The Flight of Time

Ok.. so things are progressing, at their usual light speed.

The house is like 75% done... there are still boxes all over the damn place, but we know where a lot of them are going and have to move some stuff to get them away. Christine's armoir's are upstairs.. so the closet portion of her little room/refuge/hiding spot is pretty much done (she lacks shoe storage–but we'll take care of that shortly). My office still has boxes and other icky wonderment in it. That said, it also has a little play corner for Lucas, complete with table and chairs etc... he hasn't totally worked it out, but it's coming.

The living room/dining room area is almost there. At first we were going to use the stereo unit etc as a divider to separate the room into the two distinct areas. Then we realized that:

1. It looked like a dorm room set up.
2. Lucas likes wires way too much.
3. It made the room look tiny.
4. We are addicted to TV, especially the news, and not being able to see the idiot box from the dining table was burning our soul.

So we moved the stereo TV unit against the outside wall and suddenly the room looked huge again. All this happened while Lucas was asleep. So yesterday morning he came rushing down the hall to the living room and came to a cartoon like skidding stop (all that was missing was the puff of dust), took one look around and announced "BRAVO" and hopped on the sofa.

We're going to do some outside work this weekend on Saturday. I'm planning some kind of Zeny thing for the front yardlet (7' X 14' hardly seems like a yard). So we're going to have to get some topsoil to regrade, river rocks, gardening membrane (looks like felt, isn't) and some other stuff... I need to rip up the sod and perhaps turn the existing top soil... our real estate agents are going to drop off a tree to replace the one that the old owner took (his dead father planted it–one does not mess with sentiment). Should be hard but fun. On the outside tip, the day will start with us drilling a vent hole for the dryer... that should be um.. scary as hell.

Finally, for now, I finally got my MA advisor to get it that my life was too busy to finish this semester. I sent him an email that said, in part "at this point a full-time job trumps an MA". We've agreed to talk in mid to late September. Well he wants me to talk to him in mid, I'm calling him in late.

Gym with kids? No way.

One of the things you notice when you have a kid is that you get out of shape. At least this has been the experience for Christine and I. It's a combination of things, busy, no time, love of being with our son, love of being with each other etc etc etc.

We'd both love to work out lots more, but it's hard because it's a tradeoff, if I'm at the gym, it leaves her alone with him in the evening, when he is best wrangled by two adults. If she's at yoga, same thing. The ideal solution to all of this would be if our gym or yoga studio had childcare. My sister tells me this is a common thing in England. Many of the sites we've looked at for yoga places in other parts of North America (especially the USA and more specifically California) offer this. Why does no one do it here? Or am I just looking in the wrong places?

First Post from here

Hello.

I come to you via umm.. purloined bandwidth. I've been using this connection because, until yesterday, the nice people at Bell couldn't provide us with, umm.. you know, phone service. Now, it would appear that the phone jack in this room is buggered and, honestly, I have no real idea where my Airport is. So thank you Mr/Mrs. Linksys owner who doesn't know how/care to lock down their wireless network. I really appreciate it.

The Move
It was fucking awful. Seriously. It started out well enough. Friday we got a bunch of stuff moved (Thanks Lea and (work)Natalie), bags and clothing etc. Saturday dawned with Lea and (girlfriend)Natalie coming over with (gf)Natalie's car and with my Dad doing the same. We got a huge amount more moved over and then in the afternoon the movers came. I was a mover for 3 summers. I've seen good movers and bad movers (hell, I've been both). These guys were fast, efficient, careful and not expensive (hourly rate of $90 is hard to beat on a weekend sadly).

So, so far everything sounds good, right? Yes indeed. But that's because you haven't realized that I haven't mentioned the kitchen yet. Or the other sources of picky shit that didn't' get packed. Or that the move stretched on into lateish Sunday afternoon for us. Or that if my Dad hadn't shown up that we would still have been moving on Monday.

The Aftermath
So now we are almost a week in from moving here, parts of the house are a few bags/boxes shy of being totally set up (living room/kitchen/our bedroom). Parts are a quick trip to IKEA away from being set up (our bedroom, Chris' office). Parts are a fucking disaster (dining room and my office). Parts are totally set up (umm.. oh, yes, Lucas' room).

Why Bell Can Kiss My Ass
So we get the Bell guy to come and install jacks on Saturday, the day of the move, because we want phone service right away. He comes, puts the jacks in and then has a hard time figuring out how to get the line into the house (this is not Bell's fault, just some asshole contractor cut the cable, pulled it and then sealed the hole during reno). I suggest the old, unused chiminey and all is good. Well, kind of. It seems that at the post our line is not there. It's someone else's number. So, he calls central, and they say they will take care of it, but he disconnects our line because he doesn't want us to be bothered by calls to whoever has the line.

Monday comes, they have our borrowed cell phone's number, and they don't call us, but they send a tech and are very angry we aren't there. Tuesday they send a tech. Who proceeds to just reconnect the line at the post. Same problem. Now we have an outbound line, but it belongs to Bureau en Gros (like Staples in the rest of North America). He can't fix this because the Bell computer system has crashed (this was system wide, I couldn't get our satellite TV system going either). Wednesday they send another tech, in the afternoon/evening and he finally fixes it.

It pisses me off because they continue to act as if there is no alternative to them. I could cancel my local phone service and get a cell from any number of other providers, I could get TV from a bunch of other people and I could get high speed internet from a number of other sources. Hell my dad(!!!) just switched his home service to another company... at no point in all of this did anyone even begin to say they were sorry. The reality is that bad shit happens with all companies, what separates the good from the bad is how they deal with the mistakes. Bell sucks at this.

Last Post from Here

The next time I post will be from our new house. If I missed anyone who needed a map and the new address just email me and I'll get it to you right away.

Barring anything odd happening there will be a moving wrap up post on Monday or late Sunday.

Most of the boxes have been moved already (THANKS Léa and Natalie!!!)... tomorrow morning picky shit and other small stuff and small furniture and computers... and then the movers come in the afternoon.

gargh...

wish us luck

A thought

There are few things sadder than carrying an empty pet carrier out of a vet clinic.

The Good, The Bad, The Unfucking Bearable

The Good
The house is ours. The keys are in my pocket. We've dusted and cleaned the first floor. Lucas loves it he runs back and forth from window to window looking out... very very happy. Some of the rooms are a bit smaller than we thought, some bigger. All are nice. We're like 95% packed and we'll be done by tomorrow. Some stuff I've made teh decision that we are not going to formally pack. Like plates and such. It's only two blocks and we'll just load them in a box with handles and then take them over in the trunk of someone's car. Ohter stuff we have to pack still, Chris's files etc. Oh, and the weather is looking up for the move tomorrow.

The Bad
We have to move. I hate moving. We own too much stuff. There are days when being some kind of monk appeals to me (as long as I can have my Mac and iPod).

The Unfucking Bearable
Pookie's ultrasound confirmed that there is a tumour. In the wall of her stomach. Her blood is so wonky that they couldn't do a needle biopsy and surgury is out of the question. Basically she needs to be force fed (she won't eat otherwise), hydrated at the vet and given a vitamin to get her liver function under control before they can even test to see if it's cancer. Which is to say she is in pain, and won't eat or drink, and just lies in the corner hiding behind a plant. Which is to say we're all crying because we know what must be done. I have to say at this point that if this is (the) g_d(s) testing us that I would prefer (s)he would send the SATs.. or mb a nice reading comprehension thingy... if this is is (the) g_d(s) getting back at me for something I'd like it if (s)he would stop being such a fucking coward and strap on his/her sword/lightening bolts/war hammers etc and come on down and fight like a man/woman/diety. I'm guessing (s)he knows where I'm at.

Yes. Right. A post.

So, what's up you ask?... all three of you (actually statistics tell me that there are more than 3 of you... wtf is up with that?).

House Selling
Done. We signed all the docs at the notary on Tuesday. The notary is a stupid asshole moron raging bitch prat self-important fucktard not nice person. I will discuss her in a moment. So that was pretty simple. You go in, people read documents really really fast and you say "oh yes, that seems reasonable, thanks." and then sign really important docs.

House Buying
So, tonight we're going to sign at the notary (yes the same stupid asshole moron raging bitch prat self-important fucktard not nice person as on Tuesday). It will be a bit more complicated, bigger house, actual property.. us caring more because the documents are actually really about us. So, in theory, we will have keys tonight. I'll take some of the clothing over there tonight, and mb some light stuff that is just in the way. The movers come Saturday afternoon and we have buddies coming tomorrow night and Saturday morning. The plan is everything breakable and light will go over on Friday night and Sat morning.. then the movers will get the big shit in, then we'll clean here and set up over there...

The stupid asshole moron raging bitch prat self-important fucktard not nice person
Look, when making big decisions it's important that you are incontrol of as much as possible. For some reason we abdicated part of this control when it came to finding a notary. Thusly we wound up with an expensive stupid asshole moron raging bitch prat self-important fucktard not nice person who forgot about our file for a while, is holding back funds for, what seems to me, to be semi-legal reasons, is rude, racist (at one point, complainign about some other clients she said "I don't want to sound racist"- a trueism is that anything that is said or implied after that statement is usually the most racist shit ever). One of my goals once we get moved and I get some work squared away is to get her in deep shit with her professional association.

Cat Health
Pookie is at a fancy vet on the South Shore for a mri or something... all I know it it's expensive– she has a mass of somekind, has lost a ton of weight and has an infection.. they are doing tests and we're going to take it from there.

I, for one, am getting tired of death related good-byes this year.

M.A. Stuff
Second draft with advisor. He hasn't read it yet. I'm tripping out. I guess I have to defend by the 25th of August. Which is approaching at warp speed.

NONE OF THIS POST WAS PROOFREAD OR SPELL CHECKED. deal.

ATTENTION SUMMER!!!

We get it.

You are very very powerful.

We bow before your ungodly heat.

You have the power to bring us to our knees though humidity, heat and relentless, eye burning light.

You are a king among seasons.


Now,

PLEASE FUCK OFF AND GO AWAY.

Well shit, this is great

Most of the time Martin et al are a pack of morons.. but this makes me wonder if there isn't someone with a brain in Ottawa.

More busy than you can shake a stick at

Ok, so the deal is this. I have 3 jobs. I'm a student finishing an M.A. I take care of Lucas and I work full time hours (albeit spread out over 7 days) for a paying job. This leaves me with exactly umm. 45 seconds to blog. Well mb more, but I spend some of that time having this thing the kids are always on about.. what's it called? oh, a life... well a semblance of one anyway...

Anyway, the 2nd draft of the thesis/internship report went off to my advisor, Saul, on Monday. This puts me on track for mid August presentation/defense... scary...

This also means that I'll be doing that the week after we move. Because we're moving. To a new house. Two blocks away. WOOT (note to buddies, email me and I'll get you the new address). It's bigger, it has property in the back. We're not calling it a yard yet, because it lacks features of a yard. Like a wall, or grass, or even real topsoil... but soon. The place has a deck, and a balcony off our bedroom and a real window in Lucas' room.. and all the good shit. We're quite pleased. Our place has been sold (in 7 days) for about $5k less than we were asking. Which is fine, since we got the place we're buying for $19k less than they were asking... pictures of the place will be on my .mac site shortly, I'm superstitious enough that I don't want to jinx it.

Lucas is weedlike.. and still the happiest person I know... he now climbs up the slides at the park, like some kind of rock climbing monkey... this causes me endless stress and him great joy. He's got a whole bunch of new words and phrases. His current fav is "come on" which he yells when we're taking too long. If I did that it would be unpleasant, but on him it's cute...

anyway, more later.. I need to sit on the sofa and drink a beer....