Wednesday, December 27, 2006
Monday, December 25, 2006
...never a catapult
"Bags of moist and many-colored jelly babies and a folded flag and a false nose and a tram-conductor's cap and a machine that punched tickets and rang a bell; never a catapult; once, by mistake that no one could explain, a little hatchet; and a celluloid duck that made, when you pressed it, a most unducklike sound, a mewing moo that an ambitious cat might make who wished to be a cow; and a painting book in which I could make the grass, the trees, the sea and the animals any colour I pleased, and still the dazzling sky-blue sheep are grazing in the red field under the rainbow-billed and pea-green birds." -Dylan Thomas
Sunday, December 24, 2006
The Law of Unintended Consequences
Sometimes the best intentions don't quite work out the way we envisioned. Terry Pratchett says the bricks that make up the road to Hell all have little sayings on them like "I just wanted to have some fun" and "I didn't mean for anyone to get hurt".
McKay is coming to grips with the concept of mortality. He is aware that things, including people, can die. This is starting to become a globally applicable concept so it's not just plants and animals that can die, but people too. His people.
Also, we have told McKay many times that the way he gets big and strong is by getting good rest, eating good food and getting good exercise. He knows candy is a special treat that he can have once in a while, but not too often because it doesn't do anything to help him grow, regardless of how tasty it is.
It being Christmas eve, we (and as it turns out, a multitude of other parents) were looking for something to do to let McKay burn off some of the nervous energy he had about the impending arrival of the Jolly Old Man. So we went to Science World, which is always good for a rainy afternoon (or holiday eve) of running around. On our way out, we decided that he could have some cotton candy as a treat.
This all ties together. I promise.
McKay and I had the following conversation in the car while we were waiting for Lorraine to get out of a quick shop in the grocery store. The scene: McKay sitting in the back seat, snacking on some of his spun blue sugar, I in the driver's seat.
M: Dad, when are you going to die?
D: Not for a long lot of years.
M: Why not for long?
D: Well, because I try to stay healthy. I get good rest and eat good food to try to stay healthy. One of the things people believe is that the healthier you are, the longer you'll live, so I try to stay healthy.
M: (ten second pause) I'm going to stop eating my cotton candy.
D: (Oh crap, I think to myself.) Why, honey?
M: Because I don't want to die when I get older.
D: Oh nononononono, honey, don't worry about it. You get candy every once in a while, and you always eat such good food. Don't worry about it, this won't make you sick. A little treat every once in a while is just fine.
M: (another ten second pause) Okay.
Then he started eating the cotton candy again. I couldn't help but feel like I'd dodged a bullet on that one.
As an aside, a two pint tub of cotton candy only has about 54 calories in it. That's better than a candy bar. And yes, this was a "there are eggs and milk in chocolate cake!" moment for me.
McKay is coming to grips with the concept of mortality. He is aware that things, including people, can die. This is starting to become a globally applicable concept so it's not just plants and animals that can die, but people too. His people.
Also, we have told McKay many times that the way he gets big and strong is by getting good rest, eating good food and getting good exercise. He knows candy is a special treat that he can have once in a while, but not too often because it doesn't do anything to help him grow, regardless of how tasty it is.
It being Christmas eve, we (and as it turns out, a multitude of other parents) were looking for something to do to let McKay burn off some of the nervous energy he had about the impending arrival of the Jolly Old Man. So we went to Science World, which is always good for a rainy afternoon (or holiday eve) of running around. On our way out, we decided that he could have some cotton candy as a treat.
This all ties together. I promise.
McKay and I had the following conversation in the car while we were waiting for Lorraine to get out of a quick shop in the grocery store. The scene: McKay sitting in the back seat, snacking on some of his spun blue sugar, I in the driver's seat.
M: Dad, when are you going to die?
D: Not for a long lot of years.
M: Why not for long?
D: Well, because I try to stay healthy. I get good rest and eat good food to try to stay healthy. One of the things people believe is that the healthier you are, the longer you'll live, so I try to stay healthy.
M: (ten second pause) I'm going to stop eating my cotton candy.
D: (Oh crap, I think to myself.) Why, honey?
M: Because I don't want to die when I get older.
D: Oh nononononono, honey, don't worry about it. You get candy every once in a while, and you always eat such good food. Don't worry about it, this won't make you sick. A little treat every once in a while is just fine.
M: (another ten second pause) Okay.
Then he started eating the cotton candy again. I couldn't help but feel like I'd dodged a bullet on that one.
As an aside, a two pint tub of cotton candy only has about 54 calories in it. That's better than a candy bar. And yes, this was a "there are eggs and milk in chocolate cake!" moment for me.
Saturday, December 23, 2006
Wassail
Not being Christian, we've pondered alot lately about how to talk to McKay about why and how we celebrate "Christmas". One of our carol albums (BareNakedLadies) has Happy Birthday dear Jesus on it...so we told him the traditional Christmas story about a baby being born.To try to shift the emphasis of the season towards something without so many conflicting messages we've started to also focus on the solstice. Last night we spent the evening by candlelight, eating, playing games and squinting. After dinner we joined a parade of over 1000 people along Falsecreek. There were drummers, mummers and everyone was carrying lanterns. Kids were everywhere. Met one woman who's little one was 6 days old. Several large parades all joined up at the FalseCreek community centre where we were met by a fabulous choir of MorrisMen, fire dances and general carousing. We drank hot chocolate, square danced (Mckay can Dosedo and Promenade), and watched the Morrismen put on a play.
Friday, December 22, 2006
Love presents
Coming home from school yesterday and talking about christmas and baking and everything. McKay just starts SOBBING from the back seat. We stop the car and try to figure out what is going on. He finally (in several soggy takes) manages to say, "But WHEN am I going to get my LOVE presents? I've been waiting so l-l-long!".
Dan and I are both perplexed, and get him to repeat it a few times not having a clue what he is talking about.
He adds a few more details, then says, "My LOVE presents....like...like, like, your puppy Mama."
Oh. I had posted awhile ago about a conversation I had with him, about how not only Santa brings presents, but that in our family, we also bought gifts for people we love.
Love presents.
(No, I'm not getting a puppy...it's just what I always answer when he/Dan asks me what I want).
Dan and I are both perplexed, and get him to repeat it a few times not having a clue what he is talking about.
He adds a few more details, then says, "My LOVE presents....like...like, like, your puppy Mama."
Oh. I had posted awhile ago about a conversation I had with him, about how not only Santa brings presents, but that in our family, we also bought gifts for people we love.
Love presents.
(No, I'm not getting a puppy...it's just what I always answer when he/Dan asks me what I want).
Thursday, December 21, 2006
Playin' with Plastic Tauntauns
Now you won't be able to get it out of YOUR head either.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Up-eRyp5e0A
Credit to Matt Bagshaw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Up-eRyp5e0A
Credit to Matt Bagshaw
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Here comes the sun!
Ok...tomorrow is the shortest day of the year for those of us here in the Northern Hemisphere. Huzzah.
Dec 21, 2006 8:05 AM 4:16 PM 8h 11m 31s − 0m 03s
Dec 22, 2006 8:05 AM 4:17 PM 8h 11m 33s + 0m 02s
Dec 23, 2006 8:06 AM 4:17 PM 8h 11m 41s + 0m 07s
You know what made me realize how extremely very hugely far north we are? Nope...not the 8 hours 11 minutes of daylight quoted above...but this cool script that lets me see where I would come out if I dug a hole straight through the earth. Egads. We end up south east of Madagascar.
Try it, it's fun. http://map.pequenopolis.com/
Sunday, December 17, 2006
People of the Internets UNITE!
Ok...this is so much cooler than having an e-mail show up on Neil Gaiman's site.
Time has namedme you us The Person of the Year.
We rock.
Persons of the Year
* 1927: Charles Lindbergh (1902–1974) (first person chosen)
* 1928: Walter Chrysler (1875–1940)
* 1929: Owen Young (1874–1962)
* 1930: Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948) (first non-American and first non-white person)
* 1931: Pierre Laval (1883–1945)
* 1932: Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882–1945)
* 1933: Hugh Johnson (1882–1942)
* 1934: Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882–1945) (2nd time)
* 1935: Haile Selassie I (1892–1975)
* 1936: Wallis Simpson (1896–1986) (first female chosen)
* 1937: Chiang Kai-Shek (1887–1975) and Soong May-ling (1898–2003) (first couple chosen)
* 1938: Adolf Hitler (1889–1945)
* 1939: Joseph Stalin (1879–1953)
* 1940: Winston Churchill (1874–1965)
* 1941: Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882–1945) (3rd time)
* 1942: Joseph Stalin (1879–1953) (2nd time)
* 1943: George Marshall (1880–1959)
* 1944: Dwight Eisenhower (1890–1969)
* 1945: Harry Truman (1884–1972)
* 1946: James F. Byrnes (1879–1972)
* 1947: George Marshall (1880–1959) (2nd time)
* 1948: Harry Truman (1884–1972) (2nd time)
* 1949: Winston Churchill (1874–1965) (2nd time) ("Man of the Half-Century"
* 1950: The American Fighting-Man (first "abstract" chosen)
* 1951: Mohammed Mossadegh (1882–1967)
* 1952: Queen Elizabeth II (b. 1926)
* 1953: Konrad Adenauer (1876–1967)
* 1954: John Dulles (1888–1959)
* 1955: Harlow Curtice (1893–1962)
* 1956: Hungarian Freedom Fighter
* 1957: Nikita Khrushchev (1894–1971)
* 1958: Charles De Gaulle (1890–1970)
* 1959: Dwight Eisenhower (1890–1969) (2nd time)
* 1960: U.S. scientists (represented by Linus Pauling, Isidor Rabi, Edward Teller, Adam Fisher, Donald A. Glaser, Willard Libby, Robert Woodward, Charles Draper, William Shockley, Emilio Segre, John Enders, Charles Townes, George Beadle, James Van Allen and Edward Purcell)
* 1961: John F. Kennedy (1917–1963)
* 1962: Pope John XXIII (1881–1963)
* 1963: Martin Luther King Jr. (1929–1968)
* 1964: Lyndon Johnson (1908–1973)
* 1965: William Westmoreland (1914–2005)
* 1966: The Generation Twenty-Five and Under
* 1967: Lyndon Johnson (1908–1973) (2nd time)
* 1968: The Astronauts; Frank Borman (b. 1928), Jim Lovell (b. 1928), William Anders (b. 1933)
* 1969: The Middle Americans
* 1970: Willy Brandt (1913–1992)
* 1971: Richard Nixon (1913–1994)
* 1972: Richard Nixon (1913–1994) (2nd time) and Henry Kissinger (b. 1923)
* 1973: John Sirica (1904–1992)
* 1974: King Faisal (1906–1975)
* 1975: American Women (represented by Betty Ford, Carla Hills, Ella Grasso, Barbara Jordan, Susie Sharp, Jill Conway, Billy Jean King, Susan Brownmiller, Addie Wyatt, Kathleen Byerly, Carol Sutton and Alison Cheek)
* 1976: Jimmy Carter (b. 1924)
* 1977: Anwar Sadat (1918–1981)
* 1978: Deng Xiaoping (1904–1997)
* 1979: Ayatollah Khomeini (1902–1989)
* 1980: Ronald Reagan (1911–2004)
* 1981: Lech Wałęsa (b. 1943)
* 1982: The Computer (first non-human "abstract" chosen)
* 1983: Ronald Reagan (1911–2004) (2nd time) and Yuri Andropov (1914–1984)
* 1984: Peter Ueberroth (b. 1937)
* 1985: Deng Xiaoping (1904–1997) (2nd time)
* 1986: Corazón Aquino (b. 1933)
* 1987: Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (b. 1931)
* 1988: Endangered Earth ("Planet of the Year")
* 1989: Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (b. 1931) (Man of the Decade)
* 1990: George H. W. Bush (b. 1924) ("The Two George Bushes")
* 1991: Ted Turner (b. 1938)
* 1992: Bill Clinton (b. 1946)
* 1993: The Peacemakers: Nelson Mandela (b. 1918), F.W. de Klerk (b. 1936), Yasser Arafat (1929–2004), and Yitzhak Rabin (1922–1995)
* 1994: Pope John Paul II (1920–2005)
* 1995: Newt Gingrich (b. 1943)
* 1996: David Ho (b. 1952)
* 1997: Andy Grove (b. 1936)
* 1998: Bill Clinton (b. 1946) (2nd time) and Kenneth Starr (b. 1946)
* 1999: Jeffrey P. Bezos (b. 1964)
* 2000: George W. Bush (b. 1946)
* 2001: Rudolph Giuliani (b. 1944)
* 2002: The Whistleblowers: Cynthia Cooper of Worldcom (b. 1963), Sherron Watkins of Enron (b. 1959), and Coleen Rowley of the FBI (b. 1954)
* 2003: The American Soldier (2nd time)
* 2004: George W. Bush (b. 1946) (2nd time)
* 2005: The Good Samaritans: Bono (b. 1960), Bill Gates (b. 1955), and Melinda Gates (b. 1964)
* 2006: You
Time has named
We rock.
"for seizing the reins of the global media, for founding and framing the new digital democracy, for working for nothing and beating the pros at their own game, TIME's Person of the Year for 2006 is you."
Persons of the Year
* 1927: Charles Lindbergh (1902–1974) (first person chosen)
* 1928: Walter Chrysler (1875–1940)
* 1929: Owen Young (1874–1962)
* 1930: Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948) (first non-American and first non-white person)
* 1931: Pierre Laval (1883–1945)
* 1932: Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882–1945)
* 1933: Hugh Johnson (1882–1942)
* 1934: Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882–1945) (2nd time)
* 1935: Haile Selassie I (1892–1975)
* 1936: Wallis Simpson (1896–1986) (first female chosen)
* 1937: Chiang Kai-Shek (1887–1975) and Soong May-ling (1898–2003) (first couple chosen)
* 1938: Adolf Hitler (1889–1945)
* 1939: Joseph Stalin (1879–1953)
* 1940: Winston Churchill (1874–1965)
* 1941: Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882–1945) (3rd time)
* 1942: Joseph Stalin (1879–1953) (2nd time)
* 1943: George Marshall (1880–1959)
* 1944: Dwight Eisenhower (1890–1969)
* 1945: Harry Truman (1884–1972)
* 1946: James F. Byrnes (1879–1972)
* 1947: George Marshall (1880–1959) (2nd time)
* 1948: Harry Truman (1884–1972) (2nd time)
* 1949: Winston Churchill (1874–1965) (2nd time) ("Man of the Half-Century"
* 1950: The American Fighting-Man (first "abstract" chosen)
* 1951: Mohammed Mossadegh (1882–1967)
* 1952: Queen Elizabeth II (b. 1926)
* 1953: Konrad Adenauer (1876–1967)
* 1954: John Dulles (1888–1959)
* 1955: Harlow Curtice (1893–1962)
* 1956: Hungarian Freedom Fighter
* 1957: Nikita Khrushchev (1894–1971)
* 1958: Charles De Gaulle (1890–1970)
* 1959: Dwight Eisenhower (1890–1969) (2nd time)
* 1960: U.S. scientists (represented by Linus Pauling, Isidor Rabi, Edward Teller, Adam Fisher, Donald A. Glaser, Willard Libby, Robert Woodward, Charles Draper, William Shockley, Emilio Segre, John Enders, Charles Townes, George Beadle, James Van Allen and Edward Purcell)
* 1961: John F. Kennedy (1917–1963)
* 1962: Pope John XXIII (1881–1963)
* 1963: Martin Luther King Jr. (1929–1968)
* 1964: Lyndon Johnson (1908–1973)
* 1965: William Westmoreland (1914–2005)
* 1966: The Generation Twenty-Five and Under
* 1967: Lyndon Johnson (1908–1973) (2nd time)
* 1968: The Astronauts; Frank Borman (b. 1928), Jim Lovell (b. 1928), William Anders (b. 1933)
* 1969: The Middle Americans
* 1970: Willy Brandt (1913–1992)
* 1971: Richard Nixon (1913–1994)
* 1972: Richard Nixon (1913–1994) (2nd time) and Henry Kissinger (b. 1923)
* 1973: John Sirica (1904–1992)
* 1974: King Faisal (1906–1975)
* 1975: American Women (represented by Betty Ford, Carla Hills, Ella Grasso, Barbara Jordan, Susie Sharp, Jill Conway, Billy Jean King, Susan Brownmiller, Addie Wyatt, Kathleen Byerly, Carol Sutton and Alison Cheek)
* 1976: Jimmy Carter (b. 1924)
* 1977: Anwar Sadat (1918–1981)
* 1978: Deng Xiaoping (1904–1997)
* 1979: Ayatollah Khomeini (1902–1989)
* 1980: Ronald Reagan (1911–2004)
* 1981: Lech Wałęsa (b. 1943)
* 1982: The Computer (first non-human "abstract" chosen)
* 1983: Ronald Reagan (1911–2004) (2nd time) and Yuri Andropov (1914–1984)
* 1984: Peter Ueberroth (b. 1937)
* 1985: Deng Xiaoping (1904–1997) (2nd time)
* 1986: Corazón Aquino (b. 1933)
* 1987: Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (b. 1931)
* 1988: Endangered Earth ("Planet of the Year")
* 1989: Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (b. 1931) (Man of the Decade)
* 1990: George H. W. Bush (b. 1924) ("The Two George Bushes")
* 1991: Ted Turner (b. 1938)
* 1992: Bill Clinton (b. 1946)
* 1993: The Peacemakers: Nelson Mandela (b. 1918), F.W. de Klerk (b. 1936), Yasser Arafat (1929–2004), and Yitzhak Rabin (1922–1995)
* 1994: Pope John Paul II (1920–2005)
* 1995: Newt Gingrich (b. 1943)
* 1996: David Ho (b. 1952)
* 1997: Andy Grove (b. 1936)
* 1998: Bill Clinton (b. 1946) (2nd time) and Kenneth Starr (b. 1946)
* 1999: Jeffrey P. Bezos (b. 1964)
* 2000: George W. Bush (b. 1946)
* 2001: Rudolph Giuliani (b. 1944)
* 2002: The Whistleblowers: Cynthia Cooper of Worldcom (b. 1963), Sherron Watkins of Enron (b. 1959), and Coleen Rowley of the FBI (b. 1954)
* 2003: The American Soldier (2nd time)
* 2004: George W. Bush (b. 1946) (2nd time)
* 2005: The Good Samaritans: Bono (b. 1960), Bill Gates (b. 1955), and Melinda Gates (b. 1964)
* 2006: You
Saturday, December 16, 2006
keeping watch over their flocks by night
We did it.
Left McKay with someone not family (or Kirkwood neighbours, but they really are kind of family so that didn't count) for 2.5 hours this evening. That was long enough, but we already have plans to do it again next month!
filed under: trust issues.
Left McKay with someone not family (or Kirkwood neighbours, but they really are kind of family so that didn't count) for 2.5 hours this evening. That was long enough, but we already have plans to do it again next month!
filed under: trust issues.
Falalalala-lalalafel
Tis the season, and we're eating (or prepping) up a storm.Dan just left to do the first set of Christmas food ingredient shopping.
1. Fig Anise cookies
2. Cranberry bread
3. Date bread
4. Fudge (by request for McKay)
5. Charlie's sugar cookies
6. spiced nuts
7. 7 layer bars
Also starting to look festive around the
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
How 'Bout Pudding*
Had chili for dinner tonight.
A new recipe we came across in the fall. White beans, beer, chipotle/adobo smokiness and boneless skinless chicken thighs. Delicious. Unless you're four. He had nachos.
After dinner we were talking about a fabulous chocolate chile pudding I had eaten on the weekend and reminiscing about Chocolate Chile breadpudding from Gourmet a year or so ago.
M; "you put CHILI in pudding??? That's DISGUSTING".
*not cross posted:)
A new recipe we came across in the fall. White beans, beer, chipotle/adobo smokiness and boneless skinless chicken thighs. Delicious. Unless you're four. He had nachos.
After dinner we were talking about a fabulous chocolate chile pudding I had eaten on the weekend and reminiscing about Chocolate Chile breadpudding from Gourmet a year or so ago.
M; "you put CHILI in pudding??? That's DISGUSTING".
*not cross posted:)
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Friday, December 08, 2006
Serious Traffic
Our Foodie post got reposted to Serious Eats sometime yesterday.
When I was checking the site stats before bed last night things were looking a tad different.
Last time we had hits like that, someone* had put up a nekid baby picture and labelled it "naked helmet". Well....oh my goodness, who knew THAT would be a popular image search term.
Anyhow, welcome to anyone who makes it as far as here...and sorry for all the baby_butt pictures.
*not me
When I was checking the site stats before bed last night things were looking a tad different.
Last time we had hits like that, someone* had put up a nekid baby picture and labelled it "naked helmet". Well....oh my goodness, who knew THAT would be a popular image search term.
Anyhow, welcome to anyone who makes it as far as here...and sorry for all the baby_butt pictures.
*not me
Thursday, December 07, 2006
Breakfast Cereal Angst
Came across this earlier this week:
But you know, they can't go DOING this kind of stuff to us...next they're going to tell us that eating Cap'n Crunch Does NOT make me a Pirate. Becoming a pirate on the typical career path is just not something I have time for right now. Guess I'm stuck with the Flying Spaghetti Monster route.
An independent study completed at the University of Vermont shows that Lucky Charms, the popular breakfast cereal produced by consumer foods company General Mills, may not in fact be "magically delicious". Instead, the study contends that the reason the cereal is delicious is the combination of complex sugars and additives.
See more.....at the original source: H. Fernandez
But you know, they can't go DOING this kind of stuff to us...next they're going to tell us that eating Cap'n Crunch Does NOT make me a Pirate. Becoming a pirate on the typical career path is just not something I have time for right now. Guess I'm stuck with the Flying Spaghetti Monster route.
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Surfin' Santa
McKay wrote his letter to Santa tonight...we're still gathering catalogs for his "real" list though. Just went over to Canada Post to confirm the address. I knew it was North Pole, H0H OHO, but on the off chance Vancouver's condo craze has traveled that far, thought I should make sure there was no unit number or anything to add.OMG..Santa has highspeed internet. And he'll e-mail back!
On a similar topic, asked M today what we should buy his dad for Christmas....
M: No, NO...Santa brings stuff.
L: well, we buy presents for people too...
M: NO MOM, really, Santa will do it.
L: well, in OUR family, we also buy stuff. Every family does things differently.
M: Oh...like I can't have a weapon for a toy?
L: Er...yes, just like that.
L: So, what should we get your Dad.
M: He sure can't have a weapon.
breaking news December 7th 9:19 am:
Just got the following reply from The North Pole. Needless to say we're very excited.
Dear Friend:
Hi, my name is Pepper Minstix and I am the special elf who helps Santa with all of the email he receives during this busy time of year.
No matter how busy Santa gets at the North Pole, I know he takes time to read all of his letters! You can expect to get an answer from Santa within the next few days.
Thank you for writing to Santa and please write to him again next year!
Happy Holidays
Elf Minstix
Monday, December 04, 2006
Saturday, December 02, 2006
BattleStar Spanish
Sitting here watching Dan watch Battle Star Galactica.
With subtitles in Spanish.
(donde estás que va)
For deaf Spanish people.
(donde estás que va {crowd noises}).
Heh.
With subtitles in Spanish.
(donde estás que va)
For deaf Spanish people.
(donde estás que va {crowd noises}).
Heh.
Friday, December 01, 2006
Keep the Promise
Started in 1988, World AIDS Day is not just about raising money, but also about increasing awareness, fighting prejudice and improving education. World AIDS Day is important in reminding people that HIV has not gone away, and that there are many things still to be done. Learn the facts, teach them to someone, and donate. It won't go away on its own.
World AIDS Day themes over the years have included:
* 2006 - Stop AIDS; Keep the Promise - Accountability
* 2005 - Stop AIDS; Keep the Promise
* 2004 - Women, Girls, HIV and AIDS
* 2003 - Stigma & Discrimination
* 2002 - Stigma & Discrimination
* 2001 - I care. Do you?
* 2000 - AIDS : Men make a difference
* 1999 - Listen, Learn, Live: World AIDS Campaign with Children & Young People
* 1998 - Force for Change: World AIDS Campaign With Young People
* 1997 - Children Living in a World with AIDS
* 1996 - One World, One Hope
* 1995 - Shared Rights, Shared Responsibilities
* 1994 - AIDS & the Family
* 1993 - Act
* 1992 - Community Commitment
* 1991 - Sharing the Challenge
* 1990 - Women & AIDS
* 1989 - Youth
* 1988 - Communication
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Headline News
We have survived the Vancouver Monsoons of November 06. Yep...it's true. Just because I feel the need to point it out again, we just had the "wettest month EVER" in Vancouver. Our first rainy season here....and the city breaks the record.
A few stats:
- days with rain:28
- mm of rain: 308
- cm of snow:36.6
- total precipitation: 349mm
- pairs of boots purchased: 2
- pairs of rainpants purchased: 3
- raincoats purchased: 1
- number of days child came home with
- no socks: 1
- someone else's socks: 3
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Where That Boy's Hat At?*
One of the things we love about McKay's new school is the feedback we get from his teachers. We get one (or more) email each day from at least one of his teachers telling us about his time away from us. This one was sent to me a few minutes ago from his teacher Wendy.
You can take the boy out of the south, but you can't take the south out of the boy. We're missing you Atlanta!
* one of our Kirkwood 'hood neighbours would yell this across the street at us every time he saw M. outside in the summer without his sun hat on.
I had a sweet conversation with McKay today that I wanted to share. The children were getting ready to go outside and McKay asked me to zip him up.
I said "Don't forget your toque."
"What's a toque?" McKay asked.
I explained that it's a Canadian word for a woolly hat. A toque is what we call this kind of hat in Canada.
McKay said thoughtfully, "Oh, we don't call it a toque at my house we call it a hat. We don't use that Canada word in my family, we speak Atlanta."
You can take the boy out of the south, but you can't take the south out of the boy. We're missing you Atlanta!
* one of our Kirkwood 'hood neighbours would yell this across the street at us every time he saw M. outside in the summer without his sun hat on.
Sunday, November 26, 2006
Saturday, November 18, 2006
Friday, November 17, 2006
Parallax
As L already posted, we've been under a water boiling advisory for about 36 hours now. I sort of feel like I'm back in Thailand, having to get bottled water to drink. At least I can put TP into the toilet here and I actually get the container when I order a bottle of pop instead of a bag filled with ice and a straw.
I was some ready to rant about this. I have never in my life lived in a place where the tap water wasn't completely safe; where you could just walk up to a tap and drink. I wondered how a country as rich as Canada could have the water supply of its third largest city at the mercy of the weather. Water is just...there, to be taken for granted. How could Vancouver not have a water treatment plant, my thinking went. If Atlanta can pull it together, surely it's not that big a problem.
Then, at Lorraine's urging, I went looking for facts instead of throwing my "irate" switch.
I remember relearning parallax in my astronomy course. The Ptolemaic model of the solar system got wildly complicated as astronomers hacked and rehacked the model to explain why it sometimes appeared that planets went backwards in their orbits and changed brightness.
My wronged outrage at being forced to live like, well, many millions of people in the world got harder and harder to sustain when faced with more and more facts. It eventually collapsed under the weight of its own exceptions.
I should have come to this conclusion long before I did: sometimes things just break, even if they're important.
I was some ready to rant about this. I have never in my life lived in a place where the tap water wasn't completely safe; where you could just walk up to a tap and drink. I wondered how a country as rich as Canada could have the water supply of its third largest city at the mercy of the weather. Water is just...there, to be taken for granted. How could Vancouver not have a water treatment plant, my thinking went. If Atlanta can pull it together, surely it's not that big a problem.
Then, at Lorraine's urging, I went looking for facts instead of throwing my "irate" switch.
- Two long-time Vancouver residents I spoke with had no memory of this ever happening before.
- As of midnight on 12 November, Vancouver had already exceeded the average rainfall amount for the month of November, which is historically the wettest month. (As an aside, it is currently raining again.)
- The land upslope of the reservoirs was already saturated with water when the winds and rain started again on the 15th.
- There were several landslides into the reservoirs.
- Turbidity (which I learned is a measure of how cloudy the water is) should have a value of roughly 1. On Wednesday, it was above 30. (Link to current readings.)
I remember relearning parallax in my astronomy course. The Ptolemaic model of the solar system got wildly complicated as astronomers hacked and rehacked the model to explain why it sometimes appeared that planets went backwards in their orbits and changed brightness.
My wronged outrage at being forced to live like, well, many millions of people in the world got harder and harder to sustain when faced with more and more facts. It eventually collapsed under the weight of its own exceptions.
I should have come to this conclusion long before I did: sometimes things just break, even if they're important.
Can I borrow a cup of water?
In addition to the tsunami, heavy wind and heavy rain warnings, we're now under a "Boil Water" advisory. Expecting another heavy rain day tomorrow!
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Ready for Total SubjuGAYtion.
From the November 13 edition of Talk Radio Network's The Savage Nation:
** hat tip to The Brian from Story of the Turtle for bringing this to my attention!
----------
SAVAGE: And I want to tell you something, and I'm going to say it to you loud and clear. The radical homosexual agenda will not stop until religion is outlawed in this country.
That'd be great, can we start working on that? Can I sign an online petition? I'd picket, but you know, it's cold out.
Make no mistake about it. They're all not nice decorators.
He's right here, at least a few are flight attendants (and don't even get me started on the Flight attendant from hell).
You better get it through your head before it's too late. They threaten your very survival.
I'm thinking there are a few other causes, hang on, let me check. Yep, according to the CDC, gay people have a very low chance of lowering my life expectancy.
They went after the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church is now caving into the homosexual mafia.
The Catholic Church is more sort of falling down because of its pedophilia problem then it is caving in. Although he might have a point if he's talking about the Evangelicans?
They will not stop until they force their agenda down your throats.
Heh
Gay marriage is just the tip of the iceberg. They want full and total subjugation of this society to their agenda.
Let me remind you what's on our current agenda so you can compare and contrast
Monday 9:30-10:00: Iraq
Tuesday: Tobacco companies (site visit)
Wednesday lunch meeting: Gun laws (remember to get publicity photo with famous actor)
Thursday: Every Child left behind (and just in case you missed it the first time we posted it)
Friday: Golf
Now, if you want that and if you don't think it's a threat -- believe me, that is what's going to occur in this country.
-----------------
** hat tip to The Brian from Story of the Turtle for bringing this to my attention!
----------
SAVAGE: And I want to tell you something, and I'm going to say it to you loud and clear. The radical homosexual agenda will not stop until religion is outlawed in this country.
That'd be great, can we start working on that? Can I sign an online petition? I'd picket, but you know, it's cold out.
Make no mistake about it. They're all not nice decorators.
He's right here, at least a few are flight attendants (and don't even get me started on the Flight attendant from hell).
You better get it through your head before it's too late. They threaten your very survival.
I'm thinking there are a few other causes, hang on, let me check. Yep, according to the CDC, gay people have a very low chance of lowering my life expectancy.
They went after the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church is now caving into the homosexual mafia.
The Catholic Church is more sort of falling down because of its pedophilia problem then it is caving in. Although he might have a point if he's talking about the Evangelicans?
They will not stop until they force their agenda down your throats.
Heh
Gay marriage is just the tip of the iceberg. They want full and total subjugation of this society to their agenda.
Let me remind you what's on our current agenda so you can compare and contrast
Monday 9:30-10:00: Iraq
Tuesday: Tobacco companies (site visit)
Wednesday lunch meeting: Gun laws (remember to get publicity photo with famous actor)
Thursday: Every Child left behind (and just in case you missed it the first time we posted it)
Friday: Golf
Now, if you want that and if you don't think it's a threat -- believe me, that is what's going to occur in this country.
-----------------
Saturday, November 11, 2006
Just in case you thought we weren't paying attention
The house began to pitch, the
It landed on the wicked witch in the middle of a ditch.
Which was not a healthy situation for the wicked witch
Who began to twitch, and was reduced to just a stitch
Of what was once the wicked witch
(Munchkin 1)
We thank you very sweetly for doing it so neatly
(Munchkin 2)
You've killed her so completely
That we thank you very sweetly
(Glinda)
Let the joyous news be spread
The wicked, old witch at last is dead
(Munchkins)
Ding-dong the witch is dead
Which old witch? The wicked witch
Ding-dong the wicked witch is dead!
Lost in the Woods.
This city is full of tree huggers, and apparently always has been.
These are the cross streets between here and McKay's school, going from East to West.
Ash, Heather, Willow, Laurel, Oak, Spruce, Alder, Birch, Hemlock, Granville, Fir, Pine, Burrard, Maple, Arbutus*, Yew, Vine, Balsam, Larch.
If you get turned around in this forest, you can be lost for days. I just keep driving, either I'll hit the Pacific, or Newfoundland.
A healthy whale likes octopus salad and baked halibut. Go forth pale beast, meet a young vapid, busty leach.
Obviously...this is a plea for help. (HELP)
* Cokey assures me it's a small woody shrub.
These are the cross streets between here and McKay's school, going from East to West.
Ash, Heather, Willow, Laurel, Oak, Spruce, Alder, Birch, Hemlock, Granville, Fir, Pine, Burrard, Maple, Arbutus*, Yew, Vine, Balsam, Larch.
If you get turned around in this forest, you can be lost for days. I just keep driving, either I'll hit the Pacific, or Newfoundland.
A healthy whale likes octopus salad and baked halibut. Go forth pale beast, meet a young vapid, busty leach.
Obviously...this is a plea for help. (HELP)
* Cokey assures me it's a small woody shrub.
Thursday, November 09, 2006
Specially Marked Boxes
A bunch of folks have asked lately, "So, how IS Canada anyhow?"Very good, just a touch of the old bursitis, and you?"
After 6 years in the Grand old US of A (like the Duke of York) there has been some readjustment. I started a list back in August of some of the things that really stick out. Some of these are BC, or Vancouver specific...
- Coin money. No $1 or $2 bills. Only coins. It's amazing, you can find $18 in the bottom of your bag while trying to buy a pop.
- Parking meters everywhere. But, atleast you can call the meter on your phone and charge it with a credit card. It's TRUE!
- Each and Every time you buy groceries, they offer to help you take them out to the car. Even if it's only a litre of milk and some apples.
- Gas is $3.23 USD a gallon. (Had to do alot of math for that one).
- Juice Boxes are returnable for deposit. I wonder if Scouts Canada has drink box drives the way we used to have bottle drives?
- Every product is labeled in French and English. The whole country is cereal box bilingual. "Nouveau look, même goût épatant !" and "les boîtes spécialement identifiées".
- Canadian Tire: A cross between Target, Home Depot and autobarn. You get 1.5% back in "CanadianTire money" for every cash purchase. Every Canadian has a Canadian Tire money drawer where they keep their stash saving up for that big purchase. Some bars, most charities and other stores (including ebay.ca) will accept this currency.
- The city's largest University has a nude beach. IT'S TRUE. Very different from the US where the undergraduates aren't even allowed to drink on campus. If you notice while we were there last weekend, everyone was fully clothed in SEVERAL layers, and atleast one of us had a full change of clothes in a backpack.
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Thursday, November 02, 2006
When you eat your Smarties....
This was the "booty" from McKay's Hallowe'en heist, shown here late on the 31st. 24 hours later, one Reece's peanut butter cup and a single Hershey's kiss was left.We let him eat as much as he wanted as long as he also ate full meals. After dinner last night (yam and chestnut ravioli yum) he munched his way through the last of the mini bars. With one left to go (peanut butter cup) he put his head on the table and proclaimed, "I'm full of candy!".
"When you eat your Smarties
do you eat the red ones last,
do you suck the very slowly,
or crunch them very fast,
they are candy-coated chocolate,
so tell me when I ask,
when you eat your smarties,
do you eat the red ones last?"
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Sunday, October 29, 2006
Cutting of the Squashes 2006
It just wasn't the same without the Kirkwood folks! I hope someone hosted there, although it would appear that we had all the books and tools (oops).
Friday, October 27, 2006
Could Have Had His Eyes Closed
Puck and I almost got run over on our way back home this afternoon. This surprised me because it seems that most Vancouver drivers are fairly pedestrian-savvy. That said, count the nuisance points this driver had racked up:
Driving a Black SUV
with a Novice sticker on it
in reverse
down an alley
at high speed
while on the phone
and smoking.
I was more amused at the perfect storm of careless driving than I was angry at almost being turned into street pizza (although in Vancouver it would be street crèpe or maybe street make).
The real comedy began when I (not a cell-yakking, reverse-speeding, suburban-assault-vehicle-driving, chain-smoking novice) was pulling my car into the alley after going to pick up our Friday night pizza and the SAME guy almost hit me AGAIN as he did
15 mph
out of the alley
in reverse
while on his phone.
I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and not rack up a point for also handling a lit cigarette.
Driving a Black SUV
with a Novice sticker on it
in reverse
down an alley
at high speed
while on the phone
and smoking.
I was more amused at the perfect storm of careless driving than I was angry at almost being turned into street pizza (although in Vancouver it would be street crèpe or maybe street make).
The real comedy began when I (not a cell-yakking, reverse-speeding, suburban-assault-vehicle-driving, chain-smoking novice) was pulling my car into the alley after going to pick up our Friday night pizza and the SAME guy almost hit me AGAIN as he did
15 mph
out of the alley
in reverse
while on his phone.
I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and not rack up a point for also handling a lit cigarette.
adding a bathroom
We're switching to a new server this weekend, so expect glitches.Dan assures me:
"I don't think we can break toomad during this process; we've basically paid for another much larger storage unit and now we just have to move stuff from one to the other."...but I've had it down for many hours after just changing a font colour. Wish us luck.
Monday, October 23, 2006
Down the drain with Archimedes
Talking to McKay about his day at school today while we ate dinner.R: What did you do at group time?
M: We checked to see what stuff would sink and what stuff would float...
Big stuff will float, but the little ones always sink.
R: Really? So by floating, you mean, goes to the bottom of the water?
M: No (with much disdain) floating means ONTOP of the water.
R: Oh.
R: Well, what floated?
M: The really really big blocks, and the little tiny marbles sank.
R: Oh.
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Behind the Silicon Curtain
It would seem that our border is a semi-permeable one.
I read this week about Americans coming across the border to get flu shots. The Vancouver airport has clinics set up to do this, and cruise ship operators are offering it as an optional excursion on their activities calendar. This is fine, I agree with this, "Send us your sick..." etc...
However, can I get one (ok 4) measly downloads off the web? NO.
Read some good reviews of Jericho. Checking out their website to see if anything was going to be rebroadcasted showed me that I could watch the episodes right from their site. Cooool. I love technology. Made a cup of coffee, leaned back in my chair, and hit play. Three commercials later, I'm informed "this product is not available in Canada". Hmm. Uhhm, ok. It really is, though, it's been on TV, you see.
A little bit of net sleuthing leads me to a list where people of ALL nationalities (well, Australia and Sweden anyhow) are downloading this and watching it from itunes. Hop on over there, it can be mine for a mere $1.98. Ok, I'll pay that. Sign up for i-tunes. (Yeah, I know, join the millennium etc..). It won't accept my American credit card. Says it's not valid in Canada. Odd, since we've been using itevery day sparingly since we got here. Shrugged that off, and used another card (Canadian). That goes fine, I'm registered, once again, hit download. "That item is not available in Canada, would you like to switch to the US store?". Uh, ok...that's fine. Search again, hit download, "I'm sorry, that credit card can not be used in the US."
Oh yeah? I don't even like TV anyhow, where's my friggen book?
I read this week about Americans coming across the border to get flu shots. The Vancouver airport has clinics set up to do this, and cruise ship operators are offering it as an optional excursion on their activities calendar. This is fine, I agree with this, "Send us your sick..." etc...
However, can I get one (ok 4) measly downloads off the web? NO.
Read some good reviews of Jericho. Checking out their website to see if anything was going to be rebroadcasted showed me that I could watch the episodes right from their site. Cooool. I love technology. Made a cup of coffee, leaned back in my chair, and hit play. Three commercials later, I'm informed "this product is not available in Canada". Hmm. Uhhm, ok. It really is, though, it's been on TV, you see.
A little bit of net sleuthing leads me to a list where people of ALL nationalities (well, Australia and Sweden anyhow) are downloading this and watching it from itunes. Hop on over there, it can be mine for a mere $1.98. Ok, I'll pay that. Sign up for i-tunes. (Yeah, I know, join the millennium etc..). It won't accept my American credit card. Says it's not valid in Canada. Odd, since we've been using it
Oh yeah? I don't even like TV anyhow, where's my friggen book?
Friday, October 13, 2006
1461 Days
Music: Israel "IZ" Kamakawiwo'ole
Somewhere Over The Rainbow/What A Wonderful World.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2Pr7KV7f2Y
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
MacGuyver
About a year ago we stopped GeoCaching.
Not because of any loss of interest (although we'd hit a bit of a hurdle and hadn't had any recent successes), but because our waterproof Garmin Etrex Vista suffered some trauma. Wet trauma. Wet soapy trauma. Followed by a spin cycle (front loader) and yep, even through the dryer. Hiking in the south is quite strenuous.
Needless to say...it didn't turn on. With my fab new ebay skills I thought about buying a new one. Crap, too expensive. Hmm, ok, how about the forums at groundspeak? While I'm here, I might as well see what people say about GPS'rs not turning on. Well, Well, lookey here...."Vista LED repair". With colour pictures.
20 minutes later and we have Satellite. 8 of them, and the caches I put in to find when I was in Vancouver in the spring of 2004 showing up just a few blocks from our house. The repair all went very smoothely, didn't have any electronic cleaning fluid, so I used Samson's "drool diaper" soaked in gin.
The Highland Park Rangers/HighlandPark Rangers are back in the saddle, er..hiking boots?
Sunday, October 08, 2006
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
E-bay whore.
We've finally lost our e-bay virginity. I know, I know...it's humbling to admit it, but there you go. This all started about a month ago. Our
No problem we thought. As usual, lots of problemos.
As most of you know, there's no way in heck that I'll allow McKay to have action figures with weapons. Unfortunately, most of them out there have multiple death causing accessories instead of clutch purses. I finally found this FABULOUS line of action figures, that won all kinds of awards and promises that your child, too, will always be a conscientious objector. "Great", thought I. That's done. What else does he want? Legos...right. Dennis and Jackie gave him this really cool set of "Castle Lego" last Christmas that he plays with almost daily. He's asked many times for the dragon that goes with it.
T-2 weeks, Ok, lets get stuff ordered, that way if we have to, we can have it sent to Chicago and C&H can bring it with them. First Bendos online store: out of stock. Second online store: 2 football players left. Third bendos online store: jungle animals left. What the....???? Ok, what's going on here? I write the manufacturer for some information, a day later I get back the letter below.
Ran it's normal toy life???" My god woman, we've been playing with Fisher Price Little People since before there was fire. Anyhow...I decided to look on E-bay. I wasn't quite ready to get beyond the heavy petting stage so proceeded to "buy now" a bunch of used Bendos. Feel a bit bad buying him used toys for his birthday, but I tried!
Next step Lego. This set is not available in NORTH AMERICA???? Wha??? What are the chances of this? What next? I won't be able to find his 100% organic betel nut cake??? I wasn't looking for the Ark here folks. I just wanted lego. Back to e-bay. The only "buy nows" were too expensive. Two sets available for bidding. Severe anxiety sets in, am I ready? Is it time? Is this the right person? Do I have protection? After a quick trip to Pay_Pal I decide I'm ready. With crossed fingers, and breath held, I place my first bid. $6.00.
2 days later, and I'm walking the streets and calling out to Johns. That first auction was mine, I outbid the bastard by $0.11 with 55 seconds left. Amateur.
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About Me
- Raine
- Places We've called Home: Kingston ON Chicago IL Atlanta GA Vancouver BC