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

Originally from Alberta and in the last number of years having been living in Vancouver, British Columbia. We are now living in Woolwich, London where we inhabit a wonderful little 2 floor flat in the Royal Arsenal. The family has grown over the years from being just my wife and I to the family of four we are now. My work has brought us to London for the next two years where for the first time in ages we will live in the same house for more than a birthday. The experience is written below from then till now. With a view of the Thames from our windows and boat ride to work the new life begins.

29 Dec 2007

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.

22 Dec 2007

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.

19 Dec 2007

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.

16 Dec 2007

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.

12 Dec 2007

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.

8 Dec 2007

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.

5 Dec 2007

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.