How we meet...

Some people pay no heed and dedicate no attention to it, while others give credit to divine destiny. For me, it's a topic that I often reflect upon often...

It's amazing to me how easy it is to meet someone new in today's modern age. Not because of the number of people on Earth, but due to the ease in which it is to find a way to communicate. Before the birth of internet and e-mail people would meet face to face, at a gathering, school, party, moving to a new place. Now, you can meet people without ever laying eyes on them or hearing their voice. Which is usually how it all starts in the world of the computer! I have met a great deal of interesting (and some not so interesting) people. Some of them I have developed friendships with that have persisted. Others it was a moment in time.

To the younger generation of today, it seems normal. Text Messaging. Chat. E-mail. If post offices could enforce payment requirements to "send" an e-mail, there would be a lot more Yacht owners in the world. And with computer technology, it is free to talk to anyone anywhere in the world! Well, not exactly free since you have to pay the internet provider, but you can talk to anyone anywhere in the world with a computer, a headset, and a chat account. I have talked to people in Australia, England, and the United States.

Ann Marie (my wife) has recently started to divulge into the realm of "computer communications". I am glad she has because it's something that I enjoy to do on occassion and she didn't fully understand the value or fun in it. She has established aquantances with a person from Texas and one from Ontario! Ann Marie and I joke sometimes that I am "winning" beause I know people in more different countries than she does (I think I am ahead by two).

Seriously speaking though, it is not a game. The people you meet are real. Without ever meeting the person face to face, you can have an enormous impact on their life and they to yours. It's possible that impact is negative, but hopefully you find those people that bring a positive to your life and it are those individuals you develop a friendship with, albeit unique due to the circumstances on how you meet and communicate.

I have met many people playing online poker (a past addiction that is now a pleasant pasttime). One person, Traci, I met by scribbling all over her blog. Ann Marie met her two acquatancies through answering questions on Yahoo Answers! Many more people find friendships and relationships through the highly popular on-line dating services. (Don't expect to find me there, I already have the perfect relationship and best friend in Ann Marie).

So what's next for the world? Cerebral implants with a computer hookup that allow you to "feel", "smell", and "taste"? Holographic images that allow you to "see" and "hear" the other person in 3D? It seams as though humanity creates all the things that are dreamed up in Hollywood, and this begs the question as to when transporters are going to be real (And it'll be real interesting seeing what messes the developers make developing that machine! Probably give a whole new meaning to "COW PIE")

Just remember, the people you meet, however you meet them, have a life, have feelings and emotions, and have a soul. So be careful what you say. Be careful what you promise. Be careful what you imply. Be careful what you share. Be mindful of your emotions. Keep life in perspective. And if you make a new friend, regardless of how and how far, that is pure of heart and soul, you are tuly blessed.

A whole month has gone by that I haven't written a blog. Gawd! The days seem to be screaming by me and the blur is dizzying. The Christmas (or should I say winter) season always sends me for a loop. The sun is gone by 5pm and it's cold and crappy outside so the family ends up trapped indoors. For a guy who suffers from depression, this is the crappy time of year! Combine that with trying to balance bills with all the x-mas shopping adds to the fun. Despite all the dark side, there are positives that I try to keep in the forefront that drive me on. The first is the excitement Genevieve and Jonathan have for Christmas. Seeing their enthusiasm just propels you into a good mood. And last weekend I got the lights on the house all fixed up and lit! It was awesome that the entire family noticed and commented how great it was to have the Christmas lights on without me having to say a word. It was also my welcome back gift to Ann Marie who had gone to Buffalo with her friends for the weekend to shop.

This past week has been super hectic. Leaving from work to get home and try to get Jonathan rolling on his homework. Then heading out to shop for x-mas presents the second Ann Marie got through the front door from work. Of course, going shopping on a school night is not always the best idea since we always get home late and then have to the shower the kids and get them into bed. Shopping is about 70% complete. Question is when will I get the chance to get the other 30%!

Dinner at Rohini and Mark's!!!

Saturday night was a fun night. After surviving the kids party we went to my friends Rohini and Mark for dinner. They invited us over so I could fix a light in their house that was hanging too low. They are tall people and this light used to hang low over a dining room table. Needless to say, numerous individuals banged their heads on it. Being a victim myself, I'm glad to say...not any more. It was a good time for the kids too. Rohini has this thing for spoiling kids absolutely rotten so she bought Jonathan a telescope and microscope set for his birthday...HE LOVED IT! And Genevieve got a globe that you can fly this little plane around on searching for countries, landmarks, and nationalities of people. It's really cool. I'm also thankful that Roe didn't get Jonathan the drum set she was thinking about! I can't wait for her and Mark to have kids...revenge will be sweet indeed!

KIDS PARTY!!!!

Nov. 10th was Jonathan's kids sleepover party! The kids starting arriving at 5:30pm, and a total of 9 showed up (out of 12 invited). It was noise and chaos from the start! There were 4 girls and 7 guys and they ended up having a small little war with signage popping up all over the house warning the opposite sex about consequences for entering different rooms! Being boys, they hunted down toy swords, shields, axes, play guns, and even a cap gun to go to war! That was inteesting and resulted in one casualty...Jonathan...of course. He got his room destroyed and his fingers pinched in a door.

We did individual pizzas for dinner with garlic bread and ceasar salad. I made Jonathan's cake this year too. Not the best cake I have ever made (decoration wise) but when the candles were out, it didn't matter one bit. The kids had just as much fun sucking icing from the candles and decorations as they would have had with a $30 cake! Once the kids were done cake and ice cream, they were on a sugar high and continued destroying my home. By 9:30 the last of the kids NOT sleeping over were gone and the 4 boys staying the night settled in for a movie (Monster Mansion) and more snacks. After that, it was bedtime for them, and wind down time for Ann Marie and I.

In the morning I made chocolate chip pancakes and pemeal bacon to feed the ravenous children and by 11am, it was all over. Ann Marie took turns counting our fingers and toes and looking over each other for hidden battle wounds...we survived...

Jonathan is 7!!!

Jonathan officially turned 7 on Nov 6th! Since his kid's party wasn't until Friday Nov. 10 we took him to Chuck-E-Cheese to celebrate as a family. The kids love terrorizing that place (and Ann Marie and I don't mind dropping a few tokens in the machines either!).

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SON!

Athan's PARTY!!!

Little Athan turned 2 on Oct. 30th and his parents (my friends Gord and Effie) had a party for him on Nov. 5th! I spent the weekend helping Gord get ready for the 2nd Annual "Athan's Birthday Tradition Lamb Roast EXTRODINAIRRE!". That's right, Gord buys a WHOLE lamb and cooks it on a spit and it is ohhhh sooooo goooood! There was lots of other food, of course, since Athan is 1/2 Greek! It isn't a Greek party unless there is endless food (or so I am beginning to think! LOL).

Kids Halloween

While I am WAY behind on my posts, I'm going to do what I can to catch up!

To start, I figure I should talk about Halloween! Once again, despite having a whole 10 months to prepare, Oct. 31st always seems to creep up too fast! We have lots of stuff to decorate with but never get around to putting it out. One of the good things that came out of this year was a family pumpkin carving session with my family! It was entertaining to see the kids (and adults) trying to carve pumpkins. Of course, with my family there was mess and chaos! While scooping the guts from one pumpkin I actually knocked the bin of seeds I was saving all over the floor. And being wet and slimy, the little buggers slid halfway around the house! Just what I needed! Jonathan and Genevieve did a great job carving and had a blast. I had to help Jonathan put the finishing touches on his pumpkin 'cause carving was getting tough!

Halloween night was pretty good. Jonathan was a ninja and Genevieve...a princess of course! Ann Marie even got dressed up as Raggedy Ann! LOL This year was her turn to take out the kids since I have done it every year since Jonathan was born! She always wants to hand out the candy! Don't know why in our neighborhood. Less than half of the houses actually participated this year and less than half the kids were wearing costumes worth looking at. It's a shame. Well, as long as my kids had fun, I'm happy. We also had a surprise visit from Athan "Wee Man" Turner! He was dressed up as the cutest little pumpkin! Uncle Matt made sure to spoil him with lots of chocolate treats! LOL Well, Guess it's time to get ready for Christmas!

Man Vs Machine!

I have been assigned to clean the dirtiest, rustiest, nastiest piece of equipment in the lab...and I have to do it every 2 months. The pictures explain the task at hand...sludge and rust. It took me almost 8 hours since it was so badly neglected. I had to make repairs as well as maintenance! Oh..what is it? It's a high speed cut saw for cutting metal! We use it to prepare samples for metallurgical testing. Wonder how long it will keep running with me maintaining it...LOL

Halloween Party!

This past Saturday my friend Courtney threw a Halloween party, an annual event. This is the second one that Ann Marie and I attended. As you can see from a few of the pictures, it was a great time! During the day I wasn't feeling much in the mood to party, but once we got there and started mingling and chatting it was a nice end to the day. I can't wait to do it all over again next Halloween! Oh, in case you are wondering, I was an undead priest and Ann Marie was a female Vampire! How that is one vampiress that I don't mind....ooops....will keep those thoughts to myself!

Have you seen my tape measure?

On the weekend I bought a bunch of new curtains for the back door and windows in the house but, alas, my 3 tape measures have all gone missing! THREE OF THEM!!!! And these are no small tape measures. I placed the tape measure on the counter and when I went back for it, it was missing. I am sure there is the ghost of some building contractor living in my house that has an obsession for the things! Since painting the kitchen, how many moons ago, we have had no coverings on the back door. The problem with that, and more for my neighbors than myself, is that I am not one to always wear a full clothing ensemble while venturing around the house. I have noticed that the neighbours houses are under full blinds and lights off by 9pm before I venture into the kitchen for a drink at 10pm! LOL Not only would my neighbors appreciate coverings on my back door, I'm sure Ann Marie would appreciate it also. It tickles me to be standing there in my gich watching Ann Marie wearing a bra and panties doing the best combat crawl I've ever seen to avoid being seen by the backyard neighbors. I don't think she needs to, because as long as I am in view I am sure the neighbors are hundled in the front of their homes with their eyes squeezed shut hoping not to get a glance of the white skinned Canadian wonder...LOL!!!

Busy Weekend...

This weekend was pretty busy and was a mix between relaxation and stressing. Friday night Ann Marie and I stayed up way too late watching TV but it was relaxing. On Saturday morning we had a nurse come to the house to do a mini medical on Ann Marie and I for some life insurance that we applied for. Two things we had to do was give blood and pee into one of those little cups. I was able to give the blood to the nurse vampire, but I couldn't convince myself to pee into the damn cup! LOL I woke up late (10:30am) and did the morning bathroom routine forgetting that I had an appointent with the nurse. Dammit. I drank four glasses of water and stood there....**ahem**... staring into the cold, empty, plastic cup. 5 seconds...30 seconds...1 minute...5 minutes...ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! How embarrasing. I gave up and told the nurse she'll have to come back when the tank was full. She wasn't impressed. I was glad I was tucked in and zipped up or else I would have thought she unimpressed about something else which would have given me a complex!

After lunch, Ann Marie and I took the kids to see Open Season at the cinema. It was really funny and I ended up laughing a bit too loud at a few scenes. If you have youg kids, I would recommend it. Jonathan and Genevieve loved it, as did Ann Marie. After the movies we went shopping for curtains. OH...MY...GOD what an adventure that turned out to be. The kids were going nuts. I think it was the twizzlers from the theatre. It turned them into wild and crazy beasts! We eventually had to abondon all hopes of buying curtains that day and headed for home.

I made dinner and got the kids ready for a sleepover at Grandma and Grandpa's house (my parents) since Ann Marie and I were going out to a party for my friend Kim...yeah...the Kanuck leaving for the U.K. for a year and a half! It was a fun time! I ended up chatting up a bunch of people and then played poker. I was doing pretty good until Ann Marie stepped in for a buddy of mine, Ninad, who had to leave a bit early. Then things started falling apart for me. I made it all the way to 3rd place until ANN MARIE took me out of the game with a flush against two pair! Ahhhhhhhhhhhh! I was proud of the way she played. In the end, it was almost 3:30am so Ann Marie and Chris (the other player) decided to stop the game and divy up the pot! Well done Ann Marie...well done. I ain't going to blame having too much to drink on loosing. She got me fair and square. By the time we got to bed it was 4am and we had to be at my parents place for 10:30am. Let's say it was a REALLY slow start in the morning...

We ended up going to an all day breakfast with my parents and the kids which was enjoyable. I paid the tab as a thank you to my parents for watching the kids and then set off for my brother-in-laws place so Ann Marie could get some documents signed for her friend. That was an hour adventure. We headed for home and kicked around for a couple hours and then I took Jonathan out shopping for blinds again, and some parts to fix my car. Our mission was a success but resulted in me generating more work for myself today! When I get home I have blinds to put up! Well, at least that will get one more item crossed off the honey-do list...which is more self imposed than demanded by Ann Marie.

Well, that's the weekend in a nutshell! Wonder what next weekend will hold in store...before and after the Halloween party on Saturday night...PARTY TIME!!!...again...LOL

The Maze of Life

Poor little mouse. Placed in a maze full of twist bends and turns, walls with many colours, and a plethora of other tricks, obstacles, and treasures to attack the five senses and embattle the mind. Left alone to decide where next to travel in this never ending maze. DECISIONS! A million a second pound through the poor creature’s brain as it ventures through the maze. What will the next decision bring? Pleasure? Pain? Happiness? Sadness? Death? Vindication? Devastation? The list of possibilities is an endless deep ocean. From time to time the little mouse may get help. An obstacle kindly removed, a push in the right direction, an undeserved reward. The poor mouse may also be hindered. Deceived. Confused. Misguided. From above, its creator, who shaped the right conditions for the mouse’s birth, who brought the mouse this far in its life, watches. Wonders. Records. To the mouse, its creator, is God. Able to move “mountains”, able to punish, able to provide, able to take away. From time to time the poor mouse comes to a place in the maze where it can not decide the next action, the next direction, the next step. It glances around, it glances up. Will God help? What to do? Carry on, hoping the decision is the right one. Night and day the need to make decisions, comprehend, decipher, and endure bombard the poor creature. Does the maze have an ending? Of course! The maze ends with the end of life. But the mouse does not need to fear this, for God will reach into the maze and remove its lifeless body. Take it away from the chaos, from the endless mental wars internally raging since birth, and place it where there is no maze, into a place of openness and endless peace. Dear reader, you are the mouse.