The Most Awesome Parent Ever

I need a set of these flashcards, stat. Also, watch until the end of the video for ultimate cuteness.



I swear, this is not a home movie. That said, I think my kids could probably ace it.

On a related topic, Garrett got a cheapy Transformer 'iPod' for Christmas that picks up radio stations. I realized how many podcasts I must listen to with my iPod when he asked me if my iPod played music like his. Sigh.

Bountiful Boxing Day!

I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas yesterday and, if you were so inclined, got a good deal on some high-end electronics today.

Alas, I did neither. Well, Christmas was ok, given that I am home alone. Unfortunately, I got stuck working a double as I'd neglected to schedule anyone to cover the overnight shift. Go me!

So today was pretty much a write-off. I just slept until 2:30 this afternoon and then have been packing, cleaning and checking my e-mail. I was going to try to go home this afternoon but the Weather Network has been calling for freezing rain through London and Kitchener and I'd rather just wait until tomorrow when it's going to be 11 degrees and wet.

Well, time to go finish tidying up in the kitchen and make myself some food before I get the last of the stuff packed for tomorrow's sojourn to the Greater Sarnia Area!

Keeping Dry(wall)

Here are a few more pictures of our basement. It's not terribly exciting, but you'll see that there are walls. The next batch of pictures should be of our completed basement!





I might take a video of the basement as it is now and post it. That will give a better sense of what the basement looks like.

Ho Ho Ho!

Hey, don't forget to follow Santa before he gets shot down again this year.

Looks like NORAD is using Google Maps this year. Woo!

Bachelor Daze

Julie gave me the nicest Christmas present ever... an empty house for a few days. I'm stuck working Christmas and Boxing Day, so she took the kids to Corunna on Monday and I've been left to my own devices ever since. Today was the first real 'home alone' day though, as I slept through most of yesterday and then spent the rest of the afternoon/evening driving around, doing grocery shopping with some friends and having all-you-can-eat Japanese food at that Fuji place in Guelph (which was amazing... thanks for the recommendation, Jenn & Doug!)

Unfortunately, I was also driving all over the countryside in the blizzard that smacked into town late last night and it wasn't enjoyable. I think I might be cured of my yearly apprehension of driving in the snow though. I'll just take it slow and somehow I'll make it through.

I was also able to show off our nearly completed basement to my friends who raved about it. It was nice to have someone come in and see the place who hasn't seen it in progress. I think this basement might be a good move :) It looks like we'll have a completed basement ready for us when we come home from the holidays next week. Woo!

'Tis The Season

I had a nice experience today. I was out stocking up on coffees for the next day or two while Tim Hortons is closed for Christmas and when I got to the drive-through window, the girl at the window handed me my coffees and then said, "You don't have to pay. The lady in front of you paid for your order. Merry Christmas!"

I was flabbergasted. I'll have to do something nice for someone now. Crap...

OEYC Christmas Party

We had the annual Christmas party at the local Early Years Centre last week and were finally able to snag a good picture of Garrett & Kara with Santa.



I also got a rare shot of the two of them engaging in somewhat constructive behaviour. Marvel as they each work peacefully to build something rather than destroy things.

What A Couple Of Bums

Automated Response

So I got through to someone who could help me with that card problem I had.
But they got it backwards. They transferred the $0.78 I have (had) on the card that actually exists onto the card that was destroyed. Now it has $18 or so on it and the card I hold in my hand RIGHT NOW is empty.

Sigh.

I Hate Automation

Grr...

You know how Tim Horton's has those Quickpay cards? I have had one for the year and love it to death, though I spend far too much on coffee and tea biscuits with it.

Anyway, when I was at the Acton Timmies yesterday, they swiped my Tim's Card and it snapped in half. No real biggie. They just transferred the balance over to a new card and that was that.

I had my Tim's Card set up to automatically reload when the balance drops below $5. It tops the card up to $20. Now, when my card snapped, it had $2 or so left on it, so it was slated for refill. Since it hadn't refilled at the time of snappage and we could still see it sitting there with $2 on it on the website, I just deactivated the card yesterday morning with the intention of setting up my new card with the reload.

Here's where the GRR comes in. Mid-afternoon, we get an e-mail saying that the OLD card has been refilled. Of course, we don't have the old card information (well, we do, but the last 4 digits are X'ed out on all of the documentation we have) and when I called the Tim Horton's Help Desk to see if they could just look in their records and transfer the money, they were less than helpful. Now I have to go back to the local Tim's, have them dig through their records from yesterday and hopefully not be out $15 or so. So help me if they tell me to call the help desk...

Only 7 Days Till Christmas!

It's frightening how accurate this is... only I don't use Twitter.

Santa Rock!

The kindergarten classes at Garrett's school put on their Christmas Concert tonight. It was pretty cute except for one thing. Garrett is either in training to be a ninja or the girl who stood in front him was bound and determined not to let him get his picture taken. No matter what angle I tried to film/shoot him from, he was always behind this other kid. It was driving me batty, esp. since he's so freaking tall.

I'll put some pictures up tomorrow after work. I've got to go work the overnight shift tonight (nothing like putting in 20 hours or so at work over a 24 hour period) so I'm going to try to catch a little shut-eye before I go in at 11!

Reno News!

Just so that everyone knows, the renovations are going along at a pretty brisk pace now. Of course they had to wait until just before Christmas to actually gain momentum. Sigh.

We've got walls and ceilings down there now. There's a good chance this could be finished before Christmas, if not shortly thereafter. We basically just need the electrician to come back and finish wiring a few potlights and plugs, the walls to be plastered, the floor to be laid down and everything painted and installed. Otherwise, we're in the home stretch.

WOO!

January will be "Clean Out The Storage Unit" month. Expect many great deals!

Oh, Bush...

I saw this over at Extralife and it made me laugh. No wonder all of the comedians are going to miss the guy.

I Need More Sleep

You know you're a (tired) parent when:

You find a big brown spotch on the ground, stick your finger in it, sniff it and then taste it to make sure it actually is chocolate.

Not my proudest moment, but hey, free chocolate is free chocolate.

Brrrrr....

While the temperature dips ever lower, take a look at what is in store for us.

Behold: The Ghost Towns (and boats, and such) Of Antarctica!

Our Parent-Sense Was Tingling

So Julie and I woke up at 4:45 this morning. I don't know why... Julie said she heard Garrett cough. Then we heard the puking.

Suffice it to say, we've been up since around 5 this morning and Garrett was puking until at least 9ish. No matter what went into him, it came right back out. Oh, and there's nowhere to buy Children's Gravol in Acton at 6am.

Now that he's had some Gravol, some sleep and some tiny dribs and drabs of toast and ginger ale, Garrett seems to be on the mend.

At least Julie was home (sick) from work today. She and Garrett vegged this morning while Kara and I hit the town.

Garrett hasn't had a good last couple of days. Today was, well, you just read about it and yesterday morning, his best friend threw a giant chunk of ice and hit Garrett in the eye just before the bus came. Amazingly, he didn't really get a bruise or black eye, though he might need a new best friend :)

Have An 8-Bit Christmas

This Christmas, why not warm up to a few classic carols, NES-style?

There are a couple of cool Christmas 'albums' out there this year that use the NES chipset to crank out some pretty cool tunes. Check out 8-Bit Jesus and The 8 Bits Of Christmas. Sure, they're nerdy, but it beats listening to Mariah Carey yowl for the umpteenth time.

No Pants Tuesday

Kara is really taking NPT to heart.

During the night, she had managed to take off her pyjama pants and diaper and wet the crib. Julie remedied the situation and put her back to bed.

When I got her up this, there she was, naked from the waist down and grinning ear to ear.

After I got her dressed and gave her breakfast, she spent a chunk of the morning taking her pants off, to the point that I had to put her snow pants on to ensure that she couldn't disrobe.

This evening when she came home from the sitter's house, I was sitting in my chair when she walked next to me, gave me a sly grin and proceeded to pull down her pants. This resulted in a 5 minute Keystone Kops-esque chase around the kitchen with her laughing her head off while I tried to corner her and get the pants back on before the diaper came off...

Ah, good times. As long as she gets it out of her system now as opposed to in college, I'm happy.

You Know You're A Parent When...

Your kid gets a new game/toy and you have absolutely NO idea about the first thing about it.

Garrett has recently been yammering about Bakugan toys. Being the otaku that I am, I know that there is an anime about these toys but I have never watched it and have not the slightest clue about what it is or how you play with them.

We picked up a Bakugan toy for Garrett today while we were out and while it's kind of cool (it's like a little plastic marble with a magnet that will make it pop open if you roll it on metal) I still haven't any idea about how the game is supposed to work.

I decided to take a look on the Bakugan website tonight to see if it made any sense. I challenge anyone to read these rules and explain them in a way that an adult can understand. Yeesh. If a 6 year old can master that minutae, they can probably find a way to balance the budget and make chocolate fall from the sky.

SUNDAY! SUNDAY! SUNDAY!

Is this a real demolition derby or an awesome stop-motion video? The answer might surprise you!


Metal Heart from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.

8-Bit Prognostication

This is a nifty thing I've found.



Someone is doing a deck of Tarot cards but in the style of 8-bit videogames. It's worth a look just for the aesthetics, though they MIGHT be able to tell you if you will beat that game you're working on too.

Emulsification For The Nation

Sooo....

Somehow Kara was able to get a bottle of baby oil into her crib and proceed to pour it over EVERYTHING, yet somehow avoid getting any on herself. Gah.

I feel so slimy now. I just spent about 15 minutes wiping half of her room and the contents of her crib and now I can't get the oily sheen off of me.

Blech.

He's Got A Point

Let me just point you in the direction of Andrew Coyne's essay about how things have played out with Parliament prorogued until January. I don't always agree with everything he says, but I think this sums up the current situation nicely. Oh, and I called it.

But don’t take my word for it. Two polls out today show that the coalition has backfired on its two main participants — hugely. Ekos has the Tories ahead by twenty points, 44-24, while Ipsos Reid puts the margin at an astounding 46-23. This is after the Tories had supposedly disgraced themselves by the “provocation” of cutting the political parties off the public teat, and by failing to provide adequate “stimulus.”

Ipsos numbers show, further, that 60% of the public opposes the coalition, 62% are “angry” with it for trying to take power, while 68% support the Governor General’s decision. The Grits can read the numbers as well as I can. There is no way they will return to this well.

Ottawa, Shmwattawa

Tim had a short but sweet little post about the shenanigans in Ottawa today that I felt the need to rebut. So rebut I shall.

Ahem.

If the Opposition parties are going to bring down the government and try to snag power, I'd rather it be over something worthwhile, like, oh, THE BUDGET, than whatever has stuck in their craw. Yes, Harper stirred up the hornets nest by trying to pass that funding cut, but the Opposition fell right into his trap by reacting the way they did. Hell, the fact that the funding cut was yanked so fast just shows that it was the bait.

Beyond bailing out the auto industry, which I've already said I'm against, please tell me what this slap-dash coalition would do to benefit the country (as opposed to the political parties involved) and why, after only TWO WEEKS back in parliament, the minority party in power is the evil which must be destroyed.

I think that we need the break until Parliament is resumed in January for the MPs to a) cool their jets a bit and b) go out and see if their constituents, WHO JUST WENT THROUGH AN ELECTION, think that these machinations are what they really want. I didn't vote Conservative. Hell, I've voted Green and NDP over the past two federal elections. That said, I'm a fan of some governmental stability. I know that minority governments can fall and don't last long. This is not the way to go about it.

If the government falls in January over something legitimate, like a budget or Harper growing a tail, fine. But by pursuing the course of action that they have, the Opposition is setting themselves up for a major drubbing at the next election and they have nobody to blame but themselves. Dion and Layton might finally get a brief taste of power and keys to the PMO, but it will be a bitter pill for their party faithful to have to swallow over the long term.

What I've Been Up To

I mentioned a little while ago that I was doing an ACTUAL GAME REVIEW with an ACTUAL GAME from an ACTUAL COMPANY on an ACTUAL WEBSITE!

Well, I finished the game the other day and got the review up on the site. If you're interested to see where some of the game related yammering I used to dump on here has vanished to, go check out Buttonmashing.com and Colony Of Gamers. I've written a few reviews over at Buttonmashing, truth be told, but Mirror's Edge is the first one I've done with an actual review copy of the game as opposed to just renting/buying my own copy and writing something.

I also write a weekly column at Colony Of Gamers about overlooked and obscure games that deserve their time in the sun. I just realized that I've done 28 of them already. That's over 6 months! Yeesh. Not too shabby for something I started on whim.

The 80/20 Rule

Just a quick little request for any prayer and/or hard liquor you could send our way. Work has been rough for the past little while and we (as a team) could use any prayer you feel you could spare us.

I'll keep the hard liquor for when I get home :)

In the words of a wise man, 80% of the time we can't believe we're getting paid to do what we do and 20% of the time there is no way we're getting paid enough to do what we're doing.

Suffice it to say, we're in the 20% right now. We'll get through it, of course, but if I have a few more wrinkles in my brow and a lot of gray hairs, you'll know why.

Oh, and while you're tossing up the odd prayer or three, I'm applying for a promotion and could always use a little divine intervention!

Ka-Zap

Just a little reno update: We've had the electrician in for most of this week and he's pretty much finished downstairs with all the wiring and so forth. I think he has a tiny bit left to do tomorrow and then we'll be able to get going with the drywalling and flooring part of the reno, which means we could conceivably have a usable basement in as little as 1-2 weeks!

Just having switches and lights downstairs right now is going a long way to making me feel like this is worth it. Julie's not quite as magnanimous, but we keep chanting the mantra: "It'll be worth it when it's done..."

How Much Snow Can You Blow?

That's the view from our front porch at 1am on Dec. 1, 2008.

Let Detroit Burn

I am mulling over putting a big rant about the current political situation, but we'll see how things go in the near term. Suffice it to say that I think it's a lot of grandstanding and posturing by the opposition and that if they seriously try to pull off this stunt, they're basically handing the Conservatives a majority government.

Oh, and here's something else that has been bugging me. Long story short, I think that the government should let the Big 3 automakers sort out their own mess and go through the necessary painful adjustments that any industry has to deal with over a long period of time. The fact that they've been bailed out repeatedly has just worsened the situation. It's not like they'll just shut down every plant and stop making cars. They'll go through the usual bankruptcy dance that most corporations have to deal with and come out as something different after all is said and done, but that's what they should have been doing in the first place instead of trundling down the same path and over the cliff like they have been.

And before anyone starts whining about how this will kill towns like Oshawa and Windsor, I don't recall the government handing out billions in aid when the mining, forestry and even chemical refinery industries started going down the toilet. The danger of one industry towns is always that the one industry may eventually disappear and then it's the job of the community to either weather the storm and evolve into something different or wither and die.

Hmm... Maybe I don't have to make that post. It looks like I already did.

We Have Power!

I know it has been a little slow around here of late. I was busy with work last week and when I've been home and conscious, I've either been trying to play some games, read some books or take care of sick kids. Yeah, the kids are sick again. Kara is oozing stuff from her eyes (which seems to be a biweekly event at this point) and Garrett is on Flovent to see if that helps his eternal cough go away. Other than that, they're doing fine and they DON'T have the flu, so that's nice.

We have some good news on the construction front. Thursday saw the electrician paying us a visit and replacing our awful fuse box with a state-of-the-art breaker panel. Hallelujah! We have now entered the 1980's!

We're slated to have the electrical work done on the basement (wiring up lights, outlets and speaker/ethernet plugs) on Monday, so we're pretty excited. Once that work is done, the contractor can start doing the insulation and drywall and that means we might have a basement we can use in the next week or two! Hooray!

Other than that, we're just about done Christmas shopping!

Oh Glorious Day

Wednesday was a glorious day. Why?



That just landed in my DS today and I've already sunken far too much time into it. For a 13 year old game, it still holds up amazingly well and the new tweaks are kind of nice.

There's also the fact that I finally have a legitimate PORTABLE copy of what is probably my all-time favourite videogame, period. I have a top 10 list of favourite games and it's often in flux, though many games tend to stay in it for a long time. Chrono Trigger is on a whole other level of adoration though. It's the Mona Lisa of JRPGs as far as I'm concerned.

What am I doing typing this? I'm off to go romp through time with my band of merry adventurers!

S.I.M.P.ly Awesome

I've got to go into work tonight and stay awake until 7am. I think I might employ the following method of stimulation to keep me from nodding off.



I love Phineas & Ferb. If you haven't seen the show, try to catch it on the Family Channel at 7am. It's like Family Guy meets The Simpsons (from Season 4-8ish) but for kids. Since they can't use potty humour and innuendo, they have to actually be funny (unlike Family Guy of late).

I'm hopelessly addicted to the show... er, I mean, Garrett is hopelessly addicted to the show. And HE goes around the house and work, er, school, singing the Perry The Platypus Theme Song.

Doobie Doobie Doobie WAH!

Heck, the music is just awesome for the show on every level, even if it ain't got rhythm.

Avatar: The Last Gamebender

So the Xbox 360 updated the dashboard interface yesterday and in a blatant attempt to rip off the Mii's from the Wii, they have these new Avatar thingies.

So here's my digital replicant. Beware!



Speaking of games, I just received the first review copy of a game that was actually intended for me! You'll have to take a look over at Buttonmashing in a week to see which game, but it was one that I was really hoping to get this fall and now I don't have to!

I might not be getting paid to play games yet, but getting one for free is just as good in my book.

Basement Progress... Of Sorts

I apologize profusely for the delays on the pictures. Here are a few to show what has been done in the basement over the last while.


Day... I don't know. After much fidoodling, we were finally able to close up the plumbing.


Same day as before: Here is a good view of the basement now that the subfloor is down.


The next day: Behold the power of steel studs!


Much like taking a course on robotic husbandry, you can't finish a basement without lots of steel studs.
(I'll let you mull that over.)

And that's essentially where we're at right now. There area few more studs and they've framed in chunks of the ceiling, but it looks essentially the same as what you see here.

We're hoping that the electrician will be in early next week to do the wiring and once that happens, they can put the insulation in, get the inspections done and start putting the drywall up and laying the flooring. It's all basically hinging on the electrician now.

It'll be worth it when it's done. It'll be worth it when it's done...

Pics Coming

Woah. I just realized that I haven't updated this thing since Tuesday. On the upside, I'm almost over this flu. I hope I'll wake up tomorrow feeling right as rain. Unfortunately, I'm currently feeling like my kidneys want to burst out of my back. I think I might have drank a bit too much water, tea and other liquids this week. I did lose at least 5 pounds though! Yay!

On another positive note, the basement is coming along splendidly. Most of the studs are up and it actually looks like it will be a place with rooms and whatnot. Hooray. The electrician is coming later this week to do the wiring and also replace our musty old fuse box with a breaker panel. Huzzah!

After that, it'll basically be a matter of getting an inspection or three done on the insulation and what have you and then the contractor can close up the walls, lay the flooring and paint and we'll be done! Yay!

Like I said, I have a pile of pictures to upload tomorrow and I'll start to post the best ones so people can see the chronology of this little endeavour.

The Canadian Olympic Track & Field Simulator

Health Warning: Do not play QWOP if you are drinking milk, suffering from a cold or at work. The gales of laughter you'll undoubtedly elicit will cause you no end of pain and/or unemployment!

I have managed to get 2 meters... I had to stop because it hurts too much when I laugh this hard.

Still Sick PLUS Reno News!

Like the headline says, I'm still sick from this flu/ebola outbreak around our place. I didn't sleep very well last night and between that and Garrett crying in his sleep for some unknown reason for most of the night (he never did tell us why he was crying) and Kara being a little cranky, well, poor Julie didn't get much sleep either.

I will say that I've been feeling better today than I was yesterday, though this near migraine level headache is really driving me batty. At least I've been able to keep some food down today and I'm feeling a little more like a 75 year old with arthritis than the 90 year old I felt like yesterday.

And there's another cause for celebration around here. The renovations are back on track! We passed the plumbing inspection last week (yay) and the contractors have laid most of the subflooring in the basement. I think they'll be starting to put up the studding for the walls tomorrow if all goes well.

Edit: Heh. It seems as though this flu is hitting people all over the place. Bill Harris at Dubious Quality seems to have the exact symptoms I had yesterday.

Gastrointestinal Napalm

Word to the wise: When your kid has been home sick for the last 3 days and there is stomach troubles a-brewin' with your other kid, the prudent person DOES NOT GO OUT FOR WINGS! Unfortunately, I didn't heed my warning.

We went to this place called Wild Wing in Milton. It has about a zillion wing flavours and, of course, I decided to get the hottest wings on the menu. BAD IDEA. How hot were these wings? Well, when I woke up around 5 this morning, my fingers were covered in blisters from where I'd gotten the sauce on my hands. I shudder to think about what it's doing to my stomach.

We also made the mistake of getting boneless wings, which are actually big chicken fingers. We only ate about half of our 32 wings, if that... the upside is that we'll have plenty of incredibly spicy chicken wings to eat for the next week. Julie did get the maple+mild wings and they were quite tasty compared to the liquid fire I was consuming.

I wouldn't mind going back to the place but not for quite some time. Maybe by then they'll teach their servers that if you've got a family with two small children who are going squirrelly when you drop the bill off, you should try to return to the table to settle the bill sometime within, oh, ten to fifteen minutes. Suffice it to say, she didn't get much of a tip.

Quarantine Zone!

Hey! Guess what!

Kara joined the puke patrol last night... and this morning! Yay! She's moving around at a good clip right now but she has a bit of a fever and the aforementioned vomiting going on, so she's staying home from church today.

I'm also feeling under the weather. So far no puking, but I've got one mighty fierce headache and have a slight rumbly in my tumbly.

So stay away from our house. Julie & Garrett seem healthy, though Julie is sure she'll be getting this sickness at some point over the next few days. Hopefully the rest of us will be better and can take care of her!

Sicko: Episode 2

So Garrett seemed to be on the mend yesterday. Alas, we got a call from his babysitter at 4am saying that HER kids were up puking their guts out and that she wouldn't be able to look after our kids, so that meant that I had to stay home from work AGAIN. Oh well. It's probably a good thing that I did, as Garrett, while seeming healthy for most of the morning, crashed HARD around 4pm. He had a bit of a fever again and didn't eat anything for supper.

He seems ok again today, though he is a little less... bouncy today. The fact that he has been up since about 5am probably explains a bit of that too :)

Home Sick

Garrett's perfect attendance record at school just went out the window. He had a bit of a fever last night when we put him to bed (I should have clued in that something was up when he watched Charlie The Unicorn on the laptop with me and didn't fidget).

He woke up this morning and was just a wreck. When Garrett is feeling well, he DOES NOT STOP. This morning, well, he stopped. He just sat on the couch and didn't move. That's not a good sign. He's pretty feverish and has been doing a pretty good impression of the Bellagio fountains (with chunks) over the course of the day.

Time to say goodbye... to lunch!

Not even the Deep Sea segment of Planet Earth could hold my little guy's attention...

Ah well. We've got him doped up on Tylenol and he's snoozing up in his room. Hopefully this is just a 24 hour bug. I don't want to get it though! I have better things to do this weekend than hug the toilet.

I Won!

Hallowe'eners!

I hope everyone had a great Hallowe'en. We probably had the shortest outing of the last few years as Garrett only did one side of the road and a few houses on the other side before calling it a night. He did have a long day with a party at the Early Year's Center and school the day before.

Kara went around to the houses in our parking lot and then helped hand out candy till the wee hours of the night. Next year I shall ensure she goes to all the houses on BOTH sides of the street! Garrett can stay home and hand out candy :)

Here they are: FrankenGarrett and Kara The Dolphin.

Time To Start Kicking Things

Let me just say this. Following the rules is for chumps.

Despite the earlier annoyances with getting the permit from the city for our basement, things have been moving along at a brisk pace with this renovation. The plumbing inspector is visiting tomorrow to give us the ok on the rough-in for the toilet and sink and the pile of garbage is out of the basement. Yay!

That said, we've run into a snag with the electrician. He was here today and about to start the work to replace our fuse box with a breaker panel. He called in to the ESA to let them know he was starting the job and lo and behold, it turns out that his Master Electrician's Permit had lapsed. It seems that they changed the regulations last year so that instead of getting the permit renewed every 5 years, he has to do it every year.

Now, he's been a certified electrician for 30 some-odd years and everything, so he can probably get grandfathered in, but in the meantime we have to go find another electrician as the ESA won't even look at anything for 3-4 weeks... 3-4 weeks longer than we want to spend with a half-finished basement.

What cheeses me off is that I wouldn't have had to deal with any of this crap if I had just listened to everyone and not bothered to get a permit. I can't think of any reason why someone would voluntarily put themselves through this much hassle for a simple basement renovation if they knew what kind of roadblocks and barriers keep popping up along the way. It's no wonder everyone just gets the job done on the sly.

I think that's what is causing me the most stress right now. I'm not in a huge rush to get the basement done, though the sooner it gets done, the better. I'm just really frustrated with the fact that we're trying to do the right thing and follow the rules and we're getting screwed around by the people who imposed the rules.

Sigh.

Not A Good Week For Pets

Well, thanks to everyone who submitted a name. I was about to put the names in the hat this morning and pick a name for the one-eyed fish when I noticed that he was sitting on the bottom of the aquarium. Upside-down. Not moving.

Alas, he goes nameless into the murky depths of my sewer. He (or she) will be missed.

Let The Work Begin!

Here's a little photo montage of the work done so far in our basement.



Day 0



Day 1

And for another angle:



Day 0



Day 1

While the contractor was digging up the floor to start work on the plumbing...



He found this buried treasure!

Gone To The Great Litterbox In The Sky

I received this e-mail from my mom the other day.

"It is with sadness that I have to let you know that Reddy has used up all her lives. She passed away as she slept on Friday, Oct. 24 ... She was 19 at the beginning of September, so she had a long life, and a loving family.

Interment will be in her favourite place, the backyard."

Reddy was preceeded into the afterlife by her sister, Smudge. She will be missed.

By the way, MOM, next time you send out something like this, make sure you leave a less ominous subject line than "We will miss her" in the e-mail. I thought it was my grandma or someone else, you know, HUMAN, who had died!

What A Crazy Last Few Weeks!

I tell ya, between the constant go-go-go at work and the nonstop barrage of awesome games, the last couple of weeks has been exhausting! Oh, and don't forget about all of the basement emptying and permit hassles. Yeesh.

I'm happy to report that my Florida excursion was exactly what I needed to stop being grumpy-puss at work and start enjoying my job again. It also helps that all of the chaos from mid-summer to the end of September has finally settled down and we can get back to the usual routine.

On the home improvement front, work will be starting officially on Monday morning. We've got the permits and the basement is on the verge of being completely emptied (as of tomorrow morning/early afternoon) which is just great. I can't wait to finally have usable space down there and after spending the last month and a half or so jumping through hoops, it'll be nice to have someone ELSE come and do a bunch of work!

And lastly, on the game front, the fall rush is in full swing and I'm happy to say that I'm doing well at sticking to the games I had preordered back in August. Dead Space is a fantastic game (if you liked Bioshock, do yourself a favour and play Dead Space!) and Fable 2 has been a lot of fun so far. I almost dredged up that picture from 3-4 years ago when I was so excited about Fable 1 but I resisted. I will say that what I've played of Fable 2 has pretty much shown me that this is the game that they wished Fable 1 had been... and I'm someone who quite enjoyed Fable 1 for what it was.

Of course, the best news of the week comes in the form of a little ball of yarn and string... well, virtual yarn and string.



I got a call around 7:30 this evening informing me that LittleBigPlanet was finally in! I loaded Garrett up in the car as soon as Dave & Kate left and we boogied on down to Milton to snag the game. I've just been waiting for Julie to finish watching Made Of Honor (sigh) and then I shall take my Sackboy for a spin! The best thing is that all of my friends online have to wait until tomorrow to play the game as I guess most stores won't have it until then. Mwahaha...

Bacon Is Meat Candy

If I were to go get married now, I'd make sure I was wearing this lovely ensemble.



The best thing about it is that it smells like bacon!

Also, I learned that there is a site called baconfreaks.com... It scares me.

Words To Live By

I was chatting with one of my gaming buddies over Gtalk today and he tossed out this gem, which I couldn't help but share.

"I just gave my wife blessing to buy some clothes and she gave me blessing to get a game. Of course, I'd prefer her nude and she'd prefer me gameless. But, meh."

All I Want For Christmas Is A Quicksnap

I'm addicted to Dragon's Den on Monday nights. It is a mixture of great inventions and American Idol-style withering criticism.

Between the doggie diapers and underwater gold mines (literally), there are some really awesome things that I wouldn't mind trying out. Last week's final pitch blew me away, as it is something incredibly simple but also something that I desperately need.

I present... The Quicksnap!



"What is Quicksnap? QuickSnap is a two-piece, durable plastic clip that eliminates the need to ever tie your laces again."

I think I've whined a few times about how impossible it is for me to keep my shoelaces tied up. Sure, I can double-knot them, but that means I either have to fight with knots whenever I either put my shoes on or take them off OR I can just jam my feet into my sneakers and destroy the heels, which is usually what ends up happening.

This Quicksnap thingie looks like the answer to my shoelace woes. I see that they're going rather cheaply (~$10 after shipping & handling)... I might just have to grab one of these and see how they work. One of the inventors is a member of the Canadian Armed Forces and used them on his combat boots, so they must be somewhat decent!

What Not To Do - Vol. 289

Don't do what this guy does the next time you get a speeding ticket.

Name Our Fish!

I performed my one act of humanitarian kindness last week and bought a fish. But not just any fish. I bought a gourami that only has one eye. The guy was so thankful to find a home for the fish that he knocked a dollar off the price. The fish was destined for the great toilet bowl in the sky if I hadn't come along, so I was more than happy to give it a new home in our fish tank.

Of course, a fish with only one eye is no regular fish. We need to give it a name, so I figured I'd put a call out to everyone to see what people can come up with.

Still Waiting For Permission

Just wanted to post a little basement reno update here. We're still waiting for the permit from the city. We were able to get a hold of a real live human being this week and from what we gathered, the fact that nobody from the city has called us is a good thing. It's just that it takes them 10 BUSINESS days to find their rubber stamp and because a) they dragged their feet for 3 days at the beginning of this process and b) Monday was a holiday, well, 10 business days isn't up until Monday, at which point I should be able to go and collect my building permit.

Of course, now we have to wait for the contractor to finish up the jobs he's taken while waiting for us to get our permit, but it's actually ok. I wasn't really looking forward to trying to scramble the last of the stuff over to the storage unit this weekend, what with working today and tomorrow, and this gives us an extra week to get the last of the junk either taken off to the dump or boxed up for storage. We're down to the tools and paint on the work bench and a few boxes of computer parts and the old TV, so we're pretty close to being ready for when they come to start work on the 27th.

I'll take pictures of the process and keep people up to date. Woo!

Go And Vote!

Get out there and vote everyone! It's your civic duty!

Oh... wait... the election was yesterday. Hmm... I couldn't tell since the parliament looks ALMOST EXACTLY THE SAME!

I never did get around to making the few political posts I had planned to, but I'll just save them for the next election. I'd like to say it will be in 4 years or whenever the set election date law says it should happen but we all know how well THAT law worked...

Sigh.

It's Funny Because It's True

Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net

Blood On The Stairs

I took Garrett to the Brigden Fair this morning for a quick little tour of the midway before the big turkey dinner this afternoon.

Garrett had two things he wanted to do. The first thing was to go on the big giant scary castle/house thing (there was one at the Acton Fair but he wasn't wearing shoes so he couldn't get on) and the second was the ferris wheel.

We learned quickly why Garrett needed to wear shoes in the crazy house. At the entrance to the house, there is a set of metal stairs that slid back and forth. Garrett fell and got his finger pinched at the edge of the steps. They stopped the steps and Garrett got back up and slowly made his way through the rest of the house to emerge into the sunlight sobbing.

I just figured he was shaken from falling at the beginning and not having fun for the rest of the house until I realized that the hand I was holding was covered in blood. It turned out that Garrett had a chunk of his finger taken off by the stairs. Well, not the tip or anything, but there is a big flap of skin missing from the side of his index finger.

The carney sitting in the ticket booth wrapped Garrett's finger up in a bunch of gauze and tape and we went off to enjoy the ferris wheel and headed home. I thought it was just a little nick on the side of the finger until later in the afternoon when we changed the dressing and I saw just how much skin got taken off by those bloody stairs. We'll just keep pouring Polysporin on it and keeping it clean and it should be fine but man... I'll take a picture of it tomorrow so everyone can see the gory wound.

So yeah. I felt bad about him getting hurt and never realized that such an innocuous 'ride' would be so deadly. If I'd gone through with him, it would have probably been fine but Garrett, while tall enough, was probably a bit too young for a solo trip.

Rancorous Temptations

Whoever thought up the Superhero Squad/Galactic Heroes toy lines deserves a medal for marketing and a boot to the head from my wallet.

Most of the toys on the market either look flimsy, look ugly or both. The ones that don't tend to be just borderline creepy instead. I'm looking at you, Bratz and other disturbing doll lines...

But the Superhero Squad and Galactic Heroes toys are both sturdy and insanely cute to boot. I've stuck mainly with getting the Superhero Squad toys because Garrett was really into superheroes for a long time there... And so was I.

Now that we have enough superheroes to save the universe 10 times over, I've started to cast my gaze towards the Galactic Heroes, which are the Star Wars equivalent of the Superhero Squad toys. These are even more cute in many respects, though there are a lot of repeats. Much like the way every third set of Superhero Squad toys would have Spiderman in one of his various costumes and doing a different pose, the Galactic Heroes toys have an abundance of Luke Skywalkers and Darth Vaders, though the Vader ones are neat (I even found one where his helmet comes off!).

I was at Toys R Us this morning with Garrett to get a snap-together TIE fighter model for us to work on. Unfortunately, it was way too expensive (I refuse to pay $20 for a snap-tite model!) and I also saw the cutest Rancor in one of the TrU exclusive sets...



I mean, the thing not only looks adorable but it can eat other toys! And poop them out! How awesome is that?

So suffice it to say, I broke down and got it for Garrett to play with and we've had fun with it today. They also had a 2 for 1 sale on lightsabers, so I got two for $10 and Garrett was able to have many a duel with both me and the little boy who lives next to Ralph & Louise. It was a small price to pay to keep Garrett occupied and running his little butt off all afternoon :)

Doing a bit more digging, I'd also love to find this set:



And I was sorely tempted by these two sets, but went with the uber-cute Rancor:

My 360 Is Stalking Me

Hee hee. My 360 knows me too well...

I got this on the latest posting that it writes to my 360 Blog.

"I have a feeling Guboo (that's me) went on vacation without telling me... At least he could have taken me with him... last time I checked Xboxes weren't illegal in your carry-on."

All Hail Canadia!

We're home in our native land... Hooray!

We played a lot of games of Hurry Up And Wait this afternoon. We ended up hanging around at the Ft. Lauderdale airport for about 4 hours while we waited for our plane. Due to some of the bad weather down Florida way, it was delayed about 10 minutes or so, which meant that we had a really tight connection in Charlotte.

I tell ya. We knew we weren't going to have a lot of time during our connection but it was ridiculous. Our plane arrived at gate B16... our flight to Toronto was leaving at Gate C16 in 20 minutes. C16 is at the absolute opposite side of the airport from B16. Add to that mix a whole slew of people who were determined to either cut in front of us, stand in the middle of the concourse or just block the entire walkway while walking VERY SLOWLY and you had a couple of pissed off Canucks coming your way. I was starting to use my rolling suitcase as a battering ram and had to leave Julie behind so I could at least make it to the gate to have them hold the plane for us.

Julie didn't fare so well. Next time you talk to her, ask her about her faceplant in front of the ticket counter...

But we got on board, got our bags stowed and were in the air on time and arrived in Toronto just before midnight. The sad thing is that the cool, crisp fall air is probably warmer than the absurdly cold lobby at the hotel or worse, the airport in Ft. Lauderdale. I know it's warm down there, but I was getting the feeling that I'd inadvertently signed up for a cryogenics research project this afternooon.

Anyway, Julie's already hit the hay and I'm just running on adrenaline, so I'm going to go crash. Long story short, we had a great time down South and it was nice to get away (without the kids!) for a time and just have a nice vacation with just the two of us. That said, I'm looking forward to seeing the kids tomorrow when we go to Sarnia in the afternoon. I need to have a chat with some people about some destroyed pillows...

Plumbing The Depths Of Boredom

Note to self: Next time I go out for dinner with Julie's conference crew, DON'T!

Sure, the meal was nice, but we were out for about 3 hours... 3 hours where I had nobody to talk to and nothing to talk about. Sigh. I got so bored I was typing an imaginary blog entry on the tablecloth... and actually hitting backspace when I made an imaginary mistake.

Otherwise, yesterday was just a day for me to slug around the hotel room and relax, read, play some games and basically zone out. Ah, it was so nice...

We're heading home later today. I've got to kill time until about 3pm and then we'll saunter over to the airport for our first leg of our flight home. It has been raining and somewhat thundery down here most of this morning, but I'm hoping that it will blow over by the afternoon/evening and we'll have a smooth trip home. We don't actually fly out of Ft. Lauderdale until 7pm and the weather is already starting to brighten, so I think we'll be ok.

More Money Than Sense

That's the overall feeling I get from Ft. Lauderdale. These people sure aren't going to be living in shacks when the economy tanks...

Anyway, we woke up this morning, threw open the blinds and this is what greeted us outside our window.



Stupid yachts. We're tripping over them everywhere we go down here.

We then headed down the road to have some bagels at this place we passed on our walk to dinner last night. I have to say that they were the best bagels we've ever had. We bought a half dozen (and some honey almond schmear, er, cream cheese) for snacks and breakfast tomorrow. Mmm... They even had a pumpkin bagel that was amazing. If you ever get a chance, go to Einstein Bros. Bagels if you're ever near one. Oh, the coffee was fantastic too.

Then we headed out to the ocean to get a little swimming in.



A half an hour later, we were both scorched, soggy, salty and covered in seashell shrapnel but it was a lot of fun. A trip back to the hotel on the Water Taxi and a change of clothes and we were back out on the Water Taxi up to the mall at the northern end of the canal.

Along the way, we passed the coolest yacht on the water. The Water Taxi driver called it the James Bond yacht and for a good reason. Just take a look at this thing.



I got a cool Megaman t-shirt at the mall... a mall which, by the way, further illustrated the fact that we were far outside our usual tax bracket. I mean, they had valet parking and I think every car out in front of the mall was a Lexus, Infiniti or Hummer.

On the way back down the canal to the downtown part of town, a family got on board with a little 2 year old boy who was not very impressed with being on the boat. He kept saying, "Out! Out! Out!" Thankfully he calmed down and later on we had a nice chat with his family and I gave him one of the glo-sticks I got from my martini at the mall. Oh, did I mention that you can't turn around down here without tripping over a mojito, margarita or martini? It's crazy!

To close out the evening, we had supper at The Cheesecake Factory, which is my new favourite restaurant. Not only did they have amazing cheesecake (natch) but they also had food that was both good AND plenty. Julie had some kind of chicken and I had spicy cashew chicken, both of which were delicous. Not only that, but there was enough left over for at least one whole meal each by the time we were done.

And that was our day! We saw everything you can see down here on the intercostal waterway and had lots of yummy food and heard lots of awful jokes. Did you know they named the local highway for Canadians? It's the A1A... get it? A1, eh? Sigh...

Julie's got her conference starting tomorrow which means I get to just lounge around for the whole day. Ah, bliss...

The Blimpmobile!

No, it's not a method of conveyance for fat superheroes. It is a very neat mobile/clock in the center concourse of the airport in Charlotte, NC.



Ah, while I'm at it, I'll put up a few other pics from the trip so far.

Here is the view out of our hotel room. That's the canal that leads to the ocean (which is about a mile away).



And here's our messy hotel room. Note the lack of alligators, crocodiles, college students and wombats. You know you're in a quality place when they can keep the indigenous wildlife from invading the room while you sleep.

Kids: The Ultimate Brainwashers

And of course I'm up at 6:15 am.

The kids have us programmed well. I think it will take another day to fully purge our systems of their evil nanobots. A walk on the beach might help...

Florida is nice and all, but it's too hot. I miss the fall chill back home already.

Anyway, I'm going to let Julie sleep a bit longer. The sun is coming up and I should see if I can find us a greasy spoon to have breakfast at. We're definately not eating in the hotel. Hmm... I think I still have my raisin tea biscuit from Tim Hortons stuffed in one of these bags...

Nom nom nom...

Frondly Thinking Of Home

Sorry for the late update, but we did indeed make it safe and sound to Ft. Lauderdale.

We arrived around 6pm and after settling in, we had a delicious (and expensive) dinner at the China Grill down in the bowels of our hotel. Great food and a nice way to end a long day.

The weather is supposed to be somewhat craptacular while we're down here, but that's ok. We're just happy to be on vacation ON OUR OWN!

I'll keep everyone apprised of our adventures over the next few days. I will say that the Charlotte airport had some cool stuff. You know you're in the South when you have rocking chairs in the main terminal of the airport. I also took a picture of this crazy blimp mobile. I'll post it tomorrow.

Anyway, I'm off to bed. Julie's been snoozing for an hour or so and I should hit the hay soon too. We need to find somewhere for breakfast as the hotel's restaurant is WAY too pricey. I'm talking about $16 omelettes and $6 bagels w/ cream cheese. No thanks.

They did have amazing mojitos and sakitinis though. Who would have thought to use sake as a base for a martini? Not me! But it was yummy.

Huh-Yuck

Just wanted to tell everyone that we made it to Charlotte, NC. I had the worst 'meal' at the Burger King in the terminal, but I'll live :)

We're just waiting for the connecting flight at 4:15pm to Ft. Lauderdale. I'll update once we're settled in the hotel.

I tell ya, having a PSP and iPod to kill time really helps.

Oh, and the accents down here are funny :)

Pie Graphs Are Yummy

If you're looking for something to keep you occupied during those long days while I'm on vacation, look no further than the very amusing GraphJam. It's done by the same guys who do Lolcats but it's much more witty.

Old Ads Are Awesome

I saw this over at Extralife and I knew I had to share it.

Check out these incredibly awesome and creepy old ads.

Scuttling The Underbelly Of The House

The basement is almost completely empty now. The hardest part was getting the pool table out but thanks to a few intrepid brothers-in-law (thanks Dan & Tim!) we were able to get it out and into the truck and then into the storage unit. We still have a bit more stuff to unload from the basement before the renovations start, but that's not slated until at least Oct. 20th, so we can run a few more carloads of boxes over before it's time to start.

It's frightening to see how much room there is in our basement now that it's essentially empty. I always thought that our basement was this cramped, crowded space but it has a lot of room. I can't wait to start lounging around down there once the work is finished.

Now to go relax and get ready for our trip tomorrow. Woo!

Guzzlin' Foam With My Crumb Crushers

One of my favourite parts of one of my favourite movies is the scene in The Blues Brothers when Cab Calloway sings Minnie The Moocher. It's also a scene that I view in a completely different light when I see it now than I did when I was growing up. Back then, it was just a great song sung by this old guy.

Now, I can see the way the perspective shifts from reality to the fantasy of Calloway having one last hurrah. It's yet one more brilliant thing in an already brilliant movie.

ANYWAY, that's all to say that the Cab Calloway Jive Talk Hepster Dictionary is a handy tool for decyphering what all those hep cats are jivin' about down at the club.

It's Not Easy Being A Law-Abiding Citizen...

I've spent three days this week banging my head against the wall with the Town of Halton Hills, trying in vain to get a building permit to get this basement renovation done. Well, not in vain, as I think I've finally fulfilled the byzantine requirements and performed enough Herculean tasks to satisfy the dark lords over at the Town's bylaw branch, but ye gods...

If getting a building permit for a relatively simple renovation is always as much of a hassle as this week's travails has been, it's no wonder nobody bothers to get them. It's like playing tennis... in the dark... with bricks. I'd have to keep going back and forth to the town and my poor contractor ended up drawing up about 3-4 different floor plans before I finally got one that satisfied all of the things the guy at the Town wanted.

Of course, I always COULD have just foregone all of this hassle but if I've learned nothing else from watching Holmes On Homes, it's to always, ALWAYS get a permit. This isn't just a little job... We're having the whole basement finished, so I want to do it right from the start.

Sigh.

Band Members Needed

As you might have noticed, my 360 came back home to me on Tuesday of this week. I probably haven't blogged about it because I have been so busy puttering around with it.

In celebration of its return, I was able to pick up Rock Band 2, which is AWESOME!

Unfortunately, my drummer has been sidelined due to injuries for quite some time but since RB2 has online band tour mode, I can finally hook up with other Rock Band players out there. So... anyone interested in joining my band? I need a vocalist, drummer and another guitarist (I'm easy).

Bubbling Advisory Panel WANTS YOU!

Seriously, Bubbling Advisory Panel is the name of my band... Sigh... I think I'll call the next band I create: Stalin's Moustache.

Hug A Robot Today

Happy Binary Day, everyone.

10/01 is the official day where you can go and hug a robot or computer and not feel guilty... Not one little bit. Get it? Bit? Ha!

Fall: When The Paths Run Red With Blood

I'm a bad influence.

Julie was pointing out the leaves changing on the trees yesterday on the drive home and asking Garrett about the seasons.

Of course, I pipe up and ask, "Do you know why they're red?"

"Why?"

"Because they eat people. If you see a red tree, it's because it ate someone. But that only happens in the fall when the trees get hungry."

I probably shouldn't have told him to tell his teacher this when they learn about the seasons in school...

Anyone Want A Pool Table?

Sorry for the lack of updates recently. We've been a bit busy doing some stuff for the renovations.

What's that? Renovations, you say?

Yes. We're getting our basement done, starting in a week or two. In the meantime, we need to purge that thing. Most of the stuff down there will easily fit in the storage unit but we have one wee little problem.

The pool table.

I'm loathe to part with it as we've had it for ages but it's been buried under crap for the last 5 years and there won't be anywhere to put it once the basement is finished, so we're going to have to get rid of it.

Is there anyone out there who is interested in a non-slate pool table? Comes with balls and cues. We'll negotiate the price, but it won't be much :)

Something To Think About

Would someone arrested for abetting the robbery of a McDonald's be a Hamburglar Helper?

Ba-Doop

Threat Number 4: BEES!

After a morning spent at the Early Years' Center, I fed the kids, put Kara to bed and tried to get Garrett to play out in the backyard for a bit.

All was going well until we opened the umbrella that shades the little plastic playset in the backyard.

That's when it started raining bees. I've found the odd proto-hive in the folds of the umbrella's fabric before, but there's usually only one or two bees and they're easily persuaded to leave (after a few swats with the fly swatter).

Not today. I quickly marshaled Garrett back into the house and tried to decide what to do next.

One of my buddies suggested I go this route. I'll wait until Julie gets home and see what she thinks. If that is a non-starter, we'll just try spraying them with bee killer (aka Death Honey) until they stop twitching.

How Many Points Is Insomnia Worth?

I Can See Clearly Now

Remember a year or so ago when Garrett poured window cleaning solution all over Julie's cousin's laptop? Remember how we had to buy her a new one?

Well, after a year or so of having a perfectly fine laptop sitting in a box in my basement, I decided that it was time to get it repaired.

I'd concidered not bothering to fix it and finding some other use for it as it was going to cost me about $350 to repair the screen. After taking some time to scout out the cost of a new laptop with roughly the same features, I realized it would cost me about $1000, easily.

So off to the shop the old lappy went and I FINALLY got it back on Friday. WOO!

In fact, this post is being typed on the laptop AS WE SPEAK!

If nothing else, it will be nice to not have to borrow Ralph's lappy whenever we go to Sarnia to visit. I can't really run a lot of games or anything on this machine, but it's a fine little DVD player and works pretty well for the general web-surfing stuff. I'm also interested to tinker with Vista a little as I've never really sat down to fiddle with it until now. It's not the evil incarnate that it has been made out to be and it is pretty from a visual standpoint, but there are enough things that it doesn't do as simply as XP that will keep me from wanting to switch over whole cloth.

Trampled!

My kids are magnets to wierd stuff (almost as wierd as the way I spell weird!).

I took Kara to the free day at the Acton Fair yesterday and she had a blast. She LOVES animals and it almost took a crowbar to pry her out of the livestock tent. I took her over to the petting zoo.

That's when she got trampled by a llama.

Seriously.

We were having fun, looking at the lambs and pigs and so forth, when this llama shows up, head-butts Kara, knocks her down and then starts stepping over her like she's little more than a speed bump... which she probably was to something as big as a llama.

I realize now that the stories of little old ladies lifting cars off of their grandkids is true. I grabbed that llama and lifted him over and moved him off of Kara so I could extricate her before he decided to finish the job (or spit on us).

Thankfully she was more scared than hurt. She even went back to the petting zoo today and, if the stories I hear are true, she punched the llama in the nose.

I kind of doubt that though.

More Friday Ephemera

I could survive for 1 minute, 19 seconds chained to a bunk bed with a velociraptor

I'll spend the extra 16 seconds trying to feed Luke's corpse to the velociraptor.

Put Your Smile On

This comic just brightened my whole day, esp. with the Acton Fall Fair starting.


Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net

This one over at XKCD also rocked my socks.



I love the alt-txt. "Staple Guns: Because duct tape doesn't make the ka-CHUNK sound."

Garrett Goes To Kindergarten

So... Yesterday was Garrett's first full day at school. He took the bus all by himself too!




Don't lick the window!


Kara's happy to see him go, but Mom's a little emotional...


And he even made it back on the right bus. Will wonders never cease?