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April 28, 2006

 

It's Friday and Winter is Almost Over !

 

And you'll notice we're ending the week on an upward beat eh ?

Yep, another work week down, and the great thing is Monday is May 1st. I don't know about you guys but to me May 1st definitely signals the end of winter. See, April can still be a bit chilly at times, like now, and the threat of snow is still in the air. But May 1st. is it for winter, it's over, it's done, goodbye for another couple of months.

Oh sure, it has snowed in May before, but it's rare, so it's pretty safe to say the good weather is here to stay. And I love the good weather, it makes me all happy and giggly, makes me want to go outside and have fun, go to the park, run through the streets naked. Okay maybe not that, but you get the picture.

So what else is on my plate ?

Why food of course. We had a breakfast meeting this morning, can't remember what we talked about but the food was good, pancakes and sausage compliments of our staff association. And tonight we're going out for dinner, having a real live night out without kids. I hope I can handle the excitement !

Seriously though, the princess is going to a friend's for a sleep over and the lad is working so mom and dad get to go out and enjoy some adult conversation. I'll have to practice.

Here's an old reminiscence. Years ago, when I was a teenager I played hockey, defense to be precise. One night I came home a little despondent (read pissed off !!!) because we lost a game. My dad was feeling a little tipsy because he'd had a few beers so he decided to show me how a real defenseman checks a player. He asked for my hockey stick so I gave it to him. He then gave me a little hip check, not too hard, just enough to pin me to the wall, and as I'm thinking "I know how to do this, I do it all the time" he says "and then you have to get your stick up under their ribs" and he proceeds to dig the shaft of my stick up under my rib cage and push, and that freakin hurt !

"Keeps em on their toes " he says. Yeah, I guess it would.

Anyway, have a great weekend everybody and see you on Sunday.

   

Posted by OldGuy at 12:41 PM | Comments (3)

   

April 26, 2006

 

The Princess's New Room

 

Well, the painting is done. As usual it took me twice as long as I expected it to but she now has a lovely cheery yellow room with white trim. Now her mother is looking for a new white bedroom set as the stuff she has now is in bad shape.

So, another few days and the princess will be able to move into her new digs. She loves the colour, and is quite proud of the fact that she helped out with the painting. As for myself I'm tired and my eyes are buggy from staring at those yellow walls for the last 3-4 days, but we do it for the kids eh ?

   

Posted by OldGuy at 2:59 PM | Comments (2)

   

April 23, 2006

 

Sunday Morning Musings

 

Well, it's been a few days but I managed to make it back. It's just been a very busy week, and unfortunately I wasn't able to get to the tree house before today. Feels good to relax up here, place needs a little dusting though, there are dust bunnies in the corners. Better put on a fresh pot of coffee too, this stuff is way beyond stale.

I've noticed a lot of people doing the list thing on their blogs lately. You know what I mean, my 43 favourite things, 10 things I find creepy, 5 things you can make with boogers. So I decided to start my own list.

10 things I love about painting:

1.) slipping a disc in my back while moving furniture out of the room to be painted
2.) trooping up and down the stairs six times in order to get my painting tools becaue I'm always forgetting something
3.) electrocuting myself while removing the socket plates from the walls
4.) burning myself on a hot light bulb while removing the light fixture
5.) breathing in a pound of Poly filla dust while sanding because I'm too stupid to put on a dust mask
6.) stepping into space while descending the step stool I'm using because I stepped off the wrong side
7.) slipping another disc when hitting the floor after the step stool incident
8.) getting my fingers jammed in the step stool folding mechanism as I'm moving it
9.) clmbing a ladder with a paint can in one hand and discovering as I get near the top that I don't have the strength to hold the can so I either have to drop it or somehow prop it on the ladder and inch my way back down
10.) impaling myself on the spikes on the underside of one of those computer anti-static mats because I turned it over as I was moving it but left it in the room and fell on it a few hours later (this was especially painful and bloody)

Okay, so not all of these things have happened during the same painting job but they've all happened at one time or another. I'm only bringing them up because I spent the weekend painting the princess's room, and as you all know, I actually hate painting. Actually the stepping off the stool into space incident happened this morning. Anyway, I'm not quite done her room, hopefully tomorrow.

Hey, you know that commercial with the bears that have to go to the bathroom but they're waiting for the Charmin or they're out or something ? Isn't that a bit weird ? Gives new meaning to the expession about bears pooping in the woods doesn't it ?

The penguin ? Yeah, I did him a few days ago. Now I know what you're thinking, I just copied and pasted the Linux penguin. Not so. I made this little fella myself. He isn't even Swedish, he's French.

Anyway, that's it for now folks. Cheers and have a great week.

   

Posted by OldGuy at 7:22 PM | Comments (1)

   

April 18, 2006

 

Iris

 

My name is Iris, as you can see
The world around is a feast for me
I gaze upon it's wonders and delights
And take in all its beautiful sights

A butterfly of green and blue
Rests on a flower covered in dew
A star in the sky burns so bright
I marvel at it's magic twinkling light

A wave breaking upon the sand
Proclaims the sea's last grand stand
A mighty eagle soaring high
Affirms his mastery of the sky

A field of flowers on a bright summer day
Makes me want to dance and play
That same field dusted with fresh snow
Mother nature putting on a winter show

The world awaits, it's my stage
My book to read, to turn the page
So many wonders to take in
I hardly know where to begin

   

Posted by OldGuy at 5:44 PM | Comments (4)

   

April 16, 2006

 

Sunday Morning Musings

 

Just a quick entry folks as I'm being summoned.

Well, Easter is more or less come and gone. We stayed home after all, although we did meet grandma for lunch today. Everybody had Chinese food except me. I had a big smoked meat platter. They make it really good at that restaurant so that's what I usually order.

The Easter Bunny found our house of course, and the princess was on the prowl for treats at 7 a.m. I have a feeling it's going to be an early night.

Other than that, we didn't do much today, just vegged out and relaxed. I think we all needed it as the last few days have been a bit busy. Nothing like a little down time to recharge the batteries.

And so I leave you with a little Easter ditty:

The bunny's been, he left some candy,
The children like it fine and dandy
Now he's home with his mate so sweet
It's the bunny's turn for a little treat

Cheers folks.

   

Posted by OldGuy at 4:15 PM

   

April 13, 2006

 

Happy Easter and Something ...

 

So here it is Thursday, and the long Easter weekend is just a hop away. I'm not sure if I'll get back here again for the next few days so here's wishing everybody a safe and happy Easter, hope it's a great one for you.

So what else is going on ?

A young fellow gave up his seat for me on the bus last night. He looked liked he was in his twenties or thirties. I was rather shocked, still not sure how I feel about it. I mean yeah, I joke about being the old guy but I'm not that old right Miss C ? Ah well, it was good to have a seat, I was able to take a little nap. Seems I have one almost every day now.

So we'll probably go to grandma's for Easter again this year. She's a great cook and the kids love her, as we do of course. And the Easter bunny always finds the place.

Hey, anybody watch American Idol ? I never used to watch reality shows, still don't, but I got into American Idol a few weeks ago, mostly because my wife and the princess love it, especially the princess. She knows them all by name, has the American Idol website bookmarked, etc. Anyway, they voted Bucky off last night. Too bad really, he gets the boot the week he delivers his best performance.

I changed the colour of the text in the red orb again. Yeah I know, I said I wouldn't do that, but I was looking at the screen from about 6 feet away last night and could hardly see it. I also took down the gold OG and put the orb in it's place. I was tiring of the gold OG and the orb was competing with my portait up there. Also, next to the bear it was too much colour all in one spot, sorta hurt the eyes. Okay, the bear obviously doesn't stay there but the point is if I have another image near the top of the post (like the Easter eggs) all you see is the orb and the image, nobody pays any attention to me !

One more thing, what the heck is it ? Damn, I knew it when I got up.

Oh right, Happy Birthday to me ! Yep, today's my birthday so feel free to drop by the tree house and shower me with gifts.

And the Easter eggs were done in Illustrator too.

   

Posted by OldGuy at 10:20 AM | Comments (6)

   

April 12, 2006

 

George

 

George was a lovely little stuffed bear but he had been living at Wiggin's Toy Store for years. It wasn't so much that nobody wanted him but rather that he was well hidden on the top shelf.

Several years earlier, when Fred Wiggins had gotten the bear from the wholesaler he had put him on a shelf out in the open but one day little Jimmy Arsenault came in, saw the bear, and had a vision. Jimmy was famous for his visions. He told Fred that the bear was meant for someone special and Fred shouldn't sell it. Fred believed Jimmy so he moved George to a high shelf near the back of the store and hid him behind some other toys. Fred figured this way few people would spot George but if someone did, hopefully it would be that special child.

George remained hidden on the top shelf for several years, and when Jimmy Arsenault grew up and got married he and his wife bought Fred Wiggin's toy store because Jimmy'd had a vision when he was a teenager that he was destined to take the store over.

Fred and his wife were quite happy running the store. The only dark cloud in their life was that they couldn't have any children but they'd had their names on an adoption list for a few years and hadn't given up hope.

One night in early September the toy store burnt to the ground. The following day when the firefighters sifted through the ashes the only thing they found was George. The little bear smelled of smoke but was otherwise unharmed.

Jimmy and his wife were not to be dettered from their dream so rebuilt the store and soon George was back on his shelf, safely hidden away.

Then one day Jimmy and his wife got a call from the adoption people. At last a child, Jacky by name, had come up for adoption. And imagine their surprise when they were told that the young boy in question, just three years old, had recently lost his parents in a fire.

A few days later, when they met Jacky for the first time, Jimmy handed him the bear and said "I believe this little fella was meant for you."

BTW, I made George in Illustrator. No artistic talent required !

   

Posted by OldGuy at 10:43 AM

   

April 10, 2006

 

Dads and Racoons

 

The princess drew my portrait last night and asked if I would post it on my blog. Of course I acquisced immediately.

So what's with the racoon ?

Well, I saw one this morning as I was leaving the house. Now, that's not a big deal to some people but we don't see them too often, in fact I've never seen one around here.

Sure I'd heard about them but that was it. This fellow was just sauntering along the street, in no particular rush. I made a bit of noise and he just looked at me as if to say "I'm going as fast as I can" and continued on in his leisurely fashion. Maybe he thought I was the intruder.

I also noticed how much we look alike. I have glasses, he has a mask so they're sorta alike, they're fashionable eyewear anyway. I have a moustache, he has whiskers. I'm losing my hair, he appears to have a high hairline due to his colouration. He walked slowly, like maybe he was a bit stiff so early in the day, I do the same thing.

So I figure he's been watching me all along and finally decided to show himself because we're kindred spirits and he knows I'm as harmless as he is.

Maybe tomorrow he'll introduce himself.

   

Posted by OldGuy at 10:24 AM | Comments (2)

   

April 9, 2006

 

Sunday Morning Musings

 

Today is going to be a short entry folks, keep reading to find out why.

The princess has a nasty cold sore on her hand. That's right, on her hand. She got one there a couple of years ago and now it seems they're going to show up there almost every time. It looked especially nasty last night, it had turned purple and red, so not wanting to take chances we went to the emergency department to have it looked at. There were people lined out the door when we got there, I've never seen anything like it ! We waited 5-6 hours to see a physician and by that time we were all tired and fed up. Needless to say we're also quite tired today. The good news is that it's nothing serious, turns out she just had blood seeping out from underneath the skin and it was trapped there.

On another note, I heard on the radio this morning that they're making Ocean's Thirteen this summer. Ocean's Eleven had 11 people involved in a big heist, then in Ocean's Twelve, there were twelve people. So now I presume Daniel Ocean is getting a crew of thirteen together. I'm thinking if they keep making sequels they'll eventually get to Ocean's Fifty-Seven. By that time Daniel will be recruiting junkies and psychos, the crew will be totally unmanageable, and somebody is bound to squeal to the cops.

It's the last orb, I promise, I just thought this one was cool. I'm working on Easter eggs now.

One other thing I had to mention. My son's concern for his little sister last night was awesome. Thank you lad.

Cheers and have a great week folks.

   

Posted by OldGuy at 3:10 PM | Comments (1)

   

April 7, 2006

 

Everybody Needs a Hobby

 

What do you do in your other life ?

No, not that one, the other one. Yeah, when you're not at work, or washing the dishes or mowing the lawn or helping the kids with their homework, or any of a thousand other things you do because, well, you have to.

They used to call the stuff you do in that other life hobbies, now I think it's self-actualization, or self-realisation or some other fancy term.

See, we spend several hours a day doing the things we have to do, and maybe we enjoy them too, sure, it's great if you enjoy your job and parenting can certainly be rewarding as well but you have to have something that belongs to just you, something that makes you happy, that keeps your mind and or your body active and that you do just for the sheer pleasure of it

I've tried countless hobbies over the years, photography, furniture refinishing, etc. but none of them was quite what I was looking for. Then I discovered blogging, or more specifially, writing, and I loved it. I feel wonderful when I get an idea for a story or a poem, it's a fantastic feeling. And lately, the graphics; yeah, I'm just learning, but you gotta start somewhere. Just knowing that I can come here and create something and it's mine and some people actually like it is an awesome feeling.

So whatever your hobby, pursue it with a passion because everybody needs to be happy and the world certainly needs more happy people.

Speaking of which, here's more fun with text.

I think I'm going to try to make some Easter eggs next week, it would be my first crack (no pun intended, well, maybe a little) at something a little bigger.

   

Posted by OldGuy at 11:15 AM | Comments (3)

   

April 4, 2006

 

The Red Orb is Done

 

Hey, I just noticed something, I like round graphics.

The smilie is round, the Rimz is round, the orbs are round, my head is sorta round, not too much though, otherwise I'd look like a ballon head.

Maybe I should have a round blog.

Nah, it would never work.

Anyway, I'm finally done with the red orb. Yeah, I still wasn't satisfied with it, the letters were blurry and it was missing something so last night I played around with it some more and now I'm happy with it. I changed the text back to red and added a 2 pixel black stroke and that did it. Now the text "pops", as my wife likes to say.

It's kinda like in the movies, when the guy kisses the girl if her foot comes up then she "popped." Or like when a woman has a baby and it "pops" out, everybody gets excited ang giggly and they stroke it, except in that case it's the other way around. On the other hand, there might have been some stroking ... oops, sorry, this is a family site, we'll have none of that ! I worked on the gold OG for quite some time before I was satisfied with it too so this shouldn't come as a surprise.

On another note, Easter's coming so don't forget to get your goodies, especially if you have kids. Hey, I wonder if I could do an Easter egg ? And stop by TN's blog too, she's having a little Easter caption contest.

Oh yeah, one other thing. Remember a few months ago I wrote about vacuuming my head after a hair cut ? Well, I did it again last Sunday and I almost sucked an eardrum out. Seriously though, I'm okay now but for about an hour my ear hurt and all I could hear was a loud sucking sound, so if you try this stay away from your ears !

   

Posted by OldGuy at 9:59 AM | Comments (6)

   

April 2, 2006

 

Sunday Morning Musings

 

You know what drives me crazy ?

When you find a load of laundry on the floor that needs to be folded, it's sitting there because maybe the kids took stuff out of the dryer, so you fold it, then you open the dryer door to discover another load, because in the interim another load got washed.

So now you have two loads to fold.

Oh yeah, and there's another load in the washer too !

I got my hair cut yesterday. Remember when you were a kid we used to say you got your ears lowered ?

Well, they're not so much lowered as they just stick out more.

Like Dumbo ears.

An interesting situation at work this week, nothing serious but it prompted me to think people really should be able to tell the difference between a guideline and a deadline.

One says, we'd kinda like it by this date. The other says, do it by this date or you're outta luck.

Funny how some people can't tell the difference.

A ditty:

I like to muse
But not confuse
I like to muse
And maybe amuse
I like to muse
But it could be a ruse
I like to muse
But not accuse

And now I'm done
Think I'll go for a snooze.

I made another glass orb. Yeah, I'm stuck on these right now. Actually, as I was telling my son the other day, I like to try stuff out for a while until I feel comfortable with it, I find I learn better that way. First it was text, now it's glass orbs. Don't get me wrong, I'm not an expert at either, it's just that I find that concentrating on one thing for a while helps me get comfortable with the various tools involved rather than trying a whole bunch of different things right at the start.

I also played around with the one in the sidebar again. I think I like this colour text better after all. I'm much happier with the shadow too.

BTW, if anyone wants to know how I made these just let me know and I'll send you the file.

My wife was saying yesterday she hates April Fool's day. We used to kinda enjoy it but on April 1st, 2004 our son was dignosed with type 1 diabetes so now it's not so much fun anymore, more of a sucky day.

Anyway, I put a pot of coffee on a few minutes ago so I believe I'll go pour myself a cup and put my feet up.

Have a great week folks.

   

Posted by OldGuy at 4:44 PM | Comments (4)