YaY christmas is over!

Well, it WAS a lot of fun but it's good that it's over with again. Now just a few days of Boxing Day madness and then we should be back to normal.... till New Years Eve that is. We had the Kate's Dad and Sisters over for Dinner on Christmas Eve and then we went over there for lunch and such on the 25th. It was a lot of fun and Kate got to find out that her two younger sisters think she's cool. Now isn't that cool.

A Christmas Letter.

Hi folks,

Well this is it, my very first Christmas letter. The first ever letter from my family to yours. Here goes.

The last two years have been pretty amazing, what with Sebastian being born, moving out to Vancouver and basically starting things over in a whole new place. We’re now settled here in New Westminster and our apartment has a good feel of family and home. We’ve got our tree up, Kate and Sebastian made snowflakes that are hanging from our roof above the tree and Sebastian keeps trying to eat the popcorn garland right off the tree.

When we moved out of our house in Calgary to the little basement suite across the alley a lot of things happened to us in a short period of time. We were flooded, twice. We had a number of horrible weeks where we slept on the floor and couch in our cramped living room/dining room/ kitchen while heaters and fans tried to fight back the water in our bedroom and office space. Worried about mould and what would happen the next time it rained and scared as new parents about what could happen to Sebastian in this place. Also living on my IBM contract job was getting more and more difficult and we were finding it consistently harder to make ends meet. Thus it was decided that things needed to change, drastically.

We packed our bags and headed out to Vancouver in our little BMW and hoped for the best. We had a wonderful place to stay for a few months while we got everything back together and most of all it would be above ground! Dad and I made the drive out together following behind Kate and Sebastian who flew. We talked about this and that and made the drive over two days. This I could feel was the beginning of something new and wonderful. Dad and I hadn’t spoken so openly and comfortably for quite some time and I think that his coming along with me on this trip was like bringing a bit of my family forever with me to Vancouver.

We stayed in this new age house for two months at which point we gave it back to it’s owner and moved in with our friends Jenn and Rob. Their house was a little less nice than the one we had been in but still, the feeling of community and friendship within the house made up for the blemishes it had physically. We lived there for a few months and slowly the stress of pleasing three adults and one small child with an increasing ability to get in to trouble started wearing on us all. We had all but decided that we should find our own homes when deja-vu struck and the basement flooded. The BMW died and we were looking like maybe this had been a bad idea after all. So… we had a garage sale.

We sold almost everything. Everything had a price and we wanted it gone. All the excess baggage, all the junk, and all the stuff we had been toting around for years and could no longer remember why. It was time for it to go, and so it went. We got rid of almost everything. Then we got a moving truck and headed to New West.

Now we live in our cozy one bedroom apartment, we still have too much stuff but it’s a smaller place so it’s all relative, right?

New West is a nice place and we’ve got a good community base. There are programs like Motorin’ Munchkins, where Kate and Sebastian go some mornings. Sebastian gets the run of a huge gym full of toys and just has a blast running around. Queen’s park is very close and there is a wonderful track around the park for walking, forested area and a big playground with a huge spray park. Kate has started a parents group and has meet-ups with parents and their kids during the day time where they can go for coffee or to a park and talk while their kids play.

In October, I got hired on and I am having a wonderful time here, it’s much more gratifying than IBM ever was. The stability of having a constant income and health benefits have given us peace of mind, we are finally making waves towards a positive future.

Sebastian has grown up a lot over the last months. He has so many more words in his vocabulary and he loves pointing at everything he sees while shouting with great enthusiasm words like CAR and TWRUCK and TWREE. Sebastian paints and draws and plays music on his drum and recorder. He gives hugs to all the new kids he meets and says (and signs) thank you to everyone for even the smallest things.

And right now… with the tree, the snowflakes and the presents……

He’s finally realizing that something is up. Christmas is here.

Much love to all of you from all of us,

Merry Christmas,

Andrew, Kate and Sebastian

Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

Well... a lot has been going on around here lately.

It's almost christ-haun-kwanz-adon time and Vancouver has been somewhat flighty as of late. We got a couple of huge storms through here in the last few days knocking out the power to people all over the mainland and on the island. The thing is it wasn't even just a few people for a short while it was like 200,000 people and some for days. The trains have not been running properly and yesterday I had to get a ride 2 stations down the line just to get to a station with power.

Sebastian is sick right now and has some kinda cold that seems to be *just* starting or that's mild and is ongoing.... not really sure. He's also got some teeth coming in that have been working him over for a number of days now. So..... he's been pretty crappy crabby.

Kate and I are re-plowing our way through the Band of Brothers series and the Harry Potter movies with the help of a projector I borrowed from work again. It's pretty sweet watchin'.

Work has been 'fun' and we had to do a full studio asset scan which was a little hectic. There is sooooooo much stuff in the studio. I mean each user must have a PC, Xbox, Xbox 360, PS2, PS3 Dev, 2 Monitors, a TV, Tablet, and sometimes even WII dev's and such. When you got 500 users this takes a long long time to get through. After 3 floors we had scanned over 1200 things and there are 5 floors. Nuts.

Well I got some coffee brewing and some eggs to cook....

No Matter how new age you get.....

...old age gonna kick yo ass.


Ok so Pink Tentacle has a new article up about a techno-genius room that adjusts itself to the mood of it's occupants. Changing lighting, colour of lighting, music and even smells in the room to make the occupants more comfortable. My friend Sean was recently informed of this marvel by me via MSN and well he had some of the best comments possible on the matter.


hells yes

«Sean» says :
i can already see how we're going to wind up like our parents when we're old
Philmore says :
how so?
«Sean» says :
because we'll be all over technology... but suddenly it won't seem like technology anymore
«Sean» says :
we'll want keyboards and monitors and shit
Philmore says :
hahahaaa
«Sean» says :
they'll have voice commands and holograms
«Sean» says :
and our kids will have to come over to stop our holo-assistant from blinking "12:00"
Philmore says :
ROTFLMFAO

brown water

The roof is leaking. What is up with that?

Something. Somewhere... is causing water to appear in and fall out of our roof. The once smooth bumpthat ran from one end of the living room to the other is now a gash, and there is water dripping out of it.... brown water. yum yum yum.

My landlord was just here a told me a {oh so reassuring} story about the next door neighbours apartment having this issue a short time ago. He put a big hole in their roof to see what the problem was and found nothing. Then he put a hole in the apartment floor on the second floor looking for the leak. No dice. He found it on the third floor somewhere eventually and it was oh so laughable. tra-la-ha-ha

Ours is now fixed, hours later. although we have not been told that it is fixed, just no more water is coming out..... so is that fixed? I don't really know.

Apparently the problem was on the third floor though.

nobody listens to techno.

So my friend Craig ( Dj Kwest ) has decided in his infinite wisdom that I am to be the holder of gems. Now this isn't some crazy Dungeons and Dragons thing, no. This is much cooler.

Although being cooler than anything D&D is kinda the same way that water is wetter than rocks.
However, Craig has decided that his business for music producing, image/graphic design and video stuff is more important in the long run than his continued DJ career with vinyl. As the Vinyl Archive project continues and he nears some 3000 pieces of vinyl encoded, mastered and archived he is realizing that his Digital Technics turntables will be the way he will rock the world from this point forth.

Now, getting back to the 'keeper of gems' angle here... I am the chosen to take all of this vinyl as it's encoded... I am the one who gets to inherit the best of the best, all the stuff that he never wants to see fall in to sale, and go to the highest bidder. Never to end up in the hands of some 18 yr old Dj who will fingerprint them and discard them. To top this off there is a lot of 'filler' coming my way too. Great tracks, double packs and singles alike.

So basically I am just happier than a pig in shit and after taking the first bag of many to come yesterday I can honestly say that Janet Jackson's "Got till it's gone" speed garage, DnB and breaks mixes sound better on my turntables than anywhere I've ever heard them before.

my watch can beat up your dad

Ok so some interesting things from the world I explore on the internet.....

Pink tentacle is a very interesting site, I highly recommend visiting once a week or so.


Excellent veggie dishes....

and of course what list would be complete without a you tube link? none

simple yet effective

I had a wonderful weekend. I got to sleep next to my boy for two naps and it was very nice. Made me feel like a Dad and just overwhelmed me with love for my son. We all had a great day on Saturday too and I think everyone around here just felt rejuvinated from it.

Oh did I mention it dumped 6cm of snow here? Yeah. It did.

Sebastian helped me build a computer recently and this was just a great picture from it.

And I did some more artwork I don't think I uploaded yet. A Few things I'd like to fix in it but as it's a learning piece I'm just going to leave it and continue on.



too bad blogger won't let me upload it..... I'll try later

Chances Are.......

Chances are we're gonna leave now
Sorry for the victim now
Though my days are filled with sorrow
I see years of pride tommorrow

Chances, chances are some might not hold out
Chances are, hang on right now
Though-oh-oh-oh my-my days are filled with sorrow
I see years of pride tommorrow

Chances, chances are some might not hold out
Chances are, hang on right now
Chances are, oh chances, you're my chances
Chances are, hang on right now

Chances are, hang on right now

Deal with loneliness, I'll take some tear drops
Chances are we'll have to win
Chances are, hang on right now
Chances are, chances are...



thanks bob.

Ear Bass

living is life

Well we (my co-workers and I) got the official shaft. We were moved from our little Hilton on the 12th to an open and rather uncomfortable sport on the 20th. We now are at little IKEA tables and have to wait 3-6weeks for new cubicle furniture to come in. Weak.

The worst part about it is that I feel absolutely no one fought for us to stay or to even find us a better alternative. We were told this is what there was and that's that. Well we were given one alternative but it did not work out and all involved were unagreeable to the solution. After this the decision was made.

By who? Who knows?
Why? Who Knows?

totally vegan.

I'm feeling really down about work.... can you tell? it's driving me a little nuts these last few weeks and I really can't seem to break this bad mood = work cycle I am in right now. With any luck something will come along that will lift my mood somewhat.






Life will balance.

up the date

why no updates you ask? Battlefield 2142 that's why. All you WOW'ers this is better.

I played the beer n cake last week at work. It was fun but I felt like I was playing for nothing really. There were 15 people in the room and 30-40 outside that couldn't hear me. Nothing like feeling like you suck. I didn't, it was good but yeah.

Halloween came and went. Sebastian saved the world twice and his parents were so gratefull they put him to bed and ate all his candy :) We gave him some before he went out and a little coming back and he was WIRED!! I don't think he's getting chocolate for a while. The wicked costume was all made by mom. Super S with his Tooth cape. Very Very cool.

I've been working on my man Philmore here. I have been vector drawing in Illustrator and then moving it to photoshop for touch ups and colouring. I free handed the beard and neck as the vector images weren't what I wanted and I couldn't get them to behave. Now I just need to work on stylizing them and colouring them and I can continue.

I have no idea what he is but he is based on shapes our clothes made in the laundry bag one day. I just took the pad in to the can and drew him out.

what else........?

We are on this new food plan now. I think I may have mentioned it. We only eat foods with ingredients that we can pronounce so that pretty much limits it to fresh foods. We now get food from spud.ca and omg is it ever good. Super fresh organic produce. I had a raddish the other day in my lunch that looked like a beet. It was HUGE. And the deliver for free on our orders. yay! ok till later.

groggy fog

I've found life has gotten away from me lately. I'm really trying to catch up .

quibble quabble

Office politics man. It's almost impossible to stay out of them and when you do you seem like you are either NOT a team player or that you don't care about the issue.

I for one am new in my job and don't want to get involved in the "that user is a fuckin moron and I am going to give them the slowest service ever" action. I want to form my own opinions and until then AND even after then I still hope to give the same service to everyone. I know I will have favorites and they will get the instant help that others will have to wait for but that's hard to avoid. I do however hope that I will never deem someone not worthy of "speedy service" just because our personalities do not mesh.

That said, lets get on to the homw life. S man is really picking up the developmental pace around here. He's learning more and more words and getting more and more independant. His wanting to do his own things is at odds with what we need at times but Kate and I are learning to cope and to work around it quite well I think.

I started out at the gym this monday and am going again today. I'm working on 3 days a week for now and maybe I will change that soon or not so soon. I found myself to be the fattest I have ever been in my entire life the other day, and although that is not the reason I have started going to the gym (this was decided a few weeks ago) it is a great motivator.

Kate will start going with her friend next week to a twice weekly step class. It makes me very happy to have us both finally up off our asses and doing something about our poor health. Well not really poor but not good. We've started eating better and better and I haven't seen hide nor hair of meat for a while. We are about to start getting all our groceries delivered once a week and everything they have is organic! www.spud.ca We are looking forward to it.

On top of that Kate has been doing an amazing job on her current project, getting a meal plan together that looks after our daily needs as well as portion controls us while giving us all we could hope for. It's very well rounded and quite well thought out and I am confident that with the correct foods coming in to meet a tasty and health meal plan we should be quite happy eaters very soon. To top it off we have cut down on the amounts of processed foods we eat by at least %80 and it feels really good. I've found I have less desire for them and I am making alternative ( *right* ) choices instead of packaged ones. (bagel instead of chips) It's odd but actually caring about my body is kinda fun. Wish I'd realized it oh say..... 15 years ago?

Right well time to do dishes then it's off to day two at the gym. I wish us all luck.

dear god.

nuff said.

hmm

I think I need to start talking to someone about anger.

Coke gives me wood!

Literally!

I have no idea what the fuck this is but it floated in to my mouth while I had my morning fruit loops and coke breakfast yesterday. Coke says there is no way for anything to get in to their cans and wondered if I bealched then found this in my mouth.


The answer is no.

I don't know if it came from in the drink or on it or what but I didn't see it when I opened the can and I hope that I didn't have any mysterious pieces of wood on my face at the time since I just got off the train and all. So how did it arrive at my lips? Good question.

Coke says the can probably recieved a pin hole sized puncture during one of the shipping moves or distribution and that hole was instantly sealed with what is called secondary corrosion (anyone remember the tooth in coke experiment?) and the hole was sealed with sugars attacking the foreign matter entering the sweet sweet blackness that dwells within. When this happened MOLD was created and it grew between the time ( 6:51pm on July 1st on the #3 production line) the can was created and the time I drank it (7:15am on Oct 2nd at my desk).

So mmmmmmmmm boy. either way coke is now sending me a coupon for some free coke so I can have this experience alllllllll over again. yay! I'm off coke for now, I know the sweet nectar will draw me back at the first chance it gets but for now..... EVIL@!#$$%!! (why is evil a hyperlink? and where is it going? seriously. I didn't do that.)

Coca-Cola Classic now with wood mold flavour for your mouth.

oh yeah. And three out of three techies agree that this shit looks like wood, feels like wood and well... we only have two things but it's wood.

orientation

I went through a long weekend. It wasn't long in the sense that there was a holiday up in it but long in the sense that I drove for 24hours out of the last 72. We went out to Calgary to see Kates Oma and S's Oma D as it were. She's a very wonderful woman from Nova Scotia. She's dutch and has one heck of an accent mit a great sense of humour. We visited for a day with them and had a wonderful time. S really enjoyed it too.

We also stayed with our friends Rob n Nickie and their little boy Taryn. They are such nice people and love to talk and talk and talk and talk and.... well it was SO nice of them to let us stay with them for those two nights and we really hope to see them again soon. Such nice people. The type we wish we knew here in Van.

So Corey also came with us on the trip. She ran in the Cancer run in calgary or walked? Either way she did it with her mom and had a good time. It rained and then rained a little harder and then poured down while they did it but they still went the 5km. So good for them, raising money for breast cancer and all.

Nigel. well, nigel has been going through "the rough times" and apparently got drunk and trashed his house. Avoiding his large tv which is good but proves that the rage had control and thusly was done more for the show of it rather than the emotional outburst. He also kicked in the side of his car when he lost some money running for elton john or something. All in all I think the guy needs some counselling and to at least just sit and talk openly with someone who is not going to try to give a solution. I hope he gets some help, or finds what he needs. He and I know that he needs to leave Calgary. That place is just such a shit hole for people who are not super rich. We'll see what happens. As my friend sean says. The only thing you ever bring with you is you. it's true.

I went through the orientation process at work on monday. Got to see how they grew, all the companies they've taken over and where they are going with their 3.1billion in revenues. They could give it up to me. I'll hang on to it for them.... put it under the matress or something.....

oh god finally

well well well, the weekend is over. The parents have departed and all is good again. It's been a stressfull weekend and I am glad I got to see my folks but jesus. We had dinner last night with them and Gordon + Rae and it went well... we sprung the news on em in a fashion that was most fitting. They totally thought bad news or some sort of 'we opened a resp for seb' news was coming but hey hey... they got the goods.

It feels very surreal still being employed full time again. Especially at a company that's so cool. However I am sure that it will all sink in soon enough. Then I can feel good.

congrats to me.

huh, that's pretty cool

Well, as none of my parents nor kate's read this our secret will be safe till we tell them tonight. I've been hired. YAY! They gave me a position in their downtown office and that works great for me as that's where I wanted to work all along. super yay!

So that's the great news.

The bad news is that my parents are visiting and I am not in the mood for it. Neither is Kate. Not that they are horrible people or anything like that but they can be very negative and their comments on our parenting can be very hurtfull. I don't really know a way to tell them to stop or to comment on how the things they do are negative to our relationship at the time and are hurting both Kate and Myself but..... there are good times and bad times right? The last time we saw them was a great time.

So, we'll see how the last day today goes with them.

this could be bad.

I've come to the conclusion that we are all fucked.

I think that this growing tension between muslim and christian (catholic) peoples is growing at an accelerated pace. One that we have not been near before. That this is going to boil over very soon and when it does there are going to be a lot of people dead. I'm not saying which side is going to instigate, respond or win but I don't think I'm very happy about it all.

yeah, that's dark but really. The way that the media inflames the situation and the way that people yabber on without know the facts we are just making a rumour mill on a global scale that is being taken to extremes. It's going to blow up and we are all stuck right here in the middle of it.

>insert shoot down noise here<

done. no job for me.

If I could get the price is right WHAA WHUAAAAN noise to play here I would.

I was told that it's not available.

0o0o0o0o0oo0o0oo0

I got Illustrator an a second monitor. This is starting to ramp up my technology abilities. Now to get my art in line.

shit is tight yo

aiight.

we be all up in this bizotch with the 2.4 ghz P4, 4gb of DDR400 riz-am and 1 terrabyte of hard drive space. Maybe Sebastian putting a monkey in the works (so to speak) wasn't such a bad thing. I got a number of pending items done on the PC and we are working much better because of it.

update on life coming eventually.

grilled cheese in the VCR

well. Sebastian. I will not kill you but one day when you are older I will break something of yours. You're up to 3 things now kid and you aren't even 2.

My wonderful boy put a crayola crayon ( i think it was passion purple ) in to the fan on the front of my computer last night. I heard that noise from the kitchen, the noise of something being chewed to pieces by a fan. When I came round the corner I watched my monitor go black. it won't power on and it has much melted crayon through out. So. I checked the cpu chip in the lab at work today and it's dead.


Boy. You should be glad daddy loves you so much. ;)

I can't believe it

left me hangin.

I called and emailed but got no reply from the team lead and now I got to wait through the weekend to find out this shit. What a piss off.

bah

Leather Headphones

They be hot.

I still don't know about the job. they haven't left me hangin or anything like that. The decision day is supposed to be tomorrow. Fingers crossed all over the place.



I've been listening to a lot of mixes by my friend Craig (Dj kwest) [www.myspace.com/dj_kwest] and I decided to make an album cover for his 80's remix album. I'm diggin it. It shows some 80's flavah along with a nice simplistic style.
Kate's off at another thursday night crafting night and I am here with the S man. He crashed out a few hours ago but I'm sure he'll be stirring soon. My wonderful leftover dinner of roasted potatoes and lemon dill salmon tasted like ass after the microwave got to it. Nothing like last nights symphony of flavor when it was fresh and the salmon was less than 12 hours out the water.

Tomorrow is beer n cake day at work. This will be the first one I've gone to, so I'm looking forward to it. mmmmmmm beer n cake. what better way to end the week?

Life the universe and everything.

Well I'm playing the role of the happy boi this weekend.

I got a new toy and have been messing with it in the photoshop, loads of fun. Laugh or like this is the first thing I've drawn with the tablet. It's a neat experience being able to actually freehand. I am looking forward to getting better with this baby.

I'm going to be meeting informally with the team lead ffrom the other site tomorrow afternoon to talk salary possibilities and the question of 'do I want to be in this position, or will I go insane'. I'm not sure about the latter. The question makes me think of being jammed in a lab testing video cards or something. Well we shall see how this talk goes and where I may or may not be headed in this here work world.

something for mah bebe

say wha?

ok so I found out today that it will cost these guys somewhere between $6000 and 12,000 to buy me off my contracting company and take me on full time. Talk about putting me at the bottom of the prospective hire pile!! I don't know that I'm THAT good a techie. I solved the mystery we were having with the playstation 3 development kits YAY! and now I'm full bore deploying them out to our users. still having fun at work too which is awesome.

I'm trying to get some more time in to photoshop lately and start developing some of the skills I think could make some side cash as well as give me my own artistic out. This would rock.

Kate's ETSY store is rocking. She found a company the puts her imagery on shirts n such for her and ships as well. It's really neat and she gets $5 for every thing they sell of hers.

Tonight is crafting night for Kate and Corey and I am here with the S man. We're having a good time horsing around and playing with the farm set.. listening to bluegrass. He's currently drumming on the ball we use for a chair at the desk and swinging my DJ headphones around.... I'll just take those....

When do I get a wombat tree?

We got the S Man about $200 worth of Little People toys for $35 today at a garage sale. Sweet Deal there. There was some cop stuff going down around the corner from the sale. Someone did something that warranted about 4 cars and a tow truck to take a vehicle in question.

He's having a lot of fun with all of it but he did just put a chicken inside my computer. hmm.

Well anyway, it's been a really fun week at work. Everyone is super laid back and even the stressed people are less stressed than I am used to. So I applied for a job with them. One of the people I am working with wants to go to another of their locations here in town and the hope is I could get hired and switch with her. That all depends on whether I get hired or not though. So that's been a blast. I also was offered a job at Future Shop / Best Buy that I turned down. It was with their securities department and would have been a great starting point to get in to their business and also to begin to learn internet securities and Data wharehousing. but. I said no. I want to pursue the options here and even if nothing comes from this. If I get nothing but a month of work with these guys. It was totally worth it.

Luckily amazing girl supports me on this and is inline with me......

J&R cames by last night to discuss the money we still owe them. We didn't actually know we owed them anything but... J wrote Kate to say "bitch when we gettin' our money" and Kate was all like "Mention it once and you can have it dumbass." So they came by and we gave em a cheque and that's that. Done. It was a nice evening and had they left somewhere like 2 hours earlier than they did it would have been perfect. It just got awkward. However it was nice to see them all the same.

Original taste

Well I got a cool new toy this week by giving up a cool toy. I sold my B&O Stereo and bought a 1GB flash drive watch with a mp3/wma player built in. Super sweet. Looks cool too.

I also started working a new contract. It's also super cool. I am really enjoying this place, it makes me want to work because it's so comfortable here. The average person is in skate shoes, shorts and a t-shirt and there are nerf fights daily. It's basically everything that you would love work to be. I'm trying to find a way to stay, if I can't everything will be pretty bland by comparison after this.

ho ya.

Peep tha ride. What is up my dog?

arr thar's sabeetaage afoot

Holy carp. I got a new font.

So we got a virus on our PC this week. Some old virus too. like two years old or some shit. The thing is see... I hadn't put anti-virus on the ole pc thar, cuz I thought I was super cool. I really had just been putting it off. None the less we got this virus that downloaded more virus buddies and soon they were having a party and one of them was passed out on the couch... but it got violent. Some slurs were uttered and a few bottles got tossed around, but soon.... it was over. As windows bit the dust in a blaze of glory, all it's blue screen guns a blazin' our PC fell victim and was no more.

Well, the laptop we have started working under tight scrutiny from the both of us. It had been dead to the world and we almost threw it out a number of times except we really watned the data from it. So when the Burni4tor bit the dust the laptop came out in a wave of 'nointernetiousis' and just worked right off the bat... and has continued to work even though it was moved a few feet to the left and some magazines were removed from underneath. It's enough to make me believe..... .. . in something or other. possibly the sketchy-like quality of me and electronics together. Anyways it's now been dedicated to the desk of Kate and she is going to use it to pump out her new business, idyllia.

The Kid 'S' has been a crazy little f*&%$R this week. Screaming, Tearing about, jump jump jumping and terrorizing. It's really cute. He's been learning a lot of stuff and his vernacular [that's for you bebe] has been getting much bigger. Kate taught him to say please and thank you very well this week and his sign language as well as his speech have become much clearer and defined. Not that we know what's he's on about most of the time but at least we get some of it. Other than that he's been having a blast with me on temporary vacation it has been naught but fun 'round here as we have been going out to parks and pools and the mountains and the playground and and and.... you get the idea. So lots of fun.

The man has a point

"The second source of happiness come from our material facilities. Sometimes when I wake up in the early morning, if my mood is not very good, then when I look at my watch I feel uncomfortable because of my mood. Then on other days, due perhaps to the previous days experience, when I wake up my mood is pleasant and peaceful. At that time , when I look at my watch I see it as extraordinarily beautiful. Yet it is the same watch, isn't it? The difference comes from mental attitude. Whether our use of our material facilities provides genuine satisfaction or not depends on our mental attitude."

We are creating. I feel happy.

Balancing Pennies

Well well. Another month has gone by so time to write again.

Kate you already know what's happening.

We took off to Alberta for a month on a company expensed trip for my work with HSBC. It was a lot of fun, we stayed with my parents in Edmonton and then had a great hotel in Calgary. We got to see all the grandparents and our old friends.

The trip was almost 3 weeks long and was a little stress filled with all the changes in sleeping / eating habits going on around Seb and I think he suffered a little because of it. He did have a great time at the Zoo's and with Taran though.

My parents decided that we needed reliable transportation and thus allowed us to choose a vehicle and they financed it for us. This was like the most amazing thing that has happened to us in a long time. If feels great sitting behind the wheel of a new car that isn't rented and doesn't have to go back to someone in a few days. It's giving me a great feeling of security and comfortability that I have not felt in a long time. It's weird to think a Car can do that to me but at the same time the knowledge that I an my family are safe in there is like a warm blanket.

We got a Kia Spectra 5 in blue and just love it.

Work ends tomorrow and I have a bunch of small project dates ahead of me for RBC and Scotiabank that should provide a little extra cash money. We decided that I should take soem time off and be with Seb and Kate can go work somewhere and get some social time in with other Adults. I think this is going to be one of the hardest things I will ever experience but I really think she needs this more than I, so I am willing. EI plus her job plus some extra projects from Kelly should allow us to continue living.

up comes the new.

Why oh Why Delilah.....

OK It's been over a month since my last post. What's gone on? Lots.

JnR (the folks we lived with) turned out to be the biggest losers I ever came across. They smoke so much pot and are such burnouts I don't know why we couldn't see it before we moved in. Watching them go about their lives makes me shudder, the thought of them having anything to do with me any longer makes me kinda sick.

However we have now moved to our own place. This is the first time in Two years we have lived alone and the first time in Seb's life that we have not had someone else around. It's really nice.

The apartment we got is much bigger than we thought and we are constantly suprised by how much space there is. We moved in on Friday and on Monday I left for Kelowna. I'm there now but flying to Edmonton in a few hours... Then to Calgary... Then to Winnipeg.... then home on the 27th of July. 3 weeks away from this new house... with most of the stuff left packed. We had intended to unpack everything but it just couldn't happen.

Kate and Seb are coming to Edmonton and Calgary with me and I am quite looking forward to the trip. We get to see all our family and we also get to pawn the kid off for a few hours here and there and have some time to ourselves.

Life otherwise has been hard as usual. Low money, no money but some days are really good. We rented a little Toyota Yaris for a few days around our move and have decided that we really like it. It's fun and there is more storage than you can even find, I kept touching areas and the panel would flip up and there is a storage spot. It's neat.

This Job with HSBC is coming to a close now and I need to find something else to do. I don't know what to go on to but I would really like to find something full-time. School was my main option but we can't do it either. Kate thinks she might get a startbucks job and let me be unemployed for a few months to take care of Seb and I think that this is a wonderful idea. It would give me time to hang out with the boy and get to know him better, and vice-versa.

All in all there is lots going on.

It's a tough road to hoe....

but he's just the joe to hoe it.

Word em up, spend two weeks in the T Dot away from mah bebee(s) and had a lot of fun doing it. Missed them terribly but I met a ton of new people who were great to me.

I went out with 5 different cultures of people and met about 12 people total. lots and lots of fun. did I say that already? fun.

Word.

Sebastian has changed a great deal. He has started pointing at things and saying their name and also asking us to look where he is pointing.... it's really fun. He's also getting more agile and climbing on me is not an issue for him so playing on the floor has just become some kinda crazy dog pile. He chases things around and just generally has a great time... when he's not teething.

So yeah... all around good times.... just too bad the car is dead.

work it..... worrrrkrkkk iiittt...

Well...

Home life is good and bad, My wife, My Son and I are getting along quite well and having a lot of new found fun. The roomates and Us are not getting along so well behind the scenes. We have been upset because their animals are disgusting. Or is it that they *the owners* don't take good enough care of these animals to make them less disgusting? One or t'other.

So we want to move in to our own little place where little S can be safe and sound and we don't have to fight off cats in heat or wash cat piss off our stuff. Clean dog poo up from the yard so we can go on the grass... etc etc etc... So here's hoping.

I'm talking to a new company about another job. This ones perm! However HSBC is in full swing now and I got to take care of them too. Le Sigh.

I want this new job WAYYYY more and I am so hoping to hear back from them. Hope Hope Hope.

Ah well.... I am in Toronto now missing my family and in severe boredom. Oh gotta go the bank is closing and I get to do work. yay.

3 mc's and 1 dj

My Son has been getting more demanding lately. Very assertive and independant. He's getting older and sometimes it's hard to remember that he's not a helpless baby. That he is in fact capable of making some decisions by himself, including when he wants to sleep. That particular decision has been driving Kate nuts.....

Last night we just wathed TV and all fell asleep in the bed and it was nice. Sebastian went first and I just realized I must have been second because I don't remember much about CSI or the TV turning off so.. yeah.... must have slept better than I thought. crazy.

Kate's in bed trying to get up, Jenn is making food and getting morning juice, readying herself for school... gargling milk? wtf.

Stupid stink dog is lying here next to me... Kaloo or Kala as she is named is an old rottie that makes lots of gas. She really does smell awful however she is cute in the face. Crotchity and surly most of the time but she still has some puppy in her..... too bad she stinks.

Oh yeah, Slim Fast got hit by Chinese food last night at the request of some unnamed people.

More bordom ensues

So yeah,

I am spending my day figuring out stuff to do and stuff to draw as I have no clue as to what my Job is for these days.

I mean I know what my job is but it hasn't started yet and won't for almost 13 more work days. What do I do till then??!??!?!

Whatever, I'm gettin paid... IN FACT it is currently $66 O'Clock, I get off work at $176 O'Clock. I'm going to have to fit in lunch too.

Well Kate and I started Slim Fast today. We did it before and it worked great, then stuff happened and we're fat again. Well at least we are started again, we are going to give it 8 weeks and see where it takes us. It's hard though to make decisions like this when we eat and live with other people who are not doing it. J&R (our roomates) generally like to get high and eat tons of junky food, and hey... I'm all for it... but it doesn't really help get me unfat. So I am glad that Kate started us back in this direction again.

I just want to upload more pictures cuz I am still bored and still have nothing to do...

these are from my camera phone....

Crappy quality but..... meh.

This is the view out over some of downtown towards the ocean from my office.....

l8r. Drew.

like hot butter on the waaaaaaa-popcorn

Well, I have not gone back to school yet. I did however get a job with HSBC Bank and I am a SR Analyst in Implementation which is kinda cool for a no edumication guy like me.

This carries forward 4 months then I get to go back to my contract with IBM. I hope go to school part time at the same time.

Kate wants to go back to school and become a dental assistant (receptionist) because it seems easy, would provide us with steady income from her and would take little time to complete the courses making a quick turnaround on the investment of school.

All in all things are making good headway towards a brighter future.

My son is walking and is one year old now and he is just the cutest damn thing I ever did see.

http://groups.msn.com/andrewkateandsebastian

I am not much for writing as I am at work currently on my second day slacking off already... .sooo more later

Why am I here again?

Ok Conservatives won. Fuck.

Ok I live in Vancouver (burnaby really) now

Life is cool, I am poor, really really poor, and I hate the job I am in because I do useless work.

I think I need Massive Change. But how? I have a wife and a child I am supporting, how can I change career focus plus go to school and have us all survive?

How can I make life work for me instead of me working for life?

Well I think I need to go to design school. Interior... wicked, Landscape Architect... wicked either or and I would be happy as a pig in shit. But two years to do that... I'll be 31.... starting a NEW life / career. How would we do? poor? probably at first but what's the change. I think having a happy life doing something that I love would be better than anything I am doing right now to barely survive.

I think so. Let's make it happen.