26 Apr 2007
15 Apr 2007
Today, Today, Today
We are moving today....
It's crazy... I got the place ripped apart... there is still tons of work to be done around here but until all the moveable stuff is out that door I can't even think of what needs to be done... lots around here for sale that needs to get moved out but right now is just in the way.
I think once we move all the stuff out of here then it will look almost empty and the feeling that there is a million things to do will subside. Really though... I am sure that the next 15 days we have to get shit done round here will be filled with stress... we even have to paint the place in the end. at least there is no carpet.
Ah well it'll all be worth it right? The new place is a 2 bedroom and Seb has been sleeping in the empty bedroom by himself the last few nights... He got up and came in to our bed (which was in the living room) both nights at about 2 / 3 am and neither of us even noticed him show up. So as long as we can start waking up and taking him back to his own room then we can start to enforce that he needs to sleep in there.
Should be fun fun fun. Moving truck should be here any minute so I am out.
It's crazy... I got the place ripped apart... there is still tons of work to be done around here but until all the moveable stuff is out that door I can't even think of what needs to be done... lots around here for sale that needs to get moved out but right now is just in the way.
I think once we move all the stuff out of here then it will look almost empty and the feeling that there is a million things to do will subside. Really though... I am sure that the next 15 days we have to get shit done round here will be filled with stress... we even have to paint the place in the end. at least there is no carpet.
Ah well it'll all be worth it right? The new place is a 2 bedroom and Seb has been sleeping in the empty bedroom by himself the last few nights... He got up and came in to our bed (which was in the living room) both nights at about 2 / 3 am and neither of us even noticed him show up. So as long as we can start waking up and taking him back to his own room then we can start to enforce that he needs to sleep in there.
Should be fun fun fun. Moving truck should be here any minute so I am out.
11 Apr 2007
2 Apr 2007
Why do you need an excue when there are so many reasons?
Well that's that.
I can not eat meat anymore.
I have read and watched some horrible yet mostly mild things over the last day and apparently I have been quite receptive because I can not even think about eating meat without feeling sick. Not over the taste or anything but over what the animals had to go through to get that meat on to my table.
I've always known. But it never really mattered. I never let myself believe that things were all that bad. That everything that people talked about and told me about could actually be allowed to happen in our world. Now I know. Now I have seen it and I am disgusted. Horribly disgusted with the way it all works.
I have never been for a 'cause' or anything, I have floated along on anti-war and ethical treatment but have never actually felt that it was right.
I used to have a Math teacher that said "you know it in your BONES" Of course he was talking about how you'd have to be retarded to not understand the basics of polygonal math or something but....
I know it in my BONES. If I was crammed in a feed lot, cage or pen... never allowed to be free, never allowed to just be what hundreds of years of built in instinct are telling me to be. Fed, Drugged jammed in a truck being scorched or frozen for 500 miles in the open air.... It wouldn't matter if I was a cow, a bird or a human... I'd still be scared out of my mind when I was hung upside down to have my throat cut.
And when the blade missed? Or didn't do it right? When I was dunked in to boiling water to rid me of my pesky feather or had my legs cut off and stomach split open while I was still alive?
fucking terrified.
I can't do it. Never again. Their suffering isn't worth my taste buds.
I can not eat meat anymore.
I have read and watched some horrible yet mostly mild things over the last day and apparently I have been quite receptive because I can not even think about eating meat without feeling sick. Not over the taste or anything but over what the animals had to go through to get that meat on to my table.
I've always known. But it never really mattered. I never let myself believe that things were all that bad. That everything that people talked about and told me about could actually be allowed to happen in our world. Now I know. Now I have seen it and I am disgusted. Horribly disgusted with the way it all works.
I have never been for a 'cause' or anything, I have floated along on anti-war and ethical treatment but have never actually felt that it was right.
I used to have a Math teacher that said "you know it in your BONES" Of course he was talking about how you'd have to be retarded to not understand the basics of polygonal math or something but....
I know it in my BONES. If I was crammed in a feed lot, cage or pen... never allowed to be free, never allowed to just be what hundreds of years of built in instinct are telling me to be. Fed, Drugged jammed in a truck being scorched or frozen for 500 miles in the open air.... It wouldn't matter if I was a cow, a bird or a human... I'd still be scared out of my mind when I was hung upside down to have my throat cut.
And when the blade missed? Or didn't do it right? When I was dunked in to boiling water to rid me of my pesky feather or had my legs cut off and stomach split open while I was still alive?
fucking terrified.
I can't do it. Never again. Their suffering isn't worth my taste buds.
13 Mar 2007
Realistically it all boils down to sharing.
It is all about not segregating duties and sharing them instead. I did some laundry the other day, and it made me feel much much better about Kate doing laundry a few days later. She really just picked up where I had to leave off. I did some dishes, she had put some away. I had cleaned a diaper but not yet rinsed it and she rinsed it for me. She made dinner and I put toys away. I had never really seen life like this happening before my eyes… I just realized that as long as we are both helping out in whatever way we can the house runs smoothly and it’s clean.
Overall I want us to have a great place to live in and I would love it if we didn’t even have to think about the way its upkeep happens… if we just went about our days doing all the things we do and in the end of things the house was back together it would be perfect. Although, perfect never happens so we’ll have to just keep on trying.
Work work work…. What can I say about work that hasn’t been said?
Well, my MAC work has been heating up… the guys are piling on more and more issues and I am battling them the best I can. I think I am going to have to devote an hour or so a day to doing reading on the MAC forums and such so I can stay abreast of some of the more common issues. Also so I can learn the fixes of old issues… like I know now with XP and such. Really this is pretty tough… learning a whole new operating system, a whole new hardware system and on top of that learning all the tips, tricks and roundabouts on how to do things both competently and with ease.
I know that both will come with time but my main issue is that work expects me to take care of these problems ready or not.
I put together a quality email today that explained how I am going ahead with server maintenance on the Apple Audio server we have regardless of how much I know because it needs to be fixed. The issues need to be addressed and if I am not going to dive in headfirst and start to figure out the problems then who is? WHO I ask you, who?! No one. That’s who.
So sink or swim it’s up to me, I enlisted the help of one of our infrastructure guys and he is going to test some of the network issues and try to help out on the back end of things. I’m really glad, this is a big deal for the audio guys and I. Fingers Crossed here.
So I guess we’ll see where that ends up. On Friday and I take over my new luxury condo cube by the window and with the couch. YAY. Looking forward to that for sure. New Guy comes in to work a week Monday and I am excited about him being down here. He’s a great guy and I think that we will help each other out a lot.
Our Moving:
Well we are working towards a new place…. I am looking at a nice little house in a great spot for us… We view it on Sunday and with luck we can rent it out and move in ASAP (y’know, providing it’s not a hole) Fenced yard, 800sq feet, with 2 bdrms, kitchen, dinning room and living room. So with luck it’ll be nice and they’ll like us enough to hold it for a little while. Not likely in the market I live in but it’s worth a shot. Who knows maybe I can sell all my records and turntables, make $2500 and we’ll rent both places for a month. We’ve done it before that’s for sure. So again, fingers crossed here.
Overall I want us to have a great place to live in and I would love it if we didn’t even have to think about the way its upkeep happens… if we just went about our days doing all the things we do and in the end of things the house was back together it would be perfect. Although, perfect never happens so we’ll have to just keep on trying.
Work work work…. What can I say about work that hasn’t been said?
Well, my MAC work has been heating up… the guys are piling on more and more issues and I am battling them the best I can. I think I am going to have to devote an hour or so a day to doing reading on the MAC forums and such so I can stay abreast of some of the more common issues. Also so I can learn the fixes of old issues… like I know now with XP and such. Really this is pretty tough… learning a whole new operating system, a whole new hardware system and on top of that learning all the tips, tricks and roundabouts on how to do things both competently and with ease.
I know that both will come with time but my main issue is that work expects me to take care of these problems ready or not.
I put together a quality email today that explained how I am going ahead with server maintenance on the Apple Audio server we have regardless of how much I know because it needs to be fixed. The issues need to be addressed and if I am not going to dive in headfirst and start to figure out the problems then who is? WHO I ask you, who?! No one. That’s who.
So sink or swim it’s up to me, I enlisted the help of one of our infrastructure guys and he is going to test some of the network issues and try to help out on the back end of things. I’m really glad, this is a big deal for the audio guys and I. Fingers Crossed here.
So I guess we’ll see where that ends up. On Friday and I take over my new luxury condo cube by the window and with the couch. YAY. Looking forward to that for sure. New Guy comes in to work a week Monday and I am excited about him being down here. He’s a great guy and I think that we will help each other out a lot.
Our Moving:
Well we are working towards a new place…. I am looking at a nice little house in a great spot for us… We view it on Sunday and with luck we can rent it out and move in ASAP (y’know, providing it’s not a hole) Fenced yard, 800sq feet, with 2 bdrms, kitchen, dinning room and living room. So with luck it’ll be nice and they’ll like us enough to hold it for a little while. Not likely in the market I live in but it’s worth a shot. Who knows maybe I can sell all my records and turntables, make $2500 and we’ll rent both places for a month. We’ve done it before that’s for sure. So again, fingers crossed here.
7 Mar 2007
Ongoing - ongoes
Here I am writing an entry on my new Macbook on the train today, I have a lot on my mind. Helping out at home more, looking after my pregnant wife, taking care of my customers at work and keeping the peace between two guys I work with long enough to get something done.
Home life is troublesome lately. It’s not that Kate and I aren’t getting along, and it’s not that we are fighting a lot. It’s just the thing we fight over. I say thing because it seems to be a constant issue. It’s me. My amount of help around the house and the lack of stuff I do to make it a better place to live in. How I don’t take the same initiatives to do things around there that I did when Kate was pregnant with Sebastian and how I am lacking on the duties that I regularly take care of (eg: Dishes). Now while I protest any attack on me and dishes, since I am almost always consistent about doing them and although I let it slide on the weekends I rarely ever forget or don’t have time to do them in the morning. When I do miss them however it’s the end of the world.
I can’t really argue this point though. I know in my heart of hearts that I am wronging Kate in the way I treat our house. I never feel at home in apartments, I think that has a small something to do with it. It seems that when we are in a house of our own I am dynamite dan around the place but when we get in to an apartment I am mopey and lagging on the duties of Dad and Husband.
I sat down and had an indepth conversation with myself on the train on the way to work today and decided that I am going to take new initiatives to make a better life for myself and for Kate. I will try to do this consistently instead of just a few days worth and then lagging out again. I made myself a sheet that I am still working on to outline what I need to do and when I am going to do it. I won’t let time get in my way because I am setting aside certain sections of the day just to do these things. Like doing dishes between 7 and 8, making my lunch for the next day between 8 and 9 and so on. I really hope this helps me because I loathe daytimers and have a very hard time sticking to a schedule of events that isn’t when I begin and end work.
We’ll see though…. One of the things I am going to do is use this laptop to track my activities and the things I did both during the day and the nights before hand. I hope that this constant tool (that I also consider pretty cool to be using here at the back of the train) will help out significantly. We’ll see.
Now that I've posted it.... I've made food for the next few days for lunch so I do not spend money... is that a start?
Home life is troublesome lately. It’s not that Kate and I aren’t getting along, and it’s not that we are fighting a lot. It’s just the thing we fight over. I say thing because it seems to be a constant issue. It’s me. My amount of help around the house and the lack of stuff I do to make it a better place to live in. How I don’t take the same initiatives to do things around there that I did when Kate was pregnant with Sebastian and how I am lacking on the duties that I regularly take care of (eg: Dishes). Now while I protest any attack on me and dishes, since I am almost always consistent about doing them and although I let it slide on the weekends I rarely ever forget or don’t have time to do them in the morning. When I do miss them however it’s the end of the world.
I can’t really argue this point though. I know in my heart of hearts that I am wronging Kate in the way I treat our house. I never feel at home in apartments, I think that has a small something to do with it. It seems that when we are in a house of our own I am dynamite dan around the place but when we get in to an apartment I am mopey and lagging on the duties of Dad and Husband.
I sat down and had an indepth conversation with myself on the train on the way to work today and decided that I am going to take new initiatives to make a better life for myself and for Kate. I will try to do this consistently instead of just a few days worth and then lagging out again. I made myself a sheet that I am still working on to outline what I need to do and when I am going to do it. I won’t let time get in my way because I am setting aside certain sections of the day just to do these things. Like doing dishes between 7 and 8, making my lunch for the next day between 8 and 9 and so on. I really hope this helps me because I loathe daytimers and have a very hard time sticking to a schedule of events that isn’t when I begin and end work.
We’ll see though…. One of the things I am going to do is use this laptop to track my activities and the things I did both during the day and the nights before hand. I hope that this constant tool (that I also consider pretty cool to be using here at the back of the train) will help out significantly. We’ll see.
Now that I've posted it.... I've made food for the next few days for lunch so I do not spend money... is that a start?
21 Feb 2007
Ulitmately, let down.
My studio had it's bi-annual studio update meeting today. We held it at the CN IMAX Theatre at Paciffic Place. Nice venue, I mean IMAX screen, how could you go wrong?!
Well there's a great many ways you can go wrong....
1) Not tell IT what you are presenting untill 2 days before the meeting
2) Not tell IT in what format you are presenting
3) CHANGE your format 1 hour before the presentation
4) Not communicate with IT at all over the lead up to the presentation
Guess what? My company did all the above and it was a disaster. One IP didn't get to present any of their videos, one only got half their videos and as someone who was there watching the whole thing... it made both IT and the studio out to be a bunch of idiots.
The bad part is now the powers that be will try to make IT out as the bad guys in this situation because as far as they can see their footage worked at their desks and in their presentations elsewhere. My lead is probably going to take a lashing over the affair and all in all the blame may or may not land completely on us. Probably will though.
Sebastian doesn't want to go to sleep tonight. I was in the bedroom with him for 45 minutes and now Kate is in there and I am still hearing screaming. I'm out because someone is supposed to be here picking up aa 'for sale' item from me... but as yet... he just got here.
till later internet.
Well there's a great many ways you can go wrong....
1) Not tell IT what you are presenting untill 2 days before the meeting
2) Not tell IT in what format you are presenting
3) CHANGE your format 1 hour before the presentation
4) Not communicate with IT at all over the lead up to the presentation
Guess what? My company did all the above and it was a disaster. One IP didn't get to present any of their videos, one only got half their videos and as someone who was there watching the whole thing... it made both IT and the studio out to be a bunch of idiots.
The bad part is now the powers that be will try to make IT out as the bad guys in this situation because as far as they can see their footage worked at their desks and in their presentations elsewhere. My lead is probably going to take a lashing over the affair and all in all the blame may or may not land completely on us. Probably will though.
Sebastian doesn't want to go to sleep tonight. I was in the bedroom with him for 45 minutes and now Kate is in there and I am still hearing screaming. I'm out because someone is supposed to be here picking up aa 'for sale' item from me... but as yet... he just got here.
till later internet.
11 Feb 2007
New Friends
We've gone out a few times now with this other family that has a cute little girl around 14 months old. Turns out her parents are awesome.
Jeff the Dad is a software engineer (programmer) and has pretty much all my interests and a very similar sense of humor. Kristi is a crafty girl and a real hoot all around. She's got these great braids and the bridge of her nose pierced.
Well we went for a walk in the park, we've gone for coffee twice and we went there for dinner on Saturday night.... They can cook, they have great conversation, their kid is great. I think Kate and I are in new friend heaven.
We needed BADLY to get out of the house yesterday, we were fighting and there was a general crappy feeling here. So Kate convinced me to go out, we got a burger and drove to Granville Island. On the way I was thinking about how it kinda sucked that it would be a while till we saw these cats again. However, as we were walking along, there in front of us was Jeff, Kristi and Imani. So we got to spend an impromptu afternoon with them and lo and behold, even with no mental preperation or forethough we all had a great time again!
So yeah, after 2 years of dealing with our friends that have no kids... this is great!
26 Jan 2007
If life is a bitch...
...then when's the high quality make up sex gonna get here?
Although I doubt that life would let me stick it to it like it does to us... I do think that the fight has ended in a way.
This isn't to say that I gave up or anything like that but a number of truths have finally been accepted by me and now I feel that it's important to do everything I can to take these truths down to myth town.
1. I am depressed.
2. My relationship with my best friend and wife is strained.
3. I am distant from everyone I know because I am afraid of who I think I am.
4. Accepting that there is something wrong with me is the hardest thing ever.
My family has always been one that kept it's secrets. We never mentioned things like mental health or depression or even problems in marriage for that matter. My parents were always happy and together. Looking back I see that my parents have a distant relationship and they were always at arms length of one another. However, that said they are also very close and know more about one another than I do with Kate.
No one in my family has ever been depressed. Except my mom after a number of miscarriages before I was born and some post-partum depression after both me and my brother. Other than these instances everyone has been hunky-dory. I call bullshit.
My brother went through a long period of time where he was obviously having troubles and the whole family went through counselling that got us somewhere. I think I blocked this memeory... I used to throw up when we went to these sessions...
Speaking of blocking memories. I realize regularily that my memories of my childhood are very limited.... I can't remember events or details. I have trouble thinking about how my upbringing went along and what sort of things I was involved in.
For example. I know I was in soccer.... I don't remember anything about it though. I know I was in track and field.. nothing. I know I was in cubs and went to camps and such but I don't remember anything about it.... It feels like I am missing something, something important and something that I should have full memory of.
I wonder if other people have this problem or if something happened and I am blocking this. Also I have had several (3 or 4) large blows to my head that have knocked me unconscience in the past. I got hit in the back of the head with a dumpster lid (age 23). I fell down the stairs while moving in to my new house and was out for 45mins (age 27). I fell off my bike and had a concussion when I was somewhere near 10? So maybe these things have something to do with it?
Anyway, lately I have been really down in the dumps and my relationships all over have suffered for it. My family and my friends have been treated poorly by me for no reason and I have let people down in excess while doing everything in my power to please other that mean nothing to me or my life.
I have bad feelings about my self and how I see myself in this world. Negative dark issues with myself that affect how I deal with other becasue of how I think they see me. I know that I am projecting the opinions of myself on to others and that most of the time it's not how I am viewed but.....
Anyway, bordering on the longest entry I have ever made, I need to get some work done... so till later.... watch the indian version of THRILLER....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbvP7dT3Dx0&mode=related&search=
Although I doubt that life would let me stick it to it like it does to us... I do think that the fight has ended in a way.
This isn't to say that I gave up or anything like that but a number of truths have finally been accepted by me and now I feel that it's important to do everything I can to take these truths down to myth town.
1. I am depressed.
2. My relationship with my best friend and wife is strained.
3. I am distant from everyone I know because I am afraid of who I think I am.
4. Accepting that there is something wrong with me is the hardest thing ever.
My family has always been one that kept it's secrets. We never mentioned things like mental health or depression or even problems in marriage for that matter. My parents were always happy and together. Looking back I see that my parents have a distant relationship and they were always at arms length of one another. However, that said they are also very close and know more about one another than I do with Kate.
No one in my family has ever been depressed. Except my mom after a number of miscarriages before I was born and some post-partum depression after both me and my brother. Other than these instances everyone has been hunky-dory. I call bullshit.
My brother went through a long period of time where he was obviously having troubles and the whole family went through counselling that got us somewhere. I think I blocked this memeory... I used to throw up when we went to these sessions...
Speaking of blocking memories. I realize regularily that my memories of my childhood are very limited.... I can't remember events or details. I have trouble thinking about how my upbringing went along and what sort of things I was involved in.
For example. I know I was in soccer.... I don't remember anything about it though. I know I was in track and field.. nothing. I know I was in cubs and went to camps and such but I don't remember anything about it.... It feels like I am missing something, something important and something that I should have full memory of.
I wonder if other people have this problem or if something happened and I am blocking this. Also I have had several (3 or 4) large blows to my head that have knocked me unconscience in the past. I got hit in the back of the head with a dumpster lid (age 23). I fell down the stairs while moving in to my new house and was out for 45mins (age 27). I fell off my bike and had a concussion when I was somewhere near 10? So maybe these things have something to do with it?
Anyway, lately I have been really down in the dumps and my relationships all over have suffered for it. My family and my friends have been treated poorly by me for no reason and I have let people down in excess while doing everything in my power to please other that mean nothing to me or my life.
I have bad feelings about my self and how I see myself in this world. Negative dark issues with myself that affect how I deal with other becasue of how I think they see me. I know that I am projecting the opinions of myself on to others and that most of the time it's not how I am viewed but.....
Anyway, bordering on the longest entry I have ever made, I need to get some work done... so till later.... watch the indian version of THRILLER....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbvP7dT3Dx0&mode=related&search=
7 Jan 2007
habberkazabber
So much stuff going on. Big network project at work that has me wrapped up in wiring and designing and troubleshooting... lots of fun though... better than sitting at desks.
Sebastian just got a new haircut and looks really cute but he also looks really different. To look at him you need to focus to know he's Sebastian.... he's no longer the mop topped kid. Looking at him right now while I scratch my head I realize I also need a haircut.
We just got Sebastian a bowling set and a Doctors kit. The Doctor kit has most of the same stuff as mine did when I was a kid. Lots of fun there. Now I just need to wait till he starts trying to fix Kate and I.
Anyway I am going to go make some coffee.
2 Jan 2007
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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