CBGB's place

Dinner loogie tipping point

2009-04-01T09:48:00.001-04:00

So it seems that kids are capable of some seriously inappropriate timing. During dinner, with a monumental sneeze, Liam demonstrated that his cold has passed from stuffy and can't get it out to can't stop purging. Fortunately today he is much better.

Sleep Training Update #1

2009-03-24T11:42:00.002-04:00

CB has been diligently training the boy at night.

LB only got up once (for a feed) between 7pm and 7am. Hooyah.

Of course, I (GB) was up at 4am and couldn't sleep for some reason :(

Advocate for your child

2009-02-22T22:35:00.002-05:00

Liam has been having screaming fits that, from our uninformed-first-time-parent experience, appeared 'severe'. All of the doctors, nurses and professionals kept telling us that "no, this is normal for a child with [acid] reflux." Based on our research, this was fairly consistent, so we uneasily acquiesced.

The fits began escalating in frequency, so we raised the issue again. Carolyn took in a video and showed it to our pediatrician. She said that the behaviour was normal, but, to ease Carolyn, reviewed Liam's prescriptions and such. It turns out that he had outgrown his domperidone (gets things moving through his stomach faster) and we had incorrect preparation instructions for his prevacid (for reducing acid).

Four days after fixing both of these issues, still no screaming fit since the day of the correction. He is much happier and sleeping much better.

I fully appreciate that Liam would not be alive without the level of care he received. On top of that, had his care not been covered by OHIP, we very likely would have lost our house or at least our equity in it ($10,000 per day for 114 days + all of the followup). Having said that, we have seen a lot of the medical system over the last eight months and if we had not been questioning and educating ourselves, there seems to have been something every step of the way that I feel would have gone seriously wrong.

Most of the problems we saw distill down to information problems: incomplete, not captured, not followed up, not shared, not current. In defense, there was a LOT of information and a LOT of places where things did not wrong. As a percentage, our experiences may have been perfectly within accepted norms. This may be just the nature of medicine. There is always one more person to help or just a little more that can be done and every choice is a balance of the minimum that can be done to derive the maximum return. This is particularly true in a public system where we are trying to share the resources equitably.

Stepping out of the emotions our experiences, this is a very interesting systems problem. I've often wondered if I could make a reasonable career servicing the medical industry. It speaks to a need for a broader purpose than my current career path and there certainly appears to be a need.

Colonoscopy FTW

2009-02-13T18:58:00.004-05:00

I'm sure it's the f*cking Merlot talking, but I think Steven Colbert's colonoscopy (minute 4:04 of this clip) slam dunked* his ascendency over they Daily Show on February 11 which he reinforced somewhat more cerebrally on February 12.

* Low comedy for mouth breathers, but very very funny; this surpasses the snot episode

Little Liam now 100% hernia free

2009-02-08T15:06:00.002-05:00

Well, we got through the surgery on Thursday. Talk about anxiety. I was afraid of the anesthetic more than the surgery itself.

He is not sleeping quite as well at night as he might otherwise, but is very happy during the day. He used to have screaming fits of 20 to 40 minutes a couple of times per day. Those are gone. Hopefully he will start sleeping more soundly at night as he gets back on to a regular schedule.

I have to say the hospital did not instill us with a great deal of confidence. We answered the same questions about his prematurity at least five times (but only to four different parties :P). In the end, they were about to release him from the recovery ward when I mentioned that he was four months corrected age. The nurse was a bit flustered because she thought he was seven months and needed to keep us longer. As much as the doctors, nurses, and institutions they work in are quite capable, you really do need to advocate for your child. I can't imagine the numbers of problems that must occur as a result of language barriers.

Geeks 'R' Us

2007-08-21T11:46:00.000-04:00

I was thinking of getting this for GB, but then I saw the price tag....

The joy that is home ownership

2007-08-17T16:51:00.000-04:00

Why is it with house maintenance it just seems to keep going and going and going?

We actually have two different contractors working on the house right now. There is progress being made, but it sure is painful at times. Of the work started in May (I think), we still have the doors to replace, the windows to cap, and a floor vent to be installed in the kitchen. As long as it's done before winter I'm cool with that.

The second contractor (much more timely) created a vent for us from the basement so we can install our new dryer (more on that in a moment). He also replaced the trim around our basement back door as it was rotting, repointed the brick around our outside faucet and replaced the circa 1920 faucet (pretty cool mechanism to deal with the winter actually). Of course, when he did that I noticed that there is quite a bit of repointing necessary on that wall so now he'll be coming back before November to do that.

I probably should have blogged this earlier, but we had a bit of a situation with our clothes washer. It was a pretty cool device, if a little cranky. I however, managed to break it (sort of). We were planning to move it downstairs as we now have stairs (woo hoo, I might add) and so I was doing a little plumbing. Now, the plumbing went fine except that when I turned off the main, I did not turn off the taps into the washer (I still don't think that should strictly be required). In any case there was a bit of a shock when we first turned it on (physical shock, not electrical). This caused leak due to a pipe coming undone inside. We had that maintenanced and about three days later the thing starts smoking. Not just "oh, I smell something weird" or "is someone smoking rubber in the back yard", but rather billowy "oh, shit" smoke. Short story is it would be $500 bucks to fix and the maintenance guy said we'd probably just have more problems. So we are now the proud owners of a new washer and dryer set.

Well, after all this, what could possibly go wrong?

Like the Wind

2007-08-07T17:04:00.000-04:00

Inspired by my sister, I've decided give biking to work a go. Lets hope this goes better than the running! I recently found out that I probably have the easiest bike to work in the city. I get on a bike path at the end of my street and get off at the end of the street I work on. It's about 10 K and mostly flat. Who can complain?

So on Saturday, GB and I went to a local bike shop and picked up a couple of new city bikes - 30% off no less. I didn't have one to begin with and GB's current one is 15 years old and weighs a tonne. So him getting one was a little treat to himself :) Plus we now have a spare for when people come to visit.

I was a little wobbly getting on the bike for test drive but after a couple of minutes, it felt great. I had forgotten how wonderful it feels! I'm looking forward to going on weekend bike rides with GB just like my family used to do when I was a kid. No pop-a-wheelies gone bad this time though - I know better!

Today I took it out to check out my route and I did what I think is about 2/3rds of the way in about 20 minutes. Looks like my bike ride to work will be a lot faster than TTC, and I'll be getting in shape to boot!

Wish me luck!

Weakness

2007-08-04T11:52:00.000-04:00

The heat has damn near killed us this week. We finally caved on Thursday night and put the window air conditioner in. It was my first good sleep in a few days.

I've got to believe the AC's that we have are very inefficient, though. They are about 20 years old. We are going to see if we can find something more reasonable (and lighter) to replace them with.

GB's alter ego

2007-07-13T21:24:00.000-04:00

GB is also attempting the occasional post at my personal blog. It'll probably be as rare as posts here, however. :(

Dusk Dances

2007-07-13T21:15:00.000-04:00

We just got back from a very cool evening at Withrow Park, just up the street. Dusk Dances presented us with jazz dance, a native grass dance, a bizarre tent (as in camping) ballet performance, some interpretive abstract guitar accompanied fusion something-or-other, and a park bench children-harass-the-man-with-the-hat–becomes-love-story set to the musical stylings of an eight year old accordionist (I always love that old number).

I would highly recommend you partake if it comes your way.

Happy Birthday Sis

2007-05-15T22:40:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone, it's my sisters birthday today. Here is a picture of her (just imagine the chain saw is actually an air hammer).

Garden Pics

2007-05-06T13:14:00.000-04:00

So, the flickr people haven't gotten back to me yet and I found picasa much easier to use. Here is a link to the garden pics

CB's Garden

what's so great about flickr?

2007-05-03T22:27:00.000-04:00

k, as far as I can tell, flickr sucks. I can't even create an account - just keeps erroring out and then telling me to enable cookies.
whatever.

Anyone one know the google equivalent? Probably works better.

Yay for spring!

2007-05-03T22:05:00.000-04:00

Yes, spring has arrived chez CBGB and it's all about the garden. I've been inspecting my plants every day and there seems to have been an explosion of growth!

Crocuses have come and gone, tulips and hyacinths are in full bloom and just today I saw a fern 1.5 feet high that I swear was not there 2 days ago. Lilies, geraniums and violets are going nuts, the irises I split last year seem to be doing well, and hydrangeas, hostas and globe thistle are coming along nicely. (wow, look at all the flowers I can name!)

The icicle pansies I planted last year survived the winter and are now thriving (thanks mom!) Today they seem twice as thick as this picture below, which was taken on Monday. My neighbors must think I'm nuts because I'm always out there with my camera trying to get the artsy shot.

You can see too in the shot that the grass needs a cut, and so today I put together my handy dandy Lee Valley push mower and mowed it. Wow, that was so easy! 3 screws and we're off. It's so easy to mow with. Thanks again mom, I love it!

I'll try and figure out this "flicker" thing so I can post more garden pictures (ok, I'm slightly obsessed -but hey...)

That's why you keep your dog on a leash

2007-04-16T14:19:00.000-04:00

So, this morning was day 5 of running. Looks like were averaging about twice a week. Slightly lower than I wanted, but we've managed to come up with a variety of colourful excuses not to run - A sore groin muscle, a chest infection paired with freezing rain, and staying up just too darn late entertaining house guests. But hey, twice a week, plus karate three times ain't half bad.

We've started running around Withrow Park instead of along the Don Valley, because we figure a residential one way street is better for our lungs than running beside a highway. Each time, as I'm running up the hill, still trying to get my second wind, I think to myself "why am I doing this?" and the answer invariables comes to me "oh ya, because all my pants are shrinking".

It is definitely hard to get out of bed in the morning to do it, but at least GB and I have each other to kick our butts into gear when the other isn't feeling quite up to it. And the truth is, I really enjoy spending that half hour in the morning with my hubby. We actually get a chance to talk and connect and feel good about ourselves together.

We stopped in the park for a three minute "Kata" break (an excellent chance to practice our karate) when a near by dog (off his leash!) decide to grab GB's glove and go for a tour with it. I'm sure he thought it was a great game, but GB was none too pleased.

No running tomorrow because it's a Karate night tonight. Yippee! or should I say "aw nuts!"

Running? Me?

2007-03-29T12:26:00.000-04:00

So, GB and I have made a resolution of sorts. We are going to start running in the mornings. (except mornings after karate nights because we can't go to bed early - as JenZ points out, it's good incentive to go to Karate!) Crazy? Yes - but I'm advertizing this so all you can kick my butt if I quit.

This morning we got up before the crack of dawn, which wasn't too hard since we were jetlagged anyway (GB was up at 4:30 and I was up at 6:00). Got dressed, and after a quick glass of orange juice we were out the door with our pampered chef all purpose timer set to 15 minutes (one way of course). Started with a brisk walk to the ravine, then a light (very light!) jog over the bridge, down the stairs and to the next bridge. That took 15 minutes, so we turned around, 3 minutes of walking back to the stairs, running up the stairs, over the bridge, up the hill (which GB said we would walk up, but them made me jog up!) and back down the street. Followed by 3 more minutes walking to cool down.

It actually wasn't so bad! We'll see how hard it is next time though. Apparently the goal is to do 25 of the 30 minutes at a running speed. But really, it's the 6:15 wakup call that I'm most worried about.

Dobri Den from Praha

2007-03-27T10:57:00.000-04:00

Hi all,
this is my third attempt to post - hopefully I won't run out of time this time.

We are having a great time in Prague. We have been walking walking walking and enjoying the beautiful weather and architecture of the city. We spent an amaziing 2 days touring Prague castle, and have spend the rest of the time on various walking tours throughout the city, with pleanty of time to stop for a bear or wine on an outdoor patio or two.

Our un-vetted, un-edited pictures are here if you want a look.

oh, where were these 4 years ago?

2007-02-28T14:59:00.000-05:00

Perfect.

http://www.diamondvues.com/2007/02/binary_wedding_bands_geeks_nee_1.html

Hey Sis-

2007-01-21T21:46:00.000-05:00

Just heard about my sister's new blog. Man, she just keeps getting cooler! It's mainly about her experiences as one of only three women in her sheet metal union. Pretty interesting read.

Speaking of Big Sis, she and her daughter (aka my niece) came to visit last November to see us (of course) and also check out the Pow Wow at the Toronto Aboriginal festival.

Not only was the pow wow a very interesting cultural event, but even better was having the opportunity to really get re-acquainted with my sister. Although we have kept in touch over the years, we really haven't been close since we were teenagers and both left home on our individual life adventures. We seem to finally be getting to know each other again and I hope it continues.

Also, my niece and GB's niece had a chance to meet again. They hadn't seen each other since our wedding three years ago when they were both junior bride's maids and were fast friends.

So here's to old friends, grass dances, Greek food and powerful women! See you in June, sis!

Dishes

2007-01-20T19:55:00.000-05:00

Something that has bothered me the last few times we've had dinner parties is not having enough dishes to serve our guests with. Twice we've run out of plates and had to improvise. I decided after Christmas that I wanted to start looking for a replacement set from our current dishes, that come from GB's single life, and, although nice, are not quite as sophisticated as I would like. I've been looking for something that's nice enough for dinner parties but durable enough to use everyday, oh, and not ridiculously expensive. I've had a lot of fun these past few weeks surfing many dinnerware web sites.

I was finally able to drag GB out to William Ashley, who are having an amazing sale right now (with a warning of course that his patience would be limited - I think he'd rather have a root canal than go shopping - I, on the other hand could spend hours in that store just browsing!).

During our 1.5 hour endeavor (which far surpassed GB's new measure of shopping patience - the time it took for our coffees that we had to leave at the door to get cold), we managed to talk our selves into considering a ridiculously expensive set of formal dinnerware on top of the casual set we also planned to purchase. Luckily, we had the sensibility to "take some time to think about it", and when walking out the door we passed a quite nice set that was, I kid you not - one eighth the price! Granted, it wasn't quite as nice as the other set, but to GB's point, we'd like to have dishes that we would feel sick if someone accidentally broke one.

So, we were able to bring our casual set, Pfaltzgraff Sphere in green, home with us today, while our formal set (Mikasa Cameo Platinum) is on order. After unpacking, washing, and rearranging the cupboards (what fun!), taking a good look at our dishes, I'm tempted to say, they are actually good enough for entertaining, and maybe we should forgo the formal set altogether. I'll need to think on it, but we do have a few weeks. It just seems silly to have an extra set of dishes that you bring out only once or twice a year. We'll see...

The Honeymoon is Officially Over

2007-01-03T11:25:00.000-05:00

No, not CB and I, but rather Apple and I.

In early 2006, work kindly furnished me with a high end Macbook Pro laptop. Our relationship was rosy from the beginning. Ah, we were young and optimistic. No wrong could be done. But I knew. I knew in the back of my mind that all things end.

The fan has been, oh, what's the word?... 'grinding'. 'Can't hear someone in the room speak' grinding. It has so far taken 32 days, 2 visits (leaving the laptop both times), 1 system planar (wtf!?) for Apple to NOT YET fix it.

I like OS X, I like the hardware (when it works), but man these folks are difficult to deal with. They make Dell look responsive. Add to this the fact that the new system planar is flaky and I'm seriously reconsidering advocating Macs.

On a related note, I read the other day in the National Post that, according to a recent study, the reason for nostalgia is that your brain gets a happy on when it remembers something. Anything. Our consciousness interprets this by associating the positive feeling with the memory itself, not the act of recall and presto: nostalgia. Hence I fully expect the love affair to begin again as soon as I get a new fan.

Just like Moms place

2006-11-19T20:38:00.000-05:00

2 lbs of butter
3 cups of sugar
1 lb shorting
a couple bags of flour
raisins, sprinkles, maraschino cherries....
4 hours and 6 dozen goodies later....

We're getting ready for our first Christmas at CG place with Butter Tarts and Shortbread cookies...just like Mom's place.

Actually...

2006-11-17T22:47:00.000-05:00

...Better than Battlestar Galactica

It's Battlestar Galactica good

2006-11-17T21:57:00.000-05:00

Heroes.

Well, That Was Embarassing

2006-11-02T17:33:00.000-05:00

Guess I lied about the photos. Too busy.

I'm at the tail end of a big software project and I'm overloaded up to here (imagine me with my arm stretched above my head). Needless to say, we are approaching things in the most painful fashion possible by trying to rush. I hate that about software companies.

Despite the work, I'm actually pretty upbeat. I've latched onto a new time management methodology and I'm quite enjoying it. This isn't so much for the software development side, which I have a pretty good handle on, but rather for all of the little stuff going on in my life (such as, say, blogging). I'm slowly moving into GTD (Getting Things Done), by David Allen. It's all about lists and reviewing and focusing on real, clearly defined actions. It seems to be working and it's forcing me to go through a major cleanup which always feels good even if I don't stick with his approach. It's not the kind of approach for everyone, but it seems to be very ideal for systematic types (read: 'programmers').

I'm not doing it fell-swoop (just realized I have no clue what that means exactly) as he recommends in the book simply because I don't have time (really don't have time) to set aside at this point. The whole premise is to get EVERYTHING that is on your mind into an external reliable system that reminds you when you need to deal with stuff. Beyond that, you focus on the real actions that are necessary to achieve whatever goals/commitments you set. I already deal with things sort of like that anyway, but... I now have no loose papers at work and my email inbox is empty. That's saying something.

Keeps on Ticking...

2006-10-09T21:17:00.000-04:00

Fifty years, six kids, eleven grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, a few dozen pets, and a dozen or so prairie towns later and my parents are still going strong.

Congratulations, Mom and Dad!

CB and I just rolled back into the big T.O. after a long weekend in Saskatoon celebrating my parents 50th annivesary.

I admit that I still have a bit of a soft spot for Saskatchewan (despite a complete lack of desire to live there), but even with this colored perspective, it's hard to argue that Saskatoon in the fall is quite pretty. At least it was this weekend. I think we hit the three days during which the leaves turn and fall. We were on the sixth floor of the Sheraton across the street from the Bessborough Hotel (formerly a CP hotel; now a Delta) and had an amazing view of the river and the University and Broadview bridges.

The party was great fun. I managed to chat with family that I haven't seen in twenty or, in some cases, thirty years. It was very nostalgic and I think ... not sure, mind you ... that we brought my father to tears. Those of you who have heard my wife speak of my emotional detatchment (in less flattering terms) may be able to grasp the significance of this.

I'll post some photos tomorrow...

Green thumb? Brown thumb :(

2006-08-18T08:36:00.000-04:00

Ok, so it turns out that part of having a nice garden means actually planting annual flowers, and actually watering it every now and then. Oh ya, and weeding comes in handy too.

After several weeks of neglect (due to our crazy schedule including being away every weekend!) and very little rain, things are getting droopy and brown, and a little out of control. Yes, I saw our Virginia Creeper creeping along about 20 feet of garden where it wasn't supposed to by. Man, I think that plant is actually a Triffid. Oh, and I won't even try to explain the pruning disaster with the forsythia.

There is very little flowering at the moment which, mixed with the drooping and brown, makes things look a little - less than impressive. Although the poppies still seem to be going - amazingly after about 7 weeks! I'm so glad I didn't pull them out when I thought they were weeds.

Finally having some inspiration, (and a day off) I decided to buy some flowers to plant and pretty up the barren front yard, but alas, when I arrived at the No Frills garden center, it was no more - just an empty parking lot. I guess that's what happens when you decide to start gardening mid August!

Anyway, here are some pics of more colourful days.

ps. any advise from all you gardening fanatics is more than welcome.

Some real video of Carolyn

2006-08-04T12:09:00.000-04:00

OK, I had a request for youtubing Carolyn, so I decided to give it a go: Matsukazi Sandan

Carolyn's Black Belt Test

2006-08-01T11:37:00.000-04:00

Carolyn and I sparring.

Omelets, sunshine and cedar

2006-07-23T11:37:00.000-04:00

Well, my mom just left after a lovely long weekend with her coming to see my black belt test, then hanging around for a few more days. We did lots of mother-daughter things...chatting about family, gardening, shopping and puzzles. It was a great visit, and it reminds me of how much I miss living in the same city as her.

After a outdoor breakfast of omelets (or rather somewhat scrambled eggs), where I attempted (without success) to be as good a chef as GB, we sat chatting in the beautiful backyard garden for a while, then phoned a cab and said good-bye. I'm now sitting on the front porch, in what has to be one of Toronto's most perfect sunshine days. I can smell the cedar of our Maskoka chairs, feel the light summer breeze and hear the distant shouts of children playing. Ahhhhhhhh.

I'm also blogging to procrastinate on my homework for Toastmasters. I'm supposed to give my first "Icebreaker" speech this week...

CB puttin' her thang down

2006-07-23T11:28:00.000-04:00

This is a little grainy because it is from video in a poorly lit room, but you get the idea.

Anachronistic Vacation

2006-07-23T09:04:00.000-04:00

I'm still trying to get into the groove of blogging. I really really really meant to get to this done when we were in Montreal or shortly thereafter.

Anyhoo,

I happened to be in Montreal for IETF 66. That's a pretty strange group of folks, but I won't get into that here.

CB took care of all of the hotel arrangements. We picked Hotel Gault largely based on a recommendation from Lt. Dan and Nellie. The hotel is very art-deco and minimalist, which I normally don't like, but it was obviously designed very carefully and it struck me as very tranquil. It felt more like we were staying in an upscale condo than in a hotel. The concierge, Andre, was a real highlight. Very friendly. Loves his job. We kept asking him for restaurant recommendations with ridiculously vague requirements, but man did he step up. I suppose I should have just said we aren't particular to any specific type of food, but rather we were just looking for great food. It never seems to come out of my mouth the way it sounds in my head, though. In any case, we went with his recommendations both nights. On the Saturday night, he even bought us champagne to have before our meal.

I swear that the breakfast alone is worth the stay. Most of it was organic and ALL of it was top notch ingredients. There were all the staples plus a half dozen pastries and cakes, fresh berries, chocolate dipped fruit (including those little yellow tomatoes - mmmmm), exotic cheeses (I'm not talking sharp Cheddar here - a few of these we have never seen and trust me, CB knows her cheese); the list just goes in. Freakin' amazing.

Friday night we spent a romantic evening on the harbour front of Vieux (old) Montreal. We had a decent meal at Pier Gabriel. That may sound like it is not an overly positive recommendation, but bear in mind we were in probably the most touristy area of Montreal. It far exceeded my expectations. Afterwards, we wandered over to an amphitheatre and sat on some grass and bootlegged a reggae concert. We lounged; we cuddled (as much as I am capable of); we made fun of the teenage couple who literally stared into each others eyes for about thirty minutes without moving. Pretty sure they were high.

Saturday, we hoofed it up Mont-Royal. I guess I had never thought of it, but this was the first time I clued in as to where Montreal got its name. Talk about an embarrassing revelation. It was hot and humid, but a very nice walk none-the-less. Just as we reached Beaver Lake (I think that's the name), the skies opened and drenched the mountain. Fortunately for us there was shelter. We hunkered down for a bit and then eventually caught a bus.

Lt. Dan and Nellie had recommended Brewtopia, but we ended up at Les Trois Brasseries (both covered here). Unfortunately, CB's schedule did not allow us to wait for the 3pm opening of Brewtopia. Les Trois Brasseries was fun, though. Good food and they brew locally at each pub despite being a chain of sorts.

I'm not normally a fan of modern art (I really didn't like MOMA), but we decided to give it one more shot and we went to Montreal's Musee d'art contemporain de Montreal. There were some very notable exhibits. Oddly, as it seems too simple an idea, I actually found the temporary Projection Series exhibit the most interesting.

Saturday evening was spent at dinner at O Chalet. Unfortunately, by combining English and French when speaking to the cabbie, I told him I would like him "to take us to the cottage". He was very confused. So much so that he took us to the west end rather than the east end first. It didn't dampen our spirit however. We went adventurous and had the prix fixe. We were not disappointed.

Sunday we spent at the BioDome and the Royal Botanical Gardens. Now that is a full day. I would highly recommend the gardens to anyone visiting Montreal:

oh, breakfast! Gotta run.

You've come far, young padawan

2006-07-22T08:52:00.000-04:00

After a whirlwind five years of training, CB has achieved her Black Belt. I can no longer use the tag line "it's a black belt thing" when she does not understand my idiosyncrasies. From now on, "it's an intermediate black belt thing" :)

CB has been training particularly hard under the scrutiny of our Sensei for the last few months and did a great job on the night of her test. I'm always amazed at the progress people make in the months leading up to their black belt. CB describes, correctly so, that at some point you just decide that you are ready and almost invariably within a few months of that, Sensei calls you out. This, of course, is followed by your thesis and months of [extra]intensive training.

Congrats CB. You were ready for the Kool-Aid and you embraced it (note to readers: CB HATES that phrase. I'm teasing her - which means I love her).

Ash

2006-07-03T15:11:00.000-04:00

There is some part of 'inevitable' that just doesn't seem to register. Knowledge does nothing for grief when events unfold.

Ash died yesterday. We've known something was in the wings for a while, but, as CB pointed out, 'you just never think it will be today.' I don't think I have before experienced the passing of someone closer to me; pet or person. It was a tremendously intimate experience.

Grief has got to be the most selfish and self-indulgent of all of the emotions. It is also probably the most necessary of all the emotions. It allows us to accept and move on. We don't characterise it this way, but grieving and mourning are really for the survivors. No matter what your theology is, there is no downside to death for the deceased. The near-eastern and western religions believe, almost invariable, that you go to heaven. The only exceptions being those who don't play nice or those who don't complete the paperwork in time. I don't think animals are permitted into heaven in Christianity, but I'm sure there must be a loophole for pets. For atheists, everything is simply over. There is no consciousness remaining to be aware of itself. For cats who live in wealthy, North American households, the only truly problematic theologies are those involving reincarnation. They pretty much haven't got anywhere to go but down.

Ash was twenty one and in better shape than you might expect despite, or because of, the quantity and variety of her meds. We took her to the vet because she seemed to be winding down and it turns out she had a tumor crowding her other organs and was not eating as a consequence. Friends and family alike gave CB and I more than one good natured ribbing over the ends we would go to over Ash. Daily: fibre, Cosequin, and Lactulose on her low protien food, a tablet of Fortekor, a tablet of Amlodopine, a capsule of Calcitriol, oral gel to keep her gums healthy, and a bit of potassium paste to wash it all down. In her day, she has also had a blood transfusion (prior to us meeting) and spent a week at McMaster University receiving radiation therapy for a hyperactive thyroid gland.

I think most folks understand the attachment people have for their pets, but as strange as it sounds, I never really viewed Ash as a pet or a possession. Her life was my responsibility: food; shelter; comfort; friendship. That's pretty much the definition of a pet, but there is far more feeling that CB and I brought to the table than is reflected in that word. In the end, there were possible treatments for Ash, but she would have had a terrible quality of life for a short time, even if she survived. It was the easiest decision I ever made and yet the most full of regret.

It was a very dignified death. We spent some time with her. She was then sedated. We chose to be present when they injected her. Since her failing kidney's were diagnosed, Ash dying alone has been a weight on my mind. I was shocked how sudden she disappeared. Like the air ripping from your lungs when you plunge into icy water. But it was dignified.

P.S. In true Ash fashion, she did stick us with one hell-of-a bill on the way out.

We love you Ash, good bye

2006-07-03T09:26:00.000-04:00

Ash

1985-2006

I love my garden

2006-06-23T23:12:00.000-04:00

Wow, so it's been a while. Just checking in quickly to share some photo's of our garden.
It's been really amazing. I don't do a whole lot and yet these enormous green things just keep growing and growing from dirt and water!

This is mid may (ignore the year, apparently I'm also digital camera challenged and can't st the date right).

And it's amazing how much it filled in after just 10 days! (yes, this is the view after two glasses of Pimms)

The clematis in the back is just out of control. It already bloomed in early June with beautiful purple flowers with whit centers. Now it's full of buds again and has started blooming with a different dark purple flower! And I found out that the weed I almost pulled, but decided to give a chance is actually bright red poppies! And mom, that green thing that "doesn't do anything" sprouted some little purple flowers.

I'll post more pics when I figure out how to upload from the new camera G and I bought for our anniversary.

f*cking blinds

2006-04-26T09:53:00.000-04:00

New blinds in the 'den' (converted third bedroom).

I've got to say they look nice, but I managed to bruise four knuckles (that would be 'most of them') on my right hand thanks to a tight fit.

Almost done. Now we just need patio furniture, new soffit/facia/eves, chairs for the front porch, garage reno, better backyard lighting, floor refinishing, mud-room insulation, roof insulation, floor insulation (front bedroom), new kitchen counter, skylight shutter, new back door, new front door, window frame caps, window frame sealant, stairs, sunk basement floor, chimney cap, concrete repointing, new basement bathroom fixtures, basement ceiling drywall, basement firedoor, and a solution to the banana peel mystery.

Actually, I'm humerously overstating things.

We aren't actually that worried about the banana peels.

I now consider us officially moved in

2006-04-21T07:48:00.000-04:00

We finally received the last of the new furniture: a couch for the 'den'.

It's not so much a den, really, as a bedroom with some shelves, a desk, and our new hideaway bed.

We were desperately worried it wouldn't fit because Carolyn did a swing by Sears and determined that there was a two inch discrepancy between the minimum dimension on the couch and our stairs. Fortunately it shipped without the legs attached.

woo hoo

A little scuffing later and we now have to live with that department store smell on the second floor for a while.

Time for more push-ups

2006-03-21T21:42:00.000-05:00

The living room Sofa arrived last Wednesday night. The Sofa looks fantastic, although we are totally paranoid about sitting on it, lest we make it dirty. We've got plenty of blankets available in case we want to do something silly like eat or have a glass of wine in the living room. Maybe I should just dump some pizza sauce on it and get it over with. Kind of like when I backed the bumper of my new car into a wall after two weeks ...After that, I didn't really care as much about how it looked. (yes, I actually owned a car once)

Anyway, I guess we will have to be grown up and learn to eat dinner at the table instead of on couch in front of a movie.

The new couch also means we have to actually get rid of the old couch. Craig's list was a bust and, who knew, but Good Will no longer does furniture pick ups. So, rather than having a completely overstuffing living room, we had to move the couch to the garage. Not as easy as it sounds. You see, the door on the yard side of the garage is way to small to fit anything more than a compacted moving box through, so we had to actually walk the couch around the block to get it in the back alley.

Now, on the one hand, G's got that muscular eastern European thing happening. On the other hand...Lets just say, I'm often politely referred to as "petite". The general consensus was, I need to do more push-ups.

PS - anyone want a lovely matching Navaho print couch and chair? I'll give you a great deal, as long as YOU pick it up :)

BTW, Momma Mary

2006-03-11T21:26:00.000-05:00

We have discussed this and we have no clue what you are talking about.

We love our Ash cat

2006-03-11T21:09:00.000-05:00

Our cat, Ash, is twenty-one years old as of January. Four years ago she was diagnosed with problematic kidney's and given a two year prognosis.

I've never been one to shy from spending money on my cat and C. has been on board with that (a wise decision, given that Ash does have seniority). Not everyone gets this, as she is just a pet, but I see myself as responsible for her life. As long as she is not in pain (as far as we know), and we can afford it, we will do what we can.

For four years, Ash has been on Fortekor, Calcitriol , Amelodopine, Vetasyl, Tumil-K, and Maxiguard (that's 1 tablet, 2 gel-caps, fiber on her food, an oral gel, and a spray for her teeth EVERY DAY). Now we have added Cosequin and Lactulose (another powder on her food and a liquid dispensed orally with a syringe, EVERY DAY - twice for the syringe). You might laugh, and many do, but four years later, her kidney's have not deteriorated AT ALL. It baffles my vet. C. is convinced Ash will outlive the current aged-cat record holder of thirty-six years.

Perhaps the radiation therapy four years at McMaster University for her hyperactive thyroid has made all the difference (could have used drugs, but that would have been a two year prognosis - radiation, as you can see, has proven FAR more cost effective).

We love our Ash cat.

BBQ's and sofas

2006-03-10T18:11:00.000-05:00

I am now truly, despite all futile juvenile attempts to refute it, in my Carlsberg years.

In the last three months, I have bought a house, TWO, count them TWO, couches, and now, if you believe it, a BBQ. Oh, and more kitchen furniture. ...and a caulking gun. a saw. weather stripping. a vacuum cleaner. storage shelves. ...and a shovel (Carolyn actually bought that one - unfortunately she selected an Elfin model - oohh, my back).

For our second sofa, we ended up with the Sears, everyday value, Pisces pullout sofa bed in blue. I'm actually a little surprised at myself. I figured we'd buy something overpriced and boutique, but the quality appears quite good (time will tell) and I feel like we paid a fair price. I'm certainly no expert on department store shopping, but I have to tell you, the service at Sears Canada was way hell and gone better than that at the Bay. Hence we spent ALL of our money at Sears.

The BBQ we picked up is the high quality, but still affordable, BroilKing Crown 20 NG (natural gas) barbeque [taht wrod neevr lokos rghit to me - did I msilspel it?]. I can't believe the price ranges that are considered 'mid-range' in BBQ's. You can spend more on your BBQ than I spent on my motorcycle. It just doesn't seem right.

Furniture Shopping

2006-03-04T18:53:00.000-05:00

So we did it, we bought the sofa. I'm so excited. They are delivering it a week from Wednesday. We also bought a fabulous chair at Urban Essentials (175 King St. East) which I am very excited about.

So this means we'll have to do something with our existing couch and chair. I'm pretty sure we won't be able to fit either of them through the basement door, and we can't fit them into the garage unless we walk the things around the block and come in through they alley door.

I'm going to try selling them on Craig's list (which my friend JZ keeps talking about)...as a last resort, we can call Goodwill to pick them up (I hope!)

Oh, we also saw another pull-out couch at Sears which will be perfect for the office. (Can't find a pic on line though). We wanted to mull it over and not just buy it on the spot though. We've been thinking about it all day, so I think we might just have to make a trip back tomorrow and order it.

Yay, I'm really starting to feel like a grown up with grown up furniture and everything!

Insulation

2006-02-27T10:09:00.000-05:00

We are finding the main floor is a bit drafty.

The rear door into the kitchen has quite a gap at the bottom which I believe is fixed now. Anything to avoid using the electric heat!

I think we have some poor insulation on the outer walls, as well. It's not a strike issue, but we'll have to get it dealt with before next year. Apparently you can get an inspector for about $200 who will tell you were your most significant gains are in heating efficiency. It might be worth it before the weather turns so we can budget and do the work over the summer/fall.

Comments?

Starting to feel like home

2006-02-27T10:05:00.000-05:00

We have finally started to put out the nick-nacks and hang a few things. What a tremendous difference that makes!

The place has been great, but it's starting to feel 'homey'.

Just Say No! to Pottery Barn

2006-02-19T21:10:00.000-05:00

Ok,
So the big concern right now is curtains. Like I said, I'm feeling rather exposed and I just want to get the windows covered. BUT we don't want to start holes in the wall without being sure about what we want.

Since we've currently got "shears" and opaque curtains for the living room that have the fabric hook things (does that make sense??) at the top, we need to have nice rods for both. We saw a double rod set at Pottery Barn, and figured, well, this must be a pretty standard thing. I'm sire we can pick some nice ones up pretty much anywhere.

So today, we head out to Home Depot to pick up a ton of stuff. (Our list just keeps growing!) You know, vacuum cleaner, weather stripping, socket covers, door locks, and double rod curtain rods.

Well, it turns out Home Depot (at least the one at Gerrard Square) is not the place to buy curtain rods if you are looking for any sort of selection. So we give up on that idea. We decide that, since we know that Pottery Barn has what we need, I might as well just pop over to the Eaton Center and pick them up. No problem.

Except, when we looked the other day, we didn't bother to look at the price. It turns out these fancy double "Pottery Barn Standard" curtain rods cost $200 a piece. $200. For curtain rods. Before tax. I'm not kidding! So for living room and dining room curtain rods, we'd be spending more than we've budgeted for a BBQ. I am NOT spending my BBQ budget on curtains rods, thank you very much, no matter how trendy they are!

So it seems like my trip down town has been a complete waste, and I'm still destined to have passers by looking in at my living room. At the last minute, on the way to the subway, I pop into the Bay. There they are, beautiful double rod curtain rods, for $54.99. Thank you Umbra.

It just goes to show: Just Say No! to Pottery Barn

Our Sofa

2006-02-19T21:07:00.000-05:00

I've found our Sofa Well, actually, that's a picture of the Loveseat. I can't find the sofa. Anway, I saw it at Sears and I think that might be it! It said "choose from over 1500 fabrics" so I'm hoping we'll find some exciting red or purple that will really spice up the living room

I guess I should chime in

2006-02-16T09:39:00.000-05:00

I've tried to dedicate a little time out each evening to unpacking without going overboard. I'm starting to feel like this will be a never-ending task. As CB pointed out, however, we only moved in on Saturday. I begin to suspect I may be obsessive/compulsive.

So far we've tackled the kitchen, the dining room, the living room, the master bedroom, and the office. These are all liveable, but there is no art, no curtains, no knick-knacks and still a few strategically hidden boxes. It feels little bare.

I have no clue how we fit all of this stuff into a two bedroom apartment. As near as I can tell, we have filled a three bedroom house and almost filled the largely unused basement. I realize it's just 'cause things aren't organized, but it still feels bizarre.

No Frills

2006-02-16T08:54:00.000-05:00

The thing I hate about No Frills...well, there are No Frills!
No Deli, No Butcher, no 8 items or less line!

I really miss our Dominion.

2006-02-14T22:32:00.000-05:00

we really need to hang curtains...I'm feeling a bit...exposed

First day of work

2006-02-14T22:11:00.000-05:00

Today is the first day I go to work from my new home. My route today: Walk to Chester Station (20 minutes), subway to Broadview (3 minutes), Bus to work, 18 minutes. Total travel time: 41 minutes.

Coming home it was the 25 Pape to Pape station and the 72 pape to (almost) my front door. Door to Door: 29 minutes.

I like the thought of walking daily, but, man that extra 10 minutes sure sounds nice!

A nice big kitchen

2006-02-13T22:15:00.000-05:00

I had today off work and had planned on doing so much:
-Unpack, clean and organize the remainder of the kitchen
-Clean the bathroom
-Scrub down the upstairs and downstairs hallway
-Hang mops and brooms in the pantry
-Clean the laundry room
-Wash and hang curtains in the bedroom and living room
-Trip to Home Depot for all the odds and ends

What I actually did
-Unpack, clean and organize the remainder of the kitchen
-Quick trip to Zellers and Home Depot.
...

I actually thought I was doing really well on the kitchen. I had the whole thing sparking and organized by 12:00. Except that the battery on my clock had run out and it was really 2:00. Since I had to go to Karate at 5:30, that barely left me enough time for a home depot trip and to make myself dinner!

Oh well. It is nice to have a big kitchen you can move around in. It turns out we do have a lot more cupboard space than our old place, which is nice. I don't have to stack everything on top of each other, which is such a pain when actually want to use something. Just have to get the pantry organized now. That calls for another trip to home depot with G to buy shelves! Oooh can't wait! (how domestic!)

Laundry

2006-02-13T13:42:00.000-05:00

We figured out today that our special energy efficient washer/dryer combo takes about 3.5 hours to do a load of wash and dry. Wow. We also don't have an owners manual for this one. So we looked it up on the web. We thought maybe we weren't using it right, but it really does take that long!

We do about 6 loads of laundry a week, at 3.5 hours each that's 21 hours!
Well, at least you don't have to wait to change it over to the dryer. Anyway, we may have to work in a new washer and dryer into the budget...I'd really like to know exactly how much energy this one saves.

Didn't this whole moving thing start over laundry anyway????

Moving Day

2006-02-11T22:09:00.000-05:00

G and L have spent the past 2 days speed paining (is that an Olympic sport?) after all the electrical and plaster work, pretty much every wall in the house needed to be repainted.

Still to go Saturday morning: Hallways (the colour we had turned out to be NO GOOD), Master Bedroom (we hadn't planned on painting this one but it turns out to have needed it), one coat in guest bedroom and touch ups in the office.

We got up at 6:45 and over to the house by 7:45. C runs to the paint store to get bedroom paint and new hardware. L start touching up the office and putting the last coat on the guest bedroom.

9:30 - L starts first coat on the master bedroom, C starts washing up the main floor in prep for the movers10:30 - movers arrive - L and C are madly washing up the floors and baseboards – trying not to get in the way of those guys carrying big heavy pieces of furniture

11:00 - L and G start the second coat in the bedroom.-Turns out the couch won't go up the stairs. The couch almost gets sent to Good Will until we finally figure out the geometry to get it into the living room (darn!).The couch, shelf and chair together completely overwhelm the living room, so we decide to put the big shelf upstairs. The living room still doesn’t look great, but at least it’s livable. I can't wait to get a new couch!

12:30 - the movers move the last of the master bedroom furniture into the living room (careful not to touch the wet paint on the walls!) and pack up.
I spend the rest of the afternoon unpacking while G runs around the city getting L to the ballet school for the kids, bringing E and L back to help for a few more hours.
L unpacks the kitchen while Es helps me in the bedroom. Boy, G's dresser has never been so organized. The girl certainly has an eye ...

Finally at about 5:30 we call it quits. We invite D^2 over for some post moving beverages and takeout. The cat lady shows up with our lovely Ash Cat (we haven't seen our baby for almost 2 months!). Suddenly we realize we can’t find the litter box! So C runs around the neighborhood looking for a pet store open past 6pm! NO litter box, but I found litter at the grocery store. We have to improvise with an old Tupperware container.

Ash Cat seems to like the new digs, although the stairs seem more of a challenge than we had hoped. Within about 2 minutes, she has figured out where the forced air vents are and is curled up in front of one in the living room.

D^2 show up with some beer (and a very hard to get bottle of scotch!! Thank you!) and we hang around, admiring the fabulous paint and trying to believe the furniture doesn't look quite so bad with it.

D1 and I head out for Vietnamese take out (we've heard on good authority that Mimi's is fabulous) while the guys relax with another beer.

Excellent food, good conversation, a great way to start living in our new home, dreaming about back yard bbq's and dinner parties.

We finally head to bed, exhausted at 10:30. Our first *real* night living in our new home.

The Offer

2005-11-14T22:21:00.000-05:00

[tbw]

The Find

2005-11-13T21:47:00.000-05:00

We found the place on MLS.ca. It wasn't part of our daily email hits because it was slightly out of our price range. However, right area, right look, no work needed, might as well give it a try.

** Lovely Riverdale Home W/Lots Of Charm, Wood Trim, Plat Raail, Hrdwd & Pine Floors,Skylight, Updated Kit & Main Flr Laundry! Bsmt Apartment W/Sep Ent! New Slope Roof 4 Yrs! New Furnace 3 Yrs! Most Windows Replaced! You'll Love It!
**2 Fridges, 2 Stoves, B/I Dishwasher, Main Flr Washer/Dryer Combo, All Electric Light Fixtures, Gas Furnace, Broadloom Where Laid, Hwt(R)...Also Seller Spent $10K On Waterproofing (With Transferable Warranty!)
**Showings Start Nov 10/Offers Gratefully Accepted Nov 14! Certified Deposit Please! 1992 Survey! No Retrofit Warranty For Bsmt Apt! (Please Note -100 Amp Service But Still some Knob/Tube Wiring)

Open house visit Saturday. Lots of people. We walked it, I fell in love.

Requirements:
Hardwood floors - check
Front porch - check
Back yard - check
Eat in kitchen - check
Close to subway - check
Three bedrooms -

Nice to haves:
Master bedroom that can fit a king
Renovated basement apartment
Close to groceries

Added bonus:
Skylight
landscaped garden
Plate rail
Garage with parking (for friends and resale!)

Follow this visit with a few "needs some TLC" places (as in tear down all the wall, rewire the place, replace the floors, reno the kitchen and bathroom...) and we knew we were ready to make an offer...

Sunday Morning. Visit with realtor. "uh huh, ya, ok" "I gotta tell ya, I can't really see much wrong with this place, I really tried "

Sunday Afternoon. Second open house with the sister (in law). Lots more people and lots of the same people from the day before "Hmmm, ya, what about..." "Ok, it's pretty good..."

Getting nervous, there is lots of interest, offers being held back 'till Monday...what if we don't get it? This is it....

In The Beginning

2005-11-10T21:42:00.000-05:00

So we bought a house. We did it. Even though we said we never would (thanks Lucy for the reminder!), we took the plunge into everlasting...debt? (lets hope not).

I've decided to start this blog because everyone is so interested in what's going on with the new house. I'd also like to keep a bit of a record for myself.

So here it is, lets see how it goes...