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Journal Entries for December 2007
December 1, 2007 - 12:15 PM
Starting December off with some good advice:

Sign on a dump truck in Calgary: 'Please Do Not Push'

I think that is a sign I would be fairly apt to obey. Counting down the days to Christmas, this year's countdown has a dual meaning for me (and at least one other person.) Twenty five days until I fly back to Mission where I will spend an entire week encompassing Christmas Day through to New Years Day with Kristi and her family. I'll have to pick up one of those Advent Calendars do commemorate the sweet passing of each day with the consumption of chocolate.

For the past several weeks I have been struggling to clean up my house. The biggest problem I've faced (besides an inherent tendancy to procrastinate) is that I simply do not have places to put all the things I have. As a result, Clutter Abounds. Now naturally one obvious solution is to decrease my inventory of 'stuff'. But this process is difficult and contrary to all that I have known growing up, whereby one ought to retain as much as one can in the hopes of making some of it useful some day. And certainly there have been instances whereby hording relics has proven profitable and beneficial. Nothing like having to repair or replace something with that which you already have available to you! But as I survey my collections that span my entire living space, I see a good number of things that have remained without purpose for years - and will in all liklihood continue to do so for the forseeable future. The solution? Inventory reduction: Get rid of the things I don't use on a regular basis. For me, a Finlay, that is much easier said than done. But I've found that by looking at the big picture, the grip from within my clasped hands loosens a little and it becomes easier to let go. By realizing that this is all temporary, that change is inevitable and hanging on to stationary objects just makes one also stationary, I am finding a great urge to purge and have begun to amass bins, buckets, and baskets of items to take to the recycler. Some of the stuff I will probably toss up on eBay and see what the world bids on my wares, but I've already taken a few loads of old computers, although still technically working, to the recycler simply because they would be able to serve no useful purpose in today's ever-evolving high tech electronic world. I am learning, with help, that Less is More.

December 1, 2007 - 8:39 PM
Happy Birthday Aunty Becky!

John the Elf

Tonight I got a phone call from my mom who informed me we were celebrating Aunty Becky's birthday in about an hour at Swiss Chalet.



The left side of our table

The right side of our table

December 2, 2007 - 12:28 PM
I've been clearing out years of clutter, particularly in my dungeon, pulling out boxes that have sat practically untouched since I moved in here. Many memories have been brought to light as well, as various relics from my past have surfaced. There are a number of school projects I've kept for one reason or another that have been rediscovered. One such assignment was this: We were given the first three-quarters of a short story to read, and then assigned to write our own ending to it - how we assumed the story would come to a conclusion. I kept the story and it has pushed it's way to the forefront of my mind on various occasions over the years, so to find the actual text was quite a treat. It reads like this:

Appointment With Love

Six minutes to six, said the great round clock over the information booth in Grand Central Station. The tall young Army lieutenant who had just come from the direction of the tracks lifted his sunburned face, and his eyes narrowed to note the exact time. His heart was poinding with a meat that shocked him because he could not control it. In six minutes, he would see the woman who had filled such a special place in his life for the past thirteen months, the woman he had never seen, yet whose written words had been with him and sustained him unfailingly.

He placed himself as close as he could to the information booth, just beyond the ring of people besieging the clerks. Lieutenant Blandford remembered one night in particular, the worst of the fighting, when his plane had been caught in the midst of a pack of Zeros. He had seen the grinning face of one of the enemy pilots. In one of his letters, he had confessed to her that he often felt fear, and only a few days before this battle, he had received her answer: "Of course you fear... All brave men do. Didn't King David know fear? That's why he wrote the Twenty-third Psalm. Next time you doubt yourself, I want you to hear my voice reciting to you: 'Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil, for Thou art with me'..." And he had remembered; he had heard her imagined voice, and it had renewed his strength and skill.
Now he was going to hear her real voice. Four minutes to six. His face grew sharp.

Under the immense, starred roof, people were walking fast, like threads of color being woven into a gray web. A girl passed close to him, and Lieutenant Blandford started. She was wearing a red flower in her suit lapel, but it was a crimson sweet pea, not the little red rose they had agreed upon. Besides, this girl was too young, about eighteen, whereas Hollis Meynell had frankly told him she was thirty. "Well, what of it?" he had answered. "I'm thirty-two." He was twenty-nine.

His mind went back to that book - the book the Lord Himself must have put into his hands out of the hundreds of Army library books sent to the Florida training camp. Of Human Bondage, it was; and throughout the book were notes in a woman's writing. He had always hated that writing-in habit, but these remarks were different. He had never believed that a woman could see into a man's heart so tenderly, so understandingly. Her name was on the bookplate: Hollis Meynell. He had got hold of a New York City telephone book and found her address. He had written, she had answered. Next day he had been shipped out, but, they had gone on writing.

For thirteen months, she had faithfully replied, and more than replied. When his letters did not arrive, she wrote anyway, and now he believed he loved her, and she loved him. But she had refused all his pleas to send him her photograph. That seemed rather bad, of course, But she had explained: "If your feeling for me has any reality, any honest basis, what I look like won't matter. Suppose I'm beautiful. I'd always be haunted by the feeling that you had been taking a chance on just that, and that kind of love would disgust me. Suppose I'm plain (and you must admit that this is more likely) then I'd always fear that you were going on writing to me only because you were lonely and had no one else. No, don't ask for my picture. When you come to New York, you shall see me and then you shall make your decision. Remember, both of us are free to stop or to go on after that — whichever we choose.

One minute to six... he pulled hard on a cigarette. Then lieutenant Blandford's heart leaped higher than his plane had ever done.
A young woman was coming toward him. Her figure was long and slim; her blond hair lay back in curls from her delicate ears. Her eyes were blue as flowers, her lips and chin had a gentle firmness. In her pale green suit, she was like springtime come alive.
He started toward her, entirely forgetting to notice that she was wearing no rose, and as he moved, a small, provocative smile curved her lips.
"Going my way, soldier?" she murmured.
Uncontrollably, he made one step closer to her. Then he saw Hollis Meynell.

She was standing almost directly behind teh girl, a woman well past forty, her graying hair tucked down under a worn hat. She was more than plump; her thick-ankled feet were thrust into low-heeled shoes. But she wore a red rose in the rumpled lapel of her brown coat.
The girl in the green suit was walking quickly away.
Blandford felt as though he were being split in two, so keen was his desire to follow the girl, yet so deep was his longing for the woman whose spirit had truly companioned and upheld his own; and there she stood. Her pale, plump face was gentle and sensible; he could see that now. Her gray eyes had a warm, kindly twinkle.

Lieutenant Blandford did not hesitate. His fingers gripped the small, worn, blue leather copy of Of Human Bondage which was to identify him to her. This would not be love, but it would be something precious, something perhaps even rared than love — a friendship for which he had been and must ever be grateful...
He squared his broad shoulders, saluted and held the book out toward the woman, although even while he spoke he felt choked by the bitterness of his disappointment.
"I'm Lieutenant John Blandford, and you — you are Miss Meynell. I'm so glad you could meet me. May — may I take you to dinner?"

At this point, the class was to write an ending to this story. Everyone composed their renditions of what they thought might have happened next, and then we all had to read our responses to the class. The results ranged from Blandford and Meynell becoming good friends and continuing their friendship over the following years to him baining and running off to find the girl in the green suit, but after the class had all presented, our teacher read the actual ending of the story. As he read it, I never did have it in writing, but a quick search on Google for the title of the story turned up thousands of sites containing the entire thing (which, I'm kicking myself now after typing the entire thing out when a simple copy and paste would have accomplished no less... Ah well.) The ending of the story, and this was particularly what stuck with me over the years, reads like this:

The woman's face broadened in a tolerant smile. "I don't know what this is all about, son," she answered. "That young lady in the green suit - the one who just went by - begged me to wear this rose on my coat. And she said that if you asked me to go out with you, I should tell you that she's waiting for you in that big restaurant across the street. She said it was some kind of a test. I've got two boys with Uncle Sam myself, so I didn't mind to oblige you."



December 4, 2007 - 10:47 PM
After the last entry's plunge into the world of literacy, I thought it only right to steer this page back to it's roots and talk about something a little more geeky - like burglar alarm panels. When Bo and I bought this house it came with an alarm system already installed. We were even given a code that worked to arm and disarm it, and we've used it as such over the years. However, being the tinkerer that I am, I wanted to get inside the system, change a couple of things and see how it worked. For one thing, it had been set up [wrong] and as such, the Trouble light was always on. Since the day we moved in, it's complained of trouble. And in order to get rid of that light, it needed some of it's programming changed. Easily said, easliy done — except that we didn't posess the Installer's Code. Now normally if this is lost, one can simply reset the board to factory defaults. The down side is that you have to program the entire thing from scratch, but if you lose your Installer's Code, you can't do much with the panel anyways. Unfortunately, when Stealth Alarms installed the panel, they enabled a little code called the Installer's Lock-Out which PREVENTS the Installer's Code from being reset even if you do a factory reset! So, short of trying every number between 0001 and 9999 until you get the Installer's Code, you've pretty much got to throw the panel out and buy a new alarm system.

A DSC PC1555MX and PC5508Z Keypad

This afternoon one of my co-workers, aware of my plight, had an alarm panel identical to the one in my house that he'd removed from a system they'd upgraded. He also did not have the codes for it, but within a few minutes I was able to determine that it was not locked out and would be resettable. This was exciting news, because for the first time since I've owned this house I might actually be able to do something with it's alarm system besides arm and disarm it. When I arrived at home, I quickly set the new panel up in my workshop and robbed the keypad from the back door. Resetting this panel to the factory defaults was easy, and I was ready to start programming it. However, since I don't have any LCD keypads, programming it from scratch using the keypad I've got, while possible, would be quite painful. Instead, I opted to build a PC cable to connect the panel to my laptop, which would make programming it a LOT easier.

Half of a CD-Rom Audio Cable

Home-Made PC-Link cable for DSC Alarm panels

Using half of a serial cable (for the DB9 connector to go to the laptop's serial port) and half of a CD-Rom Audio Cable, those ones that used to be used to get the music from your computer's CD-Rom to the sound card, I was able to connect to the panel from my laptop. Once that connection was established, the programming was easy. I set the panel up, swapped it out with the existing one and powered the system up. I still had some trouble messages, but this time they were different ones. I had to set the clock and had forgotten to plug the battery in. Once those were attended to, FOR THE FIRST TIME IN OVER TWO AND A HALF YEARS the Trouble light went out and the system merely reports Ready

All Systems Go

After a day's geekiness, I went and relaxed from my labour in the hot tub, took a shower, and am now about to call The Wife as I get ready to crawl into bed. Undoubtedly, she'll get to hear all about my day's geeky adventure. Lucky gal I tell ya... hehehe

December 9, 2007 - 10:24 AM


Friday night Bo, Maddy, and I headed to Clayton's house to see the new baby. Aysha is only a few days old, and not a whole lot different in size and weight than Maddy when she first arrived. Everyone took turns holding her, all the while remarking on how tiny she is. Sometimes it's hard to believe that we all were that tiny at one time.















So irony of the weekend time: After being locked out of my alarm system's configuration area for two and a half years, I replaced it with another unit that wasn't locked. FOUR DAYS LATER (yesterday) a friend of mine from work gave me all the Stealth Alarms Installer codes, so for kicks I hooked up the old panel temporarily to see if these codes would let me into it... The first one I tried worked. It just goes to show Murphy's Law(s) at work, specifically (a variation of) the one that states The surest way to find something is to replace it.

December 11, 2007 - 5:08 PM
A purple chinook in Calgary

U2 sings a song titled Beautiful Day that could easily be sung on many Calgary mornings, especially when you get sunrises like the one we had this morning. I had to pull over to the side of the road and take a few pictures. Sorry about the foreground material but it really does put things in perspective as it helps to show that the images are not altered in any way - anyone outside this morning at about 8:00 - 8:30 would be able to concur. Sometimes I wonder if the beauty of the skies is simply God's way of reminding us to look up once in a while.

Morning in Calgary, part II

Switch connections with their heat shrink in place

I had a couple of hours today to spend some time on my pet project at work - a test board to aid in training of technicians and installers so they will be experienced and well versed in the issues that can arise from faulty wiring on access control systems. I think I may have explained it on the site before, but if not - what I am creating is a mock up of all the components found in a typical access control system. Card readers, door contacts, EXIT buttons, electric strikes, power supplies, access controllers, input boards, output boards - the works. All of these devices will be wired up on one side of the test board, a heavy piece of plywood 3' x 4'. On the other side will be mounted a bank of switches, as the pictures seen today depict, which will be able to 'break' the system by inducing all sorts of faults. If you flip one switch one component may lose power. Another switch may reverse a pair of inputs. Other switches will make or break different sections of the circuits, and it will be up to the trainee to diagnose the system and determine what is 'wrong.' The completely wired switch board

As a young boy, I can remember (in fact, I still have some of them) drawing panels with switches, knobs, lights and other controls. I must admit there is a certain sense of fulfillment in actually getting to build a real control panel. I wanted to put LED's in this getup as well but time and (lack of) necessity have postponed, if not indefinitely, that addition. Still, the act of building a physical manifestation of a childhood dream is ripe with sense of reward. So too is playing with alarm systems. I can recall at a very young age, grade two in fact - making me 7 / 8 years old, where I brought a complete alarm system for show & tell. It had a numeric keypad with one Red and one Green LED, a loud siren and a motion detector. Thinking back to it now, it was amazing I was able to make it work at all, but I remember playing with some of the classmates, trying to sneak past the motion detector without getting caught. Once it set off the alarm though, I had to reset the entire unit since I did not have a valid code to arm or disarm the system. Even though I can picture the panel, I still cannot remember the brand but it will come to me.

My finished switchboard project. Now to wire the other end!

Since I know that most of those who come to visit my site are not really concerned with alarm panels, switch banks or most of my other geek-isms, I should say that things are going great with Kristi and I. With Christmas fast approaching it is doubly exciting this year. The one topic of some concern is that her ex is now trying to interfere with some of our plans. He reminds me so much of Ashley, it's almost a gender-reversed, parallel universe of situation, personality, character issues and self-centeredness. "Nevermind what's good for the child(ren), it's all about ME and what I WANT". Seriously, the similarities between the two are remarkable. The fact that they have both demonstrated how ego and image come ahead of the wellbeing of the respective child(and children) involved, packs volumes of support behind the argument that as long as they put their own petty self esteem issues ahead of even the most basic needs of those they would claim to care for, neither of them should ever be trusted with the responsibilities of children. I'm trying not to get started on this topic, but having witnessed this scenario from the inside, twice over now, it is hard to remain a dis-interested, neutral third party.

Purple Sky

What's that? Oh ya - look up!

December 15, 2007 - 11:39 PM
John at the 2007 Convergint Christmas party

This is my best Christmas grin. Note the shiny forehead? Jennifer Wiley's must be tingling right now wherever she is... hehehe

December 16, 2007 - 11:40 AM
Pausing for a moment at the Airport

Today is a day of fierce cleaning. I'm putting my nose to the grindstone and this place will be spotless by tonight! But in the mean time, I came across a poem from high school that somehow survived the years of storage. It makes my stomach rise just a bit when I read it, because the way it's told you can feel the impending dread of the writer.

The Execution
By Alden Nowlan

On the night of the execution
a man at the door
mistook me for the coroner.
"Press," I said.

But he didn't understand. He led me
into the wrong room
where the sherrif greeted me:
"You're late, Padre."

"You're wrong," I told him. "I'm Press."
"Yes, of course, Reverend Press."
We went down a stairway.

"Ah, Mr. Ellis," said the Deputy.
"Press!" I shouted. But he shoved me
through a black curtain.
The lights were so bright
I couldn't see the faces
of the men sitting
opposite. But, thank God, I thought
thay can see me!

"Look!" I cried. "Look at my face!
Doesn't anybody know me?"

Then a hood covered my head.
"Don't make it harder for us," the hangman whispered.
December 18, 2007 - 5:32 PM
Creature of Comfort

I think Spot IV takes after BJ in that she is definitely a creature of comfort. Here she has made herself a bed amongst the fluff under my parents' Christmas tree. I'm not overly a cat person, but you'd have to be a pretty cold person not to admit that this is cute...

Bo and I are going to play Badminton in a few minutes but I received a hilarious email from my mom this afternoon and thought I would share it here. Seriously - made me laugh out loud.

Qantas Airlines: Repair Division

In case you need a laugh: Remember, it takes a college degree to fly a plane but only a high school diploma to fix one.
After every flight, Qantas pilots fill out a form, called a 'Gripe Sheet' which tells mechanics about problems with the aircraft. The mechanics correct the problems; document their repairs on the form, and then pilots review the Gripe Sheets before the next flight.

Never let it be said that ground crews lack a sense of humor. Here are some actual maintenance complaints submitted by Qantas' pilots (marked with a P) and the solutions recorded (marked with an S) by maintenance engineers.
By the way, Qantas is the only major airline that has never, ever, had an accident.


P: Left inside main tire almost needs replacement.
S: Almost replaced left inside main tire.

P: Test flight OK, except auto-land very rough.
S: Auto-land not installed on this aircraft.

P: Something loose in cockpit.
S: Something tightened in cockpit.

P: Dead bugs on windshield.
S: Live bugs on back-order.

P: Autopilot in altitude-hold mode produces a 200 feet per minute Descent.
S: Cannot reproduce problem on ground.

P: Evidence of leak on right main landing gear.
S: Evidence removed.

P: DME volume unbelievably loud.
S: DME volume set to more believable level.

P: Friction locks cause throttle levers to stick.
S: That's what friction locks are for.

P: IFF inoperative in OFF mode.
S: IFF always inoperative in OFF mode.

P: Suspected crack in windshield.
S: Suspect you're right.

P: Number 3 engine missing.
S: Engine found on right wing after brief search.

P: Aircraft handles funny........... (I love this one!)
S: Aircraft warned to straighten up, fly right, and be serious.

P: Target radar hums.
S: Reprogrammed target radar with lyrics.

P: Mouse in cockpit.
S: Cat installed.

And the best one for last..................
P: Noise coming from under instrument panel. Sounds like a midget pounding on something with a hammer.
S: Took hammer away from midget

What are the odds?

December 21, 2007 - 7:16 AM
Binary Data Sent

Today is the last day of work for me in 2007! Woo Hoo!!! I've been spending some time in the Dungeon tinkering with some new electronic projects. In fact, to a certain degree I would even say there is an element of robotics involved... At least as far as the control of motors and servo's by computers is concerned... Lots of geeky fun.

I went and did the (almost) last of my Christmas shopping last night. Man is Superstore ever cheap! I'm going to do all my shopping there from now on! I couldn't believe it. Everyone complains about how busy it is and all that, but if you're saving that much money on your purchases, what's a little inconvenience at the till? And at least it's not Wal-Mart... Man I hate that store. I was going to buy a couple items there the night before, had them in-hand but by the time I got to the front of the store and saw the lines - not to mention the recollection came back to me that the last time I'd shopped there the debit card reader would not read my card, nor would another one and I had to go to the no-name ATM, pay a dollar fifty for MY OWN MONEY, and complete the transaction that way. So that little fact which I'd forgotten had resurfaced and after looking at the lines I set all my stuff down and walked out. It just wasn't worth it. And even though they did have a particular item I needed to buy for Christmas there, it was such obvious junk that I could not justify wasting the money on it. Wal-Mart sells cheap junk. I don't think I know of anyone who shops at Wal-Mart with the expectation of top quality goods. It's convenient because you can buy everything you need, get out, and when it breaks you can go back and buy it again because it didn't cost a lot in the first place. There's another rant I am not about to get started on, because I have to go to work. Have a great day everyone!

Connections

December 24, 2007 - 10:50 AM
Merry Christmas!

The season is upon us, and much like the childhood game of Hide and Seek, it seems as though a quiet whisper has been taunting me with repiticious phrases of Ready or not, here I come! Time is flying, much has been done, much is yet to do, and in the midst of the confusion somewhere there is supposed to be meaning nestled amongst the chaos. Why does Christmas always seem so stressful? Isn't it supposed to be a time of rejoicing? Of celebration? I was thinking about it last night and it occured to me that I have been absolutely fixated on the gift buying and gift giving. Finding the perfect present. Certainly giving presents has become one part of the tradition of Christmas - we give gifts to commemorate the ultimate Gift that was given for us. But often I think that aspect is lost. Look at the mass consumerism that has become the embodiment of Christmas! We give gifts because that's what's expected. We give gifts because we know that (they) are getting something for us and don't want to be undone. Sometimes we give gifts from a sincerely genuine heart overflowing with joy and appreciation for another individual and a desire to show them by gift-giving gesture how much they mean to us. But really - if we were honest, how many of the people on your list fall under that last category? Am I just being cynical? Perhaps. If so, I appologize. I realize this is not the most happy-go-lucky collection of thought for a Christmas Eve day. Still, I look around at all the corporate greed, shameless marketing and product placement and I have to wonder if all this was not what God intended when he sent his Son to save the world.

Oh ya, and my main computer blew up two nights ago. I was lying in bed reading when all of a sudden it just turned off. "That's strange," I thought. But continued on with what I was doing. A few minutes later I heard a short but distinct arcing sound, looked up to see a faint puff of smoke rise up out of the back of the power supply. "Oh ya, it's toast." I thought - assuming the power supply itself had failed and would now need to be replaced. I unplugged the power cord and left it till morning. But then yesterday I picked up a new power supply, replaced the old one and the computer fired up. I thought all was well until I noticed that neither monitor had turned on. "Strange..." I thought once again. I powered it off and on again - same result. So then I pulled the video card out, wondering in all the confusion if it hadn't been bumped or somehow become loose in it's socket. Sometimes just removing a device and re-installing it can cause strange problems like this one to go away. Same result a third time. Well, the forth time I turned it on, the power just flicked on and off repeatedly. Now becoming concerned, I removed all the devices and connections from the motherboard and tried it again. Same result. I even removed the motherboard from the case so only it was connected to the power supply and tried to turn it on. The power flashes on for a split second, then shuts off again. Just to make sure I didn't pick up a faulty power supply, I brought another computer over and connected it's main board to the new supply. Works perfectly fine. So somehow when my old power supply failed, it took out my motherboard with it. Fa la la la la... la la .. la .. la. Just what I needed two days before Christmas. Swine computers.

I've seriously been considering separating my life from computers, and this little incident could just be what I need to force the issue upon me. I guess we'll see what happens, but to make that thing work again I'm looking at a new motherboard, which means new processor, and of course - new ram too. Gotta love unexpected expenses during the most cash-strapped period of the year. Ah well, I have sat back and laughed at the irony of the situation many times. And I'm pretty confident I did not lose anything from the crash either. The hard drives are mirrored and should be intact. Still, that computer had ALL my pictures, ALL my music and movies, ALL my projects, ALL my [stuff] on it! If I had to lose one computer, that would probably not be my first choice! haha And it was my 'best' computer too. There are lessons here I'm sure, and once I figure out what they are, I will undoubtedly write about them here.

I wanted to thank Ryan and Tanya for watching my birds for me while I'm away. I'm sure the kids will have lots of fun with them again and it's not as though they are high maintenance animals, but none the less I did want to say that I am grateful for their willingness to help out. Thanks guys.

December 24, 2007 - 7:03 PM
Merry Christmas!"

The Airport Crew

On Friday afternoon I went for lunch with the rest of the guys I work at the Airport with. It's a pretty fun bunch, with some interesting dynamics. Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and a happy new year.

December 30, 2007 - 8:38 PM (BC Time)
Where to start? This Christmas has spanned the spectrum of surprises. There was a cryptic present from Kristi wrapped Russian-Doll-style filled with misleading clues preceeding days of suspense, countless hours of princess-play and makebelieve stories with the kids, I was introduced to a few more members of Kristi's family, and found myself enjoying a delicious Christmas dinner with all her family that could be here. I've been having a very relaxing time, the break has been quite beneficial and refreshing, and of course - spending time with Kristi and her kids is more than I could ask for over any Christmas holiday. I am starting to understand phrases like precious moments and out of the mouths of babes, and I think I'm even beginning to find my place in this family.

A couple of things I would like to write about. First of all, Kristi's present. Wrapped inconspicuously it came, just a box in Christmas paper. The first layer removed revealed another package, slightly smaller than the first inside. It too, was opened and the discovery of yet another package was made, until little there was left but some cut out, laser printed letters and a note that read "Love, Life, Family, and Laughter." If you, the reader, are sitting there bewildered, you would be very much as I was. After a few moments of puzzled look upon my face and expectant glee on hers, she caved in and handed me an envelope with the explanation that (this) might help make things clearer. Inside that envelope was a card and two tightly folded chunks of paper, one that read "Phase 1" and the other reading "Phase 2." Inside phase one was a printout of turn-by-turn directions to a street, coincidently named John Street in Seattle Washington. The second paper chunk was adorned with explicit instructions not to open it until Friday, the day on which we would be following these instructions to the next part of my present.

Curiosity stewed within me for days as I wondered what might be in store for me on John Street in Seattle. I sat down one evening after the girls had gone to bed with the cut out letters and began to put them together, scrabble style. With only an R and a D left out, I was able to spell The Nunnery, which was of no help whatsoever, but even once I learned of their proper order and placement - this clue really wouldn't have assisted me in gaining a better understanding of the present as they were the name of a famous explorer who settled the Seattle area but I was not aware of this particular site's history.

Anyway, the day of the trip finally came and with the kids in the care of her sister Shannon and her husband Milt, we set off on our adventure into the great unknown. (Well, unknown for me that is...) Turned out she had made reservations for us at a comedy club, Main Stage, where Harold Gomez was performing. I had never heard of him or seen any of his performances, but apparantly he's been featured on Comedy central and even opened for Dave Chappell! Whatever his resume, he was very funny and we had a fantastic time laughing into the warm Seattle night.





After the comedy club we found an Old Spagetti Factory and ate a delicious supper.





Kristi, Shannon and Milt all helping to hold the yet-to-be-born addition to their family.





One of the presents the kids got this year was a DVD / coloring book set that teaches them how to draw their favorite Disney characters, the Disney Princesses. Needless to say, it was a hit and you can see the level of concentration that it inspired in this young aspiring artist.



Kristi and I don't always see eye to eye, but apparantly we did here...



I remember my first time trying out Microsoft Paint, that incredibly limited version that's been included on every version of Windows since 3.0. Of course, my first exposure to it was on Uncle Bruce's 286 Unisys, not a laptop with wireless mouse - Times may have changed but that Paint program is still the same.







The wee one showing off her new socks, a present from Granny Finlay



The kids showing off their belated Christmas presents.

With all this happiness and seasonal joy, it came as quite a shock to learn of a death in my family. I am a few days late in finding out of this but apparantly it came as a shock to everyone. On December 27th about 2:00 PM, Grandpa Hanson passed away in the hospital very unexpectantly. He had checked himself in for stomach pains on the 24th and they believed it to be gallstones but there was no sign of anything serious. Christmas and boxing days he went through a plethora of tests and seemed to be recovering already, then on the 27th, an hour or so after lunch his nurse went to check on him, talked with him for a bit and told him she'd be back in 15 minutes to give him another dose of Morphine. His roommate said once she left he got up, went to the bathroom and returned, then crawled back into bed. A few minutes later when the nurse returned - he had passed away. According to his roommate there was no indication that anything was wrong, he had no idea anything was amiss until the nurse returned. His furneral will be on Thursday at 1:00 pm.


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