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.