Tools, Big and small. (or, The city folks vs. the Rest of the country!)I just wanted to start of with this: Mr. Little (Steve's Dad), if you're reading this, I have them in the van. I'll drop off your tools on Thursday evening. I'll be in Pickering for my Dragon Boat Practice, so don't worry.
And for the rest of you lot?
Living Downtown: Well, Not really downtown, but the closest you get to something that is outside of Toronoto. Linda and I are a mere 1 minute walk to downtown Whitby. We had some time today to go exploring, and it was quite nice.
It was nice to wander today, just because it wasn't too hot, a nice breeze blowing, and people said hi and hello when we went into stores.
Again, not saying that in Toronto people don't do this. Living in Guildwood, people did say hello and ask how you are. Again, not a typical experience living in the big smoke. Even in Pickering, I didn't really get that kind of response.
Big cities; If you are one of my Non-Canadian readers (Roger, this means you; Jasse, you for now; Mark, if you do read this;) you may laugh at what we consider a big city.
Again, Toronto is the biggest thing around in Canada. Having the luxury (if you wish to call it that) of living so close to the largest Canadian city, you get a skewed view of what the rest of Canada is like. I remember talking to some 'lifers' who have never left Toronto. They often balk at the size of places like Pickering, Oshawa, Oakville, etc. If and when these people travel outside of Toronto, they think the rest of the country is the 'sticks'.
Maybe so. I've been lucky to have had the opportunity to travel around Canada and see many places. I've realized that Small-town Canada is more typical of Canada than Toronto, and GTA. Even us in the GTA (which has expanded to insane distances) are not typical of what the rest of the country is like.
Again, I'm looking at the country in terms of land size. There is more land in small town Canada when added up than Big cities (And I mean Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Calgary).
But when you really look at the country in terms of that, then our country is mostly Tundra with Permafrost or Snow.
Hmm....That being said, we should all be more like the people out in Fort Hope and Moose Factory (which is a city in my Weather network temperature).
Maybe I should have thought this one out.
Labels: cities, rant, weather, Whitby
Weddings, Wasps and Soffits
This weekend was quite busy. First and foremost: Congratulations to JiHye and Brad. They officially got married on Saturday evening at the Sunnybrook Estates. It was a great outdoor wedding with a really fun reception.
Food was good, drinks were flowing well. Almost too well.
But Friday night, Steve came to help me with some plumbing issues. We didn't end up putting in Shut-off valves, but instead we replaced the shower cartridge to stop the leaking. So, it worked out.
Saturday morning, Linda and I were doing some gardening, and we saw that part of the roof was missing some Soffits (we knew that from teh home inspection back in March), but what was scary was that there were 4 little wasp nests. Damn. I had to fix this quick, to prevent a bigger nest and other critters finding a place to live for the winter.
Sunday was doing soffits and other small gardening things, which all worked out well. Soffits are done, the front of the house looks great and we're on to other projects.
As for Canadian Chick: Again, thanks for reading and commenting. As for Kyoto, I hope it will. Expressing my political leanings, I am glad that Stephan Dion is the leader of the liberal party. He is a big supporter of the environment, so if the Liberals get into power in the next eletion, I think we'll see some changes. John Baird still bugs the hell out of me.
And I made sure that I had my belt done well, and a long enough shirt to cover any exposed areas! :)
Labels: canadian chick, house, plumbing, wedding
Hot, and the big giant Smog.So, today's going to be really hot. Now, living outside of the city, it's kinda creepy to see the smog hanging above the clouds. How can one say that we've not affected our environment in any adverse way?
We've lost species. Our respiritory systems are on overload as there's more people suffering with asthma and other things. Some water we cannot drink. Trees are not growing as nicely. Ok, that last one is a bit hokey, but you get the picture.
What is going on with us? I hate getting down on humanity and what we do to our enviroment, but what's wrong with us?
Labels: environment, smog
Sneaking away in my office...Well, i usually eat lunch with my co-workers. Today, they're doing a presentation that I don't really want anything to do with which is why I'm hiding by my desk, blogging and eating.
I did have some time to upload the Podcast, so there's a new,
official Worldcast up and running.
Steve Little's coming into town, and he's gonna help me install some shut-off valves. Rich suggested I put in Flex hose for the shut-off valves, so that may be an option.
Rawl the Plumber, that's funny.
Labels: house, lunch, plumbing
Stuck in a houseUgh, I'm mired up in house stuff.
Stud finders (which are cool), electric socket testers, locks, and other stuff. I'm going to have to figure out how to do some simple plumbing. I've got no shut off valves on some of my taps, which of course are leaking.
Ah, the joys of a 90 year old house.
But a podcast will be posted sometime tomorrow. It's recorded, but I had no time coming home today.
Still kickin'.
Labels: fixing, house
We're In!We've now
offically moved into our new place. Good friends are hard to replace. I want to thank the following:
Chris, Scott, Logan,
Ghoshy, Andrew Mel, Sarah, Sean and my Dad. Everything went smooth.
It's nice. There is a lot of work to be done. The only rough patches which are occurring right now is that we don't have hot water.
The house is a bit old, so it's not quite up to code. When we got the house, we new that we would have to eventually fix up some things. We didn't
foresee needing to get a new Water Heater so soon.
Right now, we have no Hot water. We got a new heater installed this morning, but the fan on the tank does not work, so it's being processed as we speak.
My fingers are crossed. I would like to take a nice shower, but not a cold one.
Labels: house, moving
Missing Internet ConnectionI'm 'sans
Internet', as the french would say. I'm not exactly sure if they would say that, but I have no
Internet at home.
Since I'm moving on the weekend, I had to disconnect my service, and of course, Rogers decides to something early for once. That is to disconnect my
Internet service. oh well. I'm going to be without an active connection for about 3 days. Linda booked the Rogers guy to come and hook up our cable and such on Sunday so I'm gonna have to do my
Internet at work.
Speaking of something interesting, I was
podcasting and I got on a tangent about Morality (as usual). the objective good vs. the subjective good.
Objectively, there should be a good, but what exactly is it? Can one make a statement like "Killing a human is wrong" without any
consequences? As a sentient being, we are very good at finding the exception to the rule. If someone who is horrific to society is killed, is that good? I used the example of Paul Bernardo. If he was killed, would that be justified because of the horrific things he did to his victims? What about Saddam
Hussein? Stalin? Hitler? The president of Rwanda?
Again, pretty difficult issues to deal with,
especially when I had a great idea for a blog last
night, and I was 'sans
Internet'.
I hate...
naw, dislike Rogers.
And there's a new podcast. The Widget should work well.
Labels: morality, podcast
Some time at Lunchwow, I've actually got some time to do something at lunch today.
I'm moving this weekend. it'll be only 5 more days left in the Guild, which is sad. It's such a beautiful area, and being on the 11
th floor by the lake will be hard to replace.
So, if you're reading this, and you're around this weekend, would you help me move?
I know it's a Long Weekend, and it's my favourite weekend. I feel bad that I'm ruining my favourite long weekend (next to New Year's), but hey, it'll be the only time I do this.
Come help. Drop me an email!
Labels: guildwood, move
Early Happy Mother's Day!Yeah, Linda and I went to Mom's grave, and planted some nice little flowers. I figure that's what I'll do for Mother's day from here on in.
Don't be sad. It's ok. I've talked a lot about Mom's death, and I won't say anything, or much on the subject today. If your mother is around, go and hug her. Enjoy the day.
Someone asked me the history of Mother's day. According to
Wikipedia, it was to commemorate mothers who lost their sons in the war in the USA. However, there were other days that celebrate women and what their contributions were to various things.
And apparently there's an international
Mother's Day Shrine in the town from the woman who penned the first Mother's Day Proclamation. The website doesn't really have a good picture, but you can get a good idea of what it is.
And for those who are unsure what to do for their mom, there's a
Mother's Day Central for you to get ideas.
In any case, make sure you treat your mom well. She deserves it.
And in Honour of my mom, this was her favourite poem.
God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.
Happy Mother's Day, Mom!
Labels: Mom serenity
RSS feed, now up and runningSo, Sean showed me some cool things from
Google Gadgets. Google is just simply amazing.
I had this box up for a while, but I wasn't sure why it wasn't working. I had the wrong RSS feed going into it.
All fixed, and now you can see when I update the Worldcast.
Sweet.
Labels: google, rss, worldcast
Fever.Ok, I'm convinced. When I get sick, (and I don't often get sick), that I seem to come close to going to the hospital.
When I get sick, I get all dramatic, or so people think. Again, I got sick, and my fever was 103.9F. That's insane. I had that for only a day this time. Last time, I had it for 2 days.
IT was nice, I stayed home on Tuesday, relaxing, and sleeping. I got up for about 2 hours, did some stuff, and went back to bed.
Linda's been super nice, taking care of me. Yes, I'm a big wimp when I'm sick, but with a fever that high, it's understandable.
Just letting you know I'm not dead, but I'm lacking in something interesting to say.
Labels: flu
Thoughts on a Sunday Morn. Friday night, I felt old. I actually got home, and fell asleep early.
I remember when I would always go out on a Friday night. There was a time where I was out every Friday night for 5 years in row. The 3 Friday's I actually stayed home was because I was sick.
Now, I stay home and go to bed.
A friend was telling me about a year ago, that he really enjoys going to bed, so he could get up early to do things. I'm now realizing that I do like doing that too. I was up today early, just reading.
Again, my goal was to go to the gym, but I can feel a cold coming on, and I don't want to push my body any more. Last time I went to the gym with a cold, I was out for 2 days with the 104F fever.
Again, it's interesting how life changes. And even last night, at Brad's Jack and Jill, I was talking Brad's dad about the "youth", and how they don't really know anything, and it seems that things are going to hell in a hand basket faster than you say it.
"Well, that's what they said about my generation, that's what I said about your generation, and now you're saying it about the next generation. Some things don't change. You do."
Damn. I'm getting old.
Here are my signs of me getting old :
1. Wanting to go to to bed early.
2. Complaining about today's youth
3. Really digging a vehicle with space to carry things/people.
4. Getting Drunk doesn't appeal to me anymore.
5. New Fashion? What's wrong with my [fill in the blank] ?
There's more, don't worry about it... I just can't think....hmm...
7. Losing my memory?
As Dylan Thomas says, "Do not go gently into that good night. Rage, Rage against the dying of the light."
Oh, there's a new podcast.
Actually, there's two new ones....Labels: flu, life, sunday, youth
On the Water...(and in the sky...)
So, tonight, I'm on the water for
Dragonboat. It's the first Water practice for the season. It's looking cold. At least there's no wind.
And any interesting things?
Naw, not as yet. My apple thing was good, but this morning, it's been pretty lacking in anything substantive. Don't get me wrong, I've been quite productive, and I'm surprised I'm taking this time at lunch to blog, but I'm slightly caught up in my work. Either that, or I don't feel like starting the next thing.
Again, it's amazing what we do in life to get by. I remember looking up in the sky and looking at the stars. These stars all move where they have to, doing their thing. They don't have to worry about deadlines, or the politics of the other planets. Their movement and positions have been determined by a set number of rules which governs them. And as far as we know, these rules cannot be bent. No planet will avoid another planet because they want to, it just is.
In the big picture, does it really matter? What I write here, does it matter?
Honestly, I'm not depressed, nor am I sad. Just
melancholic? Reflective?
Labels: dragon boat, life
