Drinking a bottle of wine by yourself is never a good idea...
Next time you bitch about how it's now a law in Quebec to have winter tires between December 15th and March 15th, there might be a reason for it. I should mention that this photo was taken on December 8th, a full 24 hours before the 35cm of snow that the Montreal region received on December 9th.
This is probably the most unique car in ditch poses I've ever seen in person.
This morning I took the three kids to watch the Olympic Torch relay as it passed through town on it's way to the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.
Before you think I'm the best dad ever, just to let you know I did totally lose it on them getting everyone ready and out of the house on time. In the end think we got there 5 to 10 minutes before the relay arrived.
It was pretty exciting to actually see the flame coming down the street. We have been watching the daliy updates on the local news so I think with ET being the oldest he understood what was going on.
I'm glad we saw it at the town hall since with the kids being so young I think just watching along the route would have been too quick for them.
I was hoping that we might have seen some of the mascots as they are super cute and kids would have enjoyed it but they probably save them for the big end of day celebrations. Or not since they seem to be currently on tour in British Columbia. This weekend I'll try to make some folded paper mascots with the kids.
When the relay arrived the crowd of course swarmed and left us on the outside so quickly (because I knew this whole was just going to last a few minutes) I put Carts on my shoulders, put a foot up on the carriage and balanced ET up on my knee so they could see the flame. I would love to see a photo of that, I must have looked crazy.
And like that it was over.
The boys seemed to have enjoyed it but noticed people had little Olympic flags and like a Norwegian Blue were pinning for the fjords wanted one (we did do an arts and crafts before bedtime and they made there own). We went in the city library to see if they had any but unfortunately they were all out. They had refreshments but the boys didn't want any so we started walking back to the car.
On the way back I noticed the relay bus was parked around the back of city hall and some people were milling about. So I headed over. I'm glad we did since one of the relay runners let the boys hold a torch and posed for a photo. Best advice I can ever give my kids; you want to meet someone after an event, run the around back.
While it might not be something the kids remember when they are grown, it was a fun event for them in the short term and as a parent you get excited to see your kids excited. When I picked up ET at school today he had two drawings of the mascots holding Olympic torches and he told me how one of the torch bearers had visited the school today as well and talked to his class. It's still strange for me when he recounts things that happened that I wasn't there with him for. You get excited because he's growing up and sad since he doesn't need you around.
And of course the last time the torch came to town was in 1988 for the Calgary Winter Olympics games and who knows the next time we'll get a chance to see it.
Plus I have to thank my boss Cindy for letting me take the time off work.
This blogging thing is a lot of work.
In previous years I did a round up of (what I felt were) my best posts, photos & events that happened here. Unfortunately this year you're not getting it. I really dropped off the map this past year and only posted 10% as many posts as my first year on VOX. Of course I did sleep more, so there's an upside to everything.
My initial reason for blogging here was to document all the happens of the family, but once I realized that people actually check Facebook, I started to move stuff over there.
Secondly last year I really started trying to post on stuff that I had first hand knowledge or effected me personally in some way. That really brought down the number of superfluous posts but it also broke me from daily posting and like going to the gym once you stop going it's hard to start again.
So for this coming year I'll going to make an effort to post at least once a week, if nothing more than for the fact I enjoy writing and I really miss doing it. Plus I've totally missed out on my neighborhood here. Children have been born during the time I've been away!
The mistake parents can sometimes make is to put everything they enjoy on hold and defer to their children and with an ever growing family that's been the case. But a lesson I've learned is that you've got to make time for yourself or you'll go crazy and VOX is a great outlet for me in that regard. Plus (hopefully) children move out.
So here's to another year on VOX. I just wish they would let us export / backup our blogs.
Oh yeah, I rule.
So, today I have made a Spice Cake (from the box) and a Carrot Cake (from scratch). What possessed me to go at this project, i'll never know. but i now have a new respect for Betty Crocker and the Pillsbury Dough boy. Sifting is a pain in the patootie, grating the carrots is mind numbing, and getting all the necessary tools is expensive. But the cakes have just come out of the oven and they are cooling now. It's my first attempt at a layer cake, so lets hope it comes out ok. And for tomorrow I've got all the stuff for my macaroni and cheese casserole. This will be thanksgiving number three with the boyfriends family. Last year was a little stressed because L-mom was diagnosed with cancer. But she has gone into remission, so this year she has tried to keep me from cooking much. She felt bad because I cooked the whole thing last year. I don't know why she feels bad. I didn't have to do it. i wanted to cook for the family. My mom was out of town, so it's not like I had anything else to concentrate on. This year is going to be stressful though, because I have promised my mother that I would take her out to take advantage of all the BF Sales. *sigh* Wish me luck...
So, it's been a while since I've actually played on Illustrator or Photoshop. Since that's what I went to school for, I figured I oughtta go ahead and make some use of these valuable programs. I've decided to make some banners to try and get myself back in the groove. Drop me a line if you want a commission =)
The new Sloan EP Hit & Run has dropped (as they say) and it's pretty good.
If you're unfamiliar with Sloan I'll make the assumption that you don't live in Canada but if you do... shame on you. And if you don't live here you should move, I'll wait.
Do yourself a favor and click play below and listen to the album as you read the rest of my review.
The title of the EP is most probably in reference to band member Chris Murphy being injured in a hit & run accident this past summer. That caused the group to cancel shows while he recouped.
As a long time fan it hits all the Sloan standards with tracks like Take It Upon Yourself, hand claps and all. It would have fit in nicely on their 1999 album Between the Bridges. It Is Never is pure Sloan awesomeness, but I'm a sucker for layered songs that build up to distortion endings that reprise the main theme. Plus I've always had a man crush on Patrick Pentland and his songs.
One of Sloan's strengths can also be a weakness on a five song EP like Hit & Run. With four distinctive song writers the variation can be jarring switching between them. Jay Ferguson's Midnight Mass is a perfect example of this problem. It's a good song but sandwiched between two up tempo ones brings down the energy. Which is a shame since Jay Ferguson has done some really great songs with excellent lyrics and melodies over the years.
That said it's a good addition to the Sloan catalog of memorable songs.
Sloan is offering the EP in MP3 320kbs, Apple Lossless and Flac formats directly from their site in addition to other music stores.
This is unreladed to the Hit & Run EP, but Witch's Wand was one of my favorite songs off their last album Parallel Play but the video that I just got around to watching is so weird I have no idea what's going on.
it seems that I have been blessed with a stomach bug. This one seems unique though. There is no coughing, sneezing, or other cold or flu symptoms. Thankfully there is no gastrointestinal discomfort other than the tummy ache.
Last night I had a nasty little stomach ache... More at 11...
