Christmas. *Edit*

Flying BoyWhat up.
Rigby and the cat
All smiles.

Man that went by in a flash.

So we took the ferry over to my parents place on xmas eve and got in about 8pm. We had some rum and eggnog and vodka on ice after the kids went to bed and then turned in ourselves after wrapping presents. However there was the matter of actually GETTING eggnog at 10pm on xmas eve in Parksville. Everything was closed but we did manage to find one little corner store that was open and had some Eggnog! My brother and I drove around for about a half hour looking for a place and although his new truck has a wonderful DVD and GPS system in it, the closest 7-11 was apparently in Quebec.

Next morning there was a fun time had in the bed while Sebastian opened his gigantic stocking in front of us. We had breakfast and got the turkey ready and then opened presents!! So much fun, the kids got a lot of cool stuff from the family and us. WE had the best time yet at a family gathering and kinda wished that we could have stayed an extra day. We played Wii with Jared and Jaden (my nephews) and also trains with Sebastian.

The ferry back was nice, I took Sebastian up on the deck and walked him out in to the blow you over wind (he didn't like it) but inside one of the shelters with the wind safely on the other side of the glass he was quite content to look out in to the blackness of the sea and point out imaginary whales, sharks and octopuses, and although Sebastian caught a cold from the playpit which turned in to Croup we still managed to have a great dinner and 2nd xmas over at Kate's dad's house before he got really sick.

I got some fun technology gifts this year...

A Wifi 802.11 Detector T-Shirt
A 1GB MP3/MP4 watch with 1" OLED

AND I got some wonderful movies...

Papillon which is amazing.
The original Thomas Crown Affair from the 60's - equally as amazing.
and the soon to be delivered.... Starsky and Hutch Original Series Box Sets for Season 2 and 3. Now I just need season 4 and I will be complete.

I got Kate an iPhone clone... CECT P168. It isn't bad but it's not really good. So Kate went and got a new phone instead from Rogers and it's way cooler. Sony Erickson Slider Phone.

Sebastian has been in his bedroom for about an hour and a half now for a nap, I still hear him making noise and grunting about stuff so I am assuming he is still not napping. Kate's run out to get some goodies from a friend and Rigby is asleep in her stroller.

What a Family.

Subtle Change

So you may remember the epic post about putting Seb's bed together. It was a rough 6 hours but we finally did it and man is it a glorious bed. Well it took about an hour to come apart last night as I dismantled it to give away. He doesn't like sleeping up in the top and has been sleeping on the floor since Rigby was born. I can't imagine what this does to him but I didn't like it and neither did Kate. So we opted for an angered child at the loss of his slide and got rid of the thing. Now he has his mattress on the floor and some cool new furniture in there, loads more room to play and we get to feel better that he is not laying on the floor.

Drug World update: I have noticed that my guards against having conversations are dropping, I am more at ease with people and able to make light of situations that were really tense for me before. The only issue I am still having is that I am grinding my teeth and clenching my jaw and some days it gets really really bad. I'm putting faith in everything settling down and my body taking this all as normal over time but for now... ouch.

Work has been a fun playground of activity with lots going on right up until the last day there. The last day (Friday) was a fun one, I took Seb in to work with me and although he made a mockery of our desktop meeting he had a lot of fun there. There was also a big lunch with mini hamburgers and tons of cheese (his favourite) and beer (my favourite). So we had some lunch and watched the old Rudolph and the island of misfit toys movie.

Today we are going over to Shannon and Brian's (where Boo slept last night ) and having an xmas day. Then Brunch. Yum.

Gadets and Goods

I got a "xmas present" from work :) They're upgrading people to the newer blackberry 8300 curves at work and I got mine. It's nicer than I thought it would be and it plays video and music which is pretty cool too.

I had a cool idea to put some computers in the cafe at work so that we could give people internet and dvd/music while they are eating. Well I ended up getting a couple of the old iMacs together to put on the tables. I even got the speakers for them!
I also ordered up some cool keyboard mice combos from Logitech that are Bluetooth.
So I think it will be pretty cool to have in there for people eating their lunches or what not. There is no access to anything at all except the things I allowed so they should be %100 safe to leave in there.

Sickness n milk

For some reason while I was sick I needed Milk.

After I got sick and then "better" Sebastian got sick and woke up throwing up then the next day Kate got sick. WOO. So much Vomit, so not much fun.

Sick again

I get sick like once maybe twice a year. This time I got a 24hr flu (fingers crossed) and man did it wipe me out. I spent most of last night up and shivering - throwing up - too hot and uncomfortable. Now I feel mildy better mostly due to the fact I don't need to puke anymore but still trashed. I'm going back to bed now.

mmm xmas party(s)

So this week I had my work xmas party with only the group I work with and then the studio has it's party which was all James Bond themed.
The Studio party was awesome, they rented a ballroom at the Hotel Vancouver and had gaming tables setup everywhere with Poker, Blackjack, Roulette, Baccarat, Craps and a spinning wheel thing. They had a high rollers lounge with a pianist and more tables lit up red and if people had noticed it and headed in it would have been a cool place. As it was there was only a small crowd happening in there. There was a digital shooting range, bomb diffusion race, and a few other stations. The place looked like a casino but the gave us all a few grand in fake hundreds to roll with on the way in. Also there was an assassination situation happening. You were given a target to take out and you were also a target and the person with the most kills at the end of the night wins $1000 cash. Sweet. Good food too.

The group party was held at the Macaroni grill at the Mansion in Vancouver. It was amazing. The place was quite cool and the food was fantastic, but above all the group had a great time talking and drinking. I came home quite drunk from that, even ended up sleeping in Sebastian's room so as to not be near Rigby in our bed. This place fed us... We had bread first, then Salads and Calamari. Next Course was 3 types of pasta - Pene Pasta with a spicy tomato sauce, Pene with Sausage and Bow tie Alfredo. Then came the Chicken scallopini and then steaks. All of this was all you could eat too but at high quality. Afterwards there was dessert. Wine, beers and shooters and through-out.

Fun, Family, Mac n Cheese and Gangsta Rap

That's right, sitting down on the couch, playing trucks in the parking garage eating home made Mac n Cheese and listening to Pandora pump out the tracks. We also did some dancin to this muthafuckin music we crypt to.

I love my family.

I learned a new thing today... I *am* totally in control of my day. I was drudging around at work and thought to myself that I could just be happy instead and I was, the rest of the day. It didn't feel artificial or like I was just walking around with a stupid grin on my face it was really just a turnaround on my mood.

I looked at the massive stack of games I have been comp'd this last month when I got home and am surprised as all get out. I am giving some of them to a friend and a couple to my nephews for xmas as I don't have a gaming system let alone a TV.

All in all it was a fun day and a good week thus far. We got a whole bunch of gifts from some of my mom's friends in Edmonton for Rigby. There is some really cute stuff in there and almost all of it is pink.

Moving on

Well it's been a pretty good week so far. Kate's mom went home on Monday and here we are Wednesday night, doing fine. We've been keeping things going and running smooth. The house has been pretty good and our chores have been flying by day by day. My Parents are coming in to town tomorrow from Parksville and taking Sebastian to the Aquarium for the day. It should be a blast for him as he hasn't been there in a while.

Work has been interesting lately. I have felt really good about.... well about everything these last few days and as such I have been doing a lot. I felt a little down today but kept moving along with all the tickets coming in and at the end of the day walked out feeling great.

I went and did laundry with Sebastian tonight at the laundromat as we just had a mountain of stuff to get done. It was also a good time, he and I chased each other around and played catch with a nerf ball. He helped load the dryer and put in quarters for me....

.... it's now Saturday night.... I left this open for quite a while.

It snowed here today, lots. We were going to go to Shannon and Brian's House for dinner but we decided against it due to the streets. Sebastian and I played outside a few times today in the snow. He in his rain suit, pj's and full clothes and me bundled up in my jackets as well. He likes the snow a lot, which is funny since last year he HATED the snow with a passion.

Things are still going well around the house. Upkeep and all is still working and the week itself for home life didn't turn out so bad for Kate. Sebastian and my parents stayed at the aquarium until nearly 4pm and got home one bus in front of me. Without his nap and that much excitement he was a terror the next day but at least he had fun.

I did some work for a guy at my work on his Mac and setup Leopard and an external drive for him as well as transferring his data from the old drive to the new. He was pleased enough to pick us up a bottle of Vincent Van Gogh - Espresso Infused Vodka. Now I don't like coffee much at all but Kate does and it may be fantastic with some coffee or in a white russian or something...

The End

The End of having Oma here. Kate's mom goes home tomorrow and we're back on our own (so to speak). The level of help and support surrounding us should ensure that if we need something people will be there for us. It's been nice having her here this last 7 days as she has done so much around the house and shown me that some things in our lives can be taken care of in an instant rather than making it a thing to be dealt with.

I've come to realize that I can help motivate Kate by getting Sebastian ready to go and making coffee in the mornings and I think that from now on she needs to be up and out of bed before I leave in the morning. The house works as functional mess and that's ok. We can survive with this and cleaning it up only takes a little effort rather than the daily attempt we were making for it to appear that we don't have kids at all and instead live in a spotless and up-kept house.

Last night we went to the Pro Street Wrap Party at the Vancouver Aquarium which was awesome. The venue is a great place to have a party and the food was quite good also. We wandered around looking at underwater animals of all sorts and Rigby brought in the attention. It was a good time and nice to get out and away for an Adult evening of entertainment. Tonight (and a few nights ago) we went out and had a cappuccino and cookie at JJ Bean and sat and talked, again good to get out for some adult time.

Going forward we are devising a schedule of events for Kate's days and some basic things for us all to deal with the days. Meal plans with recipe cards and pre-ordered groceries. A few purchased meals from Chef Claires and Sliced Tomatoes and the knowledge that we can make a difference to our own lives as long as we get of our asses. That and we're going back to vegetarianism which makes both of us very happy indeed.

Some images for past posts.

Train Show and the pictures of Sebastian with his Patch and Glasses.

What's all this then

We had the appointment for Sebastian at the Ophthalmologist yesterday and the verdict is that his right eye is still functional and just needs to be 'woken up'. So Sebastian gets to wear an eye patch for a month. 2 weeks of all the time and 2 weeks of part time. He also gets glasses to help him focus his eyes which we pick up from the Lab tomorrow.

Kate had her appointment today and was told some very good things I think. That she needs to relearn how to do some things in her life and was given a way to ease out the anxiety. (read: drug) So I am excited at this opportunity as the Dr that saw Kate says she strongly believes that it will be suprising to all of us (including Kate) what comes out the other side of this.

I started my new Journey today as well. You may or may not recall some of my musings regarding my personal state. 1 2 3 4 5

So today I started Effexor and had a swell time running the gambit of side effects while trying to get some work done. I started work being swimmy headed and lightfooted and moved on to shaky and a little dizzy. Jaw clenched and teeth grinding and feeling a little like I should be sitting down. I've never taken a major drug before and my friend Sean just likened it to taking E (which I have never done) but it's certainly a trip. After about a week at this level I will be ramping the dose to double and at that point I guess we will see what my body (and brain) can handle.

Drive out

My chest hurts

I don't know why, I think it's a reaction to my brain working.

It feels like I got kicked.

We spent the entire weekend without Sebastian around. He went to Shannon and Brian's place and they ( thanks to the multi-faced deities ) were able to give us a much needed break. We went out shopping and browsing and then after 2 nights of movie watching in peace went and picked him up today. Took a long drive out toward Whistler and stopped at a lake for some lunch it was nice return of the Boo.

Heather is coming by monday to hang out and Kate's mom will be here at 3-4pm today with an open ended ticket to be around which is great to know. My parents have offered to come over on the ferry, hang out here for the day and then take Seb back with them for a sleep over and then come back and drop him off / meet us at Horseshoe bay later the next day. And, do it bi-weekly. That would be very very cool.

Anyway, today is the start of another journey.

Low Emotional Intelligence

So a while ago I took a test that says I have low emotional intelligence. This means that my ability to tell what people are actually feeling and that the tone and inflection of a persons speech often is lost on me and I will perceive whatever my brain wanted to perceive. Like wise it' s hard to know what the emotions I have actually are and how to process what I feel to words.

So take that and realize that I am already struggling to get the true meanings behind peoples actions and words and then add something that requires attention in an emotional way.

Kate let me know today her true feelings about what is going on with her.

Sebastian is staying with our friends Brian and Shannon for the weekend. He's been gone for about 8 hours now and I can't believe how much I miss him and miss having him around (even if he would be sleeping right now) We haven't been away from him (like both of us not just one of us) for his entire life... I'm sure that some of this weekend will be very scary for him.

Kate's mom is coming in from Calgary to help out however she can. I haven't really discussed how long she'll be here or where she will stay while here and what she is expecting ( or what we are expecting of her) with her. I hope that she can be here with Kate, Riby and Sebastian while I can still work to keep us afloat. Not what I would love but, it's great that Johanna would do that. We never ask much of that part of Kate's family but when we do they come through all the way.

Sppappappapappaaaarkkkaapppapap uh

I just didn't have a title today.

Gordon gave us some really cool "jigsaw puzzle" art. There are two pieces by Douglas Coupland that are both limited edition of 88 unnumbered, unsigned. They are these neat replicas of some art that ran at the closed JFK airport in New York. One of them (pictured below) is easy for people to recognize, and the other a little harder to make out (I also can not find an image).
They are both cut to be a 30 piece jigsaw puzzle (that I doubt I would ever want to attempt) but will soon be getting framed up. It was a nice gift I think.

The whole gang came down to work today and got cooed over by folks. New babies are awesome for that. Sebastian was a great little boy with me out last night and again today and he seems to be on a nice curve currently :)

Hallowthankxmas

While Halloween was getting going I noticed that it was time for Christmas based on the random spattering of lights, decorations and such in the malls. I also came across this gem of an article.

Can't Buy Me G-d

ReadyMade's interfaith gift guide
by Adam David Cole

Is it just me, or is everyone a Nazi around the holidays? As a Jew, perhaps I lack the gene for holiday cheer (is that what they cut out during the bris?). Maybe it's my David and Goliath complex that makes me a little paranoid. Whatever the reason, buying gifts is like trying to gain entrance to a golf course in Georgia. Roaming the aisles for meaningful trinkets, I feel the grip of Father Christmas tighten around my withering Jewish soul; I'm certain that the cheery carol blaring at Macy's is actually the Muzak version of "Deutschland �ber Alles." When I buy a menorah for my grandmother, I'm convinced that the clerk gift wraps it in the colors of the Palestinian flag. (Not to mention the fact that the red-nosed reindeer emblazoned across her sweater looks more Adolf than Rudolph.) Even for those who don't suffer from my delusions, the gift-buying process can induce panic, especially when you've got a harem of multi-religioned friends to shop for. To guide you through the whole ordeal, I've assembled this faith-based list of suggestions.

Atheists

What to give: Boston Red Sox season tickets. In 2004 the Sox beat the New York Yankees and won their first World Series in 86 years. Tickets to the Red Sox might turn your heretical friends into believers.

What not to give: Chicago Cubs tickets. The Cubs haven't won a World Series since 1908 and haven't made it into the series since 1945. A season of watching the Flubs�er, Cubs�might convince atheists that even the World Series doesn't truly exist.

Christians

What to give: Testament graphic novel. The Holy Bible is a tome that doesn't exactly make for light reading. The cartoon version keeps the pace moving and wins you supreme literary cred with Baptists.

What not to give: Von Dutch trucker hat; Juicy Couture sweatsuit; Ugg boots. When one accepts Christ, the church offers to absolve all sin. Federline-n-Spears fashion, however, is thoroughly unforgivable.

Jews

What to give: A life vest. In the Jewish faith, nothing's sexier than safety. Throw in some plastic floaties and you'll win major mensch points with your pal's family.

What not to give: Eiffel Tower statuette. We Jews wouldn't know what to do with an item sold by a vendor thousands of miles away. What if we need to exchange it?

Mormons

What to give: Girls Gone Wild Co-ed Tryouts. Just because Mormons don't drink, do drugs, or consume caffeine doesn't mean they won't enjoy this fine piece of classic cinema, starring chi-chi-flashing freshmen.

What not to give: Victoria's Secret Sexy V-Neck Racerback Tank. Sure, they'll watch girls stripping off their bras for the camera, but the Mormons' undergarment of choice is a union suit�style white cotton number. Victoria's curve-enhancing tanks are definitely not church-sanctioned.

Muslims

What to give: Two-in-one prayer/yoga mat. Help your Muslim friends align their chakras in the direction of Mecca with this convenient dual-purpose floor pad.

What not to give: A holiday ham. The only pork product allowed in the Muslim world these days is a Halliburton contract.

What is going on?

Kate is currently listening to a podcast about sex education. It's called the midwest teen sex show. They are currently going over the names for jerkin yer gerkin and even have advice about not putting your penis in to anything that can get in to your penis or how to tell if you are masturbating too much by how much time you have left to masturbate......What to do if your mom catches you?

1. Ask her to help you finish.
2. Say " Oh, I thought you were Dad.
3. Blame it on the media.

And one woman... " I realized when I was 14 if I wanted to have kids I better start having sex. Oh is that mayonnaise on my chest or are we done already?"

Somewhere over the rainbow

The first task is to find the rainbow. The second to discover what does actually exist on the other side if it. The rainbow in this particular case is the redevelopment of people toward a new enlightenment. There have been a number of major turn around points in the history of modern Earth. The Agricultural Revolution, The industrial Revolution, The Space Age, The computerization of our lives, faster information - less effort. A new time is at hand.

Which way will this time go though? No one can label it yet because it hasn't happened and historians haven't had enough time to sit about and brainstorm a good name. I propose two different names for this revolution:

The Wakeup
The Demise

They are both pretty straightforward, and really the whole lesson is right there in the title. We have options facing us each day to either step up and do something small [ repeatedly ] daily to further our time on this Earth or to ignore what is so obviously happening around us and chalk it up to..... well whatever it is we want to believe it is.

I've been reading about some of the small things that seem so insignificant that can do so much for our lives, the lives of others, our economy and our world. Things that are simple and everyone knows... like energy saving bulbs. Things that are not quite so common like throwing your gum in the trash instead of the street.

A small factoid: In the UK it costs 37p for a pack of gum. It costs (on average) 15p to clean up that gum. The UK spends 150Million on this cleaning. This money would fund 3 hospitals or 8,500 teachers salaries. It sometimes isn't quite so obvious what we are costing ourselves.

Anyway, I think it's time to retire and watch a little Mystery Science Theatre 3000 with Kate and Rigby, after I go put Sebastian's covers on that is.

The Reopening

Well obviously we are back in public domain here. I (also obviously) changed my blog a little bit.

So after a meeting between sites today it seems that someone is going to have to come on down and join our site but no one is really interested in doing that. So we'll see where that goes. Hopefully whoever does come doesn't come forced since that will probably just mean that they will be bitter and frustrated.

I know that my studio is better for me, it's a style of working that I enjoy and the environment it exactly what I have always wanted. On the other hand the other studio has a lot to be desired. There is a larger sense of community, there are more opportunities for learning and information sharing and as it is the main office for us there is more exposure to the powers that be. I can see liking both options here but I wouldn't *want* to work at the other. I need to though.

Now. Props where Props be due. Kate; thank you for getting my header fixed.

What Happened?

Look up the term Dooced on the internet and you can get an idea.

Dodged but I will have some new ground rules here in Banaspace.

For the ones affected:

I will apologize. Not for the things that I said, because they were my honest feelings and that is all. However I am truly sorry for the ramifications of writing those things. I did not consider what this would mean to other people when they read it and I also didn't consider what it would mean to our community of people.

To ease this all out I have gone through and edited my entire blog to reflect the new ground rules.

Let's continue on.

The Best

On looking for the correct terms for my last post I came across a "Best Of Craigslist" which made me nearly bust my guts.

http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/van/182234107.html

The last *edit*

Well it's morning.... ask a toddler what Daylight savings time is.

Sebastian decided that morning started at 5Am today, I found out quickly that it was in fact 4Am and coaxed him back to bed. We got 2 more hours and got up at 6. He is now chomping on ice and playing with Lego. I on the other hand am trying to wake myself up as I have been having trouble getting up to operating speed lately. I don't really think it's due to Rigby being around as I have been having this problem for a while now. ( About a month or so )

It's really hard though, I feel like my head weighs a ton and my eyes hurt to be open. I fall asleep sitting up or standing or whatever for a few seconds regularly and even coffee doesn't seem to jump me up. I get going by about 8:30 / 9Am and feel fine after that. I have also been realy easily falling asleep while sitting at night. I have fallen asleep during our movies the last three nights for sure. When Kate and I met I was almost narcoleptic ( I just fell asleep while trying to decide if narcoleptic was the sleep thing or the dead people thing ) Then Sebastian came over, I changed his diaper and we cuddled on the chair at which point I fell asleep again.

Maybe there is something wrong there.....

Rigby and Kate are both doing well now. Kate has been out and about and has been fine with it. Ribgy seems to enjoy the time regardless of where she is. ( Ok Seriously it just happened again ) Sebastian is coping better with the new one around I think. He seems to be fully aware of what she is, who she is and the last part is the (asleep while thinking) wait for him to accept her fully. He likes to kiss her, hold her and helps us tell her that "It's ok Rigby" when she cries. So I don't think it will take long at all until he never remembers the time when she wasn't here.

Arrgh, I seriously want this to stop.

**SO I just read through this post and I wanted to clarify a few things here and there. I did keep falling asleep while writing this post and it was frustrating because I obviously lost my train of thought a few times there. "Sebastian coming over and getting his diaper changed" is what actually happened after I woke up when I fell asleep thinking about the differences between Narcoleptics and Necrophiliacs. I also seem to remember the two mincing together in my head for a moments and I was thinking people who fall asleep randomly while fucking dead people..... man that's messed up.

So long Caio

So Caio came by tonight to visit, meet Rigby and explain what the hell was up with the "Caio has resigned" email that I got today. It's true, Caio is resigned and that's that. I was putting Sebastian to bed after he left and thinking to myself about what that means to me. I mean... how many posts in my archives contain something about how I hated this or that about Caio's ways. Mostly the singing. I know Caio read them and he still went about his business of arguing with me over trivial things, grilling me for information over everything and despising everything I brought up. Y'know... like eating.

Caio once (probably more than once) told me how he hates eating. He considers it a chore, a bore and basically a pain in his ass. He wished that you either didn't have to eat or could ingest some sort of "super pill" that could satisfy all your needs. Personally, liking eating and liking food I think he's crazy. These little things were all around and usually contrary to what I thought was usual or normal. They were things I complained about and things that I figured drove me a little crazy at work.

I do however realize that all these things are and were just things. That the personality traits that Caio has exhibited are only one part of his being and that the more importantly, he is a good, caring individual and someone whom I could trust. I realize that while I might have secretly prayed for the time that Caio was gone from EA and " out of my hair " I'm now pretty sad that he's out of there.

So, since I am sure that you will read this man. Arguments and quibbles aside.... this sucks.

The Aftermath

Well it's been a little over a two days now since Rigby was born. Her *real* name is Lilian Rigby Forsyth and she is named for my Grandmother of my Mothers side. Lilian Appleby. Although I have no memory of her, every image I have ever seen paints a picture of someone compassionate, caring and maternal. My Grandfather was someone who cared a great deal about me, and he was a very good role model for me as he ( Possibly due to my youth ) seemed to be an honest, kind and strong man. Sebastian ( Arthur DeWolfe Forsyth ) gained my Grandfathers name as well as Kate's Grandfathers.

Lilian seems to be a good soul, Sebastian seemed to be a return visitor when he was born and I somehow get the sense that she is also here with age behind her. They both have the same warmth to them. Of course I am their Father and I would totally understand the criticism that I feel their warmth because of this fact but at the same time I have only felt like this toward a small handful of people in my life and generally speaking they were the kindest and most heartwarming individuals I have known.

Gordon came by yesterday and remarked how much he likes the name Lilian and how it was a good old fashioned name. He did something very similar with Sebastian and some how it feels like a comment on this idea of them both being 'old souls'. Again, criticism aside, I do like the feeling that my children are simply beings embarking on the next round of their existence and that we [ the ones who are learned ] get to help them remember the things they once knew.

So, welcome back.

The Arrival

I will make this more detailed later but..... We had a daughter last night at 9pm. Kate had a 7 hour labour start to finish and Rigby is gorgeous.

A Trip to the Beach

Well, Kate is now term +6 so we are still waiting on this baby to decide to come out. This morning after Sebastian convinced me to get out of bed we went to the living room to have some breakfast. I decided, after seeing this weird thing thing I'm told is called "The Sun", that we needed to hit the beach. We took out the RC Boat that my parents gave Sebastian and sent it for a spin about in the waves. It doesn't go very fast which makes it a little boring but it is still pretty fun.

Then Sebastian and I walked down to the Pier and looked underneath for sea creatures. We saw Crabs and Star Fish and Fish Fish. Sebastian claims he spotted at least 2 slippery fish and an octopus under there as well but I'm sceptical. We left Kate to sit on some driftwood to knit her new hat for the baby.

There was also a great big Heron hanging out by the pier who would swoop down and scoop some fish out of the water every so often.

After all this we walked back along the beach throwing stones in to the water. It was really relaxing. The beach was quiet and the sun was out so it was nice and warm with a light autumn chill and the ocean was nicely behaving itself.

Sebastian loves throwing rocks in to the water, I think mostly for the splash. He discovered today that you can throw a handful of dirt and get multiple splashes. So needless to say he got a little muddy for a little while.

After, we walked down to where Kate was sitting we got together an took a little family photo.

Aren't we just so bloody cute?

Lastly Kate and I took a few pictures of her belly before this baby comes out (COME OUT DAMN YOU) and we caught the good luck bug. A little lady bug came by and did a walkabout on Kate's tummy.


I guess that lady bugs are the bearers of good luck. So hopefully something joyful will happen. :)

mmm ascii

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  d88P 888 88888b.  88888b.  888  .d88b.
 d88P  888 888 "88b 888 "88b 888 d8P  Y8b
d88P   888 888  888 888  888 888 88888888
d8888888888 888 d88P 888 d88P 888 Y8b.   
d88P     888 88888P"  88888P"  888  "Y8888
           888      888                 
           888      888                 
           888      888 

Total Molecular Inversion

Well. We're still waiting on the baby to make up it's mind and come one out. I'm off work and we've been hanging out watching a ton of movies lately. Now out of that I've seen a pretty good movie ( V for Vendetta ) and a horrible movie ( Nacho Libre ) and a bunch of mediocre stuff. We saw the first part of Good Night and Good Luck but have not yet finished it.

Sebastian seems to be loving having me home all day. I know Kate is. I'm enjoying it also, I mean I was just writing about how I wanted more time to spend with Seb and to play with him more and here it is. Once the new one is born I am sure that this build up of play and bonding will serve us well.

I decided to play around and build up what I would love to see purchased for the Audio team and It team in Mac form. The bill is about 248K. It's all pure sweetness though. I mean, how could you go wrong with 20TB of data storage and a buttload of 23" dual monitored Mac Pro 8 cores? and a Server with 32GB's of ram... I mean COME ON!! I have requested that a copy of Leopard is purchased for me so that I can begin checking it out before people start asking me questions about it. With any luck that will be at my desk when I come back... nudge nudge. I don't actually think that the person I have asked to purchase it reads my blog but hey, it's worth a shot.

We are currently listening to an OOOOOOOO0o0o0o0o0LD Rave style Trance mix that I made. This is actually the first mix I ever made and it's also the first gift I ever gave Kate. Romantic huh? Hey baby! Have a Rave Trance Mix. Oh yeah... you know you want it. unce unce unce unce unce unce unce bwaaa ba buhn unce unce unce unce.

She says she listened to it all the time. "He made it... It's beauoootifull"

Kate is also knitting a set of booties for the new baby next to me right now. They look like they'll be very cute (according to the picture) right now though they are just a solid rectangle of yarn.

We should get some glowsticks!

Just Do It Already

We want a baby. Hurry up.

Against All Odds

Man vs Netboot with a capital B.

It may appear the there has been a lot of 'Vs' going on in my life lately but that's only because I have been fighting some epic battles against myself. This one is no exception.

I've been trying to get a similar system to our PXE booting for Windows machines going at work for the Mac's. Netboot is built in to the OS X server and is relatively easy to setup. The issue is that it is offered on local subnets only. Our Network Guru (NG) was working with me to try and get the system to work across subnets with some router adjustments to allow for the BSDP process, I was trying to get the image put together and neither of us was having much luck at first.

NG got the network side running and was forwarding packets to my server but there was still no dice in the boot process. He captured some data of the boot process and watched traffic going between the two units. Much to my dismay he couldn't see anything wrong with the data going back and forth other than the fact that it simply stopped after a short time.

Well, I then worked on my end. I created new images from different machines and made sure that I had a solid creation process going on. No Hiccups there. I also tried removing my local switch from my test server, putting the server and client together on a switch within the network and putting them on a Dlink router completely isolated from the network. When this last environment did not produce a boot I came to the conclusion that it was not a network problem. I thought long and hard about what the issue could possibly be...

I checked the whole system over and over... I made a new image (again), I redid the configuration of the Netboot server (again) I also made sure that there were Netinstall and Netboot packages and that if I OPTION booted my Mac I could see an image available. Everything was pointing to A-Ok but still... I could not boot the image. It would see the server, start loading the image and then Kernel Panic. Everytime.

I worked on this late in to last night with no luck and again this morning. I finally decided to start at the most basic level. Making sure that I had not screwed this up in any way. That's when I saw it... In order to load the images, you need a specific set of folders setup in the /Library level.

/Library/NetBoot/NetBootSP0

My problem, and the only problem in getting those dang images to load... a Capital B.

I had written it out /Library/Netboot/NetBootSP0

I changed the B and tried again... Instant success. I'm glad I figured it out but I'm so annoyed that I was temporarily beaten by a lowercase letter.

Anyways, the final issue of booting this image across the 5 subnets I have and then to a whole other studio was still present. Bombich provided an answer to that in a simple little application. Now both studios can boot various install and NetBoot images from my server with ease. I am so Happy.

Now, after the baby comes ( 6 Days ) I can go back to work and see if I can get a dual boot system working on this.

I'll make sure to get a fresh bottle of Advil.

11

There are 11 days left till Kate's due date. We got rid of our dresser and cabinet in the bedroom today in preparation for new shelving coming from my Parents during their visit tomorrow. They are coming over from the island for a day trip and we are going to be hitting up IKEA and then dinner with Kate's family at The Vancouver Club. Gordon has invited all of us out to the event and it should be fun.

I look down at the private pool and exercise areas of the club from work and have always though it looked pretty swanky, what with it's Valet parking and all. So a buffet dinner in a suit should be an interesting experience for sure.

As we near the time of the 4 (new baby) Sebastian is getting away from us a little. I notice that we are spending less time doing his stuff and more time doing... well nothing really. WE are eating crap, feeling like crap, the house smells like crap and all kinda behaving like crap. Kate and Sebastian have been having some issues this week but Kate is also learning from this book she picked up some great techniques for handling Sebastian's behaviour. All in all I think that she is doing great with him and herself. I on the other hand need some training and I also need to get back to playing with him. I have been kinda neglectful of late and it's driving me a little batty when I do spend time on his level. I feel I am out of tune and I just expect him to play by my rules and do the things he's always done. This is obviously not the case and I end up feeling frustrated and exhausted.

I think the combinations of Eating better, reading anything to exercise my mind and playing with him instead of playing to kill the time before bed will really help us to restrengthen our bond and connect again in the way we used to.

Now don't get me wrong, it's not like we are at odds. We both still play together, he listens to me and helps me and I listen to his requests and feelings and try to respond in a kind, caring and constructive way. I know that we both still have immense love for each other and that it the most important thing. He is only 2.5 and I'm still Dad and he is still my boy and that is what it is... fantastic.

We hit the coffee shop, beach and playground this morning and had a great time doing each. He was pleasant and polite to the coffee lady, fun and interesting at the beach and also very inquisitive and understanding. He was looking for crabs and found a crab leg. He asked what happened to the rest of it. I pointed out to a heron standing in the shallows. I told him that one of those birds probably ate the crab. That some animals eat other animals as part of nature. He seemed to think about it for a second, a little distressed but with a look of understanding. Next thing I knew we were off to look at a big rock a few feet away.

After we hit up a school playground near Gordon's new house and had some quick play. He was counting off all of the numbers on the hopscotch and other games drawn all over the inner courtyard of the playground. Then we played on the grounds and took the rain soaked slide once before leaving. It was honestly (especially the beach) some of the best fun I have had in a while. I don't remember the last time he and I just went out and did something that wasn't (again) to kill time.

CV of Andrew Forsyth

I've made a side blog that is just a hosting page for my CV (Resume).

On other notes... 18 days left!!! dear Dog this is getting close. We went shopping today for the last of what we need for the birth. New (disposable) sheets, towels, cloths, blankets etc etc etc... A home birth means we need to get a lot of stuff together to handle everything that the hospital usually would. Kate is also totally ready to get this baby born.

A great push towards that was the discovery that my landlord (who lives upstairs with his wife and occasionally many grandchildren and sons) is DOUBLE THUMBS UP for us having the baby born at home. He kinda trapped me in to telling him that we were doing that and then when I revealed the "awful truth" he was excited and offered to help in anyway at any time of day, cook for us, volunteer his wife and sons, and told me to "take care of Kate and pay rent whenever". wow.

I am amazed that they were so open to the idea but I couldn't be happier. We were pretty scared that Kate would have to be quiet, that they would call the cops on the noise, that something something something... evict us... etc. So it's a great load off our mind.

Teacher for a day

Well tomorrow morning I have to pull out a server, setup my classroom and teach server stuff. He's going to be my backup while I am gone for new baby so I need to let him know how to do that.... So I need to teach him all the ins and outs of server manager, workgroup manager and etc etc etc.... and that in a day. This time he better not fall asleep.

New Baby

I swear Kate's belly is doing that rumbly noise like it's hungry.... but I know she isn't hungry. It's like the baby wants out..... 22Days...

The Laundry Alternative

In our continued effort to Green up our lives we have now eliminated the laundromat. Which for lack of better words F*&$in rocks. How you may ask did we do this thing? Well, through a bit of determination and a small amount of work and time we should be able to wash all of our diapers (cloth) and our clothes from the day at the end of everyday here at home in about 15 minutes.

We got a portable washer and a portable spin dryer. The washer is a hand crank unit that takes about 3-4 Quarts of water and a tablespoon of soap to do a load of laundry (about 4-5 pounds of clothes) and then 3 quarts for the rinse. All in all a good sight less than a conventional washer and it uses no electricity. After that the centrifugal spin dryer uses only the spinning to eject water from the clothes and no heat. It lasts for a max 5 minutes as seems to work on most of what we have washed thus far in about 2-3 minutes. The clothes come out slightly damp and we hang them to dry in the hallway clothes line.

This whole setup was part of a gift from my parents for the new baby. They also bought our entire cloth diapering setup for the new baby, again... this rocks. We are very happy to be cloth diapering baby #2 from the start and with every thing we need in abundance.

25 More days left.

Got till it's gone....

Basically my parents have sold their house in Edmonton. The house I grew up in, the house my brother grew up in, the only "home" I have ever known. My brother is pretty broken up over it and I am too, to a slightly lesser extent. I miss the place and I know I will for a while but, I am so nomadic and have moved soooo much that the one place that is home, has never been as important. I'd like to use a quote from Garden State to fill this post.

"You know that point in your life when you realize that the house you grew up in isn’t really your home anymore…all of the sudden even though you have some place to put your shit, that idea of home is gone…or maybe its like this rite of passage…you will never have that feeling again until you create a new idea of home for yourself, for your kids, for the family you start. It’s like a cycle or something. Maybe that’s all family really is: a group of people that miss the same imaginary place."

Where do they come from?

So I was looking at the tracking reports for my blog tonight and thought WOW where do all these people come from? I see that tons of people get to me by searching for something that has NOTHING to do with me. Like Pro Tools 7.4 (that added an extra 10 hits right there) or some part of a movie quote that I have used.

So I have to say to everyone that comes here and possibly even stays here.... Add a comment somewhere, a shout out to say you were here from there and China... where you at?

This is Septembers countries vs my blog.

United States of America	39.19 %
Canada	25.68 %
United Kingdom	8.11 %
Brazil	4.05 %
Czech Republic	2.70 %
Other	20.27 %

Country	Visits	%	Trend %
United States of America	29	39.19 %	+59.6%
Canada	19	25.68 %	-52.8%
United Kingdom	6	8.11 %	+54.1%
Brazil	3	4.05 %	+131.1%
France	2	2.70 %
Norway	2	2.70 %
Czech Republic	2	2.70 %
Ukraine	1	1.35 %
Turkey	1	1.35 %

Sweden	1	1.35 %
Poland	1	1.35 %	-23.0%
Philippines	1	1.35 %
Republic of Korea	1	1.35 %	-23.0%
Australia	1	1.35 %	-61.5%
Israel	1	1.35 %
Germany	1	1.35 %	-23.0%
United Arab Emirates	1	1.35 %
Belgium	1	1.35 %