May 23, 2008
Not a Whole Lot of Blogging Going On
Just a quick post to say yes, I'm still here. Things have continued to be quite busy lately so I haven't had a lot of time to sit down and write. Also, I was working on a little Photoshop project this week that took up what little free time I had.
Anyway, I intended to sit down and write a story and perhaps a little post this weekend but the monitor on our home computer crapped out last night (I'm posting this little tidbit from work; shh... don't tell anybody) so unless I can convice the lad to lend me his laptop it'll be another few days before I post anything worth reading (if any of it is worth reading).
Anyway, it's Friday, the weekend is almost here, and I'm outta the office in 30 minutes, so have a great weekend folks.
P.S. Jen, I haven't watched the CSI Miami finale yet, I'm going to do it tonight (yes, on the lad's laptop).
Posted by OldGuy at 3:23 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
May 15, 2008
"Vatican: It's OK to believe in aliens."
As a Catholic I've often felt conflicted believing in God and aliens so this announcement came as a huge relief.
Posted by OldGuy at 2:16 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack (0)
May 13, 2008
The Poem Below
This is not a new poem, in fact it's the first one I wrote a couple of years ago. I wrote it for a friend who had just started a web site a few of us used to hang around called "Lilliebet's Lair." She wanted something on the first page to make people feel welcome and this is what I came up with. I've always been rather proud of it so yesterday I was trying to show it to someone only to discover the site no longer exists.
I decided that I really wanted it here, so here it is.
Posted by OldGuy at 1:34 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
May 2, 2008
Still Busy, Sort Of
I can't believe it's been two weeks since I've been here but there it is.
So what have I been up to ? Well, stuff. You know, home stuff, work stuff, family stuff.
Okay, seriously, time just seems to have flown by lately and the next thing I know it's May 2nd.
So anyway, to update everyone. One more birthday to go. The Lad will be 20 in a couple of weeks. That blows my mind. I can still remember the day he was born and the time I held his head and whispered in his ear while a doctor put stiches in his forehead and the time he got all excited hunting for Easter eggs at grandma's and so many other things and now it's 20 years later. It's been a hell of a ride and I wouldn't trade a minute of it for all the money in the world. Last night we watched Supernatural together, something we've been doing for a couple of years. Before that it was Blade and before that it was Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Yeah, our tastes run to that sort of thing but we have a blast and it's time spent together. He's decided he wants to give post-secondary education another shot next year, and he's been accepted into a communications program at college. It's what he's always wanted to do so we're certainly encouraging him.
In the meantime he's working so that's good.
The Princess is as busy as ever. She's finishing grade 4 this year and attending drama classes on Thursdays (yeah, like she really needs them !). She has quite a wide circle of friends and she's always off to a birthday party or sleepover some place. The other day she drew a graph labelled "How Weird My Family Is." Mrs. OldGuy was low on the chart, the Lad slightly higher, the Princess herself about halfway up the page and I was right off the chart. I'm still not sure how to take that.
Mrs. OldGuy is as busy as ever. Between the house, volunteering at school, arranging birthday parties, and reminding me to put my pants on before leaving the house, she has her hands full.
Me ? I've been working, puttering around the house, and watching CSI Miami every chance I get. Also, we had a warm spell here, lasted about a week and a half so I was outside every chance I got, even went for walks after dinner a few nights. After the winter we just had it was good to see warm weather again, gave me hope for the future. It's cold again this week but that'll change soon enough. Oh, I've also been working on the blog's back end for the last week or so. You might remember when my host upgraded my blog to Movable Type 4.01 it was all red and white so I tried to fix it but I broke it instead. Then I sort of fixed it but there were still a few problems that I let slide for months. Anyway, I spent the last week going back and forth between the blog and the W3C validator trying to fix things. I managed to correct a bunch of stuff. I'm still getting a few errors but nowhere near as many. The other thing that was driving me crazy was that IE 7 (which seriously sucks) would show a white page whenever an archived entry was accessed. Refreshing the page made the green background reappear but it was still bothering me that it did that, so I put in a fix and now older entries look the way they should. Next I'm going to try and figure out how to change the comment form to match the rest of the place. Oh, and I'm starting a cold, so that sucks.
So, onto other things.
We live in a condo and as such pay condo fees for things like snow removal, street cleaning, etc. The snow removal wasn't the greatest this winter but so be it. I was raking the yard a couple of weeks ago and noticed the street looked dirty now that the snow had melted. Not really bad, I'm not talking dirty needles and empty wine bottles, just an accumulation of dirt and grime left over from winter. I could've waited for the contractor to clean it but it occured to me that there was a time not so long ago when people did these things themselves. Call it pride and responsibility. Responsibility for taking care of your own neighbourhood and pride in a job well done. So I swept the street myself. It took me about an hour and when I was done I called the Lad out. Not because I wanted to brag but just to say "this is what you do, you take care of the place you live." Then I sat on the patio and enjoyed a well earned cup of coffee.
Seems everywhere you look these days you're told to go green. Even big business has got in on the act, selling green detergent, green food, and green potato chips. The other day I even saw an add for a green computer. Not sure how that works. My wife went green years ago. We have a green couch, green love seat, and green plants. Sometimes one of them dies and goes brown, but then we save money on the water bill.
I know I promised more stories and poems earlier in the year but I guess you all know me by now. I write when I feel like it and lately I haven't much felt like it. It's not lack of inspiration, it's an aversion to sitting at the computer (blame Horatio, he's the culprit). I will get back to these though, I always do. In the meantime I leave you with a silly little ditty I made up for the Princess again:
I'm going to sing you a love song
About an ape named King Kong
Who fell in love with a ding dong
He thought their love was so strong
But then it all went wrong
Posted by OldGuy at 9:59 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
April 4, 2008
Busy
The title says it all, I've been busy.
Last Friday we had The Princess's birthday sleepover party. She had five friends over and four of them stayed the night. My role was cleaning up the house and doing whatever I was told. I applaud Mrs. OldGuy for her amazing organizational skills and prep work. She'd basically organized The Princess's favourite dinner (fajitas) followed by a sundae bar, and a spa night complete with nail, foot, and hair stations. The girls were pampered for several hours as they got the whole works done by my wife and two of her friends. They also got to enjoy mixed drinks and magazines purchased and or made special for the occasion. After the spa treatment there were games and a movie, then it was time for bed. The next morning a breakfast of pancakes and bacon was served and the girls played another game. They were then sent home with loot bags filled with girlie stuff so they could do it all again at home. It was quite an event and we were on the go non-stop from 5:30 p.m. until after 1 in the morning but they had a great time and it's a party The Princess will remember. The picture was taken just before the spa portion of the evening started. You can't see the foot bath and hair stuff but they were there.
I took Friday off to clean the house and do whatever else needed to be done, and after the party one of The Princess's friends stayed for the better part of the day for a play date, so with taking Sunday to rest that was the weekend pretty much done.
As for the work week, it's just flown by. Probably because I'm still tired from the weekend I've just wanted to come home every night, have my coffee, eat, get into my jammies, and relax. Oh, and watch CSI Miami. Seems every time I sit down to blog CSI Miami comes on so I watch it. Somenights 2-3 episodes in a row.
Okay, look, Horatio Caine is just about the coolest guy on earth. Forget Superman, Batman, or James Bond. Give me Horatio, known simply as H to some of his friends, of which alas, I am not one. With his sideways stance, icy stare and nerves of steel he's a cop's cop, a red-haired Dirty Harry with a heart. And Callie. Callie is smart, gutsy and well ...,you know. Anyway, when I hear the opening theme I'm drawn to the television like a moth to a flame and the next thing I know hours have gone by and I haven't done a damn thing.
Ah well, it could be worse, at least it isn't drugs.
On another note The Princess had a bizarre dream the other night. She dreamt I had my nose pierced but instead of a stud (again, sadly, I'm not one) I had a license plate that said Ford on it. So maybe I remind her of a truck.
And on yet another note I took money out of a bank machine yesterday and it charged me a $1.50 "convenience fee." I didn't think it was very convenient. Maybe the bank did.
Oh and hey, you know that Mcdonalds commercial that was on around St. Patrick's Day where one guy says to the other "Your name is Pat and my name is Pat..." The Princess and I had fun with that one for days. We did the accents and everything and we'd laugh like a couple of loons when we did it. Seriously, that commercial should win an award.
Anyway, that's it for now, gotta go go have a nap. Oh wait, can't do that, I'm at work.
Oh, oh, I almost forgot something. I was watching the news last night and they were profiling this Al-Qaeda terrorist and talking about how they post messages and execution videos on the internet and I got thinking how evil those people are and then they showed the laptop he was using and it had the Apple logo and I thought "Somebody's head is going to roll over that."
Posted by OldGuy at 10:09 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
March 20, 2008
New Equipment
We got new computers and monitors at work today. Very fast machines, no waiting for anything anymore, but it's the monitors that are the real kicker. Flat screen 26 inch babies. Right now everybody's just getting used to them and I imagine there'll be a few headaches in the department by the end of the day (I've got one now) but they're pretty awesome. I've managed to resize all the windows I usually work with so they line up nice and there's no tabbing back and forth between screens anymore.
Hmmm ... what's this ?
OH MY GOD, LOOK AT THE SIZE OF THAT THING !!!
Posted by OldGuy at 11:35 AM | Comments (2)
March 14, 2008
TGIF
Actually it's been a pretty decent week so I'm not complaining, just glad it's the weekend.
As I mentioned last week (I did mention it didn't I ?), Mrs. OldGuy and The Princess went away for a couple of days as it is The Princess's March break from school. They were going to grandma's in Brockville, with an overnight stay in Kingston last night. They come back tonight so I'm anxious to see them. The Lad and I were alone and we survived the experience just fine thank you very much. We ate, slept, showered, went to work, ate, and even watched a movie and had a beer last night. And we did all this without any help or major disasters. Not bad for a couple of bachelors eh ?
It's been cold here this week. Not much snow but cold. We're supposed to get more snow on the weekend though and once again the 14 day forecast is showing snow here and there throughout. We may break that record yet.
On a completely different note, I was chatting with a co-worker this week and our discussion stirred up a lot of old memories, some good, some bad. This one is a bit of both.
I remember when my mother died. She had heart problems and was living on borrowed time. She was told not long after her second heart attack that she was a candidate for a heart transplant (which she really wanted) but was later told that she wouldn't be getting one after all and that with medication she had a year to live at the outside. She lived for a year and a half, so she beat the odds. She was on a hell of a lot of medication though and in the end it was more the medication that killed her than her heart. See, she was told when she started taking all the pills that although they would keep her alive for a time eventually either her heart would give out or the pills would destroy her kidneys or liver or whatever and everything would simply shut down.
My mom had gone to live with her sister in northern Ontario in her last months, leaving my dad back in Quebec. He simply couldn't care for her anymore as he wasn't doing so well himself and her illness had taken a toll on him too. When she went into hospital for the last time my dad drove the 8 hours to Cochrane to see her, and when he realized this might really be it he called my wife and I and we drove up.
I didn't see my mother alive. By the time we got there it was late at night and we were told she was probably asleep but still okay so we'd get to see her the following day. When I got to the hospital the next morning (my dad had already been and she'd been awake and alert) she was going. The change had taken place in the space of minutes as my dad had gone to see her in the morning and I got there before lunch.
The deterioration she had undergone since the last time I'd seen her blew me away. She'd already been sick and quite frail then but now she was a bag of bones. I sat with her for a few minutes, waiting for her to wake up but she never opened her eyes. After a few minutes she appeared to gasp for breath and her whole body shook for a few seconds. There was a nurse just outside her room so I called her in. She examined my mother and told me she was dying and probably didn't have more than a couple of minutes so if I wanted to call anybody (we were all staying at my aunt's house just down the street) I had better do it now.
I found a phone, called my dad, and in a voice chocked with emotion told him mom was dying and to come as quickly as possible, then I went back to her room.
She appeared to be struggling so I told her I loved her and if she wanted to stop fighting and just go it was all right. Her body lifted off the bed, she uttered a long sigh, slumped back down, then lay still. She was gone.
The next day my dad and I went to the funeral home and made arrangements for her burial. My dad, who was normally a pretty tough guy, who had in fact attended many funerals before this, was shaken to the core. Under other circumstances he might he appreciated my help but he never would have asked for it. This time he did. Anyway, he'd always been the one there for me but now he wanted me there for him. In the end we were there for each other.
When we looked at coffins I think the fellow from the funeral home was afraid to show us anything too fancy because fancy meant expensive. He showed us a couple then left us to confer. I turned to my dad and said I couldn't picture my mom in any of these, they were just too cheap looking, and he agreed. We looked around a bit and spotted a beautiful one, brushed metal in a light bronze shade with silver handles. It looked fit for a queen and we knew we'd found the right one. The cost ? Plenty, but we were burying a wife and mother so cost never entered into it.
The rest of the thing was make sure we arranged for this and make sure we arranged for that. In short, we did what had to be done.
When it was all over my dad told me he'd never seen me so strong.
I'll always remember those words.
He died a month later.
Posted by OldGuy at 5:33 PM
March 8, 2008
Storm of the Century ?
Well, we're getting real one-two punch this time with what forecasters here are calling a nasty jab last night and the knock-out punch happening right now.
The first storm started around 6 p.m. yesterday and ended around 4 a.m. This morning we woke up to this scene.
The second storm started around 12 p.m. today and is expected to last 24-36 hours. This was the scene around 4 p.m. today. That's not a hazy picture, that's what's known as a white-out, and it's caused by heavy snow accompanied by high winds. That picture was taken from my son's bedroom window and those houses are right across the street.
I've lived in northern and eastern Ontario (yeah, Les, I've even lived in Kapuskasing and Cochrane), and northern Quebec for most of my life so I've seen plenty of snow storms but I've never seen one like this. The amount of snow coupled with the high winds and the duration of the storm will definitely put it in the history books.
We're getting the worst of it right now. The snow and wind are simply awesome. I've been watching the storm through the kitchen and living room windows and it's actually scary.
Update 1, March 9th
Remember when I shoveled a path to the BBQ a few weeks ago ? Well, the family helped me do it again after yesterday's storm, and my wife also cleaned the BBQ off completely because she wanted to see how much more snow we'd get by Sunday. Here's what we woke up to this morning. Remember, this was cleaned after the first pic was taken. This snowfall beat the old one-day record, set back in 1947 (50 cms or almost 20 inches) and we're very close to beating the record for one year.
Update 2, March 10th
Well, the official numbers are out and we didn't break the one-day record after all. Although we got 52 centimetres of snow on the weekend it was over two days so we missed the one day record by about 1.5 centimetres. This has totally ruined my day as I was all excited about it ! We still have a chance to beat the record for total accumulation in one winter though so I'm pulling for that as are a lot of people around here.
Hey, we've come this far !
Posted by OldGuy at 11:46 PM | Comments (3)
March 7, 2008
TGIF
Indeed, it's good to see another week down. Not that I mind work but I'll take a weekend any time.
So what's new around here ?
Well, The Princess turns 10 in a couple of weeks. Yeah, seriously, 10. She was 6 when I started this blog, 5 when I first started keeping a journal at Castlecops. Hard to believe it's been that long, I never really thought I'd keep at it when I started but blogging and writing is just so much fun I just keep on keeping on. By the way, there are more stories coming, they were on the back burner while I got the arthritis back on track. Got a poem I've been thinking about for a while too. Things are better now so I should get productive again soon.
Speaking of the arthritis, I saw my rheumatologist last week. He renewed my current meds and he's working on getting me on Enbrel. Hopefully that'll work out. In the meantime I feel much better so that's a good thing.
Easter is of course coming too, and my wife and I have our birthdays in April, then The Lad turns 20 in May, so this is always a busy time of year for us.
And of course, there's the snow to talk about. Okay, I know I'm stuck on this snow thing but seriously, this is big news here. Apparently this is the snowiest winter we've had since 1970, and I think we're set to break the record soon. We have another major storm headed our way this weekend and the 14 day forecast is once again showing snow right to the end. Every conversation you hear around here these days either revolves around the snow or somehow gets around to it. Here are a couple of examples (no, I didn't actually hear these but I'm sure they're taking place somewhere):
A man and a woman in a divorce lawyer's lawyers office:
Lawyer: Everything's been accounted for except the snowblower, so who gets it ?
Him: That's mine, there's no way she's getting it !
Her: Yours ?! I don't think so, I get the snowblower and that's that !
Him: You already got the car, now you want the snowblower too ??!!
Her: Uh yeah, I have to be able to get the car out of the garage don't I ? Idiot !
And here's another one, two ladies in a bar:
Lady 1 : So what did Tim get you for your birthday ?
Lady 2: A diamond necklace. What the hell am I supposed to do with that, we never go anywhere. What about you, you and Paul just had an anniversary didn't you ?
Lady 2: A truck, black four wheel drive job !
Lady 1; Oh my God, you're kidding ! He is the best husband ever !
Lady 2: Yeah, but that's not all.
Lady 1: You mean ? Oh God, he didn't ??
Lady 2: He did ! A red one !!
Lady 1: A black truck with a red plow ! I am so gonna come !!!
Posted by OldGuy at 9:50 AM
February 19, 2008
Need I Say More ?
Posted by OldGuy at 6:19 PM | Comments (4)
February 17, 2008
Only In Canada You Say ? Pity.
Are you folks tired of the snow pictures yet ?
No ?
Good, because here's another one. That's a before and after of the back yard. Okay, so the before was taken early one morning last week but it's the same back yard. My wife wanted me to shovel a path in case we needed to get out the back during a fire so I shoveled out to the barbecue and a little ways beyond. This way I can barbecue hamburgers and the wife and kids have a place to stand and eat while they watch the house burn down. Surprisingly this is a common Canadian winter pastime and sometimes neighbours will come over and join in the fun. It's common courtesy to bring a full wineskin to a winter house-burning barbecue too. Or if you can't find a wineskin then a desert, preferably something warm and sweet like peach cobbler or freshly baked brownies.
Anyway, enjoy the photos and here's hoping that your house doesn't burn down. But if it does now you know how to turn a tragedy into a party.
Posted by OldGuy at 3:03 PM | Comments (5)
February 2, 2008
More Snow !?
Dear Mother Nature
The joke was funny for a while but now it's just getting old.
Posted by OldGuy at 12:27 PM | Comments (2)
February 1, 2008
Perfect Post Award
I won a Perfect Post award from Miss Cellania for the story "The Little Red Shoes". The award is right there above the clock. Looks pretty spiffy I think.
Anyway, thanks Miss C, I'm honoured. It's things like this that make the writing worthwhile. :)
Posted by OldGuy at 10:29 AM | Comments (5)
January 31, 2008
Refrigerators, Pajamas, Evals, Spooks, Stories
So what do these have to do with each other ?
Absolutely nothing of course but you know how life is, a little of this, a little of that, keeps things interesting.
We just spent $160 to have our Maytag refrigerator fixed as it wasn't keeping food cold anymore. This fridge cost us a couple grand six years ago, or rather, it's predecessor, which died after a year, cost that. This one has also had a few repairs on it since then, and of course, we've thrown plenty of food out in that time. Remember when the Maytag repairman used to be lonely ? Not anymore. Now he's busier than a one-legged man in an ass kicking contest.
The princess has become a big pajama fan. Until a few months ago she would get dressed as soon as she got out of bed in the morning and she put her pajamas on at the last possible moment at the end of the day. Then she got sick before Christmas and stayed home for a few days. She slept a lot and when she wasn't sleeping she lounged around in her pajamas. Ever since that time she loves her pajamas and can't wait to get them on. Yesterday I came home from work at my usual time (5 p.m.) and she already had them on. Turns out she'd put them on right after school. The joke around the house now is she's as bad as I am.
I got my yearly evaluation at work today. There were no surprises. It went well and I'm happy with it.
Supernatural features a new episode tonight. The lad and I are really looking forward to it as it's been nothing but repeats since the writer's strike started.
And last but not least, the story. I'm working on it, really I am, it's just proving tougher than usual. Ah well, when I'm truly ready to write it, it'll just come pouring out. That's how it usually works.
Posted by OldGuy at 2:08 PM | Comments (4)
January 16, 2008
English Anyone ?
I took this test that I found on a friend's blog.
I guess I did pretty good.
Your Score: English Genius
You scored 100% Beginner, 100% Intermediate, 100% Advanced, and 86% Expert!
You did so extremely well, even I can't find a word to describe your excellence! You have the uncommon intelligence necessary to understand things that most people don't. You have an extensive vocabulary, and you're not afraid to use it properly! Way to go!
Thank you so much for taking my test. I hope you enjoyed it!
Posted by OldGuy at 2:29 PM | Comments (1)
January 9, 2008
Story Ideas
Back in the groove again. I've got a couple of ideas percolating. One is about little red shoes and the other involves a certain detective, tasers, and an unnamed redhead.
We'll see how they pan out.
Posted by OldGuy at 11:14 AM | Comments (2)
January 8, 2008
Stunning News from Taser International
The company that produces stun guns has announced plans to release the gun in a leopard skin print and other designer colours. The gun will also come with a music player holster (basically an MP3) that will hold 1 gig of music. The company says it is just responding to customer suggestions about their product.
Is it just me or does anyone else find this disturbing ?
Posted by OldGuy at 9:03 AM | Comments (7)
December 24, 2007
Posted by OldGuy at 10:05 AM
December 19, 2007
Baby, baby, can't you hear my heartbeat ?
The princess's school had a Christmas pageant last night. The entry fee was donated to a local family whose young daughter has glutaric acidemia Type II, a very rare genetic disorder. It's costing the family a couple hundred thousand dollars a year for her food and medication. The community has rallied round and are doing all sorts of fund-raisers to help out.
Anyway, the photo is the of the princess playing a disgruntled elf who decides to go on strike at Christmas. She thoroughly enjoyed putting the skit together, especially as she's taking acting lessons so this was a chance to show off what she's learned.
On another note, I had an echocardiogram today. That's an ultrasound of the heart. The test was done by a large friendly man who sat next to me on the bed in a dimly lit room and ran a magic wand over my heart. All that was missing was romantic music.
Posted by OldGuy at 6:26 PM | Comments (4)
December 17, 2007
Walking in a Winter Wonderland
And this is the scene today:
Posted by OldGuy at 2:28 PM | Comments (7)
December 16, 2007
I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas
This is the view outside the back door half an hour ago. It's been snowing all day here, as it has in most of Ontario, Quebec and the northeastern United States. Apparently this is one of the biggest snowfalls on record. Personally, I can honestly say that I don't ever remember getting this much snow in one storm since I moved to Ottawa over 30 years ago.
Added to the snow we've already had dumped on us we've already got more snow than we usually have by late February and winter hasn't even officially started.
Posted by OldGuy at 7:46 PM | Comments (3)
December 14, 2007
The Princess's Latest School Picture
She's 9 years old (thinks she's 16) and in Grade 4 now.
Posted by OldGuy at 12:59 PM | Comments (1)
December 11, 2007
I'm Back
Wow, it's been a long time, I hardly recognize the place.
Okay, so I'm back from the dead, or at least the land of the very ill. What started out as a prostate infection was then diagnosed as pneumonia but it wasn't getting any better so the doctors thought I had lung cancer so they did a couple of tests and it looked like I didn't have it but then they did more tests because they still sort of thought I did. Turns out I had pneumonia all along but it was a very bad case of it and it took a long time to clear up. I still don't feel 100% but I feel 100% better than I did back in October. Tomorrow will be two months to the day that I left work. I'll be going back but for half days until I get my strength back (not that I had a lot to begin; I was looking over the princess's vocabulary homework last night and for the word feeble she wrote the sentence "My dad is very feeble." Gee, thanks kid).
So what else has been happening around here ? The princess got her report card last week and she did extremely well, all A's and one B+. The lad is working a contract position with a local energy company and is enjoying it. Christmas is almost upon us of course so Mrs. OldGuy has been shopping like mad while I sit around the house and putter.
The blog ? Yeah, I know, it's still broken. It's been so long since I've logged in here that I've forgotten how to use most of the features I was just getting used to a couple of months ago. I'll fix it up properly in January as I really can't stand the red theme.
Anyway, thanks to all of you who have checked up on me and rest assured that the OldGuy is back for a while.
Posted by OldGuy at 2:33 PM | Comments (6)
November 19, 2007
Wanted
This is the only known photo of the international terrorist known as "The Bearded Bomber", who was responsible for several airport bombings in the mid 1980's. The "Bomber" was never caught and is reputed to be living quietly somewhere in Ontario, Canada.
Posted by OldGuy at 7:33 PM | Comments (5)
November 11, 2007
I'm Working on It
I broke my blog about a month ago and only noticed it today because I haven't blogged for that long. When I tried to create an entry earlier today I got an error message and it refused to publish anything. I managed to fix it but the first page is back to the default style again, and the blog roll is gone. Oh well, at least I can still publish.
Now I have to figure out how to get my old style back.
Posted by OldGuy at 8:47 PM | Comments (1)
Still Amongst the Living
Geez, I can hardly believe it's been a month since I was last here. Sorry I dropped out of sight but I just haven't felt like coming around.
Thanks to everyone who came by and wished me well. I'll be dropping in on most of you this week.
I'm still at home and will be for a while yet as I'm still having trouble with my right lung. I'm constantly short of breath and I tire very easily, amongst other things. Four x-rays in a month have been virtually unchanged despite two (or is it three, I can't remember) courses of antibiotics. I've now seen a lung specialist and he's scheduled a bronchoscopy for Nov. 19th, with results to follow on the 28th. I asked him at my last visit to make an educated guess as to what's going on and he said he suspects one of two things, either a rheumatoid arthritis related lung infection that hasn't responded to the usual antibiotics or early signs of lung cancer. Needless to say I'm rooting for the former.
Anyway, I rest a lot, watch a lot of television, and once in a while I play with Photoshop just to keep my mind occupied. Here are a couple of things I've done in the last month. No, the lad didn't win the car but I told him I'd make it look like he did. As for the princess I took her picture one night for a school project. A few days later I decided to "glamourize" her.
Before
After
Before
After
Posted by OldGuy at 3:07 PM | Comments (1)
October 22, 2007
I Got The Rockin Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Blues
Well, the pneumonia anyway, not sure about the boogie woogie blues. Anyway, I'm still at home, resting as per doctor's orders. I'll have an interesting tale to tell about our health care system once I'm feeling a little better. Seems it isn't all it's cracked up to be to. Or maybe it is, depends on your point of view.
I've managed to figure a few things out re: the blog and the design is slowly coming back. Man, there are so many templates it's crazy. My back ups were pretty old too so if you no longer see your blog in the blog roll it's because the last time I saved my templates they weren't there. Not to worry, I'll add you back in.
And speaking of the blog it's ocured to me recently that I've been doing a lot of story writing and not a lot of just plain old blogging, as in, what's up with me and mine. In fact my blog seems to have become nothing but stories lately. Although I enjoy "writing" I'm not happy with the direction the blog has taken. As to the stories themselves it seems I've been trying to write long dragged out things, and I'm not sure I'm happy with that either. See, what I enjoy are little stories, written in one sit down, while I have an idea to work with. All of which is to say that I believe I'll keep the stories shorter in the future and get back to having some fun (truthfully the least couple of stories stopped being fun after a couple of chapters).
Anyway, it's a return to the past maybe, but a little variety is needed, like I used to have.
As for Lumbago, I'll finish his Halloween adventure somehow but after that maybe I'll confine the Lumbago stories to short ones too, sort of like snippets from the life of a nut.
Posted by OldGuy at 5:31 PM | Comments (5)
October 2, 2007
Putting Order to the Disorder
I have a bad habit of writing ideas down all over the place. Little slips of paper, e-mails I send to myself, unfinished blog entries with just a few lines, etc. Today I decided to put some order to the disorder, gather the chaff so I can separate the wheat from it, if you will. Turns out I have 3-4 pages of stuff to work with. Not all of it will ever see the light of day, probably not even most of it, but it's nice to have it all in one spot for a change. And it's a neat reminder for me of the fact that I'm a very visual person. When I get an idea I have to be able to see it before I can write it. As long as I can't see what's happening, well, it just doesn't come to life.
I guess that explains why I love photography so much too. I'm not good at it but I love it. And colours in nature. Colours just blow me away some times. Then again, a good song will make me cry too.
I think I'l stop now ...
Posted by OldGuy at 2:59 PM | Comments (2)
October 1, 2007
Musings
I was channel surfing yesterday afternoon and noticed that the programs "Everybody Hates Chris" and "Everybody Loves Raymond" were playing at the same time. I've watched "Everybody Loves Raymond" a few times and don't like it. I'm not going to watch "Everybody Hates Chris". These shows are too emotionally draining for me, especially on a Sunday afternoon when I want to veg out to something light. Give me "Some People Like Bob And Some People Don't And Bob's Okay With That." That's a show I could watch.
Posted by OldGuy at 12:01 PM
September 23, 2007
Just an Update
No, I'm not dead yet. It was a rather trying week around the old homestead so I was laying low. Things are a little better now. Not "I must have died and gone to heaven" but they're an improvement.
Anyway, as I've said so many times before, my will to write just gets sapped when things are tough so that's why the story was on hold this week. Sorry about that but when you can't do it you can't do it. I'll try to get the next chapter up by Wednesday and wrap it up by the weekend.
On a positive note the whole family went to friends 25th anniversary party last night. It was a lot of fun, which was something I definitely needed right about now.
Oh hey, here's a bit of silliness. A local business left a free roll of toilet paper on everyone's doorstep yesterday, presumably a promotion of some sort. A short time later we got a call from a local news rag asking if we got our free roll of toilet paper, so it was obviously them. My son answered the phone, which was too bad because if I'd answered it I would have been tempted to say something like "yes, we did, and since we don't subscribe to your newspaper this will come in handy to wipe my behind instead." What they should have done was left a free roll of toilet paper and a free newspaper. That would be a brilliant advertising campaign, sorta like "since you're going to the bathroom here's some toilet paper for your behind and a newspaper to read while you're at it." I might be tempted to take out a subscription if the people running the paper showed that kind of marketing savvy.
Posted by OldGuy at 7:35 PM | Comments (2)
September 6, 2007
And She Ain't Even From South Carolina
Last night I was channel surfing and happened to stop briefly at some game show hosted by Drew Carey (that tells you a lot already).
Drew introduced the first contestant, a bright young doctor from, someplace, maybe it was New York, I wasn't really paying attention at first. He chatted her up, then turned to the other contestant.
The first remark he made was "I understand you live in a geodesic dome", to which she responded "shore do Drew, it 'us deesigned by Buckmaster Fuller."
So I'm thinking, not too bright but maybe she's just nervous, like what's-her-name, the little blonde from South Carolina. Then Drew says "And I understand your name is Hoagie", to which she responds, "yep, shore is, like the samwich."
And it all made sense in a really weird way.
Posted by OldGuy at 8:05 PM | Comments (1)
September 5, 2007
I Found What I Was Looking For !
For the last couple of years I've been searching the internet for some information but couldn't find it. Every now and then I'd do a Google search to no avail.
No info ? Bad search terms ? Buried on page 127 of the search results ?
Who cares, I simply couldn't come up with it.
This morning I decided to give it a shot and imagine my surprise when I found what I was looking for halfway down the first page.
No I'm not going to tell you what it is, that would ruin the surprise as I intend to write about it one of these days.
Just be happy for me.
Oh, and my daughter took the picture when we were out for dinner in Kingston last week. I was laughing at one of my own jokes.
Posted by OldGuy at 10:19 AM | Comments (4)
September 4, 2007
The Poem Below
I wrote this poem for the son of a friend a couple of months ago, when he was being ordained.
I debated a while before posting it as I wrote it expressly for him. I decided to go ahead and do it as I really like it and I don't think he'd mind.
Posted by OldGuy at 2:35 PM
September 2, 2007
I must Have Been Brain Dead Last Night
I only just now noticed a slight contradiction in yesterday's chapter of the story. I fixed it.
Posted by OldGuy at 4:20 PM
August 30, 2007
Story Update
We're going to Kingston today, may stay overnight.
Anyway, I'll have the next chapter up by Saturday night at the latest.
Posted by OldGuy at 7:23 AM | Comments (2)
August 21, 2007
The Story Below
2 things.
1.) First of all, this story is going to be a bit longer than I expected so I've decided to split it up into 2-3 parts. Besides, there are still a few details to work out.
2.) No disrespect is meant to anyone by this story. It takes place in the 1800's, and that's the way things were.
Posted by OldGuy at 8:08 PM | Comments (3)
August 14, 2007
Weird word
Saw this (pun intended) in the glasses store last night.
"Presbyopia". I thought it was the inability to see Presbyterians.
Posted by OldGuy at 1:13 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
August 2, 2007
The Poem Below
Unless you've been living under a rock for the last couple of years you've heard of Build-a-Bear, that place where kids make their own little friends, dress them, give them a name, then make their birth certificates.
The princess has seven of them. Let me introduce you.
Posted by OldGuy at 6:04 PM | Comments (8)
July 30, 2007
The Poem Below
The other day my wife got off the phone, and, referring to the conversation she'd just had, said "We'll have to have tea with Tina." I thought it made a catchy title for a poem.
Posted by OldGuy at 4:08 PM | Comments (1)
July 22, 2007
The Poem Below
Okay, I know it's a wee bit racy, but I just had to write it. I got the idea about a month ago from a book I read. Then one evening I was admiring the sunset when the first stanza just popped into my head.
So there it is.
Posted by OldGuy at 9:40 PM | Comments (4)
July 13, 2007
The Giant Creeping Fungus From Outer Space
My wife and I were sitting having coffee on the patio when she noticed this thing on the wall next to the door. From the side it looked like a fungus or a mushroom but when I got close to it I saw it was this weird looking moth.
Obviously pretty good camouflage. No self-respecting bird is gonna be caught dead eating that.
Posted by OldGuy at 8:52 PM | Comments (4)
Still Alive and Kicking
Yep, I'm still around.
Things have been so damn busy lately I'm either too busy or too tired to blog.
I do have a few projects on the go though so don't count me out. I've been working on a poem for a couple of days but I'm struggling with it. I showed it to someone yesterday who liked it but I'm still not satisfied, something's missing. I've also got a couple of story ideas brewing so I'm working on those. And then this morning when I was on the way to work it was quite cloudy, a very threatening sky. That, in combination with this green and black Duster that's been parked around the corner for the last few days got me thinking. There's a story there, I just don't know what it is yet.
On another note, I'm on holidays next week ! Not sure what we're doing yet, we're going to take it one day at a time. We may go to Toronto and Niagara Falls for a couple of days later in the week but otherwise no firm plans.
Oh, hey I did something stupid the other night. I got up in the middle of the night to get a drink. While I was up I figured I'd get the coffee ready so that when I got up in the morning I'd just have to start it. Anyway, the noise woke my wife. So she comes into the kitchen, opens the closet and unloads a load of clothes from the dryer. And I'm thinking "Stop, I don't want to fold laundry. I just came down to get a a drink of water and put the coffee on." But I'm stuck, I have to help out because I woke her up and to leave her folding laundry and go back to bed would be rude.
Crap.
Posted by OldGuy at 1:05 PM
July 4, 2007
Just An Update
It's very busy at work and I'm tired.
I'll post something real in a few days, maybe the weekend. I'm working on a poem and another story but lack of time and energy are slowing me down a little.
Posted by OldGuy at 9:52 AM | Comments (3)
June 22, 2007
Book Recommendation
My wife bought me this book for Father's Day and I finished reading it last night. I have a few things to say about it. Do not read this book if you're looking for light entertainment. Do not read this book if you don't like to think about what you're reading. Do not read this book if you like books about butterflies and rabbits and rainbows. Do not read this book if you're a cold, unfeeling SOB who doesn't give a damn about anything or anybody else.
If on the other hand you are a thinking, feeling, involved human being, one who likes the challenge of a book that dares you to think and who really cares about other people and about our world and you don't get clinically depressed at the drop of a hat then I strongly recommend this book.
At times I found it hard to read, both intellectually and emotionally but I'm glad I read it, if that makes sense.
This is a great book and I will definitely read it again, probably quite soon because there are some dark gems buried in there that I'm sure I missed. No, they don't sparkle, but they're there.
Posted by OldGuy at 10:56 AM | Comments (1)
June 1, 2007
Funny Stuff
I've been reading a lot of comedy writers the last several months, Carl Hiassen, Bill Fitzhugh, a couple of others. They're all good for a few chuckles but the king, the absolute king, is Tim Dorsey. Call him totally wacked, seriously deranged, whatever, this is one funny guy.
If you haven't checked him out yet, do yourself a favour and get your hands on one of his books ASAP and enjoy the antics of Serge, Coleman and the gang. You won't be disappointed.
Here's his web site.
Posted by OldGuy at 2:29 PM
May 30, 2007
Lumbago update
Still haven't had a chance to finish part 2 but I'm working on it. It will definitely be posted tonight
Posted by OldGuy at 1:33 PM
May 8, 2007
Summer Nights and French Frights
Ah, summer. The weather is warm and the living is easy. This is what I did when I got home yesterday, got a cup of coffee and went and sat outside to read my book. It's so nice to be able to do this at last. See, although we had a couple of warm days a few weekends ago the weather cooled down again until yesterday, when it warmed right up. Today is supposed to be warmer still. This is without question my favourite time of year. No having to dress like an eskimo, no snow to shovel, no mumbling hello to people you meet on the street because you don't want to open your mouth too wide for fear you'll suck in a blast of Artic air that will cause your lungs to freeze solid, killing you instantly.
On another note, this is a French verb conjugator. The conjugator is supposed to help you chose the right tense when writing French. Now, I'm fluently bilingual speaking-wise but I never learned to write French properly. The Princess on the other hand has to write French because she's in French immersion at school. Quite frankly I think written French is dumb. See, in English we have three tenses; past, present and future, so you either did it, are doing it or are going to do it. In French there are lots of tenses. You might have done it by yourself in the past, or you might have done it with a group of people. Ditto for present and future. Also, you might have done it on a Tuesday when the moon was full and one of you was howling like a wolf. All of this matters when writing French, as does the sex of the person(s) doing it (no pun intended). And if you're bisexual don't even bother trying to write about it because it's too damn complicated.
The reason I'm bringing this up is that the princess had to write a story for school so yesterday her mother and I were helping her out. Anyway, long story short, it took forever to go over it because of all this crazy French grammar. Seriously, you have to wonder why anybody would write anything in French.
Posted by OldGuy at 8:28 AM | Comments (3)
May 1, 2007
All's Quiet on the Eastern Front
Not too much happening right now, just life rolling along as it tends to do.
We spoke to the lad on the weekend and he was going back to work yesterday after being off work for a few weeks due to an injury he suffered to his hand. I imagine he'll be glad to get back to earning regular money again after being off so soon after starting a new job. He mentioned that he and his friend may be moving to Ottawa in a few months. Seems life in New Brunswick is a wee bit on the slow side. It'll be nice to have him back but he's going to find life in the city a tad more expensive than he's gotten used to. But hey, that's life eh ?
It's been a bit cooler this week than it was last weekend but it's definitely spring nonetheless. I'm looking forward to resuming my walks down Preston Street every morning. Maybe next week. I'll have to take pictures.
Other than that I'm just mulling over a few story ideas and looking forward to being inspired by the sight of some lovely springtime colours.
Cheers and toodle-oo till next time.
Posted by OldGuy at 2:03 PM | Comments (3)
April 25, 2007
Another Desktop
Here's another desktop I made. It looks pretty good all stretched out on my screen. I also made a blue version that's a little easier on the eyes
What do you think ?
Posted by OldGuy at 1:44 PM | Comments (5)
April 17, 2007
Lumbago Will Have To Wait A Day or Two
I was going to write the next chapter in our exciting murder mystery last night but after listening to the news out of Virginia I just didn't have the heart to do it.
Seriously.
I sort of avoided listening to the news all day yesterday thinking I'd catch CNN before I went to bed. I puttered on the computer for a bit after dinner then decided I'd sit down for a bit and mull over a few ideas while watching television. I tuned into Larry King and of course he was talking about yesterday's terrible shooting at Virginia Tech. Like millions of people across the continent I watched in horrified fascination as the story was presented. And after I turned the television off I just didn't have the heart for Lumbago and the redhead. The "funny" was gone from the day.
So expect to see the next chapter by tomorrow night. Right now I just don't feel like it.
Posted by OldGuy at 9:30 AM
New Camera
Well, since everybody else is posting pictures of their AWESOME NEW DIGITAL CAMERA (yes, I mean you Les), here's mine.
Whaddaya think ?
Posted by OldGuy at 8:25 AM | Comments (6)
April 10, 2007
What Colour is your Brain ?
| Your Brain is Purple |
 You tend to think wild, amazing thoughts. Your dreams and fantasies are intense. Your thoughts are creative, inventive, and without boundaries. You tend to spend a lot of time thinking of fictional people and places - or a very different life for yourself. |
Seems about right to me.
Posted by OldGuy at 1:19 PM | Comments (4)
March 26, 2007
Made This on the Weekend
So I did a little Phoshopping on the weekend, thought I'd try something new. Anyway, after playing around for a few hours on Saturday this is what I came up with. The princess thought it was cool and would make a neat desktop. I changed the colours this morning to the ones you see now because my wife said the ones I had weren't bright enough (I had blue and purple). I like it much better myself actually, it seems to "pop" more, as she likes to put it.
Anyway, it was fun to experiment with this, I learned a lot doing it.
Part 2 of "A Murder..." will be up tonight. Between Photoshopping and helping the princess with a school project all day yesterday I didn't get a chance to even think about it.
Posted by OldGuy at 8:09 AM | Comments (5)
March 12, 2007
He Takes a Licking and Keeps on Ticking
Or maybe you prefer "He keeps going and going and going ..." Either way, I'm still here.
As mentioned previously my arthritis has been bad lately so when I haven't been at work I've mostly avoided the computer until a few days ago. Furthermore there's that business with the lad that has sorta sucked the fun out of things so ...
Anyway, things will get better, they always do. Certainly the the weather starting to warm up is going to help, I feel like a completely different person in the summer. Last year I felt like Tom Cruise, and the year before that I felt like John Wayne. I remember the summer I felt like Groucho Marx. That was a lot of fun, especially the day we went to the races. Or the time the princess and I made duck soup.
Still not much news from the lad. He and I have exchanged a couple of e-mails but that's about it. I imagine he'll call the princess on her birthday so hopefully we'll talk to him then.
So given that I haven't had any ideas for stories or poems lately I decided to play around with Photoshop this weekend. It was fun, especially as the princess is really getting into it too. This weekend I made some patterns for my desktop and the princess tackled a glass orb. That's our work there. I'm quite proud of the princess. For an 8 year old (soon to be 9) she's pretty good. Hey, who knows, maybe she's got a future as a graphic designer. Anyway, the orb is her creation, the patterns are mine.
Cheers, and have a good day folks.
Posted by OldGuy at 10:25 AM | Comments (3)
March 2, 2007
Thing
The reason I haven't been around for a while is mainly the arthitis. My left hand was giving me a nasty time for about a week so I was in no mood to write anything. And even if I had been, typing was quite difficult for several days. Although I'm on a computer at work all day it was tough going even there. My usual hunt and peck style was more like hunt, pick up left hand, drag it slowly to keyboard, drop it on the appropriate letter, use right hand for next letter. A couple of days I just left the left hand alone, so I was left with the right hand, which was quite confusing. But at least the left hand got a little vacation. Not that it deserved one, big useless lump that it is. Quite frankly I was tempted to cut it off and send it packing. I think the right hand deserved a vacation more but it was to busy to go on one. Maybe I'll send it to Cabos next week.
Suzi, got any room in your suitcase ?
Posted by OldGuy at 9:04 AM | Comments (6)
February 12, 2007
Monday Morning Morsels
Another weekend come and gone and I managed to do ... not much. Just the way I like it these days.
Seriously though, it was a veggie weekend. I didn't watch "Pirates of the Caribbean" until Saturday night because on Friday we went to Costco and didn't get home until 8 p.m. By that time I wasn't in the mood anymore so I read for a bit and fell asleep. Saturday night the princess and her mother watched some kids movie they picked up at Blockbuster (even the princess thought it sucked) then I put "Pirates" in. I fell asleep about an hour into the movie and woke up a little later with my jaw hanging open, snoring quite loudly and drooling all over the place. Not a pretty sight. If a woman saw her man like that before she married him she probably wouldn't marry him.
Sunday we puttered about the house for a few hours then went out for dinner. When we got back my wife and the princess watched the Grammys (as opposed to grammies, which is a bunch of old ladies) while I attempted to watch "Apocalypse Now", which I hadn't seen for years. I got tired so I went to sleep.
You see the recurring theme here ? Fascinating isn't it ?
One of my cousins called on Saturday to say her sister (obviously also a cousin) died, so I have a funeral to attend this week. Although I haven't seen the aforementioned cousin for years it still hit me hard as she is the first one of my generation to go. I cried.
The princess says I cry at the drop of a hat. She's probably right.
One more thing. I have a confession to make. I've started watching "The Gilmore Girls." The princess is very worried.
Posted by OldGuy at 11:02 AM | Comments (4)
February 9, 2007
TGIF
It's Friday and I'm very glad the week is over, it's been one of the longest weeks of my life.
Work was a distraction, it kept my mind occupied for a few hours a day, although sometimes it was tough to concentrate on what I was doing. Today is quiet and I'm actually kind of glad. Although the day may feel longer I just want to rest my mind a bit.
A friend of ours and his daughter were over the day before yesterday and they stayed until 10 p.m. The girls played and the adults talked and stuff. I really enjoyed it, that too was a distraction. I've been putting off watching Pirates of the Caribbean (the 2nd one) all week so tonight I'm watching it for sure. It'll be a nice quiet evening. Maybe the princess will join me.
Speaking of the princess, she'll be 9 years old next month. I remember when she was 5, I was just taking an interest in computers and had joined CastleCops, a computer help site. I've since left the site but it was through them that I got started blogging as they had a place to keep online journals, then later the site's owner offered a bunch of us blogs. I've been at it ever since. Thanks again Paul.
The lad ? Well, he made it to New Brunswick. He got a job in a call centre (shades of the old man), starts work in a week or two. I spoke to him briefly this morning as he needed his SIN number. The conversation was short, stilted and damn hard but that's life. By the way lad, if you're reading this, it was your mother who reminded me that sending your SIN number by e-mail was a dumb idea. I was going to go ahead and do it.
Thanks to everyone who has been so supportive this week. It was greatly appreciated.
Anyway, that's it for now. Cheers and have a good weekend folks.
Posted by OldGuy at 9:50 AM | Comments (4)
January 15, 2007
Snow Day
I wish it was because there's plenty of it on the way.
We've been lucky until now. We had unusually warm temperatures in November, December and the first few days of January. What little snow we'd gotten had melted within a few hours. But today we're getting a typical Ottawa winter storm. Heavy accumulations, wind, and just generally crappy. Of course this made for very crowded buses as people who might normally walk a few blocks got on the buses, as did people who decided they'd leave their cars at home today and take the bus instead. And to make matters worse a small bus showed up at my stop rather than a big double bus and it was already pretty full so I had to stand almost all the way downtown. Ah well, at least I wasn't stuck outside like some people as the bus whizzed past them packed to the rafters.
On a completely different note I got inspired last night. Yep, got some ideas for a poem or two, maybe even a story. We'll see. And how did I get inspired you ask ? (yes, you're asking, I know you are). Why, folding laundry all by myself while listening to Neil Diamond of course. Yep, him and Stephen King seem to do it for me. It's a weird dichotomy but there it is. Anyway, I should have something new up later this week.
The lad ? He's at home taking care of himself and letting his mother cook for him. It's what he needs right now. He and I watched "Superman Returns" on the weekend and it was pretty good. He's already seen it but was happy to see it again so it was fun.
Oh, one more thing. The princess and I were in the family room on Saturday, me playing on the computer and her on her Nintendo DS. At one point I turned to say something to her and there was something about the way she was sitting, the way her hair fell over her face and her facial expression. I swear she looked older. It was neat but a little scary too, almost like I was seeing what she would look like when she's sixteen.
Posted by OldGuy at 10:10 AM | Comments (4)
January 10, 2007
That's That
Yesterday the lad officially withdrew from Trent University.
It was quite a day. We left the house at 9:15 a.m., intending to meet my brother-in-law in Perth at 10 as he had his truck and was coming with us. We arrived just a few minutes after 10 and couldn't find him at the appointed meeting spot even though he'd called us on our cell phone 5 minutes earlier to say he'd arrived. After searching the parking lot frantically for 10 minutes we spotted him just coming in. Turned out he'd gone to get us all coffee at a shop around the corner. I parked the car, the lad and I jumped into the truck, and it was off to Peterborough, where we arrived a few hours later.
We had a quick lunch, which my wife had packed, then it was off to tend to business at the registrar's office. I thought this would take about an hour but it turned into 3 hours what with paperwork and misunderstandings about deadlines but with a little persistence and friendly persuasion we eventually got things settled to our satisfaction.
Then it was back to the lad's room to pack his stuff and get it in the truck. This took another few hours. By 7:30 p.m. we were loaded up and the lad had said his goodbyes so off we went. By this time it was snowing heavily so the going was slow.
We stopped a short time later to get a bite to eat and were back on the road shortly before 9 p.m. More snow, major storm in fact, so it was very slow going for about 45 minutes, then we were out of it.
We arrived in Perth after 11 p.m., transferred most of the stuff from the truck to the car (my brother-in-law is bringing the fridge later this week) and the lad and I headed for home. As we needed gas we hunted around for a gas station only to discover that all the gas stations nearby closed at 11 p.m. I was going to take the same road I had come in on but changed my mind when I realized I was unsure which way to go (yeah Suzi me too, but it turned out for the best.) A lady at a Tim Hortons coffee shop told us we might find one open in Smiths Falls so we took a different route. We drove some more, watched the gas gauge, and started to panic. We found a gas station that looked open but was actually closed. More panicking. Found another Tim Hortons; lots of places to get coffee late at night but no gas. We finally found a gas station (the guy working there told us it's the only one open netweeen Peterborough and Ottawa after 11 p.m.) and breathed a big sigh of relief. We gassed up and headed off once again.
We arrived home around 1 a.m., unloaded the car, had a bite to eat and went to bed.
I think the lad is going to remember this trip for a very long time.
Posted by OldGuy at 10:03 AM | Comments (5)
December 1, 2006
First Day of Winter
So this is definitely the first day of winter. It's cold, it's already snowed, and now we're getting rain which is expected to turn to freezing rain. Quite a change from yesterday when it was 14 celsius (that's 60 in American). Yesterday was so warm in the morning it was hard to believe it was the end of November but today is a far different story. Still, we've been lucky that the really cold weather held off so long.
The lad came home for the weekend last night. Seems he needed a little break from school so he decided to come home for the weekend. His bus was late arriving so his mother picked him up after midnight and it was almost 1 a.m. by the time he got home. He didn't go to bed all night, seems he isn't sleeping well lately, so he stayed up and played video games. I'm sure he'll be exhausted tonight, I know I am and I at least got a few hours sleep.
Tomorrow is my employer's annual children's Christmas party and the princess is anxious to go. They always put together a nice party and the kids really enjoy it. Speaking of Christmas I got an idea for a Christmas story this morning so I think I'll go with that one for now. It should be up by Sunday, hopefully you'll enjoy it.
Anyway, it's Friday afternoon, the phones have quieted down, and I'm tired, so I think I'll have a nap.
If anyone from work is reading this I'm kidding about the nap.
Posted by OldGuy at 2:40 PM | Comments (4)
November 25, 2006
I Got An Idea
With the way things have been lately I haven't come been able to come with any stories or poems.
Then yesterday things started to click and now I think I might have something.
It'll be a couple of days but I should have a story up soon.
It feels good to be back in the saddle again.
Posted by OldGuy at 2:58 PM
November 24, 2006
I Stink
So, are things looking up around the old homestead ? Well, let's just say they're not as bad as they could be. The lad is still in school and we'll be seeing him at Christmas. Hopefully we'll hash out a few issues then. I was pretty sick last weekend too but I'm feeling a little better now. Not fantastic but better. There are a few other things going on that have been on my mind a lot too but unfortunately I can't discuss them here. Let's just say I've been very preoccupied lately.
On another note, I stink.
The first clue came a few days ago when I was on the bus. A yound lady who rides the same bus I do every morning and always get off at the same stop was sitting right next to me. But instead of getting off at her usual stop she got off a few stops early. At first I thought she got off because she had to go pee really bad and was looking for a washroom but then I remembered that I got off at that stop once looking for a bathroom and couldn't find one, so that couldn't be it. Then I thought "maybe I stink."
Then this morning, I leaned over to give my daughter a kiss before leaving home and she said "Daddy, you stink." (and yes I'd had a shower).
So there you have it, I stink.
Posted by OldGuy at 12:48 PM | Comments (5)
October 31, 2006
Posted by OldGuy at 1:04 PM | Comments (3)
October 18, 2006
Just Something I Made
I was playing with Photoshop last night and made this thing. I have no idea what it is but it looks cool so I thought I'd post it. The neat thing is I can change the way the gold colour loops around the brown ring for a completely different effect or change the colours altogether. Blue and gold actually looks pretty cool too but I went with these because they're the colours of my scroll bar and of my old header. If you can think of a name for it let me know.
On another note, today is a fairly warm day here. It was actually a pleasant surprise to step outside this morning and feel that the temperature had gone up a few degrees. It won't last long though, in fact I expect it will have cooled down considerably by the time I leave work tonight.
The lad is coming home again this Friday. He'll be here for a week and then it's back to University until Christmas. We're looking forward to having him, especially for a whole week.
Anyway, not much else going on right now so cheerio until next time.
Posted by OldGuy at 1:35 PM | Comments (2)
September 10, 2006
Sunday Morning Musings
It's been a roller coaster ride of a week.
As reported earlier this week, the lad is off to university, and this week has been a bit of a tough one for us all.
We all miss him, the place isn't quite the same without him around. On Wednesday night I watched one of our favourite shows, one we always watched together, and it didn't seem quite as much fun as usual. Not that he and I talk much when we watch something together, but it's just a feeling you get, like "yeah, this is alright, I was looking forward to a bit of down time and chilling out together." We've heard from him almost every day and he seems to be enjoying his new life and adapting well.
Good for him. All I want is for him to be happy.
On a somewhat similar note, a friend of mine has gone AWOL. I believe she's around someplace but for the moment her whereabouts are unknown. Take care my friend.
Hey, the princess is in Grade three this year. I don't know about you but I seem to remember Grade three as one of the biggies. You know, you're kinda starting to get it when it comes to girls and boys but you'd rather still play with your friends because you don't want anybody thinking you actually like girls. Or boys, if you're a girl. Anyway, she also has a new teacher, apparently a nice young fella. Hot too from what I hear. Yes, the princess thinks he's hot. I told her she shouldn't even know what that means !
What else is new ?
I'm finally back to work full time, although this week was still only four days so it sorta doesn't count. Next week is five days and I have a feeling I'll be exhausted by Friday.
The weather has started to cool down quite significantly this week. It's been sunny and all that, and one day it even got warm enough for a thunderstorm to brew up but for the most part the temperatures are on their way down. Of course Indian summer is still to come, so hopefully there's a little more warm weather left.
The pictures are more of those Chuck E. Cheese things, got these ones when we were on holidays a few weeks ago. Hey, you gotta admit they turn out alright for cheapie photos.
Oh yeah, one more thing. The spammers have been particularly active the last couple of weeks so I've had to close comments on the older entries. As it stands now you can comment on entries going back to mid-JuneJune but that's it.
Anyway, that's it for now. Take care and have a great week folks.
Posted by OldGuy at 2:06 PM | Comments (6)
August 16, 2006
All's Quiet on the Home Front
So the nights are starting to get a bit cooler and the sun is rising later and setting sooner. I guess it's mainly the cooler nights that signal the wane of summer. Seems like just a couple of weeks ago that we were getting record high temperatures, in fact it was a few weeks ago. My how time flies !
Not much new around here. Still getting ready to send the lad off to university, and of course the princess is starting school soon, grade 3 to be exact. She's getting a new teacher this year, apparently a very nice fella. My wife met him this summer, so she's looking forward to that. I don't think she's particularly anxious to start though as she's had a pretty good summer so far, made some new friends, had more freedom than previous years, etc.
We'll be on holidays for two weeks starting this Friday so we'll make our annual trek to Toronto, go to Wonderland and stuff. My wife has also checked out some new restaurants so I'm looking forward to that !
Other than that it's been relatively quiet around here. I did put up a new OG logo in the sidebar again so check it out, it's the embroidered look.
Ta ta for now.
Posted by OldGuy at 11:29 AM | Comments (3)
July 6, 2006
Still At Home
I'm still kinda itchy tonight. I went to see my doctor a few days ago and he no longer believes I have shingles, he thinks it's an allergy or some sort of skin problem so I'm on a much stronger cortisone cream; it's supposed to clear up the rash, at least temporarily, but he's also making some referrals so I can find out exactly what is causing it. The arthritis management is also being kicked up a couple of notches. Hopefully all this will work itself out soon. In the meantime I'm still at home resting and spending time with my family.
I haven't written much lately but I've been continuing to work on my Photoshop skills. You can see another experiment here. This is my first try at a 3D object. The pictures are from my son's commencement again. The one on the left is the lad and his mother, the one one the right is the lad, the princess, their great-grandmother (my wife's grandmother) and yours truly. I tried to get a picture on the top of the cube too but no matter how hard I tried the picture would look terribly distorted when I fitted it in so I decided to add the date instead. It doesn't look too bad and it's a nice memento.
I know I promised you folks "Signs of Summer" a while back but as I've said many times before, I don't feel very inspired when I'm under the weather. I've been giving it some thought though and it's coming soon. Can't have only three seasons in the series eh ?
Anyway, that's all for now. I'll be doing some blog visiting this weekend so I'll drop in on some of you.
Cheers, and take care.
Posted by OldGuy at 10:04 PM | Comments (4)
June 27, 2006
Keeping Busy
Well, I'm into my second week at home and I'm getting as much rest as I can. The arthritis hasn't been too bad the last few days, which is good as another problem has cropped up. If it isn't one thing it's another. Ah well, hopefully everything will work out soon. I've been giving a lot of thought to how the arthritis has affected my life, and it's pretty much crept into every aspect of it, which makes sense since you really need to be able to give even the smallest chores a modicum of thought and effort and often weariness or pain would get in the way. The only good thing about it is that you really learn to appreciate a day without pain.
On another note, the lad had his graduation dinner and party last night (tomorrow is the commencement ceremony for family and friends). He wore a tuxedo and he looked like a million bucks. Our neighbour drove him and a couple of friends to the dinner in his new black mustang, so they arrived in style. It was a late evening and my wife picked the kids up at 2 a.m. so I stayed up so she wouldn't be alone.
And on yet another note, someone confessed to the killing of the young girl who was murdered in our community last year. I blogged about the event then as it really affected me, as it did a lot of people. Of course there's still the trial to go but already there is a sense of relief at this turn of events.
The logo ? Well, I'm a big Pepsi drinker and I had to keep my mind busy yesterday so I decided to try this one. It was a real learning experience as there were a lot of techniques I'd never tried before involved in doing it. Think I'll have a nice cold one now !
Posted by OldGuy at 6:51 PM | Comments (1)
June 19, 2006
Untitled Because I haven't Got a Clue What to Call This Post
I guess the "non-title" works. What do you think ?
I wasn't here yesterday as it was Father's Day and I spent most of the day with the princess. My wife was feeling under the weather and my son was studying for an exam so we spent all day together. We did manage to eat brunch and dinner as a family, but again, my wife really wasn't up to it and the lad had to get back to studying. Anyway, to recap the day, the princess awakened me around 8:45 and led me upstairs for a tub, complete with coffee and cookies, then after that we played outside for a few hours. Then it was brunch, which my wife and I made together. Then back outside to play in the sprinkler and then we went to see the movie "Cars." When we got home we got Chinese food and had a lovely dinner. My son did get me a lovely card and gift certificates for Chapters (that's a bookstore) and Starbucks so I can go and browse and sit and relax at the same time. After dinner we vegged out and then it was time for bed. All in all a good day, albeit an exhausting one.
I'm not sure where the rest of this post is going so please bear with me.
I'm taking a little time off work to deal with a few things, primarily the impact arthritis has had on my life and where I'm at right now. I'm sure things will be fine but for the moment I'm feeling a little unsettled.
Speaking of being unsettled, I'm having a hard time coming up with ideas for stories or poems at the moment. I've said before that the ideas come easily when I'm feeling on top of the world but I have to struggle for them when I'm feeling down. I know things will get better but it's very frustrating nonetheless because writing is what I like to do and when the ideas won't come it feels like just one more thing that's broken.
At dinner last night my fortune cookie said that I always look for the greater meaning behind things, and my wife commented how true that is. I guess I do tend to do that and sometimes I wish I didn't. I mean seriously, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, but me, I want to know who made it, what they were thinking at the time, are they happy, do they listen to same music I do, what do they think when they see the stars at night, etc. ?
I've had this line in my head for months, "There is a peacefulness", and I wish I knew what to do with it. I don't know if it's the start of a story, or the middle, or the end, or if it's a line in a poem but it won't go away. I have a vague feeling it's part of a story and I've had a glimmer of how it's supposed to go but that's about it. Hopefully I'll figure it out soon.
Anyway, I gotta go. I have laundry to fold and Neil Diamond to listen to.
Posted by OldGuy at 12:53 PM | Comments (8)
February 9, 2006
Busy, Busy
Well, it been another busy week and I've barely had time to get to the tree house.
Work was quite hectic this week and home life, well, there's always something to do, what with the princess being in Grade 2 this year and the young lad having a part-time job. Yeah, believe it or not, when your kids get a job your life gets busier. I guess it's because there's one less person in the house to keep the princess busy. Truth be told we'd kind of gotten used to asking the lad to keep an eye on his sister when we had things to do. We still do, just not as often.
I've also been playing around with graphics some more when I can find the time. Haven't really made much, mostly just trying stuff out to see what things do. I started working on a litttle masking project last night and if it turns out I'll post it on the weekend.
Of course with all this stuff going on I haven't had much chance to work on those stories I keep promising so I guess I better get cracking before I forget them. I had a really neat dream last night and was going to turn it into a story but by the time I got up this morning I'd forgotten it. Hopefully it'll come back to me.
Anyway, back to work, so see you folks soon.
Posted by OldGuy at 10:28 AM | Comments (2)
January 25, 2006
A Tribute
We've been watching the program "Eight Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughters" for the last few months. We never saw it when it first aired but the family channel has the reruns every night and my daughter absolutely loves it, as we all do.
The last two nights they ran the episodes where the father dies. As you know, John Ritter, a wonderful actor who played the father, died in real life.
These were very tough episodes to watch because they so much reminded me of my father's death. Out of the blue. Totally unexpected. Same for my wife, in fact even more so because her father was in his forties when he died.
What I liked about the show was how the father was shown to be such an important part of the family. Here was a guy who was involved in every aspect of his children's lives and sometimes they loved him for it and sometimes they hated him for it but in the end they always loved him.
And he was just doing his best to raise his kids to be good, decent human beings because he loved them. Even when he got mad at them he loved them. And he always did what he had to do, no matter whether it made him happy or hurt him deeply.
Because he was dad and that's what dads do.
And yes, moms too.
Posted by OldGuy at 1:58 PM | Comments (1)
Transparency and the PNG format
I discovered this morning that IE doesn't support PNG alpha transparency ( I use Firefox). I should've tested this last night but I was so excited that I'd figured out how to do make an image transparent it that I just plain forgot. Also, I'm just learning graphics so there's lots I don't know yet.
So if you're using FF the images I posted yesterday have a transparent background but if you're using IE it's blue-grey.
Fortunately a fix exists, I just Googled for it. It's a bit complicated but not impossible.
The other option would be to change the background colour I suppose but I'll have to do it tonight when I get home.
Or maybe since I know how to do it now and it's not that important anyway I'll just move on and fix it next time I have to.
Question though. To those of you who make graphics, what do most of you use for the background. Transparency or matte ? Also, I'm still using trial versions of various programs so would like to know which one most of you prefer ?
Posted by OldGuy at 9:04 AM | Comments (4)
January 19, 2006
Afraid of the Dark
The princess has been going through a bit of a phase lately, she's afraid of the dark. She never used to be afraid of the dark but lately well, she gets scared. I think it may have something to do with stories she's heard at school, the kids talk lately about their school being haunted, and their houses too, etc.
We've been dealing with this for a while now and sometimes it can be a bit frustrating, like when she follows me around the house at night, going up and down the stairs right behind me because she's afraid to be left alone on any level of the house.
Anyway, I was thinking about our predicament this morning, and how every reassurance we've offered her that's there's nothing to be afraid of has fallen on deaf ears when I remembered something I read a few years ago, written by a father going through the same thing.
The fellow told his daughter that there was nothing in the dark to be afraid of and she calmly replied "You don't understand, I'm not afraid of your dark, I'm afraid of my dark."
It made me realize that she's going to be afraid for a while and nothing I can say will change that, because she's a kid, like I once was.
Posted by OldGuy at 3:02 PM | Comments (4)
January 16, 2006
Yesterday and Today
Sorry for the lack of musings yesterday folks but it was busy day around the house and I was also trying to create a favicon (still trying) when I was able to get at the computer.
As for today, I'm at work right now so kinda busy and my son called a while ago to say the monitor on the home computer died so I won't be posting from there for a couple of days either.
See you soon.
Posted by OldGuy at 2:09 PM | Comments (1)
October 18, 2005
Cleaning House
No, it's not a mommy post, not that there's anything wrong with that.
I figured out the problem I was having viewing my blog in Firefox was due to junk on the computer. I'm usually pretty good at keeping stuff off, I run several anti-spyware apps but I've been lazy about it the last few months and with 4 people using the machine there was bound to be some crap on it.
Anyway last night I gave it a thourough cleaning, ran Adaware, Spybot, antivurus, checkdisc, and defrag.
This morning I turned it on and instead of going "yeah, yeah, hold your horses, can't you see I'm busy here ?" it sat right up and went "yes sir, I'm ready sir, just tell me what you want done."
So I turned it off again and went and had a coffee, that was just too much enthusiasm for me at 6 o'clock in the morning. Maybe when I get home I'll purposely download some spyware again because now the freakin thing is scaring me.
Seriuosly though if you ever need any help with this kind of stuff check Castlecops out. The link is in the sidebar too. They do a great job and I'm happy to recommend them, especially since I know people there. They also have a bunch of stuff you can download to protect against and clean out the nasties.
Plus they're nice folks.
I had a thought earlier but I forgot it was so I can't tell you. Too bad, it was funny. Oh well, maybe I'll tell it to you tomorrow. Or maybe I'll never remember it and have to tell you something else instead, I don't know, I'm like that sometimes.
So I guess I'll go now because that's pretty much it, I have nothing else today, guess I'm brain dead from last night.
Oh hey, some people just started decorating the office for Halloween so that's cool.
One more plug, I love this blog, it's on the blog roll too and I featured it in This is Good a few weeks ago. Go have a look.
Posted by OldGuy at 1:07 PM | Comments (5)
September 16, 2005
More Thoughts, Random Ones, Because They Were Spilling Out
I was walking the last little stretch to work this morning when I noticed a lot of sewer drains have a fish symbol on them. What's that supposed to mean ? Fish here ? I don't think so.
Then I noticed that others had the Bell Canada (that's our phone company) symbol. No holes to let the water in, just the symbol. So I'm thinking that's where all the payphones went. Unobtrusive but inconvenient. Maybe they figured most people have cell phones anyway so they would punish those who don't by putting the phone booths underground. Under big heavy manhole covers. Teach them a lesson. Get a cell phone.
On a completely different note, I found out a few weeks ago I have hypo someting or another, low blood sugars. Have you ever had your blood sugar go low ? You sweat and shake and feel really stupid, like your brain just switched to low gear. Like I needed another reason to look stupid. Seriously though, my son (the diabetic) gets this sometimes so now I know how it feels.
I'm updating the categories on the blog this weekend because they don't seem quite right anymore. Might add an about page too. I know, I know, you're all dying to know a bit more about the OldGuy, I can tell. Anyway, we'll see.
Yes, the redesign is coming. The person doing it is attending to personal matters right now.
Maybe I should change the title of this post to Friday Morning Musings because they're just like thoughts you know, but that might spoil the whole Sunday Morning Musings thing so maybe not, maybe I'll just leave it as is, it's just that I think about stuff sometimes and I can't wait until Sunday because I'm really excited or I might forget since I forget stuff really easy, it must be my age or maybe it just leaks out, I don't know.
Whew !!
On a final note, the police have called off the search for the girl. Doesn't mean they're giving up, just that they've searched the area as thoroughly as they can and come up empty. So now they switch to looking over any evidence and tips they've gathered. Sorry to end this post on such a somber note but I had to mention that.
Anyway, have a great Friday and a fantastic weekend.
Posted by OldGuy at 9:52 AM | Comments (12)
September 11, 2005
Sunday Morning Musings
Okay I know it's Sunday afternoon, cut me a break already !
Sunday morning musings are usually funny but today is an exception I'm afraid. Please read on.
Yesterday would have been my dad's 75 birthday but he died in 1995, about a month after my mom died. It didn't really hit me yesterday, maybe because we were kinda busy but today I've had a little time to myself, and well, "I miss you dad, mom too, hope you're both doing okay."
They played a couple of Elvis Presley songs on the radio this morning, Suspicious Minds and In the Ghetto. Great songs, absolutely great, definitely two of his best.
Guess who got misty again ?
Speaking of getting misty though, today was a day for that. Besides missing my parents today is also the anniverssary of 9/11 of course. Nobody will ever forget that day, I certainly won't. I remember exactly where I was when I first heard the news and watching the television all day the horror just kept getting worse by the minute.
Closer to home we have another reason to cry today. An 18 year old girl from the neighbourhood went missing Friday night. She hasn't been seen since she left Wendy's just after her evening shift to walk home. Today the police were looking for volunteers to canvas streets in the neighbourhood so my wife and I went for a few hours. They asked people to stop around 2 p.m., apparently because they are overwhelmed with information. No news of her whereabouts yet.
As a parent this is my worst nightmare, and to have it happen in our quiet sleepy neighbourhood just hits too damn close. This girl lived a couple of streets over, in fact I take the bus to work every day a few blocks from her home. Okay, she may turn up alive but right now the official police position is that foul play is suspected.
So if you have kids give them an extra hug and kiss before bed tonight and thank God you still have them because they can be snatched away from you in an instant.
As can your parents.
Anyway, take care folks, hope your day is a good one.
Posted by OldGuy at 3:24 PM | Comments (9)
August 31, 2005
Off For A Few Days
And finally, I'm going to be on vacation for the next 4-5 days again, a little mini-holiday.
If we stick around town I may post something otherwise I won't be around until Sept. 6th or 7th.
Like the last time, I'm leaving the door unlocked so feel free to drop in, have a party, whatever.
Just one more thing to ask though. The last time I came back I found a squirrel passed out underneath one of the big chairs. Come on folks, I don't mind if you have a party, heck the place was nice and clean the last time, but don't give these little fellas liquor, that's worse than feeding them. The little bugger's drank my entire collection of airline bottles !
Posted by OldGuy at 12:51 PM | Comments (9)
BoTB Again
It seems the old complaints about Battle of the Blogs continue to make the rounds. Ive read a few blogs this week that discuss BoTB and make several claims about it being unfair, etc.
Having battled for a few months now and won a few I would like to address some of the complaints I've read and hopefully (but not likely) put them to rest.
1.) You have to have a custom design.
My template is the same old default I started with a few months ago and while I'm sure it has been a factor in some battles I've done okay with it so far. I even read a comment by Tony where he says his template is not too fancy either and he's tough competition.
I do hope to get a custom template soon but it's not because I need one it's because I want one, it'll make my blog look nicer.
2.) You have to have pictures of naked women
I don't have any and I never will. Enough said about that.
3.) You have to hang around the Shout Box and make friends and ask them to vote for you.
I've made some friends in the Shout Box but I've never asked anyone to vote for me and never will. Enough said about that too.
4.) You have to leave a lot of comments on other people's blogs.
Yep, I do this. A lot of them also leave comments on my blog. It's called being friendly and showing an appreciation for stuff you like.
5.) If none of the above works, nothing will.
Actually, writing stuff people want to read and making them laugh or cry or smile or whatever works pretty good.
Posted by OldGuy at 11:28 AM | Comments (13) | TrackBack (0)
August 27, 2005
Sunday Morning Musings
Questions and reminiscences might be a better title but ...
If a priest invites people over for dinner and he runs out of regular wine can he serve sacramental wine or is that a sin ? If he does serve it, what happens to the people who drink it, do they become holier than thou ? Maybe there's a ritual for unblessing it before serving it ?
Years ago, when I was a kid we knew a priest who loved to drink. My dad used to say he especially loved going over to the local judge's house to drink and play poker. Yeah, a priest and a judge and a few other guys would get loaded and play poker once a week. Says a lot about that little town. My dad only ever went once. I'd like to think he won money but somehow I remember he got in trouble with my mom so he probably lost.
I rememember my dad telling me that one time he went to a Purple Jesus party. In case you've never heard of it, a Purple Jesus party is where everybody who comes to the party brings some booze and they dump it all in a big tub or a nice new garbage can and everybody drinks from it. This concoction usually ends up looking purple but I'm not sure what Jesus has to do with it unless it's that the next morning you're so sick you're on your knees praying for death.
Father What's-His-Name apparently loved Purple Jesus parties. So did the judge.
Father What's-His-Name's sermons were always about the same thing. Every week he'd met somebody who was "cracked in the head", meaning they didn't believe in God so he converted them. Every week. Week after week. And then he'd come to church on Sunday and regale the congretation with the details of the conversion. In excruciating detail. Going on and on and on.
One time he came over to the house and my dad told him that if the sermon dragged on too long the following Sunday dad would get up and walk out. Sure enough, come Sunday Father What's-His-Name is preaching the sermon and not paying attention to how long he's been talking and dad walks out.
The sermons were shorter after that and my dad was a hero with everybody except my mom, who was really ticked off.
On a completely different note, our son is back from diabetes camp. He was gone for two weeks and judging by the stories and the slide show he brought back he had a fantastic time.
We're glad he's home, the house doesn't feel quite so empty now.
BTW, this edition of Sunday Morning Musings should really be called Sunday Middle of the Night Musings because I woke up in the middle of the night and wrote this post. I do that a lot. Am I the only person who does this ?
One other thing, I think there's some laundry to fold but I'm going back to bed because folding laundry at 4 a.m.would definitely be weird.
Posted by OldGuy at 8:40 PM | Comments (7)
August 25, 2005
Photo Blogs
I usually don't get involved in these discussions but I couldn't let this one go.
I read a post on someone's blog earlier today to the effect that a photo blog without commentary is just a photo album, nothing more.
Well, I strongly disagree and I'm sure you know why. As I stated previously I took a photography course once but wasn't much good at it so gave it up BUT I love a beautiful image, it inspires me.
In fact most of my poems and stories are based on images I have seen, either in person, or in a photograph.
So as far as I'm concerned, no commentary is needed. In fact, I'll make up my own, it's much more fun because I can let my imagination run wild.
Posted by OldGuy at 4:02 PM | Comments (17)
August 23, 2005
A Revelation
I had a revelation this morning while I was in the tub. At least I think it was a revelation, it sure felt like one, left me sobbing and wondering why I hadn't seen it before.
First a little history.
A couple of months ago I wrote a post called I Can Make It Better. It was about a dream I had several years ago and how sometimes life gets rough but how God also speaks to us.
Anyway, read it if you're interested.
This morning I was thinking about writing and blogging and stuff and how much I enjoy it and suddenly it hit me !
For years I've been thinking about that dream and wondering if the tornado represented just one bad thing or if it was all the bad things lumped together; also, i