Fever Finally Broke

We went home after work friday and I immediately hit the couch. Brian and Helen came over and hung out for awhile. We talked about upcoming auditions and watched a bit of the movie so Helen could hear the Cabaret song. I made her a copy of the Original cast cd since that is by far the best version of that song going. The Revival CD has lots of great songs on it and some of them are done really well, but Natasha Richardson is no Jill Haworth, in fact she even gets some of the words to Cabaret wrong which completely blows the meaning and emotion of an entire phrase. I had actually put all things Cabaret away in September so everything could just sit up in my little brain and ferment there. I don't want to go into the auditions and do an Alan Cummings or Joel Grey impersonation... I want to pull the things that stand out most about the two and see what sticks to the wall. It's never a good idea to watch a movie or listen to a soung track so close to an audition or performance because it taints your ideas about what the character should be. That's why I got the movie and every version of the cast recordings I could find last spring and listened to them to death over the summer, then put them away. So all the big stuff that stuck out would pop out at me and I could work on filling in the blanks with my own stuff.

Brian and Helen left around ten, Darrell and I watched Men in Trees then Godivas and went to bed. I still had the fever Friday.

Woke up Saturday and still had the fever. It even grew a little over the course of the day. I spent the entire day on the couch with home improvement, design, and decorating shows. Darrell went out and got me some tylenol rapid relief and some expectorant cough syrup which helped a bit. My Dad called to let me know my Grandmother had her hip replacement surgery finally and that everything went really well. They still have her pretty much imobilized but so far so good. Maybe she'll finally be able to get around without all the pain. Honestly when I think of how long she waited just to see the specialist and how uncomfortable she was for that entire time it makes me want to go on a rampage in some Legaslative and Parliament buildings. *begin rant*
It's about time we stopped allowing politicians private or special access to health care and make them use the system the rest of us do... then we'd see some action. I remember one night up at the emergency at the regional, I had a stricture in my urinary tract and it closed completely.... I was in extreme pain... in fact it required surgery to open... yet I still had to wait over a half and hour in the waiting room just to see the nurse. During that time a call came in that one of the MPs or MLAs or something was on the way in and everyone scurried about to get ready. We pee ons of the public never even saw them arrive, they were shown in through private ways and didn't have to wait. So what was the big emergency that took precedence over my immensely painful condition... the MP or MLA's (Can't remember which)kid had an ear ache. Let's start sticking these assholes in the waiting room with everyone else and see how much action we get on health care reform then.
*end rant*
My Dad said my Grandmother is doing well, and my stepmother is staying down there with her to help look after her, so I'm very happy that everything is going to be better for her from here on in, because she's had it pretty shitty health wise the past couple years.
We turned in fairly early Saturday night and overnight I woke up with my pillow completely soaked with sweat and the fever gone.

I had a completely feveless day on Sunday, but didn't want to take any chances so I still spent the majority of it on the couch.

I am playing it by ear today as to whether or not to go to the gym, and what to do if I do go. It certainly won't be a full workout or a run because I haven't been in well over a week, the majority of which I had a recurring fever. I do feel like I might benefit from a long walk on the treadmill and a stretch in the dry heat sauna though. I'll probably give my throat a little longer to recover and go to auditions tomorrow night instead of tonight.

Friday Feb. 02, 2007

Appetizer
What was one of the fashion fads when you were a teenager?
I was a teenager in the 80's so we had big hair, blazers with shoulder pads, skinny leather ties, rugby pants, colourful bill cosby sweaters, if it was fugly we were probably wearing it in the 80's.

Soup
Name one thing you think people assume about you when they first meet you.
I think they probably assume I'm older than I am for many reasons I won't bother getting into

Salad
On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being highest, how hard do you work?
How can rate that? There are times when you don't feel good or you just need a coast day so you slack off to a 5, and then there are times when you're firing on all cylinders and you're up at 11... I think generally I work very hard so I'll give myself an 8

Main Course
If you were given a free 30-second commercial during the Super Bowl to sell anything you currently own, what would you advertise?
I have lots of projects I'd sell... Baby Annoucement paintings, Grandma's Brag book DVDs (you can actually check out the one I did for my Mom on my Animation Samples page), A novel I wrote that I haven't tried to get published yet... the list is long.

Dessert
Fill in the blank: I love to ________ when it is _________.
I love to walk outside when it is warm and raining.

ARGH!

I ended up taking Tuesday and Wednesday off. This flu has been very nasty so far, the fever associated with it keeps recurring. I'll feeel great for most of the day then end up with the chills later on.

I haven't been to the gym since last Friday as a result, and have opted to take a pass today as well, since I'm not 100% or even 80 for that matter.

The two days I took off I followed the diet plan laid out in the Burn Fat Feed muscle book and holy crap I've never eaten that much food in a day in my entire life. I could only manage to do five meals each day because there aren't really enough hours in my day to fit in the sixth unless I start getting up super super early ... and that ain't happening. I figured out my maintenance calorie level to be 2466 per day and my fat burn level to be 1900. So I will need to do three days of 1900 and one at 2466, then continue cycling them. Then I had to divide all that by the number of meals per day to get portion size, and then I had to factor in the macronutrient ratios ie: 50% Complex Carbs (Starchy carbs like rice or Potatoes combined with fibrous carbs... vegetables), 30% lean protien (chicken, trimmed pork, fish (not an option since Darrell's alergic)), 20% Fat (Ideally essential fats containing omega 3 and six like Olive Oil, Hemp Oil, Flax oil, nuts, or oily fish (Again not an option)).

Once you figure all that out and come up with four meals at 400 calories and one at 300 you are talking about a lot of food. It's actaully amazing how much you have to eat when you're eating the proper things, but you don't end up feeling bloated, you have awsome energy all day long, and you don't get cravings at night in front of the TV because you're bored.

I'm not quite ready to throw myself completely onto this plan yet, because it is going to take some serious planning and frequent trips to the grocery store to pull it off, so I have to sit down and make a menu, buy some essentials, and really figure out exactly how to aproach it the most effeicient way possible... because you can't just wing it... that would be impossible.

The Weekend

The weekend started off not so good. I went into work on Friday because I was feeling better and decided I might feel even better if I went to the gym for a run... big mistake. When you are sick stay sick and get rest not excercise. My legs rebelled completely and I wasn't even able to get through a quarter mile running. I opted instead for a 40 minute walk on the treadmill and some time in the sauna (the heat felt really good). Near the end of the day my fever returned and I spent the rest of Friday shivering on the couch under a blanket. Thursday we had stopped into Blockbuster and bought some DVD's. Darrell wanted to rent "An Inconvenient Truth" by (should have been president of the United States) Al Gore but ended up buying a copy instead, and I picked up four previously veiweds for $20. So Friday night I wrapped up tight in my Blankie and Watched "Failure to Launch". It was a fairly good movie but I'm glad I only paid five dollars for it.

We watched "An Inconvenient Truth" on Thursday night and it was extremely eye opening. It really is too bad the Repulicans stole that election because I bet Al Gore would have been one of the greatest Presidents the US ever had. Oh.. in case you don't know "An Inconvenient Truth" is about Global Warming and well worth seeing if you haven't already... Like I said it's a real eye opener.

Saturday we had Helen's Birthday Party at our place. I made a roast beef dinner for seven with twice baked Potatoes and stir fried Veggies. Nancy made sex in a pan for desert (sooooooooooo yummy), she and Chad also brought the Boney M & Scissor Sisters DVDs (it was an Abba/disco party. Ironically we didn't get to Abba until everyone was leaving), and Bertis made the Birthday cake (triple layer chocolate cake with Chocolate cream cheese & Sour cream icing...... yes, it was as good as it sounds and then some & that third layer really separates the lightweights from the truely committed.). It ended kind of early but was still a really good evening with friends.

Sunday I was back on the couch in my balnkie and my fleece robe. I managed to get the laundry done, and watch "The Producers" dvd, and that was about it.

Today I am at working, so far feeling pretty good... touch wood. I think I will pass on the gym today just to be on the safe side, and if I have a fever relapse I will definitely stay home tomorrow no matter how I feel in the morning. I have to get back in top shape for Auditions next week... I know there are some extremely talented people going after the role I want so I have to be able to bring a performance level audition if I want to even be considered for the part.

Feeling crappy

I started developing a cold yesterday. I had a fever and a stuffy nose. Today just a stuffy nose and sore throat. I was going to stay home, but felt better today than I did yesterday and have alot of work to do. Luckily Darrell had the cold first so I don'thave to worry about giving it to him because he's more than likely where I got it from. I hope it doesn't drag on for along time because Cabaret auditions are coming up a week from Monday, and I want to be in top shape for them. I've been working my ass off at the gym to get my stomach flat, and listening to every version of the show I can find to familiarize myself with the music... so it would suck like hell if I had a cold the week of auditions.

Friday January 26, 2007

Appetizer
If you could take lessons to learn any musical instrument, which would you want to learn?
Paino, Guitar, Violin/Fiddle

Soup
Have you ever mistaken a person for someone else?
Many many times...I really suck with names.

Salad
On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being highest, how well do you keep secrets?
9

Main Course
What's the closest you've ever been to a dangerous animal?
Define Dangerous... Some people consider Pit Bull Terrier Dangerous, but they're basically only as bad as the people who own them. I've been about 20 feet from a bear at the dump in the Queen Charolottes. I've been to zoos where the animals are right onthe other side of the fense or glass. I held a boa constrictor. Darrell wrangled a Porcupine into a box in our yard to relocate him and I was there.

Dessert
When was the last time you lost your patience?
I'm generally an impatient person, but I'm aware of it so I work very hard to not lose it. I can't remember a recent incident of losing my patience with an actual person but I do lose it with my computer occasionally.

Burning fat Book

I've been reading the book I downloaded and discovered I've been doing a few thing wrong and could've been getting better results. For starters my runs haven't been long enough, as in duration not distance. I've been doing 20 minutes of cardio a day which sounds like a lot, but 40 minutes a day is what I should've been doing. Only genetically gifted people see results on 20 minutes a day, and of all my wonderful gifts fat burning wasn't one of them.

I am starting a new daily eating routine based on what I've learned in this book, because I may have actually been acidentally starving myself without knowing it. I'm not sure of that, because I haven't done all the math yet, but it's possible. I'll be bumping it up to six small meals a day three hours apart to supercharge my metabolism. I'll have three days where I'm at a 20% calorie deficit then one where I'm at my maintenance level so my body doesn't go into starvation mode... this way I'll burn fat without losing lean body mass. One of the little things I didn't know was that losing more than 2 pounds a week is detrimental, because your body can only burn two pound of fat off per week and anything else is water and muscle mass... which will induce the starvation cycle of your body, lower your metabolism, and make your body start storing fat.... you may be losing weight the entire time, but you're screwing yourself while you do it. Of course that's all based on someone whose in the average ranges like me...I've just got some pudge on my gut I'm by no means obese.

At any rate the book is in pdf form and I've uploaded it to my rapidshare acocunt so if you want have a read through it here's the link to download it:
click here
Just choose the free download option...you don't have to sign up for anything.

Good Weekend

Friday I got in a really good upperbody workout plus a mile & a half run. I downloaded a really good book about burning fat that will help me "reveal" the abs. Everyone has great abs, they just have to remove the top layer of fat to get at them.
After work we stopped out at the vortex to get some velcro from fabricville and to pick up my new knife block from Paderno. Darrell got some books from the naturopath he's been seeing about Thyroid, Iodine, and Natural Hormones. I read the Iodine book and was really surprised about how much I didn't know about how much the body needs it and how the majority of us are really deficient in it. Unless you're snacking on seaweed daily you're levels are probably fairly low. What is scary is that every cell in your body uses iodine especially your Thyroid gland and Breast tissue. Iodine deficiency leads to cysts in Breast tissue and eventually breast cancer, and don't think that because you're using Iodized salt you're making up the deficiency either because the dose of iodine in it isn't nearly enough... and most multivitamins don't contain enough either. The book is called "Iodine... Why you Need it, Why You Can't live without it." by David Brownstein. It's not superlong, so I might scan it into PDF for reference.

Saturday we met up with Brian, Helen, & Helen's mother (Margaret) at bowlarama for a couple hours of bowling, then a quick meal at the Dolan Rd Irving, followed by a couple episodes of Keeping Up Appearances at our place.

Sunday I got in 45 minutes on the Eliptical trainer, and managed to sing Four seasons songs for the majority of the time. That high falsetto stuff isn't easy when you're workingout, but 20 minutes in I could still sing ragdoll so I feel really good about where I am as far as lung capacity and cardio.

I made the mistake of getting Darrell to try the Cherry Pie from Stirlings.. mostly because I wanted it gone so I didn't pig out on it. It was a big mistake since he loved it and it has become his new obsession... did you know they sell them by the case? That's right by the case! Darrell has a really bad habit of finding something he likes and overdoing it to the extreme... so we have cherry pie... stop by for a piece there's lots.

Apples

We stopped by Stirling on Rothesay Ave on our way home a couple days ago and picked up some apples. We'd heard of the place before and driven by it often enough but never ever stopped before that. I can honestly say we won't be driving by without stopping too many times in the future. I'm a freak about apples, I love em, love em, love em. But we don't buy them as often as we should because they are so damn expensive. We both only eat the Red & Golden Delicious apples, but they're priced at the grocery store like they contain actual gold.... I mean come on we're talking about something that, unlike Money, actually does grow on trees. Anyway, Stirlings has basket upon basket of beautiful, Nova Scotia Grown, apples of all varieties for half the price of the grocery store... and they're really good. I got 6.2 pounds of red delicious apples for 5.95, at Superstore they are nearly 2 dollars a pound. They also have uncooked frozen pies of all descriptions. I generally like to bake my own pies, and not wanting to toot my own horn too much, am actually really good at it... but I picked up a cherry pie for 4.50 just to try them out.... and wow! Well worth the 4.50.

I know it's not a big deal, and probably a little silly... but if you want good apples stop in to Stirlings on Rothesay avenue it's definitely the best deal in SJ. They're between Halifax Seed and the exit to the highway, a white building that has Buy Apples in red letter on the from. If you make it to the hanger shaped convience store before the exit you've passed it.

Friday, January 19, 2007

Appetizer
Which television shows do you just refuse to miss?
Smallville, Heroes, Brothers & Sisters, and Desperate Housewives

Soup
Who did you last speak to on the telephone?
If by last spoke to you mean just a quick chat it would be Darrell to tell him I was almost done in the blood clinic.. come get me.
If you mean really spoke to as in had an actual conversation it would be my sister, we talked for about an hour last week.

Salad
How many pillows do you keep on your bed?
6

Main Course
Name one addition to your computer (software, hardware, etc.) that you'd love to have.
I would love to have a 3d scanner for my computer. That would be awsome.

Dessert
What is your favorite foreign food?
I love most things Italian, especially Fetucinni Carbonara and Baked Tortellinni in cream sauce au gratin.

Cold Cold Cold

It is really cold today. I nearly froze walking up to Dr Mackin's office to get a blood req. I got the results back from my test in November and it turns out my thyroid was low, so I have to have it retested. That might explain the sore throat and weight gain at the time. I'm hoping it was just an anomoly and everything is back to normal, because after everything Darrell has gone through over his thyroid I have no desire to go down that road. Although medication tends to work exactly the way it is supposed to on me so I propabably wouldn't have the problems Darrell has had.

On another note, I got back up to 2 miles running on the threadmill. All the treadmills at the gym have a 20 minute time limit built into them, and I am so far only up to 4.5 mph, so I can only get 1.5 miles out of a complete cycle and have to start it over again after the cool down. There is an exception though, lately I've noticed that threadmill number 8 has been set to an hour instead of 20 minutes. I don't know if it's a permanant thing or not, but it's pretty handy for doing the full 2 miles. It wouldn't make any difference here or there if you were to go at a busy time, as everyone is asked to only use machines for 20 minutes during busy times, but I generally go between 2 and 4 when it is slow so there aren't people waiting for machines.

Snow has Arrived

I've been careful to try and not brag to my family and friends in western Canada about how mild our winter has been because I knew it was coming eventually and would last a lot longer than thier's will, and now it is here. It also looks like it is going to make a concerted effort to stick around awhile. Oh well it was a good run while it lasted. I just hope we don't suddenly start getting blasted the way the west coast has been so far. I can't believe how nasty it's been out there! For the first time since moving here, I was actually glad to be here instead of there during the winter.

I've mostly settled back into my routine, although I think I'm suffering a bit of seasonal depression because I have a really hard time drumming up any enthusiasm about anything right now.

The holidays set me back on my runnning. I was up to two miles a days before and have dropped back to a mile and half, but I've only been back at it everyday for a week, so I'm not too worried about it. Besides I'm doing that mile and a half at a faster pace and steeper incline. Now if I could just stop myself from all the snacking on chocolate and high calory crackers etc, I'd probably make some progress on those abs. Don't get me wrong they're pretty solid in there, they're just under that awful layer of flab. hahaha. I am starting to see a dividing line form between left and right though, so I know I'm on the right track.

Friday January 12 2007

Appetizer
What comes to mind when you see the color orange?
I think of warmth

Soup
Did you ever get in trouble while you were in school? If so, what was it for?
Which time? I had a tendency to not take everything I was being fed at face value and often challenged the teachers to justify things, which was at times disruptive. I remember once having to write an oppinion essay for grade 11 English. It could be about anything I had a strong oppinion about, so long as it was structured well. At the time I was working at a corner convenience store and was training a new guy who was getting a's in grade ten math, but had to be taught to work a cash register and count back change (The tills didn't do all that for you back then), so I wrote my essay about how the school system is neglecting to give people basic life skills for survival in the workforce. It had an introduction, body, and conclusion; contained no spelling or grammar errors, and was slightly over the word count requirment... but the teacher didn't like the subject and graded the content instead of the construction. I ended up in the Vice Principal's office and my Grandmother was called, and a whole big thing ensued... it was rediculous.

Salad
Which topping(s) make up your perfect pizza?
Ham, Pineapple, Feta Cheese, Black Olives, and extra cheese

Main Course
Do you believe in UFOs/aliens/etc.? Why or why not?
Absolutely. UFOs are just Unidentified objects in the air, usually top secret government test planes. I dont' think we're being visted by advanced alien civiliazations, but I don't discount the possibility either.
There are other civilizations in the universe, it only makes mathematical sense. One of the things we've learned on Earth is how tenacious life is here, even in the most inhospitable places on the planet there is life. Volcanic vents at the bottom of the ocean spewing molten material in an oxygenless environment still support life forms, so it's pretty clear that anywhere life can take hold it will.
Then start doing some math, if just one in every billion stars had a solar system, and just one in every billion of those solar systems has planets that could support life, and just one in every billion of those planets actually does support life, and just one in every billion of those supports intelligent life (by our definition)... then the number of inhabited planets would still be too high to quantify.

Dessert
What color is your bedspread/comforter/quilt?
Our bedspread is actually a duvet so it's white, but the current cover on it is large horizontal stripes of three different shades of brown microsuede.

Back in the Swing of things

I'm having a hard time getting back to normal after having so much time off work over the holidays. I know...oh poor me took too much time off..wah wah wah... but it really is hard to get back into the routine. We are halfway through our first full week back of the New Year, and it's slow going for me. I have a couple projects on the go and I am slowly getting back to where I was before the break. It feels a little like coming into something halfway through even though I'm the one that did the first half.

Sunday I made a big roast and did a double baked potatoe that had sour cream, bacon, mushrooms, and green onion in the mix, but last night I took the potatoe to a whole new level. The potatoes on Sunday were missing that little bite of flavour, so I added parmessan cheese, and Darrell suggested sticking a stick of cheese in the potatoe mixture so it would have a melty center. So last night's creation was:
1) Bake Potatoes until almost completely finished.
2) Chop up some bacon & Mushrooms and fry in a pan.
3) take potatoes out of oven and cut in half.
4) Scoop potatoe out of skin leaving enough around the edges to make the outer peel sturdy like a little bowl.
5) Brush the outer peel with Olive oil and place on a pan
6) mix Potatoe, Bacon & Mushroom, chopped Green onion (or chives or both), a sprinkle of dill, some grated parmessan, and sour cream... then mash it all up nice and gooey (I used the new stand up mixer for the task)
7) spoon a shallow layer of the mash into the potatoe skin bowls.
8) put a stick of cheese in the center of mash layer. (I used swiss but you can use anything)
9) spoon more mash on top of cheese stick filling the potatoe skin bowl. (you can be fancy and use a piping bag with a tip if you want it to be decorative)
10) put the tray back in the oven and bake for about 20 minutes. You can brown the tops with the broiler if you want (matter of personal taste).

I made about two dozen of them last night because they're really great heated up in the Microwave for lunch.

You can substitute the sour cream for goats milk if you've got a problem with lactose... same goes for the cheese. In fact you can put almost anything you want in the potatoe. the basic recipe is just to bake the potatoe, spoon out insides, mash, pipe back in, and bake some more..... all the extra stuff is whatever you want it to be... hell you could put chocolate chips in there if you really wanted too.

Goodies in the mail

I got a whole bunch of goodies in the mail yesterday. I got a couple cards from my cousins with pictures of their kids and letters about what's been going on. Everyone hasa grown up so much, I can't believe that my cousins (who are the same age as I am) have children entering their teens... It makes me feel pretty old.

I also got an awsome package from my Stepmom containing 12 jars of homemade dill pickles. She's an amazing canner and has quite a large customer base for her pickles and preserves back in Williams Lake. She makes jams, salsa, dill pickles, hot pickles, mustard pickles, soups, relish.. you name it, but our favourite thing is the pcikles mixed with cauliflower and now we have 12 jars of them. yum! Plus she cushioned each jar for the long trip across the country in a sock, so we have half a dozen new pairs of socks... very practical.

I spent some time today scanning all the new photos I got over the holidays and some older pictures I've been meaning to get to from a couple years ago.. some of them all the way back to 1999. I'll try to post them to my flikr page today. I finally got the rest of the Christmas pics up yesterday.

Holidays

Wow it seems like a very long time since I've been at work. I took from the Friday before Christmas right up until today off. It was very nice and relaxing.

There was the usual flurry of activity leading up to and during Christmas and then we just coasted through the rest of the season.

We had Christmas Dinner at Bertis' Place with the Bonds, and I made everyone Artic fleece robes. I did my own early in the week before Christmas and got Bertis' done in the evenings after work throughout the week. The Friday I took off work was a very productive day sewing wise. Helen was going stir crazy at home so she dropped in just to hang out until Brian got off work and watched me make Brian's robe (although she didn't know it was Brian's she just thought I was making it for Darrell.) I managed to get her to try on my robe and made a few mental notes about how it fit her, then we all met up at the Dolan Road Irving for a bite when Brian got off work. Darrell had to work all Friday and got home fairly late. He was shooting a blues concert at the Imperial. After the Irving I headed home and finished Helen's robe and cut out all the pieces for Darrell's before calling it quits for the day. Saturday I did all the sewing on Darrell's robe, a bit of shopping, then Brian & Helen came over in the evening to hang out and have a couple drinks. Then Sunday (Christmas eve) I sewed a Stocking for Brian and Helen's dog Yorkie then closed up my little sweat shot for the Holidays.

Christmas morning Darrell and I got up and opened presents. We both went a little over board on the gift giving. I got an 8 inch Henkel knife, a bottle of Drakaar Noir cologne (I've loved it since I was 20), an mp3 player for the gym, the Da vinci Code Dvd, a 2 KG bar of chocolate... that's right KG, and bunch of other things. My Mom sent us $100 which we put towards a new stand up mixer, and my sister sent us pictures of the family and the boys with a Chapters gift card. My grandmother sent out a package with a tin of chocolates and two retractable leashes that are painted like dogs faces and have flashlights in the nose. I got Darrell a Hot wash washer fluid thing from Canadian tire, an Andrea Boceli CD (yes he actually wanted one), a Peter Gabriel CD, and a new car stereo to play them on. His old stereo is an original part from his 97 vehicle so it kept spitting out any cds with music he burned himself, now he can play anything including Mp3s.

We headed up to Bertis' around 2 and had a fantastic Roast Beef dinner with Yorkshire pudding, mashed potatoes, and brocolli at about 4. then we had some nice eggnog and played a couple rounds of Taboo. We laughed a lot and had a really good time.

Boxing day we went to Brian and Helen's for an improptu get together. Chad and Nancy were there and we all played Crainium which was hilarious.

The rest of the week flew by pretty quick. Saturday we went to Chad and Nancy's place for the evening. It was the first time we've been to their new place. They found a beautiful house on the west side with hardwood and heated tile floors. I really liked it.

Sunday we had a new Years Party at Brian and Helen's place. Helen's Mom Margaret is here from England, she got in on the 27th I think could be the 28 those days all run together in my mind. We saw her at Chad and Nancy's the night before as well. So Brian, Helen, Margaret, Bertis, Chad, Nancy, Darrell, and I all rang in the new year with a potluck dinner, some nice cocktails, a rousing game of Taboo followed by a very close game of Cranium, and a bottle of champagne. Chad and Nancy and their chocolate Lab Bailey stayed in our guest room that night and we started the first day of January (as is mine and Darrell's only real tradition) with a breakfast of Eggs Benny and hashbrowns. Nancy and Chad added to the feast with a nice sweet juicy pineapple.

Tuesday (the 2nd) we had planned to go into work but didn't make it past the couch. I didn't even make it into clothes and spent the entire day in my robe watching tv and dvds. I managed to watch a lot of the Christopher Reeve Superman box set over the holidays. I'm don't think I had actually ever seen Superman 4 before yesterday, and there are still a lot of extra features left to get to for future veiwing.

Today we are back to work and I will be posting some pictures from the holidays to my flikr pages some time today hopefully. I will also be hitting the gym this afternoon to start undoing some of the holiday damage. All that Chocolate, I'm suprised my gut doesn't look like a Toblerone.

Three chocolate doors to open

Only three doors left on my chocolate calendar. I got all the shopping done last night and my bank account is now suffering the damaging effects of rapid weight loss.
I still have a little sewing and a lot of wrapping to do before I'm all done, but basically nothing to stress out about.

The big question today is to tip or not to tip. Generally I tip the Mail Carrier at Christmas time, but we no longer get mail delivered to our house, it all comes to a box down at the end of the Road on the other side of the Highway. I'm leaning toward no tip since I have to travel to pick it up and I've never actually seen the person who delivers it. At the office however, it's a different story. That guy comes right in and drops it off and he even bring cookies for the dogs everyday... so needless to say he's getting a card with a $20 bill enclosed. Do most people still give their mail carrier, paperboy, or garbage man a card with a small gratuity in it, or is that a lost tradition? My feeling is, I always tip the person who occasionally delivers food, so shouldn't I occasionally tip the person who always delivers mail?

Five More Sleeps

Monday we left work at 2 and went out to the Vortex (Dre's word for the malls and box stores in the McCallister area.... I'm adopting it into my vocabulary) to shop. I hit fabricville first for a few things I needed there, while Darrell went to Canadian tire. Then we both headed over to the mall and wandered around. We picked up a couple nice sweaters at Sears, then had dinner at Swiss Chalet. We had the garlic cheese bread which is always awsome, and chicken pot pie, which was kind of bland and nothing to write home about.

When we got home I had a message from my Sister, Amanda, looking for addresses, so I called her back and talked for about an hour. I also got to talk to Cole for a few minutes. For a three year old he's really quite chatty on the phone and has a pretty good vocabulary. I asked him if he was excited that Santa was coming and he told me Grandma was coming home in three sleeps. Mom has been working out in the boonies for quite a while and comes home for a few days at Christmas, so she should get a kick out of knowing Cole is more excited she's coming than Santa Claus.

After I got off the phone I got to work on finishing my robe and an hour later it was done. It is sooooooooooo warm. I won't need to keep my blanky on the couch for watching tv anymore.

I still have a bunch of shopping left to do today and our house is a complete disaster area so there's lots of cleaning to be done.

I finally posted apicture of the second painting I did: I used Winnie the Pooh in this one. I'm not crazy about the way they photograph so I may go back to scanning them in sections and piecing them back together.




Here's the young porcupine a few days before Darrell moved him to his new home. I actually got really close to him to take the pictures but he didn't like it and waddled away as quickly as he could.

The Weekend

We had a really good weekend. Friday night I got a lot of sewing done, and finished both pairs of PJs by Saturday. Saturday I almost destroyed most of what I touched, and managed to kill my standup mixer while making a cheesecake. It was one of those stupid things you do that you know is stupid while you're doing it and you can actually see yourself wrecking the machine. Needless to say I felt like a complete idiot.

I was making two cheesecakes to take to Brian Chisholms annual Christmas party that night and burned the mixer out on the first one, so I threw everything into the blender for the second one and that worked really well. I saw Bob and Deb at the Superstore doing their monthly groceries, at some point on Saturday, and got to visit with them in the isle for a while. Brian's party that night was fun as usual, but most of the people we knew left fairly early so we were home by 11.

There is a really young porcupine who decided to take up residence somewhere on our property, and if it wasn't for the dogs, we would probably let him stay. However one encounter with him could portentially result in a blind dog and a huge vet bill so he had to go. For a basically nocturnal animal this little guy was really quite brazen and Sunday afternoon he was wanderin around the yard without a care in the world. Darrell got a big cardboard box and a long 1x3 and headed outside. I put the box down on the ground and backed away like big wuss, while he used the long board to guide the porcupine into the box. We popped a couple carrots in there with him and Darrell drove him out to the middle of nowhere, with no houses for miles, and he now has a nice new residence with some wild Apple trees around, where he won't encounter cars, people, or our dogs. Our dogs can now go outside without us having to worry as much

Sunday night I started making myself a bathrobe out of the artic fleece I bought this time last year. I'm most of the way done and only have the left arm, closing the sides, and hemming left to do.

How to Spoil a Perfectly Good Day.

First off the weekend was a lot of fun. I got my painting all finished off, varithaned, boxed up and shipped away. I also got started on the two little sewing projects that I have for my Nephews. Saturday night we went out to the SJTC christmas party at the Summerset with the Bonds. It wasn't all it was cracked up to be in the e-mail but was really fun regardless. There was another group there having a Christmas party as well, so it felt basically like Karaoke Night at the Summerset pub, which it basically was. It was really nice to see everyone and sing a couple songs though.

The week so far has moved along very slowly. It seems like it should be over already but it isn't. I have 10 more doors to open on my choclate calendar before the big C. I'm still working on my sewing projects and really only just got down to cutting and sewing last night.... the weekend was basically prewashing and ironing. I didn't buy enough piping so I had to stop into Fabricville on the way to work.

So how do you spoil a perfectly good day? Turns out I had to kill some time because Darrell was recording a Voice over, so I popped into Michaels to see if they had any Batman buttons that I could use on Cole's Jammies, but they didn't so I headed to the Dreaded Walmart. Stepping into Walmart is enough to ruin any day, but try doing it in December in the morning... it's hell. I honestly hate going to Malmart for anything to tell the truth and we absolutely avoid the place the like the plague if it can be helped, but they are one of the only other places that might have had batman buttons so I had no choice. The worst part of the search was the fact that the sewing section is at the very back of the store.... so you have to navigate your way through all the completely clueless people wandering around looking for nothing imparticular. It shouldn't be that hard, since Walmart has big huge isles, except they piles islands of crap up in them so you can only get around them single file... heaven help you is someone decides to stop and chat with someone coming the other way. I could rant about how much I hate the place for hours, but suffice to say I hate the place and going there for any reason is like stepping into hell. They didn't have what I was looking for either so I soothed my pain at Futureshop by buying the Christopher Reeves Superman Collection DVD box set.

Friday December 8, 2006

Appetizer
Which language would you like to learn and why?
French. I live in a bilingual country and many of the projects we do have to be translated into french. It would make my life a lot easier if I had more than just a vague idea about what was being said.

Soup
What's the funniest thing you've heard or read so far this week?
I saw a picture on Garth Turner's website of Stephen Harper and George Bush, but it is made from the Brokeback Mountain Movie poster. I read a couple jokes in my e-mail that made me laugh, and I heard people on the radio debating the same sex marriage law again.... I find that funny because I'm stunned by the sheer ignorance of some people and the way they can wrap up discrimination and intollerance in a pretty little package and call it "Family Vallues".

Salad
Which movie was so bad you couldn't watch the whole thing?
Black Hawk Down. It sucked hard.

Main Course
If there were a holiday in your honor that didn't use your actual name, what would the day be called?
I don't know what it would be called but there would be lots of vodka.

Dessert
Name one movie which is coming out soon that you would like to see.
The Pursuit of Happyness starring Will & Jaden Smith. It's based on a true story and looks like a really good movie.

Raining

It's raining and 7 degrees...so bye bye snow. (For now)
There are seventeen unopened doors on my chocolate calendar until the big C.
Still so much to do and very little time to do it if I want to get stuff in the mail on time.

Snow & Ice

So the rain in the morning quickly changed back to snow and continued all day long and just like that it was winter in New Brunswick. It suddenly got quite cold to go with it. To be honest I really love the first snow fall, it makes everything so bright and clean looking. In fact I love the first snowfall of winter almost as much as I love the last snowfall of winter... now if we could just work that global warming thing into making them a little closer together that would be awsome.

Snow?!

Well it had to happen to us eventually. Thankfully the snow fall last night was no where near as bad as the western side of the country, and on the bright side everything looks so pretty with a nice blanket of snow on it. It's raining now so the snow is pretty much gone, but it was kind of nice to wake up to it.

The weekend was good and it started a day early. I didn't end up going into work on Friday although I had planned to. Darrell had a doctors appointment later in the morning Friday so he went in on his own to that and then stopped by the office to work on a DVD project that has been giving him grief. By the time he got home it was too late for me to turn around and head in so I didn't. Instead I spent an hour on my eliptical trainer (I can sing most of the Cabaret soundtrack while working out now although still a little breathlessly near the end) then puttered around.

Saturday I basically painted, and not much else. I got Seth's painting finished completely by the end of the day.



The photo is before a few little finishing touches, erasing pencil lines, and varithane, but it gives you the idea. Once the Varithane was on it the colour popped a lot more, but the shine reflects the flash on the camera. The painting contains all his information; the calendar has his birthdate, the clock has the time, Daisy Duck is sitting on a scale that has his weight, The Blocks spell out his name on the fronts and on top they have his middle and last initial.

Sunday I went to work on the painting I'm doing for my cousin and got most of it blocked out. I can probably finish in one more sitting.

Superhero test

This is kind of fun

You are Spider-Man Spider-Man - 90% Hulk - 75% Green Lantern - 75% Iron Man - 70% Superman - 65% Robin - 60% Catwoman - 60% Superboy - 50% The Flash - 50% Batman - 45% Wonder Woman - 40%

You are intelligent, witty, a bit geeky & have great power and responsibility.

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Quiz

Halifax

The curse is broken! I traveled to Halifax and back at the end of November with no snow! Or rain for that matter. In fact you couldn't have asked for a better day to drive. My appointment was for 12:20 so I left at 7 am to get there early. I stopped in at Aqua creations on Quinpool road once I got to Halifax and had a look around at the various salt water fish etc. (We're still considering doing a salt water tank). I picked up a really good book on reefs and equipment that will help make our descision easier. Then I headed over to the hospital and up to the Clinic floor. I was about half an hour early but lucked out and went right in. I also lucked out at the hospital pharmacy and got my medications right away so I was back on the road home by 1 O'clock. I didn't even have to drive in the dark this time around, I made it home by five.

I've been seeing the doctor in Halifax because of the drug coverage program that allows me to get all those extrememly expensive drugs for just a dispensing fee, but that is now a thing of the past. This is the last time I will be able to do that. The NB government has started paying for antirejection drugs now so NB patients don't have to go to halifax. Most NB patients didn't have to go for quite some time now, but I had to because I'm not on welfare medical so my drugs weren't covered that way. So that was my last trip to Halifax to see the doctor and I will start seeing him when he does clinics in Moncton.

Darrell ended up having to work an all nighter last night to get the Outstanding Business Achievement awards videos done intime for tonight's ceremony, so I popped into the office and picked up the dogs, then stopped at Future shop and got the Superman Returns DVD. I never actually went out and saw this movie at the theatres so last night was the first time through for me. I'm generally a pretty easy sell when it comes to comic book movies though... so long as they don't really screw with the chracters. Generally the movie was pretty weak in my opinion. I liked the characters but could've done without the Lois Lane with Superman's kid thing... that was completely unnecessary. Lex Luthor was portrayed too much like the old 1960's lets keep it light and simple comic villan and his plot to build a new continent so he'd own all the property was pretty lame. I'm wonder why they even bothered to try and make this a sort of continuation of the other movies... why not just pull a batman and start over with a more modern style Superman closer to today's comics? Having him "Gone" for five years without so much as a goodbye is stupid, because Superman wouldn't actually do anything that selfish to begin with. Oh well... I score it a 6... a little better than average and a good moive all things considered, but I'm glad I didn't blow the money on it at the theatre... plus the DVD has so many extras.

I managed to catch the Mercer Report before putting in my Movie and they used my picture on the show which was really cool. They don't say your name or credit you in any way, but it's still neat to see something you whipped off in photoshop in half an hour make it on TV over the other submissions that came in. Especially considering I've only actually done the Photo Challenge three times and Twice they've used my image on the air!


Here's the original Howard Dean Image

Here's what I did to it (It's actually elements of about six or seven images combined)

Little Hamster

I had a very productive weekend. I managed to get the house all cleaned up after a week of total neglect on Saturday and get started on a couple paintings I have to get done in time for Christmas.

Friday while I was at the gym running, I couldn't help but think of a little hamster I used to have when I was kid. His name was Lee and he had a little wheel in his cage and would get on there and just go forever never getting anywhere. Of course then it hit me that I have turned into that little hamster...running my ass (and hopefully my gut) off on the treadmill and going nowhere. So, it prompted me to hook the leashes on the dogs Saturday afternoon, and take a walk up the road. I figured it would be easier to walk to the end of the road and then run back since the dogs would have time to get over their "oh what's that over there" phase of the walk. I didn't go to the end of the road though, because it occurred to me that there was a house with two dogs that weren't always contained and I had no desire to deal with that, so I stopped before I got within range of their driveway and ran the rest of the way back home. Running outside on the pavement, with the hills, and the wind, and two dogs who don't understand what's going on yet, is considerably different than running on a soft treadmill in the gym, but I really enjoyed it. As long as the weather allows it I may make a habbit of it. It is a little disheartening though, when you're going along, out of breath just trying to get to the end, then you look down and the dogs are trotting along beside you completely unphased and not even having to break into a run to keep up. But they seemed to enjoy it and I can't complain to much since I'm new to the whole running thing.

Sunday I cleaned the kitchen and then I sat at my painting table and worked away at the first of two baby announcement paintings on my list. I got a lot of it finished and I can probably get it done in one more sitting. It's amazing how fast the time goes when I'm painting. I get so lost in it, that I feel like I've only just started and a couple hours have passed. I should do it more because it's very relaxing, and I probably will do it more, now that I've managed to clean a path to the table and get everything set up.

I went onto Rick Mercer's blog, followed the link to his show last week, and took the photo challenge. This weeks picture was of US Democrat Howard Dean, so I downloaded it and using elements of about 6 other images I did a picture of him doing George Bush's Hair. On Friday I got an E-mail from Nik Sexton at CBC that said they liked the picture and might use it on Tomorrow night's show, so I had to fill out a release for them. If you're a Mercer Fan watch the show and you may see my picture. I'll post it on my blog later.

I'm off to Halifax Tomorrow for my regular check up, so expect snow. If it can snow when I have to drive to Halifax it usually does, so be prepared just in case. Hopefully I will be home in time to Catch the Mercer Report.

No Walkin

I don't know why I bothered calling the last post new personal best, because it occurs to me that I will be shooting for a new personal best everyday, and today is no exception. Today I made it the entire 20 minutes without walking for a total of 1.4 miles. The odd thing about it is, I actually found myself looking forward to getting my run in today....who even knew that was possible?

New Personal best

Yesterday at the gym I managed to run five complete laps on the treadmill before walking out the last of the 20 minute timer. A total run of 1.25 miles with about a half lap walk at the end. Okay if anyone would have told me I would be running without something terrible chasing me and actually liking it I would have told them they were out of their minds, but there's something kind of addictive about it.

Friday Feast, November 24, 2006

Appetizer
Have you ever changed a flat tire by yourself?

Yes of course. If you can't change a tire by yourself you shouldn't be driving by yourself.

Soup
Do you have an "innie" or an "outie" belly button?

Innie

Salad
Name a new paint color and describe it.

Emerald Sea - Named for the Pacific Ocean around Vancouver Island a deep green with a dark blue base (Would make a great wall colour in a bathroom with white marble tiles)

Main Course
What is your favorite holiday tradition?

Since we moved to the East Coast and it's only the two of us, we don't really have any holiday traditions. New Years Day I usually make Eggs Benny for brunch.

Dessert
If you were a cookie, what kind of cookie would you be, and why?

Oreos with double stuff... if you gotta be a cookie you might as well be the best cookie!

Welcome to the Jungle

I'm back to work today after taking yesterday off to recover from tuesday's Guns N Roses Concert. I'm not really a fan of the group, but Darrell is, and we got free tickets. It was a really really long night. The concert was good but Guns and Roses never even hit the stage until midnight. The first of three opening acts was called Die Maniquin and they may have a been good, I don't know for sure because the sound was so bad you couldn't hear a word she sang. The drummer was really good though and you could certainly hear him. Their stage show was stiff and contrived with no real spontanaity to it.

The second act I could have done without completely though I'm sure the rest of the guys in the audience would disagree. It was a burlesque act called Suicide Sisters. Five girls with pasties doing various strip teases.. blah blah blah.


The Trews were on Third and they gave a really good show. I didn't realize I knew so much of their music until I heard it. Then there was a huge long delay between them and the resetting of the stage for Guns n Roses.

When Guns N Roses finally hit the stage the crowd went insane and they really rocked. It was a good show, but I had a hard time getting past all the compression and effects on Axel Roses' Microphone. He sounded like you hear on the albums, but without all the studio tech etc it all sounded computerized, so now I'm curious as to whether or not he can actually sing. Considering that with modern technology in the studios most of today's "singers" are mediocre at best.

Don't get me wrong I was ultimately able to get past it with the help of several beers, and have a good enough time I had to take the next day off to recover.

Weekend

It was another rather quiet weekend. I started it off with a personal best at the gym. Since I've only just started running, I've been taking it easy and not overdoing it by running a lap then walking half a lap, running a lap... walking half a lap and so on. Friday however, I hopped on the treadmill, started running and four laps later (1 mile) I walked half a lap before running out the rest of the time on the clock. Today I will try to forgo the half lap of walking all together.

The weekend itself was fairly uneventful. Did a little house cleaning, got the baords up for the closet door frame, and caught up on laundry.

Opening Night

I went to opening night of Noises Off with Brian and Helen last night, and I can honestly say I'm glad I didn't participate in the show this time around, otherwise I would have missed the opportunity to just sit in the theate and be totally entertained. The show ran smoothly which is a testament to the crew, and the cast was fantastic. It was hilarious and well done. There was so much going on on stage that I almost think I should go see it again to catch all the little things I missed the first time around. Plus it was nice to watch a show without being behind the sound board with voices wispering in you ear through the headset the entire time. I could have done with the woman sitting behind me chawing on her gum in my ear throughout the entire first act, but short of shotting her a couple dirty looks there wasn't really anything I could do about it.

Brain and Helen were sitting in row K and my ticket was row J, but there was an empty seat beside Helen so after the first intermission I escaped the gum lady and sat beside Helen. Unfortunately I had a guy witha giant head, who kept lifting his arms up into the arm for some unknown god forsaken reason, sitting in front of me there. I simply could not win. We need to educate our audiences better about theatre etiquette. If you have big hair tone it down and maybe slouch a little in your seat, if you can't chew with your mouth closed... don't chew period, if you have a cold... stay home or come with already unwrapped cough candies so you aren't coughing through the quiet parts, if you have a cell phone leave it in the car... you're not that important, And go to the bathroom before the show starts for Chirst's sake. Just a few simple little things that would make the experience better for everyone.

Thankfully Noises Off was so well done and such a good show that the seating unpleasantness was only a minor distraction. It was a long show though so I didn't get home until 11:30, then I stayed up to watch the new episode of Smallville (it just isn't Thursday without a dose of little Superman).

Noises

Yesterday I got a good workout in, I ran a mile then worked on legs and shoulders. I weighed myself at the gym and have lost that unwelcome ten pounds....yay! Now I'm at the perfect weight for my height, and all I have to do is move it all around so it's spread out better, and not contained in my stomach area.

After work we met up with Brian and Helen for dinner at Romanos and then later on that evening we popped out to Dairy Queen for a sundae. I know it sounds like a quest to refind that unwelcome ten pounds again, but it's okay to do that kind of thing Occasionally. Occasionally being the operative word.

Tonight I think I'll tag along with Brian and Helen and see Noises Off. I know everyone is working really hard on it so it's bound to be a great show. It's kind of strange, I thought I would be happy to not be doing sound this time around, but I'm actually feeling a little out of touch with everyone. Maybe I'll throw my hat in for Sound on the Glass Menagerie.

Congratulations to Stephen and Sandra on the safe arrival of their new son Alexander Frederic Jamie Tobias..... and congratulation to Mister Bill on becoming a big brother.

Quiet Weekend

We had a very laid back weekend. We took Friday off and really didn't do too much. Brian and Helen came over Friday night and we all watched a movie.

Saturday we got to work at pulling the drywall otuof the closet door frame and cutting the wood to go into it. Darrell started cleaning out the little back room and sorting out what would be returning to it and what would not... no small job there.

Sunday we stained and urithaned the wood for the closet doorway. I'm still in the middle of the urithaning process and will do the third coat tonight after work. You get the best results if you do several coats with a light sanding in between each.

Monday we came into work and it was a very quiet day since most people were off. Darrell rearranged all the wires and connections in his editing suite and I worked on my 3d model of canaport.

My nose is still alittle stuffy but for the most part the cold is basically gone. I'll be getting back to the gym today. I went once last week but was still so stuffed up I could only do tenminutes onthe treadmill before callin it quits and heading home.

Found these

I was going through some old backup disks looking for a particular picture of Darrell with his Camera when I came across these images.

This one is of Darrell and me on my 27th Birthday, May 19,1998. I was in the BMT Isolation Ward in Halifax and had just finished three days of High dose Chemotherapy, followed by three days of full body radiation, followed by the transfusion of my Donor Bone marrow on May 14th, five days before this Picture. My hair hadn't even started to fall out yet. Tragically it is also the day of the Columbine shootings in the States.

This one was taken a couple weeks later when my Mom flew out from Calgary to stay with me for ten days

It seems so long ago now.

Nothing going on

It's Thursday and that's about all that's going on. This cold is still hanging on no matter how I try to shake it. I haven't been to the gym this week, although I want to go... I just don't think the treadmill would be nearly as glamorous with my nose running faster than me. The dark circles under the eyes persists, but not as bad as last week. I actually had to put a little coverup on for a picture Darrell took of me last night to hide the dark eyes. I really don't like being confronted with pictures of myself anymore. All I can see when I look at them is the damage inflicted by graft vs host disease.. the tightness of the skin makes me look alot older than I am, and when I see it in a picture for some reason it's a lot more prominent than just seeing myself in the bathroom mirror. I see the dermatologist on Dec 5 to talk about starting light therapy. It is designed to break down the swelling under the skin that cuases the tightness and the choking off of the hair folicles. I may be too long gone for any of the hair to come back, but it would be nice to see some elasticity restored. I was supposed to have the treatment in the summer, but it involves drugs that make you light sensitive, and you have to stay covered up and try to avoid the sun... Summer is not the season for that.

In the mean time there's nto much going on. We're taking tomorrow off because of rememberance day on Saturday, and have no plans for the weekend so far. We may actually get around to turning al lthat planed wood into moulding for the bedroom.

Beginning of November

So far November hasn't been too bad. This weekend was quite productive, although I still haven't been able to kick the nasty cold. I am feeling a lot better, but still haven't been to the gym (no good spreading it around)in over a week. Maybe Tomorrow.

We did very little on Friday after work, basically kicked back with the TV. I called my sister, Amanda, to say happy birthday and talked to her for about an hour. She is now officially a quarter of a century old.

Saturday was a beautiful day, so we hauled the planer up into the driveway and finally started planing all the wood we bought for the moulding in our bedroom. We bought it all last spring, but got so busy in the yard over the summer that all in house projects were put on hold for fall and winter.

We got a pretty big pile of shavings by the end of it, but luckily our neighbour Sylvia has a horse and a pony so she wanted them for bedding. I ended up taking four wheel barrow loads full over to her which the horses should enjoy.

Sunday was my Grandpa, Joe, and my Brother, Lorne's birthday so I called both of them. Lorne wasn't home (Never is) so I left a message, but I got to talk to Grandpa for a while.

Sunday was also the 400th Anniversary of Guy Faulks Day, and Helen, being a Brit, celebrates it every year. This year was no exectpion. She and Brian made up a dummy Guy Faulks who hung out with all of us last weekend during all the Halloween stuff. Then Sunday we went over to the Bonds, (Bertis was there as well, but Chad and Nancey couldn't make it), lit a big fire, and tossed Guy on.

Then we lit some sparklers

Darrell videotaped the whole thing

Then we had baked potatoes, Hotdogs, and a cinnamon bun

It really was alot of fun. I think next year we should dress guy up in a George Bush mask and kill two birds with one stone...hahaha.

If you're unaware of who Guy Faulks is, he tried to blow up the British Parliament 400 years ago and was caught and executed for treason. These days I don't know if we celebrate Guy Faulks day because he was caught and executed, or because he tried to blow up parliament (Which I'm sure many people have want to do from time to time)

Take the test

Found this on Christa's Blog... I'd say it's mostly right. I'm closer to the end than the beginning but everyone had to start somewhere...hehehehe

The Bachelor Deliberate Gentle Sex Master (DGSMm) Straight-up. Studly. Congratulations, you are The Bachelor. You're an honest, good-thinking guy, and though you're very sexually active, people don't perceive you as a male-slut or man-whore or guy-dick-putter-inner or whatever. You have a sterling reputation. You're a careful person, perhaps too much so for your friends' tastes, but guys like that in you. You probably don't kiss & tell. And you definitely don't brag. You know you don't have to prove anything to anyone. It's as if you believe in monogamy, so long as it's with lots of different people. Our guess is that you've got some kind of word-of-mouth going with the boys out there, and that in the future, your sex partners will get even more plentiful, and more attractive, too. You will settle down eventually, and make an excellent husband. You seem like the type who is into the idea of making copies of yourself, so you'll probably adopt lots of kids. Bear in mind, meanwhile, this can get expensive. ALWAYS AVOID: The Manchild CONSIDER: The Bachelor, The Backrubber Link: The 32-Type Dating Test by OkCupid - Free Online Dating.

Getting Better

I'm feeling alot better today. Still stuffy and sniffley, but not all dragged out and generally yucky like the past two days. I really should have taken yesterday off too, but couldn't justify it. I looked awful. Lately when I get sick for some reason the area around my eyes gets really dark like a racoon. It's something in the past couple years, but nothing my doctor has any concern about. Just not getting the rest required for this body which is a lot older than it used to be and doesn't bounce back as easily. Apparently it only gets Worse...so I've got that to look forward to. YAY.

I did manage to get a bunch done yesterday, despite the cold. I've got a long way to go..... and a short time to get there. (Couldn't resist)I think I'm okay for time as long as nothing large, surprising, and immediate comes through the door. Although with Christmas ads starting there's a good chance I'll be bogged down pretty soon.

Day Off

I took the day off yesterday and spent the majority of it wrapped in a blanket on the couch in front of the TV. Rosie O'Donnell is on The View now. Just thought I'd throw that in... I used to love her show when I was recovering at home.

We got absolutely no Trick or Treaters to the door last night. There's only two young kids on our street. Yet somehow the candy bowl kept getting emptier and emptier.

I'm not anywhere near 100% today, in fact 80% is something to aspire to at the moment, but I couldn't afford to take yet another day off. I would fall way to far behind and not get things done. The nice thing about a job like mine is that most everything works on a deadline, so as you can take a personal day here and there as long as you hit your deadline.... the drawback is that deadlines don't care if you catch a nasty cold.

Great weekend

We had a really good weekend. Friday night we went to Brian and Helen's place, for Bertis' freedom 36 party. He is leaving the law world and going back to something he loves, teaching piano. Of course he was there as well, and Chad and Nancy also made it out. Helen had goody bags made up and games picked out to play. We played pass the bag, where we all sat in a circle and passed a bag full of various wardrobe items around and around until the music stopped and the person left holding the bag had to pull something out and put it on. The person wearing the most items at the end (Which was me) won. The bag had lots of lovely ladies undergarments and scarves and various knitted things, it was really quite funny, especially watching Chad squeeze into a shirt that was Helen's size. We also had a game of Pin the tail on the donkey, which ended with a tie breaker round between Chad and Bertis. Some of the goody bags had bubble solution in them and that was alot of fun. We were blowing bubbles and the dogs were trying to catch them, well Elton and Yorky were trying to catch them, Tiff was having nothing to do with it. Lots of lovely coctails, laughs, and good conversations = really good time.

Saturday was a quiet morning. Our bookkeeper Trish dropped her computer by so Darrell could have a look at it, then we popped out to do some browsing. We found a nice throw rug for under the Dining room table on clearance. It's absolutely perfect as it has varying shades of green and a bamboo pattern on it, so it goes perfectly with the vase and giant bamboo plant in the center of the table. The rug helps break up the flooring a little for the eye. The flooring looks really great, but it was feeling pretty sparce with all that open space between the living and dining area, so this just breaks it up a little. We spent the rest of Saturday basically cleaning, trying to get rid of the thin layer of green dust created from cutting the flooring. Just when you think you've got it all, you move a pot or something and there's more.

Sunday I tried to get caught up on all the other household chores that fell by the wayside because of the new floor, like Laundry. I got most of it done, but we headed out around 5 to Bertis' place for dinner and a horror movie. Brian and Helen were there as well and Bertis and the Bonds dressed in Costume. Darrell and I were the spoil sports who arrived costumeless. Altough I was wearing faded jeans and a button up moosehead shirt over a t-shirt so Helen said I may have been dressed as a lesbian. Helen was dresses as a black cat with a feather boa, and in true cat fashion was shedding all over her chair... hehehe, Brian was dressed all in black with bat wings and black face paint, and Bertis was dressed as Clark Kent. Clark Kent You ask? yes, he was in a suit with the top buttons of the shirt open to reveal his superman shirt below. He had gone above and beyond decorating the inside of his house with carved pumpkins and candles everywhere, it was really nice. And he made "rest in peas" and "Rigga-mortis" (Named by Darrell) for dinner. The first was peas in a creamy sauce with a tombstone piece of toast and the second was a nice riggatoni pasta dish. Darrell & I brought everyone treats (Double thick caramilk Bars) and handed those out, then we watched "Scream", and had cake. We called it an early night being Sunday and all, and were home in time to catch Desperate Housewives then call it a night.

I've developed a runny nose today, so I'm not enjoying being at work, and hopefully I can get enough done that I may be able to stay at home tomorrow and get over it.

Friday Feast October 27, 2006

Appetizer
Create a new candle scent.
bacon... who doesn't love the sent of fresh cooked bacon? Or Chicken Soup. Or Banana Bread.

Soup
Name one way you show affection to others.
I'm a hugger.

Salad
What is your favorite writing instrument?
Just your basic ball point pen.(Not that I actually write much anymore, I mostly type and print)

Main Course
If you were given $25 to spend anywhere online, from which site would you buy?
Chapters.ca

Dessert
Are you dressing up for Halloween? If so, what are you going to be?
No I'm not. I don't normally go in for the Halloween dress up thing. I guess I could mismatch my belt and shoes and go as a straight guy.

Tis Done!

We got the last of the Transition pieces put down last night and the floor is now completely finished. I still have to paint the walls and ceiling sometime this year and replace all the awful old moulding, but the floor is done. There are now only two rooms on the main floor of the house with their original flooring... their days are numbered...it's a big number though because we have a pretty major renovation planned there and won't be able to afford it in the immediate future. It involves breaking through the bathroom wall into the spare bedroom closet and closing that off to extend the bathroom. Then the installation of a big whirlpool tub and separate shower... as I said, can't afford it now, in fact it may be a couple years off, so in the mean time some paint and little crack fill will have to suffice.

That's the thing about owning a home, you just finish one project and you're already planning the next five. I think if I ever came into a big chunck of money I would get into flipping houses. The market in Saint John is growing rapidly and I think someone with the right know how would make a lot of money. I love doing all that cosmetic type work, the tiling, flooring, painting... all that stuff is really fun to me, but I'd definitely need someone with more knowhow when it came to the big structural stuff... I mean I'm pretty good with the crack fill, but I've never tried or been shown how to actually do drywall... and while I'm good at changing a light fixture or moving a junction box...I'm certainly no electrician. I really like the idea of house flipping though, I don't know how the actual practical would go if I ever got into it, but the idea is nice.

I had a really good cardio workout yesterday and structured it differently than in the past. I started on the treadmill and alternated, running one full lap, then walking half a lap, running another full one. I actually managed to run an entire mile and walk another half mile in 20 minutes. Then I figured I'd try out the stair machine (never used it before)and did pretty good on it for a first timer. If I'd have known exactly how hard it was, I may have done it first instead of after the treadmill, but I got through the entire 20 minutes, 60 floors, set to random, and only having to pause a couple times near the end.

I bet I could head into our basement, hop on the eliptical trainer and sing "Willkommen" all the way through at this point even with the german accent and all the dialog. Maybe even get partway through "So What".

Flooring is Finished !!! Mostly

Well we got it all down with the exception of three transition strips that we will finish after work today. The channel for one of them needs to be widened a bit and there needs to be a slight riser put in all of them because we used the 12mm flooring. Incidentally if you are thinking of putting laminate flooring in your house, don't cheap out and buy the 7 or 8 mm stuff for 99 cents a square foot. You really do get what you pay for. This is the third time we've done laminate, the first was the bedroom and we used the 8mm it was pretty good to work with and we were mostly happy with the way it turned out, the second we also used the 8mm in Mike and Kathy's living room... it was a different brand and wasn't as easy to work with, but the 12mm is by far superior to either time. Spend the extra dollar a square foot, buy the brand name stuff, and don't use anything less than 10mm flooring and you'll have the best results.

As promised pictures.......

Saturday (Day 01) ripping up old flooring and cleaning floor

Sunday (Day 02) Laying the Laminate

Monday (Day 03)finshed the hallway

Got past the odd angle and called it a night

Tuesday (Day 04) Finished just about everything

Under the dog pictures is where the Aquarium will go

Installing transition strips

It passes the Tiffy test

There is still a channel to widen at the entryway for the transition strip to go down, and a riser to put at the top of the stairs for that transition to be glued to. We have enough left over to do the landing in the stairway, so I am going to get some white semigloss and some red oak stain, then paint the backs of the stairs white and plane the existing paint off the stair treads and stain them to match the flooring (At least that isn't an expensive undertaking).

OWW my knees!

We had a surprising weekend. Friday we left work early and hit O'Leary's for a beer, then went home had a little dinner, and popped over to our neighbours Dave & Kathy's place for a couple more beers.

Saturday we got up and really didn't have a plan of what we wanted to accomplish for the weekend. It was Darrell's first real chance for some down time since we got back, because he had to work last Saturday, so we intentionally didn't plan anything. We ended up taking a fateful trip to Kent just to look around and see what we could see. Well we saw 12mm laminate flooring on sale for $1.99 a square foot. From the moment we moved in, our plan was to take up the carpet in the living room, linolium in the hallway and dining area, and do the entire space with nice laminate flooring. Since it's an open concept house it is essentially all one floor. Once we did the ceramic tile in the entryway and kitchen we actually had five different sections of flooring from the kitchen to the hallway... we had tile in kitchen to linolium in Dining area, carpet in living area, tile in entryway, and linolium in Hallway... I hated it, but we weren't financially prepared to change it just yet. Well anyway, the flooring was on sale, so we bit the bullet, pulled out the Kent Card and took the plunge. After all we've redone six floors in the past couple months and none of them were ours... we really should have something to show for the bruises on our knees.

We got the flooring home and unloaded and proceeded to get right to work pulling up carpet and linolium, which was alot faster and easier than anticipated since the linolium was only partially glued in the Hallway and not glued at all in the dining room. Once we got all the floors stripped and cleaned we sat and watched a little TV then headed for bed.

Sunday we got up relatively early for a Sunday, and started putting the floor down. There were a few trips to the Kent store for various supplies (thank God for Sunday Shopping.... it was 20 years ago in BC), but we made it to the dividing wall that has the big dog pictures on it (Basically the edge of the dining area) and most of the way across the hallway, before stopping for the night.

Monday we headed into work as usual. I forgot my gym bag so I didn't get my work out in, but will make up for it today. Then stopped at Dolan Road Irving for some turkey Vegtable soup on the way home, then back to work once we got home. There was a bunch of stuff that needed to be done with plants etc since they were all sitting on the dining room side while we did the living room and that took a little while. I got to work finishing the hallway while Darrell starting on the dining room, then he popped out for more glue (yes we are actually using glue even though you don't have to... we found that some of the end joints in the bedroom laminate tend to pull a little and leave a very tiny gap... so the glue will stop this from happening), and then the power went out. So being stumped with no power, we decided to drive into Rothesay and get a coffee (surely there would be power there)... no good, they were also blacked out. We turned around headed back toward the airport (maybe that side would have power) it was all black up that way to. The glow from the city could be seen in the sky so we headed down Loch Lommand toward town figuring we'd eventually drive back into the power and find an Irving for Coffee. Just past Churchland road the lights came back on, so we aborted the mission, turned around, headed home and made coffee there. It must've been a big blackout though, from what we could tell it took out Rothesay and a huge chunk of East Saint John. At any rate we got back to work. I was on the very last row of the hallway when the lights went out so I finished that and started helping Darrell with the dining room. The part of the cabinet that juts out pastthe kitchen is on and angle and so is part of the kitchen floor, so the dining room wasn't a case of chop the end off the board and use the left over to start the next row. It required some extra attention and thought and was a lot slower going than the rest of the living room. We didn't actually finish either. It got be midnight and then started rounding on 1 O'clock by the time we got all the rows with the angles done, and instead of pushing on even later to finish the square section we called it a night.

Tonight we finish.....Tomorrow Pictures

Walk it off

Okay.. Today... Legs.... soooooooo Stiff and achey. But not so stiff and achey as in I overdid it, just stiff and achey as in stretch it out and walk around a bit.
It's all good.

Friday Feast October 20, 2006

Appetizer
What is your favorite beverage?
I don't know if I'd call it my favourite but I have it first thing everyday.... Coffee. The rest of the day I drink water. Every now and then I get a craving for a really really cold chocolate milk.

Soup
Name 3 things that are on your computer desk at home or work.
There's not a lot of room on my computer desk for much more than my computers. there are five moniters, a mixing board, a television moniter, DVD and VCR, stacks of blank DVDs, stacks of full back up DVDs, and more paper with scribbles and doodles and incomprehensible to anyone but me writing than you can imagine.

Salad
On a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being highest), how honest do you think you are?
I'm goning to go with a 9. I'm pretty much a call em like I see em kind of guy.

Main Course
If you could change the name of one city in the world, what would you rename it and why?
At the moment I'd rename Barrie Ontario to "Hell"... but that's just me being bitter from recent bad experiences there ... it's actually a very nice place.

Dessert
What stresses you out? What calms you down?
STRESSES ME OUT....People with no regard for others. People with cell phones clutched to their ears when they're driving... No one needs to talk to anyone that badly and if you do pull the hell over. There is a lack of basic courtesy and manners infiltrating society.

CALMS ME DOWN......... Singing, Reading, Painting, The Dogs, Soaking in the Tub, 20 Minutes on the treadmill

Tore it up today!

Okay I don't like to brag... who am I kidding I do too, but I really tore it up onthe treadmill today despite aching thighs and calfs. I actually ran the first two laps... that's right all the way through at an incline of 3.5 no less, but that's not all. I wlked the third and then... wait for it.... yep you guessed it, ran the fourth, and walked out the rest of the twenty minutes. Then just for good measure moved it over to the eliptical trainer and did another 20 minutes on random level two. Those of you superfit cardio nuts will be saying to yourself big deal... but to mister 35 year old, only runs from danger, gut hanging slightly over belt... it's a pretty big deal.

Busy being Busy

I have been trying to stay busy, working on my Animation project primarily. It's still in it's infancy stages and hasn't taken hold of me yet, but I wish it would soon as it is too easy to be distracted from it. I'm sure it will click any time now.

I've been burning up the treadmill at the gym. I read some really helpful stuff on Amber's Blog "Cafe Physique" and realized I wasn't getting the best bang for my buck on the eliptical trainer, so I switched to the treadmill for the gravity resistance aspect of the workout. I've been pumping the incline up to 11 and power walking on a speed varying from 3 to 3.5 for twenty minutes at a time and I really do feel a huge difference over the Eliptical trainer. Yesterday I even ran the first lap.(which is kind of huge for me since I don't run unless I'm being chased by something.) This is really my first week back to my routine at the gym since we got back. I didn't do any weights at all last week, so this week I'm feeling that ache and throb a little more acutely. Mostly in my left shoulder which has been kind of gymped since I was just a kid. It's where I developed a cancerous tumour of the gland under that arm when I was six. It was cut out and I had big doses of radiation there, so it hasn't developed and is considerably weaker than the other side. My left bicep tries to compensate but it's not good enough when I do legs and shoulders like I did yesterday. I can pretty much only tone at the gym and not build since my shoulder is never going to be proportionate and all the muscles connected to it (Chest, Back, Arm) aren't going to develop proportionately either, so I'd start looking pretty lopsided after awhile...haha.

Last night I made a big dinner of Chicken Stroganoff (Not going to help get rid of the gut, but soooooo good) with red and yellow peppers.... yummy. Then we popped over to Bond's for a visit with Bertis and the Bonds. It seems like we haven't all been together in ages and I really missed them so it was nice to catch up and compare war stories of the last two weeks.

Weekend Update

We had a really great visit with Darrell's uncle Ken last week. After work on friday we all went out to Swiss Chalet for dinner and ate way too much. This is the first time Ken has been to visit since we bought the house last year so he wanted to get us a house warming gift and bought us a 55 gallon aquarium from Walmart before we went for dinner. Darrell was torn between the aquarium and a dvd recorder, but Futureshop was out of stock on the recorder model he wanted so fate made the decision for him. We've actually wanted to get an aquarium for along time now, so we're really happy, and besides when someone buys you a housewarming gift that expensive and extravagant it should be something people see when they come to your house. A dvd recorder would have just sat on the shelf, and while it would have been useful it is ultimatey just another component in your stereo/tv stand... an aquarium on the other hand is hard to miss. It also gives us a project we can work on together over the next couple months because the Aquarium kit comes with all the filters etc but no stand. We are planning to build our own stand and tank topper so that should be a really fun project. We looked around at the Aquarium Store in Barrie when we were in Ontario and found lots of stuff we really liked, and I took a lot of pictures of stands and toppers with my camera phone to give me ideas. We will probably stick with fresh water to start with since Salt water tanks are a lot of work and require a lot more equipment...not to mention that in a small market like Saint John with no real outlets the cost of salt water fish is outrageous and the selection is awful. In Ontario there are stores that specialize in just aquariums, fish, equipment, and extras so the selection is excellent and the prices are great too. You can get living corral, lion fish you name it. One of the stores we were in had a 2000 gallon tank with two black tipped reef sharks in it, unfortunately I think the skarks were way too big for the tank and it seemed really cruel once you got over the initial excitement of seeing them so close.

Saturday Darrell had to go to Miramichi to shoot an interview for CTV. He had to get up really early so Ken decided to get up and head on his way home at the same time. I got up and said goodbye to Ken, it was around 7am, then once everyone was gone I went back to bed. I slept in until 10 ish when our neighbour down the road rang the doorbell with his son selling apples for Beavers. The only cash I had in the entire house was a Quarter so I gave it to him (No I didn't take an apple). Turns out Little girls are now allowed to join Cubs and Beavers... what the hell? I thought we had girl guides so they could have their own club. Why is it that Men and boys can no longer have clubs for just men and boys without some Bull feminist trying to break the door in. There seems to be no shortage of Women's only fitness and women's only this and that... hell even the gym I go to has a women's only section... but heaven forbid you try to open a men's club. And really, what sick parent would want their little girl joining a club called "Beavers" anyway? It's the kind of Irony only Larry Flynt could enjoy. But... I digress.

After Marshall and his son left I stayed up awhile to watch Saturday morning cartoons unfortunately they were all repeats of the ones I watched three weeks ago so I switched over to trading spaces or one of those other design shows on TLC. I just relaxed and watched TV until about 3 with Elton and Tiff lazing beside me on the couch, then Elton hopped up and headed into the bedroom, jumped up on the bed and curled up for a nap. It seemed like a good idea so I joined him and slept until 6. I really needed it.. the last two weeks of traveling and visiting and late nights tiling really wore me out. Darrell called a few minutes after I got up and I drove in to pick him up at CTV where he was dropping off their cruiser, then we headed home and basically flopped in front of the TV again until we went to bed at 10.

I slept in again on Sunday morning and for the first time in two weeks I actually felt like myself again. We did a bunch of those mundane chores around the house like laundry and cutting the grass, then we headed into town and wandered around the Kent store. They had a bunch of large area rugs on clearance and we found a really nice one for the bedroom. Then we headed home and cleaned and rearranged the bedroom. There's still a bunch of chores and stuff that need catching up, but all in all everything is back to business as usual around our place. We ended up with a three hour TV block consisting of the New Show.. Brothers & Sisters, The Amazing Race {(The girl with the amputated leg and her husband or boyfriend whichever came in first last night) I was pulling for them in the beginning but he's starting to annoy me}, and Desperate Housewives to cap it all off.

Today I have a commercial to produce and some work to do on my Canaport animation, then a trip to gym on my schedule.

Settling in

We are slowly settling back into our routine this week. It's nice to be home and back to something regular. I'm still pretty bitter and angry about the events and expense of our wasted vacation, but I'm thinking of it less and less as the days pass. It wasn't a complete waste but it ended so badly it tainted the entire trip. It's certainly not completely over either... Darrell is eventually going to have to find a way to forgive his mother for the hateful things she said and reestablish some kind of relationship with her... she's his flesh and blood after all. Lucky for me I don't share that connection so if I never see or speak to her again I won't lose any sleep over it, and if I do, for Darrell's sake, I will be polite.

This week has been fun having Darrell's Uncle here on his vacation. We are both wishing we hadn't gone to Ontario at all, and just taken our time off now while Ken is here instead. Ken brought his dog Jake with him and Jake is getting along well with Elton and Tiff. We had a nice dinner out at Swiss Chalet on Wednesday evening (I've never been to Swiss Chalet before believe it or not.) It was so good we plan to go back tonight for dinner. I made a big feast of Fetucinni Carbonara with some red and yellow bell peppers, and mushrooms for dinner last night. I usually make fetucinni when we're having someone for dinner it's one of those things that never misses.

We don't have any set plans about what we're doing this weekend yet. I think Ken may be heading back to Ontario on Saturday or Sunday, so we're playing everything by ear.

Finally Home!!

We are finally home from Ontario, or Hell whichever you prefer.
We left last Wednesday and drove strait through to Barrie. We spent the first night(and every night after) at Darrell's Uncle Ken's and then went out to the school where Darrell's dad works for the retirement party the other janitorial staff was throwing the next day. Friday was his official last day of work and we were all suposed to go out for a big fancy dinner, but Darrell's sister's (Steph) asthma kicked up a fuss and we got a bucket of KFC instead. Saturday we drove around a bit and checked out some of the stores we don't have in Saint John, and basically took it easy.
Sunday we got started on the tiling of the kitchen floor. We were originally only suposed to do the kitchen floor and the front landing but by the time we had got to Ontario somehow it had evolved into the Kitchen floor, Front landing, Upstairs Bathroom, Steph's Kitchen, and Steph's Bathroom. We spent the next four days on our hands and knees like Hebrew slaves tiling the various floors. It was hard work and we were up until roughly 2 am each night completing it. Needless to say there wasn't really an oportunity for visiting.
Thursday we headed into Toronto and spent the day wandering the downtown. We found the jewellery emporium where we bought Darrell's chain a while back and picked up another for me. Then we headed out to Sheridan Nurseries in Oakville where we got a really really great deal on a couple palm trees and a jasmine vine (as if we need more plants) all for just $25.
We were planning to leave on Saturday Morning, but Friday afternoon Darrell's Mother and Sister started a big ugly scene that I won't even get into on this blog, so we grabbed whatever we had at the house (We had been staying at Ken's so it wasn't much), headed back to Ken's, packed and were on the road between midnight and 1 O'clock it's all a bit of a blur. Ken followed us out (He's on vaction and was planning to come out with us anyway he just hadn't planned on it happening quite the way it did.) We drove strait through again with several stops along the way to rest and get coffee. We've always noticed that every coffee place in Ontario serves coffee so hot it's like it's been brewed through a thermonuclear reactor, but I have come to the conclusion on this trip that it is that hot because it is pumped strait from Hell.
We finally pulled into our driveway around midnight on Saturday, unpacked a little and hit the sack. We spent Sunday unpacking and picking up groceries etc, and Monday was a fairly laid back day. Now I think I could use an actual week off to recover from our "Vacation".