Before you read what I write. Read who I am.

I live in Vancouver, British Columbia. Burnaby really. Renting a small house with tons of space for my family of four and a great outdoor space where we garden and play. I am a down home nerd, I like the simple life peppered with lots of high tech gadgets. My 1970's Era wooden cabinet record player that soothes our dinners with Ella Fitzgerald or Tom Jones is hiding the Airport connecting iTunes to it. In my opinion a perfect match.

I work with Acer computers providing solutions for hardware related and other technical issues to the Vancouver Organizing committee for the 2010 Olympic games in Vancouver. I've had all sorts of comments on my work from the 'Wow so cool to be a part of that!" to the "You should pull your head out of your ass, see where you work and then shoot your self in the face." Well I like this work and I like where I am. Where I will be in April of 2010 I don't know yet. Maybe here, maybe in London for 2012.

We shall see where the road leads....
9:37 PM 0 comments

A whole bunch of cy's

Uh huh....what ever that means.

I built a log hutch today. It's nice, about 6 foot tall by 5 foot wide. Means now I have to go on a chopping spree to get the logs in there and drying from all the rain we've had. I also replaced the step that got smashed from one of our friends slipping and falling down the stairs. He slipped and bailed and his butt totally took out the step.I felt bad but apparently he got some wicked air and he got over it about 3 days later. Then I put cut shingles up the staircase to improve the grip and kill the slippyness.

Now I just got to shingle the wood shed and it be done.
1:18 PM 0 comments

The other Half of Tofino

On the family side we ....



Had a lot of fun... untill we went home :)




But then we had food!!!


12:16 PM 0 comments

The beach wedding

We drove out to Tofino this weekend to attend and participate in our good friends Brian and Shannons wedding. It was a great weekend! The beach was lovely, the resort was pleasant and everyone was in great spirits. The whole day went wonderfully and the weather participated perfectly.


Kate and I after the wedding.

The Rehearsal.

Kyle; The Musician (and brother of the bride)

The Groom, 2 Groomsmen (I was 3rd) and Grandfather of the Bride


The Happy Couple.

10:05 PM 0 comments

A day in the life of + Greenhouse update

So the last couple of days I have been working teh hardcore. I was in on Sunday till 4, Monday till 1:30 and then today till 11:30... all of those days I started about 8am.

So crummy work lately as I have not seen the family now in like 48hrs but tomorrow I have off!

I'm adding in some news of the greenhouse. We have built in some shelving now made from old doors and more old lumber. I don't have a pic of it fully loaded yet as I haven't been home but this is the interior with 3 (count em) 3 Sebastians!
also the lettuce garden box I built...
We also hinged a new window to get more airflow...
Soooooo all in all this came together well and is already making an impact to our plants. A few that went in looking a little rough have already started to perk up and get some new flowers. Bees are getting in and it seems we have a nice little eco system going on.
9:08 AM 0 comments

#noimpactgreenhouse

It became #lowimpactgreenhosue with the $69 bill for chicken wire but we almost made it there spending virtually nothing!!

Made from recycled:

Wood
Doors
Windows
Hinges
Caulking (recycled in the fact that it came to me free :))
Plastic wrap

Thanks for all the help folks! I'll post some more once the inside is built out and we add in the plants. The faint interior glow in the last pic is the solar power lights that were added in.
6:44 AM 1 comments

Spam Fail

Dear British 2009 Winner,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been Awarded the sum of
1,000,000.00 GBP in the British 2009 Program.

Contact britishtelecom58@gmail

Names:............
Address:..............
Country:.................
Age:..........
Sex:..............


You've one 1 Million pounds but we have no idea who you are. Also as a corporate giant we use a gmail address for our 'British 2009 Program'.

Does this mean I won 1 Million Pounds because I am the most British person?! Wow!
8:02 AM 0 comments

Well....

At least I cried while watchin it - last one removed - added a new copy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiNaadVOQEM

9:17 PM 0 comments

Vancouver Island Vacation

So, the last month or so we have had a few issues with our car... mostly due to our stupidity in not following our regular service and never having taken it in to a dealer..... after owning it for 3 years. Long story short the car cost $1360 to repair and it wasn't money we had. My father stepped in with the dough and I cancelled the first half of my vacation to work and pay him back. Kate and the kids went on without me to Vancouver Island and my parents home. We had planned to spend 8 days there and house sit while my parents were in Edmonton visiting my brother and his family. I hitched a ride over with my parents on their return Wednesday night and spent the last 3 days with everyone in parksville. It was a good visit and I feel refreshed.

Sebatian, my Father and I went to the Qualicum wine shop where my father has wine made for him. I coaxed a grumpy Sebastian out of the car and in to the 'stinky' wine shop. He had a blast in there... We bottled, corked, labeled and sealed my father's new wine; an Austrailian Shiraz. We stocked our own wine rack over this week as well.
Rigby, Sebastian, my Mother and I went to the parksville beach, dug in the sand and the tide pools. At one point we caught a shrimp in our pail. I can't stand them as food and I tell you, they are not appealling live either. The kids liked it and gave it a shell, some sand and a little crab.

The whole family spent the morning on Saturday at Morningstar Farm visiting the animals, Qualicum cheesfactory, Morningstar Creek Winery and more. The wine was fantastic, we bought bottles of Blueberry and Cranberry wine with an order to my parents to pick up some of the Peach wine in the fall. We also walked away with some super cheeses from the Qualicum Cheese works including a brie and hot n spicy concoction.
We also visited the St Marks fair which is my parents church in Qualicum Beach. Held every year it was a pretty large scale event. We had some mini doughnuts and Sebastian and Rigby both built boats from a craft section.
I painted the living room, living room ceiling, dining room, kids room, office and front door as well as some edging in the hallway prior to going over. It was pretty hectic considering I ALSO swapped the kids room with the office and worked.
Now I am going to sort my records from our office as we are moving them out to the player in the living room. Following this are some pictures from the ferry ride home today.