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Journal Entries for October 2005
October 1, 2005 - 1:49 PM


For the Birds...

Welcome to October! It is the month of fall, both Bo's and my birthdays, Haloween, and this particular year it also marks an easy-to-remember anniversary of the day I got my first pets in my new house: Two budgies.

Did you know? When I was a wee lad, I used to have three budgies: A blue one, a green one, and a white one. We got them when I was probably about 4 or 5 years old and had them for quite a few years. My brother and I named them - the blue one was called Sky, the green one was called Grass, and the white one was called Cloud. Not terribly creative, granted, but it was easy to identify the bird by it's name... We had the three budgies for quite a few years and they provided my brother and I with countless hours of entertainment and amusement as we would let them out of the cage and play with them. Every so often we'd lose one in the house somewhere and have to search high and low until we found it. It was interesting to see the different personalities they had too - and they were smart birds as well! The white one was mine and she (or he - we never did know) was more timid. Most of the time she would be content to stay inside the cage, even if it was left open. The green one however, was much more adventurous, exiting his enclosure at any chance he'd get. It was funny too, because they knew they were supposed to stay in the cage. So if the cage door was left open and someone was in the room, they'd usually stay put. But if the door was left open and the room was void of humans, the green one would stealthily make his way closer and closer to the opening, constantly watching for any sign of an owner who might come and close the cage up before he made his escape. Then he'd sit in the opening of the cage for a while, again checking the room to make sure the coast was clear. If I walked into the room at this point, he'd turn around and go sit back on his perch. But if not, he would make his escape and explore the room until he was caught and returned to the cage.

As with all things, even the joys of our budgies came to an end. The blue one passed away first (but he was fairly old when we got them.) and the white one passed away several years later. The green one was the last to go - and the house seemed very quiet once he was gone. I think I would have been in grade 3 or 4 at that time. But now I have two new budgies in my house to keep me company. It was not easy picking them out either. At the pet store there were a good 30 or more budgies in this 'tank' from which you could pick your pets. After watching them for at least 20 minutes, I found two birds preening each other and decided that they would become my new pets. But now, as I sit here watching them watch me, I am faced with another canundrum: What should I name them? SO, here's what I'm going to do. I am going to give you the opportunity to submit possible names for each bird. After enough names have been collected, I'll pick the top 3 or 5 for each bird and let you vote on the names. Once enough votes have been collected, the names you've chosen will become the names of my birds! So put your thinking caps on, we're about to play Name That Bird!

October 3, 2005 - 11:55 PM


Ok, are you ready to help me name my new pets? Click on Name That Budgie to cast your ballot for name suggestions. After some time (a week? Maybe two?) I'll take my favorite 5 names for each bird and put them to a vote on the web site. So get your thinking caps on, call your friends, ask your mother, pick up a Budgie Naming book - do whatever you have to do and submit your names!



In other news, I just added another 30 gigs to the web space on my server so there will be LOTS of room for the new pictures from my life, including many of my two little feather-wrapped bundles of joy! Just tonight they started to chirp while I was sitting here programming the back end stuff for the budgie naming script... Kind of timid but sweet. I have a feeling Syrena has quit Custom Linen - she hasn't showed up for work in the past two business days and that's usually not a good sign. Diana gave her two weeks' notice today too - it seems like everyone is jumping the sinking ship that is Custom Linen. I guess my time will come too. Nothing seems to be going right these days. It snowed today too... That was not fun. I drove my bike around into the garage this morning and looked on with disdain at the snowflakes lighting themselves in the beam of my headlight as they drifted past it... Sad. We had a little birthday gathering over the weekend for Bo and I whose birthdays fall within the days of (this past and present) weekends. Just some family came over for some pizza, steak, cake and a few presents. But MAN am I tired tonight for some reason. Must be the now-dreary weather.

October 5, 2005 - 11:56 PM


My birds are quite a pair. For the first few days they were quite timid and shy - and rightfully so. Their entire worlds changed in a matter of 20 minutes! But slowly and surely they have begun to feel more comfortable in their new home, even beginning to sing and play. I've been having a great deal of fun with them, trying to teach them where their food is, get them used to being handled and re-arranging things in their cage to better suit them. I have two budgies, one green and one blue. If I had to guess I'd say that the green one is probably a female and the blue one a male. The green one is already quite finger-friendly - she doesn't mind perching on my finger and seems fairly content to stay there. The blue one is much more 'self reliant' and seems to prefer not to be picked up. As their wings are clipped, neither of them can really fly - it's more of a controlled descent.



Most of the time I'm away it seems like all they do is sleep. But whenever I am in the room, talking with them or doing things they tend to perk up and start preening, eating, and/or chirping. Oddly enough - tonight when I came home I found the blue one clinging upside down to the TOP of the cage, and the green one (is still) perched on a chunk of Millet seed that, although mounted in a vertical position - is now resting horizontal under the weight of the budgie perched on top of it. Should she get off, the branch of seeds will snap back to it's vertical position, so I am more than just a little curious as to how they came about being in their situations... Again, I am getting quite a bit of amusement out of them both.

Today at lunch time I had an amusing moment. Kerri and I were sitting at McDonalds eating lunch together and she had been telling me something of a sad story about how she had many pictures on her computer but hadn't yet printed any of them out. Now anyone who's spent any time around me has seen me pull out my invisible violin to play a sad, sad song for you should you whine in my presence. However, this afternoon when I pulled out the violin she looked at it for a moment - puzzled - and then blurted out, "Inkjet Cartridge?" I was taken aback. How on earth would someone get inkjet cartridge out of my violin?? She explaind the thought process behind it and there was a bit of reasoning behind it, but still - it was pretty funny. It will be one of those things we'll look back on and laugh about but only us two will get it. So forget I even told you. :P It probably doesn't even sound funny.

This evening I was going out for coffee with Ben from church and on the way to Second Cup I was stopped at a light, several cars back from the intersection. Two pedestrians crossed the street in front of the stopped vehicles and at first I paid no attention. But something about the way one of the pedestrians was walking caught my eye and I began to stare. I could not see her face, but her walk was unmistakable. Her hair, her sweater - all incredibly familiar. Although I didn't actually see her face, I am 98% sure it was Syrena! I have no idea who she was with. Small world though. It was kind of wierd. It almost looked like she might have been walking home.

I let the blue bird out of the cage and he has found his way to the floor. Now he is going around my room trying to find a way to get back up to the cage. It's interesting - he's pretty thorough. He climbs up on top of this or that and then tries to determine if he can get anywhere from there, then goes somewhere else and tries to get on top of it as well. He still tries to fly, but with his wings clipped his vertical ascents are limited to about 1 foot. He's definitely determined. Eventually once he's had a bit of exercise I will give him a lift back up to the cage. I think I might put the cage on the floor eventually. That way I can leave it open and they can roam around. I'm not too worried about the poops. They're pretty clean. Anyway, I'm going to get off to bed. I finally put the blue one back into the cage. The green one started poking her head out the door - I think she wanted to be let out for a while too. Tomorrow I'll let her out. They really are smart animals!

October 7, 2005 - 12:57 PM
Today is the day before my 25th birthday. It's probably as good a time as any to reflect on the first quarter century of my life.

In the past 25 years, I have gone to three different schools, visited 3 foreign countries, I have had the Chicken Pox. I have played in a band, played soccer, hockey, hookie, ringette, baseball, basketball, volleyball, football, badminton, tennis, ping pong, Nintendo, Coleco, Sega, Atari, Playstation, and X-Box. I have programmed computers, written songs, played songs I wrote for the girls to whom they were written. I have been rejected. I have had my heart broken. I have been cheated on. I have cheated on a girlfriend. I have been lied to and done my share of lying. I have made the same mistakes more than twice. I have poured Pepsi on Honey Nut Cheerios and ate it. I have loved someone who never knew it. I have told someone what they wanted to hear so that I wouldn't hurt them. I have been in love. I have hurt people I love. I have shattered a toilet. I have shot my brother with a pellet gun. I have worked three full time jobs since graduating. I hate peas. I have seen friends come and go. I have kept people's secrets. I have been hit by a car. I have flipped a motorcycle. I have discovered two universally applicable facts about life: Life is not fair and plans change. I am sarcastic. At the present time I do not own a TV. I do, however, own two Budgies. I love dogs. I have done things just to scare me. I have taken the easy way out. I have gone to great lengths to impress girls. I have broken my best friend's nose. I have broken a girl's nose. (I also knocked several of her teeth out) I have never been fired. I have had sex. I have no debt. I have never owned a credit card of any kind. I have run naked through rain. I have been surprised. I have made people laugh. I have made some cry. I have been the center of attention. I have been alone in a croud. I have encouraged others. I have been inspired. I have perspired. Some day I will expire. (Hopefully not before I retire!) I have been on fire. I have had a flat tire. I like to rhyme. I have done what was best in the long run despite the way I felt at the time. I have let my emotions get the best of me. I have lost my temper. I have lost a friend. I have talked to strangers. I have applied good advice. I have slept on a washing machine. I have broken the law. I have antagonized others for my own amusement. I have peeked at my presents before it was time to open them. I have told the people who mean the most to me that I love them. I have wanted things I cannot have. I have learned from other's mistakes. I have carried 8 slurpee's on my motorcycle. Without spilling. I have done things others said were impossible. I have been corrected. I have been wrong. I have been misunderstood. I have been used. I have been vindicated. I have been caught. I have escaped. I have had close calls. I have had long distance calls. I have never made a bird call. I have been late. I have forgotten. I have been early. I have changed my mind. I have been constipated. I have never broken a bone. I have been cut. I have been burned. I have been taken advantage of. I have many scars. I have been drunk. I have taken without asking. I have fooled people. I have been fooled. I have done things I regret doing. I have played it safe. I have crossed the line. I have given up. I have played the game.

I think that's a decent start to my reflections on my life so far. Twenty- five years old. What's next?

October 10, 2005 - 1:02 AM
Word of the day: Lacklustre

I heard the word lacklustre on TV the other day and it came up again in another conversation quite recently, and looking back on this thanksgiving long weekend - so far I would have to say that it has been quite lacklustre. Now granted, my family took me out for brunch this morning to the Calgary Tower, which was quite something to see. I know I've been to the Calgary Tower before but I can't remember when so it was like visiting it for the first time all over. The food was excellent, I couldn't have asked for better company, and on top of it all, my birthday present was a can of Pepsi Lime wrapped in fifty dollar bills - totalling $10 for every year I've been alive! So when I speak of the weekend brunch this morning is not included in that. This evening I went to Barb's house for their family Thanksgiving dinner - which was also excellent. But I have to admit that after having attended several previous years' Thanksgiving meals with their family, this one seemed quite dull by comparison. All the whipped cream stayed in the bowl this year! And my family didn't even DO a Thanksgiving dinner! (Though I think it was postponed for the sake of my Aunt and Uncle who aren't going to be back in Calgary until next (?) weekend) Tomorrow is supposed to be 22 degrees though and Bo's family is doing their dinner tomorrow so there may still be something to write about but so far, this weekend would have to fall into the category of "Good but not noteworthy." I hope nobody is offended by my saying so.



Oddly enough, I have been feeling quite strange lately. It's hard to explain, but if I had to describe it I'd say it's like being tired and drunk at the same time. Yesterday I was at my parents' house and mid-afternoon I just crashed. I could not stay awake! I ended up pulling up a blanket and falling asleep on the couch for a few hours. Today another overwhelming wave of fatigue overcame me about the same time. After brunch I went home and was doing some work on the garage, spraying in that foam insulation to try to seal up the plethora of gaps between the roof and the walls of the garage. It was so bad you could see light pouring in, not to mention cold air. Now that we have a furnace in the garage, it would be nice if the heat it generates would stay in the garage where it will do us good, instead of contributing to global warming! Once I'd gone through three cans of the foam, I came inside to check on my birds and as soon as I touched my bed I practically collapsed. It was all I could do to cover myself with the light bird blanket and pass out with my head wrapped in my sweater until Kevin called me asking for a ride to his house. On the way to work although I was driving I felt drunk. Cognitavely I did not feel like I was all there. It was like my body was just functioning and I was sitting back, watching it go. We had our dinner there, the food was excellent, I got my fill of turkey and stuffing, and then I sat down to do some maintenance on their computer. Eventually the two K's and I walked to 7-Eleven and bought slurpees and then we came back and watched a movie but as soon as I got up from the movie I honestly felt like I was going to throw up. I still don't know why... Now I'm home and in bed. I haven't thrown up but I do sort of feel better. It's very strange though. I wonder if there isn't something actually wrong with me. Perhaps part of the reason my view of the weekend has been a bit dull is because I haven't been feeling the greatest. I should probably go to bed but that slurpee is surging through my blood.



On my way in tonight I couldn't help but notice that my bike seat was covered in frost... According to my recently installed indoor/outdoor thermometer it is presently 2.9 degreec Celcius outside and a cozy 21.8 Celcius in my room. Oh! I just remembered something else I was going to write about but it will have to wait till another day. Goodnight

October 10, 2005 - 1:36 AM


October 11, 2005 - 1:23 AM
Black Light with a twist

Shave a man's back and he'll purr like a walrus...

There's just something about Black Lights that always fascinated me. So no one should be surprised that while shopping at Wal-Mart the other night I spotted (and bought'ted) one. Although I already own about 5 or 6 four foot tubes, as well as a couple of smaller ones - this one had a bit of a twist to it! (huh huh) That's right, they make a spiral, compact flourescent, black light. Seeings as how I was shopping on my birthday, I also bought as a present for myself several other spirally compact flourescent lamps - a blue one, a red one, and a green one. They are all very cool. It was my birthday present to myself.

One of the other little projects I tackled this weekend was to identify the problem with an upright vacuum cleaner I was given. It was one of those If you can fix it you can have it sort of deals. I'm not sure what's supposed to happen if I can't fix it... Maybe I'm supposed to give it back. I don't know. But anyway, I pulled it apart and did some digging around inside. As it turns out, the brushes in the motor are completely worn out, and because of the additional arcing that had to have occured as the connection to the commutator got worse, a lot of the plastic housing around the brush mounts has melted and adhered to what's left of the brushes, making the prospect of replacing them very difficult. The result: One more device for the trash. It's too bad too, I liked the design of the actual vaccuum part of this unit. There is no filter between the dust intake and the motor, so you'd almost never get a reduction in your suction power - even if your bag is full! Most vaccuum cleaners have the motor sucking air through the bag - requiring the bag compartment to be airtight. This is almost never actually achieved, and their performance is significantly diminished. Add the fact that there are usually several filters (and the bag itself also acts as a filter) to rob your cleaner of it's cleaning power. All of those problems would have been overcome with this unit, but alas - it's motor was effectively shot and not worth replacing. That's how it is with so many things these days. The cost of repairing the item is nearly as much or sometimes even more than the value of the item being repaired! It would be cheaper to go out and buy a new one.



Fall continues and yet we still have the odd nice day like today, where the temperature reaches a comfortable 20 degrees outside. Even now at 2:00 in the morning it is still 13.8 degrees outside. My recently installed wireless thermometer tells me so. :P hehe I guess that's another birthday present for myself. Shouldn't have had that can of Pepsi but what can I do now? I'm waiting for my laptop to do some badly needed updates. That's one thing I thoroughly love about Fedora Core - they are constantly improving it! I guess I could try to get some sleep here... A small part of me does in fact feel tired though I fear that actual sleep is still some time off... Maybe I should go make a cup of tea. I bought some French Vanilla the other day... Mmmm that stuff is good. Kudo's to Cookie for getting me hooked on it. I know it's a silly association but every time I drink that stuff it brings me back to her trailer that night - the first night I'd ever had anything but milk and sugar in my tea. After tasting the French Vanilla creamer - tea was never the same for me. Good times

October 13, 2005 - 10:56 PM
Times are changing...

Diana has given her notice at work and tomorrow is her last day. So, as a surprise and a goodbye present, I enrolled the help of Sean and Kevin tonight and we baked up some of those Dream Bars, aka Chocolate Chip Cookie Brownies that she's been asking me to make since Becky and I made the first batch probably around a year ago! Barb and Ed are in Spokane this weekend on a little vacation trip so I'm watching the two boys till they get back. I'm not sure how everything is going to work out this weekend, I've got a computer to fix for a lady who lives in the boonies by Okotoks, Saturday my family is doing up our late Thanksgiving dinner, Sunday I've got some things at church to go to and that's just MY schedule. One of the boys has a birthday party to go to on Saturday and I don't even know what else - so it will be fun, but so far they've been a great help and everything has gone very smoothly. Kristin, who celebrated her 18th birthday on Tuesday, doesn't actually live here anymore so technically I'm not looking after her this time. I say technically because already tonight she asked me for a ride home... Snif. Tear. They grow up so fast!

There's no picture tonight because Blair is leaving for Puerto Viarto (spelled wrong, I know) in the morning so I gave him my good digital with the underwater case. While I may be just a little bit jealous of his trip, there is certainly no one on the face of the earth more deserving of a vacation than he. I pity anyone left to fill his shoes under the new ownership of that Quizzno's. From what I hear, things have not been going well for the new owners. The store is filthy, the utensils are not properly cleaned, apparantly the meat slicer is disgusting... I might just go down there with my camera sometime and take a few pictures. Actually it would be kind of interesting to see if the pictures of my grandparents and (grandparents-in-law) are still on the wall. There was a black and white photograph of each couple hanging on the wall of the store while my aunt and uncle owned it. I know I have a picture of that somewhere. Oh, and Alida - now that I have more space on here again, I will put up the pictures from the last few days of Hanson's Quizzno's for you. I know you had asked for them a long time ago and I haven't forgotten. I just haven't had a lot of time at home to do much of anything - especially on my web site. And even more so now that my laptop has lost it's usefullness to me. (My own doing, granted - but still.) All those pictures are on it and for the moment I don't really have a way to get them off. But they are still coming. Rest assured. Those and many more.

And now it's time to complain about work... Lorne, our maintenance supervisor gave notice that he is actively seeking alternate employment and will take up said employment upon successful acquirement. So he's going, tomorrow is Diana's last day, there are rumours of more people leaving flying amuck around the office... Under the new ownership / management the place just feels like it's been steadily going downhill. It's not a fun place to work anymore, and even the work people are doing has become redundant, repetative and boring. When I started working for Custom Linen under George, I loved my job. I gave my best because I respect George, I admire him and he is a fair person. I never got the impression from him that he was out to take advantage of me or my skills as some previous employers had. I felt confident that he would treat me fairly and I ended up putting in a LOT of extra hours of work for the betterment of his company. Since G & K has come in, they've thrown out much of the work I've done for the company, completely scrapping the AlbertaRooms project I spent a good year developing. Even the programs I am currently spending my days writing will be replaced in the not-so-distant future, and the work I am doing seems to go un-noticed. There is no satisfaction in my work anymore. Rarely do I leave work for the day feeling like I've accomplished something. In fact, the only ray of sunshine at work these days is not in the work itself or in the responsibility but in the sewing bay. I've found a friend in the form of a young lady who came to work at Custom Linen in our sewing department. We're in an interesting situation because she lives with her boyfriend and I'm not in any position to date anyone - so there's no chance of a formal relationship. But what we've discovered is a wonderful friendship and the enjoyment of each other's company every opportunity we can find. Every day for the past two weeks we've gone for lunch together - sometimes just out to McDonalds, sometimes to T&T, one day we went bowling, today we made KD at my house - and everywhere we go, whatever we're doing it involves laughter. That's it. That's the only part of my job that I get enjoyment out of. And of course the rumour mills have been churning, I've seen a few people look at us funny as we're heading out for lunch or sitting in my office, but I really don't care. If they want to make something of it, find something in their policy books that says we can't be friends and rob me of my only source of daily enjoyment, I don't live to work there... Any chances of me going somewhere with the company died on February 22, 2005 when they announced the takeover. Now I am just biding my time, waiting for something better to come along before I too abandon the sinking ship. I've already had an offer at a job where I'd work a 4 day week, get full benefits and make (get this) more than DOUBLE what I am making right now! I would be stupid not to take such an offer - and it's with a large company doing much more of what I love to do than where I am right now. We'll see what happens. It all comes out in the wash

October 14, 2005 - 9:10 AM










October 17, 2005 - 9:53 AM


I had the joy of house-sitting and Babysitting for Barb and Ed this weekend, but I think I'd have to say that the kids were out of the house more than I was... Sean had a birthday party, Kevin was working and then babysitting for another friend... Much of the time I spent at the house alone working on my new photo album for the web site. We had a bit of fun while people were home though, I brought my fog machine over as well as my Flying Circus DVD set... On thursday evening we baked a batch of chocolate cookie brownies for Diana's last day. They were well recieved and she took a bunch of them home with her as well. It definitely won't be the same around here without her... Kerri came over on her break and plunked herself down in my chair for our morning chat. Learned some interesting bits of information. I am amused this morning.



Kerri is a very reliable person, so reliable in fact that I know pretty much exactly when she is going to show up. So on Friday, I hid behind my door, camera in-hand, and waited for her approach. Then, I leapt out from behind the door, yelled "Boo!!!" and flashed the picture. Real life photography at it's best right there. hehehe

October 18, 2005 - 2:33 AM
Despite all the joy you've brought to my life, you're just another reminder of what I cannot have

Ya. It's two thirty in the morning. I'm wide awake. Techno sounds and shapes fill the room as a can of Pepsi swirls around in my stomach. Cold sweat. You've got to have hope in your soul But on the bright side, I was able to hack my way back into my laptop despite a faulty kernel... So it's more or less running again... The audio is still glitchy but I've got about 196 megs of updates to download and esound is one of the packages in the set so hopefully that addresses the glitch. Can't have my laptop without sound... That's 80% of what I use it for! Downloading music is addicting. Once I get going, it's hard to stop. Wow. It's already three in the morning! This could be a long night (and/or an early morning.)

Bo and I took Maddison to the Leisure Centre this evening. Haven't been to that place in a while. (Nevermind, the laptop just crashed again. It's such a random thing I'm almost wondering if it might be a hardware problem...) But back to the leisure center... it sure has changed. A lot of the fun stuff is missing like the twin orange slides, the high diving board, and the rope you swing from out into the water. They've still got a rope, but it's got a silly red ball on the end of it. It's not like before where you just had a rope you could tie up into a loop, kick off the wall behind you (because that's gone with the orange slides,) give yourself a little whip and do sweet double back-flip into the water... Sigh. They've definitely lowered the fun level a few notches there, but I guess when you have a couple of kids die you have to make some changes... Still, Maddy had a wonderful time and is becomming a better swimmer every time she goes. I guess if you don't remember what the place was like before the changes, you don't know what you're missing. Ignorance is bliss. Oh, and I was still able to swim across the entire length of the pool (lane-wise) underwater! That was definitely a test of will-power considering I haven't attempted it in years and didn't even have a warm-up, but it was secretly very satisfying when Bo came up short on attempting the same feat. So I've got good lung capacity. Just gotta find good cardio to go with it! Then again, I do recall being able to displace over 4 litres of air in grade 6. We set up a science project where we inserted a four litre milk container upside down into a tank of water and placed a hose up into the jug. Then, taking turns, everyone in the class took one breath and tried to displace as much water from the jug as possible. Each person's results were marked on the side of the jug but I remember being the only person in the class to not only empty the jug but also blow some bubbles! That means that when I was in grade 6, (so I'd have been what, 11? 12?) my lungs could hold over 4 litres of air! It would be interesting to repeat the same experiment now.

After the pool we watched some season two Corner Gas... Man that is a great show. It's probably my current "real life" favorite right now. (As opposed to cartoons, of which Family Guy still reigns supreme with nothing in sight that might resemble a challenger. Simpsons has an equally secure seat in second place and Futurama - a comfortable third.)

Wow did I gas out or what! Suddenly I am very tired. Can you believe I am actually running the internal diagnostics on my laptop? I don't think I have EVER done that before. It sure is taking a long time on the RAM... But there is a lot of ram in that thing and it is a thorough test... Wouldn't that be something if all my problems were in fact caused by not faulty software but faulty hardware? I've tried searching for other users of the 600E with similar problems on these latest kernels but so far I have found nothing. I find it hard to believe that if the problem is in fact a kernel issue, with all the 600E's out there - mine would be the only one having trouble! I guess we'll see what happens. Anyway, I should get to bed. Morning comes awful early when you're just getting into bed at 3:30... I can't even say I have a worthy cause to be up this late. No girlfriend, no home-based business, no brilliant piece of artwork, no inspired musical creation, nothing! *sigh* Back to shopping for windows tomorrow... You can look but the merchandise is sold already.

October 18, 2005 - 7:35 PM
Happy Birthday Dana and Uncle Bruce!

Today is both Dana Lattery's and my Uncle Bruce's birthdays. Now my Uncle Bruce I know is in Mexico right now, with my brother and several other members of his immediate family enjoying a well-deserved vacation. As for Dana, I haven't seen him since probably grade 10 but I know that today is his birthday. So wherever you are Dana, happy birthday!

I was just making some tea - I poured the hot water into the cup, started pouring in some sugar and realized my sugar bowl was empty. I reached under the cupboard to get the bag and refill it, (refilled it) and put the bag of sugar away. I finished doling out my sugar, poured in my French Vanilla creamer - and then stopped and began to wonder why the tea looked so white. Then it hit me - I'd forgotten to put in a tea bag! hahah Never done that before... So I guess it's another first.

Should I put the bike in the garage? Will it be nice tomorrow? I've heard forecasts of snow by Thursday but today it was still pretty nice... Do I risk it for another day? I've had to defrost my seat every day this week! But then it's sunny and warm by the time I'm going home from work... Tonight my agenda has but two things on it: Update my resume and shave my head / goatee. Don't worry, there will be before (probably during) and after pictures of that... It's time for a change.

I think my tea should be ready by now... So how was your day?

October 19, 2005 - 9:51 AM
Time for a change

... And since a picture is worth a thousand words, here's an encyclopedia of my night.























Enough said.

October 20, 2005 - 11:07 AM
Happy Birthday Telle!

I hope you have a wonderful birthday, wherever you are.

Word of the day: Blurple

I think my birds might be nocturnal. I left their cage open last night when I went to bed and was startled by the fluttering of little wings over my blanket in the middle of the night. They were going nuts! Apparantly they wanted to go play outside their cage at four in the morning. I'd been up pretty late working on my new photo album. It is getting very close to the point where I can start transferring all my pictures over to it and once that's done, it will allow a LOT more flexability for both me and you - the visitor. The code is beautiful, almost entirely object-oriented. But it was after three before I got to bed. Then with the birds going nuts all night I didn't get much sleep, woke up this morning and found my alarm clock on the floor, battery laying beside it and no idea what time it was. It was 9:57. So far, this day's been going pretty good, although it is snowing lightly right now... Swine snow. I went to put my bike in the garage last night and found both latches on my door were unlatched. I'm hoping it was just Bo working on his car the other day but that's pretty wierd because I know it was locked... He cancelled his cell phone the other day so I can't get a hold of him during the day anymore. It's amazing how much we take that for granted. I can probably count on one hand the number of people I know who don't have a cell phone... October 24, 2005 - 11:49 PM


Blair and the Hansons arrived home safely from Mexico. He took over 550 pictures and told me some pretty cool stories while I was over at their house this afternoon. Also my cousin James from England is visiting us at the moment, staying at my parents' place. I took him for his first motorcycle ride tonight and tomorrow is supposed to be an even nicer day. (Though not as nice as Mexico I would imagein... sigh)







October 25, 2005 - 5:38 PM
Crossing my fingers... Tomorrow at 11

Phrase of the day: The Four O'Clock Wedgie
(Front or back, pick one.)

And yesterday's phrase of the day (because I forgot to post it)

Bald John Square Boob



I ripped my favorite pants today... Life is just not fair sometimes I tell ya! Most other pairs of pants I own are either already ripped or I'm half-expecting TO rip sometime soon - but this pair has only seen a few weeks' wear and I figured they'd last me a good while yet. I suppose I can always patch the rip (or better - find someone else to patch it since my sewing skills are somewhat lacking...) but this is so typical of my life. I'll be going along, minding my own business, doing my thaaaang when all of a sudden - something unexpected happens. I mean, I like the change of scenery it provides me to a certain degree, but certainly these pants did not deserve to be ripped! Swine pant rippers.

There's nothing quite as sexy as a girl on a bike

Kerri and I went for a bikeride this afternoon, on perhaps the last nice day of 2005. Our travels began with her making a small dent in a big leaf pile outside the front of my house, and found us riding aimlessly about several streets near the river, slurpees in hand, with a loaf of bread in search of ducks to feed. Alas but for time - the everpressing nemesis of happy moments - we might have made some ducks fatter.

Now I have some work to do in the garage, and then the plan for tonight is to continue working on PANDA for work. If the plans pan out the way I estimate they might, I will be putting in a lot time at work (and working from home) to finish up some projects for Custom Linen before another change of scenery overtakes me. More on that later!



Who knew coffee creamers could be so entertaining?

October 26, 2005 - 11:59 PM
So you think you're having a bad day?



Thanks to Pat for that one. That puts things in perspective for sure. Well, I'm holding my breath. I am trying very hard not to get excited lest the whole thing fall through, but so far - the doors have been open to me and things are looking good. It seems that this might just be that time of change that comes along every now and again and blasts you out of your saddle. But change is good once in a while and I think it is definitely due. I spoke with Rick from Color Right Now this afternoon - my first full time employer out of high school. We chatted for about 10 minutes and I'm going to meet him tomorrow for coffee. I also talked with Ib from Sylvania and he too has promised me a glowing letter of reference. I also pulled my driver's abstract today - No Information To Report it reads. $20 and change for a piece of paper that has "no information" on it. But in this case, that is a good thing. I've been having trouble sleeping these past couple of nights. Like I said, I'm trying not to get excited but it's hardest at night when the mind has nothing to do but think. *sigh* I guess we'll see what happens.

Oh, and the color of the day is RED. heheheh

October 28, 2005 - 12:07 AM


Let sleeping dogs lie...

Take a deep breath. Hold it in for a few moments before slowly exhaling. Open your eyes. Stare straight ahead.

Have you ever jumped off the 10 metre board at Lindsey Park? It is quite a rush. You're literally free-falling more than thirty feet before plunging into water. Short of sky-diving or bungee jumping, it's probably the greatest distance an average human being will fall without experiencing death or accompanying symptoms at the end of the experience. Standing at ground level looking up, it really doesn't look all that high. But when you're staring down at the ground between your toes poised at the top of the platform, even that olympic sized pool looks petite. You can stand there forever, trying to convince yourself that this is a good idea, that everyone is watching, that there is nothing to be afraid of. You can reason and justify it indefinitely but in the back of your mind you know you're just stalling. Eventually, you just have to take one step forward. Just one step, one non-refundable, non-retractable, step off that platform. Suddenly, it doesn't matter if you're scared. It doesn't matter who's watching. It doesn't matter how you feel. You are falling.

October 29, 2005 - 11:39 PM
John's scarry pumpkin

Maddy's pumpkin

Bo's pumpkin

John's goofy pumpkin

Kerri's new hair Bo, Maddy, and I carved some pumpkins today for Haloween. This will be our first Haloween in our new house, and so we thought it was appropriate to do up a little something to the trick-or-treaters. I won't give anything away just yet, but it should be a howl. Yesterday Kerri went and got hair extensions put in. What we thought would be about a 3 or 4 hour process ended up taking nearly 8 hours to finish... But in the end they looked really good. My phone did some wierd things yesterday too - supposedly at 7:03 Kristin got a call on her cell phone from MY number! BUT, my phone was closed and in my pocket the whole time, and I even checked the call log which did not show any phone calls going out since about 6 sometime. And definitely not to her cell... I don't think her phone number was even in the recent call list at all! THEN, later on that evening, I got a text message stating that I had a new voicemail message, which in fact I did, and it was Chandra! Haven't heard from or seen her in at least a year. So I ended up going over to her house last night because she had a major computer problem and couldn't get any support from HP... surprise surprise... I rebuilt it and got everything set up Bo and Maddy carving their pumpkin on it for her and ended up getting home about 3:30 this morning. Then when I woke up, Bo, Maddy, and I went to the leisure center for a few hours to swim and then we came home and bought some pumpkins to carve. You can see our craftsmanship above - the first one is mine, the second one is Maddy's, the third one is Bo's and the fourth one is also mine. (Maddy drew the face on hers but Bo carved it out.) I must admit, the whole procedure was a bit harder than I had expected it to be. This was the first pumpkin I had carved by myself and certainly the first one I've ever gutted. THAT was interesting! I stopped by Chandra's house last night to fix her computer. Haven't seen her in over a year!

BJ Smiling

I took this picture of BJ tonight. Isn't he a cute puppy??? I love my puppy.





October 31, 2005 - 10:46 PM


HAPPY HALOWEEN!!!

Well we had a good Haloween this year... Scared the proverbial feces out of many a trick-or-treater... One kid told us that (we) scared him the most he'd been scared all night. The cake winner this year though, was one fellow who actually fell backwards doing a summersalt down our front porch steps and landing face down on the sidewalk in front of our house after a frightful encounter with yours' truly... We were actually a tad bit afraid he might be out cold but he eventually got up and laughed with the rest of his friends who had also found a tremendous source of amusement in his acrobatic descent from our entry-way. Not too many were afraid of the chainsaw though... That was a bit of a disappointment. Bo and I have decided to plan and prepare a bit better for next year.






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