Life as we know it

It shall continue

2009-08-20T01:00:00.000-06:00

So this was where it ended with Alex, his sublabet made it to the letter "U". It if from here that I shall continue on and finish the work that was started. I have the remaining letters of V, W, X, Y, Z. I cant promise that they will all come in the next few days, but I am working on them and I have some of the words already chosen. I hope that you have all enjoyed what was one of his best series on his Blog and will continue on with me in the journey that he started but was unable to complete.

Onward and forward!! Here comes the letter "V"

21st Letter of the Alphabet, Letter U

2009-08-19T01:00:00.000-06:00

U is for UFO.

Let's discuss. Are there UFO's? One could answer quite simply "yes of course, by it's definition there are plenty of Unidentified Flying Objects all around us everyday".. but this is not what I'm writing about. I'm writing about the real McCoy, the grand pappy of them all.. the Extra Terrestrial UFOs. The method of travel chosen by intelligent beings inhabiting other planets to our planet.

Since Ray and Mark's sighting in Feb of this year, documented in a comment on THIS blog entry, I've been feverishly researching this phenomena to a point of obsession. The amount of information out there on the net is astounding, not to mention the published books and other media on the subject known as ufology, exopolitics, exobiology, etc.. I've become as close to an expert one can get being educated purely on research and hearsay, never having a close encounter myself, I remain cautiously open minded.

What I would like to do here is throw a couple of links at you of current events strictly relating to ufology. If you don't already know, ufo "sightings" have been increasing at a massive rate globally, so much so that the evidence is staggering. I'm not just talking about fuzzy videos and crappy pictures, there have been a few mass sightings.. unexplainable stuff.. but that's just the beginning. The main thing being empathically discussed now is disclosure.

There are many websites and books being published on the hot topic of disclosure. In a nut shell, this is what it is being said: Alien races have been visiting earth for many many years. Most of the governments know about them and have been in communication with them but have kept this secret for many good reasons. The governments have had compliance and cooperation with the alien races up until recently, where it's thought that the alien races think the general population of the earth now need to know of their existence and to prove that we are not alone. Why this push on disclosure is of massive discussion and debate, no one is really sure but the generally accepted speculation is that planet earth is in danger, and that we need help. The governments are being pushed to full disclosure with the help of the aliens, but are very reluctant to for obvious reasons, the two largest of course being religious and economical (not to mention political of course).

This topic is huge. But if you are interested in this kind of thing, here is one link you should look at. It is by far the most popular and visited site pertaining to ufology:

Open Minds Forum

Here's another interesting read:

Majestic Documents

And another:

Project Serpo

Spooooooooky.

20th Letter of the Alphabet, Letter T

2009-08-18T01:00:00.000-06:00

"T is the letter after S, the letter before U, and if you don't like it (expletive) you". I asked him to send me a description and that was what he gave me. Sounds like a smart ass if you ask me, but who am I talk really? I remember giving answers like this in school all the time. I wish I could find out where all my teachers lived, and give them a heart shaped box of Ferraro Rocher chocolates, you know just to say I'M SORRY. I WAS A MISGUIDED CHILD, MISGUIDED BY THE HORRORS OF SKOOL. I really didn't like elementary, and not because of the teachers, but it's because when I was in grade three my brother who was in grade four took my remote control jeep I got for my birthday and jammed nine volt batteries where AA batteries are supposed to go and completely (expletive)'d it up. WASN'T TO HAPPY ABOUT THAT! This started a cascade of horrors for me culminating into the grand event that was graduation.

T is for "Transmutation"

change,
everything you are and everything you were
your number has been called
fights, battles have begun
revenge will surely come
your hard times are ahead

best,
you've got to be the best
you've got to change the world
and you use this chance to be heard
your time is now

19th Letter of the Alphabet, Letter S

2009-08-17T01:00:00.000-06:00

S, the sexy letter of the alphabet, flaunting her haunting sex appeal as she phantasmagorically strides her way into the dimly lit hall. The piano becomes silent, the men stand at immediate attention as the flaccid conversations come to an abrupt halt. This was the moment they have been waiting for. S has entered the hall, and she will choose to whom she will cleave. She will choose a new mate, a new letter she can proudly start words with or end them, it would be her choice. Her long relationship with H has left her longing for another, to be an addition to her family of vocular power. For now the other letters avoid eye contact, hoping, praying, that they be the one to be chosen. She raises her lace gloved hand, a collective gasp is heard as she points succulently towards the letter T. A new mate has been chosen.

S as far as i'm concerned, in her sexy state of self awareness, stands for none other than "sublime"

18th Letter of the Alphabet, Letter R

2009-08-16T01:00:00.000-06:00

Rough letter "R". How bout that. Interesting story actually how R came to be, R was totally and entirely conceived by the pirates of the south pacific back in the 1500s, here is the story:

Captain Theodius Pencivaleon, known as "Cap T", was a notorious pirate in his day. He was leading his fleet of three majestic tall ships into the Caribbean to set up an intercept attack point for a popular English merchant sailing vessel, "King of the Seas" led by Briton Captain William Fenton. Cap T and his crew were hopelessly greedy, and craving of some juicy plunder, the grog be runnin' low, and they be hopin for a crate o'rum, a crate o'rum they be hopin for indeed.

Captain Fenton was sailing back to England with his cargo holds full to the timbers of South American gold, Aztec artifacts, and gifts from the local inhabitants of the newly discovered world. A nervous eye held to a brass scope swept the horizon to and fro, to and fro, in search of dangers lurking in the form of the evil black Jolly Roger a' furlin'. The sheer weight of the cargo was holding the ship low in the warm waters of the sea, makin er a prime target for any pirate a'plundering.

It wasn't five days into the journey when lo and behold a cry from the crows nest came, sending a cold chill through the blood of Capt Fenton and his crew. Cap T was in sight, and closing in fast.

Be the morn of the 12th day of the 4th month, a valiant fight ensued. Many English man led by the sword, followed their spilled blood into the all-too-well-known locker o' Mr. Davy Jones, timbering their place into pirate lore.

It wasn't longer before Cpt. Fenton had but two options, die or surrender. He made his choice, and requested his 1st officer to bring out the white flag.
"I wish to speak!" Fenton cried from above the crashing and clashing of steel. The fighting stopped and all became silent, save for the creaking and grinding of the two captain's ships joined at the ballast, the seagulls crying overhead, and the moans of the injured celloing through the stagnant salty air.

"Aye!! Speak then! And Be fast! Ye I shall Plund!" shouts back Cap T, followed by cheers.

"We have been defeated. You have taken a lot of my men and we cannot continue to fight."

Another large piratic cheer flooded the area and died down when Cpt Fenton began to speak again, "I have something you might be wanting, something you have always wanted; the name Captain Theodius Pencivaleon in the Annals of Antiquity, and not because of what you have TAKEN but because of what you have GIVEN!"

"Aye??? AND WHAT BE THAT?? I AM A MAN OF THE PLUND!! I 'AVE NOTHIN' TO GIVE!?" replies Capt T with sarcastic intonation, and a hint of reverent curiosity.

"The King of England has asked of me to find a new symbol to be placed in the English alphabet in homage to the new lands found. If you accede my ship and my mates safety, I will bestow the task on thyself for the commissioning of the new symbol. What say ye Captain Theodius? What say ye to that??"

Fenton stood steadfast on the blood soaked deck, starring up at the stoic pirate captain, watching him consider his offer. Knowing his enemy well, he knew his offer would not be refused. A pirate captain's life is plagued by many things, but most of all, he is plagued by his own ego, and refusing an offer which promises a bolster his ego was not an option. Not now, not never.

After minutes, the silence was broken. "Aye!" Cap T shouts. "I ACCEPT YE"

"What be thy new symbol then Theodius? What be thy new symbol you have chosen?" Fenton asks, motioning to his 1st officer to quickly fetch the scribe from below.

Cap T turns to his crew and shouts "AYE! MATES!! WHAT BE YE SYMBOL?"

In a unison response of orchestrated sword raising madness, a large cry came up from the pirates..
"AAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!"

The letter "R" came to be, came to be it did, carved into the large sails of Capt Fenton's ship as it sailed sheepishly into harbor on a cold foggy day. A violent reminder of the letter's origin, and a testimony to the ego of a pirate.

"Sir, we are ready to drop anchor, on your command" the first officer informed.

"Right then, ready the anchor, ready the raft, drop the anchor."

"Roger, Captain, Roger that."

17th Letter of the Alphabet, Letter Q

2009-08-15T01:00:00.000-06:00

Seems letter Q is missing.. Rumor has it, it may show up somewhere else..

Alex differed this letter to yours truly, so even though this is not from Alex's sublime mind, it shows he trusted me enough to let me have a go at it.

17th letter of the Alphabet, Letter Q

I have been asked to post a little something on here from a friend who is doing a post series. He has been writing a little something about every letter of the alphabet starting with A and going on from there. So before you read the rest of my post you should take a look at his by going here sublimation blogification and then come back to me, as he has asked me to write something about the letter Q.

Q is the the first stooge of the alphabet's three stooges, the others being X and Z. He is the quintessential leader of the pack, coming before the other stooges, having more uses in the Basic English language than Z, and X cant seem to start any words on his own. As the leader he is often questioned by the rest of the alphabetorium for his quick dismissal of Y as a stooge, He quickly and quietly answers that vowels cant be stooges. If being first wasn't enough for X and Z, then all Q does is point out his uniqueness and how he is the only one of the three who has a sidekick pretty much at all times. You see, U cant seem to stay away from Q and that usually gives Q the upper hand when faced with a quandary from his fellow stooges. As for the times when U is not there, well they aren't called stooges for nothing...

This brings me to my favourite Q word: Quagmire, pronounced kwag-ˌmī(-ə)r. This is my favourite word for two reasons, one it sounds unique and funny which fits the stooges just perfectly and the other is the many uses it has in our language, with a first name being one of them. "Quagmire, was in a bit of a quagmire for having too much fun with those girls" or "Quagmire was stuck in the middle of a quagmire, all because he didn't take the time to survey his surroundings" and finally putting them both together just solidifies that Q definitely is the head stooge of the alphabet "Quagmire found himself all alone in his quagmire while the quagmire continued to present itself unsteady and quagmirific, leaving him in one too many quagmires for his liking"

For those of you still with me, I hope that my last sentence didn't leave you in too much of a quagmire in figuring out the meaning of it all. After all a stooge is a stooge is a stooge, and so "Q" is now immortalized.

16th Letter of the Alphabet, Letter P

2009-08-14T01:00:00.000-06:00

P is what is known as a voiceless bilabial plosive when pronounced as it is commonly used in words such as "Prick" or "Picnic". It can also be a voiceless labiodental fricative when used in words such as "Phoney" or "Phobias". Who cares? P doesn't.
P is an alphabet vetern, maintaining it's status as one of the oldest letters in the english language. He's old, and thus a little grumpy. What really got his goat was when some toolbox started calling urine "Pee". Oh the other letters thought this was funnier than a one legged man in an ass kicking contest, and they would use it where ever they can, grinding P into levels of grumpy no one ever could have expected. P now sits in an old letter home and has obligatory visits every once in awhile by other letters, and has even been known to talk to a few numbers. He participates in secret round table discussions with his friends I, and numbers 3, 1 and 4. He's planning his revenge in that old age. Planning it well. One should always be suspicious when the numbers show up.

In the only alphabet that truly matters on a global scale, P stands for "Pizza"

Some crazy smart chef somewhere in the world, figured out how to combine all the food groups together into one dish and make it taste good. If all you had in your life was Pizza and Guinness Beer, you'd be set. You can live off this, no shit. Pizza and beer. I wonder now if I used "Beer" for the letter "B", i forget, and I'm too lazy to check it out.

15th Letter of the Alphabet, Letter O

2009-08-13T01:00:00.000-06:00

Man oh man, 15th letter only? We're not even half way there! Stupid "O". Short of coming up with a back story for the letter "O" here is an interesting fact:

The Egyptian hieroglyph for the letter "O" is an eye. Stupid Egyptians, I mean seriously, makes you wonder what glyph they used for the word "eye", an "I" perhaps? Heres some papyrus, go make an alphabet, or wait.. wait.. didn't the aliens give you something to write on? I guess not seeing as you take the more efficient route of scratching a stone wall with a stick.

"O" is also the last letter of one of my favourite acronyms.. UFO. It stands for OBJECT and it's something I don't get to see. All the OBJECTS I see in the sky are identifyable, and once in my life I want to see something that is UNidentifyable. It doesnt' even need to be flying, it can be sitting in my backyard for all I care, I just need to see a fricken UFO. Maybe someone can dangle an upside down bowl hanging from a fishing rod in front of my window. That would be cool.

In the Alphabet of the Sublime, "O" stands for "Organism"

Everyone likes organisms, I mean, what would life be if you couldn't have organisms? They are good for your health, and are beneficial in more ways than one. Some of the best organisms occur after you eat yogurt or cheese, these organisms help with the digestion of food. Organisms make great gifts as well, but you have to be a little careful of who you give an organism to, some may not appreciate it as much as others, it's best to ask first:

"Hey There!"
"Hey whats up?"
"Would you like me to give you an organism?"
"I'm sorry? Come again?"
"Sure"

Bonus Question: Who is this guy and what is he doing?

14th Letter of the Alphabet, Letter N

2009-08-12T01:00:00.002-06:00

One year ago, give or take a week, I was laid up on my couch with a lower back outage. I was grumpy, unapproachable and not very communicative. It sucked. I was in my pit of dispair watching some stupid daytime talk show when Tanya came over for a visit and gifted me with a Tim Horton's Large Double Double in a Roll Up The Rim To Win cup. It was the kick off to the most anticipated contest in Canada, and became a kick off to my recovery. Soon after my first roll up cup I thought it would be a great idea to start a blog about the successes and failures of rolling up the rim. But day after day, blogging a seemingly never ending string of losses, it became boring, resulting in a blogger's block which lasted more than a lunar month. I needed a new idea, a new blog. In April 07 I started Sublimation, the blog about anything and everything, and haven't stopped since. Coming up with new ideas, stories and basic bull crap which comprise and compliment the entries of this blog, is really not as easy as it looks. I wanted this blog to be a reflection of who I am, a guide for readers to get to know me better, an invitation to those who wish to trespass into the whirlpools that are my thoughts, and further on into the labyrinth that is my mind. But alas I think I have failed in this mission. Sublimation has been too "safe". I have over 20+ posts in behind this one that have never made it to publication, posts which I lacked the necessary kahonees to press the publish button on. Perhaps this is a good thing, perhaps, it's better to keep people guessing sometimes, perhaps it's the right thing to do, better safe than sorry right? Meh.. Consider this; if you truly want to get to know someone on an authentic level, wouldn't you rather be sorry than safe? Oooo, I like where this is going.. Note to self: Future Blog Idea #243 - Levels of Authenticity, When to Break the Rules

OK, so what the hell.. "N"? Where was I going with that you ask? "N" stands for "Noisotherm"
It's a campaign I will be integrating into my life starting with the Vernal Equinox of 2008, ending with the Vernal Equinox of 2009. It's completely original, never been done before by anyone anywhere at any time. It will be intoxicating. Authenticating. Yea it might fail, might fail bad, that's cause it's not a safe route, it's risky, and the most difficult thing I will have ever done. But if it succeeds? I make Oprah.

13th Letter of the Alphabet, Letter M

2009-08-11T01:00:00.000-06:00

M is for MEXICO.. Sianora Kianu! See you on the 18th. (I'll do M a little more justice when I get back..)

"Que linda está la mañana en que vengo a saludarte,Venimos todos con gusto y placer a felicitarte,Ya viene amaneciendo, ya la luz del día nos dio,Levántate de mañana, mira que ya amaneció."

12th Letter of the Alphabet, Letter L

2009-08-10T01:00:00.000-06:00

Mr. L, or Mr. Latino as he prefers, is the Life of the Party. L is a recent addition to the english alphabet, prefers the spanish speaking part of the world, not just for the sexy flow of the words but for the warmth of the weather. All you women out there that think it would be fun to hang out with a Letter, L is the one, the Latin Lover.
Questions you may hear people ask L: (and for good reason)

¿Cuántos socios ha tenido usted hoy?
and
Su lugar o mina?
and
Usted es agradable y grande cuando se capitalizan!

To which he would reply:

¡Oh mi señora mi señora. Por favor, no vienen a cerrar, es posible quedarse embarazada.

In the sublibet, L stands for "LOST". Now in it's fourth season, an example of combining awesome storytelling with great character development resulting in one of the best TV shows to hit the idiot box since M.A.S.H. I mean, no matter how you slice it, you can't beat the 4077th.

11th Letter of the Alphabet, Letter K

2009-08-09T01:00:00.000-06:00

Oh sweet K. I've been low on the creativity biocharts for the last week, so K is gonna be suffering a little bit, not that it matters, K's life is shrouded in top secret anyway, and if she told you about her life she would have to kill you. She's the K in KGB, the K in Kill and the K in Kinky.. damn, I said to much alread......... .. .. ... ... . .

10th Letter of the Alphabet, Letter J

2009-08-08T01:00:00.000-06:00

Letter J. J just loves to be J, doesn't complain, doesn't make a fuss. She loves helping other letters with thier problems and just simply loves to love. J is the one people go to when they are feeling down, and she'll juice them right back up into life in no time. J is a very smart eater as well, and friendly to her enviroment by being easy on ink and sporting low impact curves. Due to her pleasant nature and quiet demenor, she was a perfect choice for the right hand home key on the keyboard, the most honorable position, for which she is well proud.

In the Sublime Alphabetorium, J stands for "Jabberwocky"

Lewis Carroll - Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There - 1872

9th Letter of the Alphabet, Letter I

2009-08-07T01:00:00.000-06:00

Yea, it looks like a "J" but it's not. It's "I" and it would kick your ass for calling it a "J". I asked self proclaimed Capitalist "I" to write a little piece about itself and this is what it came back with: (He was a little late, cause he said he was "Bizzy wit Nizzy", whatever that means)

"Schaaper, funny thing you doing a bit on the alphabet. Let me tell you something. I am the best letter in the alphabet, I stand tall. I stand firm. I am the best at working out, and thus I have this rockin slim body, and the womin love me, they love everything about me. I am also one of the only letters that can be used as a single letter, and the reason why I'm better than "A" is cause, when you use me as a single letter word, I'm always CAPITALIZED. So SUCK it "A". Funny story, "E" once tried to make a move to be used as a single letter word, heh, we all laughed our latin asses off, cause the only place he was able to make it work was friggen Old MacDonald Had a Farm, E I E I O!!! Way to go "E" good on ya.. fricken donk, stay out of the single letter word business. Um, the favorite use of me, besides of course single letter words, (which really is the meaning of my existence btw) is probably "In". Long story there, but "N" and I are.. ahem.. so.. how bout those Flames?"

Anyway... In the Sublimative Alphabetative, the letter "I" stands for "Idiot". A words which really does not require any definition, as you would probably be one if you didn't know what it was. BUT it is interesting to know that the official meaning of the word: (from dictionary.com)

A person of profound mental retardation having a mental age below three years and generally being unable to learn connected speech or guard against common dangers. The term belongs to a classification system no longer in use and is now considered offensive.
[Middle English, ignorant person, from Old French idiote, from Latin idiōta, from Greek idiōtēs, private person, layman, from idios, own, private.]

The way I have used the word in the past:

"I told Joylaine she looked paunchy when she was pregnant.. I am such an IDIOT"

8th Letter of the Alphabet, Letter H

2009-08-06T01:00:00.000-06:00

H is the only letter in the alphabet that doesn't require the use of the vocal cords, tounge or lips. H is the silent letter, it's mute, and was picked on a lot as a young letter in elementary school or Hellementary School as he liked to call it. H dreams of a future where he can be loud and proud, and in some languages is already being used as a voiceless pharyngeal fricative. Look that up wise guys.

In the Sublimative Alphabetium, the letter H stands for "Hookah" cause hookah is awesome. For all who don't know what it is, I urge you to google it. There's something about inhaling the smoke of burned watermelon, mint, and double apple that help excorsize the trapped demons one has accumulated over the week or month. It's a cleansing, a renewal, and a big part of the Sierra Lima. (Which BTW, should be meeting soon)

7th Letter of the Alphabet, Letter G

2009-08-05T00:38:00.000-06:00

G is the "Goody Goody" in town, always doing the right thing, a follower of rules and a holder of the treasured Gold temperament. Words which it stands proud to lead are Gracious, Gratitude, and Goodness. G was a little disappointed when it heard that "G Unit" used her for their name, cause G Unit, a gangsta-drug-dealing-gun-toting-hiphop-gaggle of rapper wantabe's, doesn't really stand for anything represented by her whatsoever. I mean seriously, who writes crap like this: "I got birds backstage the serious eye candy I got birds in the hood so im in to birds with mary My writing methods got me more hoes than tice and betha Icy necklace on the tour bus ass naked here straight jump"

That aside, in the only alphabet that truly matters, "G" stands for "Guitar Hero"

You have all heard of the 50 year storm, a storm so great it occurrence is once every 50 years. Well, Guitar Hero is the 50 year video game, dripping in awesomeness and exploding in a massive fireball of awe-inspiring incredulous. To some, it's just a game, but to others it's a path to enlightenment, bordering on the religious.

6th Letter of the Alphabet, Letter F

2009-08-04T09:16:00.001-06:00

F, the 6th letter of the alphabet is the trouble maker, the king of crass. He spent his early years in the back of the class having too much fun, throwing food around and creating custom blow darts out of Bic pen casings and needles of compasses, and sticking them into O, due to the fact that O was quite a large target. (In hindsight he feels quite bad about this) He didn't like school, got bored and screwed around way too much so a new word had to be invented, "Failure". Except, he wasn't really a failure of life, people loved him and wanted to be his friend, and he loved life and lived it fully. He was to be known later in life as "Mr. Funny".

In the world of the Sublime, F stands for my favorite day of the week, "Friday"

Friday, the foreplay of the weekend, is where the fun happens. Everyone loves Friday, at least people that work a regular 80 hour week, and to the people that don't, you're missing out. Friday was invented by Mr. Gregorian in 1399 AD, for which he won the Noble Peace Prize for in 1442, the same day Columbus sailed the ocean blue.

This was written on a Tuesday, give me a break, I hate tuesdays more than mondays.

5th Letter of the Alphabet, Letter E

2009-08-03T09:35:00.003-06:00

E is Mr. Fricken Popularity, the King of Pop. He is used 130 times out of every 1000 characters typed in the english language, no letter comes close. E is the stud of the alphabet, the Grande Pooba. E demonstrates his popularity with charisma, changing the sound of other letters without having to make a sound himself, Mat to Mate, or Hat to Hate, the list goes on.

In the Alphabet of the Sublime, E stands for one of it's crowing achievements, Einstein's famous Theory of Relativity: "E=mc2"

What is the theory of relativity? In a nutshell, it's about how much energy is held within matter, and what would happen if that energy was released. So take for example a kilogram of water, turning it into pure energy would release 10,000,000,000,000,000 Joules. That's a crazy amount of energy, considering dropping a brick from three feet onto the floor releases one Joule of energy. How did we get to that large number? we used E=mc2:
There is about 111 grams of hydrogen atoms in 1 kilo of water, and the speed of light is 300,000,000 meters per second. So, we go .111 x 300,000,000 x 300,000,000 = 10,000,000,000,000,000 Joules. That's the same amount of energy as burning hundreds of thousands of gallons of gasoline! Crazy.. If you could annihilate hydrogen in a car engine using E=mc2, you would only need a teaspoon of water a year to operate it. This, however, just is not feasible due to the fact that atomic annihilation would require the use of anti-matter, and that my friends is where the deal ends. Anti matter can not be contained here on earth... yet.

4th Letter of the Alphabet, Letter D

2009-08-02T23:11:00.004-06:00

Letter D is utilitarian and a historian, mostly used in words with it's lifelong friend "E" to denote a past tense. D stays out of trouble, reading books, smoking his pipe, and drinking expensive port.

In the Sublime Alphabet, "D" stands for "Donk"

Donk: Short for "Donkey". A person who makes really bad calls in poker due to his/her lack of experience, inability to calculate odds, or makes calls due to "having a gut feeling".

"Dude called my raise with a 7 2 offsuit and rivered me, what a frickin donk!"

3rd letter of the alphabet, Letter C

2009-08-01T01:36:00.000-06:00

The tricky letter "C", underrated by it's peers, mostly due to jealousy, and mostly by it's nemesis the letter "K". One day you see, "C" and "K" fell in love, and were married, happily married for years and years. Then out of the blue,"K" the harlot went and had an affair with "S". Well instead of killing "S" right then and there, which was certainly his right in those days, "C" took the more democratic approach and sued they' asses. He won the use of the "K" sound, and the "S" sound, and stands as the ONLY letter with such an ability. Karrot was then spelled Carrot, Kan't was spelled Can't, and Sirkumsision was spelled Circumcision, and although "C" didn't really like that word much, it was a triple take out, so he would have been dumb to refuse it. Over time, humans began to invent newer words and used "C" much much more. Crazy letter that "C". If you like drama, it's the letter for you. "K" and "S" have since split up due mostly to the fact that "C" placed itself in words with them to create dissention. You can still see evidence of this if you look closely at words like "Sick", "Slick" and "Suck".

And in the Alphabet of the Sublime.. The letter "C" is the proud sponser of the "C and C Music Factory"!

Now hit the dance floor it's gonna make you sweat till you bleed Is that dope enough indeed I paid the price to control the dice.. I'm more precise to the point I'm nice.. Let the music take control of your heart and soul.. Unfold your body is free and behold.. Dance till you can't dance till you can't dance no more....

2nd letter of the alphabet, Letter B

2009-07-31T00:42:00.000-06:00

As we carry on with the Sublime Alphabet, we get the voluptuous letter "B". "B" with it's fine curvy sex appeal, stands for a great word in the sublime language of the schaaper, that word is non other than.... ..."Bitchin'"

Ahh Bitchin. (Not to be confused with "Bitching" which is synonomous for seemingly endless complaining with the sole purpose of annoying the hell out of anyone caring to listen.) "Bitchin" is just something that is simply two quarts of cool, with a touch of dangerous. For example, when we pulled Jason K behind a Quad on a sled aka table with screws sticking out of it, it was damn cool, but because he tore open his jeans and almost lost his manhood in a fury of supersonic nastiness, it became "Bitchin".

Example:

"Man the way Alex was flying that kite in Kelowna looks like it could have killed him, I am not ashamed to admit that he's kind of a hero to me.."

"Yea, that sure was Bitchin.. wow, we are lucky to still have him around!"

1st Letter of the alphabet, Letter A

2009-07-30T00:38:00.004-06:00

This fine letter kick starts the "Alphabet" series part of my blog. Could there be a better letter to start an alphabet series? Hell no, "A" is used to being first at everything, and doesn't really like things to change. There was once a letter which no longer is in our alphabet, it was cross between an "A" and a "y" I forget how to pronounce it, but it tried to make a play to be the first letter of the alphabet, and "A" wouldn't have any of it, oooooh man was it MAD!! "A" kicked it's unpronouncable ass out and it ended up being part of some third world countries' alphabet. So, it's not a surprise that "A" stands for AWESOME. It's the Chuck Norris of the 'bet.

AWESOME.
One of the highest ranks of greatness, only one position below "Sublime". It's better than "cool", way better than "wickit" and kicks the ass of "fun".

As used in a sentence:
"That clam chowder was pretty good!" "Pretty Good? that chowdah was awesome!"

End of an era that came way too soon!!!

2009-07-30T00:08:00.008-06:00

Well the end of an era came to be on July 23 2009, and it is has been quite possible the hardest thing to do in life, grieve over the loss of someone too soon and too abruptly. I am not in a state to talk about it, and I am not sure I will be anytime soon. What I am ready to do is to get my blogging back up an going. I am not ready to take things full blown, but there is something out there that needs to be completed. My good friend and companion started something a while back, it was a blog on the letters of the alphabet. He was so kind as to invite me to unleash the letter "Q" which I was able to do. Anyway, to make a long post short, the alphabet series stopped at V, with the ending never to be finished by the original master. To honour my fallen friend I plan to finish this one series. I will post when I am ready and hopefully I will be able to try and fit (I wont be able to come close to filling) in his shoes. So bear with me, and join me if you will on this one last journey for Alex. I will be bringing us back to the beginning, the letter "A" and everyday post the next letter until we come to the unfinished part, in the meantime I hope that people out there will take a look at the genius that was my companion, debater, blogger, analytical thinker, and most of all loved friend, the one the only Alexander Richard Schaap. May you rest and find peace my friend, you will always, ALWAYS be remembered and loved!!

April 1972 - July 2009

Too soon my friend, and may the lights guide you home!!

Cult happenings in Alberta

2009-01-19T17:17:00.002-07:00

Strange occurrences in the early Alberta evening as secretly taped by mon amie and my amigo.

This is copied straight from the "World of Sublime" click to see more sublimation

Coalition bullshit!

2008-12-05T17:37:00.004-07:00

Alright, my fellow blogger the big DC has stated everything i have to say and more here "WTC is in the water in Ottawa?" so i wont make this too long, although i could as i am pissed about what is going on!!

Here is it short and sweet.

I was emailing the Governor General and other MP's about our current political situation and hoping that my voice would be heard. When i went to the websites to find the e-mail address of said people, there were their website right below the address. Now you might not believe what i am about to write so i will post the websites for you to take a look at yourself. The official website for Stephen Harper has a home page that request whether you want to view it in English or french, normal as we are a bilingual country. But i was very surprised and actually angered by the fact that both Jack Layton of the NDP and Stephen Dion of the liberals home pages were both in french right off the bat, i was unable to find Gilles Duceppe's homepage, but you dont have to be a rocket scientist to figure out what language it would be in, with no option for english. On both Layton's and Dion's pages, there was a little button in the top right hand side that said English, but there was not a home page making that request at the start.

I know that we are a bilingual country, but I believe that English is our primary language with french being secondary, correct me if I am wrong. The problem i have is that one province is starting to take the drivers seat away from the country and it is la belle province, which not so long ago felt that they were too good for our great country and still have the separatist party. How can a Canadian government have a separatist party involved in a coalition. The fact that both of the other leaders involved in this, lets call it was it is, coup de ta, have their home pages in french with English as an option and not a home page that provides both options before proceeding should tell everyone who cares about this situation, that if this coalition takes power, Quebec will be running the joint in no time, not that they don't already i suppose.

Anyway just a rant that might not be too coherent, but it is my rant none the less.

Dealing with an Annoying Telemarketer

2008-10-08T20:14:00.001-06:00

This is a real call that my friend taped trying to see how long he could keep a telemarketer on the line and then hang up on him.

It is hilarious!!

Ruprecht in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

2008-09-16T21:14:00.001-06:00

steve martin at his best

Da Olymipique Jouer

2008-08-13T12:37:00.002-06:00

It is that time game, the 29th Olympiad has fallen upon us and is coming at as live (or sort of live) from the world's next most powerful nation of China. For those of you who don't think that they are going to overtake the states as the world leader, kindly take your head out of the sand and take a look at their sheer population size of 1.3 BILLION people, that is almost 4 times as big as the states. On that fact alone you can hold them down anymore and they are coming and coming fast. But I digress as that has nothing to do with the post I am writing.

This post is about Canada and our showing at the Olympics and just our attitude in general. I am about ready to puke if I hear one more time the following sentence "We are so proud of ourselves for the way that we competed, we can officially call our selves Olympians" This is the do gooder attitude that is getting us NO WHERE!!! since when has it been the goal to go to the Olympics and simply compete. Now I am not a world class athlete, but I have played in sports and would consider my self an athlete of some sorts, with that said, if I was training to go to the Olympics, I would want my country to give me what I needed to compete for gold, not simply compete.

I am not blaming the athletes as they do the best with the training that they have been afforded, I am putting the blame right on the shoulders of us, the people of Canada. We need to start kickin ass and taking names when it comes to things like this. If you take a look at the Chinese, once they found out they were awarded the games, they made it their mission, notice how it was not a goal, THEIR MISSION to finish first overall when it comes to medals and especially gold medals, now they might not beat the states, but they sure as shit are giving it a helluva run. This is something that the rest of the athletic world should be taking note of. If you are going to compete in something, go to win it all!! We as Canadians don't have that killer instinct and consider it simply an honor to have shown up.

I am not saying that every athlete that goes to the games needs to come home with a medal, but aren't you all just as sick of coming in 22th 28th 24th 48th or higher and not having a single medal yet?? I know that we are not going to be able to compete with the likes of china or the states, but no medals... this is becoming a joke that the Canadian government needs to open their eyes to and start providing proper funding. We have world class athletes that could be coming home with medals, yet we aren't providing them with the needs to get to the next level of competition.

With all this said, I realize that we are more of a winter Olympics nation and we have started the "own the podium" campaign for Vancouver 2010, but why cant we have success in both summer and winter, last time i looked we do have summer and all that jazz in this country (yes i know that some might debate this). We are a powerful enough nation that we should be able to have better results than we are getting.

To finish, the attitude of we came, competed, did the best we could and can be proud to be Olympians... that is the athletes way of politely asking/telling the country that they need more funding if we are to get better result. I am curious and almost anxious to see how our little "Own the Podium" will turn out. If we take it as serious as the Chinese did, then we will be one damn proud nation, but we continue the way we have, we aint gonna own squat.

These are my thoughts and in no way reflect the thoughts of facts from or about anyone else but you may find this interesting "Get serious Canada"
CIAO!!

That time of year again, stampede = moustache

2008-07-07T12:18:00.004-06:00

The first annual moustache contest is upon us... that is right those who are able to grow something on the face, and upper lip this is for you!! I talked to a few people about this in the past months who said oh yeah no prob, but then proceeded to back down when it actually came time to pony up and wear the stache. Not a problem, but know that this is going to be something that is going to be ongoing and will gain steam in the years to come.

Some of those who backed down used the following reasons, not full enough, cant connect, not dark enough, looks funny... blah blah blah. It is the damn stampede are this is what we should be looking like for 10 days.

So to you all out there, I invite you to this contest, I will post any and all the pictures of people who send me their moustache pictures and then if there are enough we will have a panel of judges choose the winner. All you need to do is send me your e-mail in a comment and I will then have you send me a pic. The rules are simple, you can not have it connected like a beard, or goatee, and you need to have some originality and finally it has to be on your face for the full 10 days. Alright, let me start it off with my pic!! nothing out of the ordinary this year as I forgot and only started growing in the past couple weeks. But there you have it, and little variation on my usual chops. Some come one come all, and yes women are welcome!!

Slow Motion Punches

2008-06-22T19:37:00.001-06:00

A good friend told me that I needed to post this, you need to get through the first 30 seconds and that is when the fun starts. Love the last guy!!

Stoned reporter

2008-06-11T21:43:00.003-06:00

Fake but still funny!! Gotta love the English!!

One String Willy

2008-06-03T23:21:00.001-06:00

Now this is something that all you guitar hero/rock band players can aspire to. Playing a song with only one song is pretty cool... not to mention a major chick magnet!!

Get outta here... AWESOME!!!

2008-05-29T17:34:00.001-06:00

I read this in the herald yesterday, it left Katie and I laughing hysterically...yeah yeah yeah we are mean and cruel BLAH BLAH BLAH!!!

The cat came back . . . with an arrow through his back. A tomcat -- aptly named Trouble -- is on the mend after being nailed with a crossbow bolt last week.

The six-year-old cat had been missing for more than three days on Thursday afternoon when he crawled up to his owner's doorstep near Barrhead, about 100 kilometres northwest of Edmonton, pierced with a 46-centimetre crossbow shaft and barely able to move his back legs.

The cat's owners rushed Trouble to Dr. Sarah Fryer's emergency vet clinic. "We came home and he was just sitting at the door waiting for us," said the woman who owns the cat, who did not want to be identified. "At first I couldn't tell what it was, but as soon as I realized it, I was sick. It was just horrible."

Trouble was shot just below the tail with a metal-tipped bolt. The tip exited behind the animal's left shoulder blade. Its red and yellow fletching was still visible under the tail.

Remarkably, none of Trouble's organs was hit, nor was there any significant nerve damage.

"The cat was obviously in shock, but was amazingly comfortable, considering," said Fryer. "He was actually purring when we had him in here. He was obviously very glad to be among people again."

Barring infection, which Fryer says is the biggest risk to Trouble's health at this point, the cat could make a full recovery and is so far doing "extremely well."
His owners are concerned about the circumstances of the shooting.

"It seems too much of a coincidence for it to be an accident," Trouble's owner said.
"We were just horrified that anyone could be that cruel. I mean, he's a cat. His biggest offence is that he's too friendly."

HAHAHAHAHAHA too friendly, what kind of devil creature survives being shot with a cross bow through the back, and for three days! I tell you what, any other non possessed spawn of Satan would have died fo sho!!! too friendly...

Thought this was kind of cool...

2008-05-29T12:05:00.003-06:00

Here is website that I stumbled upon when bored. Kind cool if you like this kind of thing... This is his website Daily Monster

Elephant Paints Self Portrait

2008-05-27T12:18:00.001-06:00

I have always like Elephants, as you can tell by their placement around our home. This is something that I thought was pretty cool.

My Issue with a recent Vote

2008-05-22T18:57:00.007-06:00

There was a vote the other day at the Christian high school. This was a vote on whether to join the Paliser school system or not. Now admittedly, I don't know all the details about Paliser, but I know that we would basically be joining the public school system in some way shape or form, similar to what happened in Edmonton some years back.

Now I will make this as short and sweet as possible. It is not the vote or idea I have a problem, with as people are all entitled to their opinions for their own reasons, what I have a problem with, not wait a BIG problem with, is how it all went down. You see there was a vote not so long ago where the outcome was not the 75% majority that the school board set forth, so as it didn't pass, that should have been the end of it. After the vote was defeated, people wrote numerous letters and complaints, again totally fine with this, but all of a sudden this resulted in a new vote being called. This is where I have the problem. You see a vote was called, the vote took place and was not passed. This should have been the end of it, but it was not as the board decided because 72% (and many of them I suspect) of the voters were not happy with how the vote turned out, that there would be another vote. This time it was approved, now making other people unhappy. (when can we expect a re vote this time...)

Now before you all lambaste me, understand that if I did indeed vote, I would have accepted the outcome for what it was whether I was happy with it or not. But to have another vote right away because it didn't get the 75% approval??? If there was going to be another vote, it should have been a minimum of one year later. You see the long and short of it is, is that the board set forth the number required, it wasn't met and therefore was defeated. If the board was so sure that it was going to get the 75% then it has to live with the fact that it didn't, and move on. If if they cant do that, then they should at least admit that no matter what the outcome was, there would continue to be re votes until the desired result was achieved, which is what happened in the end.

To end this post I will say one more thing that I have a problem with. I have heard from both sides of the fence and both present good arguments, but what I hate HATE HATE hearing, is when I overheard someone telling another person that they were on the wrong side and how did they feel about that. WRONG SIDE!!! Aren't we all in this for the education of our kids, isn't that why CCS was started so many years ago, to bring up our children in a Christian setting. Since when are there sides. If we start to all think this way and lose sight of what it is we are all trying to do with Christian education, well then we might as well close the doors tomorrow. Our parents and grand parents fought hard, made many sacrifices, both financial and emotional, to start this school, and that is something that I think we need to remember, and not ask what side are you on, we should be on the kids side!

In closing, I pose one simple question: If this Paliser does not work (and I TRULY hope that it does), where do we go?? You can never go back to what it was, so where do we go?? How do we start all over??

In response to ALEXANDER THE GREAT...

2008-05-15T09:29:00.005-06:00

Alex, I will address your comment in a post (this is what you have taught your padawan learner oh master.)

Here is the post and comments in its entirety. Why do I exist... to Grand theft Auto IV of course

Alex wrote: GTA4 is a great game, in that it has scored 10 out of 10 on most gaming sites

What is it that gives the game a 10 out of 10? Was it you who personally sat down and played it and then scored it? It was other people and it was THEIR opinion, and now they have told you that this is the greatest game ever made. It seems that this is not like you, to allow yourself to be force feed what you think, Polly want a cracker, aaawwkk HELLOOO. Like with movie critics, I will make up my own mind and not take what they write and then spit that out as my opinion about the movie, the same should be true about the "greatest game ever made."

Alex wrote: ... we play board games such as oh I dunno, RISK, Command and Conquer, Axis and Allies, etc.. How fun would it be to play a game which mimics true life? Boring!

To the point of playing Risk et al, I find it strange that you would compare strategic board games based on wars, although tragic wars do not break the law, to GTA4, a video game based on real life happenings. So to compare GTA4 to a strategic war based board game seems to be a missed point, after all when was the last time you had someone line up all their troops and roll the dice to see who win, compared to the last time you heard in the news of some hooker who was brutally murdered. To the last sentence about how it would be boring to play a game that mimics true life being boring, that is my main problem with this game, it is too true to real life. Drugs, Crime, Sex, Murder... anything in there remind you of anything you have seen/heard on the news lately.

Alex wrote: Why do you think all the popular games of today involve fantasy of some sort? Cause we as adult humans are pretty darn good at playing pretend, and we like it.

Now this point about us wanting to play games that are based on fantasy, I agree with you, however if it is fantasy that you want then this game has missed the mark as well. Who it their right mind would want to fantasies about the things that GTA4 deems acceptable? I will give you an example of another fantastic game, that up until this game was to top game of all time, HALO. This games takes the player to another world to fight aliens and other beast, now if it is fantasy that you want, then this is game.

Now as I stated before in my original post, I realize that it is only a game, and that I myself don't put much merit into it, I just feel that we have seen one too many times of life imitating art, and this is a game that I fear may bring those occurrences up in number. Paranoid maybe, new father - yes, this is my opinion, deal with it!

Why do I exist... to Grand Theft Auto IV of course!!

2008-05-13T21:12:00.007-06:00

This started out as a comment on sublimablogitude, it was in response to another blog but as I got to writing it took on a life of its own prompting a response post. It was the part of the post, a challenge that got me thinking. Here is the challenge

My First Thought Challenge: "The New Human"

You are a brand new human, just becoming into being. You are not a child though. You started out your human life as an adult, how you came to be is obviously NOT important here. You are standing on the ground somewhere on the earth, location not a factor, as a matter of fact, neither does your race, your sex, or the language you speak. You have no history, or at least none that you know of. The first item on your agenda (besides getting clothed) is figuring out why you exist. Where and how do you find your answer?

I was thinking about this more, and I the one thing that kept popping up in my mind was the video game Grand theft Auto IV. I am not sure why, as I have never played nor wish to play this game, but yet here I was thinking about it a lot today and the why do I as a new human, exist on this earth. I think that I would take a look around and settle into a life of crime and sin, not because this is my disposition, but because of what it acceptable in society. I know that I am going to get the old "but there are good things as well" speech, and I agree with that, but what the hell are we teaching our youth and "new humans" when a video game based on stealing, drugs, crime, having sex with prostitutes, then deciding how to kill them, and basically choosing to do everything that is wrong with society is the coolest thing since sliced bread, and possibly the friggin' wheel.

I was listening to the radio and there was a "gamer" on there (I have nothing against gamers, I am just not one of them) and he was telling the listeners that what is so awesome about the game is that you can go around doing things in the game that you shouldn't do in life... "SHOULDN'T DO..." I mean seriously shouldn't is almost like saying might not be able to, my mom doesn't want me to, I may get in trouble... how about the game lets you go around doing things that no only you cant do, forget shouldn't, but also that we as society know damn well are immoral, wrong and sinful!! Yet this game broke all the records for sales in any medium, with sales over $400 million dollars in three days.

Now I will admit, it is just a game and I fully believe that people are responsible for their own actions, but it was put to me why do I as a new human, exist on this earth. Well judging by what is acceptable and successful, I exist to grand theft auto IV I suppose. Not our brightest moment society, not our brightest moment.

joining the debate, or at least I think I am

2008-05-13T11:56:00.002-06:00

So I am going to be joining a debate/discussion that has been going on long before I was born, and will no doubt go on long after I die. It has been brought to the blog forefront by a newly welcomed back prodigal son, DVB. His post, found here, The beginning of the Beginning, is the start of something interesting.

Now before I actually put a post together I must preface what is to come with the fact that most people who know me, know that I am a spontaneous goof who likes to have fun, and those of you who read my blog are privy to a little piece of my brain. Well for the next little/long while I will not be spending as much time on the humor, or as DVB puts is "musings" but more on who I am and what I think and believe.

DVB, I actually should be thanking you for bringing this out in me, you see for the past year I have been talking and thinking about a very long and serious blog series. I wanted to take the time to thoroughly read every book of the bible and then follow it up with an in depth analysis of my thoughts on that particular book, and what it means to my faith and to me in general. Now I still have the desire to do this, but I am not sure on how to approach it so I am thinking that this blog discussion will get me into the thought process that I need to be in for a 66 post series.

So now that I have laid the ground work for my entry into this discussion, I will need to gather my thoughts and put on my serious face for a while. so to DVB, I will post soon, and thanks for the kick in the ARSE!

Episode I: How to Raise a Child

2008-05-07T23:22:00.000-06:00

A WTF post... where is this going?

2008-05-07T10:33:00.004-06:00

I have been thinking about the world of blogging lately and maybe that is the reason that I have been unable to come up with anything really. You see I am stuck in this rut, and I believe that I have found the reason, due in large part to my sister in law.

When you write a blog you completely open yourself to the world, there is nothing you can really do to stop people from reading what you have to say. Oh you can put up blockers and make rules, but really people it is not that hard to get in and read it. Well I am not sure how I feel about this and so it directly affects my recent lack of posting, and I will tell you why.

What is a blog? What is it supposed to be and what are people supposed to write. I have seen in the past two days new additions to the blogging world, one being my sister in law and other a friend. Reading theirs got me to thinking about what we should be writing on our blogs. I know that in the past I have written about our trip to Australia, the birth of my daughter, my hate for cats, why Ontario and eastern Canada sucks, how the states need to give their head a shake when comparing us shit beer a little brother(and somtimes just in general)and many other things. Is this the reason for a blog, a space to write whatever the hell you want circumstances be damned? Or should we be treating it a little more like a real life conversation where we would take the other peoples feelings and opinions into consideration. When did we get to the point where cyberspace ruled how we communicate. We have e-mail ,facebook, youtube, myspace, PINing, texting, the list goes on and on, but I think that we have lost the true art of communication, and I for one have been a culprit of this growing phenomenon.

Since the use of computers to e-mail, phones to text and blogs to blog, communication has gone right down the tube. I have read recently that many students who do very well in college or university end up leaving with no social skills and thusly adjustment to the real world is hard if not impossible, where as the average student leaves with very honed social skills and ends up adapting to the real working world much better. why is this? It is because the average students spent time conversing, socializing and practicing real life skills, as well as studying. On the flip side, the straight "A" students spent most of their time on-line, studying or just not learning the art of communication. In the end who is better off, well I leave that to you to decide but know this, the most successful people in the world are generally the most adaptable and social ept.

I know that this post was supposed to be about "should I post for fun, or should I post serious items, or a combinations" but as my fingers feverishly typed away my thoughts began to run rampant and the post completely changed in the middle, and that my friends is the way that it is going to stay.

In the end, the decision about the role that technology plays in out lives, and how we should use it, is completely up to the individual, but be warned that true human contact and communication cannot and should not ever be replaced.

If this post makes no sense well then you have just been tuned into a moment in time when you have seen how my brain works, and since I have no intention of going back and reading this, I will never know what I have said and if it makes sense. This truly has been a ramble in its truest sense.

Good morning! And in case I don't see you, good afternoon, good evening, and good night!

The states have it right

2008-05-06T12:43:00.002-06:00

Before all you crazy canucks go off on a tangent and oot of your freakin' minds, hear me oot first and realize that I love my home country, the land of the beaver and the true north strong and free.

What the states have right is how they treat sports. We are starting to get the picture a little bit, but we have a long ways to go. As an avid sports lover I was treated to one of the greatest pleasures one can have in life for almost 8 years. The pregame ritual of the tailgate. Now some of you may say "wait a mintue, I haev tailgated at a stamps game, or at a flames playoff game before, we know how to tailgate!!" The answer to that is a big fat resounding "NO YOU DONT!!!"

If you have ever had the priviledge of experiencing a NCAA College football game, March madness, NFL football game or MLB game you will know what I am talking about. It is not a couple thousand people who get together with a little grill and throw a ball around. It is anywhere from 30,000 to almost the entire town of Green Bay in the parking lot with full kitchen type grills and full course meals. It doesnt just start a few hours before the game, but almost the night before the game as that is when you would need to get there in order to ensure your spot.

I could go to a sporting even just for the pre-game tailgate alone. It is almost like the red mile during the tampa bay series, only it is before every home game. Perhaps the greatest tailgating takes places before College football games. I have been two a few of these and can honestly say that is one of the best times you can have. Beer, meat, sports, women and just one helluva good time.

So to you Mr USAPREGAMETAILGATERTRADITIONSTARTER!!! I not only salute you, but take my hat and the shirt off my back to you!! GAME ON USE game on, we Canadians are slowly starting to get it right, but like anything it is a work in progress. Here is to seeing My Green Bay Packers take on the Seattle Seahawks sometime this years.

PARTY ONE GARTH, party on!!

stuck in a rut

2008-05-05T23:23:00.002-06:00

well readers, it has been over a month since my last post so I am offically stuck in a rut. I will try to get past this bloogers block and come back with a vengence, but so far I am having some problems. To anyone out the, help is always wanted and sometimes needed, I welcome any and all suggestions. Also take a look at this new blog and let the madness begin!!

Stuck on this Island Welcome aboard DC, and where the hell is my link on your page...

Leavin' the roaring 20's Hello dirty 30's

2008-04-04T10:51:00.004-06:00

Well this past week I officially left behind my 20's and entered into the my 30's. Most people I have been talking to have made me come to think that this is some sort of a big milestone and accomplishment in my life. I am here to offer a different view on this, a view which has now been skewed due to the birth of my daughter.

Looking back, when I thought about turning 30, I was all ready to go leave my 20's with a major bang complete with everything that one could think of. I was going to have a huge bash that would remind me of some of the house parties I used to throw at college. 300 people, 10 kegs, dirty dancing and just a great time in general. After all how many times does one turn 30?? As I came closer and closer to this "milestone" I was planning how it was all going to unfold and what the evening would entail, in the phrasing of a younger man, it was going to be "OFF THE HOOK"

Well my friends, around 6 months ago and then really 4 weeks ago things changes. McKenzie Jade Weening came into this world and change my whole perspective on the whole turning 30. While I still view it as an fun birthday, I no longer view it as a major milestone of achievement, conceiving and giving birth to a child, now THAT is an accomplishment/achievement to be proud of.

After McKenzie was born, things that were important to me seemed to change, I didn't care about my stuff or my things, but focus now solely on her needs and her life. In essence turning 30 was like waking up on a Tuesday, no big deal! Now before some of you go ans say that I don't have to change my entire life because we had a baby, I am telling you all these things because I enjoy the change. I love the fact that she is my entire world, I still live my life but she has caused a change in me that I think is for the better.

So to end, turning 30 for me this year wasn't a big deal and seemed a bigger deal to those around me. Having McKenzie... now that was a big friggin' deal. That is something to be proud of and have a major bash for, my 30th??? Well we are just having a party with some appi's and a keg, after all you do still have to have a little fun don't you??? See you then peeps.

The only good thing to come out on Ontario is...

2008-03-20T11:40:00.006-06:00

The Tim Horton's Rim Roller!!!

I was reminded of this again the other day when my mother in law was visiting to see our new daughter. Since they don't have the privilege of enjoying the taste of a Tim Horton's coffee when ever they want, we make sure to indulge them here. Well it just so happens, that she came right in the height of the Rrrrroll up the Rim to win contest that we get to enjoy, and quite frankly take for advantage (cant count how many unrolled rims I have see carelessly discarded). Anyway back to the point, when we were out enjoying a Timmie's my mother in law kept wanting to throw the cup away with out rolling the rim, and when we reminded her, she still didn't really want to because in order to roll the rim, you need to have super strong fingers (like the guy in the ad) or you have to use your teeth and get er done. Well the teeth were her only option as the fingers weren't gettin' er done.

This brings me to the final point of this post. In order to fix this problem someone in Ontario came up with the Rim Roller. It is actually quite simply but makes life so much nicer, you don't have to go to the gym and work out your fingers, and your dentist doesn't get to take all you money when repairs are needed on your teeth. The roller simply pushed down over the rim and when you pull it up, two little blades cut it and then it pulls the rim right up to reveal a winner, or in most cases a cordial invitation to come back and do it all over again.

So to you, mister rim roller inventor guy, I salute you and say thanks!!! Now Ontario can brag about something and actually have western Canadians agree with them (no you are not the center of the universe!!)

Addition to the weekday layout changes

2008-03-17T17:19:00.000-06:00

As you can see I am not the only one who has thought about changing the weekdays.

Ahhh.... the beauty of genious!!

McKenzie Jade Weening

2008-03-13T11:00:00.005-06:00

Well our little girl arrived on Sunday Night at 6:20, since this is our usual church time, we think that we have been blessed with a little angel! She came into this world not without problems. I will give you the condensed version of the story and then a couple pics.

Katie went into labour on Friday night/Saturday morning and started having regular contractions at 3:00 am. That morning we went for a long walk and timed everything and eventually went into the hospital to see how things were. We were told that we were definitely in labour, but not ready to be admitted. So we went home.

Later that night at around 9:30 we went back in because the contractions were becoming too much for Katie to handle. We were told that she was not quite dilated enough but that she could have some morphine to ease the pain. Again we went home around 1:30 am to get some rest and to hopefully move along with the labour.

The following morning at 5:00 (4:00 really with no time change) the morphine wore off and the contractions were extremely painful for Katie. I decided that she had had enough and at 8:30 we were off to the hospital again, this time I was not letting them discharge us. We were admitted at around 11:00 and she received an epidural shortly there after, having been through almost 36 hours of painful labour, the pain was too much. After this her waters were broke and we were on our way.

At 4:00 the nurse told Katie that she was fully dilated and would be ready to push in the next hour or so, so we should get some rest while we could. And at 5:00 Katie started pushing, and she pushed like a champ. I want to take this moment to tell all the women who have had babies, that I have a extremely deep amount of respect for what you go through, and that Katie is truly my hero!!

At 6:20 Our little angel came out, but she came out blue, limp and not breathing with the chord wrapped around her neck. She was whisked away to the specialist who started working on her right away to get her back. As Katie and I looked on nervously, they finally had her breathing and had a pulse. We had our little girl!! Shortly after that, Katie began to hemorrhage and they could not stop the bleeding, again I was an extremely scared and nervous wreck. After and Hour of work, the specialist were able to stop the bleeding, but not before I think I had a nervous break down, as all I could do was watch as the worked on my new daughter and my wife. All I was doing was saying prayers in t he corner, to come so close to losing the things that are most precious is something that no one should have to go through. In the end, everything was okay, and at 8:00ish we were able to finally hold, name and enjoy out little gift of McKenzie Jade Weening.

For those of you who don't know, the name comes from both sides of the Family. McKenzie is Katie's maiden name and, well, Weening is our last name. The initials of MJW are the same as mine, Matthew James Weening. So there you have it, a little glimpse into the labour and birth of our little girl!

New Arrival

2008-03-10T20:05:00.002-06:00

Well it has happened, our newest member to our family has arrived. McKenzie Jade was born sunday night at 6:20 after a long and hard labour. Mom and baby are doing well and everything is great. I am very excited and tired and well just about anything you can think of. I will write more later maybe, and perhaps I will post some pics, but for now I am going to relax and enjoy and savour the moment. If anyone wants some pics maybe get me your e-mail address and I can forward them on.

Ciao and good night!!

Change to the weekday layout!!

2008-03-07T07:40:00.005-07:00

Having been in the work force for the past 8 years (I know not that long) I have come to the realization that our current weekly format and layout is simply not working anymore, and that we can have the same amount of work completed in a week with my new calendar.

It is quite simple actually, nothing to do with the solar system or anything to do with the zodiac (take that Zeitgeist) or even the year of the rat. All we need to do to make life more fun and enjoyable, it to acknowledge that it is absolutely necessary to somehow implement the 4 day work week followed by the 3 day weekend.

In order to make this work, the only change would be to have people work 10 hour days instead of the regular (office clones) 8 that is standard right now. That way the employer will still get the standard 40 hour work week and the employee with retain all the benefits and wages that they are owed while being able to enjoy 3 days of rest and relaxation either on their own, or with their family. The best part of this is, is that if an employer asks you to come in and work on the weekend you are still going to get at least a 2 day weekend.

This is something that I came up with and named while I was working at Interior Concepts as a graphic designer in Michigan. I tossed around about working less and making the same amount of money. Well that was not going to happen, so I came up with a whole new week and renamed the weekend days. I am not sure exactly what the name was, but we got rid of Wednesday - one because it is spelled dumb, and second it eliminated "hump day" and added a day, I think called Matday right between Friday and Saturday. Hence the new work week was, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, with Matday, Saturday, Sunday rounding out the weekend.

So there you have it, the perfect work week to replace the current, failing I might add, work week format that we have now. If we continue down this path, people are only going to get more and more tired and have more and more nervous breakdowns. I am telling you people the insanity of it all has to stop!!

NOTE: NO DAYS WERE HURT IN THE WRITING OF THIS POST

HIGH-LARIOUS!

2008-03-06T23:30:00.002-07:00

I know most of you have seen this, but it is always worth a second look, "Kill the Jo, make some MO!!"

HIGH-LARIOUS!!!!!

A post strictly for comments

2008-03-05T10:37:00.002-07:00

There is going to be nothing in this post, just a space for my readers to post comments. This is my attempt to see what kind of social commentary I can create from various readers comments that are solely their own thoughts and not brought on by anything. So please feel free to comment on anything and everything and help make this a success. CIAO!

17th letter of the Alphabet, Letter Q

2008-03-02T16:01:00.000-07:00

I have been asked to post a little something on here from a friend who is doing a post series. He has been writing a little something about every letter of the alphabet starting with A and going on from there. So before you read the rest of my post you should take a look at his by going here sublimation blogification and then come back to me, as he has asked me to write something about the letter Q.

Q is the the first stooge of the alphabet's three stooges, the others being X and Z. He is the quintessential leader of the pack, coming before the other stooges, having more uses in the Basic English language than Z, and X cant seem to start any words on his own. As the leader he is often questioned by the rest of the alphabetorium for his quick dismissal of Y as a stooge, He quickly and quietly answers that vowels cant be stooges. If being first wasn't enough for X and Z, then all Q does is point out his uniqueness and how he is the only one of the three who has a sidekick pretty much at all times. You see, U cant seem to stay away from Q and that usually gives Q the upper hand when faced with a quandary from his fellow stooges. As for the times when U is not there, well they aren't called stooges for nothing...

This brings me to my favourite Q word: Quagmire, pronounced kwag-ˌmī(-ə)r. This is my favourite word for two reasons, one it sounds unique and funny which fits the stooges just perfectly and the other is the many uses it has in our language, with a first name being one of them. "Quagmire, was in a bit of a quagmire for having too much fun with those girls" or "Quagmire was stuck in the middle of a quagmire, all because he didn't take the time to survey his surroundings" and finally putting them both together just solidifies that Q definitely is the head stooge of the alphabet "Quagmire found himself all alone in his quagmire while the quagmire continued to present itself unsteady and quagmirific, leaving him in one too many quagmires for his liking"

For those of you still with me, I hope that my last sentence didn't leave you in too much of a quagmire in figuring out the meaning of it all. After all a stooge is a stooge is a stooge, and so "Q" is now immortalized.

Women Know your limits

2008-03-01T11:40:00.001-07:00

I stumbled upon this and had a good laugh. To think this is what used to happen and go on. I know it is a spoof but you know shit like this happened.

Canadian inventiveness and what it means

2008-02-27T05:55:00.000-07:00

SO we(Canadians) have invented the following and many more: Insulin, the telephone, the light bulb, the Canada arm (used by NASA), wonder bra, standard time, hockey, basketball, lacrosse, the zipper, the Robertson screw ( and yes it kicks ass on the Philips people), ski doo, blackberry,walkie talkie, instant replay, hockey, lacrosse, basketball, self propelled combine, plexi glass... the list goes on and on. Now the reason that I am writing about this, is I was having thoughts back to my days at Calvin College and the constant questions that came up in the debate between Canada and the states was always what has Canada done for the states, beside suckle at the mother teat. Well if you are able to read and have some sort of educational background (grade 3 will do) then you can clearly see that some of the greatest and most cultural changing inventions have come from our great nation. Now I am not saying that the U.S has not held up its end of the bargain by any means, their list is very extensive as well.

I only wish to point out that we have, and continue to contribute to our society and are not just suckling at the mother teat, while going by the name of "America Lite". That is not only an insult in that we are our own country (who relies on the states yes) but more so that "America lite" is clearly making reference to Miller lite beer... I shouldn't have to say this, but as a country who prides itself on the fact that we can drink like no other, while not drinking horse piss (American beer) we take extreme offense to being compared to a beer that is not only considered to be shit here, but it is also shit in the states.

So to end I will say that I love the states and most things about it, but I also love my home country of Canada and most things here as well. But I really REALLY get sick of being compared to a shit beer and being swept aside as though we dont contribute to the world like the states do. So say what you want but there you have it!!

Still waiting... All the while noticing...

2008-02-21T18:33:00.003-07:00

So we are still waiting for the arrival of our little one, and people are starting to ask when we are going to get induced and all that jazz, well we are still 11 days away so I am thinking that it is not going to be anytime soon. So while I have been waiting for this event to take place, I have been really aware of other parents, kids and things in general that pertains to raising children. It was during this last week that I heard a 911 call on the radio (Jim Rome show) that stuck with me and struck me as funny, sorry, REALLY FUNNY and yet sad (somewhat) at the same time, here it goes

A woman called 911 when she arrived home one day to find her 12 year old and 10 year old fighting, not just any fighting, but really going at it a la Layla Ali in the ring. So she comes home and immediately calls 911 to request some help/backup. She is talking with the man on the other end and tells him that her 12 year old has kicked a hole in the wall and they are still fighting uncontrollably. This is where it gets funny, or at least to me it does. The dispatcher then calmly and matter of fact states "OK, do you want us to come over and shoot her?" this is followed by and extremely awkward pause on the mothers end, which is ended when she completely berates him and ask him for his name and tells him that this is not funny, blah blah blah. Now for those of you who think that I am sick for thinking that this is freakin' hilarious hear me out and then judge away.

First of all this mother of two young girls is not able to control her our daughters and has to call 911 for help, when she calls the dispatcher sees it how I see it "What the hell does this woman expect from me, parenting lessons???" and thus replies with one of the funniest and wittiest line in the history of 911 calls. "Do you want us to shoot her?" HILARIOUS!!! If you cant see the humor and brilliance in that then I suggest you re-read this until you find it funny, or better yet find the sound byte and listen to it. The reason why i find it sad, is that this mother can not control two little girls, 10 and 12 years of age, yet when she hears the mockery in the dispatchers response she goes on full attack and gives it to him. If she was able to handle her own kids the way that she handled the "shoot her" comment I am sure this call would have never been placed in the first place. Honestly what did this woman expect from this poor guy. it is called 911 emergency for a reason, it isn't called 911 super nanny, 911 parenting hot line, or best of all 911 Dr. Phil. If you need to call the emergency number of 911 for a sibling fight, well then in my opinion that speaks volumes to your parenting skills.

Before you all jump on me about the fact that I don't have kids, and you just wait and see, and kids aren't as easy as they look... Tell me this have any of you ever EVER called 911 because your kids were having a fight? I think not. So in the end the hilarity of the call and situation completely overrides the sad parenting skills part, which just leaves this "OK, do you want us to come over and shoot her?"

Final Weeks for to milestones

2008-02-16T09:58:00.003-07:00

Here I am, entering into the final weeks of the pregnancy. There still is a lot to do and we don't have a crib, but I have been told by many that a dresser drawer will suffice just fine when it comes to the nocturnal habits of this baby species that we are about to have enter into this world. So the room is almost done except for the fact that I have to put up some trim, paint the top color, put up the crib (whenever E-children decides we are ready to have it), put the car seat in the car, pack a bag, have my final "Holy shit I am gonna be a dad" moment and finally put plastic sheets on our bed... just kidding about the last part. So really all in all we fell unprepared and kind of betrayed by our friends, all of whom told us, that 6 months would be plenty of time and how we would be ready when the time comes. So to all you back stabbers... THANKS!! Seriously though, I do feel somewhat ready and prepared, or as ready and prepared as I can be. I am very excited and just ready to meet the little guy/girl and see what He/She looks like and decide on a name, but more to the point, I am excited that when the baby is born, I get to break my vow of dry living and drink a beautiful little pinot noir that I picked up the other day. Having not had the taste of alcohol for the past 4 weeks has been surprisingly easy, I found it harder to give up coffee for a month than I have not drinking alcohol for the past month. I guess there are two ways to look at this, one is glad to know that I am not an alcoholic or have alcoholic tendencies, and then other is that it sucks to be the place where I usually buy my booze as business must have suffered.

So dear readers I come to you on this fine Saturday morning, a morning in which most of the snow here is melted as a result of our 14ºC/57ºF day yesterday, looking forward to two things that are nearing on my horizon. The upcoming birth of my first child and the upcoming "first" sip of fine wine with "da wife" after 6 weeks for me and a long 9 months for her. I have yet to decide which will be more monumental... NOT!! (little tribute to Borat there folks) For those of you out there please pray that we are blessed with a healthy child and that momma will do well. Thanks and CIAO for now!!

Funniest family guy clip ever

2008-02-01T17:11:00.001-07:00

I am posting this because I have been a bit addicted to Family guy as of late and thought that you should all take a look at this clip.

If any of you watch "family Guy" then you have already seen this, but for those of you who haven't, well this makes me laugh every time I see it. freakin' hilarious!

Parents of Miss Teen South Carolina

2008-01-31T12:52:00.000-07:00

This is why we should have beauty pagents based on looks, body and ONLY that. This is in reference to my previous post. Still love it and laugh everytime I hear it!!

Freakin' hilarious!! I love the Dad at the end of the clip. Man I wish I was from good ole SC!!

And just so you all know, I am very aware that these are not her real parents and that It is a spoof. Just thought I would clear that up for some of you knuckle heads out there... : ) I am such a good speacher!!

Are you kidding me...

2008-01-30T20:45:00.000-07:00

I know that many of you have seen or heard this, but honestly how much sense does this make.

Question:

Recent polls have shown a fifth of Americans can't locate the U.S. on a world map, why do you think this is?

Answer:

I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so, because uh soma people out there in out nation don't have maps and uh I believe that our education like such as in South African and uh the Iraq everywhere like such as, and I believe that they should uh our education over here in the US should help the US umm or should help south Africa and should help The Iraq and the Asian countries so we will be able to build up our future for our children.

God bless the US and the education system that puts these types of answers forward. Quite possibly the funniest thing that I have ever heard in my Life. Way to go South Carolina...

Losing a bet to oneself

2008-01-25T23:35:00.000-07:00

So to go along with my previous post about the Packers and not drinking. I feel that I need a reprieve from the grief I have been getting. As many of you know, I have stopped drinking alcohol from last Sunday night, until our baby arrives. I made a bet with myself that if that Packers lost to the Giants, which was like going all in with AA and getting called by 7 2, that this is what would happen. Well the unthinkable happened, 7 7 2 flop, and here we are but that is not the reason for the post.

I feel that I have been a little silly, and this has been pointed out by numerous friends. How can one make a bet with oneself and then lose??? I never thought too much about it until it was pointed out to me, that I am the only person who they know who has lost a bet to themselves. And the funny thing is, is that I usually only makes these types of bets when am I almost assured of winning. To lose to yourself is just plain ludacris, especially when it is pointed out to someone this way.

"Hey, hey come here a sec. Guess what Matt gave up drinking from now until the baby is born, and no he isnt doing it because Katie cant drink. He is doing it because he lost a bet... And get this, he lost the bet TO HIMSELF!!!" HAHAHAHA

So I come to you dear reader(s) with a dilema. I have always been proud of being a man of my word and doing what I say I am going to do no matter what. But in this case, I find that the only person I am letting down either way is, well, me. So no matter what, I am damned if I do, and damned if I don't. So I come before you wondering drink, or not to drink, that is my question...

Who is the real monkey?

2008-01-25T18:11:00.001-07:00

I am starting to wonder about this bet thing. Even the monkeys are enjoying the sweetness of fermented yeast, hops and grapes... not sure who the monkey is anymore.

Another saga begins

2008-01-21T17:31:00.000-07:00

A sad day has come upon me. I am sorry to report that the great and mighty Packers have fallen to the Giants. Now this in itself is enough to send me over the edge, however there is more. You see not so long ago back in my younger and cockier days I told my wife that I would quit drinking alcohol when the Packers lost until the day that our baby is born, not that big a deal if you think about it the way that I was thinking about it. I will lay it out for you how it was SUPPOSED to play out in my head.

Packers play wild card winner, Packers Dallas Cowboys, Packer play New England Patriots in Superbowl and win, hence me not giving up anything for any amount of time. Well that is not going to happen now thanks to the stupid New York Giants and there 23-20 overtime win!!

So here is it, almost 6 full weeks from the due date of our first child, and me having given up all alcohol until that day arrives, which leaves me with a problem. You see it is not so much not drinking alcohol that is problematic, it is the fact that the Packers lost and are no longer in the playoffs. If they were still playing I would be in a much better mood this morning and not having a care in the world, but alas it was not meant to be. There is always next year I suppose

Anyway, this post is just a bunch of mumbo jumbo ramblings that don't really make much sense. The point of it was that I have officially given up any and all alcohol from this date forth until my child is born, and on that day, MAN OH MAN you had better be ready because it is ON!!

Au revior sweet nectar of life I will miss you!

Rules are Rules

2008-01-19T13:42:00.000-07:00

I was reading the paper this morning over breakfast and coffee, and there it was. An article on cats. You see many of you have said that I am too harsh in my opinions on cats and what should be done with them, however if our great city of Calgary is taking measures and making laws for these vile creatures, then, my dear readers, maybe it is all of you who have it wrong, and thus it is me who has it right. You see the new law that came into effect January 1, 2008 was that you are REQUIRED to have your cat licensed, and not only that you are REQUIRED to restrict them to your own yard or property. So as you can see in the following article, our city also has a problem with these devil creatures.

Read this for clarification

And to the lady in the picture, shut up, do what the city says and stop complaining like a typical crazy cat lady. If not I will come and hunt your cat down. The dawn of the cat hunter is upon us!!! Robert De Niro and Christopher Walken ain't got nothin' on me!!

And if you are still not convinced that cats are evil and do not belong anywhere but on a farm, watch the first 10 minutes of the movie Hostel II and then go ahead and tell me that they are nice furry little creatures that only puuurrrrr, if that doesn't do it then tell me this; what two creatures have evil little slits for eyes... Serpents and cats, and we all know the most famous serpent sure as shit wasn't good and pure.

Remembering the old, then ring in the new

2008-01-03T17:06:00.001-07:00

On some advice from a close friend and fellow blogger, I will not be bringing up any debates, Cats, annoyances or anything like that. Instead I will be giving you my list of Top seven things that have happened in the past year, and then officially say goodbye to 2007 and hello to 2008. Now I have many memories and I am sure that I am forgetting some but these are what popped into my head whilst writing.

7. The Rise of the once again great, Green Bay Packers. After 3 dismal years, the Pack are back. With the great Brett Favre at the helm heading into the playoffs as a division winner and top contender. I know this seems shallow, but hey who's list is it, that is right MINE!! GO PACK GO!!

6. Katie getting her diving certification. This has been something that has been on my most favourite things to do list: Dive in as many oceans and on as many reefs as possible before I die. Now That she is certified, I have my permanent buddy and we can go anywhere in the world. I am not only happy be extremely proud of her as I know how hard it was, but now I also see how much she enjoys it and can't wait to do it again, making it highlight worthy!

5. Good Friends, good food and good wine. Much like a friend of mine, I quite enjoy good food, good wine and good company. I have had the pleasure of getting to know and becoming closer with some friends all while enjoying good food and good wine. I count myself lucky to be able to enjoy all three things together and to have the friends who enjoy sharing the same niceties throughout the year. I can only assume and hope that 2008 will being more of the same memories.

4. Going back to Michigan, and for two reasons. It was great to see the family one last time before we have the baby. They were all excited and got to see the belly that is growing more and more each day. And also to have my first hunting experience. Again I could go into it in detail but I have already and all you need to do is read this post, Virginity Lost In Michigan, and VIOLA there you have it, my day as a hunter!

3. Taking a family trip with everyone to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic. My Parents were kind enough to take the whole fam down to the DR for a week just after Christmas. Being able to spend time with the entire family in an exotic place is not something that happens everyday and will be remembered forever. Thanks Mom and Dad!

2. A pregnancy announcement from the parents to be. We are expecting a new little life into our family in the near future. After many years of not being sure if I wanted kids or not, we came to a mutual decision after our trip down under that we would like to see if we were able to have a family. Although the trying time was not as long as I would have liked, we were blessed with a quick, and thus far very good, pregnancy. I am excited beyond words about becoming a dad and hope that everything in the next little while continues to go smoothly.

1. Taking our Second honeymoon trip. We were able to travel around Australia for 5 weeks in February and March. I don't have enough time or space in the post to even get into it. But it wasn't only a highlight of this year, but one of the top highlights of my life. Spending 5 weeks with the love of my life doing everything together and experiencing new things together is something to be cherished. I will always remember this as an extreme high in my life. If you want to read more, go to these posts on my blog. Start of the trip and the finish of the trip

So for those of you who made this year a pretty damn good year, I say thank you! I hope that 2008 brings more of the same. And I am thankful for good friends, conversation, food, wine, travel and most of all my wife. Thanks 2007, and Welcome 2008!

The great debate

2007-12-27T17:20:00.000-07:00

First things first, Merry Christmas, and an early Happy new Year!!

On a previous post of mine a certain "Rob" whom I don't think that I know, posted a comment about the debate over Metric vs. Imperial (or US standard as he liked to call it) systems of measurements. Well I am here to clear up the debate, Metric is the winner hands down. Now I don't know if Rob was just pointing something out or trying to make a point, but he got me thinking about this, which led to a post.

I know both systems and I use both systems everyday. I am used to inches and feet and things like that, I lived in the states so I understand miles and Fahrenheit, it is not that I don't get it but that if you think about it, imperial makes no sense what so ever. Now before all you Americans hate on me remember that this is only my opinion, as well as the opinion of the the world... seeing as only Liberia and Burma (AKA Myanmar)are the only remaining non-metric countries

Metric makes way more sense and is way easier to use and remember than imperial, you see everything is divisible by 10. All you have to do it know the order in which things go to make it all work, and it is the same right through from solids, to lengths to liquids and so on a so forth. You see everything starts at 0 and is divisible by 10. Let me give you an example or how easy it is, and if you don't believe me just check out this website for yourself. http://www.worldwidemetric.com/metcal.htm

1 kilometer is 1000 meters, 1000 meters is 100000 centimeters, 100000 centimeters is 1000000 millimeters. Now on the flip side of the imperial try this on for size. 1 mile is 1760 yards, 1760 yards is 5280 feet, 5280 feet is 63360 inches. Now unless you are a math major there is no way that you will always remember that, and if you do, then tell me how many feet are in 23.5 miles? there are 124080 and you all needed a calculator and also had to remember how many feet are in a mile. But if you asked how many meters are in 23.5 km that is done in my head in an instant 23500 with no calculator. Now you take any type of measurement that you want, area, volume or weight and it will always be the same as it is always divisible by 10.

And then there is the great debate over Celsius vs. Fahrenheit. The only thing that I have to say about that is that things start at zero, not 32. If you have $32 in your bank you aren't broke, but if you have $0 in your bank you are broke. Likewise with temperature. "Man it is below freezing it is like 28º" just doesn't make sense. You cant be positive something and still be below freezing. Take waters freezing point and boiling point In Celsius it is 0º and 100º respectively, while in Fahrenheit is it 32º and 212º respectively. what the heck does 32 and 212 mean and how were those number decided upon. Now I could go into that, but I am afraid that I have bored you enough already so I will just give you a web site to visit about Mr Fahrenheit and all his craziness about multiplying by 7 1/2 and 15/16 etc. http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a891215.html

So I think that it is pretty clear that metric and Celsius make more sense and are the way to go, but if you are still not convinced, just ask anyone who works for a large manufacturer, mill working shop, hospital, or is from a country other than The USA, Liberia and Burma, and they will all tell you that metric is not going anywhere and is the way of the future as it is the world standard. So you had better get used to and and quit sniveling about how imperial and Fahrenheit are the best. Any questions, I didn't think so, I win you lose get used to it!

Tower of Babel, the bad side!

2007-12-13T23:48:00.000-07:00

Okay, I know that most of you are going to think that I am a being a bit prejudice and need to learn to have tolerance, however, here I go.

I was at work the other day, and I was going to meet one of my employees to go over a job that I needed him to do. It was a simple job that was going to take a day. Nothing major or anything that should cause problems... I should know better!

We had done a job in the summer of removing and insulating and then re-pouring a 2600 square foot concrete pad. Now before you all ask, no we aren't in the concrete business and we used subs. So here we were prepping the pad with insulation, as it was going to have a walk in freezer on it, re bar and gravel, standard for around these parts. Well the job went well and we were done in 3 days. The freezer went up no problem and we were ready to get paid. or so we thought.

It is number months later and we are still waiting for final payment, and not just a little amount, enough to make a grown man cry! So I go over there to find out what is going on and it turns out that there is a crack where the old concrete and the new concrete meet. NO WAY, CRACKED CONCRETE AT A JOINT.... as you can tell I reek with sarcasm! concrete is going to crack and when you take it from one temp to another in a Short time it is just going to crack sooner!

Anyway to make a long story short, the company that we are doing the work for is Chinese, not a problem. However, these particular Chinese are a problem. You see I took my man down there to fix the "crack" so that we could get paid, and all I got was the run around. Here is what happened in a condensed form.

(Chinese owners) We are not ready for you, come back on Monday.
(Matthew ) We will come back, but you need to pay us the money that you owe us after we are done.
(a bunch of angry Chinese and gestures towards me and my guy)
Can we do part of the work now?
(a bunch of angry Chinese and gestures towards me and my guy)
We need to complete the work so that we can get paid
(a bunch of angry Chinese and gestures towards me and my guy)
Can we come back Monday, do the work and then get paid?
(a bunch of angry Chinese and gestures towards me and my guy)
For the love of everything holy and pure answer my questions...

and so on and so forth. Now you can see what my problem was. I do not know Chinese nor do I pretend to know it. I was talking with these clients in the only language that was common to both of us and out of the blue and for most of the time I was left wondering what the heck was being talked about. Here is where I have the problem, you are dealing with me in a business setting, I am not at your door asking for money or a donations. We did work for you and you owe us money, and we are in bed together in the business sense, so SPEAK THE COMMON GROUND LANGUAGE!!! not speak English because we are in Canada, but speak the language that is common to both parties.

After dealing with this for 2 hours, I had enough and told them to speak to me so that I could understand them. 3-4 of them were talking in front of me in Chinese like I wasn't there. Enough is enough. I finally told them that we were coming Monday and that they needed to talk to me so that I could understand what was being said. I know that they were talking badly about me, and that is okay, but have the balls to say it to my face!! Different languages are good, but when you use your language to your advantage on purpose, well then you are in the wrong in my opinion especially when you know that the opposing party cant understand a word that is being said and the conversation involves them. I wish that I was able to speak another language at that point just to make them feel as angry and frustrated as I was!

One final word that I have, is to bite me if you think that I am being harsh, prejudice or anything of the sort. You deal with what I had to and then come and talk to me!

What the HECK happened!! you know who you are!!

2007-12-13T18:26:00.000-07:00

So I want to name names, but unless it is mine then I have decided to leave people to their anonymity. However, I really want to hang a couple of people out to dry for something that I was promised and never came to fruition. Let me lay it out for you, and those of you who I am talking about, YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!!!

I have a problem with cats, yes yes I know that it might be an obsession, but also just in general I have a problem with cats. So anyway as you have all read I have a little thing going with these devil creatures in my neighbourhood, ranging from a pulled hamstring to me throwing all the cat shit into the neighbours yard (don't worry it is the cat owner's yard!) So I was with some friends awhile back and the topic of Satan's pets came up. We all got to talking and after a few bottles of wine and a some beer, we came up with a great idea for these creatures of the depths! When we were gone to Grand Rapids for American Thanksgiving, two individuals would take it upon themselves to rid me of my problem(s). It was all planned to perfections, the covert operation was going to take place while I was out of town and therefore wouldn't be liable for the deaths that were about to occur... PERFECT!!!

How it was going to happen was late at night two "friends" were going to use all their skill in tracking, guerrilla warfare, sniper ability, and last but definitely the most important BLOW GUN SKILLS!! You see I have been shot with a dummy dart from the end of a blow gun, and all I can say is D@#MN does it hurt. You put a lethal dart in there and "Bye bye kitty Kat". We left and thought that the plan would go into effect and thought that it had, that was until the last snow fall.

You see when we returned home, there were no real signs of the local pests, "great, they are dead at last" I thought to myself. Then the truth started to reveal itself. After the latest snow fall, when I retrieved our morning paper, there they were taunting me... foot prints, and not just any prints but those of a demonic cat! I decided to investigate a little more to make sure that it was cat prints for sure and it lead me right to a little dirt mound that reeked of cat!!! I couldn't believe it my "friends" had let me down, there had been no killing field in the middle of the night, there had been no stuck cat crawling under some tree to die a slow and painful death, there had been no.... you get the point.

So to those of you out there, and you know who you are, I relinquish my friendship and ask that you never speak to me or of this again. I left my heart wide open and it was broken and left for dead with a little spittle on it. The sad thing is that the joke was on me and not on the cats. It wasn't the cats that died, but a little part of me died that fateful morning when I went to get the paper... I will forgive but the heart wont forget, a cat hater scorned is, well a cat hater scorned.

Cats 3 Me 2

to be continued....

Incompetence at its very worst

2007-12-06T09:31:00.000-07:00

Okay, what is it with drivers in Calgary. I swear we have some, if not the most incompetent drivers in the world!! I was driving on crowchild yesterday and everyone around me spontaneously decided that it would be a good idea to completely and totally ignore the speed limit. Now normally I would be fine with this as long as they are ignoring it to exceed the posted limit, however this was not the case. Everyone started to slow down to around 60km/hour now if it was slick and people were sliding out of control... GET 4 wheel drive and don't make it my problem. The speed limit signs don't say "80km except in rain snow or any inclement weather", they simply say Maximum - which interestingly enough is used because it has the same meaning in french and English, but I digress - 80km. So take your skirt off and drive the speed limit, we do live in Calgary and have had snow before you should know how to drive in it!!

So now I am going 60km when I should be going 90km at least. As I look around I begin to notice something, and believe me when I say that this is not meant to be sexist, but 80% of these drivers were women. So to all you women out there, please tell me why this happens and what makes it necessary to go 60 in an 80 zone.

When I was finally able to get near my destination, the same thing was happening. I was driving down 26th ave and everyone was going 35-40km. Now for those of you who have driven this road before you will know this to be true. For some reason people treat the entire length of 26th ave as a playground/school zone. I have checked and to my knowledge there are only 3 school zones and 1 playground zone on this street, so it baffles me that it is treated like the whole bloomin' thing is a 30km/hour zone. Now just to prove that I am not a sexist pig, this time 90% of these drivers were over the age of 70 and mostly men. Now I don't have a problem with the elderly, on the contrary, but I do have a problem with people who are too old to drive the speed limit, or for that matter see the signs for the speed limit. Once you pass the age of 70, I believe that you should have to be re-tested for your license every year MINIMUM.

So to end this rant, all I want and ask for, is for the people in our great city of Calgary to take a moment to realize that the gas is the one on the right, and please stop riding your brakes and drive the speed limit or faster. People who don't are the cause of accidents, Speed doesn't kill, incompetent and slow drivers kill!! And for all who don't agree, feel free to comment all you want as long as you realize I am right and you are wrong.

CIAO!!

Virginity and innocence lost in Michigan

2007-11-28T18:26:00.000-07:00

Alright, I understand that it has been a long time since I have written anything in here. But that is because I didn't have anything to write that was worthy (not that anything is really I suppose) and I also didn't have any time. So that being said here we go.

I was Down in the states for thanksgiving visiting with my in-laws. It has been a year since we have been there so we were looking forward to the trip. The entire trip was great and we had a wonderful time, but there is one day in particular that will stick out in my mind for a long time, November 24 2007, the day I lost my virginity - or almost.

I am not a hunter, never have been and probably never will be. The only hunting I have ever done was when we went pheasant hunting in 2002, even then the birds are placed and you go with a trained dog who finds the birds for you. I did this with my father-in-law and my two brother-in-laws which was a blast. So even when I went hunting, I didn't REALLY go hunting. Well on Saturday November 24 2007, it was decided that we (the same fore mentioned foursome and one extra) would head down to Marcellus Michigan to go "Hunt us some deers"

We got to the field where we would set up the push, two shooters would sit at one end of a piece of land while the other three walked through the creeks, dead fall and Fields to stir up any deer. This all sounded like a great idea 3 people pushing some deers into 2 shooters set up for the kill. I made sure that I was wearing the most orange in the group at this point and went to get my gun. "No gun for you Matt" my father-in-law coolly stated, "The fine is huge down here, plus you're Canadian." Now things start to change, first off I don't hunt, second off, I am walking towards 2 people that do and third I am the only bastard dumb enough to be walking in a field during hunting season in Michigan with only a stick. We were off.

After walking the creek and dead fall, Pops, tag along and myself start to "push" the final Field. We make sure to zig zag so that no deer are missed and we move at an equal rate around 50 yards apart. Well I am having a good time, thinking about life, walking through head high brush and carrying my trusty stick... BAM BAM BAM BAM, four loud shots echo through my head, entering one ear and exiting the other in a split second. "Am I dead" I think to myself, and more important "Did I just shit myself..." Before I can figure that out, I am on the ground deep in prayer to God that I just make it out alive as I hear BAM BAM BAM BAM, four more shots from another directions. "Damn they are sniping me from all sides." After I felt it was safe to emerge, I check myself for wounds "Head, Chest, Balls yup still there" okay we are good to go. I raise my arms and show my orange and ask what just happened, and that I think I had just soiled myself not once, but twice in a matter of seconds. It turns out that a big Buck had been scared right behind me and one of the shooters took four shots and missed, and then another deer was spotted and was being shot at by another shooter whom also missed - boy I was thankful for my big bad stick and the fact that I had soiled myself for no deer...

After the we meet up and chatted, I calmly asked that no one please shot me and that I didn't think I would make a nice head mount anyway as Canadians in Michigan aren't that uncommon. The final push of that day was through a little forest and field again. This time I was given a real gun, a 12 gauge double barrel shotgun (using slugs for ammo), "Damn, just like the movies" I thought. As I was walking a little ways in, I happened to spot a deer, it was just sitting there under some dead fall staring at me. Well this is where I make my in-laws, well lets just say they wouldn't call it my proudest moment. As I stared at the deer I suddenly remember what I was there to do, "ME HUNTER ARRGHHH" yet what really happened was the following conversation.

"kent, kent KENT!!! I see a deer... what do I do?"

"SHOOT IT!!!"

"What do you mean by shoot it??"

"I mean hold up your gun and shoot it"

"Like kill it shoot it?? but it is lying down"

"Then make it get up and shoot it"

"Like kill it shoot it, or make it run shoot it?

"Like put the meat on your table shoot it"

"But it is just lying there staring at me"

"Would you just shoot it!!!"

"To scare it..."

then deer then got up and started to run, all the while thinking to itself "pussy, I cant believe I was just laying there and he wouldn't shoot" Well I did shoot, only it was more in the general direction then actually at the deer. But I did scare it towards the other shooters, who calmly exclaimed as the deer neared "Its only a little doe..." Ahhh the humiliation, but at least I had more than a stick to throw at it this time.

So that is my first actual hunting experience in the wild where the animals aren't just sitting there waiting to be shot... AHH CRAP! In the end, I shat myself twice, thought I was shot twice, checked my body for holes and organs twice, got to hold two different sticks to feel like a man and shot in the directions (north I believe) of a deer. For me a very eventful hunt, but for a Michigander... well I will leave that for you all to decide.

First real images and first kick

2007-10-07T13:44:00.000-06:00

Well this past Thursday was quite the day. It started out, well shitty, on all accounts but would prove to end wonderfully. Work has, and continues to be stressful right now as we have so much work, and so few qualified employees to complete the work. So like always I was putting out fires and making promises that I still had to figure out how to do, and carrying on like that until about 12:30 when I went home to pick up Katie and head to our 19 week ultra sound. Well after a brief wait, I was allowed to go in the room ans see the little one for the first time since it was a "yolk sac" at 6 weeks. Well it is now a fully formed little baby that has arms legs and perfect little toes and fingers. Everything looks fine and t he baby is growing and healthy. It was extremely active and was making it hard for the tech to get the shots of the spine needed. So Katie had to get up a couple of times and get the little one to move around. We watched for 15-20 minutes or so. During it, it was moving a ton and very active, flailing its arms and legs this way and that. smiling, yawning and just active. I thought that I was all over the anatomy part of it, when the lady told me that we were looking at the heart, I thought we were looking at the head. turns out I have no idea when it comes to this stuff. Then we did the 4-D and saw it "punch" Katie, and then have a huge smile or yawn. It sort of looks like an alien, but still you can make out all the features, the lips, eyes, ears, nose, and according to the tech a "Strong jaw line" from its father. At least it has my jaw line and not my big ears (I hope). So that made my day better.

Later that night as we lay in bed, the baby was kicking Katie like crazy, but only enough to feel it on the inside. Then all of a sudden she could feel it on her belly. We laid there poking, prodding and eventually scolding (more me that Katie) the baby into kicking me when I had my hand on her belly. It was such a cool moment. First you have seen the baby inside so you know it is there, but then to feel it kick you and move around it such a different feeling. There is a baby in there, that is a part of me and is mine (that we know of so far).

So at the end of the day, work is important, but it is just work and nothing compared to the ultra sound and feeling my baby kick for the first time. As we say in the industry, "It's been one helluva day"

Respect, or lack thereof

2007-09-19T17:38:00.000-06:00

So my question that arises today pertains again to the cats, but also to those of you who smoke. Now we all know how I feel about cats and people who don't have control over them and let them run wild to shit and piss all over your flowers beds and gardens, which is really bad for pregnant women I might add. So we have that lack of respect covered. The other lack of respect that I am going to talk about today is that of certain smokers. Now before all you smokers get your g-string panties in a bunch, sit down, shut up and read the entire post.

As many of you know, I take great pride in having a nice looking yard and garden, free of weeds, most quack grass and any other non-natural items. So when I come home to see that I have cigarette butts strew about in front of my house on the sidewalk and street, as well as in my lawn I get to wondering what is wrong with my friends who do smoke. So I do what most people would do, I pick up the butts to discard them. When I take a closer look, I see that all the butts are John Players and not du MAURIER like all our friends smoke. Okay, so now it is one of my red neck, wife beatin, tobaca chewin' neighbours. The people to my south are the disrespectful cat owners, so they cant be the ones who would double disrespect me. So that leaves my northerly neighbours. I know that the woman doesn't smoke, and I have a feeling that the guy does. Now if you have read my past posts about cats and the crazy lengths I go to rid myself of something once I have my mind made up, it will come as no surprise that I began trying to catch my neighbour in the act. So I hide behind our couch, I shimmy up beside the tree, I crouch behind a rose bush, but much to my chagrin nothing, zero, zip NADA!! He knows that I am watching him as he finds ways to mock me with those cigarette butts.

Then it happens, one day as I am in the shower I look out and see him in the act. He is smoking and getting ready to get on his bike and ride off. As he takes the last few drags from his cig, he calmly and casually glances around to make sure no one is looking, then strides in front of our house, and with a quick glance at our windows flicks the butts, buckles his helmet and rides away. Well the steam in the shower isn't from the water anymore, if Katie hadn't calmed my once famous, or rather infamous temper, my neighbour would have see a blur of nakedness and roundhouses all at once. But since Katie has made me a better and more calm man, I only jumped out of the shower and ran to the window to yell at the SOB, tracking water everywhere in the house as I did so. By the time I go the window open and began to yell, he was half way down the street on his crotch rocket appearing to look back at me with the kind of grin that makes you cringe and wish you had a full hand of fresh cow pie!

Since I couldn't get to the guy fast enough, I did what I thought was the next best thing. I quickly dressed, went outside and proceeded to pick up every butt that I could find in the area. Then I took all the butts and placed them on his front step in a nice pile. Now some of you may think that this is childish and stupid, but I ask you how many people would thoughtfully and purposefully dispose of their cigarette butts in the same manner as my neighbour. If any of you say yes, then I have a full hand of fresh cow pie for ya, so come and see me!!

So anyway, where was I, oh yeah the pile of butts on his front step. Well he must have gotten the picture because I have not seen a butt in front of our house since, and if I did, well you read the whole thing COW PIE FOR ALL!! And if any of you smokers out there are still offended, well tough, I will get you some wine to go with that cheese. And to all of you smokers out there that do the right thing and dispose of the butts in the proper way, thanks and quit smoking it will kill you : )

For a quick update, I have recently placed a live trap with tuna out to catch my Nemesis to no avail. If anyone has any suggestions as to who to catch this little black and white devil, I am all ears! But keep in mind that Katie will not let me kill them. And for your viewing pleasure I give you our crazy block cat lady.

READ, ENJOY, POST!

Freakin' out on a Saturday night part II

2007-08-22T20:07:00.001-06:00

As we drove to our first destination, Kazs' kids, I was assured that everything would be alright and that we were simply looking to get an idea of what we might need in the near future. No biggie I kept telling myself, but as soon as we walked into the store panic overwhelmed my once calm demeanor, I was now in full "oh shit" mode. We spent a hour in there looking and examining prices. $1000 for a crib, $600 for a stroller, $600 for the change table, $XXX for diapers food and clothing, -$XXX for Katie not working anymore. Again quick math in my head and "OH SHIT" As we left this store we proceeded to another baby store called E-children with the same result. As we neared the end of our visit to E-children, my wife looked at me and could tell i was a bit uneasy, saying "Too much Too fast??" I could only muster a squeak that sounded like a "yes". We left the store and went about our nightly business, or so my wife thought.

that night we had two house warming parties to attend and since I know had a Built in Designated Driver, I thought it would be a good idea to bring Gin and Tonic, other was know as G&T, to the parties. As the parties wore on and the drinks came faster, I could no longer hold it in. I was now starting to sweat and it was not hot enough to sweat even if I wanted. As I wiped my brow, I kept telling myself to calm down and stop being an idiot. But the feeling could not be quelled, I was a ticking time bomb about to explode.

Now many of you would have stopped and thought to yourself, if I stopped drinking, maybe I will be able to calm down and think a little more rationally. Well my friends, I could have used that advice at the time of the said freak out.

As we pulled up to our second destination, the ticking inside was getting louder and louder like the infamous tell tale heart. I couldn't stop it so I quickly poured another drink and tried to push it back down. It was sort of working, so I was telling myself, until friends who had not heard about our little secret began to congratulate us and tell us how happy they were for us, all fine and dandy, but they continued on with things such as "Your lives will NEVER be the same" or "Hope you didn't like money" other said "Man you don't know what you are getting yourself into". Now as I look back on these I know that they weren't meant to wake a sleeping giant, and how were they to know what I had been going through all day. Well That was it, I couldn't control it anymore. I was now officially freaking out.

I am not ready for this, we cant afford this, do you know how much all this stuff cost, I cant be a parent, I wont be a good parent, 6 months is not enough time, I wasted the last 3 months, I want to travel more, is there a pause button, Can I make it stop and then start again when I am ready, do we have to get a mini van... were all thoughts and sentences that came out of my mouth in what seemed like one long run-on sentence. I was left panting for air, sweating and extremely unsure of myself. What have I gotten myself into. If too much G&T caused panic, I was officially KO'd drunk!

Here is the part where my two buddies "Trevor linden" and "Pete the Plumber" came to my rescue. They talked me down and calmed the monster that was now unleashed. To make this LONG story short, a few more drinks and a lot of conversation about buying second hand, not getting more on our plate from God that we can handle, my wife most likely doing a lot of the feeding and stuff during the first few months, as well as numerous other heartfelt assurances that I, and we, can and will be able to do this.

So I am thankful to say that I have made it to and through my first and hopefully only official "freak out" of becoming a father. I still have times where I don't believe it, but I am thoroughly excited and eagerly awaiting the arrival of our little one in early march. To those of you who helped my little incident, thank you and good night!!

Freakin' out on a Saturday night part I

2007-08-22T19:29:00.001-06:00

Well well well, I officially had a very VERY "freaked out" freak out session on saturday starting at around 3:15 and carrying on late into the night. Friends and family were there to witness and help calm me down, with a special shout out to my boys Trevor Linden, and Pete the plumber - Thanks!

I guess that I should preface this blog with the reason why I freaked out, you see my wife and I are expecting a little baby over the next year... that is right you heard it right, we are pregnant and having a child. So before the wise cracks start, yes my boys can swim and apparently very well as all it took was one try. So that is the background info to the story, shall we begin.

I awoke on a cool but sunny saturday morning and rolled over to see if my wife was awake or still sleeping. As per normal she was sleeping as evidenced by an adorable little baby like snore> I slipped out of bed and went to the kitchen to make us some breakie, eggs and toast. When my wife finally rose from her slumber, we sat and ate our food over some tea and conversation about what our day would entail.

As the day started to warm up and the sun beat down hotter and hotter on the earth, we decided to talk a nice walk in griffith woods. It was a short drive later that we found ourselves hand in hand walking on the paths through the unique woods that is simply know as "Griffith". We passed numerous people, saying the mandatory and obligatory hellos, with an occasional "wha sup" nod thrown in to single men walking or running passed. It was here that my freak out began to grow and fester. You see we walked past a couple, but not just any couple, a VERY pregnant couple. The woman looked liked she was litterally about to bust and I may have even saw some amniotic fluid on the path, without proper testing I couldnt be sure. Then it hit me, that is going to be us in 9 months... wait a minute we already are 3 months pregnant. With a little quikc math in my head, that left us with only 6 months to prepare. The sweat from walking and the sun was now being joined by the sweat of terror and fear. What have we gotten ourselves into, we cant handle this, we cant even handle ourselves. How are we going to be able to bring a child into the world and be able to handle it. And not only that, but we have just throw the first 3 months away and done nothing to prepare. I began to glisten.

A short time later, as we were walking, I calmly looked at my wife and said "are we ready for this?" She looked at me blankly and asked "What, what arent we ready for?" "A child" was my response. The conversation carried on for the remainder of our walk as we discussed the time we had left and that we would learn as we went with the hlp of friends and family. By the end of the walk, I was quite calm, and the sweat was now simply from the heat and nothing else. I even felt brave enough to suggest that we go and look at baby stuff... first mistake.

Cats

2007-08-16T17:25:00.000-06:00

So we have a nicely manicured and well groomed front and back yard. Something that we put a lot of time an effort into and take pride in. A lot of people wonder why we put the time and effort in, but I want to have the nicest lawn and yard on the block. No big deal right, well that was until recently this summer when our neighbours decided to get a cat, sorry a DAMN CAT!!

Now some of you readers out there might be cat lovers, and so I don't offend, I urge you to stop reading here and now. If not, continue on as I delve into what I believe should be a cat free world, or at least my little part of the world.

Our neighbours to the south have had kittens before, which are quite harmless, until they become full blown cats. The problem with cats, is that they are evil and can see through your soul. Have you ever seen a cat that is not skidish and that you can actually enjoy. Cats do their thing when and how they want, we used to have a neighbour who would walk her cat on a leash, this was the funniest shit I have ever seen, as the cat would lay down on the sidewalk and not move, leaving the lady standing there, looking stupid with a cat on a leash until that cat was ready. A dog you can train and are loyal, but a cat would scratch your eyes out if it felt like it, pure evil. And their slit eyes are eerily similar those a serpents eyes, and we all know the most famous serpent of all... But on top of that, it seems socially acceptable to just simply let you cat out at night or during the day to roam free doing what ever they please, which brings me to my point about our neighbours stupid cats, which I might add are unlicensed and collarless.

You see the stupid cats that live in our neighbour hood decided that it would be a great idea to use our gardens and flowerbeds as a litterbox, and for those of you who know, cat feces and urine is a very unpleasant and pungent odour. Not only do they use our flower beds as a litter box, but the bird houses that Katie loves and likes to watch as the birds build nests and chicks are born and so on and so forth, they get invaded, raped and pillaged a la Genghis Khan. We woke one morning to see a lot of nest on the ground with some little hatchling remains, which did not make Katie a happy person.

Now if some of you have advice on how to get rid on the cats we are all ears, so far I have tried cat repellent, cat scat, and rocks. The repellent didn't work as I came home one day and saw the cat sitting there looking at me, almost smiling like the Cheshire cat. So i launched out of my truck and took off after the cat. It jumped and took off under the our deck with no way out, until I heard a thrilling "THUD" and the cat was gone. I thought it might have knocked it self out, leaving it a sitting duck, but it simply bashed its head on the deck and was gone. In the meantime, I ended up with a pulled hamstring. Cat 1 - Me 0

The other option of rocks has worked fairly well. We keep a few stones on our table in case we see the cats, and simply launch them at the felines in the hopes of have a David and Goliath moment. I have hit the cats on numerous occasions but I am yet to kill one. So Cat 1 Me 1. That brings me to the option that I am using now, cat scat. This is a little mat that has spikes sticking up so that the cat cant walk on the dirt without pain. So far it is working, and i am going to build some more out of brad nails and plywood, something that will actually puncture the paws of the cat to cause pain and suffering.

That is right people I want pain and suffering for these and all cats, and I mean that. If Katie would let me, I would set our squirrel trap with bait, catch the little devils and throw them in the river with a rock tied to their tail, or better yet, I have tried to leave antifreeze out "by accident" so the nosy cats would get their due justice (try this at home). Katie, however, has kiboshed these and many other ideas and has given up on the hope of getting rid of the stupid animals. I, on the other hand, will fight tooth and nail until they are gone (IE dead).

The Final thing that puts the nail in the coffin about cats is this. Have you ever heard the saying "Oh there is the crazy dog woman with all those dogs..." No, it is always been and will always remain "There goes the crazy cat lady..."

I leave you on this post with the score Cat 1 Me 2 with the hopes of changing it one day to Cat - dead Me - Winner. And to all those cat lovers out there, I told you to stop reading so you can only blame yourself and cant get mad at me or think I am cruel.

Giving up coffee

2007-08-09T17:33:00.000-06:00

Okay, so I decided to give up coffee for the span of one month, no I am not crazy enough to give it up forever. This was a decision that I came to one night while I laid awake not feeling that well, and looking back on the past few days of not feeling well, and I came to the realization that I was drinking too much coffee. Now some of you may question this thought process and tell me that one can not drink too much coffee, but when you start to feel bloated and you are using a quick "timmies" (Tim Horton's for you American folk) for a pick me up instead of breakfast, lunch - or in my case usually both, things are not good.

So as of august 1st I have not had any coffee. I have found that my cravings weren't as bad at the beginning of my ordeal, but as the days have turned into weeks (august 9 today) I find more and more that I might be on the verge of killing for a coffee. I even find myself day dreaming as I drive about church coffee... I know scary, we all know we only drink church coffee because

A) everyone else is
B) It is the socially acceptable thing to do after church
C) It gives you an out when you don't want to talk to someone

other than these reason, we really don't ever need to submit ourselves to the "church coffee" simply for enjoyment, it doesn't exist.

There was one other thing that I have started to notice since I have given up my beloved coffee, and this may comes as a shock to some of you, I have started to inexplicably gain weight. Now for those of you who don't know me really well, gaining weight has always been an issue with me, as in I was always the scrawny kid with the pipe cleaner arms. Now don't get me wrong I am not complaining nor am I saying that I am fat, but I got my thinking. Give up coffee, gain weight... there had to be a correlation, something that ties to two together. Then it came to me, coffee is a natural stimulant that causes the bowels to do their thing, which up until this point had been a regular 3 times a day occurrence. Well now I was experiencing something that scared me, my routine had been broken, my days are muddled and confused as my natural clock is no longer running properly, as if it had run out of batteries.

So now, dear readers I have come to this point, I know that coffee is the battery that runs my natural clock, yet I have made the decision to give up coffee for a month. By my count I still have a long way to go until the end of august. So I am put to a decision, either put up with that fact that my body is pissed at me and is going to do everything to throw things off, or admit I cant do it and return to my beloved coffee like Romulus to the mother teat. So my decision is simple really...

I am going to start smoking, and that way I don't give up, I get my battery back up and running and all is well again. As we all know, a smoke and a coffee is always good for...

Global Warming

2007-07-28T17:19:00.000-06:00

Okay, let me first say right off the bat that I was not that concerned about global warming in the past. Not that I didn't care or think that it is okay if the polar ice caps melt and un-named islands in the south pacific may be consumed by raising water levels (although if i have never heard of them what does it matter JK). But recently I have started to concern myself with it, again not for the ice caps or for the sinking islands, but strictly for me and my comfort level.

Disclaimer: Now for many of our U.S. readers this may come as a surprise, but it is the truth none the less that we don't have snow year round, and yes we do get a lot of hot weather.

Over the past four years since Katie and I have moved to Calgary we have had increasingly hot weather throughout the summer months. Take this July for example, I cant remember the last time I didn't come home from work bitching and complaining about the hot weather. There is nothing like leaving the house in the morning know full well that at the end of the day you will be a sweaty mess and will have nothing good to say about life until 2-3 ice cold cervesa's have gone down the hatch. Now I want to enjoy the heat just as much as the next person, but when you cant do anything outside because you start to sweat just thinking about it... well that just is not a good thing in my book.

The weather in the summers here is starting to reminding of the summers in Grand Rapids. For those of you from there, this is not an insult, just my opinion on the summer weather. It was usually in the high 20's and low 30's (80's and low 90's) with a high humidity level, and when you step outside after a nice shower, you are wet again and in need of another shower. Not something that I miss at all, and that I thought I was getting away from when we moved to Calgary. You see normally the summer weather in Calgary, again only my opinion, is very nice and manageable, low to mid 20's (70's -80's) and very little humidity, and at night the mountains give us a nice refreshing cool night which make me sleep like a baby. But now, we get high 20's and low 30's (80's-90's) and the nights stay hot and stick as well. We have been sleeping in our basement to try and escape the heat. I know that most of you will simply say "Get A/C". A very good point, but when it doesn't grow on trees and going from hot to cold and vice verse makes you sick, it complicates the matter somewhat.

So to make a long story short, I want to urge all of you to take a stand against global warming, reuse, recycle and use less energy and in general do whatever you can to stop this from continuing on. I don't ask this of all of you to save the Polar bears environment or to stop the bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef, no I ask/demand this of you so that I can live in peace and enjoy the summers without having to sleep downstairs, buy A/C and become a borderline alcoholic just to stay sane and cool. For all of this I besiege you STOP GLOBAL WARMING!!

This is what I have to look forward to this week. AARRRGGGHHHH!!!!

Match made in heaven

2007-07-16T18:04:00.001-06:00

well with the stampede officially over, and not without controversy and animals casualties, I am obligated to create another post. So seeing as the moustache is gone (yes Katie made sure) and we are heading into another sweltering week of HOT weather, I thought I would write a blog about how hot and attractive a couple we are together.

We met over 8 years ago at Calvin, and the chemistry was instantaneous. There was no denying it, we were hot for each other and with good reason, we are a couple of extremely attractive people. Everyday when we would see each other, it was like nothing else in the world could hold beauty, yes we are that pretty. Many of you reading this may think that I am being arrogant and cocky by writing this, but I say to you "you have seen us... how can you deny what I say is true!!!"

Now I could go on and on about how the Seven wonders of the world, (Recently updated by the way) are no match for our combined beauty as a couple, and the Venus de milo is a Dog by our standards, but instead I will put my money where my typing fingers are, and present our pictures to rest my case. And if you were a doubter before, you will no longer be like Thomas after viewing the beauties that are Matthew and Katie Weening.

BEHOLD!!!

Now that my friends is what we call SEX APPEAL!! YEAH BABY GGGGRRRRRRR

Stampedin' with the 'stache!!

2007-07-07T09:34:00.001-06:00

So it is that time of year again in Calgary. Yup that is right the greatest outdoor show on earth has arrived and kicked off in style on Friday July 6, 2007. It is a time of year when close to 1.5 million visitors will travel from all over the world to our great city to take in the sights and sounds of the midway, rodeo, chuck wagons, and nightly fireworks. You know the Calgary stampede has arrived again each year by the show of hats, boots, buckles, friendly yeee haaaws and most important of all... my infamous handle bar moustache!

Many of you many not know, or simply do not care about this phenomenon that was started three years ago, as I sat on our deck enjoying a cold beer and the summer nights I had an epiphany. I was born in Calgary and live here, yet I don't have any real Calgary spirit when it comes to the Calgary stampede. I thought about how I could change this and what would it take to get into the spirit of the stampede. I could get a hat, some gator boots and wear tight hiked up wranglers for 10 days. The hat worked, but the boots and tight jeans just weren't a good fit. Then it came to me, I had to grow a mean ole handle bar moustache and make it a yearly tradition. So I grew what is now known around these here parts as simply the "STACHE".

In order to grow this stache and have it a surprise for its official unveiling, I had to start by growing a beard. Now three years ago, I had never tried to grow a beard, but to my surprise I could quite easily. So let my beard grow for about a month before the stampede kicked off in July that year and then on the Thursday night before the madness began, and people flocked like locusts to our great city, I shaved the beard and left the beautiful 'stache.

Now he beauty of all this and real kicker is that it turns out Katie absolutely hates, and I mean HATES my stache and couldn't believe that I had actually taken the time to plan this all out to a tee for my city and stampede spirit. She was even more disturbed by the fact that it was going to be staying for 10 full days and that I had made it a annual event for the stampede. After some crying and yelling (just kidding) she decided that she could live with it for the 10 glorious days of stampedin', but still asks me why I hate her so much when I grow it every year.

So to all you stamped lovin' peps!! Enjoy the stampede and show your spirit with pride. And I OFFICIALLY GIVE YOU THE STACHE OF 2007!! YEEEEEE HAAAAWWWW!!!

Check it out here to see what the stampede is all about!!

Classic

2007-07-05T20:29:00.000-06:00

The story of a sweet and innocent blackberry: By Matthew James Weening

I started my life in a nice factory where i was put together on an assembly line by nice people.
Nice people put me in very comfortable packaging and sent me to the store
I was a new blackberry, the small compact type,
One day a nice young man comes in and decides to purchase me for a hefty sum of $600.00
I think, when someone spends that kind of money on a phone they will take care of it.
I am treated well for the first little while, downloading games, emailing and Pining
Then one day when my owner drops me, I think ouch but no big deal
I am dropped more and more frequently as the days turn into months
I started to feel like the red headed step child
Finally the last straw, I am dropped, yet again and this time I land on his Steel toed boot

CRACK!!!

There goes my nice plasma screen, but I think that will get replaced asap
Boy was I wrong, I look like this for two months and almost have had it with this guy
Today was the last straw, i was being used as a flashlight and had my chance so I took it
I jumped out of his hand and into a sump pump hole full of water, ah glorious freedom from this cruel world!
As I am dying i hear a tirade of four letter words and expletives galore through the muffled water and sump pump sounds
To top it all off, this final act in my life was performed in front of the grand daddy of audiences.
The BOSS, BIG CHEESE, HEAD HONCHO, or CLARENCE as we like to call him was their to witness my glorious end!

SO good bye cruel world, and thanks for the memories

It is I whom wins the first battle, and I alone

2007-06-20T18:51:00.001-06:00

Alright so here is what my great poker knowledge tells me.

Call the hand, steal a cherry tomato, and down a beer real quick before you have to flip the cards. Then IF I lose, have another beer and then go home have a good time with the old lady, then call it a night at the roxbury well spent.

I could have gone on and on about the odds, the calculations, pot size, chips stack, what cards were out there, but I didnt, and when it is all said and done, My aggressive call and this the post is enough to win this the "BATTLE NUMERO UNO" and if not, well then at least I had a beer, a cherry tomato and a helluva good time after.

Enough said, Weenz 1 the field NADA, you can reach me on my cell to congratulate BOOM GOES THE DYNAMITE.

FOCKER OUT!!

The majestic power of nature

2007-06-09T12:23:00.000-06:00

As many of you know this week, June 4 we in calgary were treated a rare occurance, a freak flash flood. Now we have had floods before as late as 2005, yet this was due to a month of constant rain and the ground being saturated. This was a flash flood like we havent seen in almost a century. It began as a thunder storm warning that turned into the all to familiary (for thos in Michigan) ominous green sky. We were playing softball in the NE and had just called the game for saftey reasons when the heaven open up and BAM we were getting hammered by Rain. The beauty/curse of this storm was that it engulfed the whole city, for those who have never been here, we are over a million people spread out over a vast area of land, so needless to say it is rare that Calgary will be completely blanketed by a storm from north to south and east to west all at the same time. It rained, sorry downpoured to to point where waterfalls were coming off the over passes and Katie and I thought we were going to have a broken windsheild any moment, for a steady 45 minutes, and when it was all said and done, every quadrant of the city was experiencing major flooding. Underpasses were flooded out, houses were on fire from lighting, cars were submereged and the city was in chaos. Now after katie and I had managed to drive through the mess by carefull picking our route, we were able to enjoy the rest of the storm, sirens and stories of major damage over a nice pint at a local bar with the rest of our team. So the point of this post is to always take time to enjoy the power and majest of God's nature whilst talking over your favorite pint at your local watering hole with friends.

Here is a link to see the damage that ensued, it is estimated that the damage will be well over $20 million dollars for the 10 centimeters or 4 inches that fell in less than an hour. This is what would normally fall in the month of June combined. And remember the whole city was hit at the same time. Truly a freak storm and one to remember.

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/galleries/wickedweather.html?g=0

Scary movies

2007-06-06T18:18:00.000-06:00

So this week begins the next installment of the horrow film Hostel. We are going to be treated with Hostel II. Once again this movie provides no plot or story line of relavance, it does however, contribute to the scary movie club that has been started and still maintained by yours truly, Katie Weening and last, but most definitely NOT least, Alex Schaap.

Now for those of you who do now know, Katie and I are strangely addicted to scary/horror movies. We plan to see as many as possible on opening night. Now back to Hostel II, like I stated before there will be no real story line or plot that we will talk about after it is all said and done, but what will be talked about it the crap that we just witnessed and subjected ourselves too of our own free will. This club is some sick twisted way to rid us all of our fears, yet for some reasons (for me at least) reassures that my fears are alive and well, just ask katie about my ferocious head butt that no doubt left a nasty bruise.

So to all you who are brave enough to submitted to that which is the scary movie (whatever scares you the most) i salute you and hope to see you at the next club meeting, where the rest of us Elite Hunting Group members will be screaming, crying or just simply curled up in a fetal postion wanted our mommy and wonder why on God's green earth we keep doing this to ourselves. So until next time, Happy hunting and be brave my little one!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogS0HBFE1uc

Warning adult post

2007-06-01T16:42:00.000-06:00

So as many of you know ( and if you didnt you do now) I have a tendency to do certain things while i am "sleeping". I am only aware that I have been sleep walking, sleep talking and yes even sometimes... well you know, when Katie informs me of it in the morning or the next few days sometimes. It is always the same response, "there is no way, I would remember if I went there, or said that, or did that" Well I was reading the paper today and I came across the answer to what ails me, not so much as a cure, but at least an explanation of some sort. So to all those who have laughed at the stories that katies tells ei. Navajo Warrior (DONT EVER ASK CAUSE YOU NEVA GONNA KNOW), or me building something with katie being the parts and so on and so forth, I know can say that there is proof of it being something I am not in control of and therefore can take no responsibility for : ) I thought this might interest you as many who we have talked to can now understand a little bit more about what it is like for me at night.

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/reallife/story.html?id=6b3be733-7ce1-41e4-a00c-bd244efb0539

Now before you read this, you must know that nothing that is in this article is even close to what I experience, but it explains a little about what it is.

10 Steps on how to PROPERLY eat a TIM TAM

2007-05-28T19:05:00.000-06:00

The tail end of my last post brought me back to the Tim Tams of australia, and i need a whole post to do these Biscuits (NOT COOKIES) justice so here goes

The Following is called a "TIM TAM SLAM"

Step one: Buy the Tim Tams
Step Two: Buy a Large Double Double (tim hortons)
Step Three: Bite the corner off the Tim Tam
Step Four: Bite the opposite corner off the Tim Tam
Step Five: insert the bitten off corner just into the coffee
Step Six: Place your lips around the other corner that is bitten off
Step Six: Slowly (as not to burn youself)suck the Coffee through the Tim Tam
Step Seven: Let the Coffee melt and soften the Tim Tam
Step Eight: Eat the rest of the Tim Tam before it gets messy
Step Nine: Lick your fingers COMPLETELY clean
Step Ten: Repeat Steps one - nine until you have no more Tim Tams or are stuffed

That is my contribution to society - 10 STEPS ON HOW TO EAT A TIM TAM

And of course a YouTube link to go with it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boQadANaPsY&mode=related&search=

Life after Australia

2007-05-28T17:48:00.000-06:00

Well to honest it sucks... or i should say sucked for around 3 weeks. Getting back into things was not easy and especially since when we arrived back in Calgary we were treated with a sub zero week of flurries at the beginning of april. So going from 30+ weather for 5 weeks to -5 for a week is not easy. Oh well that is life as we know it!

We have since welcomed a new addition to the family here in calgary. Chris and Missy had their 4th, that is right FOURTH, girl Reese Emmaunuelle Weening on April 27th. So that is new. Other than that nothing to report on this side of the equator/North America.

To all the Australians who look at this, feel free to send some Tim Tams here anytime soon. To all those who dont know what i am talking about, there are only the greatest biscuits (NOT COOKIES) ever invented.

Some final Candids

2007-03-30T18:04:00.000-06:00

Here are some candid shots we had throughout, and russel crowe as well. Some are repeats so tough. If you need/want explanations on them you are going to have ask, or come to grips with being disappointed : )

We hope you enjoyed following our trip as much as we enjoyed sharing it with you all.

Tangalooma Wild Dolphin Resort

2007-03-30T17:03:00.001-06:00

Well this is the last leg of the journey, it has been a great and tiresome trip so finally we are going to sit back and do nothing (no tours with duncan - see kuranda post) but sit on the beach and enjoy the last few days before we have to go back to reality.

WE arrived in brisbane and headed towards the jetty to take the 1:15 ferry ride to the island. We arrived and saw pelicans being feed and the sun was beating down on us, on the second largest sand island in the world. There was nothing but ocean, sand and trees on the island. We were guided around the resort and then went to check in at 12:00, well we were told that our room would be ready in 30 minutes, which actually meant 3 hours. And me being the ever patient one, took it all in stride and went with the flow... okay i might have raised my voice a little and the guy behind the counter as he never made eye contact with me EVER again. Oh well we sat and enjoyed a pint of australias finest - Tooheys new - lager so take away some of the frustration.

When we finally got into our room we changed and went right to the beach and went swimming. After this we went and looked at where we wanted to eat, and then thought we had better just get a pizza unless we wanted to take out a second mortgage for dinner everynight. So Pizza and beer it was (at least is was happy hour, which only lasted 30 minutes... crazy aussies) but the two jugs we had went down smooth as we watch a beautiful sunset over the bay.

The next day we went snorkling where there were old whaling boats scuttled, we didnt last long as the current was likely to carry us all the way back to canada a few days early. I tried swimming (no flippers) as hard as i could to see how far i would get, only to look up and realize i was in the exact same spot. So it took most of our energy just to get to the wrecks and back with the flippers. The rest of the day we spent on the beach and swimming in the pool.

Over the next few days we played teniis everyday ( but only lasted an hour or so before heat exhaustion took over) and then headed to the pool and beach. One day katie spotted a whole mit full of giant starfish and the next day i snorkled over the sting ray infested waters, which we later would walk in at low tide. The sting rays are almost impossible to see excpet for there black eyes in the sand, a few times i was almost impaled by the stinger, but not in the heart so no worries.

The last night we were there, we took the opportunity to go and fed the wild dolphins. This was wuite neat as we are instructed as to what to do, and then everynight the sunset brings anywhere from 5-10 bottle nose dolphins into the shores. The marine biologists bring us waist deep into the water where we had the chance to hand feed "Echo" three fish each. It was neat to see the playful side and wild side of these creatures. They do this everynight, but only feed them abot 10% of their diet and dont allow them to be touched to keep the wild.

After this headed to sydney for our long flight home, but not before a 7 hour lay over in the brisbane airport. We had dinner with sandra and steve once again and then at 8:20 down under on march 24 we ended the trip and started the 18 hour flight home. It was sad to leave and was the trip of a lifetime, when we got home we had been awake for 36 hours before we went to bed and had celebrated Chris' birthday March 24 for 48 hours. So at least we got the day back that we lost on the way there.

Kuranda and Rainforestation

2007-03-20T15:21:00.000-06:00

We went to the little town in the mountains just north of cairns. I believe it was started as an aboriginal city and now they have a very scenic skyrail that takes you up the mountains to the city. It takes 45 minutes and you need to transfer twice to other gondolas. It is amazing how high you are and the dense green canopy of the rainforest below. The other way to get u p to the city is to take the train, which i have remember from 1990 as being very scenic, however, there was a mudslide 2 months before we arrived and the train hasnt run since due to the clean up efforts. (again everything here is dangerous).

We stopped at both the places to transfer and took a walk along the board walk to see the different trees and view. At the first one there was a cool stick bug which is almost impossible to see as it looks like, you guessed it, a stick (imagine that). Then we stopped at the second place and walked to the lookout to see the barron falls. These are the falls that start well above the city and work there way down. The water was thundering over the rocks and it was very neat to see.

In Kuranda we walked around and looked in the shops and vertured the city in search of the market. Once we were there we browsed a few items and found a "local" artist that actually hailed from calgary. It was neat to see how far people come to see and evetually stay in this country. We had lunch at a little german bistro (of course beer) and then headed to our booked Rainforestation tours which is where it turns funny/weird (at least sort of)

At the first tour we were greeted by this crazy bloke named duncan. He was a Steve Irwin wanna be and was right away loud and abnoxiuos, and unfortunately for us there we only two other people with us, Pommies (british people). We were supposed to be treated to this wildlife tour which consisted of a few koalas, one giant croc named larry, a few snakes and lizards and that was about all she wrote. During this "amazing tour" the four of us were man handled by Ste... er Duncan as he had no idea about personal space, more so with the women than with me. I sat back and was ammused by the looks that katie kept giving him and saw how she tried to keep moving but was ultimatley cornered everytime. So not only did the wildelife park suck, but i paid to have my wife felt up... :) and to top it all off, he knows our names and is coming to calgary this year, saying that he is going to look us up and stay with us... ahhhh the memories, well i laughed about it.

Then we went on the next great tour.... riiiigghhhhttt. It was called the army duck tour and basically we went through a tiny part of rainforest which we had see earlier, (see daintree post) in an old WWII vehicle that was built by all women in Michigan for the war efforts. They were big open rood trucks that looked like big aluminum boats, because they also floated and were boats. So that was alright, but nothing special. Again the dutch in me thinks about paying twice to see the same thing... once again contributing to the whoops we are idoits fund we have been keeping track of - sa far up near $800 or so- on the trip thus far.

After these "fantastic tours" we headed back down on the skyrail again and headed back to town. This time there was now rain so we headed into the city and looked for some open shops or anything, well it seems that a vast majority of shops close a little early and we missed most of them. So after a few too many pints (st patty's day after all) we headed back to the hotel and got ready to fly out to Brisbane.

Great Barrier Reef: Calypso

2007-03-18T22:40:00.000-06:00

This was the second day in a row of diving. We headed out early in the morning to Port Douglas, 30 minutes north of Cairns. It was dreary yet like all the others days, very hot and humid. We arrived and went to the dock to board the boat, when we arrived we were informed that it was going to be a small group going out that day, only 1 other diver and the instructor. The best part was that we were all certified so that we would not have the same experience of the previous day (see Tusa dive). The trip to the outer reef was again an hour and a half and this day quite rough and choppy, it is a good thing that neither one of us gets sea sick.

Once we arrived at the dive site, called Opal reef, we suited up and began the first of three dives at the "split bommie". We went with our guide marty and another katie and were on our way to 60' below the surface. This reef today seemed much more vibrant and colorful and more what i think both of us were expecting. The fish were everywhere and there was coral of all shapes and sizes. Even though the sun was not shining, the color and water seemed more blue and clear today, right away we were treated to some parrot fish, sea cucumbers, feather starfish and even a whaler shark! The most interesting thing that we saw on this dive was the "nudi branch". in essence it is a sea slug, but the color and difference from each one to the next it amazing. They are only about and inch long and when the swim, they flutter through the water, with their color being their fingerprint. The size and the fact that they like to hide in small places makes them hard to find, but marty knew where to look at snatched a few here and there for us to see. The rest of the dive was just as great with katie and I just in awe and trying to take it all in. We were down for around 50 minutes because we had the larger tanks which was much nicer as we could take in more of the beauty.

Once we headed back up to the surface, we were surpised by the weather. It was still the same as before, but underwater we could have swon that the sun was shining. WE jumped back on the boat, waited for the snorklers to finish up and were off to the next site. We arrived in about 10 minutes and after a coffee to warm up, some water to hydrate we were back on the end of the boat and decending to the depths again. This site was called "Blue Boy" and like all the sites today was all part of the huge Opal reef. Once on the ocean floor we swam towards the larger reef, and passed some small clumps of reef around 3 x 3 x 3 total, but the amount of life on these small areas of coral was amazing! Sea slugs, starfish, sea cucumbers, anemonie's, clown fish, chromus ish, and that isnt even the coral.

At one point Marty was pointing out another nudi branch when we saw a lion fish, very pretty but also deadly. Suffice it to say, we were very careful around the lion fish and as we were observing this, the other katie pointed out a shark just a little ways off. This time we were able to follow the shark, which was a white tipped reef shark, and at one point marty told us to stay put and he took off... moments later the shark was speeding towards us and at one point was within arms length of me and swam right under katie. Up close and personal with a shark is something that was very thrilling and we loved it. It was about 6 feet long and beautiful, the way it glided through the water, when it swim by us i looked at the shark dead in the eye and almost could feel him telling me to "Bugger off mate, this is my turf and i just want to relax". After this we saw a lot more coral and fish, but our minds were on the shark and how cool that was!! Again we headed to the surface from about 50' down and 50 minutes.

Once we were on the boat, we had lunch and we talked about how we thought the first dive couldnt be topped and it was, and how was this last dive going to be topped... it would prove out to be topped yet again, and it started with the entry.
Instead of a regular entry off the big boat, we agreed that it would be a neat and fun thing to take a little dingy out into the ocean and do a a reverese roll entry, when you sit on the edge of the boat and rool backwards into the water. So this is what we did, and then we headed again to the depths and started our swim back to the boat way off in the distance, we truly were onn the endge on the continental shelf, with the deeps depths of the unknow just a little further out to sea. Once we descended we began our dive at "The Wedge" which katie prefers now to call "The thriller" as it was a rush from start to finish. This dive was not going to be an easy dive, the closer to truly open OPEN water you get, the more the tide and current comes into play. OUr previous two dives were within the protection of the Opal reef, this dive was on the unprotected and most outer part of Opal reef. Right away we could all feel the power of the water around us and the current pulled us in every direction possible, i thought to myself "this is what diving is all about" like the other dives, we were treated to something special right away. Katie spotted a blue spotted lagoon ray. It was about 1 meter in diameter and very timid, it was just sitting in the stag coral and the bright blue was so vibrant and beautiful, the beauty that God has come up with has astounded us this day. We were looking at the ray for quite a while when we realized that katie and i were alone... not the best place to find yourself in the middle of the ocean, but we were able to look around and find the other katie and marty and catch up fairly quick.

Along the wayfor the rest of the dive, we were treated to some very brilliantly colored giant clams, that are so fat if you put you hand in them, they cant close all the way, and when they say giant, they mean giant, about 1-2 meters are some of the sizes of them. ONce we touched them, they feel almost like velvet and not slimy at all. At one point, the current was so strong that we all had to time our entry into a swim through, and as we all went through, the water pushed us forward then pulled us back, but we all made it through. and just when we were patting ourselves on the back and thinking this cant get any better... it did!! We were almost back at the boat and could see some of the snorklers way above us on the surface when marty gave us the "REALLY REALLY COOL" hand signal. Well we rushed over and saw one of the top 5 things that we wanted to see, a giant Green sea turtle. It was just eating and picking at the coral and didnt even bother with us. We went right up to it and felt the shell and felt the flippers. It was so graceful and just awesome. The way that it swam and did everything with so little effort, and we had just exhausted ourselves to get back to the boat, left me in awe. The four of us just hovered there for a long time and watched our new friend "crush". We would have stayed down all day had we not been limited by the amount of air we had left, and the fact that we still needed to get back to the boat. WE finished our dive and were able to see jellyfish, a giant puffer (which wouldnt puff even though i tried to scare it) clown fish, anemone and many others. At then end, we had been down for around 45 mintues and had had the experience of a lifetime!!

Once on the boat we couldnt stop talking about the tree dives and what we had seen on all three. We were like little school kids with smiles from ear to ear! the boat ride and bus ride back seemed like mere minutes as we had tons to talk about. And the best part of all, is that katie now has the itch to dive and has been dreaming of our next diving trip!

Once back we headed out onto the town and had a few pints at a local pub and just walked and talked about the day we just had! IT rates as one of the tops of all time! It is too bad that we are now done with diving here and wont be able to see more of gods beauty under the ocean.

Great Barrier Reef: Tusa

2007-03-16T21:11:00.000-06:00

We went diving to the outer reef today with a company called tusa dive. It was about an hour and half to the dive site and we were greeted with rain, sun and waves on the way. Once there we were all debriefed and told what was going to happen. Since this was Katies first non-training dive we went witha guide for the first dive, which turned out to be a mistake. We were paired with two intro divers and an instructor. Both the other divers and instructor didnt speak english very well and thus we basically were on our own. Once down the three did their own thing and in doint so ended up knocking the reef around and stirring up all sorts of silt and basically made a mess of the dive. And then to top it all off the tanks we had were shorties so we only had about 30 minutes of dive time.

All that being said it is still the best thing in the world to dive and the scenery was magnificent. Once we decided to stay back a little we were finally able to see more of the reef and sea life that we had come for. It is truly undescribable unless you have experienced it. For us it is the ultimate feeling of freedom and exhilarating experience. The weightlessness, the open water, the calmness, the immersion into natures most powerful element, combine all that and add in beauty and wonder and you only start to understand it.

once we were back on the boat we decided to do the next dive on our own. So we had lunch and relaxed a bit before heading back into the water. Once we were in the water it was much MUCH better, the reef was ours to explore and nothing was making a mess of things. We swam around some bommies (pillars of reef coming up from the sea floor) and were able to experience many types of coral, fish and sea life. Unfortunately we did not see a shark or a turtle yet. Katie is a little hesitant to want to see a shark, even though i have assured her that it is not the sharks that we have to worry about, but the barracuda's (nice husband right :). They will take your arm, not the shark!

The second dive was far better than the first and we are looking forward to going again tomorrow for 3 more dives. It has been awesome and katie is very glad that she got her certification and now wants to go again and again and again and aga... you get the picture. The only bad thing about the second dive was the amount of air as once again the shorties on allowed us to have 30 minutes bottom time.

On the boat ride back we met a man from germany whop we talked with about diving and he has suggested that the Red sea is the best place he has been to, so we have begun planning our trip to egypt for the next diving adventure. This was seconded by another couple we met from the Netherlands. It is amazing how many people we have met on this trip, and how many times katies has whispered in my ear "Meet any new friends Clarence..." i guess i am more like my dad than i thought. However my sweet talking and chatty nature has and continued to help us out throughout the trip (see great ocean road).

Once home we again tried to go to the city, but as is custom for the tropics it was raining and didnt stop, so we had dinner and watched a movie. Tomorrow should be fantastic.

Cairns: The Daintree rainforest

2007-03-15T16:06:00.000-06:00

Well we arrived in cairns, albeit a day late and dollar short (dont ask!!) and we were greeted byt a warm humid slap in the face and a very heavy rainfall. We took a taxi to our hotel, which we still had (dont ask!!) and then proceeded to walk into the downtown to check things out. It is a small city with notm uch to do in the city itself, everything is geared around the rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef. So we walked and talked and enjoyed the night, getting ready for the day in the Daintree rainforest the next day.

We woke early and headed via coach to the daintree. It was about an hour away from the city and we ejnoyed the views of the ocean on one side and the luch greenery on the other. We started out at the daintree river (which empties into the ocean) and took a boat cruise in search of the ever elusive "Eustuarian Crocs" in the magroves, as we were getting ready to go the skies opened up - as they tend to do in the tropics during the rainy season - and completey downpoured, getting us wet through the ponchos. We spent about an hour on the river and were lucky enough to see a little tiny baby croc about 16" long. When the water is as warm as 30 C the crocs never come out of the water. But the scenery was spectacular with all the lush greenery around us, a stark change to adelaide.

We then headed into the rainforest for a walking tour and learned many facts about one of the oldest and fragile ecosystems on the planet, slowly being desstroyed due to the mindlessness of man. If one endagered bird (casowary) goes extinc, a whole family of trees will die and thus create a ripple effect all the way down. Soimply because the bird is the only animal that can digest the fruit of the tree while "passing" the pit for the new tree. It was very interesting how everything in the forest relies on each other and uses each other to get what it needs, truly a creation of God!

Lunch was served to us by our tour guides and was an aussie BBQ, complete with vegemite (which both of us have become quite fond of) before lunch we had a chance to feed the roos and just sit back. It was a very nice meal and by this point the sun was blazing and we were dying of heat and humidity, so it was good thing that we were on our way to a swim in the croc infested water and some billy tea. Katie and i both went for a swim amid the signs 100 down stream that we were in croc territory (our guide assured us that we were above the area where crocs go, so we trusted blindly and in we went. It was very refreshing and surprisingly deep (over 6-6). We then had a traditional billy tea and headed out to cape tribulation, but not before helping some poor dumb bloke get through the river after getting stuck really bad.

Cape tribulation is the only place in the world where two world heritage places meet. This is where the Great Barrier Reef meets the Daintree Rainforest. It is just a little beach and if we were there in the winter/dry season we would have been able to go swimming, but since we like life and dont want to die a horrible death (box jellyfish) we decided to stay dry, or that was until the sky again opened up on us and soaked us yet again. On thw way home we stopped at a local creamry for come ice cream made with the fruit right on her land. It was delicious and i again was reminded why i hate spiders so much as another giant appeared and left me screaming for "my momma". Katie snapped a photo, as everyone on the tour chuckled at me. A the life of a phobist!!

After this we headed home and katie spotted the rarely seen Casowary bird on the side of the road. We couldnt get a go photo, but i wil putone in here of the bird from a wild park we went to so that you can see what they look like. They have razor claws on their feet and if they feel threatened will jump at you - a la jackie chan - and slice open your stomach - a la hannibla lecter... once again everything here kills you. We finally got home and tried to go into the city but the downpour didnt allow it, so we watched some TV and got ready for the big day of Diving ahead.

Adelaide and the south

2007-03-12T06:21:00.000-06:00

Well we have made it here and we are enjoying our time immensely. We finally got a little chance to slow down and enjoy a little relaxation. The family has shown us a great time and have encouraged us repeatedly to come back soon (which we hope to do) We have had the privilege of visiting some of south Australia's finest wineries, wild parks and other places. Katie finally was able to get the chance to hold a koala at a place called Gorge's wildlife park. We we able to hold the koala and feed and pet the "roos" At one point i even fed a roo from my mouth, which ended in an intimate moment for the both of us. There were a many nights of eating dinner followed by wonderful conversation an occasional cigar and some very nice wine.

The places that we have visited have been amazing, we have spent time at the beach, time scuba diving (heard there was a shark there, but only 8-10 feet) drank very nice wine, seen the strength and beauty of the sea and happened upon seals and other wildlife that we don't even get to see in Calgary, or north America. It is sad that as we leave Adelaide we know that the end of the trip is closer than the beginning, but i guess all good things must come to an end. uncle Pete, aunt Anne, Lauren, Todd and Mel have been amazing hosts and like everyone else we have met here showed us great Aussie life! We even have been upgraded from scurvy scum to Crew! Thanks uncle Pete and Lauren!! Well we are off to Cairns, and that is a whole different adventure and story that will have to wait another day, because at the moment i don't find it funny, but i am told by everyone else that i will look back and laugh... Not bloody likely!! talk to you all when we arrive back in Calgary and maybe i can be bribed to tell the story, which also explains why this is short and sweet.

Kangaroo Island

2007-03-09T06:41:00.000-07:00

We decided to take a day trip to kangaroo island. This is the third largest island off the coast of South Australia (SA). Our day started with a wake up call at 5:45 in the morning and we were off. WE were driven to our drop off point by our gracious host (uncle Pete) and boarded the bus for our 2 hour ride to cape Jervis (most southern point in SA) and were guided through the hills and drive by a nice old bloke who didn't realize the time and that people were actually trying to sleep (okay maybe just Katie and i, something about too much wine the night(s) before). We were treated though, so a heard of roos on the side of the road and alot of nice scenery. We arrived at the cape and boarded the ferry which took 45 minutes to get to the island. Once there we boarded yet another bus and were on our way.

We started out at seal bay, where the sea lions come into shore to rest. They stay out at sea for 3 days and nights simply feeding, then once they do that they come into sleep and rest for three days and then back out. We were able to walk right on the beach and see the seal lions basking and even riding the surf in the ocean. It was neat to see. We then headed for lunch and had a nice walk through a park where we spotted some koalas and wallabies.

From there we proceeded to the remarkable rocks, which are granite formations that can withstand the fury of the sea. They were very nice and quite picturesque. After this we soon realized that our tour was quite a fast one and that we wouldn't be able to spend all that much time at each place so we made the most of it. Along the road was the state park and there were miles and miles of eucalyptus (gum) trees, but by the time we reached the sea, the tower gums were no more than a foot or so high. Again the strength of the sea and nature is seen everywhere we look.

We ended at a place called the arch where a natural arch had formed and also was a place where New Zealand fur seals come the play and feed. We were mesmerized by the strength of the sea, but more so how the seals would simply play right along the jagged rocks and not be throw against them violently, but simply play and dive and swim. We would be killed instantly by these waves and the seals simply lavished them. It was neat to see.

Finally we boarded the bus and headed home to the ferry. On the ferry we were treated to a beautiful sunset and Katie actually saw a dolphins jump over the wake of the ferry. It was a long day, but somehow we still found time to have some wine at 11:00 when we returned home.

Open Water Diver

2007-03-07T01:17:00.000-07:00

It is official!!! I have completed my open water scuba diving training and am certified. It was such a great experience. I had to go on two seperate days to finish my 4 dives. My instructor took me to a place called Port Noarlunga where there is a long jetty whith a reef at the end of it. We had to suit up in the parking lot with our tanks on our backs and all of our gear on (including the weights) and walk about 1 km to the end of the jetty. On the first dive he took me for a swim so that I was comfortable in the salt water and with all of the new surroundings. The only thing I kept thinking was HOLY CRAP I am really doing this and that salt water tastes like double zout droppies (which I don't understand how anyone can suck on those for pleasure...feel free to debate)!!! The visibility was really poor, only about 5 meters and there was a really strong current so it made it a little difficult to swim straight. But at the end of the jetty he opened a razor fish and had me feed it to all of the rest of the fish. They all were coming full speed at my head and kind of nibbling on my fingers. Along the reef we could stop and read some plaques that they had underwater to tell you about the reef. That felt a little wierd because you are sitting there reading underwater and the only sounds around you are of your own breathing which sounds like Darth Vador and a dingy zipping by above you. On the second dive I had to do more of my skills and we cut it kind of short because of the current. The second day was totally different, the water was crystal clear and there was no current. Matt came with us and had an underwater camera...hence all of the pictures. We had such a great time even though someone had spotted a shark just outside of the reef! (Mom, forget I said that part) It is weird to think how comfortable you can become breathing underwater and having all of this whole new world come alive around you. I can't wait to see what the Great Barrier Reef has to offer us. The fish here alone where beautiful and bright in color. Matt is right when he says that snorkeling is just window shopping...it's just a tease.

The Great Ocean Road

2007-03-04T16:54:00.000-07:00

Well we arrived in Melbourne today after a short flight from Tasmania. When we went to get our rental car, we were informed that we had booked it from another airport, and that we had flown into a different airport than our ticket said. After a lengthy discussion with the agent about what we were to do (take a cab for $150, rent a car there for $400 more...) a nice couple offered to take us to the other airport because they had heard our plight, aren't Aussies great!! It was a nice drive and we chatted about many things and an hour later we were at the right airport and in our car headed to the great ocean road.

We spent the rest of that day just sort of puttering around the beginning of the drive going through the little towns around Melbourne. We saw a bunch of kangaroos on a gold course and got pretty close to them, we drove through all the surf towns were surfing was invented, or so they say here, and finally ended up that night in a small town called Lorne. We had a nice meal and great conversation. We awoke the next morning to a drizzle and clouds. The drive was extremely windy and at some parts you felt like you were actually driving on the water you were so close. One minute you are seas side, and the next you are high above the shore almost in the clouds, but always right beside the ocean. We started out by going to a nice waterfall and then spent some time in the rain forest. The trees are unbelievably large, i have never seen anything like them. The only way to descibe them is like the redwoods, but not quite as big. At one point we pulled off for a drive in the koala park, we drove slowly through the park and saw many koalas sitting in high in the eucalyptus trees, all they do is sleep and eat. We then headed for the most scenic part of the drive and just like that the sky cleared and we were treated to the coastline in the full sun. It was a bit windy so the surf was just beautiful. We stopped at all the sights, Gibson's steps, twelve apostles, loch ard gorge, the arch, London bridge and finally the bay of islands. They were magnificent and show the strength of the sea and how it can just crumble away solid stone over time. The London bridge used to be two arches that jutted out into the ocean like a bridge, but then in 1990 the arch that connected to the mainland crumbled and fell into the sea, stranding two unlucky people for hours. There are no paths out to the bridge, but for some reason these tow people were there for a "business trip" i will say no more and let you all think what you want. We then ended the day in warrnabowl with a great burger and a walk.

The next day we thought we would be in for another beautiful scenic day, but little did we know that we have pretty much seen all the coastline that we were going to see. so we spent that day driving in the blistering heat through basically farm land that was brown and dead. We stopped at one winery and as we drove away saw two wallabies and two sheep just sitting on the porch, not something that you would expect to see. We then continued on the Adelaide and pulled in that night for some wine and relaxation.

Tasmania "The really bad blokes"

2007-03-01T21:53:00.000-07:00

Well we headed to Tasmania and started into 4 days on the road. It was a great time. It was not what we had expected at all, the weather was beautiful and sunny the whole time. It was a bit cooler, but not bad still shorts and T-shirt weather for me (jeans and sweater and knickers and long underwear and undershirts etc for Katie). We started at Port Arthur where the worst of the British convicts were sent to spend the rest of their days. It was really eye opening and showed how a lot of our penal systems were started today. We could look up our last names to see if anyone had come through there from our ancestors, and just so everyone knows... McKenzies = 3, Weenings and Wierengas = 0... hummm what did i get myself into, bloody convicts!

From there we drove the East Coast Escape and went through Hobart, Bicheno, St. Helens and Launceston. Bicheno was a great little sea side town where we saw the parade of fairy penguins, these were little penguins no more than 1 foot tall that come to nest every night after a day at sea. It was something to see, also the beaches and scenery there was quite breathtaking. One morning i had to get into my "budgie smugglers" (this photo is for you Alex per request) to get a nice shell that Katie had spotted at the bottom of a sink hole in the bay. We went early in the morning during low tide so that i could get it, the things i do for convict love (the best kind by the way). In St Helens the beaches were amazingly blue with white sand. We went snorkeling one morning and saw a sea horse hiding in the the kelp. I dove down about 16-20 feet and got right up close, it was around 16" and really cool, it didn't flinch when i went to touch it. After this, we went to Launceston and saw more of the country. If ever in Australia, I would highly recommend Tasmania, it was beautiful.

Sydney "The convict coloney"

2007-02-28T02:13:00.000-07:00

Well we have been away a while and have been having an absolute blast. We go non stop from day break right up until the end of the day. So far we have seen most of Sydney. Sydney is spectacular, the opera house, the bridge, the harbour, the people, everything! Our cousins, Steve and Sandra have been absolutely great, we are having a lot of fun with them, and of course thier two kids Scott, or Scottie and Jessica or Jessa. We can't thank them enough for showing us around and opening up their home.

We went into town for the day and walked around the Botanical Gardens, we then decided to have a bite to eat and while we were waiting in line I spotted a bloke with a Toronto Maple Leafs hat on. I told Katie and as he looked up we could see that it was, in fact, Russell Crowe. He was out for the day with his wife and son. We then had lunch in the park and they ended up being there as well. After this, we went into the oldest part of Sydney, called "The Rocks" walked around and had a beer where the convicts use to work and live. And then that is where the adventure began. To make a long story short, we were in downtown Sydney when the Queen Mary and QEII where going to be coming and going (two largest vessels on the sea). We were taking ferries everywhere and were careful to make sure that we wouldn't miss our ferry to the place we needed to be. Well after the aquarium and a rushed dinner, we went to take the ferry back to the main port. We waited over an hour and when we arrived at the main port to catch our next ferry we, along with many others, were informed that because of the two ships being in the harbour they had just let the last ferry go early and weren't doing anymore, thus stranding us in downtown Sydney with no idea of where to go. After deciding to take a cab we were off, but that was 30 minutes and $60 later, but we did have a nice ride with a young British girl who was fun, and we did see Russell Crowe, so all in all worth it.

We also toured the zoo one day and made sure that we were able to see every thing that we possible could fit into one day, Scottie and Jessica were troopers, but I think that Sandra was lagging a bit :) It was cool to see all the different animals and even a small joey in the mother pouch. The animals in Australia are fascinating, we could watch them all day long (we did, didn't we Sandra). To end the day Steve and I hit some golf balls at the local range. It was bizarre to hit golf balls where wallabies were just grazing on the grass, I even came within feet of getting me one! Paper headline: "Crazy Canuck jailed for beaning wallaby at local range"

We spent a day in the Blue Mountains (they are blue due to the haze from their eucalyptus trees). Getting there was no problem, even driving on the wrong side of the road has been a breeze, only one bent antenna, one near crash and one "whoops wrong side". We saw plenty of lizards and birds and other wildlife that is foreign (see why i am afraid of spiders, they are big and scary) to our parts. And the scenery at the mountains was spectacular. The weather there was amazing and the whole place is incredible.

We also went to the beaches and cafes all around. I went snorkeling with cousin Steve just off of Manly Beach. We saw sharks, sting rays and all sorts of fish. We also went diving a couple of days later where we saw a lot of different life as well.
We were sad to leave but had to continue on to Tasmania.

G'Day

2007-02-16T21:53:00.000-07:00

Well this is going to short and sweet. We arrived safely in Sydney this morning/night (not sure what is what anymore with time) we have been to the beach and are going to a BBQ this afternoon. We have each consumed about 5 coffee's and a couple of espresso's to keep awake but i feel it is going to be a losing battle soon. We are having a blast so far and will hopefully keep this updated. Until next time.

There are now a few shots of the arrival, the welcoming party and the first beach we visited.

Australia Trip

2007-02-10T13:01:00.000-07:00

Well we have been extremely busy since returning from the D.R. trying to get everything in order for our australia trip. WE have been planning to take this trip since we were married. It is fast approaching and we leave next week thursday, and arrive in sydney on saturday. Here is the trip itinerary ina nut shell so that you will have some sort of idea what we are doing and where we will be when

we arriving in sydney on feb 17 and will stay with our cousins there, sight-seeing and exploring all the places they know about. Matthew plans on diving and golfing there. We leave feb 23.

We then travel to tasmania where we will drive from hobart to Laucenston making scenic stops and taking tours along the way. we are renting a car to travel and we will see how driving on the wrong side of the road on the wrong side of the car will go. we leave feb 27.

We arrive in melbourne and will spend a day here before heading out on the road. We are driving to adelaide via the great ocean road. this is one on the most scenic highways in the world and is home to the world famour 12 apostles. We leave for the road feb 28/29

After arriving in adelaide and spending time re-aquanting ourselves relatives there, we plan on having katie finish her scuba diving training (See dominican republic post) and then travel to various places around th region, and possibly frequenting a few wineries along the way. we leave march 12

Ah the great barrier reed beckons. We are in cairns now and will be very busy here, we plan on scuba diving on the reef and seeing the rainforest and tropics first hand. This will be katies first reef diving experience which is going to be absolutley incredible. We leave march 18

WE arrive for fun in the sun. Finally a place where we can just sit on the beach and relax. We will be at an island resort of the coast of brisbane. We are going to be seeing, feeding and maybe swimming with the wild dolphins, and just taking time to relax and enjoy the remaining time we have. We leave march 24

Arrive back in calgary on march 24 with plenty of stories and pictures to share. We will try to post when ever we can, but if not we will tell you about the trip when we return.

Planning trip can be hectic and almost image changing : )

Dominican Republic

2007-01-26T11:41:00.000-07:00

My parents decided that they were going to take the whole famliy to the D.R. for christmas. So we all packed and loaded up the kids and everything we needed and were off. It was a long flight and we left early in the morning calgary time and ended up at the resort at around 8:00 DR time. But once the warm air at the airport hit our faces, it was was well worth it. The resort we stayed at was beautiful and right on the beach. We went swimming and walking almost everyday. The weather there is always changing, it can rain one minute and then the next it is blistering hot. Katie tried to finish off her scuba diving training, but the first three days we were there, they told us that the wind was too much to dive. So she got her money back and decided to finish it later. Well the rest of the time we saw dive after dive after dive, OH WELL. My brother and i both went diving for the day off of catalina island. It was a great time. We dove twice and would have gone more if they would have allowed us. Diving is one of my favorite things to do, and something that everyone should try once. Being down with the fish and actually immersed in the sea life is something that you cant explain or understand unless you are 60-90 feet below the surface. The next day Katie, my sister and my mom went snorkling for the morning. They enjoyed it a lot, especially the Mama Juana (Dominican moonshine), dancing and entertaining hosts. After this, katie is extremely excited about diving and finishing off her certification. The rest of the trip we enjoyed soaking up the rays, relaxing and partaking of the great food and drink (pina coladas and cervesas all around). We knew that we had to leave evetually, but like anything else you never want to stop having fun. It was a great trip and we loved every minute of it.