26 Dec 2006
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.
22 Dec 2006
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
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
16 Dec 2006
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....
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....
9 Dec 2006
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
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
7 Dec 2006
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.
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.
2 Dec 2006
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.
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.
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