Swiming lessings, Babysitting, wandering around etc

So Lucas had his first swiming lesson today. By swiminig lesson I mean Mom went in the pool with him and a whole lot of other kids and parents and he giggled and splashed and got used to the water. There was this floating thing with hoops that kids were meant to crawl through. Lucas crawled a bit, and then figured out it was like a surf board and got up and stood. Anyway, he loved the water, figured it was a gigantic bath with little buddies to play with and generally had a grand old time. I did not join Christine and Lucas in the water. No one really needs to see me in a bathing suit, certainly not at 8:30am on a Saturday. Though who knows, if the gym works out a bit, mb I'll join them, in a month or 3.

This afternoon Thérèse, Chris' Mom came and babysat. We were going to see a movie, but figured we would rather wander around and eat lunch. There is basically no film out right now that we want to see and it was just fun to hang out together. Sadly we wound up looking at clothes for Lucas, but we both managed to see stuff for ourselved and it was grand.

Gym, walking etc

So the gym is hard. Harder than I would care to admit. I have utterly wimped out on the bench press for several reasons 1) my ego will not allow me to lift just the bar. Just the bar is really all I can safely lift. 2) it fills me with dread 3) I have a fear of having my head lopped off.

In other news Lucas' new favorite thing is walking. We go for a walk on Prince Arthur Street (a section of which is closed to traffic) and today we stopped at McGill University's park like area and walked about for 45 minutes. It is lovely. He walks I follow, or he grabs my hand or whatever he can reach (being that he is crotch hight, I spend a lot of time wishing he would grow).

He also is in love with all vehicles that suck or clean. The day before yesterday he almost left the park on his own, in hot (or lukewarm) pursuit of a street cleaning machine. It was grand. Well until he fell on his butt. Why does that never seem to hurt him?

Stuff, possibly things, but always Stuff.

I've been busy a bit, with watch Lucas be Lucas and trying to figure out if this is regular Lucas behavior or Lucas behavior due to knocking his noggin. This paranoia is receding and I am starting to act like less of a chicken about him. His bruises on his little noggin are a nice light yellowy brown and he is fine.

Today we went to the park and were meant to be playing on slides etc (which we did) but then a street cleaner truck went by. Slides and such cannot compete. So we collected the stroller and took off in pursuit. But this time Lucas walked. It was totally cool. We went to Prince Arthur, a pedestrian street with restos etc, and he walked along looking at stuff. More fun than, well, anything that is a lot of fun. The fountain that is on the street was a source of great excitement, so much so that I thought we were going swimming. Anyway... it was pretty cool.

Fall down go boom and other cautionary tales.

Things you should know: Babies learn to run. Fast.
Babies don't have fear. At all.
Babies can get past you and fall down the stairs in the blink of a fucking eye.

Lucas is fine, but he insisted on proving all of these points on Thursday night. The gate was open, backs were turned and wham.. down the stairs. He never bled, never lost consciousness, didn't break anything etc etc. That said for the next week when ever he cries I will basically flip out. He has some very exciting bruises on his noggin and is a bit more tired than normal. But other than that he is his usual rambunctious self.

When we came into the emergency at Hopital Ste-Justine we were scared and freaking out. The people there are so soothing and professional that we were feeling better just being there. When we came through the waiting room a woman was heard to say "Great, another head injury. Now we'll have to wait some more." I would have said something nasty to her, but what in the hell could I have said that would make her life any more miserable than it already clearly is?

Anyway, so far so good, he seems fine and happy.. but holy doodle I am looking into grafting a parachute onto his back.

Birthday parties, THE DREADED GYM and other random goodness

So, we survived Lucas' first birthday party relativly intact. Though we made what may well be the worst looking cake ever. Well, not really, but consider this: It started out life as a Thomas the Tank Engine cake and wound up being a pig like cartoon creature.

Anyway, I pity anyone trying to buy toys in Montreal, since they all seem to be in our house.

Yesterday was my orientation/how not to kill myself with the gym equipment visit to the gym. My trainer was a very nice woman named Annie-France who could easily fold me in half and then throw me through a window. So we went around and looked at everything and she is coming up with a printed program thing that will be waiting for me tomorrow. Tomorrow being Wed. Or the day from hell.

Only time will tell. ß

Birthdays, Painting, and Panelizing.

So, yesterday was Lucas' birthday. Which he celebrated by refusing to take a morning nap, starting to teeth some more and generally being a poopy-head (note: hanging out with babies does nothing good for your vocabulary). Seriously though, it hardly seems real that he is a year old. It really feels like yesterday when we brought him home from the hospital, exhausted and happy.

A story: When I turned 18 I was working my summer job, which that year was a labourer for the City of Beaconsfield. On my birthday, the old guys I worked with (they were probably my age now) told me that between 18 and 40 time flew. I thought they were mental. So far it has turned out to be among the most true things anyone has ever said.

Anyway, I'm painting some trim in Lucas' room today and I am reminded of two things: 1) I really suck at painting 2) It takes too damn long. Plus Lucas has to stay in his bed while I do it, to avoid any "helping papa" related accidents.

Finally, the panel I was on was last night. There is always the risk that I will make an ass of myself, and I was very pleased to, well, not. The two other panelists have TONS more experience than I do. Claude has done LMS and education stuff with all sorts of organizations and is really knowledgeable. Nathalie is the same; hell she even developed her own LMS from scratch. Anyway I did well; I guess I actually know what I am talking about.

So, Lucas' room is pretty much done, aside for some drawer handles and pulls for his cupbord (ordered from Lee Valley), some trim and a wee bit of painting. So like 2 hours work total.

On to drywalling under the stairs: several hours later it is done. I pulled wire to put in the lights, which we will do later this week, put up the drywall we have and then cleaned up. I am baked, and now I have to do some Internship stuff. SCORM is a tool of satan.

So, I go to blogs and politics sites sometimes (by which I mean hourly). Recently I read about vid footage of a protestor at the RNC being kicked by a republian delegate once she was handcuffed and wrestled to the ground. Things have gotten so polarized that people were like "bitch got what she deserved!". I would very much like off this ride now.

More Big Store Fun

So, after the joy that was IKEA and the wonderment of plumbing, we went off to Home Depot today. Lucas got suprise babysitting from Grandma Daviault and off we went. A hundred and something dollars later we came home and started doing some more house stuff. Handles for Chris' closet. Finish work on Lucas' closet doors, a ironing board/iron holder dealy.

Anyway, all this to say I am pooped, and still up, just finishing some web stuff for my internship. Web design is a tool of satan. I understand that underlying it all is code and that the code has to make sense to the browser and that the code and the browsers interactions are goverened by standards. I get all this but WYSIWYG is utter bullshit. It's more like What You See Might Be What You Get. If it is going to fuck up in a browser, then why for the love of all thing sacred did you let me do it in Dreamweaver in the first place. Plus (again, I know that the standards and code dictate this) some one has to come up with stronger typograpical controls that mere mortals can understand.

In other news I'm going to be part of a panel this Wednesday, discussing the purchase/pit falls of same and uses of Learning Mangement Systems (LMS). I'm pretty excited, not the least of which because the panel is being held at the Sun Life Building. I love this building. It is from an era when they built big buildings but actually thought about them lasting more than a week or so. Not my favorite building in Montreal (that would be a toss up between these two) but very near the top of my list. I've never been any where but in the lobby of it, so I am very excited.

Hockey wonderment and plumbing

Canada just beat Russia 3 - 1 in the Hockey World Cup. For my American friends this is like oh.. nothing you can even begin to imagine. Like the Cubs and the Yankees forming a team that won the World Series.. and then swept to victory in the Superbowl. Almost.

Anyway, so far Team Canada has a perfect record. Which is nice. Plus their goals for and goals against is insane - I could look it up, but I am too lazy.

In other news I finally got around to fixing the leaky faucet in the basement. Which means no plyers will be involved in tomorrows shower. That is a good thing.

Trudeauian Dream, IKEA trek and more drug news

So, last night we were getting ready for bed and there were orange blinking lights outside our window, being a nozy twit I looked. There was a City of Montreal road crew painting lines on the street or something. The crew was made up of a black guy with a shaved head, a black guy with corn rows and a muslim woman with a scarf covering her head. All of them were talking to each other in French.

Somewhere Pierre Elliot Trudeau is very very happy.

In other news. IKEA needs to lobby for an extension of the Metro. Because waiting for the 100 or 202 bus sucks really bad. Waiting for it with a grumpy baby is worse. Waiting for it with a grumpy baby when both adults are dead on their feet is total ass. I suppose that one of us could get a drivers licence, but that seems drastic, better the City of Montreal embarks on a multi-billion dollar Metro expansion project.

So Christine is off today, the last Friday she will be unless something changes at work. So the bunch of us went to the park, the newly renoed one just south of us. When we got there I did my usual walk down of the sand box area. Today I found a bunch of little ziplock baggies, with dollar signs etc printed on them. As well I found the cover from a syringe. At the picnic bench there were two guys who looked to be seperating thier drugs and shooting up. I took pics of the crap on the ground. I'll be popping by the police station a bit later on today.

Less nice park = nicer people?

So I went to the park that is just north of here... I need to draw a map mb. Anyway, we got there and LO! no drug dealers. Also no junkies. We were, in fact alone. Then a nice nanny came with her charges and a mom showed up with her kid. It was quite nice. I still don't like the park, it is so 1990.

We're going to IKEA today, to look at some shelving for me, a couple of ottomans with storage in them and mb a sofa. Getting to IKEA is one of the few experiences that makes me want to have a car. To get there you have to take a the train to Dorval (which means metro ride) and then take a bus out of Dorval to the highway and then walk like a half KM. Then get back on the same bus and go to the metro and come home. Bah.

Urban can be not fun.

So Lucas and I go to the park most days. Usually in the morning after I feed him breakfast (Lucas is my almost 1 year old son by the way). So, some mornings we see park usuals, some mornings we see new parent/kid combos, some morning we see sleeping homeless people.. yesterday morning we saw drug dealers. 5 of them.

Some background. People at around Berri metro got annoyed with all the dealers. So the police got some funding for cameras and stuck them up, with the intention of driving them out of the area. It worked. Instead of being confined in a mostly commercial area with nice sight lines for anyone to see drug dealers coming a mile away, they are now up in my neighborhood. Your can read more about this at: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n582/a09.html.

Anyway, yesterday we get to the park and two guys walk in, one in a very nice shirt and jeans and one (slightly larger) guy in track pants and a t-shirt with a backpack. They sit down on a picnic bench and a few minutes later a guy shows up on his bike, followed a few minutes later by a very dopey looking guy on foot. Apparently Mr. Dopey (I can call him names, because, well I am safe at my computer) is late, or didn't make quota or whatever, because Mr. Trackpants starts yelling at him and pushing him around. After a bit of this he leaves (Mr. Dopey, not trackpants, because my guess Trackpants is what is colorfully known as "muscle") the guy on the bike leaves but pauses as he goes by to apologize to me for the near fight. It occurs to me that he should apologize for dealing drugs and conducting business out of children's play ground, but I thought better of this suggestion.

Anyway, he comes back with another guy on a bike and a few minutes later a guy pulls up in a little white car and there is a flurry of exchanges and then everyone goes on about their day. So last night's take gets given to the boss, and everyone restocks and I'm left having fantasies in my head like that scene in High Fidelity with the A/C unit.

Then we went home and Lucas had a nap and I stewed.

Graphics fun

So, because god has forsaken me, I have just finished taking graphics that were in a PowerPoint presentation, then copied into Word out of the Word doc and into Photoshop. Why you ask? BECAUSE GOD HAS FORSAKEN ME! Aren't you paying attention.

This is not the first time I have had to do this. Why is it so hard for people to understand that you actually need the real image file to do real image work? Ok, sure Word embeds the file, but it never looks as pretty. Ever.

Feh I say.