Daddy-O

And Another Update

Desktop Revived … captured on November 5, 2009 - iPhone

Sorry gang, I'm still quite bagged so this'll be another quick entry. To tell the truth, I think I'm fighting something. Anyhow, the kids are fine and Jennifer has been off at a work conference for the day. She's expected to get home later tonight which is a nice switch for her. The kids and I picked up some fish 'n' chips on the way home and I've let them gorge themselves on cartoons; sometimes, you just gotta let 'em be kids.

I picked up Jennifer's repaired computer yesterday. It turns out it was the hard drive. Despite the $200 price tag, it could have been worse. I've just about finished reloading the software and organizing her mail, browser and personal files.

Latest Update

Pirate Marina … captured on October 31, 2009 - 5D

Just a quick update to let everyone know I'm feeling better and managed to go to work today. It was a good day and I created a presentation for the lads at the office to recap my day-long seminar on Friday. And, because the two grandmothers asked for it, here's a quick picture of the little plunderess, Marina.

Caught Up

Ghoulish Matthew … captured on October 31, 2009

I feel like Matthew looks. I went to bed with a headache last night, then woke up four or so hours later feeling awful. My headache was worse and my stomach was flipping like mad. I spent the first hour fighting both then decided if I was going to throw up, I might as well take something for the headache. Eventually, the headache abated and my stomach started feeling better. I then fell asleep around 5:00.

I slept in 'til 8:30 then went to work. Although I was feeling better, my energy was completely drained by the time I'd checked my e-mail. It was pretty quiet, so I decided to go home and rest. I even opted out of a board meeting tonight. Depending on how I feel tomorrow, I might take another day to recover. Luckily, it's no worse than a general wearing down; I guess the past few weeks have caught up with me.

The Night of Nights

Halloween Night … captured on October 31, 2009 - 5D

I love this picture of Marina; it's not the best picture of the group, but it is the only one with that expression. It was a pretty long day yesterday and both kids were primed for the big night, Marina in particular. In fact, she's still going a mile-a-minute.

We decided to stay home last night and take the kids around the neighbourhood. Jennifer took the kids out first, doing one street over and half of our own street. I stayed home and dispensed the candy. We didn't get a whole lot of kids, maybe 30 or so. Jennifer came back and suggested I finish the street with the kids which, in retrospect, was very nice. We then came home and the kids began to sort (and eat) their candy. All in all, it was a lovely Halloween…until this morning.

The cat didn't take kindly to Daylight Savings Time, deciding to Meow-It-Up™ at his usual time. We took our time getting up, then made a Halloween treat bag for Chloe and wished René a Happy Birthday on our way out of the grocery store. The shopping done, Jennifer notice a scratch that runs 3/4 of the length of the van as we packed it up; we'd been keyed. When we got home, I checked the street we'd been parked on last night and behold, at least another 6 cars showed the same deep scratches. No doubt a Halloween prank and, I'm sure, one that will be costly at that. We just can't seem to catch a break. Little shits—thanks for ruining the weekend! 

We finished our trip with a stop at the pet store to pick up some stuff for Cato. He's lucky though; we almost walked out with the cutest little black rescue cat. I keep thinking another cat will keep him company but looking at how he and Boo get along, I imagine he'd get tired of a new friend pretty quickly. Grumpy old cat.

And So, The Time Has Come…

 

Fierce Concentration … captured on October 25, 2009 - 5D

I had a good day today at the Park Hyatt hotel for an all-day "intensive" course on Social Media. You know: blogs, Facebook, Twitter…that sort of stuff. As some of you already know, I've been focusing a lot on social media and mobile marketing these past six months. I can't tell you how much of a boost it's been to my career, both in terms of security and spiritually. Most importantly, it's re-ignited my passion for marketing. Secondly, it's allowed me to expand my capabilities. Not only do I continue to contribute to the big ideas and develop strategies but I get to art direct, photograph and follow this new vein as well. Is it too much? No, because it's all connected. And that's what's so exciting.

And speaking of excitement, well, it's Halloween. The kids had an exciting day at school today and have already dressed up. But tomorrow is the BIG day. How it will unfold remains to be seen; there are many plans in the works so I don't know what will shake out. No matter what, I will eat more than my fair share of Reese's peanut butter cups so that means I'll need to spend more time at the gym.

Dull

Dull Grey Day … captured on October 29, 2009 - LX3

Like the title of the photo, it's another dull, grey day in T-Dot. I'm speaking of the weather or course, not the mood. Although I think everyone could do with a bit of sunshine.

I always think of Fall as such a vibrant time of year but this past week has been anything but. You can see the fallen leaves, lining street edges, but they lay there sodden instead of skipping merrily across the street, coaxed by the wind. The colours have been drab as well. And the mornings, dark. 

Dark will do well for Halloween this weekend, although there's talk of rain. The kids will NOT be happy if it rains but we'll see what happens. As for myself, I hope to go to the Zombie Short Film Festival at The Revue tomorrow to celebrate the season.

Slow Goes the Battle

Bridge Light … captured on October 24, 2009

1-and-a-half of 3 things down. First off, Jennifer took the van in for servicing yesterday. They acted like it was no big deal; like tie rods fail all the time. You could tell it was a pissing contest between one service department and the other. It's so nice to be the customer, stuck in the middle. Luckily, this bit was indeed covered by the warranty. We did get the alignment done as well and this did cost us; but, it was needed.

Step 2, Jennifer's laptop. Of course, it started up for the Apple fellow (I'd tried at least 7 or 8 times, without success) so I copied all her necessary information to a USB key. He agreed that the hard drive was likely the culprit but I should try a clean install of the OS. That's what I'm trying to do now. The computer has continued working—I've restarted with the Leopard installer, it's verified the disc, wiped the drive clean and crashed. Now I can start up from the DVD drive anymore. Ah, but that's what evenings are for…wasting your time troubleshooting. More on this later.

The final issue is the roof. So far, Jennifer has had no luck talking with the original roofer. She's left multiple messages, but they haven't found the time to call back yet. Guess who's losing a customer? More on this later as well.

All Better Now

Pumpkin Emptied … captured on October 25, 2009 - 5D

We took it easy today. But it's not like we could have driven anywhere or afforded to do anything! Alright, alright, I'll stop being bitter.

No, we took it easy because, even though Matthew is feeling better and hasn't had a fever since he went to bed last night, we wanted to take advantage of one more day off to make sure he got over his flu. About the only thing we did that was strenuous, was walking down Roncesvalles to get some meat from Rowe Farms and veggies from Ko's. Of course, a coffee from Cherry Bomb and a couple of pain au chocolat were necessary to complete the venture.

The day was definitely cooler but beautiful and sunny. And a funny thing did happen on our walk; I had to stop at the bank on our way out and the lady in front of me was so busy talking to her friends, she left her bank card in the machine. WITHOUT LOGGING OFF! When I got to the ATM, I was faced with a screen asking which account I wanted to draw funds from. It wasn't until after I handed her her card back that I remembered all the things we need to pay for over the next few months. I could have replaced the Mac today! Who says nice guys finish first? Oh well, at least my karma is still intact.

The kids rounded the afternoon off with some pumpkin carving and we were paid a visit from Catherine who was in town for the weekend. She hung around while Jennifer made some cookies for her to take away and we wished her well as she headed off to the bus station for the trip back to UWO, in London.

The Day of Broken Things

Rail Line North … captured on October 24, 2009 - LX3

Sigh. I took the car in to get the winter tires put on the van this morning. This year, the proper rims for the Grand Caravan were finally made available, so we bought some to avoid the $150 switchover fee every Fall and Spring. Today's cost for the rims and the mounting: just over $700. While they were swapping the wheels, they found that our brakes are wearing, the wheels need alignment and the tie-rod ends need to be replaced. @#$%@ American cars. The tire guy said he'd never seen anything like that on a car with only 23K on it. He was pretty adamant that we only drive to the dealer to get it fixed.

I called the dealer to set up an appointment; he didn't seemed fazed by my concern of a wheel dropping off on the way there. Hopefully, this should be covered by the warranty. The alignment and brake job are another matter. All this after a roofer recently determined that the roofing job we contracted in 2003 wasn't the most exemplary venture; as the leak in our bedroom ceiling can attest to. So now we're waiting to see what's covered by the warranty and what excuse the old roofer can dream up that rescinds the agreement.

Then, Jennifer's laptop finally died. It's been acting up for probably six months but today, it refuses to start. I tried every trick I know (and I know quite a few) but it continues to make some odd and unnerving sounds. I can't even boot up from the original system disc which doesn't bode well. I'll set up an appointment at the Apple Genius Bar to see if they can figure something out or, at the very least, manage to copy Jennifer's data. But this will have to wait until the car gets fixed.

And just in time for Christmas.

Peaking Too Early

Regardless of the fact it was the warmest night in quite some time last night, Jennifer had to snuggle up to me to draw my warmth. This, despite sleeping under a duvet, a quilt and a blanket, all while wearing her "sleepy socks". It's bad enough she has poor circulation, she's even projecting this heat phobia on the kids. This past weekend we replaced their duvets with the winter duvets and even bought Marina a new nightgown that's quite warm and snuggly. The poor Wee-One woke up the next morning, red as a lobster and dragging the back of her hand across her forehead with her teddy bear hanging limply by her side: "Mummy, I was waaaay too hot last night." Jennifer reluctantly agreed that we'd wait until there was snow on the ground before we brought out the new nightgown again.

Finding the Time

Henna Hand … captured on October 19, 2009 - 5D

Where does one find the time? You leave the house before 8 in the morning and you don't get home 'til after 5:00. There's dinner, some time with the kids, homework, and the next thing you know, it's 9:00 pm. By this time, all you're looking forward to is a little down time in front of the TV. Or, like us, you're catching up with the first season of Mad Men on DVD. But that hour or two is never enough. It's not enough to get to those tasks you've promised yourself you'd do; like the home movies, or the half dozen jobs you've got lined up for the volunteer organization you're working for, or even, to simply clean up the house.

Piano lessons. Soccer practice. Halloween and birthday parties. New clothes. Bigger clothes. Longer clothes.

I haven't done any yoga in 6 months. My chakra is so misaligned, I can't see straight (OK, I thought that was funny). Unfortunately, I can't do yoga first thing in the morning. Despite being a morning person, that doesn't extend to exercising at 6:00 am. I can't do it after dinner because the child's pose—among others—doesn't lend itself to a full stomach. I suppose that leaves after work because by the time Matthew goes to bed, near 9:00, I've no energy left. Of course, I'm pretty wiped when I get home too.

So where do you find the time and when did life get so busy? I suppose, as the kids grow older, the time will come. But until then we, and those parents around us, will just keep plowing through life like chickens with our heads cut off. For those of you who've been there but since moved on, let me remind you: it's exhausting.

Slowly Catching Up

On the Mend … captured on October 18, 2009 - 5D

Once again, I apologize for being so quiet lately. I would have typically written an entry on Friday night, but I was at another shoot well into the evening and was too tired when I got home. The rest of the weekend was spent shopping mostly; much to the chagrin of the kids, and our pocketbook. Alas—groceries, Costco, haircuts and a variety of other journeys were required to get us back on track. We did manage to go to the Fall Fête and I took in the last Toronto FC home game of the season.

For those of you wondering, Cato is feeling better and almost back to his old self. He still seems a bit quieter than usual and does grumbles every so often. The turning point came on Friday evening when Jennifer got home; for the first time in three days, he came downstairs to greet the family. Here's hoping he's over the worst of it.

That Darned Cat

Getting Cato … captured on January 8, 2005 - 20D

Well, I spent a couple of hours at an emergency vet clinic last night, not getting to bed until 2-ish. The problem? Well, we're still not sure. Cato came downstairs around 10:00, growling, hissing and grumbling. We couldn't figure out what was bugging him and were preparing to wait it out when he just kept making noises so I drove out to the closest 24-hour veterinary clinic which is just off Yonge Street.

The action was pretty quick with a triage nurse checking him out and concluding that we'd need to see the doctor. This took a couple of hours but when we did enter exam room #2, Cato underwent a thorough examination (which, not surprisingly, he did not enjoy as attested to by the bite and scratch on my hand).

The doctor pointed out a low-grade heart murmur, swollen ankles due to his age and weight plus a couple of teeth which need to come out. But none of these were thought to be a contributing factor to Cato's current condition. The doctor suggested a whole slew of tests to check his pancreas, liver and stomach. I asked that he forward this information to our vet, Dr Fraser, and that we'd have him follow through. The Doctor agreed and gave Cato a shot to make him feel comfortable for the night.

This morning, Jennifer took the cat to our Doctor to follow up. He acknowledged that he was keeping an eye on the heart murmur and that yes, those teeth will have to come out. As for the discomfort in Cato's belly, Dr Fraser suggested we wait it out for a few days in case it's something he ate. So now, it's a waiting game. So far this evening, Cato has seemed fine although, just now, he came down complaining. It's less than it was last night, but it's still unnerving. If, by Friday, this hasn't cleared up, I guess it'll be another trip to the vet.

Just Because

Marina in the Park … captured on October 10, 2009 - 5D

This is just one of those entries. It has no rhyme or reason. It's here, just because. Mostly because I liked the photo and wanted to share it. So there.

Still Thankful

Canoe on Dock … captured on October 11, 2009 - 5D

We slept in a bit on Sunday but the floor was still pretty cool this mid-October morning. As the gas fireplace warmed up the kitchen, we fed ourselves and prepared to strike out to visit Les, Shawn, the kids and her Mom—all of whom were spending the weekend in a rented cottage on the Big Rideau Lake. We plugged in the address and surrendered ourselves to Julia—our GPS unit.

 

Thomson-like Tree … captured on October 11, 2009 - 5D

The ride along Foley Mountain, through the back roads of Eastern Ontario was spectacular to say the least. Not only were the Fall colours in full bloom, but the gravel road itself was very windy and hilly; the perfect candidate for the next Perth County Rally which I plan to facilitate (I'm only half-joking). After stopping a few times to take some pictures, we wound our way to the Les and Shawn's cottage. We spent an hour catching up before walking down to the lake for a short while. The wind was up and it was cool so we said our goodbyes and Jennifer took her turn at the rally course on our way back to Moppy and Poppy's.

 

Flag at Big Rideau Lake … captured on October 11, 2009 - 5D

After lunch I prepared Uncle Bill's stuffing and both Jennifer and I readied the turkey. We then took it easy until Les, Shawn and everyone stopped in for a quick visit on their way to Westport. Eventually, we settled down for our Thanksgiving dinner and celebrated Moppy's birthday. We then lounged around for the evening and finished the night with another round of Phase 10 before heading to bed.

This morning, we took our time getting up, then packed the car and headed on home. The traffic was surprisingly heavy—considering the time we left and poor Mina threw up once we reached Kingston. We were in the Drive-Thru lane, paying the Tim Hortons lady when she said she was tired, then barfed all over her stuffed toy. A quick clean up and a little water later, she was fine and we were rambling our way down the 401. By lunch time, she was right as rain—at least, her request for a doughnut seem to suggest so. We got home by 1:00-1:30 and took the rest of the day easy.