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Thursday, December 28, 2006
Merry Christmas
Things have been a little quite in the Chronicle office lately as we have been out of town over the Christmas weekend and we are still away. I am writing this post from Dianne's sister Joan's place as we are here in Regina visiting and helping to care for Dianne's mom who has been in failing health recently. We arrived in Regina last Thursday after finding out that Mom had been admitted to the palliative care ward at the hospital and was not doing too well. She has been fighting cancer for some time. So we have been here for the Christmas weekend with most of Dianne's family and all of ours except Nicole. Mom seems to be doing a lot better now that her medication has been balanced out and she is pain free. On Christmas day she was able to leave the hospital for the afternoon and join her family in Sedley for Christmas dinner, which she thoroughly enjoyed. Today they are moving her to a palliative care hospice where she will be more comfortable. So, needless to say, our Christmas has been a little different this year , in fact, we have yet to have our family gift opening as we left in such a hurry last week that the gifts are still sitting in a pile at home unwrapped. We will probably have a get together on New Years day if we are home, although it is hard to make plans as we are going from day to day and seeing how things progress. Once home I will post the 2006 Hilton Chronicle Christmas edition for those who did not receive a hard copy in a Christmas card. Nonetheless, a hearty Merry Christmas goes out to all from the Edmonton Hilton Clan and our wishes for a blessed and fruitful 2007. Friday, December 08, 2006
"Oh, What A Tangled Web We Weave..."
Now that Blogger is owned by Google there are more hoops to jump through to create posts on the blog. I had to transfer my account to my Gmail account and now have a longer and harder to remember login sequence. I'm wondering if there is any benefit to this other than the fact that Google can now plaster my website with Google ads. I haven't seen any so far but if I do I will be mightily ticked off. Blogger used to be such a nice easy thing to do. Trust Google to mess that up. If you are looking for something to do to while away the hours between careers the best thing I have found is installing Christmas tree lights. Now, putting the lights on the tree is no problem, takes maybe half an hour at the most. No, the ultimate in enjoyment is when you take your two strands of twinkly little lights out of the box and unravel the rat's nest mess they are in, stretch them out on the floor and plug them in. Why plug them in, you ask. Well you have to see if they are all working. And that's where the danger lies because invariably all the lights will come on except that one little section in the middle of the strand. So now, the next hour and a half will be spent crouched down on your knees until blood flow to your legs stops entirely, testing each and every bulb in that section in a socket that you know works. And when they all check out OK you go through them all again because the section still will not light. You finally find the one bulb that has one of the leads torn off so that it won't work and after futilely looking around you find that you have no spares, which means a trip to Crappy Tire for a 5 cent bulb which you can only buy in a pack of 100's which will invariably be lost by the time you go through this whole episode again next Christmas. I actually found some spare bulbs yesterday as I was going through all this but they were not clear ones like the rest on the string so I replaced the duds with red ones, brilliantly concluding that I could still install them on the tree and the next time I'm at Crappy Tire, I can pick up the spares and I can tell exactly where they belong in that mess of twinkly lights on the tree. My bet is those red bulbs will still be in that rat's nest when I pull it out of the box for Christmas 2007. Now I must go and finishing polishing up the 2006 Christmas edition of the Chronicle so that I can get the Christmas cards out in time for Christmas. Sunday, December 03, 2006
Christmas Rolls Around The Corner
Well, another busy week has just whizzed by. We've had a bit more cold weather, a lot of snow and we have elected a new premiere. I spent the week finishing off a few video projects I had on the go and some other things as well. We had a couple of parties, one for our friend Renee who is celebrating her 49th year and who graciously gave up the celebration last week so that we could have Dianne's surprise party instead. So this Thursday we took her and a couple of other friends out for a yummy meal at the Keg. Then last night we had a little Christmas gathering of all the string players in the church orchestra, of which Dianne is one. It was a pot luck and there was some delicious dishes and desserts to be had there. Also yesterday we went to see a play that Sandi directed and is being marked on as one of her final marks for this semester. It went very well and got lots of applause. Tonight is a special Christmas banquet at the church for our Alpha group and I get to play a few Christmas tunes on the sax for entertainment. I think this coming week I am going to try and buckle down and start getting into some serious job hunting. I have an appointment on Tuesday with a career councilor to get a little direction and plan some strategies and hopefully get a few leads. Then it's off to scour the job boards and hopefully set up some interviews for the next few weeks. My goal is to have a job by January 1st so that I can have a nice leisurely Christmas off for a change, but if need be I can be available to start work immediately. It's nice not to have any pressure on to get working sooner. We are thinking we will head to Saskatchewan for Christmas or some time after as Dianne would like to see her mom & dad and we will both have the time off. As was mentioned we have a new premiere in Alberta as we say good bye to King Ralph and say hello to "Honest Ed" Stelmach in a bit of an upset vote. Front runner Jim Dinning got ousted when Ted Morton supporters, using their second choice after Morton was dropped from the ballot, eased Stelmach in to win the Torie leadership. Now the fun begins as we get to know the "new guy". As December descends on us it's time to put the Christmas rush machine into high gear. Time to get out and do the Christmas shopping, mail out the Christmas cards with this year's edition of the "Chronicle" (yet to be written), get the tree up and decorated and attend all the Christmas parties and functions that usually come with the season. All that and look for a job too! Monday, November 27, 2006
Happy Birthday "Diannomite!"
It's been a little over a week now since we were set free from our jobs and what a week it has been. I have been so busy that I have not had much time to even post anything on this page. However, I have slowed it down a bit and I am finally getting an update done. Last Friday we held a very special party for our very own Dianne. It was a surprise party to celebrate her 50th birthday which comes up next month. Much of my time over the last couple of weeks has been spent preparing for this party. I spent my last week at work working a midnight shift and seeing as how things had kind of wound down by that point, I had a lot of time on my hands at work. So I loaded up my new laptop with my editor and a bunch of pictures and video footage of Dianne and put together a little tribute video for her party. It was a spoof of the Mission Impossible shows/movies and included a little DVD based game in which people had to guess the right answers to questions about Dianne in order to free her from the clutches of old age. It turned out quite well and was a fitting end to my career in the broadcasting industry. Last week, as I enjoyed my first week of freedom from work, I put together all the sets and props for the game and finished organizing and setting up the party. Between all this was constant shoveling of the snow which was constantly falling. There were several other things happening during the week which made the time pass by quite rapidly to the point that I was still putting the finishing touches on the party preparations the minute Dianne left for work on Friday morning. The party was on Friday evening and was held at our friends John and Jeanette Fraietta's. The ruse was that we were all going out to celebrate our other friend Renee's birthday with a meal at the Keg. But Jeanette, Renee and I had gathered a few of our friends together and when Dianne and I arrived at Jeanette's they were all hiding silently in the living room, which had been decorated with an "explosive" theme in light of Dianne's nickname "Diannomite". Here is a little video clip of the highlights of the party. We all had a great time and the video was a big hit. Here is the tribute part without the game which was all based on DVD menuing. The party went for quite some time and with all the cleaning up and everything we didn't get home until 2:00am. Stay tuned for a little picture album I am compiling of the event. On Saturday morning we had to be up bright and early to face the frigid weather and head out to Leduc to help Angela and Lee move. They have bought a cute little condominium on the 10th floor of a building on Saskatchewan Drive, right on the riverbank overlooking the downtown area. It's quite a spectacular view and should be a very lovely place for them for a while. It's only a small one bedroom place and the plan is to fix it up and possibly rent it out at a future date. Then on Saturday evening Dianne and I went to a beautiful little restaurant for her office's annual Christmas party. The meal was incredible, all five courses and it was fun to fellowship with the other staff members in such a cozy, informal atmosphere. It was another busy day yesterday as Dianne and I were both playing in the orchestra in church and so had to be there early for rehearsal. Then after church we went out for lunch at Swiss Chalet before heading home to grab a little nap after shoveling the driveway, again. Then it was back to church for a special night of music topped of with a trip to Tim Horton's for coffee with friends. So it was a pretty busy week with an equally busy weekend. This week I am taking it a little easier. There is still snow coming down and so that will keep me busy, but I am going to start doing a little research into the job market and try to get an idea of where to start looking for my next career move. At some point in there I will be going to get my teeth cleaned so that is something to look forward to. Now we are fast approaching the end of November with Christmas looming up behind it. Time to start getting ready for that, and I guess I will have to start working on the Christmas 2006 edition of the Chronicle. That should prove to be interesting and could end up being a three pager this year what with all the exciting adventures we have had. In the meantime, I'll try and keep the driveway clean and hope for a couple of days of milder weather so I can get the Christmas lights up. And at some point I'll have to haul the Christmas tree down from the rafters in the garage. Maybe I'll wait till January to look for work. Friday, November 17, 2006
Movie Central Is History
Today was my last official day working for Corus Entertainment and Movie Central. I was supposed to work from midnight to 8:00am this morning (Friday) but I had a message on the machine yesterday when I got up telling me that they had decided to pull the plug at 5:00pm on Thursday so my services were not required for the last remaining night. Hallelujah! So today I got up and went to a job fair and then met everyone from work at Boston Pizza for lunch and to say goodbye. We are planning an official goodbye party in January but this was just an informal thing thrown together at the last minute. Then Dianne and I went to the station for one last look around at all the equipment tuned off and dark and one last walk through of the old place before bidding farewell the the bosses and the old place. It was a fitting closure. I took a few pictures which I will post once I get them transferred to the computer. Dianne got some shots of me turning off the last remaining equipment that was running. I was using the new Canon SLR and have not yet set up the software for it on the PC. So for now it's time to take a little break before regrouping and heading out into the wild world of job seeking. Monday, November 13, 2006
The End Of The Tunnel
Another grey day here in Edmonton. When I got up this afternoon there was about an inch of snow on the ground and it was still coming down. We haven't seen the sun for some time. Very depressing. On a lighter note, however, we have been given our official date of release from Corus Ent. It was announced last Friday that this coming Friday, Nov. 17th, would be the last day of service for union employees. And wouldn't you know it, in a cruel twist of irony I am working the dreaded midnight shift right up until that day. I am off at 8:00 am Friday morning after working seven nights with little to do. A couple of us having bringing our laptops in to work to watch DVD's and do other projects. We will probably have a little celebration around 4:00 in the afternoon on the 17th but I'm sure many will be celebrating long before that. I'm going to take the cameras in to get some shots to post. Our regular salaries continue until January 10th so it gives us almost a two month paid holiday, and then the severance kicks in. I will hopefully be working by then. There is a big job fair going on this weekend that I would like to try and get to and I'm planning to do some researching with Alberta Human Resources and Employment, probably next week. So now that we have a final date, it's starting to get a bit emotional, knowing that the end is in sight and we will be saying goodbye to our fellow workers and our plant forever. There's a bit of a farewell/Christmas party plan in the works so it will be good to have one last drink with everyone before saying our final farewells. Wednesday, November 08, 2006
To Vista Or Not To Vista
I had to spend an hour or so outside this morning shoveling a particularly stubborn fall of snow that we got last night. The flakes were big and fluffy as they came down about 1:30 this morning and I thought no problem, that'll be pretty easy to shovel. But warm temperatures this morning caused the snow to get slushy and a little crusty so it wasn't quite as easy as I thought. I see that Microsoft has finally released Vista, it's new operating system to replace Windows XP, with Vista loaded machines scheduled to hit the shelves in late January. However, from all that I am hearing from the tech pundits, Vista may not be all it's cracked up to be. Plus it comes with a pretty restrictive licensing agreement that really puts a crimp on anybody with more than one machine. I guess I am eligible for a free upgrade to Vista for the laptop as I purchased it after the end of October, but I'm not sure I'm going to rush out and pick up my copy when it finally comes out. The thing you have to ask is how long are they going to support XP after this? If Vista ends up being the security-hole riddled mess they suspect it will be and support for XP drops off next year, I may just have to give Linux a try. I am actually going to try and build a Linux server for storing my media files on so it probably wouldn't be too much of a stretch to go all Linux. Monday, November 06, 2006
Laptop Goodies
I'm still getting used to the keyboard and touch pad on this laptop. I find that the touch pad is very sensitive and that the slightest tap has all sorts of menus and windows opening up if you are not careful. The keyboard is nice but I think the keys are a little smaller and I find myself hitting more than one at a time quite often. There are also some keys in different places than a conventional keyboard so I find myself occasionally hunting around for something I do as a matter of course on the desktop. Nonetheless, I am quite pleased with this machine and once I have gotten used to it and have cleaned of the rest of the useless junk that comes installed on it, I look forward to doing some useful things with this new toy. Saturday, November 04, 2006
Christmas Comes Early
Well the snow that we were gifted with a few days ago is still hanging around so I believe that winter has officially started as |I don't think this is going to melt. Anyway, I hung the bikes up in the garage today to solidify the fact that we are indeed now under winter's grip. I had some fun this week as I used part of my company retraining allowance to buy a new laptop computer, a Toshiba Satellite A100-TA6 and a digital slr camera, a Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT. I am using the laptop to post this message and it is very nice although we have yet to come up with a good reason for having it, but give me a minute while I think of one. The camera is super deluxe and comes with a very steep learning curve but it is sure nice to be able to get back to photography the way it is supposed to be. A lot of the old photographic principles are coming back to me and although you can set to to fully automatic and point and shoot, there are a myriad of settings you can adjust to get the most professional looking effects you want. The thing that really amazes me is that this camera cost about as much as my HP 850 three years ago but is 10 times the camera. So I have a bit of studying to do. The only problem I have now, as every kid on Christmas morning, is which toy to play with first. Tuesday, October 31, 2006
The Iceman Cometh
It seems winter has hit hard here in the frozen north, and quite a bit sooner than expected. Is this a portense of the winter to come? We hope not. However, the roads turned immediately icy which initiated the annual "Idiot Drivers on Ice" show. Things are going along well at work and the various networks are being transferred over sort of on schedule. We have another service terminating today and Thursday is the last day for our french Teletoon feed. That will only leave two networks remaining and they are scheduled to go dark around the 15th of the month. I am scheduled to do a midnight shift starting the 11th and I'm praying that I am released before that day. I thought I had done with the midnights, thinking that the next one was at the end of November but on checking I realized that it was only a couple of weeks away, so I hope I can get out of them. I'm trying to get a few projects out of the way so that I can get down to the job search business once I am released at work. Things are going well with the rest of the family. Sandy is busy preparing her application for her trip to Japan to teach English next year. Lee and Angela have bought themselves a condo in Edmonton right on the riverbank overlooking downtown. They are quite excited about it and looking forward to not having the long drive in from Leduc every day. They move in at the end of November. Sunday, October 15, 2006
Where's Our Indian Summer?
A little bit of rainy weather has put a damper on any outside activities this weekend although we did manage to get out for a nice bike ride yesterday before it started raining. It was a bit chilly so we bundled up but found we were starting to get a little sweaty after warming up and had to start peeling layers. Tonight we had the kids over for a nice ham dinner which was our official thanksgiving dinner with all here. Things are beginning to start transitioning at work as our different channels are being slowly transferred to the broadcast center in Toronto. As each channel gets transferred it is shut down here and the equipment will be packed up and shipped east. Our goal now is to transition everything as quickly as possible as the sooner everything is shut down here, people can be released. I'm hoping I will be done there within the next two or three weeks although it could drag out to the middle or end of November. So it is our best interest to accomodate our counterparts in the east by helping them get going as quickly as possible. I am still in the process of brainstorming ideas of where to start aiming in terms of job searching. It's a growing process, but already I have a few ideas and have the seeds of an idea for setting up a small business that will exploit my various talents. Wednesday, October 11, 2006
The Autumn Leaves
I guess it's time I updated the blog a bit. It's been a couple of weeks of just working and doing the odd project at home. Nothing much spectacular. Dianne has spent much of this week at home with her mom and dad in Sedley as her mom has been somewhat under the weather. So it's been fairly quiet at home as I have been working and Sandy has been at school. Angela, Chris and Lee came over on Saturday night and cooked supper for us, barbecued steak with some yummy hash brown potatoes and delicious pumpkin pie for dessert. Then I was invited out to friends for turkey on Sunday after work, so I have been eating pretty good. The weather has not been quite up to my satisfaction recently as I have wanted to bike down to the river valley to check out the fall colors. It was about 8 degrees when I got home today and I went for a short ride but found it very chilly. I hope we get a few days of nicer weather before I have to hang up the bike for the season and resort to the stationary in the basement. I haven't done much in the way of job hunting yet as I am working on a strategy for how I want to do it. We are not even close to being dismissed yet but the hope is that most of us will be gone by the end of November. It is comforting to know that I have a fair bit of time to find work and that I don't really have to panic. Monday, September 25, 2006
Busy Weekend
After a fairly nice weekend with some sun, we are now back to dreary rainy weather. I was going to barbecue tonight but it's pouring rain so I'll not. I did manage to get out and cut the grass on Saturday as it was very nice with sunny skies and warm temperatures and a couple of trips were made out on the bike although it hardly made up for the dismal showing of the past two weeks. With it getting dark so early now it's hard to get out after supper by the time everything is cleaned up and the miserable weather has been nothing but a deterrent. Oh well, I will just have to start doing my K's on the stationary in the basement, much to my dread. I'm hoping we will get a nice October so that we can at least get down to the river valley while the trees are still in their autumn colors, always a pretty sight. We had a seminar on writing resumes last week which forced me to get mine out, dust it off and then completely rewrite it. It was a tough job as everything on my resume is centered towards broadcasting, and seeing how I am not going to continue in this field it was hard to write the resume with a generic slant. Anyway, I got it done and it was submitted to the company who gave the seminar and they just sent me a draft copy of it today with a few changes that they recommend. There was actually not a lot of changes so I must have done something right. I will be sitting down with someone for one-on-one counseling in the next few weeks so I will go over it with them to see what can be improved. On Friday night some idiots drove down our street egging all the parked cars including my truck and Chris' Acura which are both parked out front. The egg was easy enough to clean up except that one of them hit the side view mirror on the truck and partially smashed the mirror. A quick check with the Nissan dealership revealed that a new replacement mirror would be $177. No thanks. I taped the old one up as best I could and put it back on the truck for now. Today I was at the wreckers and managed to find one on an old King Cab for $20. That was a bit of luck. Well, tonight I can look forward to starting another famous midnight shift. With any luck this will be my second to last midnight shift EVER! I will have one more towards the end of October unless things go well with the transition and I am not required any more. We are all hoping to be finished work by the middle of December and have Christmas off while our paychecks will continue to roll in till January 10th. Let's hope that works out. I was hoping to get Christmas off at some point in my life but I wasn't expecting to lose my job to get it. Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Now The Fun Begins
Had a good visit to Saskatchewan over the weekend, albeit somewhat short. We drove down Thursday after work, stayed over night in Saskatoon and headed to Sedley on Friday morning. We came back Sunday night, again staying the night in Saskatoon for an easier trip home Monday and so that we would be home in time for me to get to work by 4:00. We ran into some nasty weather going down with fairly heavy rain all the way. The weekend remained cool and miserable and didn't improve too much for the return drive. Nonetheless, we had a good visit with Dianne's Mom & Dad and some of the siblings before we had to return home. This afternoon, after work, I headed downtown to attend a job fair and got some information from a few of the companies hiring. There was nothing real inspiring but it did give me an idea of what the possible job market was like. It's still a bit early to be making any decisions on anything. Tomorrow I am attending a seminar on resume writing at work, part of Corus' attempt to ease us into other jobs as painlessly as possible. I printed my resume out tonight to take with me and I'm sure I will have to do a major overhaul on it as it seems to be quite broadcast-centric. I'm hoping to get out of broadcasting all together so I will have to do a bit of creative reorganizing of the information and so I am looking forward to the seminar and any help I can get to that end. Another thing I am looking forward to is a seminar on job hunting along with some one on one counseling, again provided by the company. I feel that I need all the help I can get and will gladly sign up for any courses or seminars the company is willing to provide. Wednesday, September 13, 2006
End Of An Era And A Career
We had a bit of a shock yesterday as it was announced that Corus Entertainment is closing down the Movie Central operation in Edmonton. In a special meeting yesterday morning, staff were informed that the operation was being consolidated into their Toronto facility. As of January 10, Chris and I and some 80 of our co-workers are out of a job. The official story from Corus as outlined in this news item is pretty much a bunch of bureaucratic doublespeak. The real reason comes from the fact that Corus wants and always has wanted all it's eggs in the same basket even though the Edmonton plant has been on the leading edge of technology and has been one of the main money makers for the company. Nonetheless, cutbacks and scrimping on expenses has continually eroded morale in the plant and now here is the final straw. Anything that can be done in Toronto could have easily been done here, and cheaper. The 83 employees in Edmonton are very bitter and feel very betrayed. We have all received a fairly good severance package but it is only the bare minimum stipulated by the contract between Corus and the CEP union of which we are a bargaining unit, nothing extra from the company. So, for some this has been a black week, but for others, myself included, it is becoming an opportunity to start fresh and find a job that will be more rewarding and hopefully will not involve shift work. I am in no hurry to rush out and start looking. I want to take a little time to really assess were I want to go and what I want to do. It could very well be an answer to prayer. Stay tuned as the adventure continues. Thursday, September 07, 2006
Wedding Pictures Are Up
As you can see I have posted a page for Nikki & Chris' wedding. There are some not so great quality shots of them getting married. We are waiting for the pro photographer's CD for some better ones. These were scanned from some prints friends of ours took as I shockingly discovered that I had not taken any pictures at the wedding as I was busy scurrying around doing one thing or another. Our last two wayward suitcases made it home today so Lee can now have his life back. Wednesday, September 06, 2006
Luggage Woes
Well, 6 of our 8 missing bags showed up last night. Unfortunately one of the ones still missing is Lee's so he is still without his toiletries and such. However, we are hopeful that they will be here today. We flew on DELTA and Lee thinks that means "Don't Expect Luggage To Arrive". I am just in the process of finishing up the trip report and I just have a few pictures to scan and I will post it. I've also been transferring video to the hard drive and hope to edit a little video together with highlights of the trip. Stay tuned. Tuesday, September 05, 2006
And We're Back
After an exhaustive week in northern Florida we are back home again after seeing another daughter successfully married. I will be writing up a full report later today which I will post along with some pictures. For now I will just say that everything went well in Crestview. The kids had a great wedding ceremony and a beautiful reception. Both looked very handsome and we got lots of comments about them and the impact of our family on the community. There was a few days of very hectic work getting ready for the event and I spent a lot of time driving back and forth down the main street of Crestview picking people up, doing errands and general carting while the girls looked after decorating the church and the hall and other duties. There was some time to relax, though. The guys went out for a day of deep sea fishing while the girls had a wedding shower for Nikki and spent some time on the beach. We had a super rehearsal party on Friday night, put on by the fabulous couple that also hosted our whole family in their home for the week. The flight down was uneventful and there was never any evidence of a hurricane whatsoever. It became a non issue, thankfully. The flight home was equally uneventful, but somewhat greueling with stopovers in three cities. And when we arrived home last night we discovered that every piece of luggage in our group was missing so we are waiting for them to track that down and get our bags to us, hopefully today. But it's good to be home and nice that we do not have to do any more long distance planning. All we have to do now is try and scrape together the cash to pay the bills that are going to start rolling in. Monday, August 28, 2006
Bags Are Packed
The bags are packed and are cluttering up the living room. Each person has two checked bags plus carryon. I can't believe we are hauling so much stuff. Hopefully we will be a little lighter coming back. We are continuing to track Ernesto which is now being forecast to veer up the eastern coast of Florida, missing the Crestview area. My only concern right now is that we can get in and out of our connection in Orlando before the storm hits. It's only a 23 minute flight from Orlando to Pensacola and would be ridiculous if we were delayed at that point. I can't believe they routed us that way as Orlando is south of Pensacola and means we will have to backtrack. Everybody in Florida is ready for us and excited to have us coming. We are staying with friends of Chris and they are planning all sorts of showers and dinners for the wedding. We will still probably do a bunch of running around, but that's to be expected. At least we won't be having to shelter from the storm...hopefully. Sunday, August 27, 2006
Getting Nervous
Just a couple of days to go now before we are winging our way southward. We are in the midst of packing, or at least I should say Dianne is in the midst of packing as I am sleeping most of the day as I complete my midnight shift. There is some stuff of Nicole's for us to take but not as much as was expected so perhaps we will not need quite as many suitcases. We shall see. We are getting a bit nervous, however, about tropical storm Ernesto which seems to be heading towards the Gulf coast. Needless to say we will be monitoring that situation closely especially later next week when it is expected to come ashore. But it looks like our plans to go deep sea fishing are all washed up. Preparations for the wedding are pretty much done except for a few last minute details which may or may not be ironed out once we get to Florida. There seems to be so many little things that have to be considered and agonized over, but essentially by this time next week it will be all over. Nonetheless, whatever happens will happen and we'll just have to go with the flow. Lee and Angela are proud of a new member of their household. They have just bought a 1999 Volkswagen Jetta in immaculate condition and are looking forward to enjoying their new wheels. Lee is selling his Chevy truck and keeping the Toyota truck but will probably drive their Honda most of the time. Always seems to be lots of vehicles in that family. Saturday, August 19, 2006
In The Can
I have spent the last week getting the wedding video completed and "in the can", which is why I have been a bit lax on the posts. I am happy to have the project over as I now have to go on midnights for the seven days before we leave and didn't relish having to put in long hours editing while trying to maintain consciousness. Now that mid-August is here, the weather is markedly cooler and the evenings chill right out. We finally managed to have a fire in the remodeled firepit last week and when the flames died down it got downright nippy. We leave for Florida in just over a week and we are starting to think about packing. I guess everyone will be hauling two suitcases down to take stuff for Nicole but I certainly can't think of what she needs that will require so much room. However, I'm sure the girls will manage to fill every one of them.  I took a shot of this little guy who was running around on the fence and sitting in the yard while we ate breakfast outside this morning. He sat still long enough for me to sneak up real close and get a few shots of him. We also believe we have a family of Peregrin falcons living in our fir tree. We're not sure they're Peregrins but they are a hawk like bird nonetheless. They have been flying around in a pack making quite a racket and one of them flew into our bedroom window. He was unhurt but a little shaken up. Monday, August 07, 2006
Wedding Pictures
I have posted some pictures of the wedding over to the left. There's not many as I was busy shooting video for the wedding and Dianne was in charge of the stills. I was back at work today after our holiday and found it very restful. I went on the bike and as usually it was as refreshing as ever. This evening Dianne and I went to visit our neighbour who was in the hospital after suffering a stroke about a week ago. Sunday, August 06, 2006
A Busy Weekend
Just had a rather busy few days with all the activity surrounding Devon & Catherine's wedding. With relatives coming to stay on Wednesday we had to spend some time cleaning up the house and yard. Then on Thursday there was lots of visiting and running around doing last minute things. Friday turned a little ugly weatherwise and we had a some rain and cold temperatures which forced the rehearsal party that we were hosting in doors. At one point there must have been at least 25 people in the house enjoying barbecued chicken, deer sausage and smokies. But a great time was had by all, despite the weather, to the point that the wedding party was almost late getting to the rehearsal. Saturday dawned sunny and warm, a perfect day for the wedding. Devon and Catherine's was the middle ceremony of three being held at St. Theresa's that day, so as we rolled up the first wedding party was leaving and as we left the third bride had shown up in her limo. The wedding went off great after a slight delay by the bride not arriving on time. Nothing serious though and things proceeded smoothly from there. Later in the afternoon we arrived at the hotel for the reception which went on till after we left at 12:30 am. It was good to see all the relatives and catch up with their news as well as meet some new people from Catherine's side of the family. I will have a web album up shortly as soon as I get a chance to put it together. So the weekend is over, at least for me as I have to work tomorrow (holiday Monday) and of course the vacation is over too, although the second week did not seem as much of a holiday as the first. But it's back to work now, and on to the next project, which is Nikki's wedding, now less than a month away! I have to get cracking and finish the video which at this point is only about half done. But it's the harder half and with a couple of days off this week and an evening shift next week I am sure I will have it completed on time. I took Lee, Angela & Chris to Costco this afternoon to get passport pictures taken and the plan is to go down to the passport office on Thursday and get them handed in so that they can be processed in plenty of time before we leave. I realize that it is not yet necessary to have passports to get into the states until January, but we all feel it is better to cover all the bases, considering how finicky we have heard the customs people can be. After all the visiting and wedding excitement of the last couple of days, I decided to take a little alone time this evening and went for a 31km bike ride into the river valley. It was so beautiful. The wind was calm and the sun was still warm making it a very pleasant ride. At least the going part. The coming back was a little tougher as it appears to be all downhill from Millwoods to the river valley, so I had to do a little climbing to get back. Plus, the fact that my legs were getting a little sore also added to the challenge. Thursday, August 03, 2006
It's An Apple World
What started out as a simple clean up ended up being an all day landscape project yesterday. I went out initially to trim the weeds from around the firepit and between the patio blocks and one thing led to another. By the time I was through I had redone the firepit using some left over paving stones and rocks. It looks quite a bit cleaner now, but it means we will have to make the effort to have some fires there to make the effort worthwhile and to justify the sunburn I got doing it. Another sign of the times. This article talks about how new car makers are designing cars to accomodate the iPod making it easy to intergrate the music device with existing car audio systems. You can tell when your product has hit the mainstream when other products are being designed around it. Of course that only helps increase dominance, in this case for Apple, in the marketplace. Monday, July 31, 2006
So Much For The Heatwave
Some cool, rainy weather put the kybosh on any holiday activities this weekend and even some housecleaning projects seemed to fizzle out before they were started. We were supposed to clean out the garage on Saturday, but with one thing and another we didn't get it accomplished. I have been trying to spend a little more time working on the video for Nikki's wedding and it usually ends up consuming more of my time than I'd like. But I got a fair amount done on the weekend thanks to the weather but I think I'd sooner be outside enjoying balmy weather for the last week of our holidays. No doubt I will be spending a few all-nighters trying to get the video completed. With Devon & Catherine's wedding coming up here this weekend we are gearing up for the arrival of the out of town guests from Dianne's side, most of whom will be staying here one or two nights. So tomorrow we are having the carpets cleaned and Dianne has been busy cleaning up the place. With everything going on I'm not sure we are going to be able to take our anticipated bike trip into the valley. That may have to wait for another time that we are both off together. I was just reading about Kyle McDonald, the blogger, who, on his blog one red paperclip, managed to barter his way from a paperclip up to a house and now is about to publish a book about his exploits as well as a movie deal. It's a pretty interesting story but it still makes me think that most people are amused by so little. Obviously the Chronicle does not draw that much attention---Thank goodness. Thursday, July 27, 2006
Great Biking Weather
The weather has a moderated a bit over the last couple of days making it not so unbearable to do anything outdoors. In fact it was so nice yesterday we packed a picnic lunch and headed off on our bikes to Fort Edmonton Park for the day. The ride there was very pleasant, about 16k and at 11:00 in the morning the wind was nice and fresh still. It only took us about an hour and the only really scary bit was heading down into the river valley towards the park as there were no sidewalks or trails and no shoulders on the road, so we were zooming down the road about 45 kph with massive trucks bearing down on us from all sides. But we made it OK and had a very pleasant day walking around the park and visiting with Sandi as she made bread in her wood stove in her "temporary" tent home. We were a bit tired at the end of the day and still had the ride back which proved a little challenging as we had a rather steep climb to get out of the valley and we eventually resorted to dismounting our bikes and huffing it up the hill on foot. We arrived home just as a sprinkle of rain started to fall and spent the rest of the evening relaxing with a couple of movies. I had lugged the video camera down to the park in my backpack but discovered that the battery was dead after the kids had last used it so I couldn't get any pictures or footage of Sandi and the goings on in the park. Today we putzed around the house doing some cleaning and deciding that the downstairs bathroom taps needed replacing and so with company coming next week we rushed of to Home Depot to get some supplies. I have the lovely job of replacing the taps tomorrow morning. In the afternoon I have an appointment for a physical and I was going to bike over until I realized that it would not be very pleasant for the doctor if I showed up all sweaty and stinky, not to mention what that would do to my blood pressure. I might be whisked off to emergency. We are still hoping to get down to the river valley trails while we are still on holidays but I'm not sure when that will be. We will have to go soon as members of Dianne's family will be arriving midweek for our nephew Devon's wedding. Plus we want to clean out the garage and both cars as well as sorting out my shop a bit, so we have lots to keep us busy. Sunday, July 23, 2006
Heat Wave
We've been having real hot summer weather for the past few days with the mercury reaching the high 30's. Makes doing anything outdoors a real chore. And inside the house it's not been much better. Yesterday we broke down and bought some blinds for our living room windows after having them bare for a few years. Hopefully it will cut down a bit of the radiant heat from the windows. And in a classic comedy of errors, we went looking for a portable fan this afternoon only to find everyone sold out...Duh! I finally took the plunge and biked to work for the three days I worked last week and found it very enjoyable. The crisp air at 7:30 am really wakes you up and the workout gets the blood moving. It's about a 10k ride to the office, not real strenuous, but a bit more challenging coming home in the afternoon heat. I look forward to doing it more after the holidays. Dianne are both having a couple of weeks off at the moment and plan to do a little biking in the river valley as well as some other activities. This morning we were awakened about 6:00 with a very close and intense thunder storm that dropped a bit of rain on us and then moved on. Not the most pleasant way of waking up. Thursday, July 13, 2006
Not much going on at the moment, I'm just grinding through the end of a midnight shift. One more night to go! Wahoo! Then I'm off for four, work three days and them I'm off for two weeks for our second summer holiday. I'm hoping to get some long awaited projects done during this time but we are also looking forward to some time together to go biking in the river valley and some all day excursions. The wedding planning is coming along. The invitations are done and will be going out in the next day or two. The bridesmaid dresses have been located and bought and Nikki and Chris are working on arranging the ceremony and reception down in Crestview. We just had a minor rain storm tonight which started while I was out riding and it gave me a little foul weather training, which is good as I am planning to bike to work next week and you never can tell what the weather will do in eight hours. The sky is still pretty dark right now but is starting to turn bright red and there is a tremendous full rainbow across the eastern sky. Saturday, July 08, 2006
Sign Of The Times
This article is another example of how modern technology has influenced our everyday lives including our language. Google is now an official word in the dictionary as a verb "to google". It's like a lot of other brand names like kleenex and zerox that have krept into everyday usage. Now go google that! Monday, July 03, 2006
Happy Canada Day!  We've been enjoying some really great weather here over the last few days, very hot and sunny although it's not that good for the lawn. Can't have everything I guess. Had a nice Canada day weekend although I had to work it but we got down to the local park on Saturday night to watch the fireworks. Sandy came back from Crestview last week and had a great time. She took some video of her visit with Nikki and Chris and I'll try and post a bit of it. I am now using googlepages as a web server which gives me an additional 100 megs of server space on top of what Telus provides so I can get a bit more content up at a time. Things are moving ahead with the wedding plans. We are about to get the invites made up and sent out and Nikki has her dress as I mentioned before. The girls seem to be doing a great job of organizing things and getting needed supplies. Saturday, June 24, 2006
Action Jackson Movie
Action Jackson movie Summer In The City
Yes, the first days of summer are upon us and so far it's been great. We've had a bit of rain recently but this weekend is turning out quite nicely so far with sunny skies and near 30 temps. Good outdoor eating weather. Too bad I have to work all weekend. Sandi made it to Crestview alright and has been helping Nicole look around for wedding related stuff. It looks like they have found a wedding dress and are trying to find shoes and accessories to match. Wednesday, June 21, 2006
The Fun Of Flying
Sandi had a bit of an adventure yesterday as she was heading down to Crestview to visit Nicole. She missed her last connection due to a delay on the tarmac and ended up having to stay the night in Atlanta. The airline put her up for the night but it seemed a bit silly when the flight from Atlanta to Pensacola is less than an hour. Presumabley she made it OK as of noon Wednesday but we will check when we get home. Tuesday, June 20, 2006
More Pictures
I have added a few pictures from our visit with Chris and Nicole in the "Visit to Crestview" link to the left. To make room for them I had to delete the video of Action Jackson from the Legacy Adventure, but once you've seen one limbo dancer you've seen them all. Monday, June 19, 2006
There's No Joy In Mudville  THANK YOU EDMONTON OILERS! WELL DONE!Well it's all over and unfortunately there will be no celebrating in Edmonton tonight. The Oilers made a valient effort but failed to score that extra goal that I said they would to tie the game in the third. But it would have meant getting another one in OT. At least it wasn't a blow out defeat. But it is still bitter to lose even by one goal. Last word: see you next year. Saturday, June 17, 2006
Were Off To Carolina In The Morning!
It's a happy time in the city tonight as the Oilers handily win over the Hurricanes 4 to 0. So as I predicred, it will go down to the wire in game 7 in North Carolina on Monday. Way to go guys! The flights have been booked for the wedding. We are all heading down to Pensacola on the 29th of August and hopefully everyone can get the time off. We had to book the flights quickly as the price was going up daily. And to all the dads out there, Happy father's day! Thursday, June 15, 2006
Holy Cardiac Arrest, Batman!
Yikes! Talk about a close call! The Oilers squeaked by to win in overtime last night keeping their place in the playoffs, but just barely. The boys will have to win the next two now if there's any hope of snagging the cup. But that's too nerve racking a way to do it. As you can see the Legacy Adventure Chronicle is up and running to the left. Just clicking on the picture or any of the text will get you to the main page. Everything seems to be working. I shall now start on a little picture album of our trip to Crestview. Stay tuned. Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Oiler's Last Chance
Well, we are down to the wire after Monday's 2 to 1 defeat by the Hurricanes. The boys have to win three in a row to claim the cup but if they lose tonight it's all over and this town will be cryin' the blues. But I have known the oilers to stage comebacks before, although this isn't the same team. Time will tell. It looks like Nicole and Chris have firmed up their wedding date. It will be on September 2nd, the Labour Day weekend. So it's time to start booking flights and hotel rooms, I guess. The Legacy Adventure Chronicle should be ready today, tomorrow at the latest. I'm just putting the final touches on the main page graphics and then I will see if it all works. So keep watching. Sunday, June 11, 2006
The Oilers Squeak By, Again!
We sat with bated breath on the edges of our seats last night as the Edmonton Oilers redeemed themselves and narrowly defeated the Hurricanes by one goal. The next game is in Edmonton and we are hoping they can bring the hometown crowd another victory and even up the series. Then we will see some real nail biting hockey. Nicole sent us a couple of shots of her engagement ring which she received last week. Here they are:   I have been told that the name of the cut is Marquis, whatever that means, but it does look great. The date of the wedding is still up in the air at the moment but it looks like it may have to be before the end of August as that is when Nicole's visa runs out and she does not want to get into any trouble with American immigration. But we're praying that she can get an extension on her visa so that we can have it sometime in September. So, we are in the process of trying to come up with an invitation list, track down caterers, find a wedding dress and all that other wedding related stuff. The weather here this weekend has not been great with rain and winds on and off all weekend. We are going to attempt a bike ride this afternoon and hope we don't get dumped on as we did last night. Thursday, June 08, 2006
Wedding Bells
Another disappointing evening last night with the Oilers losing 5 to 0. Kind of a non game. Lots of penalties that hurt. I hope this is not a streak or this series could be over by early next week. They play here in Edmonton Saturday night so we will see if the home crowd makes a difference. Well, it's official! Nicole is engaged! Chris popped the question to her the other day from one knee and presented her with a ring. We'll post pictures as soon as we have them. The wedding could be as early as the end of August due to some immigration regulations and red tape so planning is going into high gear here. It will be held in Crestview so it looks like we are headed back to the Sunshine Coast. Tuesday, June 06, 2006
Another Road Trip      The second half of our trip involved driving from Miami to Crestview to visit Nicole and Chris. After getting off the ship on Friday morning we picked up our rental car and headed up the main highway along the eastern coast of Florida. We did not spend any time in Miami as we had hoped but got right on the highway. We stayed overnight in Jacksonville and Panama City before arriving in Crestview on Sunday afternoon. We spent the week hanging out with the kids, seeing where they lived and worked and meeting some of their friends and relatives. We also managed a couple of days on the snow white sandy beaches of Fort Walton Beach and we went out for a lot of seafood. It was good to see Nikki and her new environment. At the end of the week we drove to Pensacola, dropped off the car and caught our flights home. Stay tuned for a detailed write up of this part of the trip in a few days. Monday, June 05, 2006
A Taste Of Jammin'       Here's a small sample of some of the pictures we took or had taken during our Windjammer cruise aboard the Legacy. There are many more and it will be a bit of a job to sort through the 500 or so that I took and the several hundred we got from the ship's photographer but with time I will post an interesting picture album. And of course this is just half of the trip. There will also be a pictures of our visit with Nicole and Christopher in Crestview and I will be posting a few of them tomorrow. Our trip around the Bahamas on the Legacy was wonderful. We had great weather most of the time with just a bit of rain on a couple of days. We visited a few deserted islands and spent time there sunbathing, swimming, snorkeling and viewing sea life. We even went on two scuba dives, one was our Discover SCUBA introduction and the other was an actual one hour dive in 40 feet of water. We also visited some fairly developed islands where we shopped for souvenirs and went on interesting excursions. There was always lots to do and we did quite a bit. There was a great group on board and we met a lot of people from all over the US and Canada. The food was very good and plentiful. Our cabin was larger than expected and very comfortable. All in all it was a wonderful week filled with lots of neat activities. Once I transfer and edit my journal to the computer and organize some pictures I will be posting them on the site. Just look for the link to the left under the Legacy picture. Tomorrow I will briefly describe our trip from Miami to Crestview and our weeklong visit with the kids along with a few photos. This was Dianne's and my first day back at work since our trip and so we were understandably feeling a little depressed. Then we just watched the Oilers get beaten by Carolina in the first game of the Stanley Cup final. We hope that things improve there as the series progresses to the ultimate victory of the Oilers. As for the other thing we are just going to have to go on another Windjammer cruise. Sunday, June 04, 2006
The Sailor's Return
We are back from our trip! We had a wonderful time and there will be more coming on our adventues as soon as we gat back into the groove and I can sort things out. We have lots of pictures, so stay tuned for an "adventure chronicle" on that. Thursday, May 18, 2006
Down To Wire
Today's the day! We are off to the airport this evening to start our little trip. I'm sitting at work at the moment and the minutes till the end of the shift seem to be dragging by interminably. We have a bit of final packing to do when we get home which shouldn't take long and then we'll be ready to go. So the excitement builds and hopefully everything will go well with the flights. Edmonton was a scene of celebration last night as the Oilers cemented their victory over San Jose in a bit of a squeaker game. Quite exciting to watch. Fan spirit has peaked quite a bit here in Edmonton over the last few weeks as the Oilers head for their first chance at the cup in quite a few years. Everyone is sporting Oiler flags on their vehicles and there have been several fan rallies around town. Now that we are in the finals the excitement will intensify, I'm sure. Hopefully we will be able to catch a bit of the action if only online from a cyber cafe from the swamps of Florida. Tuesday, May 16, 2006
All Packed Up
Had a chance to pack our bags on the weekend, the challenge being to get everything we need for two weeks into one suitcase and two backpacks. With a little effort and some creative packaging we were able to do it with a little room to spare. We found a great little section at Zellers that sells all this neat stuff like deodorant and hair spray in little travel sized containers. So we are maximizing our available room quite efficiently. Dianne is having a little trouble not being able to pack as many clothes as she would like but is being a great sport about it and has vowed to hit the nearest Wal Mart the minute we are off the ship. We will have the extra suitcase coming home for extra stuff, of course, but the trick is to pack light for the cruise and, more importantly, pack for the possibility of losing our checked baggage on the flight down. So while we were packing on Sunday evening, the Oilers went ahead and trounced San Jose again so we are down to the possibility of wrapping up this series tomorrow night. Then the next round will be played, unfortunately, while we are away. But I'm sure we'll find ways of getting the latest scores while on the road. We went for a nice, long bike ride on Sunday evening and had a chance to really try out the new bikes, which performed extremely well. We are very happy with our decision to purchase them. Thursday, May 11, 2006
Getting Excited
Well here we are one week away from our departure for our trip and it seems to be taking an eternity. The days are going by so slowly as I grind out each shift at work. Having to spend a lot of those shifts training someone doesn't help either. I think we are going to try and get most things packed this weekend so that we won't be rushing around at the last minute trying to get things we need. We both work days Monday to Thursday next week so that only leaves the evenings to finish up and I'm sure there'll be a few things to do. A long day on Thursday as we leave for Toronto in the evening after working all day. Then an all night flight which is never fun. But by Friday evening we hope to be relaxing with rum swizzles on board the Legacy, and the wait will be over. I think the jury is still out on whether these new contacts are a go. Some days they work fine and others are a bit of a challenge. I realize that you have to allow a certain amount of time for your eyes to readjust to new conditions but I'm thinking I might take my old ones along on the trip just in case. We stayed up till almost 1:00am last witing for the Oilers to squeak by San Jose in the third overtime period. But the Oil still have to pull up their bootstraps if they want to stay in this thing. Tuesday, May 09, 2006
New Bikes
Dianne and I went out on Saturday and bought ourselves a pair of matching Kuwahara mountain bikes. After doing a bit of phoning around during the week to various bike shops for prices we decided to drive around and check some out in person. Our first stop was at a small local shop in the neighborhood where we spotted the Kuwaharas. They looked pretty good and after a quick road test found that they rode great. The best part was that they were on sale for less than $500 each and the owner offered to knock of $40 per bike if we bought the pair. So after a quick deliberation in the car we decided to go ahead without even looking anywhere else. So on Sunday, which was a bit nicer weatherwise, we went for our first ride. The bikes work well but will need a bit of adjustment to get the brake and shifter levers in the right position. So now I am keeping the other bike on the trainer in the basement for working out. We still have not come up with a solution to the problem with Chris' car. Looks like it may need a clutch job which will cost around $800. Not sure it's worth it. So for now the car sits in front of the house. We have the suitcases and back packs out and are starting to organize and pack our stuff for the trip. The swim fins are a little bigger than I thought and are going to pose a challenge getting them in the suitcase. Dianne and I both got fitted for new contact lenses on Friday. Dianne wanted some she could wear comfortably and see underwater while snorkeling and my old ones were in need of replacement. I'm not sure about these new ones, however, as they are soft and are taking a bit of getting used to. We both have the disposable ones that you toss after two weeks and put in a new pair. I'll see how things feel next week when I go back to get them checked out. It's been cold and blustery here for the past couple of days and we have had some rain which is good for the lawn. But it sure isn't very inviting for biking. Thursday, May 04, 2006
Stops & Starts
Looks like it maybe a clutch problem on Chris' car which is strange because it was working fine before the timing belt broke. As it is, we are at a standstill because there's no way I'm going to attempt a clutch job. I can't do too much more today as I have to drive to the west end to have my teeth cleaned by my favorite hygienist. Wednesday, May 03, 2006
If It's Not One Thing It's Another
Well, I spent most of the day finishing up the repairs I started on Chris' Acura last week. Had to leave it for a few days as duty called. After cleaning things up a bit and reinstalling the distributor, plugs and wires I made the supreme test. Lo and behold the thing started up with the first crack and ran like a charm. Now it just needs to be timed. It looks like nothing was damaged when the belt broke. But just when I was feeling pleased with myself and as I was trying to drive the car out of the garage I discovered that the clutch was not disengaging, so now it's back to troubleshooting that tomorrow. With a couple of weeks to go before our trip I guess we better start doing some packing and organizing our essentials for the carry on luggage. We want to make sure we can get by if our checked luggage gets lost. Monday, May 01, 2006
Go Oilers Go!
So the Oilers pulled it out of the fire at the last minute tonight winning the first round playoff spot to the Redwings. Good on ya guys! Now let's hope they can be as productive for the next two rounds. As it was there was pandemonium in downtown Edmonton this evening. Traffic was backed up along Whyte ave as I was trying to get home from a meeting. Sandi started her new summer job today. She is working at Fort Edmonton Park as an interpretive guide. She portrays an early 20th century worker and has to wear a costume cira 1910. The standing joke around the house is that she will be churning butter all summer. There's darkling clouds on the horizon and the temperature has taken a dip. They are forecasting the possibility of flurries for the next couple of days and I can't say that I am surprised. People are always lulled into a false sense of security this time of year and just as they get out to do yard work or other summery things we are hit with a spring storm as winter lashes out one more time before settling down for the summer. Thursday, April 27, 2006
Tickets Have Arrived
I guess it's time I visited the old blog and brought things up to date. It is now three weeks from today that we leave on our little Caribbean jaunt. The time has gone by relatively quickly but I'll bet it slows down as we get closer to departure day. All arrangements came to a finality yesterday as our documentation from the cruise company arrived. Enclosed were our boarding passes that allow us to board the vessel on the 19th. Now we can start packing. I'm just in the process of attempting to repair Chris' car which became afflicted a couple of weeks ago when the timing belt broke. I'm about to put in a new one and see if there is any engine damage which usually results from belt breakage. Compression tests after the install will determine whether we have a sporty little vehicle or a boat anchor. Well it's game four of the playoffs tonight with the Oilers and the Redwings. I'm not really following the series but I hope Edmonton can pull off another win tonight to secure this round. Tuesday, April 18, 2006
A Few Photos
Here are a few pictures from our trip to Saskatchewan this weekend. I will also put a link in the picture gallery. The Countdown Continues
Just got home yesterday from spending the Easter weekend in Saskatchewan visiting the in laws and out laws in Sedley and Regina. I'll try to get some pictures posted shortly as soon as I get them downloaded from the camera. The drive there and back was uneventful with good weather both ways and we had a good visit with all the folks over ham buns and donuts. Just noticing by the countdown over there that we are only a month away from our big trip and of course we are getting very exciting. Work has become a bit wearisome of late and this getaway is like light at the end of the tunnel. I picked up a 1 gig SD memory card for the digital camera a couple of weeks ago and so now have enough capacity with all the cards for about 1900 pictures, so hopefully there should be one or two good ones in all that lot. Sunday, April 09, 2006
Windows On The Mac
In a further update to the story about running Windows on Macs there'sthis article that postulates that maybe Apple is using the possibility of dual booting the computer as a way to boost sales, thinking that windows users might finally buy a Mac now that they can run their Windows games on it. But I still contend that true blue Mac users don't want to have anything to do with windows as this article indicates. The battle lines are drawn. Friday, April 07, 2006
Taking The Soul Out Of Your Mac
Here's a little article about how easy it has become to run Win XP on your Mac computer. I guess even Apple is providing a way to do it but the mystery still remains: Why would you want to do it? I guess it's like climbing mountains... because it's there. And I guess the Mac geeks are just as adventurous as anyone. Let's see if this really works. Now if someone were to show me a way to run OSX on my Pentium 4 machine.....I wonder...? And here is an interesting story about whether Judas was a betrayer or a hero that is likely to raise the ire amongst Christians, myself included. Sounds like pretty heretical stuff to me. Wednesday, April 05, 2006
Klein Stepping Down
So I guess it's the end of the reign for King Ralph who announced he would step aside from the premier's chair when a new party leader is elected probably this fall. It means he will be leaving a year earlier than he first announced, but the disappointing confidence vote over the weekend seemed to have dismayed Mr. Klein who it seems is a bit put out by his colleagues in the legislature. Still, after 13 years at the helm it may be the right time to go as Ralph himself admits that today' politics is for younger blood. Ralph had been premiere for so long I couldn't remember who preceded him without looking it up. To save you the trouble it was Don Getty and before that Peter Lougheed. Tuesday, April 04, 2006
Birthdays Galore   Above are a couple of pictures of Angela's birthday party. I had tried to get them up on my last post but Blogger was being finicky and they wouldn't work. Finally got our old spare room cleaned out on the weekend and set up as a mini gym. I put my bike in there on the trainer and Dianne put her exercise mat and ball in as well. We picked up a couple of dumbbells and some extra weights and I have started doing a routine of weight training as well as some cardio work on the bike. We'll see if I can stick it out. Well, almost as suddenly as it arrived, our snow has pretty much disappeared. I guess a few days of +10 weather helps a bit. Anything to get out of shovelling. This weekend is Chris' turn for a birthday do so we will be having a combined birthday/Easter dinner on Sunday, as we will be out of town in Saskatchewan the following weekend. Monday, March 27, 2006
Slow Week
Well another week has drifted by without too much excitement to report on. The snow from our dump last weekend is lingering longer than expected although temperatures have been hovering around freezing so the white stuff should be melting. It created some doozy icicles on the eaves though. Today we have some sunshine for the first time in a long time so that should help with the melting. We celebrated Angela's 25th birthday with a little get together and some cake yesterday. Unfortunately I had to work evenings so the festivities had to be sandwiched in between that and church. Interesting to see the feeding frenzy on the release of Tim Horton's stock into the wild. Investors have calmed down after the emotional rush to find shares and the stock closed a little lower than the peak out during the day. But I dare say that judging by the amount of business this company does, it's probably a pretty good investment. I always have a bit of wait in the drive through to play RRRRoll Up The Rim. Wednesday, March 22, 2006
A Little Diving Music, Please...
I've cleaned up the "links" section over there on the left a little and I have added a link to "The Loonchaser Journals", a weblog started by our good friends Al & Noelle Melnychuck who are just leaving on a diving tour of Egypt & Jordan. They will be scuba diving in the Red Sea, one of the best places for diving on the earth, and have taken a laptop along with them to document their adventure. So we will be following along excitedly as they report back. Speaking of diving, we received a free DVD from the dive shop where we recently acquired our snorkel gear that introduces one to the world of scuba diving. I have to say it looks fascinating and has whetted our appetites a bit. We are hoping there will be opportunity for some introductory lessons during the cruise. And finally, I have a limited supply of the new CD from The IHS World Orchestra called "Around The World 2". If anyone is interested, just drop me an email. The orchestra just got back from a very successful tour of Israel, reports of which will be posted soon on the IHS site. Sunday, March 19, 2006
Windows XP Boots on Mac !
And this just in.. from the "why would you want to do that?" department, it is now possible to boot up Windows XP on the new Intel Mac. A contest was held for anyone who was able to do this and the winner has now been found, winning a total jackpot of $13,000. But don't all you Mac users rush out to snag the latest copy of XP (like you would!) as it is not that easy as this article explains. But it looks like the world is homogonizing as it should. Mac and XP can co-exist, but make sure you load up an antivirus at the same time! My Kingdom For A 4x4
Well, amazingly enough, the snow has already started to melt, at least on the roads and where we shoveled on the driveway and it only got up to -4 today. I figure that if we get some sunshine for the rest of the week the snow will be mostly gone by the weekend, just in time for the next forecasted dump. We actually ventured out in the car yesterday while roads were at their worst before any plows had been by, to, ironically, purchase snorkel gear for our trip. I picked up an inexpensive underwater camera also, so, I am quite excited to see how it performs. It is reusable and was only $50, about the cost of 4 disposable ones, so I'm not expecting professional looking pictures. We have a few rolls of 400ASA film left over from a previous trip before we got into digital that have to get used up. This camera is basically a small point and shoot inside an underwater housing so I suppose one could swap it out for a cheap digital if you could find one that would fit. But we'll see how it does with the film for now. Saturday, March 18, 2006
ENOUGH ALREADY!!!!      The problem is, about 2 hours after these pictures were taken it was back the way it was before we started shovelling. And the snow continues to fall. That tall ship is looking better every minute. Monday, March 13, 2006
Whether The Weather Be Hot.....
Well I guess it's official. This winter has been one of the "balmiest on record according to this report which goes on to say that our winter has been quite "un-Canadian". For that I have to agree as I cannot remember such a snowless, mild winter in my 54 years of complaining about the weather. However, I think we may have broken a record for the quickest "catch-up" month in history if the mounds of snow on our yard are any indication. Sunday, March 12, 2006
That And The Kitchen Sink
As if we didn't have enough high tech devices to wear around our necks, tuck in our belts and bury in our briefcases, along comes Microsoft introducing the world to the UMPC or "ultra mobile personal computer". But just what is a UMPC? Well, based on this cryptic ad campaign from Microsoft it's hard to know. But as this article explains, it is smaller than a laptop and bigger than a cell phone and supposedly does all that your laptop/PDA/cellphone/iPod will do but in a smaller package. But, this might be a hard sell for Microsoft as the consumers out there are up to their collective ears with neat gadgetry and the addition of something that is unexplainable might be met with some resistance. In addition, the battery life for the first editions of these new devices is only between two and four hours which will render it useless far sooner than most tech hungry users would like. I don't know, but the industry is sensing that Cap'n Bill and his crew might be taking a risk on this one and may be in for stormy seas. Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Midnight Blues
I've been working midnights all this week and at the same time Dianne has been on holiday so I have been sleeping downstairs in the new bedroom to be out of her way in order to sleep. The room seems fairly soundproofed and has proven to be beneficial in getting a decent sleep without Dianne having to worry about making a lot of noise. It's all over tomorrow, however, as Dianne is heading off to Vancouver for a three day continuing education course. She leaves around 6:00 am so I am going to run her out to the airport tonight during my lunch break. I have spent some time this week putting together and booking things for a little trip Dianne and I are going to be taking at the end of May. As I alluded to in another post we are planning to head down to Florida to visit Nicole in her new digs and meet the people she will be working with down there. As well we will be able to check out the facility and have a look around the town of Crestview and surrounding area. But before we get there, we are booked on a seven day cruise aboard the Windjammer Barefoot Cruise ship the SV Legacy. The cruise takes us all around the islands of the Bahamas including Nassau and the island of Bimini. Following the cruise we are renting a car and driving from Miami up to Crestview for a bit of a road trip to see a few of the sights of Florida before arriving for our visit with Nicole. So, we are already starting to get excited about the trip as we do research on the cruise and get everything ready. Stay tuned for more details and eventually another "Adventure" link. Thursday, March 02, 2006
Nikki Arrives Safely
Nice to see the sun out today after our 24 hour "snow off". The roads are pretty clear considering the amount of snow we got except the side roads, including ours, which are now the consistency of dirty flour. Makes getting into the driveway tough. There's more snow forecast for the weekend, though. So it's not over yet. Had a call from Nikki last night to let us know she arrived safely in Crestview, albeit 1 hour late. Apparently there were problems with the plane in Edmonton which delayed the flight for 90 minutes and totally screwed up her itinerary. She was rerouted and ended up in Memphis at one point. But she is now settling in and looking forward to getting down to business, whatever that may be. Wednesday, March 01, 2006
Goodbye Nikki, Hello Winter  Today we said "so long, farewell" to our baby girl as Nikki set off on her new adventure. She is heading off to Florida, indefinitely, to work in the mission down there and is flying there even as I type this. And in a twist of poetic irony, the day she leaves for the warm sunny climes of Florida, Edmonton is hit with a massive dump of snow. It was a bit touch and go getting her out to the airport at 5:30 this morning, in fact, I had to basically dig the car out of the garage. But the highway was driveable and we made it on time and were joined by Lee and Angie to say our goodbyes. Here are some more pictures of her leaving as well as a few of the snow we are contending with. We also had a little going away party for her with the rest of the family which included a little ice cream cake. So the house is once more a quieter place. Speaking of travel, Dianne is off on a little business trip next week. While I am on a midnight shift, she will be jetting to Vancouver on Thursday morning for a continuing dental education seminar with the rest of her office staff. She returns on Saturday. And, plans are underway for a special trip in mid May for Dianne and myself to celebrate our 30th anniversary. The plans aren't concreted in yet so I won't divulge anything other than to say it will probably be in Nikki's footsteps. We spent an interesting evening last night at the Quick and Dirty Festival at the U of A where Sandi was performing in a small presentation that she also directed. The festival consisted of a number of short dramatic presentations that ranged from quite good to "don't quit your day job". Sandi's was very good with some neat choreography set to a French Canadian song. Here is a short clip. Well now that the T4's and other receipts have filtered in I guess it's time to get at the tax returns again. It doesn't seem as painless as it used to be, probably due to the ease of use of the tax software. I could never go back to manual returns. And the convenience of e-filing is wonderful. The checks are in the mailbox within a week and a half. I have been reading recently of Sony's plans to introduce it's new Blu Ray technology for HD DVD's. Industry analysts are already foreseeing another format war similar to that which Sony waged with the Beta Max vs VHS fiasco of the early 80's. Two camps are emerging: hardware manufacturers and movie distributors that side with Toshiba's HD-DVD format and those that side with Sony's brand new but very expensive Blu Ray technology. They are announcing that the first players for the new disks will cost around $900. Yikes! Looks like I won't be jumping on any HD bandwagon soon until this showdown is over. Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Test
testing A Little Housecleaning
I have been doing a little cleaning up on the website in order to free up space on the server that was clogged with 30mb of old pictures and stuff. This will give me room for future picture galleries and videos. You might find that links to pictures in older posts are now broken as the pictures have been removed from the server. In a short while I will remove the Wedding Album from the site as that is taking up the bulk of the space at the moment. A Little Mac Attack?
I heard recently that the Apple computer is now susceptible to not one but two viruses/trojans, but Mac users should not be too alarmed as the hoops you would have to jump through to nudge these viri onto your system would make PT Barnum dizzy. Instead, Apple users should be more concerned over the assertion that John C. Dvorak makes that Apple will switch over to Windows as it's operating system. John makes some pretty convincing points but does he have an inside track on this or is he just crazy? Are we about to see the world run by one giant company, finally? Next: Disney buys Microsoft. Monday, February 20, 2006
Chipmunk Cheeks
I actually had to go out and shovel some snow today. We have had a constant snowfall all morning with enough accumulation to require about 10 minutes worth of work. It is quite mild out and is melting right away so the snow was a bit heavy, but not enough to even work up a sweat. There's a few more flurries forecast towards the end of the week so I may be out there again. Last Tuesday, on Valentine's Day, Nikki had her wisdom teeth extracted. It did not make for a very pleasant Valentine's Day for her as she was quite sore and unable to eat anything solid. Here are a few shots of her after the surgery. The swelling has since gone down and she is back to eating solids again and overall I think the ordeal was not too bad for her. Saturday, February 18, 2006
Chills In The Bones
We had a brief brush with winter this week as temperatures plummeted to the double digits below zero. As we all braced ourselves for a continuing cold snap that would see -40 degree temperatures with the wind chill, it suddenly turned mild again and today the coldest it got was around -4. Have we been spared or is there more cold weather around the corner? And will we get the much needed snow that we seem to have been deprived of? With only two weeks left in February, it seems like this is going to be one of the warmest and brownest winters on record. I can't help but feel sorry for Dick Cheney. It's bad enough to shoot your best friend in the face but to have to be hounded all week by a vicious press corp doesn't help. And keeping his yap shut about the incident didn't help either. Now it looks like he was hiding something. Of course when he did open his mouth he admitted he was drinking. Smart move. At least his victim was able to go on air and say that he was alright and didn't bear any grudges against Cheney. Now Dick just wants the incident to go away. And finally congrats to all the Mac users who finally got their own virus/trojan. Didn't want you guys to feel left out. Sunday, February 12, 2006
It's Cupid Time
Our houseguest has headed home after a week and a half of visiting and hanging out with Nikki and the rest of the Hilton clan. Chris decided to extend his visit by one day so that he could play soccer with the guys on Friday night and head out Saturday morning. So we all got up early on Saturday to drive him out to the airport by 6:30 am. We all then came home and went back to bed until 12:00 noon as we had only had about three hours sleep. After several layovers Chris arrived home and called to say he was home safe. The house is now back to normal...sort of. I read with some astonishment about all the winter storms happening in the east and marvel at the weather we continue to have here which rivals some of the better weather we get during the summer. Most days it is sunny and mild (today it got to +11) with a bit of wind now and again. People are raking their lawns and driving around with their convertible tops down. Can't help thinking we are going to wake up to a gigantic shock one morning and find five feet of snow out the back door. Then you will see some freaking out. It would be nice to get through an entire winter this way but this can't be good for the farmers. So, a couple of projects are in the works. I'm planning to renovate my shop to make it more accessible for doing work in it, ie: getting rid of piles of junk everywhere that hinder the work flow. I also want to wallboard a few places and paint the floor to try and control dust and sawdust a little better. Once all that is done I have a couple of desks to build...still. I'm getting a little tired of trying to work on a TV tray. Things are still in the design stage. Hopefully I can get them rolling soon. And of course everyone's favourite time of year is just around the corner. I downloaded this year's tax software last week and I am now just waiting for the T4's and other receipts to come rolling in. We finally got our new toaster from Club Z This little baby is quite a high tech and needs a PHD to run it but it does toast bread! And bagels too! Now I just have to figure out how to get it to do my taxes. Happy Valentine's day, everyone! Monday, February 06, 2006
Ski Weekend
We've had a rather busy weekend here at the Hilton Homestead. The bulk of the weekend was spent on the Hilton Family Jasper Ski trip. On Friday afternoon we rented an eight passenger van and after everyone came home from work/school we loaded up and headed for Jasper in the beautiful Rocky mountains of Alberta. After staying the night in the not-so-beautiful Amethyst Lodge we headed up the mountain the next morning to Marmot Basin where we dropped off the kids for a day of snowboarding and skiing. With us were Chris, Angie and husband Lee, Sandi, Nikki and her boyfriend from Florida, Chris, who we credit with the idea of this trip in the first place. While the kids were off snowboarding, Dianne and I took a stroll around the Jasper townsite looking for souvenirs and then went for a hike up a rather steep hill for a spectacular view of Jasper and the surrounding panorama of mountains. Here is a little photo album of the trip. The kids were exhausted at the end of the day and hungry too so after driving to Hinton we stopped at a Boston Pizza for supper before heading home. Then on Sunday after coming home from church, we barbecued some juicy steaks and had a fine feast. Everyone was feeling rather stuffed as they went off for some Sunday evening activities including a memorial service for Lee's grandfather who passed away last week. Chris has had a very enjoyable stay with us so far and has a few days left before heading back to Florida on Friday. It's been great having him here and we having been getting to know him better. Nikki has plans to head back to Florida herself at the beginning of March. Wednesday, February 01, 2006
It's Working
The video has been re-edited and posted and now works. You can also click on the picture below to view the video.
I guess there is a problem with the video in the previous post and it will not play properly. I have to re-edit the video but it will be up shortly. Please stand by. Surprise, Surprise!!
I've been reading with some amusement about the non-trial of Saddam Hussein and the recent events where the judge even stepped down and was replaced and now Saddam and all his lawyers are boycotting the trial. What the...? Is it just me or does this smack of judicial mockery. I can't believe they will ever succeed in bringing this trial to an end before the guy croaks. This would never happen in the US, or would it? Seems the OJ trial hit marathon levels during it's circus days. But at least the defendant was in the courtroom for most of it and not ranting like a preschooler every minute.  The bedroom was completed over the weekend and Dianne outfitted it with a new headboard, sheets, comforter and cover on the bed. It now looks very posh. And just in time too. On Monday night Nikki's boyfriend Chris arrived, much to Nikki's surprise as she didn't know exactly when he was coming. Her reaction was caught on this video. Nikki will enjoy Chris' company for next 8 days or so before he has to fly back to Florida. We are planning a family trip to Jasper for snowboarding and skiing on the weekend so stay tuned for pictures of that. With our warm, snowless weather here it has hardly been a shock for the guy to see what a usual Alberta winter is like. However, he is no stranger to adverse weather as he lived in Alaska for a year. In fact, it was Chris' idea to go snowboarding. Tuesday, January 24, 2006
Liberals Get The Blues
So the dust has settled on yet another federal election and once again we are faced with a minority government. As one commentator put it, we now have a chance to "test drive" the Conservative administration for about 18 months. I must say I was impressed with Steven Harper's victory address. He seemed very forthright and focused, however, it will be interesting to see if he, as with any other political leader for that matter, can live up to his promises. The Liberals couldn't and some of the things the Conservatives are promising seem pretty far out there. Reducing the GST? I'll believe that one when I see it. But it is good to finally get a young, aggressive PM who is not a lawyer from Quebec. I have a few days off now to complete the work on the spare room. I had to do some repairs to our paint job which I damaged taking down the old ceiling grid. Should've done that first I guess. Not a big deal and the room should be finished by the weekend. Friday, January 20, 2006
Balmy January
Here we are getting close to the end of January already and there still hasn't been much of a winter here yet. It's quite unbelievable really. I don't think I've ever seen the lawn in January. Of course everybody is getting geared up for the big election this Monday and based on the polls it looks like it's going to be very interesting. That is if you can go by what the polls say, but, nevertheless, I think it is going to be very close. I just get a kick out of the nasty commercials each party is running to put the other leaders down, but I think that the Liberals are grasping at straws with some of their accusations. Our spare room renos are nearing completion. The paint is on the walls and it looks very nice. I got the organizer and the doors on the closet and we picked up some new ceiling tiles and a light fixture yesterday although I have not been feeling too energetic about installing them as I am on midnights at the moment. However, I have some days off next week and that should be good to get everything completed including setting up the bed and the furniture. And not too soon either as we may be needing that room within the next couple of weeks for a special guest. More about that later. Thursday, January 12, 2006
Mac Goodness
Finished up painting the guest room last night and it's looking pretty sweet. We had to go with four coats in order to cover the dark blue that ran up half the wall. Now I just have to repaint the baseboards and replace the ceiling tiles, which I hope to get done this weekend, and then we can set up the bed. Oh, I guess I'd better finish off the closet too. It tried to snow again the other day and we got a bit of a skiff but not much to write home about. Today the sun was back out but the temps have been staying below freezing so the roads have not been melting and remain a bit slick. The big news the other day was that Apple finally introduced the Intel powered MacBook and as I am not a big Apple user I was not too interested. I'll wait till Microsoft releases Vista this summer to see what kind of a debacle that is. In the meantime it's interesting to see what the Macheads think of the new machine and from what I've read they are not impressed. Granted, Intel can supply a wider range of more powerful chips than Motorola/IBM could, but I guess they have stripped a few features off the Macbook, presumabley to aid in the power consumption which is up with the new chips. So it will be interesting to see where this goes as they roll out the new machine. Boom or bust, Apple still has only a small percentage of the computer market. Now lets see what Bill Gates has up his sleeve. Sunday, January 08, 2006
Back to the Humdrum
So after a week into the new year there isn't much news to report. Things have pretty much gone back to normal. Everyone is back at work although school doesn't start for Sandi til tomorrow. We've started work on repainting Nikki's old room which will now become the new guest room a little bit bigger than the existing one which at the moment is piled up with stuff so we can't have any guests. The new paint job shouldn't take as long as Nikki's room to do as we are only going with the one color and we are leaving the baseboards in place. The closet organizer is built and just needs to be assembled and we'll need to buy another set of closet doors. Always something to do. It's a couple of weeks to go before the election and so far we haven't heard a lot of campaigning although I can't imagine anyone west of Winnipeg even remotely thinking about voting for the Liberals. Can't say as much for those Easterners, though. We're into the second week of January and still no appreciable amount of snow anywhere and we're lovin' it! And I'll bet the city is saving a bundle on snow removable. Too bad they can't divert a bit of that cash to pothole repair.
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