each other though. He got me a couple beginner guitar books, a guitar stand, some picks, a patch cord, and the Batman Boxed DVD set with all four movies. We haven't had a chance to look at it yet, but I'm hoping there will be some good extra stuff on the special features disks. I was extremely disapointed by the extra features for Fantisic Four... I was hoping for some making of stuff to get a feel for how some of the effects were made. I got Darrell some CK1, a BBQ utensil set, an automatic pepper grinder.. and there are couple things he wanted that we are holding off on until they go on sale. When we phoned my Sister's place Christmas Morning she informed me that I had to make alterations to her PJ's... not because they don't fit, but because they have to be made into Maternity PJ's.... so I'm now in the process of adding some adjustable elastics to the pants. (I don't actually have to write that she's pregnant.... you got that from the Maternity part right?)
Boxing day we got up and ready and headed into town to find everything closed. That West Coast lifestyle I used to live makes me forget sometimes that I live in a Province that is 20 years behind the rest of the globe.
The day after Boxing day we hit the malls and found some fun stuff. Mom got me the new Diana gaboldon Novel... a Breath of Snow and Ashes at Coles. I didn't even know it was out yet, and can't wait to crack the spine and soak it all up. "here's hoping it is better than Firey Cross... or as it was called by many on the Jack Whyte Forum... Brianna's leaky nipple saga.
Wednesday mom flew out for home... and Thursday we were back to work. thank God it's Friday and we may get alittle rest over the weekend.

Classic Leading Man Test

Cary Grant You scored 23% Tough, 23% Roguish, 14% Friendly, and 38% Charming!

You are the epitome of charm and style, the smooth operator who steals the show with your sophisticated wit and quiet confidence. You are able to catch any woman you want just by flashing that disarming smile. When you walk into a room, the women are instantly intrigued and even the men are impressed. When you find yourself in trouble, you are easily able to charm your way out of it, or convince others to help you. You're seen as dashing, suave and romantic. Your co-stars include Katharine Hepburn, Irene Dunne, and Joan Fontaine, stylish women who know a class act when they see it. Find out what kind of classic dame you'd make by taking the Classic Dames Test. Find out what kind of classic leading man you'd make by taking the Classic Leading Man Test.

The Weekend

I thought after Christmas Carol was over life would slow down a little but it just hasn't, If anything it's gotten a lot more hectic. I've been trying to get ready for Christmas.. Darrell and I aren't normally big Christmas type people, but my Mom is flying out from Calgary this year so we are trying to bump up the Jolly Ho Ho Ho thing because of it. Which makes me a very busy person.
I am working on something extra special for my Mom that requires sewing. When my Mom was a little girl my Great Grandma used to sew flannel PJ's & Nightgowns for everyone and on Christmas eve everyone got to open them and wear them to bed... and the whole family would be wearing their new jamies for Christmas morning. This is something Great Grandma did right up until she died ten year ago, and when you consider she had seven kids and of those had four or five and all of those turned around and had two or three... that makes for a lot of sewing. After Great Gramda died... my sister started buying my Mom a flannel night gown every year, but since she's going to be here this year I thought I would be cool if I got out the sewing machine and carried on a family tradition. Of course by carry it on I mean for my Mom, Sister, Brother-in law, and nephew... not the whole clan. So I am still up to my ass in flannel. I have finished my Mom's nightgown and a PJ set for my sister, and have started to work on my Brother inlaw James' Pjs. I have a really cool patern that is father/son.. so James and Cole will match. I think Cole will get a kick out having PJs that match his daddies. So pretty much every free moment (and there aren't a lot of them) have been spent sewing and now it's crunch time. I still have to finish James and start on Cole and Mom gets here Friday.
Sewing aside work has been intensly busy as well, especially the Rogers TV listings stuff. Since everyone in Toronto is off over the Holidays the push is on to get any holiday ads in, which is intense. Usually I can work on them right up until a couple days before they air, but I now have to have everything that is going to on between now and January 13th done and gone. No wonder there never seems to be any time to update this blog.
Friday I spent the entire day in my office with Betty Rubin from Moncton going through pictures for here new ad. She had room in it for 9-12 images and brought 185 with her.. so it took a little while. After work we popped down to Sabastians for alittle News 88.9 party Dave Dobson was hosting.. it was fun, but damn expensive... thankfully it was a contra deal. I'm done with Sabastion's to tell the truth they are so overpriced it isn't funny... there's nothing "that Special" about the place to justify it. We had a Christmas comes early Friday at our office, thanks to a bankruptcy buyout. There was a company in Moncton that went out of business and we got all their equipment for a pretty good price. So after Dave's party we went home and spent the evening playing with our new toys.
Saturday was Brian Chisolm's anual Christmas open house... it's always very busy and lots of fun. It was a really early evening though, all the people we knew were gone by about 10 and the remainders were mostly Brian and Debbie's family so we called it an early night.
I spent Sunday sewing.
Monday I spent racing around the office trying to bring together all the elements for Betty Rubin's commercial so it could be overnighted to Ontario. I barely looked up from my computer screen all day and it was down to the wire. I was still putting the final touches on the audio at 6:20 and it had to be put to tape, packaged up and out the door delivered to same day on the west side by 7.... just made it.
Today I have a lighter work load, not as traumatic... we are going out for a company lunch a little later on (although it's almost 1 now... so it will be more a company dinner by the time we actually get around it.)

Friday Feast December 9

Apparently I haven't posted anything since last Friday.

Appetizer
Name something you'll miss about 2005.
The record breaking hurricane season. (Aside from all the damage.... it was still pretty cool that there were so many.)

Salad
What is one thought that went through your mind today?
I'm already sick of the election.

Soup
On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being highest, how compassionate would you say you are?
7 ish

Main Course
If you could invent something, what would it be?
A truly viable solar powered automobile.

Dessert
Do you prefer salty snacks or sweet treats?
depends on my mood.

Friday Feast

Appetizer
When was the last time you did something you would consider courteous, what was it, and who was it for?
I held the door open for someone going into the dentist's office this morning.

Salad
If you were to have a painting done of you alone, what would you want the background to be?
The view of Melvin's Beach from the picnic shelter on the Fundy Trail

Soup
Describe your voice.
I have several voices.
My speaking voice (which sounds completely difffernt in my ear) is a little higher pitched than I'd like but whatcha gonna do?
My singing voice is quite powerful.
And my inner voice is very loud at times.

Main Course
What is something you would like to do, but you're afraid of the risk(s)?
Become a parent.

Dessert
What was the last television show you watched?
Everybody Loves Raymond (it was the last thing on before I went to bed)

Rent

Went to see the Movie Rent last night. I'd have to say all in all, not bad. I saw the touring show when it was at the Imperial Theatre in Saint John last year and fell in love the music. Unfortunately the band in the live show often overpowered the singing so parts of the story were compleetely lost to me, but I managed to walk away with the point. The movie didn't have any problems with live musicians overpowering the singers though, although the thumping and booming from the Harry Potter movie in the theatre next to us was little annoying, and I had to constantly restrain myself from singing along. Quite a few people from Christmas Carol were in attendance, since we sent out a mass cast e-mail before the show to arrange a bit of a meeting. Everyone was still a little tired and run down from the show so there was nothing special planned for afterwards and Darrell and I just went home.
Darrell is not a fan of the musical, so I had hoped that Rent would be the one to finally win him over... no such luck. But to each their own. I enjoyed the movie and the evening out and had a good time. I will opf course be getting the DVD the second it is available and cranking it up on our stereo to watch it again... probably singing along at the top of my voice.

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Tired!

I think I could sleep for a week, or at least an extra couple hours.
Now that Christmas Carol has run it's course Imay actually find a little time to kick back and rest up. But I know I am really going to miss that show. This time around there was a particularly fun group of people involved so rehearsals often spilled over into drinks afterwards (which actually starts getting a little expensive... good thing it's only a few weeks). All things considered though I woul dhave to say this was the best time I've had doing a show so far. Don't get me wrong I've had really great times with all the other shows I've done, but this one was different.
To begin with I was out of my usual element, this was a non musical show. I am not very confident in my acting abilities compared to my singing abilities, and being in a huge cast of really good actors was a little intimidating. It certainly forced me to dig a lot deeper, pull out my best game as it were... then push past it. So I feel like I walked away a lot better for the experience. I certainly had a great time.
The show actually fell at just the right time too. Darrell's mother, Joan,flew out from Barrie for a visit during the final week, so I was quite busy working and doing the show and they got to spend the week together uninterupted. They came to Thursday's opening night performance, and joan had a really good time. Darrell's not big on Theatre but he also liked it so it must've been better than I thought. hehehe
The cast party was a great time. We did some karaoke, some dancing, some singing with guitars, and a lot of drinking. Needless to say Monday morning at work was not the most pleasant experince I've had, but being completely self inflicted who can feel sorry for me?
I am now trying to get motivated to finish up a couple work projects... feeling very uncreative and disinterested, but I'll pull it out of somewhere I'm sure.

Too much fun

I haven't posted in way too long, basically because I've been way too busy... possibly even having way too much fun.
First an update on Cocoa Tree that is thretening to outgrow my bathroom already. It has bloomed several times already, but I have yet to have any luck at all with polinating it. This could be one of two problems, 1) the tree is too young... 2) the tree is not self compatible. Ultimately it comes down too, if I actually want to see this tree grow pods that have cocoa beans in them, my best bet is to get a second tree. Of course I'll have to renovate my bathroom first to make more room, and go through all the hassle of importing it from Florida, then building the lilttle greenhouse around it to climatize it.. etc etc etc... sounds like fun.
Work got insane for a few weeks. I had two huge animation projects due at roughly the same time. I have to say they are probably the best most detailed projects I've done to date, but unfortunately I'm not allowed to say anything more about them as I had to sign a confidentiallity agreement on both of them. Hopefully the various annoucements happen soon, so I can actually post samples of the work to our website, for other potential clients to see.
At the same time as I was busily trying to wrap up those projects, we were also working on a little home improvement project. Darrell's Dad came out for a visit and before he showed up, we had to get our spare room all painted and cleaned up. Luckily he's not a super fussy person so the fact that we didn't get all the molding finished in time didn't really bother him. Darrell's Mom is coming out in November and my Mom is coming out at Christmas time so the push is on to get the downstairs basement done, as well as finishing everything that didn't get finished in that bedroom. We found a really nice grey ceramic tile to go in the downstairs bathroom last night, and it was actually on sale to boot. When we got it home I got curious and started laying it out on the Kitchen floors and it looked so good with the stainless steel appliances that we made a second trip to the Kent store for more. It's funny how one job leads into the next when it comes to home renos. I'm actually really excited to roll up my sleeves and get tiling this weekend. I'm a bit of a wierdo that way.... I actually find painting a room to be fun and relaxing. It actually gives me a real high, when I go through with my putting knife and some drywall compound filling in all the little nicks and nail holes, and bumps... then sanding it all down.... putting on that first coat of paint... getting the finishing coat on.... putting up the moulding..... and at the end the room is fresh and clean and new feeling. Gotta say... it's a nice feeling.
You might say... wow that was a lot of stuff going on all at once, and it was, but.... it wasn't all. On top of all that I was busy reheasing with Opera New Brunswick for their production of Tosca, that played while Darrell's dad was here. I had originally opted out of auditions for the Chorus for the show, because they were rehearsing in the early spring and over the summer, and I had just come off two consecutive shows, a move, and a huge work load... and wanted to take the summer to just relax and enjoy our new house. A few weeks before Tosca opened though my buddy Bertis (who produced the show) called me up and asked if I would be willing to be a super. He said all I basically had to do was walk on and walk off which sounded pretty easy so I said sure. Turns out the supers played the guards and there was quite a bit more to do than just walk on and walk off.... but it was a really great experience. All the principles... the director etc were all professionals who had been flown out from various places across the country, and the set was brought up from New York... it was a huge huge show, and got rave reviews... and I not only got to be part of it... I actually had to be on stage more than the chorus, and I only had to put in three weeks of rehearsal time. Super Fun.
During rehearsals for Tosca there were auditions for Christmas Carol, and we are just getting underway with rehearsals for that now. I have two parts in it and am also head of teh sound crew. Well so far the crew is me, since I'm building sound effects etc and don't really need an actual crew. But when we get to show time I will need someone to run the sound board, or I will have to do some very creative and well timed running between the audience and the stage.
So there you have it.... I'm having way too much fun.

No Title

It's been a long time since I actuallyposted anything to this Blog, so I guess I better get off my butt and do it. There's no title here, because I have no idea what to actually write about today. Life has pretty much fallen into a nicely paced summer routine.... work all week (not too too hard), home the second we can get out the office door each day, and hang out at home doing yard work or just sitting onthe deck all weekend. All in all pretty nice way to pass the time.
At work I have three projects on the go right now, that are threatening to take over my life in the near future, but I am chipping away at each of them now, so they won't be mammoth undertakings as the deadlines draw nearer.
At home there are lots and lots of projects we would like to do, so we are doing the little ones we can immediately and prioritising the rest. As far as excitment goes.......... I'm finding myself excited over tiny little things right now, since there isn't anything big going on. (you take it where you can get it)
One thing I'm kind of excited about (most people will think I'm out of my mind for this one) is my Cocoa Tree. I got it shipped up to Maine from Florida several months ago and drove down to bring it across the border, no big deal. Once I got it home though, it was extremely shocked and began to drop it's leaves. They are an understory rain forest type tree, so they like high humidity and indirect light. The light part is fairly easy, the humidity is another story... so I eventually took some dowling and build a little scafolding around the pot then wrapped it in cling wrap to make little greenhouse. The tree finally started to come back to life and slowly I started leaving the top flap of cling wrap open for longer and longer to acclimatize the tree. Then just when I was ready to remove it from it's tomb we moved. On a happy note, we bought a house that has a skylight in the bathroom so I threw caution to the wind, removed the cling wrap, and put the tree in said room. I'm excited because there are now seven new branches growing on it, and it is about to bloom.....(I think it's happy there). I don't know exactly how to go about polinating it once it has bloomed and there is not al ot of information online about it, so I am searching and searching to find something that will help. I would love to actually get the tree to produce a cocoa pod, and then plant the seeds to start new trees.
See what I mean about excited over tiny things?
As boring and domestic as it all sounds I'm actually enjoying the relaxed pace for a change. We had some people over on Sunday for a Bar-B-Q, and it was a lot of fun. The long weekend was absolutely gorgeous, until Monday when it poured (but I didn't have to water the garden or the lawn). We even took Friday off so we'd have an extra day. I'm still not quite recovered from all the time off to tell the truth. It really throws off my internal clock when my routine is switched around like that....I must be getting old and set in my ways.
As you can see, I haven't really put an entry into this blog for pretty good reason.... there hasn't been anything to put. I suppose I could pop on each day and say, " It was 27 degrees and we sat on the deck in the sun today," but how many times could you read that before you wanted to shoot someone?

I must be really wicked

So they say no rest for the wicked... well I must be super wicked then. I really thought things would slow down a little after Evita and the Move. If anything they just got busier.
One minute we're moving.... having a huge housewarming party (the cathetor really did come in handy for that, but I'm glad it's gone.) Then the next thing you know...a tonne of work projects flouded in out of nowhere. Not to mention I promised to do sound for the Theatre Companies production of the Sunshine Boys. I thought doing something backstage would be less of a time and energy commitment than being on stage... I was mostly right, but not completely. It was a really fun thing to do though, and the Imperial Theatre has a state of the art computerized sound system that scared the hell out of me. I was terrified to touch anything, so basically stuck to the buttons Malcolm showed me. The rest of the time I did a lot of leaning over and reaching and generally looking like I was doing something. The sound guy is actually down in the audience so people could see me.
No sooner had we wrapped that project and gotten over the hangover from the all night and a little into the next day cast and crew party, than we got a new client at work...... and they wanted animation. Not just flying text either. I'm talking a scale model of the west side of Saint John, displaying new proposed roads etc etc. .... Unfortunately they needed it yesterday, but couldn't get me the stuff I needed until tomorrow... if you get the picture...... lots of lost sleep and two all night work sessions later I managed to get it all done, only to have them come back with another project just like it.
They really loved the first one, so descided to do another. Not on the West side though... this time over on the east side in the old ship building yard. So I'm building a whole new part of the city, and you guessed it they needed it yesterday, and yes this is my second all nighter. God I love this job. (the scary thing is..... I really do)

Well I just thought I'd jot that down since I haven't really posted anything here is a very long time. not that I've had the time.... Til next time........